Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (Parent F31) | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (Parent F31), funding opportunity number PA-16-309, is an NIH discretionary grant designed to support promising predoctoral students while they complete mentored dissertation research. The core idea is to give a graduate student the time, resources, and structured training plan needed to grow into a productive, independent biomedical or health-related researcher. Rather than functioning as a broad institutional training program, the F31 is centered on the individual applicant and their specific dissertation project, with a strong emphasis on high-quality mentorship from an established faculty sponsor.

This fellowship supports individualized, mentored research training that directly aligns with and strengthens the applicant's dissertation work. NIH expects the proposed research and training activities to be tightly connected: the scientific project should be a credible dissertation-level effort in an area relevant to the missions of participating NIH Institutes and Centers, and the training plan should clearly explain how the applicant will build skills, knowledge, and professional development needed for a long-term research career. In practical terms, reviewers typically look for a compelling research question, a well-designed approach, and an intentional training strategy (for example, learning new methods, gaining experience in responsible conduct of research, improving scientific writing and presentation skills, and building a foundation for future postdoctoral or independent research).

The opportunity is administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through the National Institutes of Health (Agency: HHS-NIH11). It is categorized as a grant under the funding activity areas of education and health, with related cross-cutting areas such as environment and food and nutrition. The listing includes a wide set of CFDA numbers (now often referred to under Assistance Listings), reflecting that multiple NIH Institutes and Centers participate and that supported projects can span many domains of biomedical, behavioral, clinical, and population health research, as long as they match an NIH mission area.

Eligibility in the posted record is broad at the organizational level and lists many potential applicant organization types, including public and private institutions of higher education, nonprofits (including 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3)), for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), small businesses, and various government and tribal entities. In the context of an F31, the applicant is the predoctoral fellow, but the application is typically submitted through a sponsoring institution with an identified faculty mentor/sponsor and an appropriate research and training environment. The sponsor and institution are important parts of the application because NIH is funding a mentored training experience, not just a standalone research project.

Timing information in the source record shows the opportunity was posted on June 3, 2016, with an original and current closing date of May 7, 2019. The record does not provide an award ceiling or expected number of awards, which is not unusual in summarized postings, since NIH fellowship budgets are often structured around standard NRSA stipend levels and allowable costs rather than a single hard ceiling, and award counts can vary by institute, fiscal year, and appropriations.

Overall, the Parent F31 is best understood as a career-development-focused fellowship for doctoral students who are ready to propose a serious dissertation research plan and who can demonstrate that a well-structured, mentored training experience will accelerate their progress toward becoming independent scientists. The application is expected to make a clear case that the candidate is promising, the research is rigorous and meaningful for human health, the mentorship team is strong, the training plan is deliberate and personalized, and the host environment is capable of supporting the fellow's development.

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