Pre-doctoral grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (e.g., Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award; F31s) can set the stage for a productive research career by providing rich training experiences, giving the recipient
the independence necessary to conduct high-impact research, and demonstrating recipient’s potential to obtain future NIH funding. However, such funding is difficult to secure, and in-depth guidance for students and mentors in the application process is limited and vague. This panel will focus on topics of interest for those who may be interested in applying for or serving as a mentor on applications for pre-doctoral NIH funding. Session panelists include those who have successfully attained NIH pre-doctoral funding (including F31s and dissertation awards across NIMH, NIDA, and NINR), served as mentors for NIH pre-doctoral training fellowships, and reviewed NIH training fellowship applications. Panel members will take questions from the audience throughout the presentation and for the last 10 minutes. Topics include:
1) Considerations regarding the decision to apply for pre-doctoral funding (e.g., timing, pros and cons, enhancing competitiveness)
2) The grant writing process (e.g., integrating research and training plans, putting together a mentorship team, discussion of examples of funded proposals)
3) The review process (e.g., scoring criteria, characteristics of good applications from a reviewer perspective)
4) Successful mentorship of training fellowship applications (e.g., how to be an effective mentor during the process)