We recently published our Spotlight on the NIH T32 grant mechanism. In this post, we’ll shine a light on another Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA): the Short-Term Institutional Training Grant (T35).
As the name implies, the T35 provides short-term research training experiences for health professional students (medical students, veterinary students, and/or students in other health-professional programs) during the summer. Students’ full-time training experience is for a period of at least 8, but no more than 12, weeks in a grant year. Trainees are required to pursue research training for 2-3 months on a full-time basis, devoting at least 40 hours per week, or as specified by the sponsoring institution in accordance with its own policies.
Other than the shorter training duration, the requirements for T35 applications are very similar to those of the T32. The Principal Investigator should be an established investigator. Trainees must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents enrolled in a research or clinical doctoral or postdoctoral program. The program covers stipend, trainee travel, and some tuition and fees.
Similar to the T32, the T35 grants provide funding for 5 years. The 25-page Training Program Plan must be completed. Additionally, T35 applications require the completion of data tables.
The T35 contrasts with an R25 in that it is meant to be full-time research for a period of 8-12 weeks. Both have a maximum of 5 years of funding and can complement an existing training program. While the R25 usually funds undergrad through early career faculty, the T35 can have more variation in who is supported, so always check the NOFO. Additionally, while the R25 allows PI salary and fringe, the T35 does not. If you have few training slots, you might opt to write an R25 rather than a T35, given that the R25 application does not require the completion of all those onerous training tables.
Deadlines for new, renewal, resubmission, and revision T35s are on January, May, and September 25. Deadlines for AIDS-related research are January, May, and September 7.At the time of this blog post’s writing, the only NOFO was for the parent T35. However, always be sure to check for NOFOs issued by ICs that could align with your research area.
