Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Short-Term Institutional Research Training Grant (Parent T35) | PA 20 162

Opportunity Information: Apply for PA 20 162

The Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Short-Term Institutional Research Training Grant (Parent T35), Funding Opportunity Number PA 20-162, is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant program that supports domestic institutions in building or strengthening short-term, high-intensity research training experiences for predoctoral students who are exploring careers in biomedical, behavioral, or clinical research. In practice, many NIH Institutes and Centers rely on this mechanism specifically to fund structured summer research programs, especially for health professional students such as medical and veterinary students and learners in other health-professional tracks. The core idea is to give trainees a concentrated period of mentored research that is substantial enough to move beyond observation and into meaningful participation, with the goal that participants finish the program with a solid exposure to how biomedical research is conceived, conducted, and interpreted.

A key emphasis of the T35 mechanism is the institutional, programmatic nature of the training. Rather than funding a single student or an individual fellowship, NIH funds an organization to run an organized training program that can repeatedly recruit, select, mentor, and support cohorts of short-term trainees. These programs are expected to provide depth and rigor within a limited timeframe, typically by pairing trainees with experienced research mentors, immersing them in laboratory, clinical, or computational research environments, and offering the kinds of structured educational components that help students understand responsible conduct of research and the principles that underlie modern biomedical investigation. The opportunity also explicitly aims to broaden entry points into health-related research by encouraging graduate students from physical or quantitative sciences to spend a short period engaged in health sciences research, helping to draw talent from disciplines like engineering, mathematics, statistics, physics, or computer science into biomedical problem areas.

The clinical trial policy for this announcement is straightforward: trainees appointed under this FOA are not permitted to lead an independent clinical trial. However, they are allowed to gain research experience in a clinical trial setting as long as the trial is led by an eligible mentor or co-mentor. This is designed to protect the short-term trainee role while still allowing exposure to clinical research infrastructure, trial conduct, data collection, analysis workflows, and ethical/regulatory considerations under appropriate supervision.

Eligibility is centered on domestic (U.S.-based) applicant organizations. A wide range of U.S. entities may apply, including public and private institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations (with or without 501(c)(3) status), for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), small businesses, and multiple levels of government such as state, county, and city or township governments, as well as special district governments and independent school districts. Tribal participation is also included through federally recognized Native American tribal governments and other Native American tribal organizations. The FOA also highlights inclusion of institutions and organizations that often serve specific communities or regions, such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), along with faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, and U.S. territories or possessions. At the same time, it clearly excludes non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and foreign institutions from applying, and it also bars non-domestic components of U.S. organizations.

From an administrative and cataloging standpoint, the opportunity is a discretionary grant program administered by NIH, categorized under the funding activity areas of environment, food and nutrition, and health, and associated with multiple CFDA numbers including 93.113, 93.173, 93.213, 93.233, 93.273, 93.286, 93.351, 93.837, 93.838, 93.839, 93.840, 93.847, 93.855, 93.866, and 93.867. The record shows a creation date of 2020-04-02 and an original closing date listed as 2023-01-18. The summary information provided does not specify an award ceiling or the expected number of awards, so those details would typically be confirmed by consulting the full FOA text and any NIH Institute or Center-specific guidance tied to the announcement.

Overall, this program is best understood as NIH support for institutions that can offer a well-designed, mentored, short-term research training experience that is immersive enough to genuinely build research readiness and motivate continued research engagement. It is particularly well-suited for summer research programs for health professional students, while also serving as a bridge for quantitatively trained graduate students to enter health-related research through focused, hands-on exposure.

• The National Institutes of Health in the environment, food and nutrition, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Short-Term Institutional Research Training Grant (Parent T35)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.113, 93.173, 93.213, 93.233, 93.273, 93.286, 93.351, 93.837, 93.838, 93.839, 93.840, 93.847, 93.855, 93.866, 93.867.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-04-02.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-01-18. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for PA 20 162

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