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Advice for NIH F31 Fellowship Application


pizbicki

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I am in the process of applying for a NIH F31 grant. :sweat_smile: My deadline is the August cycle.

Please share your thoughts on advice through the process! I would LOVE to hear them!

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  1. start early! which it sound like you’re already on top of… also remember that the grants office at your uni probably needs it at least 1 week before the official deadline, so factor that into your timeline

  2. get lot’s of feedback. especially from people outside your department/field. while your primary reviewer will likely be more well versed in your sub-field, if you can convince a neuroscientist outside your sub-specialty that it’s worth funding, then you’re golden!

  3. focus on the other sections as well - i got hung up on the biosketch and research plan at the cost of the million other documents that also carry a substantial weight (like timeline/career goals, etc). i also got dinged because they didn’t understand our euthanasia setup, so make sure everything is crystal clear.

  4. find examples of funded f31’s - helps immensely to get a sense of flow, vocab, and even use of white/negative space (which is also super important, don’t drown your app in all text - make room for the reader to ‘breathe’, and break up sections accordingly. 10 pt arial font w/ 0.5 margins [i believe] is the smallest you can/should go).

Happy to provide more too if need be! Those are the first few that came to mind.

**i should note, i only applied once for the F31 (unsuccessfully) but these are just some advice i learned and received along the way of preparing my app :slight_smile: **

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  • 2 weeks later...

@Dan_Vahaba this is VERY helpful. I will keep all this advice in mind. Thank you for taking the time to share it with me.

I am fortunate to be working with a consultant from the grants office weekly in addition to having people from various fields look at my application once it is completed. There is also one person I’ve been able to connect with at our university who has received a F31 on her FIRST submission (amazing huh?). I will definitely reach out once I get a little further in the process.

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Monique Mendes

I agree with everything already mentioned. I think you should try to work on your grant a little bit everyday and get a lot of feedback from colleagues and faculty around you. Work a lot on your bio sketch and research plan document and consult your PI along the way. Good Luck!

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