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I just reviewed NIH fellowship applications for the first time. Since these are very different applications than the R applications I usually review, I made note of a few common challenges that I thought might be helpful for prospective applicants and their sponsors/mentors:
#1: Your training goals and your research plan should match. Make your training goals really specific (i.e., NOT "learn statistics"). Don& #39;t propose taking a class if it is completely unrelated. Don& #39;t propose teaching a course unrelated to your training and research goals.
#2: These grants mainly fund your time to learn and do the proposed research, NOT fund most research expenses. If you are proposing a really expensive research plan, make it clear how the research will be funded.
#3: With the lack of research funding for these awards, the proposed research plan understandably overlaps with the sponsor& #39;s research. Make it clear how the proposed research is distinct!
#4: Make it really clear who is going to do what. Which mentor/sponsor will help you achieve each training goal? (DON& #39;T have all of your mentors/sponsors involved in every training goal; individual areas of expertise should shine.) Who will do the stats? The qualitative coding?
#5: Try to do better than "representative of the community", if the university/community is not very diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, age, etc. Take this opportunity to learn about engaging and retaining participants-- you might even include a mentor related to this goal.
#6: Check the documents that your sponsors/mentors submit. Make sure they are tailored to your application and don& #39;t have leftover language from previous proposals. They should provide clear data that they have successfully mentored other trainees.
#7: Make your application easier to review:
-Don& #39;t make the reviewer hunt for how you will receive FUTURE training in responsible conduct of research
-Don& #39;t underline all edits on an A1
-Clearly present how many peer-reviewed publications you have published and under review
-Don& #39;t make the reviewer hunt for how you will receive FUTURE training in responsible conduct of research
-Don& #39;t underline all edits on an A1
-Clearly present how many peer-reviewed publications you have published and under review
(Your qualifications for the fellowship are NOT just your publications and grades. If you have practical experience, that is also very relevant-- make that clear!)
#8: It& #39;s okay if you don& #39;t know exactly how the research will shake out. If there is some uncertainty that you can& #39;t address before the research is conducted, acknowledge it and then propose back-up plans or sensitivity analyses that you will conduct.
#9: Make it clear how the fellowship grant will prepare you better/differently than the average student in your program. Don& #39;t propose taking courses that you have already taken as part of your training goals.
#10: Beyond training goals specific to the research plan, planned training in grant writing and #scicomm is always great to see.
#11: Get mentorship on power calculations-- they are hard to do well. Make it clear why you are proposing the sample size that you are.
#12: If you are proposing a fellowship with mentors/sponsors that you have worked with for many years, make it particularly clear what NEW skills you will be learning through the fellowship.
#13: Fellowships are not 5 year R01s. Make sure that you are proposing activities that are do-able.
