T32 (NIH Institutional Research Training Grant)

A T32 is an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA institutional research training grant: NIH funds a university department or program (not an individual) to run a structured predoctoral and/or postdoctoral research training program, and the program's PD/PI selects and appoints trainees into the grant's funded slots. It is distinct from an individual fellowship (F31/F32), where the trainee themselves applies and holds the award.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 18 Jul 2026

Worked examples

Is an instance

A university department of pharmacology holds a T32 funding six predoctoral training slots; each year the program director appoints new students from its PhD program to fill vacated slots as prior trainees graduate.

Is an instance

A T32-funded postdoctoral trainee receives the same NIH NRSA postdoctoral stipend level as an individual F32 fellow at the same institution, because both draw on the same NOT-OD stipend notice.

A T32 is an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) institutional research training grant. The award is made to a university department, program, or consortium of programs — never to an individual trainee. The institution’s program director/principal investigator (PD/PI) then selects and appoints eligible pre- and/or postdoctoral trainees into funded training slots within an approved curriculum. This is the single distinction research administrators need to keep straight: a T32 trainee is never the PD/PI of the award that supports them, unlike an F31 or F32 fellow, who applies and holds the award personally.

How a T32 works

An institution applies for a T32 to fund a structured research training program, not a single project. The application must justify the training faculty roster, curriculum, mentoring plan, and institutional research environment, and it specifies a requested number of predoctoral and/or postdoctoral trainee positions per year. If funded, the institution receives a set award and appoints trainees to it year over year, subject to NIH’s continued approval through non-competing progress reports. Individual trainees do not apply to NIH directly for a T32 slot; they apply to the institution’s training program, which nominates them for appointment. Trainees are expected to pursue full-time research training, typically for a minimum of 9 months and commonly for two or more years, depending on the program.

Relationship to NRSA

T32 is one of several activity codes under the umbrella of the Kirschstein-NRSA program, alongside the individual fellowships (F30/F31/F32) and other institutional mechanisms (e.g., T90, TL1). Trainees appointed to a T32 slot receive NRSA-level support — the same annually-updated stipend, tuition/fee, and institutional-allowance figures NIH sets for the whole NRSA family, currently governed by NOT-OD-26-044 for awards issued on or after October 1, 2025. See NRSA stipend levels for the current predoctoral and postdoctoral stipend tables, which apply identically whether a trainee holds an institutional T32 slot or an individual F31/F32 award. All NRSA support — institutional and individual combined — also counts against the same aggregate support-year limits (up to 5 years at the predoctoral level, up to 6 for dual-degree training).

T32 vs. individual fellowships (F31/F32)

Research administrators frequently need to explain this distinction to faculty and trainees:

Award holder: T32 — the institution/program, held by a PD/PI who is training-program faculty. F31/F32 — the trainee themselves, who is the PD/PI on their own award, with a named faculty sponsor.
Application path: T32 — the institution applies once for the whole program and receives a block of trainee slots; individual trainees never submit a T32 application to NIH. F31/F32 — each trainee submits their own application on their own timeline (standard NIH fellowship due dates: April 8, August 8, December 8).
Trainee selection: T32 — the program’s internal selection committee appoints trainees into open slots, subject to NIH concurrence. F31/F32 — NIH study section reviews and scores each individual application on its own merits.
Continuity: T32 slots turn over as trainees complete the program and new trainees are appointed, for the life of the (typically 5-year, competitively renewed) grant. An F31/F32 award is tied to one named individual for its funded period.

See also postdoctoral fellowship for the broader category F32 and other postdoctoral funding mechanisms sit within.

Administrative and reporting responsibilities

Because a T32 funds an ongoing program rather than a single project, it carries reporting obligations beyond a typical research grant:

Non-competing progress reports (RPPR): submitted annually to justify continued funding for the next budget period, documenting trainee appointments, program activities, and outcomes.
Trainee outcome tracking via xTRACT: NIH requires institutional training grant applications and progress reports to use the Extramural Trainee Reporting and Career Tracking (xTRACT) system to generate standardized data tables covering trainee publications, subsequent funding, and career outcomes. NIH expects institutions to be able to report on trainee outcomes for up to 15 years after they complete the program.
PD/PI programmatic responsibility: the PD/PI is responsible for trainee selection and appointment, overall program direction and management, mentor oversight, and ensuring trainees meet program requirements (e.g., responsible conduct of research training).
Recruitment: institutions are still expected to describe how they recruit a strong, broad applicant pool for their training slots as part of the competitive application and ongoing program management. Note that NIH’s formal, separately-scored “Recruitment Plan to Enhance Diversity” and the standalone Trainee Diversity Report requirement that training grants previously had to submit in RPPRs have since been removed from NIH policy; research administrators should confirm the current requirements against the specific funding opportunity announcement and grants.nih.gov before assuming an older program’s recruitment-plan language still applies unchanged.

Because of this reporting load, T32s are typically administered jointly by the training program’s PD/PI, departmental grants administrators, and the institution’s central sponsored-programs office, rather than by a single PI’s lab the way an R01 might be.

Frequently asked questions

Can a trainee apply for a T32 directly?

No. A T32 award is held by the institution, not by individual trainees. A prospective trainee applies to the institution’s training program (through its own internal process) to be considered for appointment to one of the program’s funded slots; they do not submit an application to NIH for a T32 themselves.

Is a T32 the same thing as an NRSA?

Not exactly — NRSA is the broader statutory program (Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards) that T32 falls under, alongside the individual F30/F31/F32 fellowships and other institutional mechanisms like T90/TL1. T32 trainees receive NRSA-level stipends and benefits, but “NRSA” itself is not a specific activity code.

How long can someone be supported on a T32?

Individual appointment length is set by the training program (commonly one to three years), while the overall grant is typically awarded for up to five years and can be competitively renewed. NRSA aggregate support-year limits (across T32 and individual F-series support combined) also apply per trainee.

Does a T32 require a diversity recruitment plan?

NIH’s formal, separately-evaluated Recruitment Plan to Enhance Diversity and the corresponding Trainee Diversity Report in RPPRs have been removed as standalone requirements. Institutions should check the current parent funding opportunity announcement on grants.nih.gov, since NIH training-grant policy in this area has changed and may continue to evolve.

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

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Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

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