The Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (usually referred to as NRSA) are a family of

grants Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom *Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama *Grant, Inyo County, C ...

provided by the United States National Institutes of Health for training researchers in the

behavioral sciences Behavioral sciences explore the cognitive processes within organisms and the behavioral interactions between organisms in the natural world. It involves the systematic analysis and investigation of human and animal behavior through naturalistic o ...

and health sciences. They are a highly selective and very prestigious source of funding for

doctoral A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

and postdoctoral trainees. The grants are awarded based on lengthy proposals submitted by applicants in which original experimental plans are described. The proposals are evaluated and given an impact score reflecting scientific merit by a study section at the

Center for Scientific Review The Center for Scientific Review (CSR) is the portal for United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant applications and their review for scientific merit. The CSR organizes the peer review groups or study sections that evaluate the major ...

at the NIH. Only applications with very good impact scores are funded, based on budget cutoffs determined by each individual institute. US citizenship or permanent residency is required. The NIH awarded $77,000,000 in individual grants and over $600,000,000 in institutional training grants in fiscal year 200

NRSA awards are mostly given to students working on a Ph.D or an MD or other medical degree, or to individuals who have just earned one of these degrees and are beginning their careers. The NRSA program also provides institutions with

training grants Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...

that can be used to fund one or more students. NRSA grants are notable for their flexibility: postdoctoral researchers can propose to work at any university, and the only requirement is that they commit to at least one year of research in their field following their first year of funding.

External links

NIH page for NRSA grants
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National Postdoctoral Association The National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) is a nonprofit 501(c)3 educational organization in the United States that is dedicated to enhancing the quality of the postdoctoral experience for all participants. Since its founding in 2003, more than ...

Grants (money) National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral research {{US-edu-stub