How do I know if my grant is eligible for a Diversity Supplement?
Step 1: All NIH institutes have a Diversity Supplement Program, so please review the list of grant types found in PA-21-071. Your grant must have >1 year of funding left at the time of award, not including a no-cost extension period, and the candidate cannot currently be paid on the grant for which you are requesting a supplement. (Generally, grants need to have at least 2 years of funding remaining.) The SPH Office of the Dean maintains a list of grants that meet the timeline and grant type criteria.
Step 2: Once you have verified overall eligibility for your current grant, you should check with your project officer, as well as the institute-specific project officer for diversity supplements to verify eligibility and learn about the institute’s priorities for diversity supplements. Some NIH institutes prioritize undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students, while others prioritize graduate students and/or post-doctoral fellows.
- Your institute-specific PO can be found on NIH’s Diversity Supplement Contacts webpage
A Diversity Supplement is an administrative supplement that provides additional funds to the parent grant. The amount and duration are dependent on the career level of the candidate and may be different for a graduate student and a post-doctoral fellow. Generally, they provide up to 5 years of funding for doctoral and post-doctoral candidates, which includes additional research funds ($3,000-4,000 per year), tuition, stipend and health insurance. Specific budget-items should be discussed with a grants manager and NIH project officer prior to submitting an application.
Note: Some grants may not cover summer quarter tuition and stipend. For international projects (only allowed when the parent grant activities are based internationally), supplements may not cover the cost of airfare and accommodations; this is institute specific and should be discussed with your institute-specific PO. International conference attendance is an allowable expense for some institutes.
If you are interested in finding a potential mentee, contact the Associate Dean for Research (sphadr@uw.edu) in the SPH Office of the Dean to have your grant added to the list of eligible grants that we share with eligible students who are seeking a mentor. Second, create an announcement to let students know about your opportunity by submitting a student opportunity form on the SPH Student Funding and Opportunities webpage. We have provided a few helpful instructions. We will post your announcement on the SPH Student Funding and Opportunities page and circulate the announcement in the SPH Weekly Newsletter.
If you need assistance with posting your project, please contact sphsas@uw.edu.
After confirming with your project officer that you can apply for a Diversity Supplement, work with the candidate to outline research aims and a mentorship plan. A conversation with a PO to discuss the research plan should be part of the iterative process in developing an application.
- Meetings with the project officers should include at least one mentor and the candidate. The candidate should NOT speak with the project officer alone. Diversity supplements require the active engagement and commitment of a faculty mentor, which should be demonstrated to the project officers during the preparation of the application.
We have compiled Diversity Supplement application resources including suggestions on the questions to ask both the institute-specific and grant-assigned PO.