Patterns and implications of 2025 NIH-F31 grant terminations for the predoctoral training pipeline

TL;DR

The 2025 NIH F31 grant terminations disrupted predoctoral training, especially affecting diversity awards and trainees in Southern and Midwestern states.

Contribution

This study quantifies the 2025 NIH F31 grant terminations and highlights geographic and diversity-related disparities.

Findings

405 F31 grants were terminated in 2025, with 269 being diversity awards.

Southern and Midwestern states were disproportionately impacted by diversity award terminations.

Recommendations include safeguards like emergency funding to protect trainees during funding instability.

Abstract

In 2025, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) terminated student grants across the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Predoctoral Fellowship mechanisms, including both general F31 and F31-Diversity awards, disrupting a critical training pipeline marked by inequities. Since the terminations, the status of many grants has shifted amid an evolving landscape of freezes, appeals, and reinstatements, leading to prolonged uncertainty for predoctoral trainees.

In this article, we analyzed from publicly available data the scope and geographical distribution of terminated F31 (general and diversity) awards from 2025 and considered the implications of these terminations on trainees. We queried publicly available data from Grant Witness (November 16, 2025, to December 18, 2025), a website that monitors grant terminations across various US government agencies, such as NIH.

We found that 405 F31 grants were affected by the 2025 terminations; of these, 136 were general F31s, and 269 were F31-Diversity awards. States in the South and Midwest were disproportionately represented among the terminations of diversity-promoting F31s.

Federal agencies and academic institutions may consider implementing safeguards, including protections against midyear grant terminations and emergency bridge funding to protect trainees during periods of political and funding instability.

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