Predoctoral Applicants

Applications are no longer being accepted. Information for the 2013 CPHAR program will be posted in December 2012.

Funding Source

The UNC Institute on Aging received an Institutional National Service Award from the National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, (Grant Number T32 AG00272-01A1) to support predoctoral fellows in health and aging research. You are encouraged to apply for a fellowship if your interests are in this area.

Goals and Objectives

The goal of the predoctoral training program is to augment disciplinary training in the skills needed for knowledge development by offering an aging and health focus with organized intellectual exchange, research opportunities, and mentoring. Trainees will:

• participate in weekly Proseminars and Research in Progress Seminars;


• participate in coursework to strengthen knowledge of theories and methods in research in aging and healthcare;


• progress toward a dissertation proposal that reflects understanding of a significant aging and healthcare issue from the perspective of at least two disciplines;


• present research at a regional or national meeting, either in the trainee's discipline or in a scientific aging meeting.

Award and Fellowship Benefits

Awards are made for one year, renewable for one or two years, with annual stipends plus tuition assistance, health insurance, a research allowance, and support for one scientific meeting a year. Predoctoral trainees will be expected to remain focused on the completion of all degree requirements of the basic disciplinary training. The CPHAR predoctoral training program adds the opportunity for application of basic disciplinary training to concrete problems in health and aging research. The training program and the Institute on Aging will give trainees intellectual and infrastructural support, encouragement, career guidance and multidisciplinary mentoring throughout the process through which the dissertation research is conceptualized, designed, executed, and defended. Opportunities to present to one's peers in the Research in Progress Seminar at each stage of this process will enable candidates to acquire skill in defending their research plans and ideas, and provide valuable peer review and feedback essential to the crafting of a feasible and useful research endeavor. Participation in the CPHAR Proseminar with postdoctoral fellows and affiliated faculty in the CPHAR, will enrich trainees' predoctoral experience.

Requirements of Predoctoral Fellows

Only U.S. Citizens or permanent residents may be funded by this program.

Predoctoral applicants will have been accepted by the Graduate School of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and will have already matriculated as full time students in one of several aging-related academic departments or schools on the Chapel Hill campus. Predoctoral trainees will have completed one (preferably two) years of doctoral coursework, with at least two methods courses, prior to application to the training program, and will not have defended the dissertation proposal. If a defended dissertation proposal fits well within the scope of the CPHAR, and predoctoral positions are available, exceptions may be made to consider more advanced trainees. All predoctoral trainees will be expected to have completed the dissertation and all other requirements for the doctoral degree within two, but no later than three years of entering the CPHAR NRSA training program. Applicants are expected to have a commitment to scientific research in aging.

All fellows will participate in at least two weekly seminars: the Research in Progress Seminar, the Proseminar of the Institute on Aging, and other selected seminars, including research ethics training.

All predoctoral trainees will establish an Advisory Committee upon entry into the CPHAR training program. The function of the Advisory Committee is to assist with the planning of the course of study and research training. The Advisory Committee will also monitor the fellow's progress, and report to the CPHAR Steering Committee at the end of each year. At the beginning of the program each trainee will present a training workplan, which will be kept as an ongoing record of the progress of the trainee in the Program. The workplan will list a plan of study for the trainee (courses taken and to be taken), will outline approximate dates for doctoral exams, and will describe the research plan. The workplan will be approved, or modified with the trainee and then approved. At the conclusion of each semester during the training program, the workplan will be updated, presented to, and discussed with the trainee's Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee will be comprised of the mentor (who is a member of the CPHAR training faculty), another member of the training faculty, and one member of the Steering Committee. In the event that the trainee fails to make appropriate progress, the Advisory Committee may recommend the criteria for continuation in the training program. No requirements of the CPHAR training program will be inconsistent with the standing rules, regulations, and practices of the trainee's department or school or with the Graduate School. The Advisory Committee can assist with the identification of research resources as needed; the Advisory Committee will also be available for consultation at the trainee's request.

All predoctoral trainees, in their first or second semester in the training program, will be expected to enroll (for credit) in the multidisciplinary course "Aging and Health", a three-credit course cross-listed in Social Work, Public Health, and Nursing. At least one other course with a specific focus on aging issues must also be completed during or prior to participation in the training program.

Additional Information

Completed applications may be emailed to CPHAR@unc.edu, OR mail completed application packet to Peggye Dilworth-Anderson, PhD at the address below.

Applications are no longer being accepted. Information for the 2013 CPHAR program will be posted in December 2012.

For further information, contact:

Peggye Dilworth-Anderson, PhD
(919) 966-8138

UNC Institute on Aging
720 Martin Luther King Jr, Blvd., CB#1030
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-1030