Digital Badging Program at NCATS

About the Digital Badging Program

When you participate in certain NCATS translational science education and training opportunities, you may be eligible to earn digital badges. You can display a digital badge on social media, in your email signature or on your website to let others know that you have successfully completed one of our offerings. We use Credly as our digital badge platform. You will need to create a free account with Credly to claim your badge.

For more information about the platform, visit Credly’s Help Center.          
Issuance of badges does not indicate endorsement of a particular individual by NCATS or NIH. 

Opportunities to Earn Digital Badges

We offer several opportunities to earn digital badges, including two courses open to the public. To receive a badge, you must meet certain criteria. For more information about earning criteria, visit our badge pages on Credly.

Principles of Preclinical Translational Science

Open to NCATS intramural trainees only
Badge earners have completed the online course Principles of Preclinical Translational Science. This means you have gained an understanding of key concepts in translation, including core scientific and operational principles that help to facilitate progress along the translational pipeline, from discoveries to delivery of health solutions. You have gained an appreciation of the research process that enables a team to produce an effective compound for use in humans and have been exposed to effective approaches for interagency and team-based partnerships to achieve this goal. You have an understanding of how these approaches can be applied broadly to advance preclinical translational research.

Learn more about the course for this badge, Principles for Preclinical Translational Science.

Translational Science in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Open to the public          
Badge earners have completed the online course Translational Science in the COVID-19 Pandemic. You have gained an understanding of effective translational science strategies used by NCATS and NIH colleagues to address research challenges magnified during the COVID-19 pandemic and to bring COVID diagnostics and therapeutics to the public. You have gained an appreciation of translational science approaches at the preclinical, clinical and population health levels that help to accelerate progress along the translational pipeline, and you understand how these approaches can be broadly applied to advance translational progress.

Learn more about the course for this badge, Translational Science in the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Storytelling in Translational Science

Open to NCATS intramural trainees only    
Badge earners have demonstrated their ability to tell a comprehensive and impactful story about their research, translational science and NCATS using the NCATS Storytelling Guide Worksheet.

Translational Science Training Program

Open to NIH intramural graduate students and postdoctoral fellows          
Badge earners have participated in the Translational Science Training Program offered through NIH’s Office of Intramural Training and Education. You have gained an understanding of the drug development process, translational science approaches to accelerate drug discovery and development, and research proposal development in translational science. You will also gain an understanding of careers related to translational science.

Advancing Innovation through Mentorship (AIM)

Open to NCATS employees    
Badge earners have participated in the Advancing Innovation through Mentorship (AIM) Program at NCATS. Through the mentorship of a certified National Science Foundation iCorps Trainer, our staff undertake a project of high value to the agency, and in doing so, build an entrepreneurial skillset around customer/stakeholder discovery and learn how to identify opportunities where research can make the largest scientific impact. Meanwhile, our staff expand their professional networks of collaborators, potential licensees and key opinion leaders and gain a new perspective on advancing translational progress.

Assay Guidance Manual (AGM) Workshop for High-Throughput Screening and Lead Discovery

Open to NIH intramural trainees    
Badge earners have participated in the AGM Workshop for High-Throughput Screening and Lead Discovery. Through the workshop, you will have gained exposure to a broad range of critical concepts underlying assay development and implementation for high-throughput screening and lead discovery projects, with a focus on rigor and reproducibility. You have learned how to identify reagents, methods and instrumentation that are well suited to biochemical, cell-based and high-content screening assays; develop robust assays and the required counter/secondary assays for targets of interest; and interpret data using important statistical and data analysis concepts.

Fundamentals of Omics Data Analysis

Open to NIH intramural trainees
Badge earners have completed the online course, Fundamentals of Omics Data Analysis. You have learned the fundamentals of coding in R as it relates omic data analyses. You used these coding abilities to conduct common data manipulations , quality checks and visualizations, basic statistical analyses and pathway analyses. Through this course, you were able to gain an appreciation for the utility of group work in coding and data analyses and an understanding of basic data approaches and steps needed for omics data analysis, with metabolomics data as a case study.