The National Institutes of Health, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health have decided to eliminate the error correction window for applications with due dates on or after January 25, 2011. There will continue to be an application-review window (for two business days after submission), but corrected or changed applications submitted after the deadline date, even if they are in response to errors or warnings identified by the eRA Commons, will no longer be accepted.
This decision underscores the importance of OSP's deadline policy, which envisions that proposals will normally be submitted at least one to two days before the actual submission deadline precisely to allow time to correct any errors or other proposal issues that are identified post-submission. PIs are encouraged to contact OSP as soon as the decision to submit a proposal is made, but not less than three weeks (15 business days) before the sponsor's submission deadline, to allow for proper review of the proposal and for obtaining the necessary administrative approvals.
Last fall, OSP held two brown bag sessions to update faculty on the changes to the NIH R15 (AREA) mechanism, and changes to application structure and the peer review process. At that time, we promised to keep faculty informed of further developments.
NIH has now released the revised Parent Announcements, including the one governing the AREA mechanism. In light of the FY 2010 changes to the AREA program, AREA program manager Mary Ann Guadagno will lead a web conference on January 28, 2010, from 1-3 p.m. OSP has registered for this web conference, and we invite interested faculty members to attend. We will hold the session in the Regency Room of the Holmes Student Center. If you plan to attend, please let me know.
If you have questions, please feel free to call, write, or stop in.
The National Institutes of Health have announced their new proposal guidelines, effective for submissions on or after January 25, 2010. The new guidelines are available on the NIH website at: http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/forms.htm.
Notable changes in these guidelines are the realignment of the application sections with the new review criteria, and the reduction of page limits for the research strategy (formerly known as the research plan). For most of the standard application types, research strategy sections are limited to either six (R15, R21, and similar smaller awards) or twelve (R01 and similar larger awards) pages. NIH has a brief, 12-minute video available that outlines the major changes to the application forms and instructions. OSP has also prepared a tipsheet to assist researchers in preparing proposals under the new guidelines.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has issued a revised Grant Proposal Guide (GPG, NSF 10-1). The new GPG is effective for proposals submitted on or after January 4, 2010 and is now available on the NSF website.
The major change for faculty to be aware of is the requirement for an institutional plan for training in the ethical and responsible conduct of research (RCR) for students (undergraduate and graduate) and postdoctoral fellows. NSF will also now be requiring PIs to submit a report of their project outcomes online at Research.gov at the end of a grant period.
As part of its ongoing revision of the peer-review process, the National Institutes of Health has announced new scoring procedures and review criteria for proposals submitted for funding in FY 2010. The first round of affected proposals will be due January 25.
Researchers considering applying to the PRF for funding should be aware of the intellectual property implications of accepting such a grant. As stated on the ACS-PRF FAQ page, and also in the Terms and Conditions (PDF link), any patent taken out which is derived from research funded in whole or in part by a PRF grant must be dedicated to the public, royalty free.
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