Wait …It’s Not MY Grant?

Remembering back to my days as a PI, I can recall myself saying something like “yea, on my NIH grant…” when discussing my research. This may have been okay over coffee, but it is technically incorrect. We hear this confusion a lot. So, we thought it would be worthwhile to remind you about some of the respective roles of institutions and investigators working on an NIH award. For the most part, NIH makes awards to institutions, not people. This may seem counterintuitive since the idea for the research may have come from the investigator. Why do we do it this way? The rules for all Federal awards- including uniform administrative requirements, cost principles, and audit requirements anticipate that an institution/organization carries out a Federal award as the “recipient” of the award. The institution designates individuals, including an “authorized organization representative” (AOR) the program director/principal investigator (PD/PI), to assume the responsibilities described below, in fulfilling the terms and conditions of their award. The NIH Grants Policy Statement (NIH GPS), which is a term and condition of all NIH awards, summarizes these responsibilities and the respective roles of the institutions and individuals. Among other obligations, the applicant organization must certify, and in some cases submit assurances, that they comply with the public policy requirements provided in the NIH GPS.  These requirements are intended to ensure fairness, equity, fisc...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - Category: Research Authors: Tags: blog Open Mike Grants policy Source Type: funding