Further Clarifying NIH ’s Foreign Subaward Agreement Policy: Addressing Community Feedback
Michelle Bulls, Director, Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration (OPERA)
Dr. Lawrence Tabak, Acting Director of NIH
Today, in response to feedback received from the research community, we are releasing our final guide notice clarifying NIH’s long-standing policy on foreign subaward and consortium written agreements. In the video below, we talk about the origins of this notice, the consideration of and changes made in response to public comment, the final oversight and compliance requirements, and how these efforts will ensure NIH remains a proper steward of taxpayer support. Dr. Lawrence Tabak, Actin...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - September 15, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Mike Lauer Tags: blog Open Mike Compliance progress report Source Type: funding
The FY 2024 Loan Repayment Program Cycle is Here: New Features and Expanded Program
Applications for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 NIH Loan Repayment Program (LRP) awards will open on September 1, 2023. LRPs can repay up to $100,000 of qualified educational debt for those who are eligible and agree to perform NIH mission-relevant research. The deadline to submit an application is November 16, 2023.
The LRPs help recruit and retain highly qualified health professionals to careers in biomedical or behavioral research. Several different extramural LRP categories are available, so review each to see which may be the right fit for your research. Please also take a couple minutes to watch this brief video where Matt...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - August 30, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Mike Lauer Tags: blog Open Mike loan repayment program Source Type: funding
Animal Welfare Noncompliance: Data and Process
Brent C. Morse, DVM, DACLAM, Director, OLAW Division of Compliance Oversight Office of Extramural Research, NIH
As part of proper stewardship of taxpayer funds, we at NIH are obligated, both legally and ethically, to ensure the welfare and reduce risks for those involved in our supported research activities. This obligation includes research animals. Their humane care and use is something we take very seriously. We appreciate that Congress, the research community, interest groups, and other members of the public look towards us to observe this commitment. Today we are taking some time to touch upon our policies to protec...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - August 17, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Mike Lauer Tags: blog Open Mike Animal Welfare Grants policy Source Type: funding
Addressing Rigor in Scientific Studies
Guest blog by Devon C. Crawford, Ph.D., Program Director, Office of Research Quality, NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Originally published on the NIH Science, Health, and Public Trust blog.
Devon C. Crawford, Ph.D., Program Director, Office of Research Quality
Science communication is rapidly evolving. The growing use of preprints and the sheer number of published studies make it increasingly difficult to determine which findings are worthy of attention. Not all scientific studies are created equal. Communicators need to discern which are reputable in order to know what to co...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - August 14, 2023 Category: Research Authors: NIH Staff Tags: blog Open Mike Grants policy rigor Source Type: funding
Webinar Available on Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments (ARRIVE)
As part of our efforts to strengthen rigor of NIH-supported research involving animal models, the NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare recently hosted an informative webinar that provided an overview of the ARRIVE Essential 10, how each relates to study quality, and how to operationalize them for inclusion in research protocols and grant proposals. The “Essential 10” are statistically-based items essential for ensuring study rigor and reproducibility. However, reporting is not enough – study quality and reliability can be achieved only if these items are built into the study before data are collected.
NIH aims ...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - July 28, 2023 Category: Research Authors: NIH Staff Tags: Top Stories Animal Welfare Source Type: funding
Meet Sheila Garrity, the New Director of the HHS Office of Research Integrity
Sheila Garrity, JD, MPH, MBA, Director of the HHS Office of Research Integrity
Sheila Garrity, JD, MPH, MBA, began as director of the HHS Office of Research Integrity (ORI) in March. As our offices work closely together to address research misconduct in NIH-funded biomedical research, we recently took some time to sit down and chat to get to know her better and welcome her to this new role.
Ms. Garrity has many outstanding credentials, with over 30 years supporting research integrity efforts within academia and professional societies. She previously led research integrity and responsible conduct of research efforts at...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - July 25, 2023 Category: Research Authors: NIH Staff Tags: blog Open Mike Research integrity research misconduct Source Type: funding
Case Study in Research Integrity – Banned From Supervising, Can’t Go in Lab, but No Impact on NIH Funded Research?
We have seen rising numbers of allegations related to harassment, discrimination, and hostile work environments since 2018 (when we first started tracking them). In many cases, we successfully work with recipient institutions to put appropriate measures in place to address unsafe working environments. These measures may include removing the principal investigator (PI) from the award or putting additional oversight measures in place. However, too often we hear from institutions that a PI has violated the institution’s policies and is no longer permitted to supervise students or staff, but there will be “no impact on NIH...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - July 17, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Mike Lauer Tags: blog Open Mike case study harassment Research integrity Source Type: funding
Find NIH Funding Statistics and More on the NIH Data Book
NIH is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world, which also means we have a lot of funding data! To get at-a-glance graphics and tables of NIH funding trends on grant awards, you can explore the NIH Data Book. The Data Book also provides basic summary statistics on success rates, small business programs, peer review, and the trainees and fellows supported through our programs.
For more information on how to use the NIH Data Book, check out this Open Mike blog post and this NIH All About Grants podcast episode. (Source: NIH Extramural Nexus)
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - July 13, 2023 Category: Research Authors: NIH Staff Tags: Tips Before You Submit Funding data NIH Data Book Source Type: funding
Strengthening Integrity and Fairness in Peer Review Through New Required Trainings
Effective for the May 2024 council round (peer review meetings in early 2024), all reviewers will be required to complete trainings related to review integrity and bias awareness prior to serving on NIH peer review groups (NOT-OD-23-156). These trainings build on our long-standing commitment to maintaining integrity and fairness throughout the review process. The NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR) developed the two interactive online training modules with significant input from dedicated CSR advisory council working groups.
The “Bias Awareness and Mitigation” module (launched in 2021) is desi...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - July 11, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Mike Lauer Tags: blog Open Mike Peer review Research integrity Source Type: funding
Final Career Stage Analyses of Applications Submitted During the Pandemic (Part 7)
The HHS-declared public health emergency for COVID-19 ended on May 11, 2023 (NOT-OD-23-095). With this milestone, we are also closing out our series of blogs on the distributions of gender and race of designated principal investigators (PIs) of R01 and RPG applications submitted before and after the onset of the pandemic. This final post builds on previous career stage analyses, specifically focusing on applications received between September 8 and May 7 over several consecutive years.
Our first four analyses (from April 2022, October 2021, June 2021, and July 2020) did not show any marked changes in...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - July 10, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Mike Lauer Tags: blog Open Mike applications career stage COVID-19 Funding data Source Type: funding
NIH All About Grants Podcast: Clinical Trials Reporting Requirements – Our Shared Commitment
Deysi Duque, MSc, PMP, Senior Clinical Trials Analyst, Office of Extramural Research, NIH
In this episode of the NIH All About Grants podcast, Deysi Duque, a Senior Clinical Trials Analyst within the NIH Office of Extramural Research, talks us through the clinical trials dissemination policy, its purpose, resources (like this decision tree), exceptions, and what recipient organizations and researchers should know to ensure compliance. This episode builds upon the Open Mike blog from March that discussed NIH’s commitment to “the timely dissemination of clinical trial results information so that the benefits of the tri...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - July 10, 2023 Category: Research Authors: NIH Staff Tags: New Resources Clinical Trials podcast Reporting Source Type: funding
Using AI in Peer Review Is a Breach of Confidentiality
“As the scientific community continues to evolve, it is essential to leverage the latest technologies to improve and streamline the peer-review process. One such technology that shows great promise is artificial intelligence (AI). AI-based peer review has the potential to make the process more efficient, accurate, and impartial, ultimately leading to better quality research.”
Amy Wernimont, Ph.D., Chief of Staff, NIH Center for Scientific Review
Stephanie Constant, Ph.D., Review Policy Officer, NIH
I suspect many of you were not fooled into thinking that was me who wrote that statement. A well-known AI tool wrot...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - June 23, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Mike Lauer Tags: blog Open Mike applications Peer review Research integrity Source Type: funding
More Early Stage Investigators Supported in FY 2022
Discussion and Funding Rates for PIs on Type 1 R01-Equivalent Applications and Awards in FY 2022 by Career Stage
Career StageApplicantsDiscussedAwardeesDiscussion Rate (%)*Funding Rate (%)Early Stage54353466160963.829.6New, Not Early72413750125751.817.4At Risk77364570208759.127.0Established110457847359871.032.6
* The Discussion Rate is a person-based metric that is the percent of applicants (actually people designated as PI’s on an application) who had at least one application make it to the discussion stage of peer review.
The next set of tables present aggregate data for sex/gender (Table 3), race (Table 4), e...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - June 5, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Mike Lauer Tags: blog Open Mike ESI Funding data NGRI Source Type: funding
Safeguarding Integrity and Collaborations: Not “Either-Or” but “Both-And”
We described our concerns in this venue on July 8, 2020; we have also assembled a content-rich foreign interference web site which includes case studies, disclosure requirements, processes for handling allegations, data, and a compilation of notices, statements, and reports.
The main points we make in our letter are:
NIH began addressing foreign interference concerns in May 2016, long before the Department of Justice launched its entirely separate “China Initiative.”
We understand concerns about racial, ethnic, or political targeting. The disproportionate number of cases (which altogether account ...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - May 25, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Mike Lauer Tags: blog Open Mike foreign interference Research integrity Source Type: funding
Learn More About UNITE ’s Progress Towards Ensuring Equity and Opportunity in Biomedical Research
The UNITE E Committee recently updated the research community on their progress towards creating a “multipronged strategy to advance racial equity and create the most inclusive biomedical research environment possible.” We wanted to briefly share a few of their efforts here.
As a reminder, NIH launched the UNITE initiative in March 2021 to end structural racism in biomedical research. Their inaugural progress report was released last October. One of five committees, UNITE E continues to focus attention on promoting and sustaining diversity, equity, and inclusion in the NIH extramural research ecosystem.
In the re...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - May 18, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Mike Lauer Tags: blog Open Mike Biomedical Workforce Diversity Source Type: funding
