OSPA Welcomes Dr. Abebaw Adamu in February 2019

MU OSPA was selected by the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) to host a fellow as part of IREX’s University Administration Support Program. We are pleased to announce that Dr. Abebaw Adamu from Addis Ababa University in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia will be on site for the month of February. Dr. Adamu currently serves as the Director of the Ethiopian Institute for Higher Education at Addis Ababa University. While he is visiting MU, he will work closely with OSPA to gain an understanding of our research operations including identifying funding opportunities, submitting proposals, and managing awards. Additionally, he will spend some time with various administrative offices on campus, and visit with researchers. We are very excited to have the opportunity to work with Dr. Adamu and look forward to introducing him to our amazing research community!

NIH Reminds Investigators to Disclose All Financial Interests

NIH recently published a Notice reminding investigators that they “must disclose all financial interests received from a foreign institution of higher education or the government of another country.”  As a reminder, all sources of research support must be disclosed to the NIH.

Where disclosures should be made:        

• “Current and pending support” section in grant proposals
• “Other support” section in grant proposals
• “Active and pending support” section in grant proposals 
• Just-in-Time (JIT) responses
• Progress reports

In addition, University of Missouri policies require that an investigator’s financial interests be disclosed through the Conflict of Interest process.

Learn more about the University’s response to the NIH Notice here: https://research.missouri.edu/ospa/guidance_to_disclose_all_financial_interests.php

November 2018 Grant Connections Notes

Minutes from the Grant Connections meeting on November 14, 2018 are now available. Please follow the links below to access the materials.

Not able to attend? We’ve got you covered. Here’s a link to the recording of the session: https://missouri.zoom.us/recording/share/aIUze2RocWdTTm6kOwsRx2OM4vTG6H-rcEdlsvHFsMqwIumekTziMw?startTime=1542214966000.

We hope to see everyone at our next meeting on January 23, 2019!

November 2018 Grant Connections Minutes
PS Upgrade PowerPoint
OSPA Open House Flyer

Plenary Sessions for Fall 2018 NSF Grants Conference Offered via Webcast

Experience the Fall 2018 National Science Foundation (NSF) Grants Conference virtually!

The plenary sessions for the upcoming conference in New Orleans, Louisiana on November 8-9, 2018 will be webcast live to the research community.

View the plenary sessions to gain key insights into a wide range of current issues at NSF including: the state of current funding, new and current policies and procedures, and pertinent administrative issues.

Please click here for more information and to register.

Check out the webcast agenda for more information on the sessions that will be covered. 

These sessions will be recorded for on-demand viewing once the conference has concluded.  Presentations will also be available on the conference website. 

If you have any questions, please send an email to: grants_conference@nsf.gov, or call 703.245.7562.

NIH Releases New Peer Review Videos for Applicants

The NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR) released “What Happens to your NIH Grant Application” and “Top 10 Peer Review Q&A for NIH Applicants” for applicants, their mentors, and grant management officials.

NSF Develops "The Art and Science of Reviewing Proposals" Video

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is committed to ensuring a fair, competitive, and transparent merit review process. The reviews submitted by external peer reviewers are an important part of the decision-making process and a crucial source of feedback to Principal Investigators. NSF has developed a short reviewer orientation video that provides helpful tips for writing high quality reviews.  

NSF encourages all reviewers to watch the orientation video, “The Art and Science of Reviewing Proposals,” which can be accessed in FastLane through the Panelist Travel and Reimbursement page and the Proposal Review, Ad Hoc Reviewers page. You can also view the video directly at https://tipsforreviewers.nsf.gov. 

There is a link at the end of the video to additional resources, a list of helpful hints, and a short feedback survey. NSF values your feedback and will use the results of the survey improve future reviewer orientation materials.

NSF Revises Award Terms and Conditions

The following sets of NSF Award Terms and Conditions have been revised:

• NSF Agency Specific Requirements to the Research Terms and Conditions (ASR);
• Cooperative Agreement Financial & Administrative Terms and Conditions (CA-FATC);
• Cooperative Agreement Modifications and Supplemental Financial and Administrative Terms and Conditions for Major Multi-User Research Facility Projects and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers;
• Grant General Conditions (GC-1); and
• Administration of NSF Conference or Group Travel Award Grant Conditions (FL-26). 

Important changes include:

• Revision of the Micro-purchase and Simplified Acquisition Thresholds (Procurement Standards) article to align with Section 806 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2018, as implemented by Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memorandum M-18-18, dated June 20, 2018; and
• Implementation of the “Notification Requirements Regarding Sexual Harassment, Other Forms of Harassment, or Sexual Assault” award term and condition.

Each set of terms and conditions is accompanied by a summary of changes made to that document.

• The revised Terms and Conditions will apply to all new NSF awards and funding amendments to existing NSF awards made on or after October 22, 2018. 

Agency Tips for Grant Proposals

Planning to submit a grant proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), or the American Heart Association (AHA)?  These sponsors provide resources to help ensure your grant application makes it successfully through the submission process and into reviewer hands.

NSF:

There are ten reasons NSF may return a proposal without review. See PAPPG Chapter IV.B, Proposals Not Accepted or Returned without Review for the list of reasons.  In addition, NSF currently utilizes automated compliance checking of your grant application such as Section Headings, Allowed Font Types, File Size, Character limits, among others.  The system requires any identified errors to be resolved prior to proceeding with submission.

NIH:

NIH provides a list of Common Application Errors, as well as information on common mistakes in writing grant applications.   Also, a reminder to utilize the How to Apply – Application Guide when preparing your grant proposal. 

AHA:

AHA may administratively withdraw an application from consideration for reasons including eligibility issues or non-compliance with formatting requirements [see Research Funding Application Instructions (p.45)].  They also provide useful Grant Writing Tips with a handy section of Fatal Flaws-A look at Common Errors. These and other resources are located within their complete list of Applicant Help Documents. 

Federal Demonstration Partnership September 2018 Meeting Updates

The University of Missouri-Columbia is a member of the Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP). FDP is an association of federal agencies, academic and nonprofit research institutions, and research policy organizations that work together to streamline the administration of federally sponsored research. FDP meets three times a year in which faculty and administrators talk face-to-face with decision-makers from agencies that sponsor and regulate research. Member institutions have an administrative representative and a faculty representative. MU’s representatives are Jamie Szabo, OSPA (Administrative Representative) and Sara Gable, Office of Research Faculty Fellow (Faculty Representative).

Presentation slides from the September 2018 meeting can be found here, including the Federal Agency Updates:

• NIH Update
• NSF Update
• ONR Update
• AFOSR Update
• USDA Update
• USAMRAA Update
• GUIRR Update

Training Grant Workshop - NIH T32

For more information and to register, click here to go to our Eventbrite site.