October 28, 2011

NSF Revises Award Terms and Conditions, Applicable February 1, 2012

The National Science Foundation Policy Office issued the following “Dear Colleague” notice on October 28, 2011.


Dear Colleagues:

I wanted to make you aware that the Foundation’s entire suite of Award Terms and Conditions (see full listing below) has been revised to implement two new requirements, which are either mandated by regulation or legislation. Each set of terms and conditions is accompanied by a comprehensive summary of the changes made to that document.

The revised Terms and Conditions will apply to all new NSF awards and funding amendments to existing NSF awards issued on or after February 1, 2012. In addition to clarifications and other changes made to the conditions, significant changes include:
  • Travel*, has been updated to incorporate revised circumstances under which use of a foreign-flag air carrier is permissible. The Article provides information on recent modifications to the “Open Skies” Agreement with the European Union, and includes a link to the General Services Administration website for additional information.

  • Academic Technology Transfer and Commercialization of University Research**, is a new Article which requires higher education institutions that have NSF research support and at least $25,000,000 in total Federal research grants in the most recently completed Federal fiscal year to submit to NSF the URL that contains information on their transfer of technology and commercialization of research results efforts. This change has been mandated by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act.
Revisions have been made to the following documents:
  • NSF Agency Specific Requirements (ASR) to the Research Terms and Conditions (RTC);
  • Grant General Conditions (GC-1);
  • Cooperative Agreement Financial & Administrative Terms and Conditions (CA-FATC);
  • Cooperative Agreement Supplemental Financial & Administrative Terms and Conditions for Managers of Large Facilities
  • Cooperative Agreement Supplemental Financial & Administrative Terms and Conditions for Managers of Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCS)
  • International Research Terms and Conditions
  • Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I Grant General Conditions;
  • Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II Grant General Conditions; and
  • Administration of NSF Conference or Group Travel Grant Special Conditions (FL 26).
* This article does not apply to the SBIR/STTR Phase I grant conditions.
** This article only applies to the ASR and CA-FATC grant conditions.

These Award Terms and Conditions have been posted to the NSF website and are available electronically at: http://www.nsf.gov/awards/managing/award_conditions.jsp?org=NSF.

If you have any questions on these changes, please contact the DIAS/Policy Office on (703) 292-8243 or by email to policy@nsf.gov.

Regards,

Jean Feldman
Head, Policy Office
Division of Institution & Award Support (DIAS)
National Science Foundation

Campus Hosting Workshop for Pacific Rim Research Program Applicants on November 4

The Berkeley campus is hosting an informational meeting for potential applicants to the UC Pacific Rim Research Program. The meeting will be held on Friday, November 4, 2011, from noon to 1:00 pm, in the Institute of East Asian Studies Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street, 6th floor.

Lisa Nishioka, Program Coordinator at the UC Pacific Rim Research Program, will be answering questions from interested faculty and graduate students regarding the current Call For Proposals. Jackie Jones, staff coordinator for the Berkeley review of proposals, and Martin Backstrom, Berkeley campus liaison to the UC Pacific Rim Research Program, will also be attending the workshop. Faculty and graduate students are invited to bring their lunch to the meeting. Coffee and tea will be provided.

The Berkeley campus limited submission deadline for the program is December 7, 2011. More information on the campus application instructions is available in the October 6 Calmessages announcement (Calnet authentication required).

October 27, 2011

UC Laboratory Fees Research Grant Program Now Open

The UC Office of the President has issued the Call for Proposals for UC Laboratory Fees Research Program. The program is funded by a portion of the management fees that the University receives for the management of the Los Alamos and Livermore national laboratories based on an annual performance evaluation.

Research funded under this program must 1) be either collaborations or complementary projects between University faculty, researchers, and students and researchers from Los Alamos and/or Livermore national laboratories; 2) be related to the missions of the laboratories; and 3) advance the research and training mission of UC. This research opportunity is open to all fields, including physical sciences and engineering, life sciences, social sciences, and the humanities.

The deadline for letters of intent is December 6, 2011, and the deadline for applications is January 18, 2012.

October 21, 2011

NIH Revises Grants Policy Statement

The National Institutes of Health has published a revised NIH Grants Policy Statement (NIHGPS, rev. 10/1/2011) applicable to all NIH grants and cooperative agreements with budget periods beginning on or after October 1, 2011.

The revision does not introduce new material; it “incorporates new and modified requirements, clarifies certain policies, and implements changes in statutes, regulations, and policies that have been implemented through appropriate legal and/or policy processes since the previous version of the GPS dated 10/1/2010.” NIH provides a chart of significant changes in Word format.

October 20, 2011

RAC Offices to Close During the Annual Campus Winter Break

The Office for Animal Care and Use, the Conflict of Interest Committee Office, the Office for the Protection of Human Subjects, the Sponsored Projects Office, and the Research Administration and Compliance Office will be closed during the campus energy curtailment beginning Monday, December 26, 2011 until Monday, January 2, 2012. Offices will reopen on Monday, January 2, 2012.

The RAC offices will also be closed for the afternoon, beginning at 12 noon, on Friday, December 16, 2011.

SPO Proposal Submission

SPO will process proposals due in December 2011 and January 2012 according to the VCR’s five-day proposal submission policy with the following exceptions:
  • For proposals with deadlines that fall during the curtailment period (Saturday, December 24 through Sunday, January 1), the due date to SPO will be no later than noon Monday, December 19, 2011.
  • For proposals due the first week of January 2012, the due date to SPO shall be FIVE FULL BUSINESS DAYS. For example, if the due date is 5 pm on Monday, January 2, 2012, the SPO deadline is no later than noon on Tuesday, December 20, 2011. Proposals due Tuesday, January 3 shall be received no later than noon Wednesday, December 21, and so on.
Principal Investigators also are encouraged to inform their SPO Research Analyst if they will be submitting a proposal with a due date just prior to, during, or just after the curtailment period. This will give SPO and the PI an opportunity to discuss the best way to handle the proposal to make sure it is submitted in a timely manner.

COI Disclosure Submission

In order to be on the agenda for any meeting, complete disclosure packets must be received no later than 10 working days prior to the date of the meeting.
  • The deadline for submission for the December 15, 2011 meeting is December 1, 2011.
ACUC Protocol Submission

Please note that all protocols and protocol revisions must be submitted via email to acuc@berkeley.edu by 5 pm on the deadline date. If you wish to make changes to an approved protocol, you must first contact the Office for Animal Care and Use (OACU) to obtain a copy of the current approved version of your protocol. Failure to do so may result in your protocol being returned to you.
  • The deadline for full committee review of protocol submissions for the January 18, 2012 meeting is Monday, December 5, 2011.
  • Likewise, the deadline for protocol submission for the February 15, 2012 meeting is January 3, 2012.
CPHS Protocol Submission

Important: if your study is “greater than minimal risk” needing full board review and the approval will expire before January 20, 2012, you must submit your renewal application in time for review at a December 2011 CPHS meeting.
  • The deadline for protocol submission for the December 2, 2011 CPHS-1 meeting is Monday, November 7, 2011.
  • The deadline for protocol submission for the December 16, 2011 CPHS-2 meeting is Monday, November 21, 2011.
  • There is no CPHS-1 meeting in January 2012.
  • The deadline for protocol submission for the January 20, 2012 CPHS-2 meeting is Monday, December 19, 2011.
  • The deadline for protocol submission for the February 3, 2012 CPHS-1 meeting is Monday, January 2, 2012.

October 10, 2011

New Funding Opportunity Tools for Researchers - COS Pivot

The COS Funding Opportunities database contains over 25,000 domestic and international funding opportunities related to all academic areas including the arts, humanities, social sciences and physical sciences. COS is available to Berkeley faculty, other researchers, staff, and students.

COS has recently launched COS Pivot, a new web-based funding and collaboration tool that will eventually enhance the current COS Funding Opportunities database by providing a number of exciting new features that will make the search for funding, easier, more productive, and more collaborative.

COS Pivot is available to the Berkeley campus on a trial basis until the current campus COS subscription expires in the summer of 2012. COS Funding Opportunities will continue to be available in parallel for a limited time, probably only through the end of 2011.

COS Pivot Overview

COS Pivot will continue to allow searching the COS funding database as it has in the past, but now COS will direct faculty and other scholars to suggested funding opportunities and potential collaborators within UC Berkeley and at other institutions that match the scholar’s individual profile.

It is important for faculty and scholars to understand that the funding opportunities and potential collaborators that COS Pivot identifies will only be useful if the scholar’s individual profile is accurate. Therefore, faculty and scholars always should review and update the profile COS has created for them to ensure that the funding opportunities and collaborators based on this profile are valid. Existing profiles may be updated by submitting a CV. New profile content submitted is checked by COS editorial staff then used to update the profile database.

COS Pivot includes profiles for over three million scholars around the world, together with verified affiliation and publication information. Faculty and other scholars can use COS Pivot profiles to identify potential collaborators at UC Berkeley and at other institutions by using the expertise profiles in the system. Researchers with profiles will have access to a COS Pivot Advisor that lists funding opportunities based on their profile information.

COS Pivot also will allow individuals to create, organize and save searches on specific funding topics, receive automatic weekly email alerts on new funding opportunities based on these searches, share these funding searches with other individuals and groups both at UC Berkeley and at other institutions, and keep track of shared searches.

Getting Started

COS Pivot maybe be used from any campus-based computer for basic searches without setting up an account. UC Berkeley faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to create a COS Pivot account to be able to log in from any location and have access to the tools for managing searches and opportunities. Faculty and scholars are also encouraged to then claim their profile or have one created. The more detail and the more accurate the profile, the better the funding opportunity matches. For guidance on COS profiles, see the COS Pivot Profile Overview and Creating and Updating Your Profile.

We encourage all Berkeley faculty, other researchers, staff, and students to use COS Pivot. Training and online tutorials are available from COS and an overview is provided on the SPO web site. We welcome feedback to help us evaluate the new service while the trial subscription is available. Please note that human interaction with the system is important to create better matches and search results, in particular when using the system-generated matches between expertise profiles and funding opportunities.

For more help or with question or problems, please contact Shelley Sprandel (spore@berkeley.edu or 2-8122). SPO will provide training for departments; department contacts may contact Shelley or Pam Miller (plfmiller@berkeley.edu) for more information and to set up a session.

Interactive Movie on Research Misconduct from ORI

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Research Integrity offers an interactive movie, The Lab: Avoiding Research Misconduct, that allows you to play the roles of four lead characters making decisions about integrity in research: a grad student, a postdoc, a principal investigator, and a research integrity officer. You make choices while playing the characters, changing the outcome to either end well or badly.

The video simulation addresses Responsible Conduct of Research topics such as avoiding research misconduct, mentorship responsibilities, handling of data, responsible authorship, and questionable research practices.

The movie requires a web browser, speakers or headphones, and Adobe Flash Player 10+.

October 04, 2011

Campus Research Hub May Help Meet Sponsor Data Management Requirements

Research Hub is a new UC Berkeley web-based service for secure data storage and management and for collaboration, provided by Information Services and Technology (IST). Research Hub serves the entire campus community: individual scholars, project teams, and departments. The service can be used by anyone with a CalNet ID. Each account comes with 10 gigabytes of free storage, and additional storage and departmental accounts are available for purchase. Future enhancements include guest accounts for access to off-campus partners, and ability to migrate content to the UC3 Merritt preservation repository.

Researchers may be interested in using Research Hub for secure storage of data related to human subjects research. Research Hub may also help meet NSF and other sponsor requirements for data management, including dissemination channels for publishing and long-term preservation. Research Hub currently supports several common metadata schemas, and allows for new ones to be added to meet the demands of campus research.

Resources: