July 23, 2015

NIH Seeks Suggestions on NIH-wide Strategic Plan

In response to a request from the Congress, the National Institutes of Health is developing a five-year NIH-wide Strategic Plan. The goal is not to outline the important research opportunities for specific disease applications, but to highlight major trans-NIH themes. NIH is inviting comments and suggestions regarding the proposed framework from the scientific research community and the general public. Responses are due by August 16, 2015.

For more information, see Request for Information (RFI): Inviting Comments and Suggestions on a Framework for the NIH-wide Strategic Plan (NOT-OD-15-118).

Comments Invited on Draft RPPR Revision

The National Science Foundation has published a “request for public comment on an updated standardized Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) format to be used for both interim and final performance progress reporting” in the July 23 Federal Register. Comments are due September 21.

The RPPR was originally developed for use in preparation and submission of annual and other interim performance progress reports, resulting from an initiative of the Research Business Models (RBM) federal interagency working group. A revised draft of the format has been developed to incorporate lessons learned by agencies during the initial implementation. On behalf of the RBM, NSF will continue to serve as the sponsor of the updated version of the federal-wide performance progress reporting format.

The draft format, a summary of significant changes, and the Federal Register notice are available on the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) page hosted by NSF.

July 20, 2015

NIH ASSIST Available for Ts, K12, and Other Training and Research Programs

The National Institutes of Health has announced that ASSIST is now a submission option for NIH Institutional Training and Career Development applications (Ts and K12), other training applications (Ds), and additional research applications.

ASSIST is an optional online system to help with the preparation and submission of certain types of NIH grant applications through Grants.gov. Please note that all ASSIST users working on an application must have eRA Commons accounts and all standard registration requirements apply.

As of July 2015, ASSIST support is now available for the following programs:
  • All multi-project grant programs (May 2013: NOT-OD-13-075)
  • Small Research Grant (R03) and Exploratory/Developmental Grant (R21) programs (January 2015: NOT-OD-15-062)
  • Research Grant (R01), Research Project Cooperative Agreements and Individual Career Development Award (K, excluding K12) programs (April 2015: NOT-OD-15-098, NOT-OD-15-099)
  • Institutional Training and Career Development programs (Ts and K12), other training programs (Ds), and additional research applications (DP7, R13, R15, R18, R21/R33, R24, R25, R33, R34, R35, R36, R61/R33, RF1, RM1, SI2/R00, U13, U18, U24, U2R, U34, UA5, UF1, UG3/UH3, UH1, UH2, UH2/UH3, UH3, UH4, UM1)
For more information, see ASSIST Now an Option for Institutional Training and Career Development (Ts and K12), Other Training Grants (Ds) and Various Research Applications (NOT-OD-15-126).

May 1, 2015 Research AdvocateNIH ASSIST Now an Option for R01, Most K, and U01 Applications
January 30, 2015 Research Advocate: An ASSIST for NIH R03 and R21

July 14, 2015

DoD Seeks Proposals for the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) and Defense University Instrumentation Program (DURIP)

The U.S. Department of Defense is soliciting proposals for two funding programs, the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) and the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP).

The MURI program supports basic research in science and engineering at U.S. institutions of higher education that is of potential interest to DoD. The program is focused on multidisciplinary research efforts where more than one traditional discipline interacts to provide rapid advances in scientific areas of interest to the DoD. The program addresses high risk basic research and attempts to understand or achieve something that has never been done before. Awards are $1,000,000 to $2,500,000 per year, for a three year-base period with one two-year option period to bring the total maximum term of the award to five years. The program deadlines are September 8, 2015 for white papers, and December 7, 2015 for proposals. For more information, see the Grants.gov listings: Office of Naval Research, Army Research Office, and Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

DURIP is designed to improve the capabilities of U.S. institutions of higher education to conduct research and to educate scientists and engineers in areas important to national defense, by providing funds for the acquisition of research equipment. Grants will be for the purchase of research equipment costing $50,000 or more, which typically cannot be purchased within the budgets of single-investigator awards. DoD estimates that 180 awards will be made across the administering agencies, ranging from $50,000 to $1,500,000, with an approximate average award of $290,000. The deadline for proposals is September 25, 2015. For more information, see the Grants.gov listings: Office of Naval Research, Army Research Office, and Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

Also see the Interim Vice Chancellor for Research Calmessages notice for these programs: DoD Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) and Defense University Instrumentation Program (DURIP).