FAQ for VCR Policy on Late Proposal Submissions to SPO

The Sponsored Projects Office has issued a list of Frequently Asked Questions for the VCR Policy on Late Proposal Submissions to SPO.

The FAQ provides answers to the following questions:

• What qualifies as a late proposal?
• What is five days?
• Does time matter?
• How complete do you want the proposal?
• Are pre-proposals covered by the policy?
• Is a progress report considered a proposal and, therefore, subject to the five-day policy?
• Should I contact a sponsor to ask for an extension of their deadline?
• Can I submit a proposal directly to the sponsor if I can’t meet the five-day deadline?
• Can SPO grant exception to the VCRO policy?
• What is the process for seeking exception to the VCRO policy?
• Where do we email the request?
• Who can approve the late proposal to send to VCR?
• Where should we send the proposal, to SPO or VCRO?
• When we request approval for a late submission do we need to say when we are planning to submit to SPO?
• What happens if we miss the new deadline?
• If I request and exception once, will any future requests be considered?
• What if SPO has questions about a late proposal and the PI is not available?
• If I have approval for a late submission, does that guarantee my proposal will be submitted on time?
• How should the delivery box outside of SPO be used for late proposals?
  

Workshop for Graduate Students on Human Subjects Research

Rebecca Armstrong, the Director of the Berkeley campus Office for the Protection of Human Subjects is presenting a two-part workshop series for graduate students on February 24 and March 4, 2009.

There is no preregistration for either workshop. Although graduate students are encouraged to attend both parts of the series, attendance at both is not required.

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Human Subjects Research: What is it? How do you navigate through the IRB process?

WORKSHOP I: FUNDAMENTALS OF HUMAN SUBJECTS RESEARCH
Thursday, February 24, 2009 - 10:00 a.m. until noon - 370 Dwinelle Hall

This workshop will cover the following topics:

• What is human subjects research?
• What are the regulations governing human subjects research?
• Is what I’m doing research that involves human subjects?
• What does it mean when your research is exempt, expedited, or full board?
• What is CPHS and who is OPHS and how do they interrelate?
• How do CPHS and OPHS relate to the Sponsored Projects Office (SPO)?
• What is the Collaborative IRB Training Initiative (CITI) Course in the Protection of Human Subjects and am I required to take it?

WORKSHOP II: NAVIGATING THE INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD (IRB) PROCESS
Wednesday, March 4, 2009 - 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. - 370 Dwinelle Hall

This workshop will cover the nuts and bolts of submitting a research protocol to the Office for the Protection of Human Subjects, and it will focus on the following two topics:

Completing the Forms and Writing the Narratives

• How do you get a protocol through the approval process?
• When do you submit amendments to protocols?
• How do you write a good narrative?

Informed Consent and the Informed Consent Process

• What is informed consent?
• How do you write an informed consent form? What should you include?

Universities Space Research Association Funding Opportunities

UC Berkeley is a Universities Space Research Association (USRA) member institution and is eligible to participate in a new USRA Research Opportunities Program that will present funding opportunities for university researchers to collaborate with USRA researchers.

Researchers can register online at http://www.researchopps.usra.edu/ to receive email notification of opportunities, selecting from a list of areas of interest. Research opportunity notices will range from specific technical areas to opportunities for large programs and university space missions.

Federal Economic Stimulus Bill: $13.3 Billion for R&D

American Association for the Advancement of Science analysis of the potential impacts of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009 on federal funding for research and development is now available on the AAAS R&D web site.

From AAAS:

On January 15, the House Appropriations Committee released its draft text of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009, the $550 billion spending portion of an $825 billion economic stimulus package to deal with the current economic crisis. The draft bill will be debated, amended, and revised by the House and the Senate, with hopes of getting a final version of the bill to President Obama's desk by the middle of February.

AAAS estimates that the just-released House version of the 2009 stimulus appropriations bills contains $13.3 billion in federal research and development (R&D) funding out of a total $550 billion in federal spending. $9.9 billion would go to the conduct of R&D and $3.4 billion for R&D facilities and capital equipment.

The National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE OS), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the three agencies highlighted in the America COMPETES Act of 2007 and President Bush's American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI), would do extremely well in the stimulus appropriations bill. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) would receive $3.9 billion in stimulus funding.

For more details, see the FY 2009 R&D page on the AAAS R&D web site.

American Heart Association Deadline Extension

Due to significant problems with its new electronic proposal submission system (Grants@Heart), the American Heart Association has extended its proposal deadlines by five working days for those who have already entered proposal information into the new system.

The new deadline is January 29, 2009 for the National Scientist Development Grant Program or January 30, 2009 for the Western States Affiliates fellowships. Please note that the extension only applies to those who have already entered data into the system by the original published deadline dates. Therefore, the SPO deadline for these applications is now January 22, 2009 at 8:00 am for the National Scientist Development Grant program and January 23, 2009 at 8:00 am for the WSA fellowships program.

Please contact your SPO research administrator with questions.

Statement of Economic Interests (700-U) Form Revised

The State of California has issued a revised 700-U Statement of Economic Interest for Principal Investigators for immediate use. The revised form is available on the COI Committee web site and is the only version that will now be accepted. If you have any questions please contact Jyl Baldwin (jbaldwin@berkeley.edu, 2-8117). Please note that there have been no substantive changes in the form, but the version dated 2008/2009 is the only one which is valid.

State of California law requires disclosure of financial interest in the sponsor of a research project; the donor of a research gift; and, under certain circumstances, the provider of materials under a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) when that sponsor, donor, or provider is a non-governmental source. For research projects, the Statement of Economic Interests for Principal Investigators (Form 700-U) should accompany the proposal and Proposal Review Form to the Sponsored Projects Office or to the Industry Alliances Office. For MTAs, the Form 700-U should accompany the Material Transfer Agreement Review Form to the Industry Alliances Office.