NIH Reminds Grantees to Use RPPR for Progress Reports for Awards with Start Dates on or after July 1, 2013

The National Institutes of Health has issued a reminder to grantees that “they are required to use the eRA Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) Commons Module for submitting Streamlined Noncompeting Award Process (SNAP) and Fellowship progress reports for awards with start dates on or after July 1, 2013 (i.e., due dates on or after May 15, 2013, for SNAP awards and May 1, 2013, for Fellowships).”

Progress reports submitted in another format for SNAP and fellowships will not be processed by the NIH and will require resubmission in the RPPR format.

If a progress report for a fellowship has been submitted on paper, the grantee must resubmit the progress report using the RPPR format.

If a progress report for a SNAP grant has been initiated as an eSNAP, the grantee must contact the NIH eRA Help Desk to change the progress report format to the RPPR. It may take eRA up to two business days to reset the progress report so the grantee can start a progress report in the appropriate format.

Resources

• NIH eRA Commons: How to Submit to RPPR
• NIH Reminds Grantee Institutions of the Requirement to Use the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) for All SNAP and Fellowship Progress Reports for Awards with Start Dates On or After July 1, 2013 (NOT-OD-13-061)
• NIH Requires Use of RPPR for All SNAP and Fellowship Progress Reports, and Expands RPPR Functionality (NOT-OD-13-035)
• Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR)

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December 4 Research Advocate: NIH RPPR Requirement Coming in Spring 2013

Obama Announces BRAIN Initiative

On April 2, President Obama announced a new BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) Initiative designed to revolutionize our understanding of the human brain, to be funded with approximately $100 million in the President’s Fiscal Year 2014 Budget.

Beginning in fiscal year 2014, the National Institutes of Health, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the National Science Foundation will support approximately $100 million in “research to accelerate the development and application of new technologies that will enable researchers to produce dynamic pictures of the brain that show how individual brain cells and complex neural circuits interact at the speed of thought.” Federal agencies will partner with companies, foundations, and other private institutions, such as the Allen Institute, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Kavli Foundation, and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

Resources

• White House Fact Sheet: BRAIN Initiative
• White House Blog: BRAIN Initiative Challenges Researchers to Unlock Mysteries of Human Mind
• NIH: Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative
• NIH Director’s Blog
• National Science Foundation Participates in White House Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative
• DARPA: Better Understanding of Human Brain Supports National Security
• UC Berkeley News: Campus poised to join Obama’s BRAIN initiative

National Science Board Seeks Faculty Input on Administrative Workload Associated with Federal Awards

In 2005 and 2012, the Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP) conducted faculty burden surveys that indicate that administrative burdens associated with federal research funding consume roughly 42 percent of an awardee’s available research time.

The National Science Board (NSB), which establishes the policies of the National Science Foundation and recommends and encourages the pursuit of national policies for the promotion of research and education in science and engineering, recently established a Task Force on Administrative Burdens charged with examining faculty administrative workload as it relates to federally sponsored research.

The NSB Task Force has released a Request for Information (RFI) seeking recommendations from principal investigators for reducing the administrative workload associated with their federal awards. Responses to the RFI will be accepted through May 24, 2013.

In addition, the Task Force will be conducting three Roundtable Discussions to elicit feedback directly from faculty and administrators. To attend any of the discussions, please send email to Administrative-Reform-Inquiries@nsf.gov.

• April 16, 2013, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, 4:00 PM, Location TBD
• April 30, 2013, Tufts University, Boston, MA, 11:30 AM, Winthrop Street Function Hall
• May 1, 2013, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA, 1:30 PM, Georgia Tech Global Learning Center