Ever wonder what you should and shouldn’t put in a grant application cover letter? Dr. Cathleen Cooper, director of the Division of Receipt and Referral in NIH’s Center for Scientific Review, explains just that in the latest addition to our “All About Grants” podcast series – “Cover Letters and Their Appropriate Use” (MP3, Transcript). Continue reading
Did you know that the eRA Commons allows principal investigators the ability to grant permission to have others at their institution help with some grants administration tasks? You might want to consider whether delegating any or all of the following tasks is right for you… Continue reading
On this blog we previously discussed ways to measure the value returned from research funding. Several of my colleagues and I, led by NIGMS director Jon Lorsch – chair of an NIH Working Group on Policies for Efficient and Stable Funding – conceived of a “Research Commitment Index,” or “RCI.” We focus on the grant activity code (R01, R21, P01, etc) and ask ourselves about the kind of personal commitment it entails for the investigator(s). We start with the most common type of award, the R01, and assign it an RCI value of 7 points. And then, in consultation with our NIH colleagues, we assigned RCI values to other activity codes: fewer points for R03 and R21 grants, more points P01 grants. Continue reading
In an effort to balance rapid changes in technology and fair standards across applicants, the NIH is revising the policy and guidelines for investigators contemplating the submission of non-traditional application materials, such as videos, devices, or other media. Continue reading
As part of the continuing effort to move to electronic processes, NIH is now piloting a new eRA Commons module, which allows submission of relinquishing statements. NIH is also piloting the electronic submission of applications through Grants.gov for post-award changes … Continue reading
NIH recently issued a Notice on the availability of newly revised forms and instructions for post-award documents, including interim and final progress reports. Revised Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) forms are also now available. Revised competing applications and instructions … Continue reading
So you’re wearing your lucky shoes and are ready to take a first look at the results of your grant review. Whether you are anticipating doing a victory dance or getting ready to head out to the nearest kickboxing class, it’s a good time to think about what comes next. Continue reading
In an earlier post we examined the number of competing applications for investigator-initiated research project grants (RPGs) over time and found that, in the past decade or so, most of the increase in submitted applications is due to more applicants rather than more applications per investigator. Continue reading
NIH added a new set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), NIH Fiscal Policy, to address applicant budget submissions under the Fiscal Policy announced in NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-12-036 regarding cost-of-living/inflationary increases in awards, and related issues.
We all know that NIH has seen a large increase in applications over the past decade, but how much of this is due to scientists writing more applications and how much is a result of a larger number of scientists doing biomedical research? Continue reading