How Virtual Convenings Can Enhance Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility

February 24, 2022

Our latest guest post describes the NIH Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity Office’s commitment to hold all seminars, conferences, and meetings entirely online throughout 2022. The COVID-19 pandemic-induced shift to online events has led to a growing body of research on the impact of virtual scientific convenings. A review of this literature suggests that an entirely or primarily virtual format can enhance meeting access, diversity, and climate.

K99/R00 Candidates Can Continue to Take Advantage of COVID-Related Eligibility Extensions

February 17, 2022

Under normal circumstances, individuals must have no more than four years of postdoctoral research experience to be eligible to apply for a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence award. Due to ongoing disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, NIH will continue to allow up to a two-receipt cycle eligibility extension for candidates on K99/R00 applications to parent announcements. If you are planning to take advantage of this flexibility, there are a few details to keep in mind.

Extending Existing Guidance for Preparing Applications During COVID-19 

January 11, 2022

For Spring 2022 due dates, NIH recently extended the guidance that while grant applications should not include contingency or recovery plans for problems resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, investigators may address effects due to the pandemic on productivity or other scoreable issues in the personal statement of the biosketch. NIH also extended the special exception for post-submission material to applications submitted for the August/October 2022 Council rounds.

More Data on Applications Submitted During the Pandemic

October 20, 2021

Twice since the onset of the public health emergency we have taken a look at the number of research applications submitted together with some demographic information on the affiliated scientists. We are continuing to follow this analysis again here, focusing on NIH R01-equivalent and RPG application patterns during April 9 and August 8 over the past five years.

Reminder of COVID-19-Related Flexibilities for NIH Grants

September 24, 2021

When the public health emergency was first declared, NIH, working with OMB and HHS, quickly identified a long list of flexibilities to support the research community. The list has evolved since the pandemic began, so we would like to take this opportunity to remind the community of many of the current flexibilities we have in place.

Clarifying NIH’s Approach to Granting ESI Extensions

September 17, 2021

There has been a lot of focus on early stage investigator (ESI) extension requests in the community recently. And we certainly understand why. The experience of the COVID-19 public health emergency has brought into sharp focus that the effects of the pandemic on careers and life in general may continue for years to come. This fact has led us to revisit our approach to granting ESI extension requests.

An Updated Look at Applications Submitted During the Pandemic

June 1, 2021

In a previous post, we looked at the gender distribution of designated principal investigators (PI’s) of R01 and RPG applications submitted before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we look at NIH R01 and RPG application patterns for January 1 through April 8 over the past 6 years; these applications patterns may well reflect longer-term pandemic effects.