2013 Summer News Bulletin
This edition of SR-PD's News Bulletin highlights our latest endeavors and planned efforts.
From January through June 2013, 183 grant applications were submitted through SR-PD, 99 to public and 84 to private sponsors (33% Collaborative/Multi-PI, 32% Single PI, and 35% Career/Fellowships). The University received 37 new and competing awards during this period, 22 from public and 15 from private sponsors (27% Collaborative/Multi-PI, 35% Single PI, and 38% Career/Fellowships).
As reported in our June Spotlight, several updates in the NIH electronic Research Administration (eRA) requirements, including the use of the new Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) for submission of annual performance reporting on research grants, have kept SR-PD members especially busy in recent months. The NSF has similarly implemented usage of the RPPR for their own project reporting earlier in the spring. The implementation of the InfoEd Enterprise Staging Area (ESA) and Single Sign-On (SSO), which together streamline the management of InfoEd user profiles and system access with the RU-IT environment, has been successfully completed since our last bulletin.
Moving ahead with our outreach efforts to laboratory administrators, our 15th ResAdmin Forum, offered updates on subcontract requirements, a review of the RPPR process, an overview of linking publications with My NCBI, along with other news on related topics. SR-PD continues to contribute to the Human Resources new employee orientations, and to host individual and group InfoEd training and grant tutorials, tailored to the needs of our researchers. Altogether, in the past six months, SR-PD members offered 23 training sessions to RU investigators, as well as to administrators supporting them.
The Tri-Institutional Collaboration Network (TCN) kicked 2013 off with The Non-Federal Funding Landscape in January, followed by two February events – Successful Strategies for Securing Large-scale Collaborative Biomedical Research Funding and Meet the President: Marc Tessier-Lavigne. We had workshops on Developing Mentoring Competencies in March, and Grant Writing at the Next Level: Building on Success to Become a Leader in May. Close to 250 members of the Tri-Institutional community benefited from TCN events so far in 2013. Participants consisted of junior and senior faculty, administrators, and managers, and the workshops were well received.
We are happy to announce the newest SR-PD member, Joyce Ng, who recently joined SR-PD in the position of Grants Management Specialist. She has prior experience in grants administration and looks forward to working with you.
News at a Glance (January - June 2013)
In planning for the 2013-14 academic year, we are considering new outreach topics, such as the challenges of international projects and solutions, funding opportunities for translational research, working with non-federal funders, team science and collaborative grant writing efforts, and an NIH Grant workshop in partnership with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
With InfoEd and RU-IT support, more eRA improvements are coming soon, among them an InfoEd version upgrade that will enable us to keep up with eRA advancements, a web-based Routing Form, new and revamped features and content on our website, as well as a reconfigured editing system.
SR-PD is preparing for the new Application Submission System & Interface for Submission Tracking (ASSIST), which will be used to submit multi-project grant applications electronically to NIH for due dates on or after September 25, 2013. The use of the NIH FORMS-C packages that were recently announced will also be required for applications due on or after September 25, 2013. The NSF expects to release its revised Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) in Fall 2013, with changes to be effective January, 2014. SR-PD is working to ensure that our environment is ready for and compliant with all new requirements.
The National Science Board (NSB) of the National Science Foundation (NSF), and others have been evaluating the level of administrative burden on federally-funded investigators. Results of the Second Faculty Workload Survey, conducted in 2012 by the Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP), were recently published and indicate a level of burden similar to that reported in the First Faculty Workload Survey from 2005. Researchers still report that 42% of their federally-funded research time is spent on meeting federal sponsors' administrative/compliance requirements. The FDP has been sharing survey findings with the Administration, federal sponsors, and other parties that could have a role in reducing regulatory demands on federal assistance programs.
In other national sponsored research news, the government is proposing a major reform of federal policies relating to grantees’ management of grants and cooperative agreements. Committed to aligning the proposed reform with academic research practices and the nature of the enterprise, our national organizations have submitted comments (e.g. AAMC comments) and are in discussions with the Administration.
Last but not least, the impact of the 2013 sequestration and decreasing research resources remain very much on our mind. As new information emerges, we monitor closely sponsors’ fiscal policies and strategies, and work with you to minimize negative implications to RU research funding.
We encourage you to take advantage of our services and resources, and to share your needs and ideas with us.
Have a healthy and productive summer!
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2013 Winter News Bulletin
2012 Summer News Bulletin
2012 Winter New Bulletin
2011 Summer News Bulletin
2011 Winter News Bulletin
2010 Summer News Bulletin
2010 Winter News Bulletin
2009 Summer News Bulletin
2009 Winter News Bulletin
2008 Summer News Bulletin
2008 Winter News Bulletin
