Archive of srs updates

**Please Note**
The information in this section is part of our archive of SRS Updates. It is provided for reference only and may be outdated.

We keep these records available to support transparency and historical reference. If you’re unsure about any information, it’s best to confirm with the sponsor or SRS.

Center Location to Learn of NIH new Initiative and Policies

NIH: Implementation of New Initiatives and Policies:  This page serves as central location where you can learn more about the status of changes impacting NIH grants process and plans for implementing new initiatives and policies.  https://grants.nih.gov/policy-and-compliance/implementation-of-new-initiatives-and-policies

Updated NIH Policy on Foreign Subawards

NOT-OD-25-104 – May 1, 2025

NIH is establishing a new award structure that will prohibit foreign subawards from being nested under the parent grant. This new award structure will include a prime with independent awards that are linked to the prime that will allow NIH to track the project’s funds individually, while scientific progress will be reported collectively by the primary institution, under the Research Performance Progress Report. NIH anticipates implementing the new award structure by no later than September 30, 2025, prior to Fiscal Year 2026.

NIH will not retroactively revise ongoing awards to remove foreign subawards at this time. NIH continues to support direct foreign awards. NIH plans to expand this policy to domestic subawards in the future, for consistency in implementing the new award structure.

Effective with the date of this notice and until the details of the new foreign collaboration award structure are released, NIH will not issue awards to domestic or foreign entities (new, renewal or non-competing continuation), that include a subaward to a foreign entity. Additionally, NIH will no longer accept prior approval requests to add a new foreign component or subaward to an ongoing project.

NIH Will Stop Posting Notices of Funding Opportunities in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts in FY 2026

NOT-OD-25-143 Notice informs the extramural community that, beginning in fiscal year 2026, NIH will no longer post NOFOs in the NIH Guide. Grants.gov will serve as NIH’s single official source for grant and cooperative agreement funding opportunities. The NIH Guide will continue to be used for policy and informational notices.

What to Expect in FY2026

• NIH NOFOs will no longer be accessible from the NIH Guide
• All NIH NOFOs (expired and active) will remain searchable on Grants.gov using their Classic search or their new Simpler search
• NOFOs will no longer be included in the weekly NIH Guide Table of Contents subscription emails. You can use Grants.gov subscription services to receive notifications of new NIH funding opportunities.
• NIH will continue to provide tools in the Funding section of NIH Grants & Funding to identify potential funding categories, topics, and opportunities you may be interested in. Any funding opportunity identified through our site will link to Grants.gov for the official opportunity posting.

Research Security Training Required Prior to Submitting a Proposal to DOE

Researchers submitting Department of Energy (DOE) proposals on or after May 1, 2025 are required to complete research security training PRIOR to proposal submission. To meet the requirement, course 2114875 : Research Security Training is now available in TrainTraq. If you have already taken all four NSF training modules, this will also meet the requirement.

NIH Limits Number of Applications per Principal Investigator Per Calendar Year

NIH has issued NOT-OD-25-132, Supporting Fairness and Originality in NIH Research Applications.

This policy is effective for applications submitted to the September 25, 2025, receipt date and beyond.

NIH is providing guidance to researchers on the appropriate usage of artificial intelligence (AI) to maintain the fairness and originality of NIH’s research application process. NIH is also instituting a new policy limiting the number of applications that NIH will consider per Principal Investigator per calendar year. 

Policy:  NIH will not consider applications that are either substantially developed by AI, or contain sections substantially developed by AI, to be original ideas of applicants. If the detection of AI is identified post award, NIH may refer the matter to the Office of Research Integrity to determine whether there is research misconduct while simultaneously taking enforcement actions including but not limited to disallowing costs, withholding future awards, wholly or in part suspending the grant, and possible termination.

NIH will only accept six new, renewal, resubmission, or revision applications from an individual Principal Investigator/Program Director or Multiple Principal Investigator for all council rounds in a calendar year.

This policy applies to all activity codes except T activity codes and R13 Conference Grant Applications. Based on recent data, this limit will affect a relatively small number of Principal Investigators while enabling the NIH to maintain consistently high-quality grant application review and appropriately steward taxpayer dollars.

Sponsored Research Services Executive Leadership Team Office Hours

Executive Leadership Team (ELT) office hour are held every month alternating between in person and virtual (Zoom) sessions starting at 8:30 – 9:30 a.m. These sessions are designed for external faculty and staff and provide an opportunity to connect, ask questions, and engage directly with the ELT.

Virtual office hours (via Zoom) will be held on the following dates (Zoom Meeting Link):

• February 18, 2026
• June 17, 2026
• August 19, 2026

In person office hours will be held at SRS – 400 Harvey Mitchell Pkwy S, Ste. 300 on the following dates:

• January 21, 2026
• March 18, 2026
• May 20, 2026
• July 15, 2026

We look forward to your participation.

NIH DROPPED REQUIREMENTS FOR PREAPPROVAL FOR UNSOLICITED APPLICATIONS REQUESTING $500,000 OR MORE IN DIRECT COSTS IN ANY ONE BUDGET PERIOD

NOT-OD-26-019 – December 3, 2025

Effective immediately, NIH will no longer require applicants requesting $500,000 or more in direct costs (excluding consortium F&A costs) in any one budget period to contact the funding Institute or Center (IC) before application submission. In line with this change, applicants are no longer required to include a cover letter identifying the Program Official contact which notes that the IC has agreed to accept assignment of the application.

NIH Leniency to be in place through May 2026 for use of SciENcv for Biosketch and Current & Pending Support Forms

NIH leniency to be in place through May 2026 for use of SciENcv for Biosketch and Current & Pending Support forms.  NIH will provide a warning but will not withdraw applications that do not comply with the use of the Common Forms.

Use of the Common Forms for Biographical Sketch, Current and Pending (Other) Support and NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement are required for application due dates and all JIT, RPPR, and Prior Approval submissions on or after January 25, 2026.

After evaluating the number and types of recent technical inquiries NIH received to both the SciENcv and eRA Service Desks, NIH recognize the difficulties these issues have had on the community’s ability to comply with the original timeline of January 25, 2026.

To allow for a period of leniency, NIH will provide a warning when the Common Forms are not used but will not withdraw applications that don’t comply with the use of the Common Forms. We expect the leniency to be in place through May 2026.

NSF 23-519: Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program Submission Window Cancelled

This was announced July 1, 2025 on  the NSF website.  NSF 23-519: Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI) | NSF – National Science Foundation

Important Information and Revision Notes

The previously announced October 15 – November 14, 2025 submission window has been cancelled. Any proposals submitted in response to this window will be returned without review.

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program will be holding a short webcast to present its plans for FY 2026. This event will be held on Thursday, July 10, 2025 at 3:00 p.m. EDT and will last no more than 1/2 hour.

Zoom meeting had concluded.

Updated NIH Processes for No-Cost Extensions

NOT-OD-25-110

May 7, 2025

This notice alerts the extramural community that NIH has temporarily disabled the No-Cost Extension functionality in eRA Commons. The Director of NIH has directed NIH staff to review all existing grants and cooperative agreements to ensure that NIH awards do not fund off-mission activities or projects. Therefore, temporarily disabling the NCE functionality in eRA Commons will allow NIH staff to review and assess all NCE requests to confirm that the activities proposed during the extension align with the NIH mission and agency priorities.

At this time, all requests for NCEs must be submitted as a prior approval request in eRA Commons, for NIH review and approval. Requests for activities that do not align with the NIH mission and agency priorities will not be approved.

Notice of Updated Effective Date for the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy

NOT-OD-25-101

April 30, 2025

NIH’s default position is maximum transparency regarding research and research findings. To achieve these goals, the NIH Public Access Policy requires Author Accepted Manuscripts accepted for publication in a journal, on or after July1, 2025, to be submitted to PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication, for public availability without embargo upon the Official Date of Publication. The Policy will continue to apply to any Author Accepted Manuscript accepted for publication in a journal that is the result of funding by NIH in whole or in part through a grant or cooperative agreement, including training grants, a contract, an Other Transaction, NIH intramural research, or the official work of an NIH employee. Author Accepted Manuscripts meeting this qualification and with acceptance dates on or after July 1, 2025, are subject to the Policy.

Updates on NSF Priorities

April 18, 2025

Sethuraman Panchanathan , Director, U.S. National Science Foundation

Updates on NSF Priorities | NSF – National Science Foundation

NSF’s broadening participation activities, including activities undertaken in fulfillment of the Broader Impacts criterion, and research on broadening participation, must aim to create opportunities for all Americans everywhere.

These efforts should not preference some groups at the expense of others, or directly/indirectly exclude individuals or groups. Research projects with more narrow impact limited to subgroups of people based on protected class or characteristics do not effectuate NSF priorities.

Investigators should prioritize the first six broader impacts goals as defined by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010:

(1) Increasing the economic competitiveness of the United States.

(2) Advancing of the health and welfare of the American public.

(3) Supporting the national defense of the United States.

(4) Enhancing partnerships between academia and industry in the United States.

(5) Developing an American STEM workforce that is globally competitive through improved pre-kindergarten through grade 12 STEM education and teacher development, and improved undergraduate STEM education and instruction.

(6) Improving public scientific literacy and engagement with science and technology in the United States.

(7) Expanding participation of women and individuals from underrepresented groups in STEM – Investigators wishing to address goal seven must ensure that all outreach, recruitment, or participatory activities in NSF projects are open and available to all Americans.

Postponing the Date for NIH Common Forms Implementation for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support

To further support a successful transition to the Common Forms, NIH is postponing the May 25, 2025 implementation for all applications and Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPRs). NIH will issue future Guide Notices outlining the new effective date and additional implementation details as they are finalized. NIH applicants and recipients must continue to use the current NIH Biosketch and Other Support format pages for applications, Just-in-Time (JIT) and RPPRs.

NIH Update on Genomic Data Sharing

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) updated its Genomic Data Sharing (GDS) Policy to align with evolving practices in data management, particularly concerning controlled-access large-scale human and non-human genomic data.

The updates, apply specifically to 20 controlled-access data repositories listed here, and focus on two main areas: modernizing security standards for data protection for Approved Users and setting minimum access requirements for Developers.  

Researchers accessing human genomic data from these 20 NIH controlled access repositories must attest the institutional systems they use to store or access the data meet the requirements of NIST SP 800-171 regardless of whether the research project involving the genomic data is sponsored or funded by NIH. *The attestation process may look slightly different across the 20 NIH controlled access repositories. The policy applies to new and renewal users.

Please consult your local departmental IT representative to determine if your data storage systems meet the NIST 800-171 requirements and to discuss how best to manage the controlled data you will be using.

For additional questions regarding this policy, contact the NIH GDS office.

You may also contact the TAMU Director of Research Data.

NIH Resources

• NIH Overview of the NIH Security Best Practices for Users of Controlled-Access Data – Webinar
• NIH Security Best Practices for Controlled-Access Data and Repositories
• NIH NOT-OD-24-157 Implementation Update for Data Management and Access Practices Under the Genomic Data Sharing Policy
• Genomic Data Sharing Policy FAQ – Section M. NIH Security Best Practices

NIH Simplified Peer Review Framework

NIH is simplifying peer review for most research project grants (RPGs) for application due dates of January 25, 2025 or later in order to address the complexity of the peer review process and the potential for reputational bias to affect peer review outcomes.

The Simplified Framework for NIH Peer Review Criteria retains the five regulatory criteria (Significance, Investigators, Innovation, Approach, Environment) but reorganizes them into three factors — two will receive numerical criterion scores and one will be evaluated for sufficiency.

All three factors will be considered in arriving at the Overall Impact score. The reframing of the criteria serves to focus reviewers on three central questions reviewers should be evaluating: How important is the proposed research, how rigorous and feasible are the methods, and whether the investigators and institution have the expertise/resources necessary to carry out the project.

· Factor 1: Importance of the Research (Significance, Innovation), scored 1-9

· Factor 2: Rigor and Feasibility (Approach), scored 1-9

· Factor 3: Expertise and Resources (Investigator, Environment), to be evaluated as either sufficient for the proposed research or not (in which case reviewers must provide an explanation)

The change to having peer reviewers assess the adequacy of investigator expertise and institutional resources as a binary choice is designed to have reviewers evaluate Investigator and Environment with respect to the work proposed. It is intended to reduce the potential for general scientific reputation to have an undue influence.

NIH’s Adoption of Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support by May 25, 2025

NIH Notice NOT-OD-24-163

May 25, 2025 may seem a long way off but NIH wants to give researchers an early notice of this coming change so that they will have time to prepare.

· NIH will require the use of Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv) to complete Common Forms (i.e., Biographical Sketch, Current and Pending (Other) Support) and the NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement to produce digitally certified PDF(s) for use in application submission.

· NIH will require all Senior/Key Personnel to enter their ORCID ID into SciENcv in the Persistent Identifier (PID) section of the Common Forms.

· NIH will require all Senior/Key Personnel to link their ORCID ID to their eRA Commons Personal Profile.

NIH currently plans to continue collecting three required agency specific data elements (i.e., Personal Statement, Contributions to Science, and Honors) to assess qualifications. These data elements will be collected separately from the Common Forms on a new NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement.

If the application due date is on or before May 24, 2025, you must continue using the current NIH Biosketch and Other Support format pages for applications, Just-in-Time (JIT) and RPPRs.

NIH – Coming Soon: FORMS-I

Effective for applications submitted for due dates on or after January 25, 2025.

FORMS-I will incorporate updates related to multiple NIH initiatives:

• Improvements to the NIH Fellowship Application and Review Process.

• Updates to NRSA Training Grant Applications.

• Adoption of the Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support for submission of applications and RPPRs by May 2025.

FORMS-I application guide and forms packages will be available in Fall 2024.

Planned Reporting DMS Plan Activities in RPPR

On May 9, 2024, NOT-OD-24-123 informed the extramural community of planned changes to the RPPR to address the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy.

NIH will require progress reports (RPPR) to address NIH DMS activities, including updates on data sharing, repositories, and unique identifiers for data that have been shared.

The updated NIH RPPR Instruction Guide will be posted to the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) page, and NIH plans to implement the new DMS reporting questions for RPPRs submitted on or after October 1, 2024.