SRS Updates

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Required Responsible & Ethical Conduct of Research (RECR) Training for Faculty and Senior Personnel

For proposals due on or after July 31, 2023, NSF expanded the requirement of Responsible & Ethical Conduct of Research training to include faculty and senior personnel working on NSF funded projects in addition to the current requirement for undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs.  Faculty and senior personnel will complete TrainTraq section 2114579 – CITI RCR Refresher Training.  For complete information go to the Division of Research webpage at Responsible Conduct of Research – Division of Research (tamu.edu)

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National Institutes of Health – Application Instruction Updates – Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Costs

Effective for applications submitted for due dates on or after October 5, 2023, NIH will no longer require the use of the single DMS cost line item. NIH recognizes that DMS costs may be requested in many cost categories.

Therefore, in line with NIH standard budget instructions, DMS costs must be requested in the appropriate cost category, e.g., personnel, equipment, supplies, and other expenses, following the instructions for the R&R Budget Form or PHS 398 Modular Budget Form, as applicable.  While the single cost line item is no longer required, NIH will require applicants to specify estimated DMS cost details within the “Budget Justification” attachment of the R&R Budget Form or “Additional Narrative Justification” attachment of the PHS 398 Modular Budget Form, pursuant to the instructions.

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Review Integrity and Bias Awareness Training will be Required for NIH Reviewers Effective May 2024 Council Round

The NIH’s Center for Scientific Review (CSR) has developed two reviewer training modules.  Effective for the May 2024 Council round (peer review meetings in early 2024), completion of the “Review Integrity” and “Bias Awareness and Mitigation” modules will be required by all reviewers prior to participating in NIH review meetings governed by the Federal Advisory Committee Act (which represents >90% of NIH’s yearly review meetings). Each training course will take approximately 30 minutes and will need to be completed once every 3 years.

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New Videos Available at AnSRS4U Express

AnSRS4U Express are short 5-to-7-minute videos on various research topics.   These videos are designed to give you the necessary information in a brief time frame.   Some recent topics that have been added to the TAMU Sponsored Research Services (SRS) webpage are as follows:  

• Acknowledgement of Federal Funding
• Is it a Gift or a Grant
• Incoming Principal Investigator / Sponsored Project Transfers
• Principal Investigator Departures / Project Transfers
• Cost Transfers

These are located on the SRS website under the Resources tab at AnSRS4U Express – Sponsored Research Services (tamu.edu)

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Technical Warning: Please DO NOT use the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) fillable PDF to report Current and Pending (C&P) to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

When the NSF form, Effective 01/30/2023 NSF CURRENT AND PENDING (OTHER) SUPPORT OMB-3145-0058 is merged into a proposal that is submitted to the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES), it cannot be locked and will revert to an editable format when it is under NASA review. To prevent accidental changes to the NASA submission, please do not use the NSF’s form.

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Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Stipends, Tuition/Fees and Other Budgetary Levels Effective for Fiscal Year 2023

NOT-OD-23-076 establishes stipend levels for fiscal year (FY) 2023 Kirschstein-NRSA awards for undergraduate, predoctoral, and postdoctoral trainees and fellows.  See link below.

NOT-OD-23-076: Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Stipends, Tuition/Fees and Other Budgetary Levels Effective for Fiscal Year 2023 (nih.gov)

It should be noted that the maximum amount that NIH will award to support the compensation package for a graduate student research assistant remains at the zero level postdoctoral stipend, as described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement 2.3.7.9.

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New in NASA Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2023

The 2023 version of Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science (ROSES-2023) was posted at https://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2023 on February 14, 2023.

Open Science and Data Management Plan

Most proposers to ROSES-2023 must provide an “Open Science and Data Management Plan”, (formerly called the Data Management Plan) or an explanation of why one is not necessary given the nature of the work proposed. This Open Science and Data Management Plan (OSDMP) must address how publications, data, and software will be made available.  The budget for the proposal should include any costs needed to implement the OSDMP.

1) Publications (or as-accepted manuscripts) that derive from ROSES-2023 awards must be publicly available at the time of publication

2) Data and software developed using ROSES funding in support of a peer-reviewed publication shall be made publicly available at the time of publication,

3) Scientifically useful data and software developed during the award that was not already published must be made available by the end of the award, and

4) To be eligible to receive funding, PIs and Co-Is must provide their digital persistent identifier (e.g., ORCID) via NSPIRES under Account Management -> Personal Profile.

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NASA Requires Inclusion Plan for Selected Proposals

Inclusion Plan Pilot Study – A growing number of program elements in ROSES require an Inclusion Plan. Those that do so will indicate this clearly. In general, two pages are allocated for this plan but see individual program elements for the required proposal location and page limits for Inclusion Plans.

Inclusion is defined here as the full participation, belonging, and contribution of groups and individuals within an organization or endeavor. Note that inclusion is distinct and different from diversity. Inclusion requires that all individuals can participate fully, regardless of the diversity dimension, do their best work and advance, and feel welcomed, valued, connected, engaged, and supported to reach their full potential. The Inclusion Plan should focus on inclusion, not diversity or accessibility.

The Inclusion Plan shall clearly state goals for creating and sustaining a positive and inclusive working environment and describe activities to achieve these goals including

• Identify barriers to creating a positive and inclusive working environment that are specific to the team carrying out the proposed investigation.
• Address ways in which the investigation team will work to attenuate or reduce these barriers.
• Describe roles, responsibilities, and work effort for all team members who will be participating in Inclusion Plan activities.
• Show a timeline for completing or carrying out proposed activities.
• Contain assessment mechanisms for evaluating progress towards achieving the proposed Inclusion Plan activities or goals.

Any funding requested for Inclusion Plan-related activities shall be explicitly identified and justified in the Inclusion Plan section and clearly identified in the proposal’s main budget. These will be assessed for reasonableness.  The Inclusion Plan will be assessed for adequacy, appropriateness, and completeness separately from the standard evaluation of the proposal.

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NSF New Requirement for a Safe and Inclusive Work Environment

Effective January 30, 2023, with the implementation of the NSF 23-1 PAPPG, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has a new requirement which states that there must be a plan for a safe and inclusive work environment created and distributed to each participant, in advance of departure for an off-campus research activity. Off-campus or off-site research is defined by NSF for this requirement as “data/information/samples being collected off-campus or off-site, such as fieldwork or research activities on vessels and aircraft.”

At the time of proposal submission for each proposal that proposes to conduct research off-campus or off site, the Authorized Organizational Representative must complete a certification that the organization has a plan in place for that proposal.   Thus, prior to the submission of the proposal, Sponsored Research Services (SRS) will require the PI to certify that a plan has been created.  

Several solicitations from the Directorates for Biological Sciences (BIO) and Geological Sciences (GEO) will soon require the submission of a Safe and Inclusive Work Environments Plan that will be considered as part of the Broader Impacts criteria during the review process.

As a reminder, this 2-page supplementary document must address the following four sections:

1. a brief description of the field setting and unique challenges for the team;  
2. the steps the proposing organization will take to nurture an inclusive off-campus or off-site working environment, including processes to establish shared team definitions of roles, responsibilities, and culture, e.g., codes of conduct, trainings, mentor/mentee mechanisms and field support that might include regular check-ins, and/or developmental events;   
3. communication processes within the off-site team and to the organization(s) that minimize singular points within the communication pathway (e.g., there should not be a single person overseeing access to a single satellite phone); and   
4. the organizational mechanisms that will be used for reporting, responding to, and resolving issues of harassment if they arise. 

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