NIH announces critical changes to effort reporting

Dear colleagues

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has recently published a notice alerting grant-holding institutions to upcoming changes to the ‘Biosketch’ and ‘Other Support’ document requirements. These changes will be effective from 25 January 2022, but grant holders and applicants need to start preparing for these changes already, particularly the “Other Support” requirements. Failure to meet the new requirements may cause the NIH to withdraw your application from consideration.

An important aspect of the changes is the increased assessment of the time commitments of NIH-funded researchers on their full suite of grants – both NIH and other grants – to ensure researchers are not committed beyond 100% of their time across all activities, whether supported by external funders or in kind.

• View the full notice.

The UCT Research Office and the Faculty of Health Sciences Research and Finance offices are working closely together to ensure that researchers are well-informed and that all funding applications and progress reports submitted to the NIH after 25 January 2022 are compliant. Our aim is, through support, to assist in minimising challenges faced by UCT investigators in this regard.

The Research Office will schedule information sessions in the coming months to advise grant holders and grant applicants of the revised requirements. If you are an NIH grant holder or wish to apply for an NIH grant, I encourage you to attend these sessions, so you are fully informed and make use of the collective UCT expertise on this.

Should you have further questions around the changes at this stage, please contact the International Grants Hub.

NIH funds represent an important part of our external research funding. I am fully committed to ensuring we continue to support our many funding applications submitted to the NIH yearly and to assist in maximising the number that are successful.

Sincerely

Professor Sue Harrison
Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Internationalisation

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