SPA - SPA Weekly 8/11/05

NIH

NIH Announces Plans to Eliminate Mailing of Paper Notifications: Summary Statements & Peer Review Outcome Letters

NIH continues towards its goal of a paperless grants process through the elimination of the following notifications which are currently sent in hard copy: Summary Statements and Peer Review Outcome Letters. Instead, investigators are instructed to use the eRA Commons, a Web interface where NIH and the applicant organizations are able to conduct extramural research administration business electronically.

The NIH encourages institutions and their investigators to register in the Commons as soon as possible. The following resources for the eRA Commons should be of assistance in the process:

Home Page for registration and updates: https://commons.era.nih.gov/commons/

Frequently Asked Questions: https://commons.era.nih.gov/commons/faq.jsp

Commons Helpdesk at 1-866-504-9552 or via e-mail at commons@od.nih.gov

In addition to complying with a Congressional mandate to move from paper-based to electronic systems, these new procedures will also improve consistency and timeliness of communication between NIH, investigators, and institutions during the grant application process.

Over the next two grant review cycles, the NIH will discontinue mailing the following two kinds of documents:

Summary Statements: Beginning October 1, 2005, NIH will no longer send hard copies of the Summary Statements to Principal Investigators (PIs) and Individual Fellows Applicants. Summary Statements are accessible electronically to PIs and Fellows in the eRA Commons within approximately 8 weeks of the Scientific Review Group (SRG) meeting.

Review Outcome

"Mailers": Beginning February 1, 2006, the NIH will no longer send hard copies of the notification letter (also known as a "mailer") to PIs and Fellows regarding the review outcome of an application by the SRG. When the SRG rosters and meeting dates become available, they may be accessed through http://www.csr.nih.gov/Committees/rosterindex.asp (Center for Scientific Review [CSR] reviews) or http://era.nih.gov/roster/(Institute/Center reviews). Scores will be posted in the eRA Commons approximately 5 working days after the SRG meeting.

At this time, the NIH will continue to send assignment and change of assignment mailers. However, this information is also accessible on the eRA Commons.

In order to avoid delays in the e-notification process, it is vital that all Grantee Organizations, Principal lnvestigators, and Individual Fellows register in the eRA Commons and periodically check e-mail addresses for accuracy.

NOTE: This process does not apply to applications for the Agency for HealthCare Research and Quality or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For more information: http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-05-075.html

The Lalor Foundation, Inc.

Postdoctoral Research Fellowship

The Lalor Foundation makes grants to institutions for basic postdoctoral research in mammalian reproductive biology as related to the regulation of fertility.

The goal of the Foundation is to promote intensive research in the areas indicated and to assist and encourage able recent postdoctoral investigators in academic positions to follow research careers in reproductive physiology.

The individual nominated by the applicant institution for the postdoctoral fellowship for conduct of the work may be a citizen of any country. The individual should have training and experience of at least equal to the Ph.D. or M.D. level and should not have a faculty appointment (i.e., Instructor, Lecturer, or higher). People who have held the doctoral degree for less than five years are preferred.

The applicant institution may make its nomination of a Fellow from among its own personnel or elsewhere, but, qualifications being equal, candidates from other than the proposing institution itself may carry modest preference.

The application must name the institution's nominee for fellowship and include his or her performance record. Only one application per Principal Investigator will be considered.

Grants may range up to $35,000 per year for coverage of fellowship stipend, institutional overhead, laboratory and miscellaneous expenses, and as need may indicate, proportionately less for shorter time grants. Renewal for one additional year is possible under special circumstances.

Final date for receipt by the Foundation of executed Application Forms, complete with all supporting data, as well as letters of review and reference, is January 13, 2006.

Notification regarding appointments may be expected by March 31.

For more information: http://www.lalorfound.org

Archives - as of 8/30/05