Tag Archives: money

Updates on NIH clinical trial policy

From FABBS:

Larry Tabak says that NIH has developed a plan to “address the shared interests of involved stakeholders” and that NIH was “prepared to move forward so that [they] can widely communicate the delayed enforcement and lenient implementation described in the plan.”

NIH’s plan to address the concerns about the reach of the clinical trials policies looks very promising, but of course, the devil is in the details, and many of those details are not yet known. Here’s what we know:

(1)  NIH will delay enforcement of a registration and reporting system for basic science involving humans until July 1, 2019.

(2)  NIH will allow scientists to register and report their basic science research involving humans through other portals such as Open Science. Eventually, NIH will pull data elements from these portals in order to track what they fund and comply with their own reporting requirements to Congress.

(3)  A Request for Information (RFI) will be released soon so that NIH can get feedback on what reporting standards are appropriate for the range of basic science research involving humans. FABBS will respond, and we welcome input from our member societies and affiliates. Once the RFI is released, we will share it with you and seek your input.

(4)  NIH will be “flexible” and “lenient” with regard to enforcement of other clinical trial policies for basic science. Although NIH’s plan is not specific, presumably this applies to the requirements that basic scientists whose research was defined as a clinical trial respond only to clinical trial FOAs and take good clinical practice training. NIH had previously told us that Review would not change for basic scientists responding to a clinical trial FOA. We would welcome feedback from our community about the last two review cycles, although NIH’s new plan may also alleviate the concerns.

(5)  NIH will issue a Basic Science Parent FOA by October 30, 2018. We will interact with NIH over the coming months regarding this since it will be important to our sciences as the policies evolve.

What is still uncertain is how NIH will define basic science vs. a clinical trial. The plan itself references “basic science trials,” “public health trials,” and “prospective interventional human trials.” We will continue to interact with NIH to ensure that the definition of a clinical trial does not continue to capture basic science research involving humans.

For now, we consider NIH’s plan and engagement with us to be a very promising step. In addition, NIH’s plan (to be described in a NIH Guide Notice, which we will circulate to you) to be flexible and lenient in its implementation of the clinical trial policies as they relate to basic science studies should provide some reassurance to the basic science communities that FABBS represents.

Service learning course support

The Miami University Office of Community Engagement and Service and Service-Learning Designation Committee (SLDC) are now accepting Service-Learning class proposals for the Fall 2018 and January 2019 terms. They write:

Miami University defines Service-Learning (SL) as “an experiential pedagogical practice that uses action and reflection on complex public challenges to meet community-voiced needs and enhance learning through mutually beneficial, reciprocal partnerships.” Note that a syllabus is NOT required at the time of submission. Proposals for SL classes are due by noon on Monday, March 5, 2018. Submit your proposals here

They are also offering grants to support your service-learning course and community-engaged work:

Faculty from Miami Oxford campus are invited to submit a proposal for our NEW Faculty Community Engagement Mini-Grant Program. Proposals are due Monday, March 5th.
These grants of up to $1,000, are available to fund the development of new Service-Learning courses or initiatives or the improvement of existing ones, and/or for the implementation of community-based research projects or professional development related to Community-Engaged Teaching, Research or Scholarship.

CADS multidisciplinary funding opportunity

Allison Farmer, Director of Miami’s Center for Analytics and Data Science, announces a significant funding opportunity:

For the second year in a row, the Center for Analytics and Data Science (CADS) is pleased to offer a call for CADS Research Fellowship grants. The purpose of this funding is to seed new multidisciplinary research in analytics and data science that is likely to result in scholarly publications and external funding. To encourage stronger multidisciplinary proposals, CADS will focus resources to fund one proposal of up to $25K. Proposals must feature researchers from multiple departments. Proposals with researchers from different academic divisions are strongly encouraged. The award period is one year, beginning June 1, 2018. Proposals are due to me by March 30, 2018 and will be reviewed by a multidisciplinary committee.

Those who might be interested can see me for more information and application instructions, or contact Allison directly.

Overview of CTE grants & awards

I’ve mentioned previously that in general I will not post here emails sent to the CTE mailing list, but would encourage those interested to sign up directly. However, this seminar many of you might find useful since it provides an overview of some available CTE resources for ideas you might have. Space is limited to the first 20 registrants.

Who: Ellen Yezierski, Director, CTE
Date: ​Tuesday, February 6
Time: ​9:00 am – 10:30 am
Place: 320 Laws Hall

RSVP: Register Here

Grants awarded by CTE support curricular and pedagogical innovations to improve student learning. This seminar introduces faculty to the application components, submission process, and evaluation criteria for CTE major and minor grants. Features of successful proposals and examples will be presented. Participants are encouraged to bring early ideas for innovations to make the most of the seminar and progress in the development of successful proposals.

OER workshop and stipend

From Anna Liss, our social sciences librarian:

Open Educational Resources (OER) help alleviate the burden of textbook costs for students and provide faculty with content that can be customized to their courses. Open textbooks are full, tangible textbooks, used by many faculty across the country, and licensed to be freely used, edited and distributed.

Miami University faculty are eligible for a $200 stipend toward their efforts in exploring open textbook options for one of their courses! Here’s how it works…

  1. Apply for a space in the upcoming “OER Explore” workshop on Monday, Oct. 23, 3:00 – 5:00pm in King Library—During this two-hour session you will learn more about open textbooks resources. Capacity is limited, and preference will be based on OTL textbook subject area availability. Those selected to participate in this initiative will be notified by 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 20. Apply here.
  2. After participating in the workshop, write a review of one of the open textbooks found in the Open Textbook Library (OTL).

Please note that you must complete both steps in order to receive the $200 stipend. In an effort to promote wide-spread participation in this initiative, those faculty who participated in previous OER Explore Grant Workshops will not be eligible to participate in this cycle.

If you have questions about this workshop or open textbooks in general, please contact Carla Myers, Coordinator of Scholarly Communications, at 513-529-3935 or [email protected].

Undergraduate Research Awards due Oct. 16

There are two rounds for the URA program, the first of which is upcoming next Monday, October 16 and intended for student research projects to be conducted during winter term or spring semester. Students are responsible for submitting the awards, but require faculty endorsement. Successful proposals involve the faculty member’s input throughout the process. Awards are typically around $300 – $500 but may range up to $1,000 for those involving multiple students and/or exceptional merit. A faculty member may sponsor up to 4 submissions per cycle.

Please read the guidelines here and contact Martha Weber in the ORU if you have any questions.

CUR undergrad travel awards

The Psychology Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research (ORU) has travel awards up to $200 for regional or national conferences for your students. Faculty must be the ones to submit for the awards, and the students submit a report after the meeting. The deadline is October 15 (for conferences thru February). Note there will be another call with a February 15 deadline for spring meetings.

Apply for CFR grants, deadline Oct. 20

The major faculty research grant cycle is open, including summer research appointments, grad assistantships, and small grants. I would encourage everyone to consider these if you don’t already and are currently eligible (you may only receive one every four years). From the Faculty Senate Committee on Faculty Research, by way of OARS:

The Faculty Research Grants Program encourages proposals addressing new avenues of research and scholarship either for the investigator or for the institution, initiating new projects and pilot studies, or testing novel or transformative research/creative ideas. The deadline for applying for the CFR Program is 5:00 p.m. Friday, October 20, 2017. Awards generally are announced in December. All continuing tenure-eligible or tenured faculty are eligible.

In particular, there is an important update starting with this funding cycle:

In keeping with broader university-wide diversity and inclusion efforts, a portion of available funds will be reserved for research, scholarship, or creative activities in the areas of social justice, human rights, diversity, and inclusion. Proposals in these areas must address a scholarly question that will lead to testable objectives or measurable outcomes. Regular eligibility criteria and applications procedures, as outlined in the CFR Program Guidelines, apply.

 

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship panel

If you are considering the possibility of your graduate students competing for predoctoral fellowships, you may be highly interested in this panel discussion. This has been announced in ProSem and the first-year students have been encouraged to attend in preparation for the grant training they will receive this year. From Anne Schauer, OARS:

The Office for the Advancement for Research & Scholarship will host a panel discussion on the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Wednesday, September 27, from 3:00 to 4:30 pm in the ORU space of King Library (First floor- Suite 134).

In addition to covering basic information about applying for the NSF GRFP, the discussion will offer participants an opportunity to ask questions of recent fellows and mentors.