The Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) will be closed on Veterans Day (Nov. 11), Thanksgiving (Nov. 27–28), and Winter/New Year holidays (Dec. 24–Jan. 1), with adjusted deadlines for proposal submissions to accommodate limited holiday staffing. Faculty and staff are encouraged to prepare…
UCSF will partner with National PROPEL to host a virtual Matchmaking Event on January 30, 2026, connecting faculty with talented postbaccalaureate trainees interested in research careers. Faculty hiring junior specialists or staff research associates can conduct short interviews with candidates and…
NIH to establish the Standardized Organoid Modeling (SOM) Center, a national resource that will use advanced technologies to develop standardized organoid-based methodologies for reproducible, patient-centered research. The Center will begin with liver, lung, heart, and intestine models, expanding…
Beginning October 1, 2025, NIH will require institutions to provide training to all Senior/Key Personnel on properly disclosing all research activities and affiliations in the Other Support section of grant applications. At UCSF, qualifying training must be completed and documented for each Senior/…
In anticipation of a potential federal government shutdown, the UC Office of the President is updating guidance on its Federal Government Shutdown webpage. The Office of Sponsored Research will monitor Federal Agency Contingency Plans and sponsor communications for updates from our federal sponsors
NIH has issued NOT-OD-25-155 to introduce a new application structure for grants with foreign subawards. Due dates after September 24, 2025, applications must use new activity codes; PF5 for grants, UF5 for cooperative agreements, or other codes supporting international project components.
NIH has released FAQ’s specifically addressing the application limit, clarifying how applications will be counted, and which type of applications are affected. PI will be responsible for checking in eRA Commons to monitor personal application submission limits. A new certification has been added to…
NIH released preview versions and instructions of the Common Forms for Biographical Sketch, Current and Pending (Other) Support, and the Biographical Sketch Supplement on the NIH Forms Directory and within Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv). The previews are intended to help…
NSF is implementing a new annual certification requirement for Principal Investigators (PIs) and co-Principal Investigators (co-PIs) regarding Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Programs (MFTRP). Starting on June 7, 2025, Principal Investigators (PIs) and co-Principal Investigators (co-PIs) must…
NIH has re-enabled the No-Cost Extension functionality within eRA Commons. Contact your OSR Staff representative if your request for an NCE was previously submitted via the prior approval module. OSR will need to initiate the first no cost extension request.
The NIH Passphrase Policy for eRA Applications specifically prohibits users from sharing passphrases, and requires each user to have a separate and unique passphrase. eRA users may not allow other unauthorized users to access resources under their credentials.
The Office of Research sends regular communications to keep our research community informed on the latest federal research updates, including the Federal Research Digest and the ReSearch ReSearch newsletter. Click to Sign up if you are not on the distribution list.
NIH has outlined new requirements for supporting research conducted abroad, focusing on strong justification, clear benefit to U.S. health, and accountability for funds. Read more »Key Points:
NIH has unveiled a new plan to strengthen gold standard science specifically emphasizing rigor, integrity, and transparency in all research activities. The plan integrates nine core tenets adopted by the U.S. Government and highlights NIH’s commitment to ensuring research is objective, credible,…
Effective for due dates on or after September 25, 2025, application that propose foreign subawards will not be accepted and will be administratively withdrawn. Recent update to this guidance: NOT-OD-25-155 New Application Structure for NIH-Funded International Collaboration
For projects active or submitted before May 1, 2025, NIH may restructure awards involving foreign human subjects research by removing foreign subawards from the main grant and issuing them as separate Type 3 administrative supplements.
NIH will only accept up to six (6) 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. NIH will not consider applications that are either substantially developed…
NIH requires institutions to provide training to all Senior/Key Personnel on how to properly disclose all research activities and affiliations in the Other Support section of grant applications.
Effective August 18, 2025, NIH’s NOT-OD-25-131 revises the Inclusion Policy to align with Executive Order 14168, replacing “sex/gender” with “sex” and updating race and ethnicity categories to federal data standards. The policy requires inclusion of women and racial/ethnic minority groups in all…
If a grant or cooperative agreement has been terminated due to misalignment with NIH’s mission or priorities and the recipient has submitted a timely appeal, NIH will not proceed with unilateral closeout actions while the appeal is under review.
NIH is indefinitely extending flexibility for registration and results reporting requirements for Basic Experimental Studies with Humans (BESH). During this period of delayed enforcement, the NIH continues to expect registration and results reporting for these BESH. While the NIH notice allows…
UCSF Web Services is updating all UCSF managed websites to Drupal 10 as part of a “Lift & Shift” migration program. The osr.ucsf.edu (OSR public site) is part of the third wave of this
Dr. Michael Lauer, NIH Deputy Director of Extramural Research, provides examples of integrity concerns (e.g., undisclosed scientific and/or budgetary overlaps or acts of research misconduct) that would prompt NIH to investigate and/or recoup grant funds.
See the October 4, 2024 Open Mike blog…
By Contracts and Grants Accounting & Office of Sponsored Research on
NOT-OD-24-167 reminds Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) to verify the accuracy of grant assignments to departments and components before the close of the Federal Fiscal Year. Any corrections to data must be made by 8:00 PM EDT (5:00 PM PACIFIC), Thursday, October 3, to be reflected in NIH…
As part of our ongoing commitment to improving the Other Support processes and ensuring compliance with institutional and sponsor requirements, we are excited to announce a new process for verifying Other Support documentation.
Background, Roles and Responsibilities:
In follow-up to the Office of Research email announcement on August 7, 2024, this article describes in more detail the NIH’s Other Support document and the importance of research and budgetary overlap disclosures for UCSF Principal Investigators (PIs) and senior/key personnel.
NIH Other Support
The Office of Sponsored Research has developed guidance for budgeting non-NRSA GSRs and postdoctoral trainees on NIH research awards or diversity supplements, intended to provide clarification of NIH policies and instructions.
NOT-OD-24-104 announces FY 2024 stipend and other budgetary levels for Kirschstein-NRSA awards made on or after October 1, 2023, and supersedes NOT-OD-23-076.
NIH is committed to ensuring a safe and respectful work environment, anywhere NIH-funded activities are conducted. NIH expects that recipient institutions:
The prime recipient has an essential obligation to oversee the work of subrecipients (both foreign and domestic) and as part of that oversight they need access to data/documentation that supports the performance outcomes, reported by subrecipients, to confirm that they are accurate, complete and…
The UCSF Guidance on Implementation of the UC Research Data Policy is now available on the UCSF Data Resources webpage, under General Policies for UCSF Data Use. The guidance points out responsibilities of researchers in the management and sharing of research data, particularly when UCSF…
As announced at the June 22, 2023 RA Town Hall, OSR has updated and revised the Working Capital Advance Procedure for Out-going Subawards/Subrecipients. The changes are effective as of June 22, 2023.
Centralized Agreement Contact Tracking and Approval System (CACTAS) has new updates including access for Principal Investigator to view status of their sponsored research agreements. Learn more and find training materials for CACTAS.
CMS announced a new Data Management Plan Self-Attestation Questionnaire (DMP SAQ) requirement for all DUAs that will receive physically shipped research identifiable data from CMS. The DMP SAQ documents security and privacy controls implemented to protect CMS data in the environment in which the…
As a reminder, all new and renewal applications (grants and contracts) for NIH support, due on or after January 25, 2023, proposing to generate scientific data are subject to the
NOT-OD-23-053 serves to remind the research community that the NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing became effective January 25, 2023 and summarizes key resources.
Investigators are encouraged to bookmark the following resources:
By Majesta Ewing, Deborah Ferguson-Fitch, Mary McGinty, Kassie Obelleiro, Aaron Shaw on
Check out OSR’s PI Desk Reference, a guide to help investigators more easily identify resources needed to work with OSR and supporting offices. The PI Desk Reference includes guidance on:
By Olive Giovannetti, Mae Moredo and Kassie Obelleiro on
The Proposals and Grants Teams (formerly known as Research Management Services - RMS) and the Contracts & Awards teams (formerly known as Awards, and Government and Business Contracts - GBC) recently updated Division names and working titles. The new titles better align with the new structure…
Avoid delays to your research involving International Projects! Learn about steps UCSF is taking in response to UC undue foreign government influence audit.
Dear Colleagues,
The Office of Sponsored Research has been receiving requests for use of the off-campus F&A rate (26% rate) due to researchers working from home. Please review the following guidance provided in response to these requests:
Tips for working with OSR in the New Year: collaborate with OSR early, new OSR website, Other Support and Biosketch updates and receiving important emails.
NIH announces changes to the Biographical Sketch and Other Support forms and instructions. The new forms and instructions apply to applications and RPPRs submitted for due dates on or after January 25, 2022.
Effective with new funding received on or after July 1, 2019, UCSF administrative offices will categorize federally-funded Clinical Trials as Organized Research. This change is the result of an impact analysis and survey of UC campuses with medical centers following a review of the October 2014…