or select your discipline:
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Through its
Dear Colleague Letter on the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19
)
,
the National Science Foundation is accepting proposals (including
RAPIDs
)
to conduct non-medical, nonclinical-care research that can be used immediately to explore how to model and understand the spread of COVID-19, to inform and educate about the science of virus transmission and prevention, and to encourage the development of processes and actions to address this global challenge.
The
Russell Sage Foundation’s program on
Behavioral Economics
supports novel research that uses insights and methods from psychology, economics, sociology, political science and other social sciences to examine and improve social and living conditions in the United States.
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Guidance and definitions for researchers during COVID-19 reduction in on-campus operations
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Dear members of the K-State research community:
We are living through an unprecedented time in our history as we confront the COVID-19 pandemic. I want to thank all of you for your hard work and efforts to prepare and respond to the virus and its public health impacts. I know this is a difficult time for many, and our top priority should be for the health and safety of our families, co-workers, and communities.
To that end, we must take steps to mitigate the spread of disease, confront the reality that we may experience additional cases that affect members of our K-State family, and limit the number of people gathering at any given time. We must delay or pause research activities that consume personal protective equipment, which is in short supply across the world.
We find ourselves in a situation where campus is open only to staff who are critical to maintain operations – life, health, and safety. Please develop a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) that significantly reduces/hibernates research activities unrelated to critical COVID-19 research or that involves human, animal, or other organisms that need to be maintained or brought to its natural conclusion consistent with Institutional Review Board/Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee protocols. If your research involves graduate students, undergraduates, postdocs, staff, or visiting scientists, you should develop projects that can be completed remotely and advance the knowledge developed in the project and enables them to continue to make progress in their studies.
Specifically:
1. For research occurring on all three campuses, Manhattan, Olathe, and Polytechnic, President Myers has indicated that only
mission-critical research
activities should occur during the time of reduction in operations. Mission-critical research is defined as: Maintenance of essential lab or project functions including hazardous research/materials, sensitive instrumentation, care of research animals, cultures, strains, (living organisms), and completion of previously initiated studies involving multi-year studies, valuable reagents, or time-sensitive/seasonal studies.
Some work under government or industry contracts may fall into this category but you should contact your program officer about obtaining an extension for such contract work if possible.
- Each Department Head and College Associate Dean for Research will be the arbiter of what constitutes mission-critical research.
- Mission-critical research can only continue IF it can be practiced safely in accord with social distancing guidelines and minimization of risk to personnel. Information on these procedures should be detailed in the project COOP. Recognize that external circumstances may, at any time, reduce your access to PPE, and no project should continue without proper PPE.
2. With regard to research at off-campus locations, some of this may be considered mission-critical and may proceed with the caveat that it can be conducted safely with minimization of risk to participants. Examples of mission-critical work at an off-campus location are those involving long-term projects (e.g, Konza LTER burning regimens), animals (e.g., Konza bison herd), and ongoing studies.
Other types of research that MAY be conducted IF they can be practiced safely in accord with social distancing guidelines and minimization of risk to personnel include seasonally limited activities (e.g., migratory bird studies, experimental crop planting within a particular seasonal time window) for which an entire season/year would be lost if they cannot be carried out in a timely way.
- Such studies must be approved by the Department Head and College ADR.
- Information on safe conduct procedures must be detailed in the project COOP for each approved study.
3. All research at the university is important and valuable. However, the majority of research on all three campuses is not mission-critical and should be suspended/hibernated safely and for the duration of the time of limited operations. The labs involved should undergo an orderly shutdown with development of a hibernation plan. Information on preparing the lab can be found on the
university COVID-19 website
. This site also contains sample Hibernation Plan templates. A Hibernation Plan should be posted on the external door of the lab and sent to the department and Environmental Health & Safety.
Please be well and continue to work safely,
- Peter
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Committee Guidance on Protocol Approvals
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During the COVID-19 suspension of normal activities, and in accordance with federal guidance, the University Research and Compliance Office and the Comparative Medicine Group recommend that the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee(IACUC), Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) and Institutional Review Board (IRB) conduct business as follows:
IACUC
- Reduce meeting frequency from 2 meetings/month to 1 meeting/month that will be held on the 1st Thursday of the month (or earlier if needed)
- Meetings will be held by ZOOM virtual meetings
- Priority will be given to reviewing/approving:
- Minor modifications to existing approved protocols
- Major modifications to existing approved protocols
- Just-in-time review of new protocols that have been approved for funding by a granting agency
- Renewal/continuation of an expiring protocol that already has animals in house
- New protocols aimed at developing vaccines/therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19)
- Review/approval of new animal care & use protocols will be deferred until after the priority items listed above have been acted upon.
IBC
- Full committee meetings will be held on an as needed/case by case basis.
- Meetings will be held by Zoom virtual meetings
- Priority will be given to reviewing/approving:
- Minor modifications to existing approved protocols
- Major modifications to existing approved protocols
- Just-in-time review of new protocols that have been approved for funding by a granting agency
- New protocols aimed at developing vaccines/therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19)
- Review/approval of new IBC protocols will be deferred until after the priority items listed above have been acted upon.
IRB
- Full committee meetings will be held on an as needed/case by case basis -
- Meetings will be held by ZOOM virtual meetings
- Priority will be given to reviewing/approving:
- Minor modifications to existing approved protocols
- Major modifications to existing approved protocols
- Just-in-time review of new protocols that have been approved for funding by a granting agency
- Review/approval of new protocols will be deferred until after the priority items listed above have been acted upon.
When you email in your protocols,
please indicate which of the above categories your new application or modification falls into
. This will ensure that we approve items in a timely manner.
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NIH Late Application Policy Due to Public Health Emergency for United States for 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)
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It is likely that the emergency declaration related to novel coronavirus (COVID-19) will adversely affect some NIH applicants' and recipients' ability to submit applications in a timely manner.
Late applications
When delays occur because the applicant or recipient organization is officially closed or unable to submit grant applications due to the effects of COVID-19, the NIH will consider accepting applications late, on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with the NIH Grants Policy Statement,
Section 2.3.9
, under the following circumstances:
- Institutions must submit applications or reports as soon as possible after reopening or resuming operations so that grant applications can be submitted, not to exceed the number of days the institution was officially closed or unable to submit grant applications.
- Institutions must submit a cover letter with the applications with enough detail about the delay so that NIH staff can make a determination whether circumstances justify accepting the application late.
- Institutions need not request advance permission to submit late due to this declared emergency.
NIH will be issuing additional guidance related to this public health emergency in the near future.
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Flexibilities Available to Applicants and Recipients of Federal Financial Assistance Affected by COVID-19
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The purpose of this Notice is to alert the community of administrative flexibilities that will apply to NIH applicants and recipients. Therefore, working with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) NIH has identified the following short-term administrative flexibilities to assist our applicants with managing administrative, financial management and audit requirements under the Uniform Guidance “Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards” – which are implemented in HHS regulation at
45 CFR Part 75
– without compromising their accountability requirements.
These flexibilities are applicable to NIH applicants and recipients where the entity is conducting research activities related to or affected by COVID-19. Affected entities are those that have been closed, or business activities have been hindered due to COVID-19 precautionary measures and/or illnesses. Entities that are affected will be asked to provide documentation to NIH describing the effects, and how long their facility and NIH related research, clinical practices, or instruction was and/or will be affected.
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Because of shut downs at many institutions of higher education in the United States, the proposal due date for NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship-2020 Renewal Proposals Solicitation: NESSF20R has been changed from March 16, 2020, to April 13, 2020.
On or before March 17, 2020, this Amendment to the NASA Announcement NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship-2020 Renewal Proposals Solicitation: NESSF20R will be posted on the NASA research opportunity homepage at
http://nspires.nasaprs.com/
.
The Science Mission Directorate (SMD) commends U.S. universities for supporting any Principal Investigator and NESSF student to overcome current, recent, and potential institutional shutdowns in order to submit a NESSF20R proposal. Email questions or comments to:
HQ-FINESST@mail.nasa.gov
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A Message from the Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works team at the National Endowment for the Arts
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We at the National Endowment for the Arts are thinking about all our colleagues across the country as COVID-19 continues to spread. Your health and well-being - and that of the communities you serve - is of the utmost importance, and we are aware that many organizations in our field are adjusting to new realities and facing hardships. As information changes rapidly, we stand ready to assist in the coming weeks and months.
Applicants and awardees
We are available to assist you further if you have questions:
Field resources
We have created a page on our website to aggregate resources and links provided by our colleagues at the service organizations:
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NIFA Deadline Extensions Due to COVID-19
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Due to the disruptions arising from the national response to COVID-19, NIFA is extending the following deadlines. NIFA will continue to monitor the situation and post updates to this guidance on our web site.
AFRI
The following Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) application submission deadlines will be adjusted, as follows:
Previous deadline New deadline
March 19 April 2
March 26 April 9
April 2 April 9
April 9 April 16
AREERA
Furthermore, NIFA has also extended the submission deadline for the 2021 Plan of Work for Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 (AREERA) capacity funded projects and programs from April 1st to May 1st.
NIFA’s goal is to provide applicant institutions additional time as they work through any operational challenges within their institutions arising from COVID-19. Even with increased flexibilities for applicants, NIFA still recommends applicants submit their applications as soon as possible.
Conclusion
At this time, no other deadlines have been extended. NIFA’s policies for accepting late applications are available at
online
. If your application is delayed for a valid extenuating circumstances, please let the program contact listed in the Request for Application (RFA) know about the potential delay and submit all the required documentation after your application had been submitted to us. NIFA will consider your request at that time based on the information provided.
In addition to the announcement on NIFA’s home page, updates are also on the following pages:
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DOE Office of Science Accommodating Interruptions due to COVID-19
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As the Department of Energy and Office of Science (SC) continue to monitor and examine the ongoing developments and impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. and internationally, we provide this update regarding associated disruptions that may have impacts on the research community. This guidance may be updated as circumstances change.
The Office of Science is assessing its current solicitations that have due dates that occur through mid-April to make a determination on extensions to those due dates. Please check the specific Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) or DOE Laboratory Announcement for the most up-to-date information.
A list of all FOAs and DOE Laboratory Announcements may be found at
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Research Brownbag Discussions
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Join Vice President for Research Peter Dorhout and staff to learn how the university is addressing the changing compliance landscape around international travel, research data management, attending conferences in embargoed nations and new regulations. Discuss your concerns or questions that you have around these topics. What is K-State doing to protect our researchers? What are best practices and protocols at this time?
All brownbags will be held from
noon-1:30 p.m.
on the following dates
via Zoom
.
- Monday, April 13 – Topic: TBA
- Monday, May 11 – Topic: TBA
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Postponed: Convergent research team development
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Due to the changes with on-campus classes and activities, the
convergent research team development program
has been postponed to allow for time needed to prepare for online classes and remote teaching. Plans to reschedule are underway.
For more information, contact Carole Lovin, engineering research and graduate programs, at
clovin@k-state.edu
.
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K-State RSCAD in the news
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Agency news and trending topics
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) for National Science Foundation (NSF) Proposers and Awardees
This document addresses questions associated with proposal submission and award management that may arise in relation to COVID-19. NSF is providing this information as a service to our proposer and awardee communities in the hope it will address most of the questions that may arise in this regard. Given that COVID-19 and the associated impacts continue to evolve, proposers and awardees are strongly encouraged to monitor this website for updates.
nsf.gov
Greenland and Antarctica have lost 6.4 trillion tons of ice in the past three decades; unabated, this rate of melting could cause flooding that affects hundreds of millions of people by the end of the century, NASA said in a
statement
.
msn.com
As the solar PV market matures there will be an increased demand for technological and financial solutions to tackle operational risks, improve asset returns, and optimize asset performance across the portfolio.
forbes.com
Margaret Weichert, the deputy director for management at OMB,
detailed 10 flexibilities
to any grantees who receives money “to support the continued research and services necessary to carry out the emergency response related to COVID-19” during the 90-day public health emergency declaration by the Department of Health and Human Services.
federalnewsnetwork.com
“Tony, do you want to come up?” When President Donald Trump called Anthony Fauci to the microphone yesterday while declaring a national emergency because of a viral pandemic, it may have been the first time many in the United States had met the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
sciencemag.org
Are you testing or implementing your institution’s pandemic response plan for the first time? Do you have questions about flexibilities provided by the PHS Policy that may be helpful during a pandemic?
olaw.nih.gov
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k-state.edu/research
researchweekly@k-state.edu
785.532.5110
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