Notice Number: NOT-AI-18-049

Key Dates
Release Date: July 17, 2018

Issued by
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

Purpose

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Research Council of Norway (RCN) wish to encourage collaborative research between investigators funded by the US and Norway. Research applications submitted to the NIH that include a Norwegian component/collaboration may be eligible for this initiative. While the NIH will review and fund highly meritorious unsolicited NIH R01 awards according to usual NIH procedures, awards that fall within research areas of mutual interest to NIH and RCN, including single disciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches and topics, may be considered for the NIH-RCN Collaborative Research Initiative. Information regarding the RCN call for applications and research areas of interest can be found at https://www.forskningsradet.no/en/Funding/BEDREHELSE/1254035255211?lang=no. Any application falling outside these areas of interest will not be eligible for participation in this NIH-RCN Collaborative Research Initiative. Inquiries about the eligibility of proposed projects can be directed to the Points of Contact listed below and in the RCN weblink cited above. Only awards funded under the NIH parent R01 (PA-18-484 and PA-18-345 and subsequent reissuances) will be considered for this opportunity at this time.

Instructions to Applicants

1. Applications must include at least one Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) who is eligible for NIH funding and at least one foreign collaborator from an institution in Norway who is eligible for RCN funding. The multiple PD/PI (MPI) option may be used in applications wishing to be considered for funding under this initiative. Foreign and/or domestic collaborators may be funded under this initiative.

2. Applicants should follow normal guidance for an NIH application, including rules regarding foreign applications or applications with foreign components.

3. The collaborator from an institution in Norway should inform the RCN contact points (see RCN weblink cited above) about their plans for a collaborative NIH-application as soon as relevant, and must also submit a formal application to the RCN call no later than COB (Norwegian time zone) October 10, 2018. Successful Norwegian applicants will receive an RCN guarantee letter in December 2018 with a confirmation of the possibility of RCN funding. Such RCN funding may be conditioned on the NIH decision to fund the R01 application after completion of the NIH standard review process. Before a potential RCN guarantee is requested, the Norwegian applicant will inform their U.S. partner that they are eligible to apply for this collaborative program and that they are applying for the RCN funding guarantee. After the entire NIH review process is completed, the Norwegian and U.S. collaborators should share the RCN guarantee letter with the NIH points of contact listed below.

4. Applicants should indicate their interest in being considered for this opportunity and acknowledge their understanding that if their application is awarded it may be supported by NIH and RCN. The following acknowledgement should be included in the application cover page "The applicants request that this application to be considered under the NIH-RCN Collaborative Research Initiative. The NIH applicant understands that following completion of the standard NIH review process, if this project is selected, the U.S. portion of the budget will be awarded by NIH to the NIH funded PD/PI’s institution and the Norwegian portion of the budget may be awarded by RCN to the collaborating PD/PI’s institution in Norway if the Norwegian PD/PI is deemed eligible to receive RCN funding through this initiative." No other information regarding this initiative should be included in the NIH application.

5. Processing of the application at NIH will follow standard NIH receipt and referral guidelines and review. Applicants will be notified following usual NIH procedure whether they are being considered for an NIH award.

6. After NIH peer review is complete and with the permission of the applicants, post-review discussions will include negotiation of a funding plan which may result in the RCN supporting the Norwegian component of an NIH awarded grant.

7. Those applicants that wish to be considered for inclusion in the NIH-RCN Collaborative Research Initiative must forward their NIH review summary statement and full application to the RCN within one week of receiving their summary statement. These documents will be held in confidence by the RCN. If an NIH award is to be paid and is also considered eligible for the NIH-RCN Collaborative Research Initiative, additional documents, reformatting, or re-budgeting may be required by either agency.

The applicants decision to seek or not to seek inclusion in the NIH-RCN Collaborative Research Initiative will have no bearing on the NIH decision to fund a highly meritorious application. Furthermore, regardless of the decision of the RCN concerning funding of the Norwegian portion of an application budget, NIH is prepared to consider funding applications found eligible for award.

This is a Notice of Information (NoI) only and does not constitute a commitment, implied or otherwise, that the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), or the individual NIH Institutes and Centers, will take action in this matter. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, applications, proposal abstracts or quotations. The purpose of this NoI is to disseminate knowledge and information on a program designed to foster the expansion US-Norway biomedical and behavioral research collaboration.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

General inquiries and subject matter inquiries about this initiative should be directed to:

Joyelle Dominique, MS, MBA
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Telephone: 301-827-0048
Email: [email protected]

Ken Santora, PhD
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Telephone: 240-669-2933
Email: [email protected]