Clarification of New Page Limits and Restructuring of Application Submissions for Support of Competitive Research (SCORE) PAR-08-026, PAR-08-027 and PAR-08-028

Notice Number: NOT-GM-09-030

Key Dates
Release Date: September 28, 2009

Issued by
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)(http://www.nigms.nih.gov)

Purpose

On September 16, 2009 NIH issued a notice regarding restructured application forms to continue the implementation of the Enhancing Peer Review effort (NOT-OD-09-149). The purpose of this notice is to clarify how these changes affect applications submitted in response to the SCORE funding opportunity announcements PAR 08-026 (Research Advancement Award [SC1]), PAR-08-027 (Pilot Project Award [SC2]) and PAR 08-028 (Research Continuance Award [SC3]).

The new page limits for Research Strategy section of SCORE SC1 applications will be 12 pages and for SCORE SC2 and SC3 applications 6 pages, for submissions intended for due dates on or after January 25, 2010.

Other required information should be provided as indicated below:

• Institutional data should be given under Other Project Information - Item 11 Other attachments and should provide the following information:

  a. The total student enrollment at the institution and the number and percent of underrepresented minorities (e.g., Native American, African American, Hispanic American, natives of the U.S. Pacific Islands) in the total student population;
  b. Number and percent of underrepresented minority students (undergraduate and graduate) enrolled in the sciences relevant to biomedical and behavioral research;
  c. Number and percent of total and underrepresented minority faculty in the sciences relevant to biomedical and behavioral research and the total number of faculty and of underrepresented minority faculty from these departments participating in funded research.

• The Principal Investigator’s developmental objectives and plan should be included as part of the Biographical Sketch within the page limits of the Personal Statement.
  
• For SC2 applications only, a Biographical Sketch for each mentor is required as part of key personnel and it should include a description of the role of the mentor(s) and mentoring plan within the page limits of the mentor’s personal statement. This should provide: (1) information on his/her research qualifications and previous experience as a research supervisor/mentor; (2) a mentoring plan that describes the nature of the supervision and mentoring that will occur during the proposed award period; and (3) a plan for monitoring the applicant’s research, publications, and transition to the next step in his/her research career. Please note that a letter from the mentor(s) is no longer required.

Inquiries

Direct inquiries regarding this notice to:

Hinda Zlotnik, Ph.D.
Minority Opportunities in Research Division
National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH
45 Center Drive
Room 2AS.37, MSC 6200
Bethesda, MD 20892-6200
Telephone: (301) 594-3900
Fax: (301) 480-2753
Email:zlotnikh@nigms.nih.gov