Notice Number: NOT-AI-16-018
Key Dates
Release Date: December 22, 2015
RFA-AI-16-006
Issued by
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Purpose
The purpose of this notice is to inform potential applicants of the change in the background in the funding opportunity announcement (FOA) RFA-AI-16-006 titled, U.S.-China Program for Biomedical Collaborative Research (R01).
Current Language:
Background
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) supports international collaborative biomedical research to advance science and expand biomedical knowledge. Scientific cooperation between the U.S. and the People’s Republic of China was initiated over 30 years ago and has grown rapidly in recent years. Recognizing that enhanced cooperative biomedical research would be of mutual benefit to the U.S. and China, the NIH Director and the President of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in October 2010 and renewed in October 2015.
NIH and NSFC signed an Implementing Arrangement (IA) in December 2010 to develop a new U.S.-China Program for Biomedical Research Cooperation. A Joint Working Group (JWG), made up of members from both NIH and NSFC, developed strategic plans for collaboration, review and clearance of proposed U.S.-China projects. Both the NIH and NSFC allocated funds to support joint activities pursued under this program.
U.S. and Chinese collaborating investigators will work together to submit corresponding applications to NIH and NSFC, respectively. U.S. investigators will respond to the announcement from NIH, and Chinese investigators will respond to a separate funding announcement from NSFC. By sending an application to NIH, the applicant agrees to provide a complete copy of their submitted NIH application to their Chinese counterpart. Potential U.S. applicants concerned about confidentiality or proprietary information should take this requirement into account before deciding what information to submit in their application to NIH. NIH will not consider for funding any application that has not met this sharing requirement.
Eligibility for NSFC funding under these collaborative projects is limited to scientists who are current or former NSFC grantees. NSFC will publish a corresponding funding announcement (in Chinese) for partnering Chinese investigators to apply for funding under the joint U.S.-China Program in Biomedical Research Cooperation (see http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/Portal0/InfoModule_396/More.htm). Applications from Chinese investigators responding to the NSFC announcement will be reviewed in parallel by NSFC using review criteria that are harmonized with NIH review criteria. Applicants responding to the NSFC announcement will also be required to submit as part of their applications a copy of the NIH application provided by their U.S. collaborator. Therefore, it is expected that the Chinese collaborator will contact the U.S. Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PD(s)/PI(s)) and request a copy of their application in response to this announcement for submission. This application will also be reviewed confidentially during the NSFC review process.
Funding decisions for applications submitted to NIH will be made by NIH with consideration of the research priorities of the U.S.-China program. Both the U.S. and Chinese applications must be determined to be eligible and responsive (in the parallel processes conducted by the NIH and NSFC) to be considered for funding under the program.
New Language:
Background
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) supports international collaborative biomedical research to advance science and expand biomedical knowledge. Scientific cooperation between the U.S. and the People’s Republic of China was initiated over 30 years ago and has grown rapidly in recent years. Recognizing that enhanced cooperative biomedical research would be of mutual benefit to the U.S. and China, the NIH Director and the President of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in October 2010 and renewed in October 2015.
NIH and NSFC signed an Implementing Arrangement (IA) in December 2010 to develop a new U.S.-China Program for Biomedical Research Cooperation. A Joint Working Group (JWG), made up of members from both NIH and NSFC, developed strategic plans for collaboration, review and clearance of proposed U.S.-China projects. Both the NIH and NSFC allocated funds to support joint activities pursued under this program.
U.S. and Chinese collaborating investigators will work together to submit corresponding applications to NIH and NSFC, respectively. U.S. investigators will respond to the announcement from NIH, and Chinese investigators will respond to a separate funding announcement from NSFC. By sending an application to NIH, the applicant agrees to provide a complete copy of their submitted NIH application to their Chinese counterpart. Potential U.S. applicants concerned about confidentiality or proprietary information should take this requirement into account before deciding what information to submit in their application to NIH. NIH will not consider for funding any application that has not met this sharing requirement.
Eligibility for NSFC funding under these collaborative projects is limited to scientists who are current or former NSFC grantees. NSFC will publish a corresponding funding announcement (in Chinese) for partnering Chinese investigators to apply for funding under the joint U.S.-China Program in Biomedical Research Cooperation. NSFC will release the matching Chinese announcement on December 22 on its website (http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/publish/portal0/tab38/module491/more.htm). Chinese applicants should refer to the Chinese announcement for detailed instruction.
Applications from Chinese investigators responding to the NSFC announcement will be reviewed in parallel by NSFC using review criteria that are harmonized with NIH review criteria. Applicants responding to the NSFC announcement will also be required to submit as part of their applications a copy of the NIH application provided by their U.S. collaborator. Therefore, it is expected that the Chinese collaborator will contact the U.S. Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PD(s)/PI(s)) and request a copy of their application in response to this announcement for submission. This application will also be reviewed confidentially during the NSFC review process.
Funding decisions for applications submitted to NIH will be made by NIH with consideration of the research priorities of the U.S.-China program. Both the U.S. and Chinese applications must be determined to be eligible and responsive (in the parallel processes conducted by the NIH and NSFC) to be considered for funding under the program.
Inquiries
Please direct all inquiries to:
Conrad Mallia, Ph.D.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Telephone: 301-496-7551
Email: CMallia@niaid.nih.gov
Polly Sager, Ph.D.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Telephone: 301-496-1884
Email: PSAGER@niaid.nih.gov
Gerald B. Sharp, Ph.D.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Telephone: 240-627-3217
Email: gsharp@niaid.nih.gov
Brigitte E. Sanders, Ph.D.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Telephone: 240-627-3209
Email: sandersbe@niaid.nih.gov
and Human Services (HHS)
