Career Award (K) Policy Update: Concurrent Support from a Mentored K Award and a Research Grant

Notice Number: NOT-OD-18-157

Key Dates
Release Date: April 6, 2018

Related Announcements
NOT-HL-21-003
NOT-OD-08-065
NOT-HL-22-022 - Updated NHLBI Guidance Concerning Mentored Career Development (K08 and K23) Awards: Percent Effort

Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Purpose

This purpose of this notice is to update NIH policy NOT-OD-08-065 concerning concurrent support from mentored career development (K) award and a research grant and specifically to: 1) expand the categories of concurrent support for which mentored K awardees may request reduction of effort to include peer-reviewed research grants of at least $100,000 in direct costs, obtained from non-Federal sources; e.g., foundations and professional societies; 2) clarify that during the period of reduced effort NIH will continue to provide full research development support costs (i.e., Other Personnel, Equipment, Travel, Participant/Trainee Support, and Other Direct Costs budget categories).

Effective Date and Programs Impacted
This policy is effective upon release for all active and future mentored K awards, including individual mentored K awards (K01, K07-developmental, K08, K18, K22, K23, K25, K43, K76, and K99/R00), and Scholars mentored through institutional K awards (K12 and KL2). However, because of the relatively short duration of support, K22 and K99 awardees (as well as K12/KL2 Scholars) must provide strong justification and institutional assurance that the additional research responsibilities will be beneficial to their overall career development.

Updated Policy on Concurrent Support from Mentored K Award and a Research Grant
As stated in NOT-OD-08-065 and the NIH Grants Policy Statement (12.3.6.2 Concurrent Support), mentored K awardees may request to reduce effort on the K award in the final two years of the award when they compete successfully as PD/PI for peer-reviewed research awards from any Federal agency, if programmatic policy of the awarding entity allows such an arrangement. NIH is updating this policy to expand the categories of concurrent support for which mentored K awardees may request reduction of effort to include peer-reviewed research grants of at least $100,000 in direct costs, obtained from non-Federal sources; e.g., foundations or professional societies.

In addition, during the period of reduced effort resulting from receipt of an additional peer-reviewed research award, NIH will adjust the total salary support committed to the K award consistent with the adjusted level of effort. However, NIH will continue to provide full research development support costs (i.e., Other Personnel, Equipment, Travel, Participant/Trainee Support, and Other Direct Costs budget categories) as indicated on the original Notice of Award. All other provisions of the prior policy on concurrent support, including the approval process to request reduced effort, remain the same.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Division of Biomedical Research Workforce
Office of Extramural Research
Website: https://researchtraining.nih.gov
Email: NIHTrain@mail.nih.gov