It is critical that applicants follow the Research (R) Instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide except where instructed to do otherwise (in this FOA or in a Notice from the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts). Conformance to all requirements (both in the Application Guide and the FOA) is required and strictly enforced. Applicants must read and follow all application instructions in the Application Guide as well as any program-specific instructions noted in Section IV. When the program-specific instructions deviate from those in the Application Guide, follow the program-specific instructions.

Applications that do not comply with these instructions will not be reviewed

Part 1. Overview Information
Part 2. Full Text of the Announcement
Section I. Funding Opportunity Description
Section II. Award Information
Section III. Eligibility Information
Section IV. Application and Submission Information
Section V. Application Review Information
Section VI. Award Administration Information
Section VII. Agency Contacts
Section VIII. Other Information

The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research educational activities that complement other formal training programs in the mission areas of the NIH Institutes and Centers. The over-arching goals of the NIH R25 program are to: (1) complement and/or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the nation’s biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs; (2) encourage individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those from groups underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, to pursue further studies or careers in research; (3) help recruit individuals with specific specialty or disciplinary backgrounds to research careers in biomedical, behavioral and clinical sciences; and (4) foster a better understanding of biomedical, behavioral and clinical research and its implications.

The overarching goal of the MOSAIC UE5 program is to support educational activities that encourage individuals from diverse backgrounds, for example those from groups underrepresented in the biomedical sciences, to pursue careers as independent researchers at research-intensive academic institutions. To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this FOA will support creative educational activities with a primary focus on Courses for Skills Development and Mentoring Activities (as described below). The program provides support for well-designed courses for skills development and mentoring activities to prepare cohorts of postdoctoral and early-career faculty scholars supported by MOSAIC K99/R00 awards to transition into, succeed, and advance in independent faculty careers at research-intensive institutions.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recognizes the need to diversify the scientific workforce by enhancing the participation of individuals from groups identified as underrepresented in the biomedical, clinical, behavioral and social sciences (collectively termed "biomedical") research workforce. Diversity at all levels from the kinds of science to the regions in which it is conducted to the backgrounds of the people conducting it contributes to excellence in research training environments and strengthens the research enterprise. Research shows that diverse teams working together and capitalizing on innovative ideas and distinct perspectives outperform homogenous teams. Scientists and trainees from diverse backgrounds and life experiences bring different perspectives, creativity, and individual interests to address complex scientific problems. There are many benefits that flow from a diverse NIH-supported scientific workforce, including fostering scientific innovation, enhancing global competitiveness, contributing to robust learning environments, improving the quality of research, enhancing public trust, and increasing the likelihood that health disparities and the needs of populations that have been underserved are addressed in biomedical research. NIH strives to ensure that future generations of researchers will be drawn from the entire pool of talented individuals, including groups underrepresented in biomedical research, who bring different aptitudes, perspectives, interests, and experiences to address complex scientific problems. NIH seeks to enhance the diversity of the biomedical research workforce by supporting individuals from a variety of backgrounds at multiple training and career stages in a variety of institutions and educational settings across the country.

Need for the Program

Promoting diversity in the extramural scientific workforce is critical to the success of the NIH mission and is consistent with the mandates of the 21st Century Cures Act. While scientific workforce diversity supports the NIH mission, expanding the pool of academic investigators from nationally underrepresented backgrounds in the biomedical research workforce has remained an elusive goal. NIH has a longstanding commitment to training the next generation of biomedical scientists and supporting training of students from diverse backgrounds, for example groups underrepresented in biomedical research, through a variety of fellowships, career development awards, and institutional training and student development programs. In spite of recent advances, individuals from certain groups and backgrounds are underrepresented in the biomedical sciences research workforce as described in the Notice of NIH's Interest in Diversity. The severity of the underrepresentation of these groups increases throughout the training stages. For example, students from certain racial and ethnic groups, including Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos/Latinas, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders comprise ~39 percent of the college age population (Census Bureau data), but earn only ~17 percent of bachelor’s degrees and ~13 percent of Ph.D. degrees in the life sciences (National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics). Additionally, while the United States has seen a significant increase in the number of Ph.D. degrees in the biomedical sciences earned by scientists from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in the biomedical research workforce, a corresponding increase in the ranks of the faculty in basic science departments has not occurred (Gibbs, et al., eLife 2016; Valantine, Lund & Gammie, CBE-Life Sciences Education, 2016). Similarly, women have earned a majority of biomedical Ph.Ds. since 2008 (NSF data), but only approximately 1/3 of NIH-funded principal investigators are women (NIH Databook).

NIH has undertaken a number of efforts to facilitate the career transition of postdoctoral scientists from diverse groups into the professoriate including the Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Awards (IRACDA), research supplements to promote diversity in health-related research, and re-entry into biomedical research careers. Additionally, the NIH Common Fund supports the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN), a nationwide consortium of biomedical professionals and institutions collaborating to provide biomedical trainees from all backgrounds and at all levels with evidence-based mentorship and professional development programming. While these efforts have supported the development of highly trained biomedical scientists who have the necessary knowledge and skills to pursue independent careers in the biomedical research workforce, there remains a need to develop additional strategies to promote transitions to independent faculty positions at research-intensive institutions.

Program Goal

The Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers (MOSAIC) program is designed to facilitate the transition of talented postdoctoral researchers from diverse backgrounds, for example individuals from groups underrepresented in the biomedical research workforce at the faculty level, into independent faculty careers in research-intensive institutions. The program has two components: an institutionally-focused research education cooperative agreement (UE5) and postdoctoral career transition award (K99/R00) to enhance diversity.

The over-arching goal of the MOSAIC UE5 program is to support educational activities that encourage individuals from diverse backgrounds, for example those from groups underrepresented in the biomedical sciences, to pursue careers as independent researchers at research-intensive academic institutions. Specifically, the MOSAIC UE5 program is designed to equip MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars with professional skills and provide them with the appropriate mentoring and professional networks to allow them to transition into, advance, and succeed in independent academic research careers at research-intensive institutions. To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this FOA will support creative educational activities with a primary focus on:

• Courses for Skills Development: For example, courses focused on skills related to the career advancement of cohorts of MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars. Support for short courses designed to enhance skills appropriate to transition into and advance within independent academic research careers, e.g., academic job search strategies, communication skills, grant proposal preparation, scientific publishing, laboratory management, budgeting, hiring, mentoring, managing career challenges and expectations, academic advancement, and balancing teaching, research, and service, and life-work balance. These courses could be in-person or provided electronically.
• Mentoring Activities: For example, formation of cohesive and mutually supportive cohorts of MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars that span the K99 to R00 award phases. One-on-one and group mentoring in scientific, professional and career development skills and strategies for the cohorts of MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars. Activities to enhance the mentoring networks of MOSAIC scholars and prepare participants with a working knowledge of the challenges and opportunities associated with a faculty career in academic research-intensive institutions and to improve their skills to meet these challenges and opportunities (e.g. navigating an academic research career as a scientist from an underrepresented background). Additionally, this FOA encourages activities to enhance the caliber of mentoring and institutional support of MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars, including convening regular meetings with appropriate leaders at the institutions where MOSAIC scholars conduct research (e.g., postdoctoral research advisors or postdoctoral affairs deans during the mentored phase; department chairs, deans, or provosts during the independent phase) to exchange ideas, and employ evidence-based approaches to enhance diversity and improve mentoring relationships. It is expected that enhancements made in the mentoring of and support for the MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars will be disseminated throughout the participating institutions and will benefit all their early-career scientists.

Programmatic Approach

The MOSAIC Research Education Awards are intended to fund scientific organizations that include NIH-funded investigators conducting research in the mission areas of the participating NIH institutes and centers in their membership (e.g., scientific societies) to:

• Develop cohorts of MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars based on scientific areas;
• Provide opportunities for MOSAIC scholars to engage in career development activities that will foster their progression to and success in independent academic research careers (e.g. courses for skills development);
• Enhance the scientific and professional networks of MOSAIC scholars beyond their local institutions;
• Identify and connect scholars with additional mentors who can facilitate appropriate career advancement;
• Organize regular meetings that provide appropriate leaders at the institutions where MOSAIC scholars conduct research (e.g., postdoctoral research advisors or postdoctoral affairs deans during the mentored research phase; department chairs, deans, or provosts during the independent phase) a forum to exchange ideas, and share evidence-based approaches to enhance diversity and improve mentoring;
• Enhance institutional accountability for the scholars' career advancement; and
• Track and publicize outcomes (e.g., publicly available websites).

Program Considerations

NIH intends to fund applications that propose feasible and effective research education activities that will enhance diversity in the biomedical research workforce. Applicants are expected to identify objectives (i.e., specific, measurable, and obtainable outcomes the program intends to achieve) and to develop plans to implement evidence-based skills development and mentoring activities that are grounded in the literature and from evaluations of existing relevant programs. Program objectives must align with the overarching goal of the MOSAIC initiative to enhance diversity in the professoriate at research-intensive institutions. Funded programs are expected to provide evidence of accomplishing the objectives in progress reports and upon renewal, to make outcomes publicly available, and to disseminate successful mentoring and skills development practices to the broader community.

The primary participants in MOSAIC research education activities will be scholars selected through the MOSAIC K99/R00 program. UE5 awardees are not responsible for the selection of the MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars - this will be managed by an NIH competitive peer review process as described in the MOSAIC K99/R00 FOA. The funded UE5 awardees will develop cohorts of MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars assigned by NIH staff (see below in the Cooperative Agreement section). Funded UE5 organizations are expected to provide professional development and enhance the professional networks of cohorts of MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars conducting research in areas specific to the mission(s) of participating NIH institute(s) and center(s). The specific NIH institute and center scientific areas supported through this FOA include:

NIGMS: NIGMS supports basic research that increases our understanding of biological processes and lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. NIGMS' research mission is aimed at understanding the principles, mechanisms, and processes that underlie living systems. It also supports research in specific clinical areas that affect multiple organs, particularly those related to injury and critical illness: sepsis, trauma, burn, wound healing, anesthesiology, and clinical pharmacology. For more information see https://www.nigms.nih.gov/about/overview/pages/default.aspx.

Funded MOSAIC research education activities should address the career needs of scholars in both the mentored postdoctoral research phase (K99), and independent research phase (R00). Activities should synergize with and supplement, but not duplicate, career development activities MOSAIC scholars participate in as part of their K99/R00 awards. Program activities should build upon the strengths and assets of MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars and should not reflect deficit-models (i.e., those that focus primarily on remediation of perceived weaknesses) of career development. The applicant organization may consider broadening the pool of scholars involved in the research education activities beyond MOSAIC K99/R00 awardees (e.g., scholars from diverse backgrounds, for example individuals from underrepresented groups, supported by other career awards or postdoctoral fellowships) but must consider the criteria it will use to identify potential participants as well as how it will manage cohort size to ensure efforts will achieve the overarching objective of this program.

Research education programs may complement ongoing research training and education occurring at the applicant organization, but the proposed educational experiences must be distinct from those training and education programs currently receiving Federal support.

See Section VIII. Other Information for award authorities and regulations.

NIH grants policies as described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement will apply to the applications submitted and awards made from this FOA.

Nonprofits Other Than Institutions of Higher Education

• Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) IRS Status (Other than Institutions of Higher Education)
• Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) IRS Status (Other than Institutions of Higher Education)

For-Profit Organizations

• Small Businesses
• For-Profit Organizations (Other than Small Businesses)

Applications are encouraged from organizations (1) composed of biomedical researchers (e.g., scientific societies) with a membership of scientists conducting research within the mission(s) of one or more of the participating NIH institutes or centers, including members with active research project grants from these ICs (see NIH RePORTER); (2) with experience serving as a centralized entity to enhance scientific communication and networking among scientists conducting research; (3) with an established record of providing professional development and networking activities for the next generation of biomedical researchers; (4) with a demonstrated commitment to enhancing the diversity of the biomedical research workforce, for example, individuals from underrepresented groups; and (5) with the resources to support the proposed program, e.g., the provision of adequate staff, facilities, and educational capacity.

Multiple organizations can partner for a MOSAIC UE5 application, with one organization serving as Primary Performance Site Location. If multiple organizations partner for an UE5 application, follow all instructions for Consortium/Contractual Arrangements in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.

Organizations with existing federally funded programs may apply for a MOSAIC UE5 research education grant provided that the proposed educational experiences are distinct from those training programs already receiving federal support.

The sponsoring organization must assure support for the proposed program. Appropriate organizational commitment to the program includes the provision of adequate staff, facilities, and educational resources that can contribute to the planned program.

Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Institutions) are not eligible to apply.
Non-domestic (non-U.S.) components of U.S. Organizations are not eligible to apply.
Foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are not allowed.

Applicant Organizations

Applicant organizations must complete and maintain the following registrations as described in the SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide to be eligible to apply for or receive an award. All registrations must be completed prior to the application being submitted. Registration can take 6 weeks or more, so applicants should begin the registration process as soon as possible. The NIH Policy on Late Submission of Grant Applications states that failure to complete registrations in advance of a due date is not a valid reason for a late submission.

• Dun and Bradstreet Universal Numbering System (DUNS) - All registrations require that applicants be issued a DUNS number. After obtaining a DUNS number, applicants can begin both SAM and eRA Commons registrations. The same DUNS number must be used for all registrations, as well as on the grant application.
• System for Award Management (SAM) Applicants must complete and maintain an active registration, which requires renewal at least annually. The renewal process may require as much time as the initial registration. SAM registration includes the assignment of a Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code for domestic organizations which have not already been assigned a CAGE Code.
• NATO Commercial and Government Entity (NCAGE) Code Foreign organizations must obtain an NCAGE code (in lieu of a CAGE code) in order to register in SAM.
• eRA Commons - Applicants must have an active DUNS number to register in eRA Commons. Organizations can register with the eRA Commons as they are working through their SAM or Grants.gov registration, but all registrations must be in place by time of submission. eRA Commons requires organizations to identify at least one Signing Official (SO) and at least one Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) account in order to submit an application.
• Grants.gov Applicants must have an active DUNS number and SAM registration in order to complete the Grants.gov registration.

Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PD(s)/PI(s))

All PD(s)/PI(s) must have an eRA Commons account. PD(s)/PI(s) should work with their organizational officials to either create a new account or to affiliate their existing account with the applicant organization in eRA Commons. If the PD/PI is also the organizational Signing Official, they must have two distinct eRA Commons accounts, one for each role. Obtaining an eRA Commons account can take up to 2 weeks.

Any individual(s) with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research as the Program Director(s)/Principal Investigator(s) (PD(s)/PI(s)) is invited to work with his/her organization to develop an application for support. Individuals from diverse backgrounds, including underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities, and women are always encouraged to apply for NIH support.

For institutions/organizations proposing multiple PDs/PIs, visit the Multiple Program Director/Principal Investigator Policy and submission details in the Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Component of the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.

PD(s)/PI(s) are expected to be full-time employees of the applicant organization. The PD(s)/PI(s) should have appropriate professional experience in the scientific area in which the application is targeted and be capable of providing both administrative and training leadership to the development and implementation of the proposed program. The PD/PI will be expected to monitor and assess the program and submit all documents and reports as required.

NIH encourages multiple PDs/PIs, particularly when each brings a unique perspective and skill set that will enhance the research education program. The PD/PI team should consider including individuals with experience in areas such as biomedical research, program evaluation, mentoring, and career development and advancement for early-career scientists.

While a faculty member who is a full-time employee of an academic institution cannot serve as a PD/PI, this individual can serve as a member of key personnel (e.g., co-investigator or collaborator).

This FOA does not require cost sharing as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.

Only one application per organization (normally identified by having a unique DUNS number or NIH IPF number) is allowed.

The NIH will not accept duplicate or highly overlapping applications under review at the same time. This means that the NIH will not accept:

• A new (A0) application that is submitted before issuance of the summary statement from the review of an overlapping new (A0) or resubmission (A1) application.
• An application that has substantial overlap with another application pending appeal of initial peer review (see NOT-OD-11-101).

Researchers from diverse backgrounds, for example individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, persons with disabilities, and women are encouraged to participate as preceptors/mentors. Mentors should have research expertise and professional experience relevant to the proposed program, for example a record of independent research funding and career progression in a research-intensive academic institution. Mentors must be committed to continue their involvement throughout the total period of the mentee’s participation in this award.

Scholars supported by NIH MOSAIC K99/R00 awards are the primary participants for UE5 programs supported through this FOA. MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars will be selected by a competitive peer review process managed by the NIH (as described in the MOSAIC K99/R00 FOA) and be assigned to UE5 awardees on a yearly basis.

With strong justification, UE5 awardees may recruit other individuals who will enhance the ability of the grantee to achieve the overarching goal of the MOSAIC program (e.g., scholars from diverse backgrounds, for example, individuals from underrepresented groups supported by other career awards or postdoctoral fellowships who conduct research within the scientific areas of the participating ICs, who are committed to pursuing academic independent research careers, and who will enhance the diversity of the biomedical research workforce). The participation of postdoctoral researchers or early-career faculty other than MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars in the research education activities supported by MOSAIC UE5 awards requires prior approval from NIH staff.

Unless strongly justified on the basis of exceptional relevance to NIH, research education programs should be used primarily for the education of U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Individuals who are not U.S. citizens and permanent residents may be allowed to participate in the UE5 research education program only with prior approval from NIH.

The application forms package specific to this opportunity must be accessed through ASSIST, Grants.gov Workspace or an institutional system-to-system solution. Links to apply using ASSIST or Grants.gov Workspace are available in Part 1 of this FOA. See your administrative office for instructions if you plan to use an institutional system-to-system solution.

It is critical that applicants follow the Research (R) Instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide, except where instructed in this funding opportunity announcement to do otherwise. Conformance to the requirements in the Application Guide is required and strictly enforced. Applications that are out of compliance with these instructions will not be reviewed.

All page limitations described in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide and the Table of Page Limits must be followed.

Instructions for Application Submission

The following section supplements the instructions found in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide and should be used for preparing an application to this FOA.

Follow all instructions provided in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.

Follow all instructions provided in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.

Follow all instructions provided in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide with the following additional modifications:

Facilities & Other Resources. Describe the educational environment, including the facilities, laboratories, participating departments, computer services, and any other resources to be used in the development and implementation of the proposed program. List all thematically related sources of support for research training and education following the format for Current and Pending Support.

Other Attachments. Advisory Committee. An Advisory Committee is a required component of this Research Education program. Applicants must provide a plan for the appointment of an Advisory Committee to monitor progress and relevance of the research education program. The composition, roles, responsibilities, and desired expertise of committee members, frequency of committee meetings, and other relevant information should be included. Describe how the Advisory Committee will evaluate the overall effectiveness of the program. Proposed Advisory Committee members should be named in the application if they have been invited to participate at the time the application is submitted. Please name your file Advisory_Committee.pdf

Applications lacking an advisory committee attachment will not be reviewed.

The filename provided for each Other Attachment will be the name used for the bookmark in the electronic application in eRA Commons.

Follow all instructions provided in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.

Follow all instructions provided in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide with the following additional modifications:

• Include all personnel other than the PD(s)/PI(s) in the Other Personnel section, including clerical and administrative staff.
• Program coordinators are allowed as long as their role is clearly defined and significantly different from the roles of the PDs/PIs. The duties and responsibilities of the program coordinators, with strong justification, must be included in the budget justification.
• Use the section on Participant/Trainee Support Costs to include all allowable categories of funds requested to support participants in the program.

Follow all instructions provided in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed, with the following additional instructions:

Research Strategy

The Research Strategy section must be used to upload the Research Education Program Plan, which must include the following components described below:

• Proposed Research Education Program
• Program Director/Principal Investigator
• Program Faculty
• Program Participants
• Recruitment Plan to Enhance Diversity
• Plan for Instruction in Methods for Enhancing Reproducibility
• Plan for Instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research
• Evaluation Plan
• Dissemination Plan

Research Education Program Plan

Proposed Research Education Program. While the proposed research education program may complement ongoing research training and education occurring at the applicant organization, the proposed educational experiences must be distinct from those research training and research education programs currently receiving federal support. When research training programs are on-going in the same institution, the applicant organization should clearly distinguish between the activities in the proposed research education program and the research training supported by the training program.

Applicants are encouraged to review relevant data/report resources (e.g., at https://extramural-diversity.nih.gov/diversity-reports) when preparing the application. Each application must describe the rationale, goals and measurable objectives of activities proposed. The application must describe the short-, medium-, and long-term goals for participants that the activities are designed to address and how these outcomes will be measured (see the Evaluation Plan section below). Applicants are strongly encouraged to consult individuals with evaluation experience from the outset of research education program planning. The application must describe how the proposed activities will synergize with the MOSAIC scholars' K99/R00 career development plans and will address the needs of scholars in both the mentored postdoctoral research phase (K99) and the independent research phase (R00). Program activities should reflect a strengths- or assets-based model of career development rather than a deficit remediation approach. Applications should include a description of the following areas:

• Organizational setting and current efforts to enhance workforce diversity. Describe the mission of the organization, its structure and governance. Describe the current efforts to enhance biomedical workforce diversity, the number of trainees and scientists served, and their impact. Describe aspects of the organizational environment likely to foster the success of the MOSAIC program. Describe and summarize any organizational and externally sponsored programs that have promoted the success of postdoctoral career transitions to academic independent research careers, or that address the needs of postdoctoral scholars and faculty from diverse backgrounds within the last 5 years.
• Cohort formation and activities: NIH intends to fund ~5 MOSAIC scholars per UE5 per year (i.e., cohorts of 5 scholars). The length of funding is up to 5 years per scholar. Accordingly, the UE5 will begin with ~5 MOSAIC scholars and grow to ~25 at steady-state. Describe activities that will enhance the sense of community among the MOSAIC scholars, who will be conducting research at institutions across the nation. Describe how each year the newly selected MOSAIC scholars will be integrated into the program and how the activities will align with the needs of the scholars according to their career development stage. Describe strategies that will be used to develop a strong, mutually supportive network within and among each cohort of MOSAIC scholars.
• Courses for skills development: Provide the underlying rationale and evidence supporting the proposed courses in professional skills development. Describe the educational concepts and principles on which the courses are based and the overall strategy, methodology, and analyses to be employed. Describe delivery format (e.g., in-person, online, or a combination). Courses should be designed to enhance skills appropriate to transition into and advance within independent academic research careers, e.g., academic job search strategies, communication skills, grant proposal preparation, scientific publishing, laboratory management, budgeting, hiring, mentoring, managing career challenges and expectations, academic advancement, and balancing teaching, research, and service. Describe plans to ensure activities will synergize with, but not duplicate the institutional career development plans developed by the MOSAIC scholars.
• Activities for addressing psychosocial and environmental factors associated with persistence: Applicants should provide a review of the substantial pedagogical literature concerning predictors of success in research careers. Examples of activities include reducing stereotype threat, diminishing imposter syndrome, overcoming microaggressions, utilizing cultural assets, and achieving life-work balance.
• Mentorship: Describe the process for matching MOSAIC scholars with additional mentors who can facilitate appropriate career advancement and enhance the scholars scientific and professional networks beyond their local institutions. Describe plans to provide appropriate professional development and enhance the professional networks of MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars. Describe how the organization has sufficiently broad scientific expertise within the mission of one or more participating NIH ICs to ensure that a cohort of funded MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars with differing areas of research could be supported (see Program Considerations above). Describe the process for engaging the sponsors of MOSAIC scholars during the K99 phase to enhance the mentored training experience.
• Conferences: Describe plans to include MOSAIC scholars as part of the organization's regular scientific meetings (e.g., an annual conference). Describe plans to organize meetings that provide appropriate leaders at the institutions where MOSAIC scholars conduct research (e.g., postdoctoral research advisors or postdoctoral affairs deans during the mentored research phase; department chairs, deans, or provosts during the independent phase) a forum to exchange ideas and share evidence-based approaches to enhance diversity and improve mentoring. Include a description of proposed meeting frequency and format. Describe any additional planned strategies to increase institutional efficacy and accountability in supporting and mentoring the MOSAIC scholars and in disseminating these approaches to benefit early career investigators more broadly (e.g., addressing psychosocial and environmental factors associated with persistence, particularly for scientists from underrepresented groups).

Applicants are invited to propose additional innovative activities to achieve the goals of the MOSAIC program. Applicants should directly address how the set of activities will achieve the goals of the MOSAIC program. Describe the rationale underlying the balance of effort and resources dedicated to each activity, how the proposed activities integrate, and the objective indicators that can measure the effectiveness of the program and its activities.

Applicants seeking to build on activities previously supported by other federal grant mechanism (e.g., T36, R13, R25 IPERT) should describe in detail the progress accomplished and results of the evaluations performed to determine if the originally proposed goals and measurable objectives have been accomplished. Applicants must describe new elements that are intended to expand, enhance or refocus previously supported activities to specifically address the goals of the MOSAIC program.

Program Director/Principal Investigator.

Describe arrangements for administration of the program. Provide evidence that the PD(s)/PI(s) can effectively organize, administer, monitor, and evaluate the research education program. This FOA encourages multiple PDs/PIs, particularly when each brings a unique perspective and skill set that will enhance the research education program as described in the Eligible Individuals section.

The PD(s)/PI(s) should have a demonstrated commitment to training the next generation of the biomedical research workforce, and involvement in efforts to enhance diversity. As applicable, describe the experience of the PD(s)/PI(s) in efforts to enhance diversity and promote inclusive environments. Describe any training the PD(s)/PI(s) have received or will receive on how to effectively mentor individuals from diverse backgrounds.

Program Faculty.

The MOSAIC research education program should recruit academic biomedical researchers to provide the scholars with additional mentors. The program is encouraged to recruit MOSAIC Program Faculty who are researchers from diverse backgrounds, e.g., individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, individuals from low-socioeconomic and disadvantaged backgrounds, persons with disabilities, and women. Faculty should have research expertise and experience relevant to the proposed program and demonstrate a history of, or the potential for, their intended roles. Describe how the program will build a diverse team of participating faculty to help scholars gain access to potential role models within the program and to enhance the excellence of the research education program. In this section, applicants should synthesize and expand on the material presented in the biosketches. The application should address how the participating faculty will receive training on how to effectively mentor individuals from diverse backgrounds.

Program Participants.

Describe the characteristics of MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars (e.g., scientific background) who would benefit most from the proposed research education activities. If the applicant organization proposes to broaden the pool of scholars involved in the research education activities beyond MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars, the application should describe the criteria to identify potential participants and how the program will manage cohort sizes to ensure the program is effective. Please note, applicants who intend to broaden the pool of scholars beyond the MOSAIC K99/R00 awardees must address the outreach approaches in the Recruitment Plan to Enhance Diversity as described below.

Recruitment Plan to Enhance Diversity: Fostering diversity in the scientific research workforce is a key component of the NIH strategy to identify, develop, support and maintain the quality of our scientific human capital. Every facet of the United States scientific research enterprise from basic laboratory research to clinical and translational research to policy formation requires creativity and a wide range of skill sets and viewpoints. NIH’s ability to help ensure that the nation remains a global leader in scientific discovery and innovation is dependent upon a pool of highly talented scientists from diverse backgrounds, including individuals from underrepresented groups who will help to further NIH's mission (see Notice of NIH’s Interest in Diversity).

All applications must include a description of plans to recruit prospective Program Faculty from diverse backgrounds (e.g., those underrepresented in the biomedical sciences) to help scholars gain access to potential role models within the program and to enhance the excellence of the research education program. Applications that propose to include participants beyond the MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars must include a description of plans to enhance the recruitment of individuals from underrepresented backgrounds as program participants and may include data in support of past accomplishments.

Applications lacking a recruitment plan to enhance diversity will not be reviewed.

Plan for Instruction in Methods for Enhancing Reproducibility. Applicants must provide a Plan for Instruction in Methods for Enhancing Reproducibility through rigor and transparency. The plan should describe how the program will reinforce the principles important for enhancing research reproducibility for example, critical evaluation of foundational research underlying a project, rigorous experimental design and data interpretation, consideration of relevant biological variables such as sex, authentication of key biological and/or chemical resources, data and material sharing, record keeping, and transparency in reporting. The plan should be appropriate and reasonable for the nature and duration of the proposed activities. Applicants are encouraged to consult the NIGMS clearinghouse for training modules to enhance data reproducibility and other resources when developing the plans.

Applications lacking a plan for instruction in methods for enhancing reproducibility will not be reviewed.

Plan for Instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research. Applicants must provide a plan in the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR). Examples of potential topics may include conflict of interest, authorship, data management, human subjects and animal use, laboratory safety, research misconduct, research ethics, and sexual harassment. The plan should be appropriate and reasonable for the nature and duration of the proposed activities. Explain how the teaching of RCR principles synergizes with elements of the activities designed to enhance the participants ability to conduct rigorous and reproducible research.

Applications lacking a plan for instruction in responsible conduct of research will not be reviewed.

Evaluation Plan. Applications must include a plan for evaluating the activities supported by the MOSAIC research education award and the extent to which the measurable objectives will be accomplished. Therefore, a MOSAIC application must include measurable objectives for the proposed activities (as described in the Proposed Research Education Program section). The evaluation plan must explain how each outcome(s) will be measured. The application must specify baseline metrics, as well as measures to gauge the short-, medium-, and long-term success of the research education award in achieving its objectives.

The metrics are expected to move beyond participant satisfaction, self-reporting of perceived skills gained, or self-reporting of effectiveness. Programs are encouraged, when appropriate, to measure psychosocial indicators of progress (e.g., science identity, a sense of belonging in the research community, self-efficacy in navigating the academic job search or first year as an independent investigator, etc.); however, these indicators should be linked to measurable outcomes (e.g., academic positions; career advancement, peer-reviewed publications; scientific presentations; honors/awards; leadership positions; external grant funding).

Applicants are encouraged to develop a participant tracking system for follow-up with program participants. The tracking system may include but is not limited to the following metrics: career outcomes; research experiences; peer-reviewed publications; scientific presentations; honors/awards; leadership positions in current institution and/or professional organization as a result of MOSAIC; and, additional training and/or mentoring as a result of MOSAIC. Wherever appropriate, applicants are encouraged to obtain feedback from participants to help identify program strengths and weaknesses; to provide suggestions for improvements on program administration; to indicate the likelihood of utilizing the knowledge and/or skills gained for future education and career development; to provide suggestions for future programming to improve program effectiveness; and to describe any programmatic changes developed from such feedback. As mentioned above, applicants are strongly encouraged to develop the programmatic activities and evaluation plan early in the planning phases and in consultation with an experienced evaluator. Individuals within the organization with evaluation experience are encouraged to serve as the consultants.

Applications lacking an Evaluation Plan will not be reviewed.

Dissemination Plan. A specific plan must be provided to disseminate nationally any findings resulting from or materials developed under the auspices of the research education program, e.g., sharing course curricula and related materials via web postings, presentations at scientific meetings, or workshops.

Applications lacking a Dissemination Plan will not be reviewed.

Consortium/Contractual Arrangements

If multiple organizations are collaborating to support a single MOSAIC UE5 application arrangements between the applicant organization and the consortium organization(s) should be included in the application as described in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.

Letters of Support

Organizational Commitment. (Three page maximum) Applications must include a letter from a Senior Administration Official at the applicant organization. This letter should be a signed letter on organizational letterhead, and it should describe the applicant organization’s commitment to the planned program. The letter should provide evidence of commitment to the research education program. Appropriate commitment should include the provision of adequate staff, facilities, and educational resources that can contribute to the planned research education program. The letter should describe how the organization ensures that proper policies, procedures, and oversight are in place to prevent discriminatory harassment and other practices; responds appropriately to allegations of discriminatory practices, including any required notifications to the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (see NOT-OD-15-152); and adopts and follows institutional procedure for requesting NIH prior approval of a change in the status of the Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) or other senior/key personnel if administrative or disciplinary action is taken that impacts the ability of the PD/PI or other key personnel to continue his/her role on the NIH award described in the research education program application (also see NOT-OD-18-172 regarding policy on change in PD/PI status).

If the applicant proposes a multi-site research education project, the applicant organization must document the requisite administrative/technical capacity to support the management of a proposed collaborative multisite project. All collaborative arrangements must be clearly described, and agreements included in the application.

Applications lacking an Organizational Commitment letter will not be reviewed.

Resource Sharing Plans

Individuals are required to comply with the instructions for the Resource Sharing Plans as provided in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide, with the following modification:

When relevant, applications are expected to include a software dissemination plan if support for development, maintenance, or enhancement of software is requested in the application. There is no prescribed single license for software produced. However, the software dissemination plan should address, as appropriate, the following goals:

• Software source code should be freely available to biomedical researchers and educators in the non-profit sector, such as institutions of education, research institutions, and government laboratories. Users should be permitted to modify the code and share their modifications with others.
• The terms of software availability should permit the commercialization of enhanced or customized versions of the software, or incorporation of the software or pieces of it into other software packages.
• To preserve utility to the community, the software should be transferable such that another individual or team can continue development in the event that the original investigators are unwilling or unable to do so.

Appendix

Only limited Appendix materials are allowed. Follow the instructions for the Appendix as described in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.

When involving human subjects research, clinical research, and/or NIH-defined clinical trials (and when applicable, clinical trials research experience) follow all instructions for the PHS Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information form in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide, with the following additional instructions:

If you answered Yes to the question Are Human Subjects Involved? on the R&R Other Project Information form, you must include at least one human subjects study record using the Study Record: PHS Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information form or Delayed Onset Study record.

Study Record: PHS Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed.

Delayed Onset Study

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed.

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed.

See Part 1. Section III.1 for information regarding the requirement for obtaining a unique entity identifier and for completing and maintaining active registrations in System for Award Management (SAM), NATO Commercial and Government Entity (NCAGE) Code (if applicable), eRA Commons, and Grants.gov

Part I. Overview Information contains information about Key Dates and times. Applicants are encouraged to submit applications before the due date to ensure they have time to make any application corrections that might be necessary for successful submission. When a submission date falls on a weekend or Federal holiday, the application deadline is automatically extended to the next business day.

Organizations must submit applications to Grants.gov (the online portal to find and apply for grants across all Federal agencies). Applicants must then complete the submission process by tracking the status of the application in the eRA Commons, NIH’s electronic system for grants administration. NIH and Grants.gov systems check the application against many of the application instructions upon submission. Errors must be corrected and a changed/corrected application must be submitted to Grants.gov on or before the application due date and time. If a Changed/Corrected application is submitted after the deadline, the application will be considered late. Applications that miss the due date and time are subjected to the NIH Policy on Late Application Submission.

Applicants are responsible for viewing their application before the due date in the eRA Commons to ensure accurate and successful submission.

Information on the submission process and a definition of on-time submission are provided in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.

This initiative is not subject to intergovernmental review.

All NIH awards are subject to the terms and conditions, cost principles, and other considerations described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.

Pre-award costs are allowable only as described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.

Grantees are required to seek prior approval from NIH if they plan to include participants other than MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars in the research education program.

Applications must be submitted electronically following the instructions described in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide. Paper applications will not be accepted.

Applicants must complete all required registrations before the application due date. Section III. Eligibility Information contains information about registration.

For assistance with your electronic application or for more information on the electronic submission process, visit How to Apply Application Guide. If you encounter a system issue beyond your control that threatens your ability to complete the submission process on-time, you must follow the Dealing with System Issues guidance. For assistance with application submission, contact the Application Submission Contacts in Section VII.

Important reminders:
All PD(s)/PI(s) must include their eRA Commons ID in the Credential field of the Senior/Key Person Profile Component of the SF424(R&R) Application Package. Failure to register in the Commons and to include a valid PD/PI Commons ID in the credential field will prevent the successful submission of an electronic application to NIH.

The applicant organization must ensure that the DUNS number it provides on the application is the same number used in the organization’s profile in the eRA Commons and for the System for Award Management (SAM). Additional information may be found in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.

See more tips for avoiding common errors.

Upon receipt, applications will be evaluated for completeness and compliance with application instructions by the NIH Center for Scientific Review. Applications that are incomplete or non-compliant will not be reviewed.

Applicants requesting $500,000 or more in direct costs (less consortium F&A) in any year are required to contact a Scientific/ Research Contact at least 6 weeks before submitting the application. The Policy on the Acceptance for Review of Unsolicited Applications that Request $500,000 or More in Direct Costs as described in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide is applicable to this FOA

Applicants are required to follow the instructions for post-submission materials, as described in the policy.

Only the review criteria described below will be considered in the review process. Applications submitted to the NIH in support of the NIH mission are evaluated for scientific and technical merit through the NIH peer review system.

For this FOA, note the following: The goal of the MOSAIC UE5 program is to support educational activities for MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars that will equip them with the professional skills, and provide them with the appropriate mentoring and professional networks to transition into, advance, and succeed in independent academic research careers at research-intensive institutions.

Reviewers will provide an overall impact score to reflect their assessment of the likelihood for the project to strongly advance research education by fulfilling the goal of this UE5 Education Program, in consideration of the following review criteria and additional review criteria, as applicable for the project proposed.

Reviewers will consider each of the review criteria below in the determination of scientific merit, and give a separate score for each. An application does not need to be strong in all categories to be judged likely to have major scientific impact.

Significance

Does the proposed program address a key audience and an important aspect or important need in research education? Is there convincing evidence in the application that the proposed UE5 program will significantly advance the stated goals of the overall MOSAIC program?

Specific to this FOA: How likely is the proposed research education program to provide MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars opportunities for skills development and enhanced mentoring and professional networks to facilitate their transition into, and success in, independent academic research careers?

Investigator(s)

Is/are the PD/PI(s) capable of providing both administrative and educational leadership to the development and implementation of the proposed program? Is there evidence that an appropriate level of effort will be devoted by the program leadership to ensure the program's intended goal is accomplished? If applicable, is there evidence that the participating faculty have experience in mentoring students and teaching science? If applicable, are the faculty good role models for the participants by nature of their scientific accomplishments? If the project is collaborative or multi-PD/PI, do the investigators have complementary and integrated expertise; are their leadership approach, governance and organizational structure appropriate for the project?

Specific to this FOA: Does/do the PD(s)/PI(s) have a track record of involvement in, or leadership of, successful efforts to enhance diversity within the biomedical research workforce? Is there a robust plan to ensure participating faculty come from diverse backgrounds?

Innovation

Taking into consideration the nature of the proposed research education program, does the applicant make a strong case for this program effectively reaching an audience in need of the program’s offerings? Where appropriate, is the proposed program developing or utilizing innovative approaches and latest best practices to improve the knowledge and/or skills of the intended audience?

Approach

Does the proposed program clearly state its goals and objectives, including the educational level of the audience to be reached, the content to be conveyed, and the intended outcome? Is there evidence that the program is based on a sound rationale, as well as sound educational concepts and principles? Is the plan for evaluation sound and likely to provide information on the effectiveness of the program? If the proposed program will recruit participants, are the planned recruitment, retention, and follow-up (if applicable) activities adequate to ensure a highly qualified participant pool?

Specific for this FOA: Is there a clear and convincing plan to ensure robust and appropriate professional development and mentoring for MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars? Will the organization be able to support a sufficient breadth of scientific areas within the research missions of one or more of the participating ICs to assemble cohorts from the funded MOSAIC K99/R00 fellows? Does the research education plan address how the proposed activities will synergize with and not duplicate the MOSAIC scholars' career development plans and address their professional needs in both the mentored postdoctoral (K99) and independent research (R00) phases of their award? Is there a clear and convincing plan to provide activities that will enhance community among the MOSAIC scholars' and strengthen their cohorts? Are there robust plans to leverage existing organizational structures (e.g., annual scientific meetings) to enhance the career development of MOSAIC scholars? Are the plans to engage institutional leaders at institutions where MOSAIC scholars conduct research likely to improve the mentoring and career development of MOSAIC scholars, as well as other early-career researchers? Is there sufficient consideration of potential problems that may be encountered and an appropriate description of alternative strategies that could be employed? If the applicant plans to recruit program participants in addition to the MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars, is the case for doing so well justified and does the research education plan provide clear criteria for who would be recruited, and a convincing plan to manage cohort size?

Environment

Will the scientific and educational environment of the proposed program contribute to its intended goals? Is there a plan to take advantage of this environment to enhance the educational value of the program? Is there tangible evidence of organizational commitment? Is there evidence that the faculty have sufficient organizational support to create a sound educational environment for the participants? Where appropriate, is there evidence of collaboration and buy-in among participating programs, departments, organizations, and institutions?

Specific for this FOA: Do outcomes from any relevant programs currently or previously run by the organization indicate the environment can successfully achieve the goals of MOSAIC? Does the organization have a sufficiently broad scientific scope and large and diverse enough member base to successfully support the MOSAIC program?

As applicable for the project proposed, reviewers will evaluate the following additional items while determining scientific and technical merit, and in providing an overall impact score, but will not give separate scores for these items.

Protections for Human Subjects

Generally not applicable. Reviewers should bring any concerns to the attention of the Scientific Review Officer.

Inclusion of Women, Minorities, and Individuals Across the Lifespan

Generally not applicable. Reviewers should bring any concerns to the attention of the Scientific Review Officer.

Vertebrate Animals

Generally not applicable. Reviewers should bring any concerns to the attention of the Scientific Review Officer.

Biohazards

Generally not applicable. Reviewers should bring any concerns to the attention of the Scientific Review Officer.

Resubmissions

Not Applicable

Renewals

Not Applicable

Revisions

Not Applicable

As applicable for the project proposed, reviewers will consider each of the following items, but will not give scores for these items, and should not consider them in providing an overall impact score.

Recruitment Plan to Enhance Diversity

Peer reviewers will separately evaluate the recruitment plan to enhance diversity after the overall score has been determined. Reviewers will examine the strategies to be used in the recruitment of prospective faculty from underrepresented groups. If applicable, reviewers will examine strategies to be used in the recruitment of potential participants other than NIH MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars from underrepresented groups. The review panel’s evaluation will be included in the summary statement. Plans will be rated as acceptable or unacceptable, and the summary statement will provide the consensus of the review committee.

Training in Methods for Enhancing Reproducibility

Does the Instruction in Methods for Enhancing Reproducibility plan describe how participants will be instructed in principles important for enhancing research reproducibility and transparency in reporting? Are the components sufficiently well integrated into the overall program? The plan will be rated as acceptable or unacceptable, and the summary statement will provide the consensus of the review committee.

Training in the Responsible Conduct of Research

Taking into account the specific characteristics of the proposed research education program, the level of participant experience, the reviewers will evaluate the adequacy of the proposed RCR training. Plans will be rated as acceptable or unacceptable, and the summary statement will provide the consensus of the review committee.

Applications from Foreign Organizations

Not Applicable

Select Agent Research

Generally not applicable. Reviewers should bring any concerns to the attention of the Scientific Review Officer.

Resource Sharing Plans

Reviewers will comment on whether the following Resource Sharing Plans, or the rationale for not sharing the following types of resources, are reasonable: 1) Data Sharing Plan; 2) Sharing Model Organisms; and 3) Genomic Data Sharing Plan. If support for development, maintenance, or enhancement of software is requested in the application, the reviewers will comment on the proposed software dissemination plan.

Budget and Period of Support

Reviewers will consider whether the budget and the requested period of support are fully justified and reasonable in relation to the proposed research.

Applications will be evaluated for scientific and technical merit by (an) appropriate Scientific Review Group(s) convened by the NIGMS Office of Scientific Review, in accordance with NIH peer review policy and procedures, using the stated review criteria. Assignment to a Scientific Review Group will be shown in the eRA Commons.

As part of the scientific peer review, all applications:

• May undergo a selection process in which only those applications deemed to have the highest scientific and technical merit (generally the top half of applications under review) will be discussed and assigned an overall impact score.
• Will receive a written critique.

Applications will be assigned on the basis of established PHS referral guidelines to the appropriate NIH Institute or Center. Applications will compete for available funds with all other recommended applications submitted in response to this FOA. Following initial peer review, recommended applications will receive a second level of review by the appropriate national Advisory Council or Board. The following will be considered in making funding decisions:

• Scientific and technical merit of the proposed project as determined by scientific peer review.
• Availability of funds.
• Relevance of the proposed project to program priorities.
• Adequate distribution of supportable scientific research areas for MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars.

After the peer review of the application is completed, the PD/PI will be able to access his or her Summary Statement (written critique) via the eRA Commons. Refer to Part 1 for dates for peer review, advisory council review, and earliest start date.

Information regarding the disposition of applications is available in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.

If the application is under consideration for funding, NIH will request "just-in-time" information from the applicant as described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.

A formal notification in the form of a Notice of Award (NoA) will be provided to the applicant organization for successful applications. The NoA signed by the grants management officer is the authorizing document and will be sent via email to the grantee’s business official.

Awardees must comply with any funding restrictions described in Section IV.5. Funding Restrictions. Selection of an application for award is not an authorization to begin performance. Any costs incurred before receipt of the NoA are at the recipient's risk. These costs may be reimbursed only to the extent considered allowable pre-award costs.

Any application awarded in response to this FOA will be subject to terms and conditions found on the Award Conditions and Information for NIH Grants website. This includes any recent legislation and policy applicable to awards that is highlighted on this website.

Institutional Review Board or Independent Ethics Committee Approval: Grantee institutions must ensure that protocols are reviewed by their IRB or IEC. To help ensure the safety of participants enrolled in NIH-funded studies, the awardee must provide NIH copies of documents related to all major changes in the status of ongoing protocols.

All NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards include the NIH Grants Policy Statement as part of the NoA. For these terms of award, see the NIH Grants Policy Statement Part II: Terms and Conditions of NIH Grant Awards, Subpart A: General and Part II: Terms and Conditions of NIH Grant Awards, Subpart B: Terms and Conditions for Specific Types of Grants, Grantees, and Activities. More information is provided at Award Conditions and Information for NIH Grants.

Recipients of federal financial assistance (FFA) from HHS must administer their programs in compliance with federal civil rights law. This means that recipients of HHS funds must ensure equal access to their programs without regard to a person’s race, color, national origin, disability, age and, in some circumstances, sex and religion. This includes ensuring your programs are accessible to persons with limited English proficiency. HHS recognizes that research projects are often limited in scope for many reasons that are nondiscriminatory, such as the principal investigator s scientific interest, funding limitations, recruitment requirements, and other considerations. Thus, criteria in research protocols that target or exclude certain populations are warranted where nondiscriminatory justifications establish that such criteria are appropriate with respect to the health or safety of the subjects, the scientific study design, or the purpose of the research.

For additional guidance regarding how the provisions apply to NIH grant programs, please contact the Scientific/Research Contact that is identified in Section VII under Agency Contacts of this FOA. HHS provides general guidance to recipients of FFA on meeting their legal obligation to take reasonable steps to provide meaningful access to their programs by persons with limited English proficiency. Please see https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/special-topics/limited-english-proficiency/index.html. The HHS Office for Civil Rights also provides guidance on complying with civil rights laws enforced by HHS. Please see https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/section-1557/index.html; and https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-providers/laws-regulations-guidance/index.html. Recipients of FFA also have specific legal obligations for serving qualified individuals with disabilities. Please see https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/disability/index.html. Please contact the HHS Office for Civil Rights for more information about obligations and prohibitions under federal civil rights laws at https://www.hhs.gov/ocr/about-us/contact-us/index.html or call 1-800-368-1019 or TDD 1-800-537-7697. Also note it is an HHS Departmental goal to ensure access to quality, culturally competent care, including long-term services and supports, for vulnerable populations. For further guidance on providing culturally and linguistically appropriate services, recipients should review the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health and Health Care at http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=2&lvlid=53.

In accordance with the statutory provisions contained in Section 872 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2009 (Public Law 110-417), NIH awards will be subject to the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS) requirements. FAPIIS requires Federal award making officials to review and consider information about an applicant in the designated integrity and performance system (currently FAPIIS) prior to making an award. An applicant, at its option, may review information in the designated integrity and performance systems accessible through FAPIIS and comment on any information about itself that a Federal agency previously entered and is currently in FAPIIS. The Federal awarding agency will consider any comments by the applicant, in addition to other information in FAPIIS, in making a judgement about the applicant s integrity, business ethics, and record of performance under Federal awards when completing the review of risk posed by applicants as described in 45 CFR Part 75.205 Federal awarding agency review of risk posed by applicants. This provision will apply to all NIH grants and cooperative agreements except fellowships.

The following special terms of award are in addition to, and not in lieu of, otherwise applicable U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) administrative guidelines, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) grant administration regulations at 45 CFR Part 75, and other HHS, PHS, and NIH grant administration policies.

The administrative and funding instrument used for this program will function as a cooperative agreement, an "assistance" mechanism (rather than an "acquisition" mechanism), in which substantial NIH programmatic involvement with the awardees is anticipated during the performance of the activities. Under the cooperative agreement, the NIH purpose is to support and stimulate the recipients' activities by involvement in and otherwise working jointly with the award recipients in a partnership role; it is not to assume direction, prime responsibility, or a dominant role in the activities. Consistent with this concept, the dominant role and prime responsibility will remain with the awardees for the project as a whole, although specific tasks and activities may be shared among the awardees and the NIH as defined below.

The PD(s)/PI(s) will have the primary responsibility for:

• Adhering to the overall objective of the MOSAIC program
• Developing and implementing the courses for skills development, mentoring, and networking activities
• Managing the programmatic activities such as:
• Handling the logistics of participant registration and associated payments/reimbursements for non-federal participants;
• Contracting the facilities that will host the courses and provide housing for course faculty, staff, and participants;
• Developing and administering course-specific evaluation instruments to course participants, faculty, and administrators;
• Analyzing course-specific evaluation data and presenting the results at professional conferences and/or in publications;
• Collecting MOSAIC-specific evaluation data in and participating in MOSAIC-specific analyses, presentations, and publications
• With the AOR, request NIH prior approval for other individuals not funded by NIH MOSAIC K99/R00 awards to participate in the research education program.
• Contributing to the cooperative nature of the MOSAIC program

Awardees will retain custody of and have primary rights to the data and software developed under these awards, subject to Government rights of access consistent with current DHHS, PHS, and NIH policies.

NIH staff have substantial programmatic involvement that is above and beyond the normal stewardship role in awards, as described below:

Project Coordinator: NIH Project Coordinator(s) with expertise in relevant areas will:

• Help guide the development of each MOSAIC research education award and the MOSAIC network by providing overall advice and coordination;
• Facilitate a partnership with NIH and ensure that the directions taken by the MOSAIC research education award are consistent with NIH missions and goals;
• Make recommendations regarding project direction to maintain scientific balance between accomplishing the goal and objectives of MOSAIC and addressing emerging opportunities;
• Lead an NIH committee to make assignments of MOSAIC K99 scholars to UE5 awardees;
• Promote communication between NIH and the grantee; and
• Facilitate, not direct, activities.

The Project Coordinator will not participate in the oversight of the funding announcement, application review or programmatic and budgetary stewardship of the award. The Project Coordinator will also not participate as an active researcher in the execution of the funded research and will not be an author on any publications resulting from the project.

Program Official:

The NIH Program Official will be responsible for oversight of the funding announcement and the normal programmatic stewardship of the award, including participating in funding recommendations, and will be named in the award notice. The Program Official will not partake of the duties of the Project Coordinator.

Areas of Joint Responsibility include:

During the course of the award period, the awardee(s) will be invited to meet with NIH staff, and/or other interested parties at an annual meeting in Bethesda, MD to review progress, and share outcomes. Awardees and NIH staff (i.e. project coordinator(s)) will work together to plan these meetings. PD/PIs will be responsible for paying their travel expenses for the annual meeting from the award budget.

Dispute Resolution:

Any disagreements that may arise in scientific or programmatic matters (within the scope of the award) between award recipients and the NIH may be brought to dispute resolution. A Dispute Resolution Panel composed of three members will be convened. The panel will consist of a designee of the awardee, one NIH designee, and a third designee with expertise in the relevant area who is chosen by the other two; in the case of individual disagreement, the first member may be chosen by the individual awardee. This special dispute resolution procedure does not alter the awardee's right to appeal an adverse action that is otherwise appealable in accordance with PHS regulation 42 CFR Part 50, Subpart D and DHHS regulation 45 CFR Part 16

When multiple years are involved, awardees will be required to submit the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) annually. Continuation support will not be provided until the required forms are submitted and accepted. Programs that involve participants should report on education in the responsible conduct of research and complete a Training Diversity Report, in accordance with the RPPR Instruction Guide.

The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Transparency Act), includes a requirement for awardees of Federal grants to report information about first-tier subawards and executive compensation under Federal assistance awards issued in FY2011 or later. All awardees of applicable NIH grants and cooperative agreements are required to report to the Federal Subaward Reporting System (FSRS) available at www.fsrs.gov on all subawards over $25,000. See the NIH Grants Policy Statement for additional information on this reporting requirement.

Failure by the grantee institution to submit required forms in a timely, complete, and accurate manner may result in an expenditure disallowance or a delay in any continuation funding for the award.

In accordance with the regulatory requirements provided at 45 CFR 75.113 and Appendix XII to 45 CFR Part 75, recipients that have currently active Federal grants, cooperative agreements, and procurement contracts from all Federal awarding agencies with a cumulative total value greater than $10,000,000 for any period of time during the period of performance of a Federal award, must report and maintain the currency of information reported in the System for Award Management (SAM) about civil, criminal, and administrative proceedings in connection with the award or performance of a Federal award that reached final disposition within the most recent five-year period. The recipient must also make semiannual disclosures regarding such proceedings. Proceedings information will be made publicly available in the designated integrity and performance system (currently FAPIIS). This is a statutory requirement under section 872 of Public Law 110-417, as amended (41 U.S.C. 2313). As required by section 3010 of Public Law 111-212, all information posted in the designated integrity and performance system on or after April 15, 2011, except past performance reviews required for Federal procurement contracts, will be publicly available. Full reporting requirements and procedures are found in Appendix XII to 45 CFR Part 75 Award Term and Conditions for Recipient Integrity and Performance Matters.

A final RPPR and the expenditure data portion of the Federal Financial Report are required for closeout of an award as described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.

In carrying out its stewardship of human resource-related programs, the NIH or its Institutes and Centers will periodically evaluate their UE5 research education programs, employing the measures identified below. In assessing the effectiveness of its research education investments, NIH may request information from databases, PD/PIs, and from participants themselves. Where necessary, PD/PIs and participants may be contacted after the completion of a research education experience for periodic updates on participants subsequent educational or employment history and professional activities.

Upon the completion of a program evaluation, NIH and its ICs will determine whether to (a) continue a program as currently configured, (b) continue a program with modifications, or (c) discontinue a program.

In evaluating this research education program NIH expects to use the following measures:

For Courses for Skills Development and Mentoring Programs for Postdoctorates and Early Career Investigators:

• Aggregate number and demographic characteristics of participants
• Educational level of participants
• Content
• Participants feedback on the program
• New knowledge or skills acquired
• Subsequent educational/career progress of participants, including:
• Subsequent participation in research
• Subsequent participation in independent academic research careers
• Subsequent employment in a research or research-related field
• Subsequent authorship of scientific publications in a STEM field
• Subsequent independent research grant support from NIH or another source

We encourage inquiries concerning this funding opportunity and welcome the opportunity to answer questions from potential applicants.

eRA Service Desk (Questions regarding ASSIST, eRA Commons, application errors and warnings, documenting system problems that threaten submission by the due date, and post-submission issues)

Finding Help Online: http://grants.nih.gov/support/ (preferred method of contact)
Telephone: 301-402-7469 or 866-504-9552 (Toll Free)

General Grants Information (Questions regarding application instructions, application processes, and NIH grant resources)
Email: [email protected] (preferred method of contact)
Telephone: 301-945-7573

Grants.gov Customer Support (Questions regarding Grants.gov registration and Workspace)
Contact Center Telephone: 800-518-4726
Email: [email protected]

Kenneth D. Gibbs, Jr., Ph.D.
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Email: [email protected]

James D. Churchill
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Phone: (301) 443-3621
Email: [email protected]

Jane D. Scott, ScD, MSN, FAHA
Division of Cardiovascular Sciences
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Telephone: 301-435-0535
Email: [email protected]

Sharon M. Smith, PhD
Division of Blood Diseases and Disorders
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Telephone: 301-435-0050
Email: [email protected]

Roya Kalantari, PhD
Division of Lung Diseases
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Telephone: 301-480-1989
Email: [email protected]

Paul Cotton, Ph.D.
Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Telephone: 301-827-2806
Email: [email protected]

Hua-Chuan Sim, MD
National Library of Medicine (NLM)
Telephone: 301-594-4882
Email: [email protected]

Lanay M. Mudd, PhD
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
Phone: (301) 594-9346
Email: [email protected]

Deborah Philp, Ph.D.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Telephone: (301) 761-7766
Email: [email protected]

Stephanie Constant, Ph.D.
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Email: [email protected].

Justin Rosenzweig
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Email: [email protected]

Terri Jarosik
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Telephone: 301-443-3858
Email: [email protected]

Benjamin Sakovich
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Telephone: 301-435-0166
Email: [email protected]

Samantha Tempchin
National Library of Medicine (NLM)
Telephone: 301-496-4221
Email: [email protected]

Shelley Carow
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
Telephone: 301-594-3788
Email: [email protected]

Paula Acevedo
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Telephone: (301) 435-2860
Email: [email protected]

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