NIH continues to offer support and guidance to research applications potentially affected by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Post-submission materials: For applications submitted for the May 2023 Council rounds (beginning with applications submitted for the September 25, 2022 due date), the NIH will accept a one-page update with preliminary data as post-submission materials for applications submitted under all activity codes, ONLY if the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) used for submission allowed preliminary data in the application. Deadline for submission of post-submission materials is 30 days before the study section meeting unless otherwise specified in the FOA. https://bit.ly/3NoWVH6
- Addressing pandemic effects on productivity: Reviewers will continue to receive instructions to assume that constraints arising from the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., lab occupancy restrictions, declines in patient accrual, etc.) will be resolved during the project period and thus should not affect their scores. NIH grant applications should NOT include contingency or recovery plans for problems resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Applicants may address effects due to the pandemic on productivity or other scoreable issues in their Personal Statement in the NIH Biosketch. Reviewers will be instructed to take these pandemic-related circumstances into account when assessing applicants’ productivity and other score-driving factors. https://bit.ly/3FQTCa7
