Updates from Sponsored Programs to BU’s research community.
New Application Structure for NIH Funded International Collaborations, including Subawards
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced in NOT-OD-25-155 a new application and award structure for NIH-funded projects with foreign components. This is a follow up to the NIH policy on Foreign Subawards previously released in NOT-OD-25-104. For grants requesting NIH funding for one or more foreign components, NIH will require that competing applications […]
FY 2025 Institutional/Departmental Research Expenses
The Office of Strategic Financial Initiatives (SFI) is working to compile data related to the annual submission of the Fiscal Year 2025 NSF Higher Education Research & Development (HERD) survey. The university is required to fully disclose institutionally supported research funding (note that SFI has already gathered all expenditure activity related to sponsored research and […]
NIH NCE Re-enabled in eRA Commons
On August 7, National Institutes of Health (NIH) re-enabled the No-Cost Extension Functionality in eRA Commons that was previously disabled in NOT-OD-25-142. Any NCE previously requested using the prior approval module will not be reviewed and must be resubmitted using the Extension action within the Status module of eRA Commons. This notice overwrites the blog […]
Personnel Activity Reports (PARs) Have Been Distributed to Department Administrators/Effort Coordinators
To comply with Federal Regulations, all Boston University employees who are paid from Sponsored Research funds receive a Personnel Activity Report (PAR) on a semi‐annual basis to review and certify their salary and effort. PARs for the period January– June 2025 have been distributed the week of August 11 via email to department administrators/effort coordinators. […]
Important NIH Updates
Please see the following important updates from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Topics include Supporting Fairness and Originality in NIH Research Applications, Updated Implementation Guidance for Foreign Subawards for Active Projects, the Inclusion of Women and Minorities as Subjects in Clinical Research, and Flexibilities for Registration and Results Reporting of Prospective Basic Experiment Studies […]
Proposal Summary Form (PSF) Updates
Sponsored Programs has released an updated Proposal Summary Form (PSF). Summary of Changes Addition of a Voluntary Uncommitted Cost Share type field to be used for CRC NIH training/fellowship grants only. Language surrounding specialized IT requirements has been updated under the Other section. This includes updating the email addresses to be used for both CRC […]
Department of Defense (DOD) F&A Announcement and Additional Guidance for BU Faculty and Staff
Late last week, the Department of Defense (DOD) released an internal memo instructing DOD Directorates to immediately implement a 15% F&A cap on proposals and awards to institutions of higher education. On June 16th, the Association of American Universities (AAU), with the American Council on Education, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and 12 […]
FRED 101 Training Session on July 24, 2025
We are excited to announce a new FRED 101 Training session designed specifically for new users of the Financial Research Expenditure Dashboard (FRED). This session will take place on Thursday, July 24th at 2:00 PM via Zoom. FRED is a powerful tool that supports grant management by providing real-time access to financial data, projections, and […]
New Annual Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program Certification for PIs/Co-PIs in Research.gov
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has released a new annual certification requirement for Principal Investigators (PIs) and co-Principal Investigators (co-PIs) regarding Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Programs (MTFRP). Details of the new policy are below. Starting on June 7, 2025, in accordance with the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) Chapter II.D.1.e(ii), […]
Memo: Lab Animal Per Diem Rate Changes
TO: Boston University Deans, Department Chairs, Principal Investigators, Department Administrators, and Grant Administrators FROM: Thomas Bifano, Vice President and Associate Provost ad interim for Research Karen Antman, Medical Campus Provost and Dean, Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine DATE: May 29, 2025 SUBJECT: Lab Animal Per Diem Rate Changes Boston University is committed to efficiently […]