New DCL: Innovative Use of Scientific Collections (IUSC) 

Scientific collections are a fundamental resource underpinning scientific understanding and discovery. NSF has made significant investments in collections and collections-associated data over the last decade, and increasing and diversifying the use of collections and collections-associated data would maximize the research, training, and education return on these investments. Through this new DCL (NSF 24-069), NSF is encouraging proposals that foster Innovative Use of Scientific Collections and/or associated digital data for novel research, education, and training applications within and across STEM disciplines. 

An immense untapped potential exists for use of collections and collections-associated data in fields such as the social and behavioral sciences, epidemiology, cell and molecular biology, microbial ecology, engineering and materials science, conservation biology, Earth science, critical minerals, ocean science, polar science, and computer science, as well as in training, education, and broadening participation in STEM. Increasing and diversifying the use of collections and collections-associated data has the potential to improve understanding of their value in research, training, and education; contribute to fundamental research in fields and subfields that currently underutilize them; and broaden participation by increasing opportunities for developing or strengthening partnerships. 

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3/11/24 Virtual Office Hours Recap – The Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC)

The Division of Environmental Biology (DEB) held its latest Virtual Office Hour on March 11th. Representatives from the Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC) discussed translating foundational research and emerging technologies into communities through civic-engaged research. See below for the slides.  

We host these office hours from 1-2pm EST on the 2nd Monday of every month. There is a designated theme each time, but attendees are welcome to ask about other NSF-related topics. We host Program Officers from different programs at each Virtual Office Hour, so a wide range of scientific perspectives are represented.

The presentation and other documents are available here:

Slides (PDF)

PAPPG 23-1 – Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide

PAPPG 24-1 – Effective for proposals submitted or due on or after May 20, 2024

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The CIVIC program has a helpful Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)page here.

If you were unable to attend, here are some of the questions asked during the Q & A section:

Do the partners need to submit biosketches? BioSketches are now created through SciENcv. Do the community partners (non-academic) need to create an ORCID (MyNCBI, eRA Commons) account and a SciENcv account to be a PI on CIVIC?

All principal investigators need to submit biosketches. Also, for stage 1, key principals (including partners) are encouraged to submit biosketches as it shows that the team has the requisite expertise. We encourage users to sign in to SciENcv with their credentials (NSF ID and password).

Are for-profit industry partners permitted in CIVIC proposals?

Yes, teams may choose to engage with industry partners. and those partners may participate as subawardees to an eligible lead organization.

Private sector partners can be valuable team members in a number of different roles, and their presence could help transition an idea from research to implementation by providing expertise, technology, or additional capacity. Whatever their role, it is important for teams with private sector partners to describe the roles of each partner and how they will manage the collaboration.

What does ‘community’ mean for CIVIC?  Does the target community have to be a specific geographic community (e.g., town, city) or can it be a distributed community (e.g., non-profit with multiple physical locations)?

A community may be a distinct geographic entity, or it could be a metaphorical community that is distributed in space.  However, if you define a community of the latter type, it must be as clear who you mean to include and how you define membership in that community. 

Does the program assume that the PI already has civic partners? What if you only have one partner? Can other partners be added between stage one and two?

Strong proposals will already have at least some partners – their involvement from the beginning should shape the purpose, goals, and methods of the project.  However, it is likely that as a project matures, other partners might be recruited.  Describing the team of partners as it exists now and how you envision it evolving through time is wise.

Will review panels for CIVIC include reviewers from multiple directorates? I’m wondering if we’re writing to a disciplinary or interdisciplinary panel.

Proposals will be assessed in NSF-led merit review panels, comprised of civic leaders and researchers, with expertise reflective of the interdisciplinary character of the proposals. Details regarding NSF’s merit review process are described in the solicitation in Section VI; additional details are available through the following link: https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/merit_review/. Teams are encouraged to pay close attention to the additional solicitation specific review criteria provided in Section VI of the solicitation. The final selection of recipients will be made by the CIVIC working group–comprised of program officers from NSF and the partnering federal agencies, Department of Energy and Department of Homeland Security.

Please reach out to a Program Officer if you have any questions about the proposal submission and review process in DEB programs. NSF has suggested 5 tips on working with Program Officers as part of the NSF 101 series on our Science Matters blog.

Check out the upcoming office hour topics below and be sure to check back here or on the NSF Events Page for information on how to register. Our next Virtual Office Hour, on April 8th from 1pm-2pm Eastern Time, will focus on opportunities for broadening the STEM community.

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Upcoming Office Hours and Topics:                   

April 8: Opportunities for broadening the STEM community

May 13: CAREER Solicitation

June 10: Merit Review and How to Get Involved with NSF

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Writing Budget Justifications

A Budget Justification is the narrative that accompanies your budget and can be up to five pages in length. This is where investigators validate and explain the dollar amounts they requested in their line-item budget. Justifications explain pay rates, duties of personnel, time commitments, materials and supplies, and other things necessary to complete the proposed work.

While writing your Budget Justification, you should ensure you are answering these questions:

  1. Why are the requested funds needed?
  2. How does each item in the budget help meet the proposed deliverables?
  3. How were these requested funds estimated?

As always when preparing a proposal, it’s important to follow guidance in the PAPPG. In addition to the details provided there, here are general pieces of advice to write the best Budget Justification:

Use Parallel Formatting with the Budget template

You can easily organize and format your Budget Justification using the same letter and number system used in the budget template. This also helps your Program Officer locate specific items and amounts.

Using Senior Personnel as an example, your budget template will look something like this:

Then, your budget justification should follow this order:

A. Senior Personnel

  1. Pomona Sprout- Principal Investigator, # months work/year, list specific responsibilities and explain how she arrived at this calculation. Year 1 $$$$, Year 2 $$$$, Year 3 $$$$, Year 4 $$$$
  2. Indiana Jones- Co-Principal Investigator, # months work/year, list specific responsibilities and explain how he arrived at this calculation. Year 1 $$$$, Year 2 $$$$, Year 3 $$$$, Year 4 $$$$
  3. Budgeting Salaries: Time and Rates

For all personnel, show what amounts you are asking for and state how you calculated those salary amounts. If you are not requesting salary, you can provide a brief explanation of why. Give a monthly breakdown and include any fringe rates. If you are requesting more than two months of salary for any senior personnel, provide clear rationale. Some commonly seen exemptions include that the person has a soft money position or that the project scope requires buying out of teaching time (as might be the case at an undergraduate institution). Also keep in mind that the two-months of salary for an individual is counted across all NSF awards that person is associated with.

Avoid common mistakes in Section G. Other Direct Costs

Section G is often where confusion happens. The best way to avoid confusion is to start in the PAPPG, which clearly defines which costs should live in lines G1-G6. Some key points to keep in mind:

  • Section G.1 (Materials and Supplies): Materials and Supplies that will be used by students or trainees listed under Participant Support Costs can be (but are not required to be) included in G.1, allowing for the application of indirect costs.
  • Section G.3 (Consultant Services)If you are using the consultant category, the PAPPG requires information about each individual’s expertise, primary organizational affiliation, normal daily compensation rate, and number of days of expected service. You can include consultant travel cost, but will need to justify them.
  • Section G.5 (Subawards): For each subaward, a budget and budget narrative need to be prepared and submitted. Please make sure that the subaward budgets list the subawardee institution and PI (and not the information of the lead institution and PI again).
  • Section G.6 (Other Direct Costs – Other): This is a catch-all category that will always attract scrutiny, so especially for this section be sure to be explicit about what you’re requesting, why, and how much it will cost.
  • Graduate student tuition goes in G.6. Other.

Double check the indirect-cost (overhead) rates

If most of your work is off-campus, check with your Authorized Organizational Representative about whether the off-campus indirect cost rate applies. Different institutions have different policies on when the off-campus rate is appropriate and sometimes Sponsored Research Offices simply assume that all work is on-campus.  Because the off-campus rate is typically about half of the on-campus rate, it will make a big difference in your requested budget.

In Conclusion

Justify everything. Assume nothing. If necessary, clarify the NSF budget guidelines with your Authorized Organizational Representative prior to submitting a proposal. This is especially important for rare or unusual expenditures, such as foreign subawards or consultancies or salary requests beyond two months for any senior personnel. It’s also important for normal expenditures like travel.

For example, don’t just write, “I need $8,000 for international travel to go to two meetings in Europe.” Use an airfare estimator and show the breakdown of costs.

Again, make sure your Program Officer will be able to understand how you came up with the total number you’re requesting in each category. There’s no harm in adding a table to show calculations. And this may seem obvious, but make sure the numbers in the budget justification match the numbers in the budget. You can also check out our past Virtual Office Hours for more information.

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Don’t miss this one! Important webinar on updates in the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 24-1 effective date May 20, 2024) 

Check out this post from our friends over in IOS here or in full below:

There are a number of important changes that will likely impact most submissions to NSF in the updated NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 24-1), which will apply to all proposals submitted or due on or after May 20, 2024.  

We recommend that PIs and their Sponsored Projects Offices attend the upcoming NSF Policy Outreach Webinar on Tuesday, March 12, 2024, from 2:00 – 3:00 pm EST.  

Register here: https://nsfpolicyoutreach.com/2024-pappg-webinar/  

To find out more about the changes in this new version of the PAPPG, we also suggest that prospective proposers read the Summary of Changes here: https://new.nsf.gov/policies/pappg/24-1/summary-changes  

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Virtual Office Hours for IntBIO, LIFE and NSF-DBT India

Join the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (MCB) for their next virtual office hour. On Wednesday, March 13th from 2-3pm ET, the topic will be Special Funding Opportunities (including IntBIO, LIFE, and NSF-DBT India).  Program Officers will host a live Q&A to answer your questions.

Please register here.

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DEB Releases New Core Solicitation

The DEB Core is back, baby! NSF 24-543 is ready to receive your proposals (with a few minor updates and revisions). So, what’s new?

  • The Small Grants category has been replaced by STAR Grants with a maximum budget of $400,000 and a reduced page limit (10 pages).
  • This solicitation expands the categories of research experience educational activities that can be requested in the proposal submission to include Research Experiences for Post-Baccalaureate Students (REPS).
  • A Safe and Inclusive Fieldwork (SAIF) Plan is still required but you can now follow the submission instructions in the Core Programs solicitation under “additional proposal preparation instructions” instead of being directed to the PAPPG.

As a reminder, the Core Programs Solicitation supports research by our four clusters (Ecosystem Science, Evolutionary Processes, Population and Community Ecology, and Systematics and Biodiversity Science) and any inquiries as to where your research fits best should be directed to the Program Officers within those clusters. For other general submission questions, feel free to email debquestions@nsf.gov.

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DEBrief Has Turned 10!

a collection of tiny toy dinosaurs celebrate a birthday over a slice of cake
photo credit: Joyce Adams via unsplash

Our very first post was February 14, 2013. We were obviously still reeling from Beyoncé’s blackout Super Bowl performance, and it was an embarrassing and baffling time but we rose above it all to deliver you the content you crave. Here’s to 10 more years!

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Upcoming Virtual Office Hours:  The Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC)

Join us Monday, March 11th, 1 – 2pm ET for DEB’s next Virtual Office Hour: The Civic Innovation Challenge. The Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC) is a research and action competition that accelerates the transition to practice of foundational research and emerging technologies into communities through civic-engaged research. Upcoming DEB Virtual Office Hours are announced ahead of time on DEBrief, so we suggest you also sign up for blog notifications.  

REGISTER HERE TO PARTICIPATE

If you can’t make it to this or any future office hours, don’t worry! Come back to the blog afterwards, as we post recaps and the presentation slides of all office hour sessions. Alternatively, visit our Office Hours homepage for slideshows and recaps of past topics.   

Virtual Office Hours are on the second Monday of every month from 1 – 2pm ET.

Upcoming Office Hours and Topics:                   

March 11: The Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC)

April 8: Opportunities for broadening the STEM community

May 13: CAREER Solicitation

June 10: Merit Review and How to Get Involved with NSF

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Webinar for Sustainable Regional Systems Research Networks (SRS RNs)

Sustainable regional systems are connected urban and rural systems that are transforming their structures and processes collaboratively with the goal of measurably and equitably advancing the well-being of people and the planet. The purpose of the SRS RNs competition is to develop and support interdisciplinary, multi-organizational teams working collaboratively to produce cutting-edge convergent research, education, and outreach that addresses grand challenges in sustainable regional systems. 

Join the webinar to learn more on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 from 2:00pm to 3:00pm EST.

Full proposals are due May 15th, 2024.

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2/12/24 Virtual Office Hours Recap – Opportunities for freshwater and marine environmental research

The Division of Environmental Biology (DEB) held its latest Virtual Office Hour on February 12th. Representatives from DEB, the Division of Ocean Sciences, and the Division of Earth Sciences  focused on funding opportunities for freshwater and marine environmental research. See below for the slides  and a recording.  

We host these office hours 1-2pm EST on the 2nd Monday of every month. There is a designated theme each time, but attendees are welcome to ask about other NSF-related topics. We try our hardest to host Program Officers from different programs at each Virtual Office Hour, so a wide range of scientific perspectives are represented.

The presentation and other documents are available here:

Slides (PDF)

PAPPG 23-1 – Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide

Recording of Office Hour

Transcript

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Please reach out to a Program Officer if you have any questions about the proposal submission and review process in DEB programs. NSF has suggested 5 tips on working with Program Officers as part of the NSF 101 series on our Science Matters blog.

Check out the upcoming office hour topics below and be sure to check back here or on the NSF Events Page for information on how to register. Our next Virtual Office Hour, on March 11th from 1pm-2pm Eastern Time, will focus on translating foundational research and emerging technologies into communities through civic-engaged research (CIVIC).

___________________________

Upcoming Office Hours and Topics:                   

March 11: Translating foundational research and emerging technologies into communities through civic-engaged research (CIVIC)

April 8: Opportunities for broadening the STEM community

May 13: CAREER Solicitation

June 10: Merit Review and How to Get Involved with NSF

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