Grant Policies & FAQS

The Authorized Institutional Official representing the Grantee at the old institution must submit a formal transfer request at least 60 days prior to the transfer.

1. Inform your old institution’s sponsored programs office about your proposed move to ensure they are willing to relinquish the grant to your new institution.
2. Facilitate the completion of the OREF grant relinquishment statement by your old institution
3. Facilitate the completion of a new application by your new institution to include:

• Application face pages with CHANGE IN GRANTEE INSTITUTION typed in capital letters across the top of the page
• Resources page including a description of the facilities at the new institution
• Budget pages reflecting the amount at the relinquished level and future year budget pages as applicable. Note: NOA amount may be adjusted up or down after sponsor receives the final FSR from the old institution
• Updated bio-sketches for PI and new key personnel
• Updated Human and Animal assurances from the new institution

Send completed package to the appropriate OREF staff member as listed on your application. The OREF will notify you regarding the final decision as to whether the change should be approved, or the grant terminated.

To initiate a one-time extension of the award expiration date not to exceed 12 months, OREF must be notified of the extension at least 30 days prior to the original termination date. This extension may not be exercised merely for the purpose of using an unobligated balance and must contain:

1. A detailed justification explaining the reason the no cost extension is being requested
2. A scientific justification for keeping the funds and must be signed by the Authorized Institutional Official, countersigned by the Principal Investigator
3. The Grant Identification Number, the date of the award and the amount awarded
4. An itemized budget of the unobligated balance and budget justification detailing how funds will be used if the extension is awarded

Extensions are not guaranteed and are subject to approval. The OREF will notify you regarding the final decision.

 

OREF is committed to supporting research that is conducted without bias and with the highest scientific and ethical standards. In order to assure that all OREF-funded research is free from bias resulting from investigator financial conflicts of interest, key personnel in the roles of Principal Investigator and Co-Principal Investigator must attest to COI in every application submitted for funding consideration.

Grantees are expected to properly administer sponsored activities evidenced by compliance with all applicable reporting policies as outlined in the Grant Agreement.

All financial reports submitted to OREF must be signed by an Authorized Institutional Official with delegated authority from the institution to submit a report on behalf of the Grant Recipient.

Financial reports are due every 6 months and final financial, scientific, and lay reports are due 90 days after the project ends. (For example, if an award ends on 06/30/2016, the final reports are due to OREF on or before 9/30/2016.)

A subaward is a formal agreement between OREF and one or more other separate organizations referred to as subrecipients of the sponsored project.

The prime institution must submit subaward paperwork with the proposal that contains the biosketch of the sub-PI, a letter of intent endorsed by an Authorized Institutional Official that includes a scope of work (representing programmatic effort), subrecipient budget, and budget justification. The subawardee must adhere to the terms and conditions of the agreement between OREF and the prime institution; this is typically referred to as “flow-down”. Send completed package to the appropriate OREF staff member as listed on your application.

It is the responsibility of the prime institution to monitor the activities of the subrecipient, and assure that they are compliant with all OREF policies and procedures as set forth in the Letter of Agreement. The PI of the subaward must have a faculty appointment at the subrecipient institution.

Indirect costs may not be charged to an OREF grant.

Grantees must request approval to change from the PI of the original award to a new PI. The OREF can approve this change without peer review of the new PI as long as there are no changes to the research plan.

To request a change in PI, send a letter or email to OREF's Vice President of Grants and include the following information:

• Reason for the change
• Biographical sketch of the proposed new PI
• Certification of human subjects training if the proposed new PI will be working with human subjects
• Budget changes resulting from the change in PI

If the OREF denies the request, justification for the denial will be provided. In the event that an acceptable replacement is not named, OREF will terminate the grant.

If the change is approved, OREF will issue a revised Notice of Award with a project period end date that coincides with the new PI's departure date.

If Grantee receives NIH or other funding for this project before or during the term of the grant, he or she is required to notify OREF of such funding. Grantee is also required to submit a financial report of expenses for monies already expended and return the remaining funds to OREF. OREF will then cancel the grant.

OREF’s policy is to offer a 2-week extension in the event of extenuating circumstances only (i.e. natural disaster, death of an immediate family member of the PI or Co-PI, sudden acute severe illness of the PI or immediate family member). An extension cannot be granted in advance and OREF reserves the right not to allow late submissions.

Under the funding opportunity announcement, click on the link to proposalCENTRAL. On the top right hand corner of the page, click the login prompt. If you do not have an account in proposalCENTRAL, click the “Create One”  prompt. Once logged in, you are able to access and complete the application.  

OREF no longer accepts paper applications. All grant applications must be submitted electronically through proposalCENTRAL for funding consideration.

A proposal may be submitted twice. For re-submissions, you must review and address the proposal's weaknesses, noted in the peer reviewers' feedback, in an introduction. The one-page introduction should be included as a part of the research plan and does NOT count against the research plan page limit.

A Co-Principal Investigator is recognized by the OREF as an individual who shares with the Principal Investigator (PI) the responsibility for the conduct of a research project, including meeting all compliance and reporting requirements.

A Co-Investigator is an individual recognized by the OREF and the PI as someone making a significant scientific contribution to a project. The PI generally relies on the  Co-Investigator to assume responsibilities above those of other personnel. However, even in such instances, the PI is the individual who bears primary responsibility for the research project.

A resident may be a PI or Co-PI on the Resident Research Project Grant, New Investigator Grant and Resident Clinician Scientist Training Grant. For all other grants, a resident may be an "other" investigator, but not the PI or Co-PI.

An early stage investigator has completed his/her training within 10 years of medical residency or PhD coursework and hasn’t secured independent funding from the NIH or other large scale funder. A new investigator, on the other hand, simply hasn’t secured independent funding in the role of PI, and the years in practice or as a postdoc are not a consideration.

U.S. citizenship is not always a requirement. In some cases, investigators at Canadian institutions are eligible to apply. You should carefully review the eligibility instructions for each grant.

No. OREF does not allow overhead costs to be included in the budget.

You should limit the amount requested on your application to the stated amount allowed. On the budget justification page, you should include a description of the source of any additional funding you may receive to complete your project.

All key personnel who are essential to your project must be listed on your application. Additionally, you should include one or two sentences in your budget justification to describe the role of each person working on your project. A biosketch must be submitted for all personnel on your project using the form in the application.

OREF has no minimum requirement unless otherwise noted in the application. Nonetheless, a principal investigator generally expends at least 10% of his or her time on a successful project. Be sure to include information in the designated area of the application.

You should submit your application by the due date to OREF and indicate on the application that approval is pending. Once you receive notification by your institution, you should submit evidence from the institution's IRB or IACUC of final approval to OREF.

Formatting requirements are very important. While we are somewhat flexible in page length, type size and margin requirements are strictly enforced. Adhering to type size requirements is important because reviewers must be able to easily read your application.

You should list the institution where you will be conducting your research. You should also attach a letter from the department Chair at the new institution confirming your new position and the institution's support of your proposed project.

As a Principal Investigator, you may apply in only one category per cycle. This restriction does not apply to Co-PI status or to applicants to the Mentored Clinician Scientist Grant.

You can submit a grant for funding, but you cannot serve as a reviewer in that grant category.

Grantees must request approval to change from the PI of the original award to a new PI. The OREF Research Grants Committee (RGC) can approve this change without peer review of the new PI as long as there aren’t any changes to the research plan.

To request a change in PI, send a letter or email to OREF's Vice President of Grants and include the following information:

• Reason for the change
• Biographical sketch of the proposed new PI
• Certification of human subjects training if the proposed new PI will be working with human subjects
• Budget changes resulting from the change in PI

If the RGC denies the request, justification for the denial will be provided. In the event that an acceptable replacement is not named, OREF will terminate the grant.

If the change is approved, OREF will issue a revised Notice of Award with a project period end date that coincides with the new PI's departure date.