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What is the purpose of the U.S.-China Program for Biomedical Research Cooperation Administrative Supplements?
The intent of this initiative is to foster, stimulate, and/or expand highly meritorious collaborative basic, translational, and applied research between eligible NIH grantees and eligible Chinese researchers in the areas of cancer, mental health, allergy, immunology, and infectious diseases (including HIV/AIDS and its co-morbidities).
U.S. and Chinese collaborating investigators are expected to work together to identify projects that address the research objectives and funding requirements described in the notice.
- What is the NSFC?
The NSFC is the National Natural Science Foundation of China. For more information in Chinese, visit NSFC
- What are the NIH eligibility requirements?
- Grant type
- Eligible NIH grants and cooperative agreements include active R01 (R37), P01, U01, U19, U54, P30 (only for pilot projects to the Developmental Core with no additional funding to infrastructure), and P50 awards.
- All contracts and all other grant and cooperative agreement mechanisms (including K awards and DP2 Directors New Innovator Awards) are not eligible under this announcement.
- American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) awards are not eligible.
- Grant funding period
- NIH grants must have at least one year of active funding remaining at the time of the administrative supplement award on July 2, 2012.
- If a grant only has a "no-cost extension" at any time during the supplement's project period (i.e., through July 2013) it is not eligible under this announcement.
- Grants in their first year of funding may be eligible; contact the Program Officer of the grant to discuss the project.
- Scientific scope
- The proposed research must be within the peer-reviewed scope of the NIH-supported parent grant. Applicants are encouraged to contact the Program Officer on the parent grant to determine whether the proposed research is within the scope of the NIH-supported parent grant.
- The following activities are not allowed for these administrative supplements:
- Human subjects research or animal research if such activities have not been approved for the parent awards;
- Clinical trials of drugs, biologics, or diagnostics (see NIH definition of clinical trials in the Application Guide SF424). For NIH definitions of clinical research vs. clinical trials, please see the Glossary; and
- Research involving Select Agents (see 42 CFR 73 for the Select Agent list; and 7 CFR 331 and 9 CFR 121 for the relevant animal and plant pathogens).
- Travel and exchange expenses
- The announcement states that the budget page should include a detailed justification for all items, including travel. Any travel proposed should be directly related to the proposed research project.
- The application should include two budgets: the NIH budget that describes the expenses for the U.S. side and the Chinese budget detailing the expenses covered by NSFC funding. The justification for travel on the U.S. budget would generally include travel expenses for the U.S. research team, and the Chinese budget would include travel expenses for the Chinese research team.
Read the notice carefully for the eligibility requirements.
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Are NIH grantees with projects outside of the United States eligible to apply?
NIH grantees outside the United States can apply for a supplement to their NIH grants if they meet the funding and eligibility requirements stated in the notice; however, NIH grantees working in China cannot apply simultaneously to NIH and NSFC for support under this program.
The intent of this program is to foster and expand research collaborations between the United States and China. Therefore, the letter of confirmation (one of the required components) must address the benefit of a U.S.-China collaboration for this project. This requirement extends to NIH grantees outside of the United States.
- Can funds awarded under this program be used to support a NIH-funded-project-specific expense that is in China but is not part of the Chinese co-investigator's project expenses?
Applicants can propose to spend funds internationally under this announcement, but should justify why this expense is needed to complete the research project. Before submitting a proposal, applicants are encouraged to discuss budgets that propose to spend supplement funds in China with the Program Officer of the parent grant and respective Grants Management Specialist.
Supplements to cancer center support grants (CCSG) funding may not be expended outside of the United States, but projects using data and specimens obtained from abroad are allowable.
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What are the NSFC eligibility requirements for Chinese scientists?
The corresponding NSFC call for proposals includes a description of NSFC eligibility requirements. Potential Chinese collaborating investigators and scientists in Special Administrative Regions of China (e.g., Hong Kong) should contact the NSFC directly to discuss details of the eligibility requirements. In addition, a searchable database (in Chinese) of funded NSFC projects can be found at NSFC.
- What research areas can be supported through this program?
Examples of research areas responsive to this announcement are included in the notice, but this list is not meant to be all-inclusive or comprehensive.
Basic, translational, behavioral, clinical, preventive, or epidemiological research in the areas of cancer, mental health, allergy, immunology, and infectious diseases (including HIV/AIDS and its co-morbidities) listed in the notice may be proposed under this program.
- Am I eligible to submit if my pathogen or research area of interest is not listed specifically?
It depends on the research focus and its relevance to the intent of the funding announcement. Discuss plans to expand the NIH-funded research with your Program Officer in advance of submitting a research request. The proposed research must be within the peer-reviewed scope of the NIH-supported parent grant. Clinical trials are not supported under this announcement.
Note, however, that certain restrictions to permissible scientific activities are defined in the Notice.
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If I have an active NIH grant that is not from NCI, NIAID, or NIMH as the primary institute, am I eligible to apply?
If all the eligibility criteria are met and the research area is on HIV/AIDS or its co-morbidities, the parent NIH grant would be eligible in the area of HIV/AIDS and its co-morbidities under this announcement. For areas of cancer research that do not relate to HIV/AIDS and its co-morbidities, NCI must be the primary institute for the parent grant. For areas of immunology, allergy, and areas of infectious disease research that do not relate to HIV/AIDS and its co-morbidities, NIAID must be the primary institute for the parent grant. For areas of mental health research that do not relate to HIV/AIDS and its co-morbidities, NIMH must be the primary institute for the parent grant.
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Does the Chinese co-investigator's NSFC application need to be submitted as part of the NIH application?
No, this is not part of the NIH requirement, but U.S. applicants are encouraged to submit the Chinese co-investigator's proposed budget (in English) as part of the NIH application (also see Section D under Question 3 of this document).
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Whom should I contact if I have a question regarding this announcement?
Contact the Program Official or Grants Management Specialist indicated in the Notice of Award for the "parent" grant . U.S. applicants are strongly encouraged to discuss the feasibility of their research request with the Program Official of the parent grant.
Other program inquiries can be directed to the points of contact listed on the notice.
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May a Project Director /Principal Investigator (PD/PI) submit more than one administrative supplement request?
No, a PD/PI may only submit one administrative supplement even if he or she is the PI of more than one eligible grant or cooperative agreement.
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Which person of the leadership of the parent grant is eligible to apply?
The Project Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) on the supplement request must be the same as the PD/PI on the parent award. For Multiple PD/PI parent awards, the Contact PD/PI must be the PD/PI listed on the supplement request, and the supplement cannot change the Multiple PD/PI team. The administrative supplement award will go to the institution where the parent grant is awarded.
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Can a multi-project grant submit more than one administrative supplement request?
No more than one administrative supplement request may be submitted per eligible grant including multi-project grants. For example, only one administrative supplement request can be submitted for a CFAR (Center for AIDS Research) P30 grant or a Program Project grant (P01).
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If a PD/PI is a part of Multi-PD/PI grant, but is not the Contact PD/PI, may the PD/PI submit the administrative supplement request and may the administrative supplement be awarded to the submitting PI's institution (if different from the parent grant institution)?
In the case of a Multi-PD/PI grant, the Contact PD/PI must be listed on the administrative supplement request face page. If funded, the award will go to the institution where the parent grant is awarded.
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Is it acceptable for a co-investigator to a U54 grant to submit an administrative supplement request?
In the case of a U54 grant (and any other eligible parent awards), the PD/PI of the U54 award must be the one who submits the request for administrative supplement. The supplemental award would go to the institution of the parent award. The co-investigator may help develop the supplemental research project, but the request must come from the PD/PI of the parent award.
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My new R01 grant budget was cut after peer review was completed, can the administrative supplement funds in the notice be used to support the aims that had to be cut?
No, an administrative supplement cannot be used to circumvent the decision of the review committee.
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Are NIH intramural investigators eligible to apply for funding under this program?
No. NIH intramural investigators are not eligible to apply for support under NOT-CA-12-002; however, there is a separate funding announcement for intramural researchers to apply for funding under this program. For more information, please contact:
- For NCI/CCR PIs (in scientific areas other than HIV/AIDS and its co-morbidities) contact Janelle Cortner or David Goldstein
- For NCI/DCEG PIs (in scientific areas other than HIV/AIDS and its co-morbidities) contact Marianne Henderson
- For NIAID PIs (in scientific areas other than HIV/AIDS and its co-morbidities) contact Mark Pineda
- For NIMH PIs (in scientific areas other than HIV/AIDS and its co-morbidities) contact Dawn Johnson
- For all NIH PIs working in the area of HIV/AIDS and its co-morbidities contact Bob Eisinger and Joan Romaine
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Can NIH staff send information to a Chinese collaborator on behalf of a grantee if the grantee cannot find information that was previously submitted to NIH?
No, only the NIH-funded grantee can send private or proprietary information to his or her collaborator.
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What are the maximum direct costs that the NIH grantee can request?
The NIH grantee can request the full 25 percent of the Institute Advisory Council-approved direct costs for the current budget year of the project or $100,000 direct costs, whichever is less. The awardee does not need to request 25 percent of the Continuing Resolution level direct costs. NIH awardees are strongly encouraged to contact their grants management specialist who can answer allowable direct costs questions.
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My proposed project involves shipping biospecimens from China to the United States. Can NIH assist U.S. applicants to obtain the required approvals from the Chinese government to export biospecimens out of China?
If the proposed research requires exporting of biospecimens out of China, specify the type of biospecimens to be exported and provide evidence that you have already applied for the required Chinese government approval to export these materials (half-page limit). Also please be specific whether or not the work can be completed if this approval is not granted.
NIH will not be involved in the process of obtaining approvals for biospecimen export. Rather, U.S. applicants should work closely with their Chinese collaborating investigators, who will be responsible for managing the overall process of obtaining the necessary approvals.
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Are electronic signatures acceptable in the letter of confirmation or other submitted documents?
No. Documents must have original signatures, which are then scanned and submitted as a PDF.
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I applied to the 2011 NIH-NSFC supplement program but was not successful. Can I receive the reviews of my application to know how to improve my application for the 2012 supplement program?
Because this is an administrative supplement, written programmatic reviews are not provided by NIH to applicants. Your program officer/program director may be able to advise you about the application review at NIH. However, because this is a joint program with the NSFC, it is possible that your application was reviewed well by NIH but not by NSFC (or vice versa) and therefore was not funded. NSFC also did not release their reviews of the 2011 applications but your Chinese PI may be able to get more information about the NSFC review by contacting NSFC directly.
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My grant ends before July 2, 2013. I have submitted a competitive renewal, but may not know until after the NOT-CA-12-002 February 21, 2012 application deadline whether the competitive renewal will be awarded. Am I eligible to apply for funding under NOT-CA-12-002?
To be eligible, “parent” awards must remain active through the entire period of the supplement (i.e., through July 2, 2013) (no-cost extensions cannot be used to accommodate this requirement). Therefore, if you do not receive a Notice of Award confirming that the competitive renewal has been awarded before the application date for NOT-CA-12-002, the grant is not eligible under the program.
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Are references included in the 6-page limit for the discussion of the research strategy?
No, references are not included in the 6-page limit for the research strategy.
