American funding - Prepare and submit the application
Content on this website
- Justification for foreign applicants
- Important documents
- Budget
- Registrations held by Uppsala University
- Mandatory certifications when applying
- Application system
- Help and support in the application process
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Before you start working with your application, it might be good to know that a grant application to the NIH differs from the Swedish applications that you are probably familiar with. An application to the NIH differs from the Swedish applications that you are probably familiar with. An application to the NIH is generally more extensive and complex. Contact Research Support for more information.
- The overall regulations for NIH grants are compiled in the i NIH Grants Policy Statement.
Justification for foreign applicants
As a foreign applicant, regardless of whether you are the main applicant or co-applicant, you need to attach a "Foreign Justification" to your application. In that document, you must justify why the project needs to be carried out at a foreign university. Describe, for example, the special resources (e.g., sample collection, diseases, cohorts, equipment and techniques or expertise) that you have access to, and that make the project more suitable for implementation at Uppsala University than in a domestic (American) environment.
Being able to justify this in a good way is very important for the application to be considered by the funder. The motivation to carry out the research at Uppsala University is therefore the first thing you need to ensure, before you plan your application further.
Important documents
If you are a co-applicant, it is important to identify as soon as possible which documents the main applicant organization needs to receive from you. Inform Research Support as soon as possible, as they will need to help you obtain certain documents. The main applicant often wants the co-applicant organization to sign a commitment form before the application is submitted. Observe that according to the University's current guidelines it is the Vice-rector of the relevant disciplinary domain (not the Head of Department) that should sign these documents.
If you are the main applicant, you need to collect certain documents from your potential co-applicants. A Subrecipient Commitment Form, budget, and biosketch always need to be collected from each co-applicant. Depending on your application, more documents may be required. Contact Research Support as soon as possible for help.
Budget
When designing your budget for an NIH project, there are a few things to keep in mind. Indirect costs are called "Facilities and Administrative Costs" (F&A) in NIH terminology. Non-American organizations may only apply for 8 % F&A. These funds can only be used to pay for activities that are directly linked to compliance with the NIH's regulations. F&A must therefore not be used as a "regular OH" at the University. As a result, you as a researcher or your department need to sponsor the entire department's OH for this grant. F&A must be placed in a central account. The final budget must be reviewed by Patrik Armuand at the Financial Administration and Procurement Division before the application can be submitted.
Registrations held by Uppsala University
Application instructions and forms sometimes refer to a series of registrations that the applicant organisation must hold. Uppsala University holds the following registrations.
- DUNS: 350582201
- UEI: KTRDK57SR316
- System of Award Management (SAM)
- Animal Welfare Assurance for Foreign Organisations (required for animal studies)
- Federalwide Assurance (required for human studies)
- Internal Review Board (IRB)
Mandatory certifications when applying
Before submitting the application, you as a researcher need to submit three signed certifications to Research Support. This applies both when you are a co-applicant and a main applicant.
1. Certification from Head of Department (e-form)
The Head of Department must be informed about the application and approve the submission by signing a certification. This is especially important as the department is responsible for all indirect costs (see above). The Head of Department also certifies that the responsible researcher has the time and resources to carry out the project.
2. Principal Investigator Assurance Form (PIA; e-form)
The funder requires that the principal researcher at each participating organisation signs a PIA. In this document, the researcher certifies, among other things, that the information submitted is correct and truthful and that she/he will take responsibility for the scientific execution of the project.
3. Reporting significant financial interests (e-form)
NIH requires that each researcher responsible for the project reports financial interests that are related to her/his institutional responsibilities (that is, research, teaching, administration), and that the organisation must assess whether a conflict of interest exists. Please note that you must submit the report even if you have no financial interests.
The University´s guideline, which meets the NIH´s requirements for handling financial conflicts of interest.
Application system
It is the main applicant organization that submits the application. Applications to all federal funders can be submitted through grants.gov. For applications to the NIH, however, we recommend that you use NIH's own application system, eRA Commons. In either case, Research Support needs to create an account for you. The main applicant researcher creates and completes the application in the system.
Help and support in the application process
Research Support can help you in the application process. They inform you about the University's regulations for this type of application, provide instructions and templates, create an account for you in the application system and provide general administrative support. Contact Research Support if you have any questions!
The budget is constructed by you as a researcher together with your departmental economist. If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact Research Support or the Financial administration and procurement division. Before submitting the application, the budget must also be reviewed and approved by Patrik Armuand at the Financial Administration and Procurement Division.
Submit your application
Once you have completed your application and entered all the information and documents into the application system, you can check whether you have missed anything or filled in anything incorrectly by clicking on the 'Validate' button.
Note! You cannot submit your application yourself, it must be done by an official representative of the University, in this case someone from Research Support. In order to allow time to correct any errors discovered during submission, the application must be ready to be submitted no later than 8 working days before the call deadline.
Help and support for submitting applications
Research support can help you to check your application. It is also Research Support that will submit the application on your behalf. Confirmations of submitted and validated applications are sent to both you as a researcher and to Research Support. Research support can help you to verify that the application has been received correctly by the funder.