The RAG Central & Departmental Collaboration Group presents:

UMBC's 1st Research Admins Shadowing Day, taking place across campus on

Wednesday, October 22, 2025.

This is an in-person event to meet your research admin colleagues, share best practices, and learn from each other. All those working on Research Administration at UMBC are welcome to participate. The OCGA slots for the topic of Retros is also open to those payroll preparers who submit retros which affect sponsored awards.

See the attached flyer for details and click HERE to register as a Guest to meet with other Research Admins in their space, have meaningful conversations to share ideas, and connect.

There are three time slots, which will give everyone a chance to visit up to three colleagues to explore areas such as pre and post award from a Central perspective, pre and post award from a Departmental perspective, and targeted topics such as Retros (OCGA), Journal Entries for Sponsored Awards (OCGA), and even Departmental Procurement and Travel (ESRA).

The deadline for Guest registration is Tuesday, October 14, 2025.

Why not speak with your supervisor this week to discuss the benefits of attending?

If you have questions, do not hesitate to reach out to Amy Steinly-Marks (asmarks@umbc.edu) and/or Emma Wheatley (emma9@umbc.edu), co-Leaders of the RAG Central & Departmental Collaboration Group.

The time slots are limited and sign-up is first come, first served. Sign up today!

Implementation of NIH Research Security Policies

Notice Number:

NOT-OD-25-154

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-25-154.html

Purpose:

Research Security Program Policy:

In alignment with the OSTP memorandum, NIH will require two-part compliance for both covered institutions and individuals as outlined below:

1.            Covered institutions (i.e., participants in the U.S. R&D enterprise receiving federal science and engineering support "in excess of $50 million per year"). Covered institutions will certify to the NIH that the institution has established and operates a research security program. Each research security program must include elements relating to (1) cybersecurity; (2) foreign travel security; (3) research security training; and (4) export control training, as appropriate.

2.            Covered individuals (i.e., each individual identified as a senior/key person). Covered individuals will certify that they have completed the requisite research security training that meets the research security training requirements within 12 months prior to application submission.

Compliance will be effective for applications submitted on or after January 25, 2026. NIH is participating with NSF other Federal research agencies to develop resources for each of the required elements and to develop a centralized process for recipients to certify compliance. NIH will issue more information on the central certification process as it becomes available.

Please refer to the full notice linked above for further details.

Should you have any questions, please contact the Office of Sponsored Programs.

This is a reminder to please complete CITI's Research Security Training (Combined Course) if you have not already done so by 10/1/2025. This training is required by multiple federal grant funding agencies and is especially important for key personnel who are on existing awards.    CITI estimates this training to take around 1 hour to complete. 

Please follow the steps below to add the course to your account:

Step 1: Log into your CITI account via UMBC's single sign on.
Step 2: At the top of the Welcome page, select My Courses.
Step 3: Under Institutional Courses, select View Courses.
Step 4: Scroll to the bottom of your Course Page and select Add a Course.
Step 5: Scroll down the Curriculum Page to Question 12 and select Research Security Training (Combined Course). 
Step 6: Hit Submit. Your new course will now appear on your Course Page.

Troubleshooting Tips:

Per CITI's Support Center, if you experience any issues, such as getting stuck on a slide within the module, try navigating back 1–3 slides and then proceed forward again. This allows the stuck slide to fully load any content or sections that may have been skipped. The issue often occurs when users click through slides too quickly or use the playback bar to fast-forward, which can disrupt the module's progress.

For the best performance, please use one of the following supported browsers: Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Safari.  Please do not switch between browsers prior to completing this training. 

If you encounter any issues or have further questions, feel free to reach out to ORPC at researchintegrity@umbc.edu.

Preview of NIH Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support Coming Soon to SciENcv

Notice Number: NOT-OD-25-152

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-25-152.html

Purpose:

This Guide Notice informs the extramural community that NIH plans to launch preview versions of the NIH Common Forms within Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv). Users should be able to access these preview versions of the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support Common Forms and the NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement (along with the corresponding instructions) on or before September 15, 2025.

These preview documents will allow users to save, reopen, and edit the preview forms in the SciENcv module. However, the download PDF functionality will be disabled, and the form(s) and data entered into the preview versions will be deleted and no longer accessible once the official NIH Common Forms become available for preparation and submission, anticipated November 2025.

These preview forms are an opportunity for users to preview the new system functionality and new instructions. These are not the final official versions, and NIH is not seeking any feedback or testing from external users.Please refer to the full notice linked above for further details.

Resources

Preview versions of the NIH Common Form instructions can be found in the NIH Forms Directory

Users can find information on SciENcv in the My NCBI Help of the NCBI Bookshelf.

Additional resources will be posted on the pages above as they become available.

Please refer to the full notice linked above for further details.

Should you have any questions, please contact the Office of Sponsored Programs.

The RAG Central & Departmental Collaboration Group presents:

UMBC's 1st Research Admins Shadowing Day, taking place across campus on

Wednesday, October 22, 2025.

NIH Will Stop Posting Notices of Funding Opportunities in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts in FY2026

Notice Number: NOT-OD-25-143

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-25-143.html

Purpose:

Since 2005, NIH has posted all grant and cooperative agreement notices of funding opportunities (NOFOs) in both Grants.gov, a federal-wide portal for discretionary funding opportunities, and the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts (NIH Guide). Both have served as official sources for NIH NOFOs.

This Notice informs the extramural community that, beginning in fiscal year 2026, NIH will no longer post NOFOs in the NIH Guide. Grants.gov will serve as NIH’s single official source for grant and cooperative agreement funding opportunities. The NIH Guide will continue to be used for policy and informational notices.

This effort is part of a wider strategy across NIH to simplify and streamline the application and funding process and to reduce duplication across federal systems. 

What to Expect in FY2026

·        NIH NOFOs will no longer be accessible from the NIH Guide.

·      All NIH NOFOs (expired and active) will remain searchable on Grants.gov using their Classic search or their new Simpler search.

·     NOFOs will no longer be included in the weekly NIH Guide Table of Contents subscription emails. You can use Grants.gov subscription services to receive notifications of new NIH funding opportunities.

·      NIH will continue to provide tools in the Funding section of NIH Grants & Funding to identify potential funding categories, topics, and opportunities you may be interested in. Any funding opportunity identified through our site will link to Grants.gov for the official opportunity posting.

Resources

·         Updates to Finding NIH Funding Opportunities and Information

 Please refer to the full notice linked above for further details.

Should you have any questions, please contact the Office of Sponsored Programs.