Supplements to promote reentry into biomedical and behavioral research careers.

The participating institutes and centers of the NIH, along with the Office of Research on Women's Health, announce a continuing program for administrative supplements to research grants to support individuals with high potential to reenter an active research career after taking time off to care for children or attend to other family responsibilities. The aim of these supplements is to encourage such individuals to reenter research careers within the missions of all the program areas of the NIH. This program will provide administrative supplements to existing NIH research grants for the purpose of supporting full-time or part-time research by these individuals in a program geared to bring their existing research skills and knowledge up to date. It is anticipated that at the completion of the supplement, the reentry scientist will be in a position to apply fur a career development (K) award, a research award, or some other form of independent research support.

The NIH recognizes the need to increase the number of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, women, individuals with disabilities, and people from disadvantaged backgrounds in biomedical, behavioral, clinical, and social science research careers. Among the reasons for the low representation of women may be the fact that women bear a majority of the responsibilities surrounding child and family care. To address this issue, this program is designed to offer opportunities to women and men who have interrupted their research careers to care for children or parents or to attend to other family responsibilities. A second objective of the program is to mentor and guide those who receive support to reestablish careers in biomedical, behavioral, clinical, or social science research. Participating NIH institutes and centers are listed at the end of the online version of this announcement, located on the Internet at http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/ PA-04-126.html.

Only the following active NIH award mechanisms at domestic institutions are eligible for Supplements to Promote Reentry into Biomedical and Behavioral Research Careers: R01, R10, R18, R24, R35, R37, P01, P40, P41, P50, P51, U54, P60, U01, and U10. Principal investigators on such awards are invited to submit a request for an administrative supplement to the awarding component of the parent grant to support an eligible candidate interested in reestablishing a research career. The parent grant should have at least two years of support remaining at the time of the proposed beginning date of the supplemental funding. The rationale for this policy is to ensure ample opportunity for the candidate to further develop her or his research skills. A maximum of three years of supplemental support can be awarded under this program. Usually, a research grant or a subproject of a multiproject grant would support only one administrative supplement, including Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Biomedical, Clinical, and Behavioral Research Careers. Grants most likely to support more than a single administrative supplement are multiproject awards.

Candidates must have a doctoral degree, and must have had sufficient prior research experience to qualify for a doctoral-level research staff or faculty position at the time they left active research. Candidates who have begun the reentry process through a fellowship, traineeship, or similar mechanism are not eligible for this program. Awards will be limited to citizens or noncitizen nationals of the United States or to individuals who have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence (i.e., who possess an Alien Registration Receipt Card) at the time of application.

The following guidelines will generally be applied at the discretion of the individual institutes and centers. In general, the duration of the career interruption should be for at least one year and no more than eight years. Examples of qualifying interruptions would include child-rearing; an incapacitating illness or injury of the candidate, spouse, partner, or a member of the immediate family; relocation to accommodate a spouse, partner, or other close family member; pursuit of nonresearch endeavors that would permit earlier retirement of debt incurred in obtaining a doctoral degree; and military service. The program is not intended to support additional graduate training and is not intended to support career changes from nonresearch to research careers for individuals without prior research training. Generally, at the time of application, a candidate should not be engaged in full-time paid research activities. Because NIH institutes and centers may have varying degrees of flexibility in interpreting and implementing the reentry program, potential applicants should consult with the contact at the NIH awarding component at the earliest possible stage to discuss his or her unique situation.

In all cases, the proposed research must be directly related to the funded, approved, ongoing research of the parent grant or cooperative agreement. The individual supported under this supplemental award must be afforded the opportunity to act as a full participant in the research project and must be given an opportunity to update and enhance her or his research capabilities. This will allow the candidate to begin the process of establishing or reestablishing a career as a productive, competitive research investigator. Supplemental awards will be consistent with the goals of strengthening the existing research program and with the overall programmatic balance and priorities of the funding program of the NIH. Administrative supplements provided under this program may be for either part-time or full-time support for the candidate, and all supported time is to be spent updating and enhancing research skills. Proposed part-time appointments may not be less than 50% effort.

The requested salary and fringe benefits for a reentry candidate must be in accordance with the salary structure of the grantee institution, consistent with the level of effort. An additional amount up to $10,000 may be requested for supplies, domestic travel, and publication costs relevant to the proposed research. Equipment may not be purchased as a part of this supplement without justification and specific prior approval of the NIH.

The decision to fund a supplement will take approximately 10 weeks from the time all of the necessary information is received by the awarding institute or center in an acceptable format. During the first budget period, funds will be provided as an administrative supplement to the parent grant. In subsequent years, continued funding for the supplement is contingent on funding of the parent grant and the reentry candidate's progress, and cannot extend beyond the current competitive segment of the parent grant.

For general information about the reentry supplements, candidates and principal investigators should contact the program official of the parent grant at the appropriate awarding institute or center. Candidates who have not yet made contact with a principal investigator are encouraged to contact the program official whose institute or center is specific to the research interest.

Contact: For the complete listing of contacts, please consult the full announcement, available online at http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/ PA-04-126.html. Reference: PA No. PA-04-126.