National Science Foundation: Proposal Requirement Changes

The National Science Foundation is instituting the following changes for proposal requirements that go into effect for all proposals submitted on or after October 4, 2021 (NSF PAPPG 22-1):

• A table entitled, NSF Pre-award and Post-award Disclosures Relating to the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support. This table identifies where pre- and post-award current and pending support disclosure information must be provided.
• Increasing the page limit for the biosketch from two to three pages. NSF only accepts PDFs for biographical sketches in an NSF-approved format, including:
  • SciENcv (recommended), or
  • a fillable pdf file provided by NSF at https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/biosketch.jsp. Note that there is a new template for proposals submitted on or after October 4, 2021.
• Updates to the current and pending support section of NSF proposals to require that information on objectives and overlap with other projects is provided to help NSF and reviewers assess overlap/duplication. NSF only accepts PDFs for current and pending support in an NSF-approved format, including:
  • SciENcv (recommended), or
  • a fillable pdf file provided by NSF: https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/cps.jsp. Note that there is a new  template to be used for proposals submitted on or after October 4, 2021.
• Adding Planning proposals and Career-Life Balance supplemental funding requests as new proposal types;
• Updates to Travel proposals will require that AORs certify that prior to the proposer’s participation in the meeting for which NSF travel support is being requested, the proposer will assure that the meeting organizer has a written policy or code-of-conduct addressing harassment.

Additional information about the changes can be found at
https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/

SciENcv

The National Science Foundation prefers the use of SciENcv over the fillable PDFs. Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv) is an online tool that helps researchers create a research profile that complies with the NSF and NIH biosketch format. It pulls information from available resources (eRA Commons, ORCID), making it easy to develop a profile that can be readily updated and modified.

ORCID iD

Investigators are encouraged to register for an ORCID iD and to begin using SciENcv to generate biosketches well in advance of submitting an NSF proposal on or after June 1, 2020.

ORCID support is available from the University Libraries at: ORCID@kent.edu.