DETERMINING FULL-TIME PROFESSIONAL EFFORT FOR CAREER AWARDS
RELEASE DATE: August 3, 2004
NOTICE: NOT-OD-04-056
Update: The following updates relating to this announcement have been issued:
April 2, 2009 - Change in allowable salary levels on Career Awards supported
by the National Cancer Institute (see Notice NOT-CA-09-022).
February 9, 2009 - The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is announcing a change in allowable
levels of salary support (see Notice (NOT-CA-09-013).
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Almost all NIH supported career development awards (Ks) require that
recipients devote a specified minimum percentage of their full-time
professional effort (in most cases 75%) to the goals of the career award.
In addition, policy requires a full-time appointment at the applicant
organization, with salary based on a full-time, 12-month staff appointment.
NIH has previously defined this requirement as encompassing the entirety of
the professional commitments of the investigator, both within and outside the
applicant institution. Although designed to protect the investigator’s time
for research and career development, this definition recently has been cited
as problematic because investigator appointments are becoming increasingly
complex.
In an effort to address these concerns and to foster more consistent
treatment across all NIH Institutes and Centers, the following policy
regarding the determination of full-time professional effort will now be
applied to all K awards:
A career award recipient meets the required commitment of total professional
effort as long as: 1) the individual has a full-time appointment with the
applicant organization; and 2) the minimum percentage of the candidate’s
commitment required for the proposed Career award experience is covered by
that appointment. Please note that a candidate may propose a career award
experience that involves sites beyond the applicant institution or
organization, provided that the goals of the total experience are encompassed
and supported under the appointment with the applicant organization.
This policy also applies to individuals who hold additional appointments with
an independent clinical practice plan, the Veterans Administration or other
organizations. Assuming a full-time appointment with the applicant
organization, a candidate meets the professional effort requirement of the
career award as long as the minimum percentage required for the proposed
Career award experience is supported by the appointment at the applicant
organization. Responsibilities outside of the applicant organization
appointment are not restricted but also cannot be used to meet any minimum
effort requirement.
The following example is illustrative:
An investigator has a full time appointment at a university and a half time
appointment with another organization (VA or independent clinical practice
plan). Under this new policy, the investigator can be supported because the
university and candidate can commit at least 75% of the full time appointment
to the award.
The purpose of this policy is to clarify this requirement to ensure that the
criteria for proposing and charging effort on career awards are consistent
with the other NIH funding mechanisms. We also expect that this
clarification will expand the pool of eligible candidates for NIH career
awards.
This revised policy applies to all existing Career Development Award
announcements for all applications and resubmissions submitted on/after
October 1, 2004.
For additional information concerning this change contact:
Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration
Office of Extramural Research
National Institutes of Health
Tel.: 301-435-0938
E-mail: [email protected]
FAX: 301-435-3059
Weekly TOC for this Announcement
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices
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