News & Events

ORA staff believes that it is essential to provide researchers with resources and tools to make them successful in the research enterprise.

Pre & Post-award staff at ORA are available to meet with faculty and staff to discuss topics such as award terms and conditions, allowability, payroll and cost transfers, re-budgets and any other pre and/or post-award related topics as needed. If you would like to set up a meeting at ORA or prefer to have ORA pre and/or post-award staff come visit you to discuss any pre or post-award matters, please contact relevant members of the ORA team to schedule an appointment. 

National Science Foundation Update

The new NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG), (NSF 20-1) is now available. The revised PAPPG will now be effective for proposals submitted, or due, on or after June 1, 2020. In the interim the guidelines contained in the current PAPPG (19-1) will be in effect

Significant changes include:

  • Biographical Sketches, has been modified to require use of an NSF- approved format in submission of the biographical sketch. NSF will only accept PDFs that are generated through use of an NSF- approved format. In addition, biographical sketches has been supplemented with additional language to the Appointments section, to increase clarity regarding the information that must be provided. Appointments should include any titled academic, professional, or institutional position, whether or not remuneration is received. 
    • Coming Soon, NSF is partnering with the National Institute of Health (NIH) to use SciENcv:Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sciencv as an NSF approved format for use in preparation of the biographical sketch section of an NSF proposal.
    • Coming Soon, NSF Fillable PDF – NSF will provide a fillable PDF of the current and pending support format. Proposers will be able to download it from this page complete the form, and upload as part of their proposal via Fastlane, Research.gov or Grants.gov
  • Current and Pending Support, has been modified to require use of an NSF- approved format in submission of current and pending support information. NSF will only accept PDFs that are generated through the use of an NSF-approved format.
    • Coming Soon, NSF is partnering with the National Institute of Health (NIH) to use SciENcv:Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sciencv as an NSF approved format for use in preparation of the current and pending support section of an NSF proposal.
    • Coming Soon, NSF Fillable PDF – NSF will provide a fillable PDF of the current and pending support format. Proposers will be able to download it from this page complete the form, and upload as part of their proposal via Fastlane, Research.gov or Grants.gov
  • List of Suggested Reviewers or Reviewers Not to Include, has been updated to remove the requirement to indicate why the proposer prefers someone not review their proposal
  • Collaborators & Other Affiliations Information, has been updated to remove language requiring the user to save the format in .xlsx, as well as deletion of coverage on the conversion of the file by FastLane to PDF. Guidance has been added to clarify that the instructions at the top of the template may be deleted and rows may be inserted as needed to provide additional names. 
  • Project Description, has been revised to remove the requirement for the Project Description to contain, as a separate section within the narrative, a section labeled "Intellectual Merit". In addition, another example has been added to the list of societally relevant outcomes in the broader impacts paragraph. The list is not meant to be either comprehensive or prescriptive; proposers may include appropriate outcomes not covered by the examples. 
  • Synergistic Activities, has been updated to clarify that synergistic activities should be specific and must not include multiple examples to further describe the activity. 

If you have any questions regarding these changes, please contact ORA team.

Grant Forward replaces Pivot

UMass Dartmouth has subscribed to GrantForward (GF), Funding Opportunity Search and Recommendation service, and replaces Pivot effective immediately. GF is available to all members of our institution, and we invite you to register to use the service to keep your awareness of funding opportunities.

  • GrantForward covers more than 12,000 sponsor sources to provide a comprehensive database of more than 40,000 funding opportunities that continue to grow with the most up to date information.
  • GrantForward’s powerful search system helps to lessen the hassle of searching for grants with adaptable search filters and specialized search features
  • GrantForward researcher profiles allow researchers to highlight their research achievements and interests to receive personalized grant recommendations for grant opportunities that match their research needs.

You can access GrantForward at www.grantforward.com or from our website at https://guides.lib.umassd.edu/fundingopportunities. In order, to use full search features, including saved-search and personalized grant recommendations, please sign-up (view quick demo) for a user account using your UMassD email address. We also encourage you to take a few minutes to create your "Researcher Profile" (view quick demo) to start receiving grant recommendations. 

Please refer to the Research Welcome Guide for tips on how to quickly get started with using GrantForward. You can also find additional tutorials and guides on GrantForward Support page, or view the video tutorials on the GrantForward YouTube Channel. If you have any questions about the service, please contact Jennifer Glass (ext. 8953 and/or jglass2@umassd.edu) for assistance.