The 3.0 months should be split between the director(s) and co-director(s).
Yes. In accordance with the Section 7.4 NIH Grants Policy Statement, the rate is 8 percent for the RL5.
No. Applicants are not required to use the percentages provided in the FOA. These percentages are intended to serve as examples, and it is expected that the percentages during ramp down will vary across sites.
For the "Trainee Participants" section, applicants should describe the criteria they have developed for selecting applicants for their training program; for example, G.P.A. requirements, choice of major, etc.
For the "Recruitment Plan to Enhance Diversity" section, applicants should follow the instructions provided in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide. This section should include a description of efforts to recruit trainees from groups that have been identified as underrepresented (See 11.3.3.4 Recruitment Plan to Enhance Diversity, Definition of Diversity Groups), and the program’s recruitment experiences from the previous funding period.
No, applicants can include their site-level data and use national statistics and reports on other student development programs, as available, to address FOA sections that request outcomes from the first BUILD funding cycle.
All stipend levels for TL4 trainees must follow the standard NRSA stipend levels. Applicants should request full tuition and fees. Awards will be 60 percent of the requested amount, but will not exceed $16,000.
There is no prohibition against appointing a TL4 trainee for one year. However, a goal is for TL4 trainees to have the maximum level of participation possible. When students are appointed for more than a year, they receive more programmatic support and have the opportunity for greater program benefit.
Yes, RL5 participants can be engaged in a one-year training program. Please keep in mind that, as for the TL4 trainees, a goal is for participants to have the maximum level of participation possible.
All summer research experiences for the BUILD program are expected to be for a minimum of eight consecutive weeks in duration for both RL5 participants and TL4 trainees.
The CWEP activities, such as the uploading of rosters and the administration of follow-up surveys, will continue as planned. The CEC anticipates that as Phase II progresses, BUILD sites will stop bringing in new cohorts. The CEC will continue to provide the CWEP timeline through the intranet calendar.
The CWEP activities will only ramp down slightly for sites, and the impact will largely be limited to the number of trainees. For example, although the CEC will eventually stop the freshman surveys, they will continue to collaborate with sites for the follow-up surveys and roster uploads. While sites are expected to ramp down their support of trainees and activities to a sustainable level, given the importance of the data collection, analysis and dissemination, the sites should not ramp down the evaluation or data analysis activities.
No, a progress report section is not required in the Research Strategy section for all sections. Progress reports are required as part of the Research Strategy section of the Overall, Institutional Development Core and Research Enrichment Core.
Note: The Research Strategy Section has a 12-page limit which includes the progress report. The progress report section for the Training Core is not part of the Program Plan; it is an independent section that is submitted separately.
Yes, progress reports are included in the page limits of the Research Strategy. If “Suggested Tables B to D” are used for the Overall, they will not count against the 12-page limit, because they are included in the Facilities and Other Resources section. But if “Suggested Table A” is used, it will count as part of the 12-page limit in the Overall Research Strategy.
There is no set page limit to the TL4 progress report, because the pages needed are determined in part by the number of trainees who were supported by the TL4 award in each of the years.
Yes. Because the BUILD Phase II awards will be disaggregated into three different awards, applicants’ budgets may propose to split subawards among the three awards in accordance with institutional policies. With regard to F&A: Applicants may request the applicable F&A of the first $25,000 of each disaggregated award in accordance with institutional policies and practices.
Applicants could request any of the following start dates: May 1, June 1, July 1, August 1, and September 1; however, it is important to note that each institution must propose the same start date for each of their linked awards. As with all applications, NIH cannot guarantee the requested start date, as it depends on several factors, including NIH appropriations, Council date, significant pre-award issues that could cause delays, etc.
Yes, Training Related Expenses are allowed in Year 5 of BUILD Phase II. To clarify, BUILD will not support new trainees in year 5.
Although Specific Aims will vary across sites, some higher-level alignment with the overall aims of the Hallmarks of Success is expected. There is no need to provide a link with all the Consortium-Wide Hallmarks of Success.
Travel awards are not prohibited. However, securing funding sources outside of BUILD grants is encouraged to develop sustainability. BUILD-supported travel for student participants (RL5), trainees (TL4), and faculty must be budgeted in the core that supports the individual.
Yes. Outreach is defined as raising BUILD awareness and stimulating interest in the biomedical sciences among high school students in surrounding communities.
No, enrichment activities are open only to high school seniors who are concurrently enrolled in college bridge programs in relevant sciences at primary and partner institutions. Enrichment activities can be defined as mentored research, coursework, and/or professional development activities.
Applicants are encouraged to continue and refine existing interventions and continue the current data collection. Proposing new activities could be considered favorably if they are in response to lessons learned from BUILD Phase I and allow for continuous data collection.
A letter on institution letter head from the college bridge program leadership confirming enrollment is sufficient.
Postbaccalaureate students may be included in the Research Enrichment Core and should be classified as staff.
Yes, just as in BUILD Phase I, faculty may be paid for their time on pilot projects through the RL5 mechanism.
Here, “participants” is the term used to describe the individuals in the postbaccalaureate program.
Student activities under the Research Enrichment Core can include but are not limited to: research design courses; pre-research student training (e.g., responsible conduct of research, ethics, safety training); collaborative learning experiences and group activities; research-based learning communities; enhancement of technical scientific reading comprehension, time management and technical writing skills, and hands-on inquiry based activities; providing information on research careers and scientific seminars; presenting research skills workshops; and providing institutional biomedical research focused conferences and symposia.
BUILD II sites will be expected to have at least one full-time person dedicated to evaluation activities throughout the 5-year period. The evaluation activities should reflect the need to assess the outcomes of the program and to complete consortium-wide evaluation tasks as proposed.
CEC evaluation activity will depend on the data collected and the need to complete consortium-wide analysis.
Yes, salaries for faculty and staff should ramp down according to experimental design and need of the BUILD II program.
Yes, ramp down applies to all cores. However, it is important to note that sites should have a full-time evaluator under the UL1 for the duration of the project period.
In accordance with Section 7.9.1 of the NIH Grants Policy Statement, these costs are, "Only allowable when identified in specific FOAs." Note: The provided link is for the definition of “Participant Support Costs;” scroll down to section 7.9.1.
No, trainees solely supported by the BUILD program must be solely identified as BUILD Kirschstein-NRSA trainees. In accordance with Section 11.3.10.3 of the NIH Grants Policy Statement, “An individual may not receive support under a Kirschstein-NRSA institutional research training grant concurrently with another federally sponsored fellowship or similar Federal award that provides a stipend or otherwise duplicates provisions of the Kirschstein-NRSA award.”
Yes, biosketches for research mentors at research partner institutions should be included. If a research mentor is to be included in Table 2 for the TL4, applicants should include that mentor’s biosketch in the application.
This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) invites applications from the current BUILD sites.
Phase II of the DPC will include dissemination awards under the DPC Dissemination and Translation Awards (DPC DaTA, NOT-RM-18-007). These grants will allow sites that are not currently part of the DPC to implement sustainable training, mentoring, or research-capacity building interventions using DPC evaluation methods. NIH intends to release the DPC-DaTA FOAs in 2019.
BUILD awardees will provide the details of the exportable intervention models to be tested under the dissemination awards. NIH anticipates that BUILD awardees will serve as consultants to DPC DaTA awardees. NIH recognizes the level of engagement will be variable depending on the individual BUILD awardee and the type of intervention being tested.
When developing exportable interventions, BUILD awardees should include information that is vital to implementing the intervention, such as personnel needs and work-loads, lessons learned from the initial implementation, cost of implementation and sustainability, etc.
Yes, similar to BUILD Phase I, institutional partnerships are allowed in BUILD Phase II.
BUILD I institutional partnerships involve a greater level of collaboration than will be expected with the dissemination awards. The dissemination awards will not require the same level of close collaboration as BUILD institutional partnerships. Instead, BUILD awardees will serve as consultants to the recipients of the dissemination awards, and they will not be expected to develop formalized, long-term relationships.
If BUILD faculty engage in foreign travel, it must be supported by the institution or by other sources of support.
No. Pilot project applications to conduct a clinical trial are not allowable under BUILD II.
For Phase II, BUILD pilot projects can only be included under the RL5 linked award.
During Phase II, BUILD awardees will be expected to continue to refine and enhance the initiatives developed during Phase I. Additionally, BUILD applicants will be expected to focus on innovative dissemination approaches, creative approaches to research training and/or mentoring, and unique strategies that address critical factors that contribute to student exit from biomedical research training.
All BUILD interventions and activities from BUILD Phase I do not need to be sustained. Awardees can choose which elements of their program they want to include in their sustainability plan.
No. If faculty affiliated with a BUILD-partnership institution collaborate with a BUILD program and provide research experiences for students and/or participate in a faculty mentoring program, they should be included in reporting on Research Support of Participating Faculty Members.
When reporting on Research Support of Participating Faculty Members, the awardees should add the name of the partnership institution in parentheses after the faculty member’s name (i.e., NAME (Institution)).
The awardee is responsible for determining student eligibility. Many institutions have made Pell an eligibility criterion for support and/or participation in BUILD; however, this determination is made at the institution’s discretion.
Tables A, B, C, and D are suggested formats for inclusion in applications. They can be used if applicants feel that they will be useful in presenting information. Suggested Format Table A may be included in the Research Plan (Overall) Progress Report section. Suggested Format Tables B-D may be included in the Facilities and Other Resources section. Do not upload tables A, B, C, and D to “Other Attachments,” the Appendix, or other sections of the proposal.
No, appendix materials are not allowed for BUILD II.
Pilot funds will be used to support research in an area relevant to the mission of the NIH.
Yes, these plans should include information that would be needed to implement the interventions, such as a budget and personnel needs.
Yes, applying for federal funds can be part of a sustainability plan.
Yes, Phase II is the final funding stage. Awardees are encouraged to develop realistic sustainability plans that are suited to their institution and program to meet funding needs post-grant period.
No, a paper submission will not be accepted for these FOAs. The applications must be submitted electronically following the instructions described in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide [PDF, 4.31MB].
The maximum project period for these awards is 5 years.
The awards included in the Diversity Program Consortium are part of a Cooperative Agreement, which means that there is substantial NIH programmatic involvement with the awardees during the performance of the project. The NIH purpose remains to support and stimulate the recipients’ activities by involvement in and otherwise working jointly with the award recipients in a partnership role. The prime responsibility remains with the awardees, although specific tasks and activities may be shared among the awardees and the NIH.
During Phase I of the Diversity Program Consortium, the CEC facilitated the development of the Consortium-Wide Evaluation Plan (CWEP). This plan reflects the goals listed in the cooperative agreement FOAs for BUILD, NRMN, and the CEC, and is intended to ensure comparable sampling of data across the consortium. The CWEP includes logic models for each of the programs, the Hallmarks of Success and the Data Sharing Agreement. For BUILD Phase I, information was collected at three levels: 1) student/mentee; 2) faculty/mentor; and, 3) institutional/site through a variety of evaluation tools, including surveys, rosters, qualitative case studies, questionnaires, etc. Participants at BUILD institutions participated in CWEP surveys at the beginning and end of every school year. Evaluation is expected to continue in Phase II. For NRMN Phase I, participants completed pre-and post-surveys for their mentoring activities, and the CEC handled post-activity follow-up.
The Data Sharing Agreement is intended to establish data collection, tracking, and storage coordination requirements for Consortium members. It also outlines data security and confidentiality, ownership of data, and rights and responsibilities. In addition, it describes the process for access to data by different parties and a provides a framework for use of DPC data.
Consortium-wide data elements include BUILD student and faculty follow-up surveys, Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) surveys, and NRMN student and faculty follow-up surveys. Visit Data Elements for a complete list of Consortium-wide evaluation survey instruments.
The DPC developed the Hallmarks of Success for use as a framework in measuring progress toward specific goals that are believed to positively influence an individual’s persistence in the biomedical research workforce. It is hypothesized that achieving more of the Hallmarks will coincide with a higher likelihood of success in the biomedical research workforce. Outcomes from DPC program participants are compared with internal comparator groups, and external, matched institutions that have not received BUILD funding.
The outcomes are being measured through a longitudinal evaluation across the three levels of interventions: student/mentee, faculty/mentor, and institutional/site.
This page last reviewed on 8/10/2020 11:02 AM
