FAQs

The ORA team is happy to facilitate a letter of support from the Dean. Start the process by including the proposal description and a detailed budget in an email to som-ora@som.umaryland.edu.

Yes. The ORA team is happy to provide support, but we require a lead time of at least two months prior to the large grant application deadline. Start the process by emailing Joni Prasad at jprasad@som.umaryland.edu with the proposal description and deadline.

Yes. Internal routing begins at least seven business days before the grant deadline. See specifics about the SOM Internal Grant Routing Policy here. [New URL to be added]

A grant application, where the sponsor imposes a limit of one per institution, requires special coordination between the School of Medicine and UMB. Contact ORA (som-ora@som.umaryland.edu) as soon as possible for guidance and eligibility when you hear about a limited submission opportunity.

Louisa Peartree, Associate Dean for Administration & Finance. For assistance, email Jeannie Adkins at jadkins@som.umaryland.edu.

No. Only faculty members with an appointment greater than 50% may serve as PI for a proposal. See the UMB PI eligibility policy for more details.

Upload the sponsor’s rate documentation in the Attachments tab of Kuali Research. Acceptable formats include RFAs/FOAs, agency website screenshots, and sponsor email confirmation. Proposals without documentation cannot be approved with the alternate rate.

We require a letter with the details of the proposal and the rationale for the waiver request signed by the department chair or institute/center director. For an indirect cost waiver, make sure to include rationale and the total amount being waived. All F&A waivers must be approved by the SOM Dean’s Office and the Senior Vice President for UMB’s Office of Research and Development. We recommend you reach out to an ORA staff member to discuss your waiver request prior to submitting it.

No. All research activities must have a minimum of 1% effort for the PI. If a sponsor does not allow salary to be charged, you must upload documentation to Kuali Research, where budget should reflect the same effort as the key personnel tab, but 0% effort charged. This does not apply to clinical trials, services, and other sponsored activities, nor to mentors, co-investigators, or other significant contributors.

Yes. NIH requires the use of SciENcv to prepare the Other Support Common Form for all JIT and RPPR submissions. Please refer to their website for details.

If this is new support that occurs within the project period, you can wait until the next report cycle to disclose it. If, however, it was active during the last submission and omitted, it must be reported to the NIH within 30 days.

The DMS plan is for sharing scientific data, which also includes unpublished data and null and negative findings, with the scientific community. The data should be of sufficient quality to validate and replicate research findings. NIH expects researchers take steps to maximize scientific data sharing but acknowledges that certain ethical, legal, or technical factors may necessitate limiting sharing, e.g., data related to human subjects, proprietary data, and laws and regulations that prohibit data sharing. Any limitations should be outlined in the DMS plan. For more information on NIH compliance and DMS plans, see the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy.

All external professional agreements require prior approval. First, please discuss with your chair, division chief, or institute/center director. Second, once approval is granted, email the UMSOM COI Officer, Joni Prasad JPrasad@som.umaryland.edu, with the following:

• A copy of the agreement and scope of work
• Details on the proposed time commitment and compensation
• Your involvement, or not, with sponsored research from this company

Please allow a minimum of two weeks for review prior to the company's meeting or event.

School of Medicine faculty and staff are subject to Maryland State law and the policies of the University System of Maryland, University of Maryland Baltimore, and University of Maryland School of Medicine regarding acceptance of gifts, external professional commitments, and consulting. Per those policies, faculty and staff may not accept any gift from industry, including food and travel funds. This includes attendance at industry-sponsored drug dinners held at restaurants.

For consulting, activities should be academic or educational in nature. Faculty and staff should not engage in any sort of promotional or marketing activities on behalf of a company.

Please see the complete Policies Concerning Professionalism and Consulting and Other Interactions with Industry for additional information. (will need to link to a PDF of the policy)

All external interests that are related to your School of Medicine role should be disclosed. This includes activity broadly related to your scientific field such as consulting agreements, scientific advisory boards, company ownership, stock ownership, IP income not paid by UMB, etc. You do not need to disclose:

• Sponsored research agreements negotiated through UMB in which all funds are managed by UMB
• Income from mutual funds or retirement accounts where you do not manage investment decisions
• Salary, royalties, or any renumeration paid to you through UMB
• Your VA appointment

Annually disclose outside interests related to School of Medicine roles in eDisclose and within 30 days of acquiring a new interest. You will be prompted by the system to complete the annual disclosure on the anniversary of your last disclosure date. New faculty should disclose as soon as possible. Staff and trainees involved in PHS research must disclose outside interests annually.

Yes. All active academic appointments, including unpaid appointments, should be disclosed. Even if you are not receiving monetary compensation, the lab space, materials, and staff are in-kind resources made available in support of and/or related to the research efforts and must be disclosed to UMB via eDisclose and federal research sponsors in Other Support forms. Active appointments with no associated resources should be disclosed to federal research sponsors in the biosketch.

Yes. While this is not direct financial support to the PI, it contributes to the PI’s research by supporting work in the lab. It should be disclosed to UMB via the international questions in eDisclose and to federal research sponsors as an in-kind contribution in Other Support.