Plagiarism and Fraud in Research Grant Funding

A new research report published in Nature identifies several suspicious grant applications among those submitted to major granting agencies like NSF and NIH. The researchers used a text similarity detection program to search over 600,000 grant applications. Their analysis identified 167 duplicate grant pairs. The researchers then inspected the published reports from those grants and found that some researchers failed to include all grant funding in their report. This duplication resulted in millions of dollars being wasted on duplicate funding.

The conclusion from the analysis is that some researcher submit grants to multiple agencies and occasionally receive funding from both, for the same project. The authors recommend using this text-matching software by granting agencies to detect suspicious applications. Their hope is to reduce waste in government funding and provide more researchers with legitimate funding.

To read more and engage in a discussion with others, see the Chronicle article on the report.
http://chronicle.com/article/US-Said-to-Have-Wasted/136921
To read the original report, including tables of duplicate funding in different agencies, see the article published in Nature.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v493/n7434/full/493599a.html

Webinar on the Arts and Human Development

Please see the announcement below regarding a free webinar discussing the connection between community engagement, the arts, health, and human development.

For details, visit http://bit.ly/wd8rhM

On February 29, The National Endowment for the Arts hosts a public webinar to extend the conversation of the Interagency Task Force on the Arts and Human Development, a new alliance of 14 federal agencies and departments to encourage more and better research on how the arts help people reach their full potential at all stages of life.  Task force members include representatives from agencies and offices within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, and others.  This series of quarterly webinars will share compelling research and practices along with information about funding opportunities for research in the arts and human development across federal agencies. Future webinars will take place May 30, Aug. 1, and Oct. 3, 2012.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012, 2:00 – 3:00 pm, EST Webinar will feature presentation on The Gamelan Project and collaboration between an ethnomusicologist/composer and neuroscientists that explores cognitive development

Guests and speakers

·         Sunil Iyengar, NEA Director of Research & Analysis, will moderate the webinar 

·         Dr. Soo-Siang Lim, Director, Science of Learning Centers Program, National Science Foundation

·         Presenting The Gamelan Project: ethnomusicologist, performer, and composer Alexander Khalil and neuroscientists Andrea Chiba and Victor Minces from the Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center, University of California San Diego.

The webinar is free and open to the public.  No registration is required. 

Media may RSVP to Sally Gifford, NEA Public Affairs Specialist at 202-682-5606 or giffords@arts.gov.

For details, visit http://bit.ly/wd8rhM

Researcher Receives Sanctions for Plagiarism and Data Falsification

A University of Pittsburgh Assistant Professor has received sanctions for plagiarism and falsification of data on grant applications with the National Institutes of Health.
See the Chronicle post for a brief description of the sanctions. 
To read more details about the case, visit the Office of Research Integrity information page.

Conflicts of Interest in Research Funding

In a recent article in the Chronicle, Paul Basken discusses the complexities associated with faculty receiving undocumented benefits from corporate partners. Although these issues have been especially problematic in the health field, it seems that the same issues might impact researchers in a variety of fields. The responsibility for addressing these conflicts of interest seems to be placed on the University. At UNF, this would fall under our Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP). ORSP has specific guidelines for UNF faculty regarding Intellectual Property Rights.

Conflicts of Interest will be a growing issue of concern over the next several years given recent cases and increased pressure on large corporate partners to demonstrate profits. Faculty who are informed and who address these issues early will prevent complications in the future.

Funding Opportunity for Innovators and Pioneers

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) provide funding for faculty in the medical and behavioral health fields. Please see the announcement below regarding funding for Pioneers (researchers showing exceptional creativity or proposing potentially transforming ideas to address significant problems) and New Innovators (faculty within their first 10 years post degree). Deadlines are in October.

Pioneer and New Innovator Awards

NIH Director’s Pioneer and New Innovator Awards Program

NIH welcomes proposals for 2012 NIH Director's Pioneer Awards and New Innovator Awards for innovative approaches to major challenges in biomedical or behavioral research.

Pioneer Awards:
Up to $2.5 million in direct costs over 5 years
Open to scientists at any career stage.

New Innovator Awards:
Up to $1.5 million in direct costs over 5 years
For early career stage investigators (ESI), defined as those who have not received an NIH R01 or similar grant and are within 10 years of completing their terminal research degree or medical residency.

NIH expects to make at least 7 Pioneer Awards and at least 33 New Innovator Awards in summer 2012. To continue its strong record of diversity in these programs, NIH especially encourages women and members of groups that are underrepresented in NIH research to apply.

The deadline for submitting Pioneer Award applications is October 7, 2011. See the instructions in the Funding Opportunity Announcement RFA-RM-11-004 (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-11-004.html) and http://commonfund.nih.gov/pioneer for more information. Send questions to pioneer@nih.gov.


The deadline for submitting New Innovator Award applications is October 14, 2011. See the instructions in the Funding Opportunity Announcement RFA-RM-11-005 (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-11-005.html) and http://commonfund.nih.gov/newinnovator for more information. Send questions to newinnovator@nih.gov.

The NIH Common Fund encourages collaboration and supports a series of exceptionally high impact, trans-NIH programs. These programs are supported by the Common Fund, and managed by the NIH Office of the Director in partnership with the various NIH Institutes, Centers and Offices. Additional information about the NIH Common Fund can be found at http://commonfund.nih.gov.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) –“The Nation's Medical Research Agency” – includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.