National Science Foundation (NSF)
Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG)
The Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) is the source for information about NSF's proposal and award process. Each version of the PAPPG applies to all proposals or applications submitted to NSF while that version is effective.
Templates
SciENcv
NSF and many other sponsors require a biographical sketch ("biosketch") be submitted for each individual identified as senior personnel on a proposal. NSF also requires information about the support that personnel are currently receiving or may soon receive ("current/pending support").
NSF has partnered with the National Institutes of Health on SciENcv: Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae, an NSF-approved format for preparing biographical sketches and current/pending support documents. SciENcv's tool is integrated with ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID system. Researchers can easily transfer data between SciENcv and ORCID.
SciENcv replaced NSF's fillable PDF biosketch and current/pending support documents.
As of October 23, 2023, only SciENcv biographical sketches and current/pending support documents are accepted by NSF.
Create your biosketch or current/pending support documents today!
Safe and Inclusive Working Environments for Off-Campus or Off-Site Research
NSF’s PAPPG, effective for proposals with off-campus or off-site work due on or after January 30, 2023, requires proposers to certify that they have a plan for creating and maintaining Safe and Inclusive Working Environments for Off-Campus and Off-Site Research for that project. Unique plans are required for each proposal.
Plans may also be called Safe and Inclusive Fieldwork plans, or "SAIF" plans.
NSF defines off-campus or off-site research for the purposes of this requirement as "data/information/ samples being collected off-campus or off-site, such as fieldwork on research vessels and aircraft."
Instructions for Principal Investigators
- Determine whether any “off-campus or off-site research” will occur on their NSF-funded award (see definition below). Plans are only required for NSF-funded awards containing research that is conducted off-site or off-campus.
- Produce a Safe & Inclusive Working Environment Plan.
- Attach the plan PDF to your Proposal Routing form. The Office of Research will attach it to your award proposal in Workday.
- Distribute the plan to everyone who will participate in an off-campus or off-site research activity prior to those individuals leaving campus to engage in the off-site or off-campus research.
- Retain documentation of who received the plan (email or signup sheet is sufficient) and the plan itself in their personal grant files or in the departmental grant file.
IMPORTANT: The plan should not be submitted to NSF unless requested. Plans may be re-used and re-distributed for multiple off-campus research activities but must be updated if the specific content needs to change.
NSF Resources & Policies
- NSF: Stopping Harassment and Assault
- 83 FR 47940 Federal Register: NSF Notification Requirements
- NSF OECR Bulletin No. 23-02, Sexual Harassment Reporting
- NSF's Promising Practices—Guidance on Fostering Harassment-Free Environments
UNO Policies & Procedures
All UNO staff, faculty, and student workers are required by University policy to complete the annual Mandatory Employee Training that includes training about sexual harassment, discrimination, Title IX, as well as various other laws and prohibited behaviors.
Any member of the University community who believes they have been subjected to conduct prohibited under this policy has the right to file a complaint. No student, employee, or applicant is required to make a complaint of discrimination to the person who has engaged in the conduct that is the basis for the complaint. Complaints of sexual harassment should be reported to the Title IX Coordinator and will be investigated according to the policy on Prohibiting Sex Discrimination, Sexual Misconduct, and Interpersonal Violence (AP-OP-28).
To file a complaint:
- Students: Contact Student Accountability & Disability Services.
- Employees: Contact the University Compliance and Employee Relations Officer or the vice president over your unit.
- Members of the Public: Contact the University Compliance and Employee Relations Officer.
In addition, the University of New Orleans has a robust policy system designed to enforce the expectations for a safe and healthy work environment. The following is a list of applicable policies. Note that the hyperlinks are publicly accessible and easy to view.
Administrative Policies
All UNO administrative policies are posted on the Office of the President's website.
- AP-BA-32 Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation
- AP-BA-35 Equal Employment Opportunity
- AP-OP-27 Romantic Relationships
- AP-OP-28 Prohibiting Power-Based Violence And Sexual Misconduct Process A Resolution Process
- AP-AA-08 Oral and Written Reprimands of Faculty and Academic Staff
- AP-AA-18 Dismissal of Tenured Faculty
- AP-BA-47 Employee Discipline Policy
- AP-BA-49 Employee Code of Conduct
- AP-BA-52 Employee Mandatory Training
- AP-BA-54 Domestic Violence in the Workplace
- AP-RE-09 Scientific Misconduct
Student Code of Conduct
Data Management
NSF requires all proposals to include plans for data management and sharing of the products of research. A valid Data Management Plan may include only the statement that no detailed plan is needed, as long as the statement is accompanied by a clear justification. Please note that NSF’s online proposal submission site will not permit the Office of Research to submit a proposal that is missing a Data Management Plan.
The Data Management Plan will be reviewed as part of the intellectual merit or broader impacts of the proposal, or both, as appropriate. Please review the Data Management section of NSF’s Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG). Principal investigators (PIs) should check for data management requirements and plans specific to the Directorate, Office, Division, Program, or other NSF unit. If guidance specific to the program is not available, then the PI should follow requirements described in the PAPPG. Collaborative proposals of a single unified project should include only one combined Data Management Plan, regardless of the number of non-lead collaborative proposals included.
The Data Management Plan is submitted as a supplementary document on the proposal. It must be no more than two pages and labeled “Data Management Plan.” It should describe how the proposal will conform to NSF policy on the dissemination and sharing of research results. The plan may include:
- name(s) of the person(s) responsible for data management within your research project
- the types of data, samples, physical collections, software, curriculum materials, and other materials to be produced in the course of the project;
- the standards to be used for data and metadata format and content (where existing standards are absent or deemed inadequate, this should be documented along with any proposed solutions);
- policies for access and sharing including provisions for appropriate protection of privacy, confidentiality, security, intellectual property, or other rights or requirements;
- policies and provisions for re-use, re-distribution, and the production of derivatives;
- plans for archiving data, samples, and other research products, and for preservation of access to them;
- period of data retention
Data are formally defined as “the recorded factual material commonly accepted in the scientific community as necessary to validate research findings” by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (1999). Digital data to be archived and made available includes analyzed data and the metadata that define how these data were generated. These are data that are or that should be published in print or electronic publication formats, including dissertations and theses. The Office of Management and Budget statement (1999) specifies that this definition does not include “preliminary analyses, drafts of scientific papers, plans for future research, peer reviews, or communications with colleagues.” Raw data fall into this category as “preliminary analyses.”
The following wording is suggested with respect to the institutional commitment to long-term data management, if required:
“Project-generated data will be archived with the Scholarworks@UNO repository within one year of the conclusion of the project and will be in the standard formats for that repository.”
Foreign Financial Disclosure Report (FFDR)
A new Foreign Financial Disclosure Report (FFDR) portal has been deployed in Research.gov to support post-award FFDR requirements applicable to Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) that receive an award or funding amendment to an existing award made on or after May 20, 2024.
Foreign Financial Disclosure Report Portal
Note the requirements to disclose the receipt of multiyear gift or contract payments as outlined on the "FFDR Requirements" page in the portal.