Faculty planning to apply for grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) this year or who will be included as Senior/Key Personnel should be aware of two new requirements – adoption of the Common Forms and Research Security Training requirements.
After similar moves by other federal agencies, NIH will require the use of SciENcv -generated Biographical Sketches for proposals after January 25, 2026. Current and Pending (Other) Support documents, typically submitted at the Just-in-Time phase, will also need to be generated through SciENcv. Those submitting RPPR or Prior Approval Requests after this date will need to use updated forms. As part of generating these documents, investigators will need to link their accounts to their ORCID IDs. They will additionally be required to digitally sign documents certifying to terms including those related to Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Programs and the accuracy of information. For more information, see NOT-OD-26-018.
No later than May 25, 2026, all Senior/Key Personnel on NIH proposals will need to complete Research Security Training within 12 months prior to proposal submission. This move is in line with requirements of other agencies like the Department of Energy and National Science Foundation. NIU is using the CITI modules for this training and these can be completed in approximately one hour. This training fulfills the requirements of NIH, NSF, and DOE and we encourage all faculty considering submission of a research proposal to take it early. For more information, see NOT-OD-26-017 or visit https://www.niu.edu/divresearch/compliance/research-security/training.shtml.
