The Research Office - Oakland University

NEH Summer Stipend Competition

The National Endowment for the Humanities’ Summer Stipend program aims to stimulate new research in the humanities and its publication. The program works to accomplish this goal by:

Providing small awards to individuals pursuing advanced research that is of value to humanities scholars, general audiences, or both.
Supporting projects at any stage of development, but most especially early-stage research and late-stage writing in which small awards are most effective
Furthering the NEH’s commitment to diversity and inclusion in the humanities.

Summer stipends support continuous full-time work on a humanities project for a period of two consecutive months. NEH funds may support recipients’ compensation, travel, and other costs related to the proposed scholarly research.

The NEH Summer Stipend program allows Oakland University to nominate no more than two tenure-track faculty members to submit proposals to NEH for consideration. For more details, visit our E-space page: https://espace.oakland.edu/mod/page/view.php?id=114594. We are also looking for faculty (who are not planning to submit for this year’s competition) to serve on the ad hoc internal review committee to help select the proposals that go forward to NEH; let us know if you have interest.

Update: Research Reopening Guidance

The OU Reopening Research Guidance has been revised to permit faculty and students to conduct research on campus outside of normal hours of operation (evenings/nights and weekends). Faculty with an existing reopening plan may simply email an addendum to their plan to the appropriate research development officer (Lori Simoes for Engineering; Michael Spires for all other schools/units and the College). The email should specify who will be accessing the lab, for what purpose, and roughly in what off-hour time periods. Please note that such off-hours access must continue to meet all of the requirements in the Guidance document, and we ask faculty to be especially mindful of the general risks of doing research when the buildings may be sparsely populated.

Faculty in arts and humanities please note, we are currently developing a less-lab-specific template for your research and creative work.

For additional information, please contact:

Michael Spires - mspires@oakland.edu or

Lori Simoes - lorisimoes@oakland.edu

Upcoming Changes to Grant Regulations:

Federal grant awards are regulated by the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards ( 2 C.F.R. Part 200). Research administrators tend to just call this document the Uniform Guidance – and it’s changing effective November 12, 2020.

Most of this 300-page revision affects things that happen in the background of grants management, and PIs may well never notice the difference. There are a few key takeaways, though, that will change how Principal Investigators manage their awards and implement their projects.

For more details, see the "Upcoming Changes to Grant Regulations - October 2020" summary on our Grant & Contract Administration page, under the "General" tab.

COVID-19 Research Continuity Guidance

REOPENING RESEARCH CHECKLIST (as of 6/16/20):

Note: the Guidance has been updated to include field research, and there is now a Template for Fieldwork Safety and Security Plans in espace (link below).

To be completed once, before restarting:

Review Guidance on Reopening Research at OU document (copy in espace: https://espace.oakland.edu/course/view.php?id=1392)
Complete a Safety and Security Plan using the Template for Laboratory Safety & Security Plans (copy in espace: https://espace.oakland.edu/course/view.php?id=1392)
Submit Safety and Security Plan using PerfectForm: https://eforms.oakland.edu/PerfectFormsSSO/player.htm?f=wQgAgAgE
Complete Return To Work online training
Fill out the Google document to certify that you have completed the training
Wait for final approval of your Safety and Security Plan from your Research Development Officer

To be completed daily by each person coming to the lab, prior to arriving on campus, once research begins:

Complete the appropriate confidential online screening form: https://www.oakland.edu/return-to-campus/daily-screening-forms/

(for issues with the Safety & Security Plan, contact Michael Spires: mspires@oakland.edu. For issues with the espace, contact Caity Conley: conley@oakland.edu)

Virtual Info Sessions and Workshops

IRB Cayuse Training - Ongoing
Food for Thought Writing Circle, July 7, 2:00-4:00pm

IRB Updates:

Temporary Stoppage of In-Person Research Procedures
Considering the current public health concern with the fast spread of the Coronavirus, and the recent actions taken by the state of Michigan, Oakland University is mandating a temporary stoppage of all in-person human subjects research procedures, effective immediately. For more information, visit the COVID-19 Research Continuity Guidance website: https://wwwp.oakland.edu/research/covid-19-research-continuity-guidance/

Cayuse for IRB submissions is Live
Anyone submitting applications to the IRB for human subjects research should now use the Cayuse application: https://oakland.cayuse424.com/

More information can be found here: https://wwwp.oakland.edu/research/compliance/irb/

For assistance, contact Judette Haddad (haddad@oakland.edu) or Kate Wydeven (kwydeven@oakland.edu).

FIND US ON TWITTER! @OaklandResearch #OaklandResearch

Annual Research Reports:

ANNUAL RESEARCH REPORT (FY20)

ANNUAL RESEARCH REPORT (FY19)

Quick Links:

Upcoming Workshops and Events

Food for Thought Writing Circle, July 7, 2:00-4:00pm

The Research Office will continue Food for Thought, our writing circle for people looking for support and sustenance as they pursue their writing projects, even while working remotely. On July 7, we will open a Google Hangout space at 2:00. We will begin by discussing strategies for writing in turbulent times. Then we will go off separately, as we always do, to work on our own projects. At 3:45, we will gather again to check in, report progress, and assess whether this strategy is helpful to academic writers. Please pre-register so that you can receive the Google Hangout link, as well as a link to an article that might be helpful for our discussion.

If you want to participate, please sign up here: https://t.e2ma.net/click/m9a72c/21vuacb/68vaym

Access our workshop resources on espace.

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF) UPDATES

NSF Update (8/27/2020) - Virtual Fall 2020 NSF Grants Conference

Out of an abundance of caution in response to COVID-19, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has canceled the in-person Fall 2020 NSF Grants Conference that was scheduled to take place in San Antonio, Texas this October.

NSF is now planning to hold a Virtual Grants Conference in the November – December timeframe. To get notified, join the NSF grants listserv by signing up for the mailing list here.

In the meantime, please check nsfpolicyoutreach.com for the most up-to-date information, and view recordings of sessions from last year’s event.

NSF Update (5/22/2020) - Fillable PDF Templates Available

NSF has released the fillable PDF forms for the biosketch and the current and pending support forms that will become one of the two acceptable ways of providing this information for NSF proposals beginning October 1, 2020. (Updated from April 2020 announcement)

Access Dear Colleagues letter and templates on espace.

CAYUSE RESEARCH SUITE

As part of Oakland University's ongoing commitment to supporting faculty scholarship and growing funded research, we have upgraded our research administration software to the Cayuse Research Suite. This software solution will allow faculty investigators to submit and manage grant proposals in a web-based and user-friendly environment.* Chairs and deans will be able to approve proposals for submission and obtain real-time pictures of research activity in their departments. The software will enable all of this and more while also reducing administrative burdens. Please note that this system is for external proposals and not internal awards.

Click here for Fast Facts about the Cayuse Research Suite, including log-in information.

Click here for direct link for Cayuse production instance, USED FOR SUBMITTING PROPOSALS (not a training or practice instance)

For Deans/Directors/Chairs - How to Authorize a Proposal (step-by-step instructions)
For PIs - How to Certify a Proposal (step-by-step instructions)

Training sessions are required of research-active faculty who plan to submit grants, and will be offered again in Winter 2020. If you need immediate assistance with Cayuse, contract your grant officer in the Research Office.

*A note about IRB and Cayuse: Our new system will eventually have an IRB module, however, please continue to use IRBNet and/or RAM as appropriate until this module is live. (updated 1/15/19)

ANNOUNCEMENTS

ANNOUNCING ARMS - Advanced Research Methodology Services

The Research Office provides Advanced Research Methodology Services (ARMS), which aims to help faculty improve the quality of the research design and data analysis sections of their grant proposals. The ARMS team will assist with research and analysis upon receipt of funding. We are in the process of building an ARMS team, and are seeking faculty to serve as methodological consultants in areas of their expertise. Contact ARMS Coordinator Dennis Condron to join the team, or to access ARMS for assistance with your own proposal.
Word documents with more information can be downloaded with the links below:

ARMS Recruitment (for faculty who would like to be part of the ARMS team)
ARMS Summary (for faculty who would like assistance with their grant proposal)

Oakland University is a member of the Michigan Corporate Relations Network (MCRN), a statewide university network designed to create partnerships that will connect Michigan's corporations to critical university assets to help promote innovative research and grow Michigan's economy.