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Notice
Work Group on Single and Multiple Project Grants
Letter of Invitation
Dear Colleague:
The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
(NIDCD), like other components of the National Institutes of Health
(NIH), utilizes an array of extramural mechanisms to facilitate the
achievement of goals in ways that are both effective and timely. They
range from highly specific, tightly controlled contractual efforts
to those which are investigator-initiated and driven by scientific
progress and opportunity. These mechanisms, more precisely, activity
codes, are often grouped in series. For example, the F-series deal
with various individual fellowships; the T-series with several types
of institutional training grants; the R-series with research grants
under the direction of a single principal investigator (P.I.), e.g.,
the traditional research project (R01), FIRST (R29) etc.; the P-series
with multiple projects under the leadership of a program director
P.I., e.g. Research Program Projects (P01), Centers (P50 or P60) Center
Core Grants (P30), etc. Beyond these, there are another dozen series
containing more than one hundred additional specific activity codes.
Not surprisingly, institutes select only a subset of activity codes
to utilize in achieving their programs. Some, like the R01 exist as
trans-NIH activities, a few are institute specific and the rest are
utilized by some, but not all institutes. Among them are the P01,
P30, P50 and P60 activities.
I am inviting you and
16-18 other scientists to join an NIDCD Work Group to advise the
National Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NDCD) Advisory
Council, and through them the Director NIDCD, about the benefits
and drawbacks (strengths / weaknesses, advantages /disadvantages)
of single project (R01) grants in contrast to multiple project (P01,
P50 or P60) awards, and to explore the possible value of adding
Center Core Grants (P30) to the P category of activities supported
by the NIDCD.
This Work Group on Single
and Multiple Project Grants (WGSMPG) will be asked to provide an
in-depth examination of the rationale for the nurture, development
and continuing support of multiple project grants. The various P
series activities (P01, P50, P60) and other multidisciplinary, multiple
project grants are often described as having a research yield that
exceeds the sum of their individual projects. In an attempt to provide
greater meaning to such a statement we are planning to engage the
WGSMPG in responding to a series of questions that may help to define
the conditions under which to expect enhanced productivity. Some
of these questions are:
- (1) Should there
be a recognizable need for collaboration which underlies the development
of a multiple project application? Under which circumstances are
multiple project awards most useful?
- a. to stimulate
new research areas/paradigms
- b. to foster clinical
research or a mixture of translational and clinical research
- c. to attract new
disciplinary approaches
- d. to nurture/enhance
collaboration
- e. to provide other
research benefits
- f. to enhance research
training and career development
(2) Assuming that a
demonstrated need for collaboration among individuals, not presently
interacting, is a fundamental component of multiple project grants,
does it follow that certain research areas of the NIDCD will need
more, or fewer, multiple project awards?
(3) Is it reasonable
to suggest that publications arising from multiple project grants
will reflect broader, more comprehensive research activities?
(4) When collaborations
arising from a multiple project grant prove fruitful, is it possible
(desirable?) to subsequently continue such research on one or more
R01s?
(5) If many, or most
collaborations arising from a multiple project grant are continued
on separate single project awards, is it reasonable to expect that
some, or many multiple project grants on a particular theme would
have a finite lifespan, for example, 5-10 years? (Allowing for more
new multiple project awards from the same, or different P.I.s)
(6) In cases where the
transition from a single multiple project to multiple single projects
occurs, is it likely that critical resources will be lost? Would
there be a need to offer core grant (P30) support to further enhance
these collaborative efforts? Might this approach also be of value
to groups of activities which have arisen apart from multiple project
awards?
- (7) With regard
to the critical problem of assuring a continuous infusion of new-investigators
into science, is there relevance to the single/multiple project
discussion? For example:
- a) do multiple project
awards provide "shelter" for people beyond postdoctoral training
that is different (better) than that which might be obtained as
a key (not principal) investigator on a R01?
- b) conversely, in
the current multiple project grant, are there disincentives or
delays to encouraging independence among younger investigators?
These questions are
directly relevant to guiding the NIDCD in its quest to support the
highest quality research in areas of greatest scientific opportunity
and need. Your contribution to formulating these recommendations
will be vital to obtaining a balanced perspective on these important
questions.
The WGSMPG will meet
two or three times. The first meeting will be by teleconference,
to review and clarify the charge to the committee, and to establish
the kinds of information the Work Group will need to make informed
recommendations. This teleconference call is expected to take place
in May. After the conference call, NIDCD staff will attempt to capture
the data requested, and these materials will be provided to each
of you by mail. A second teleconference call may be desirable. In
August, the WGSMPG will meet in Bethesda to discuss their recommendations
and responses to the questions posed in the charge. Dr. Craig Jordan,
Acting Director of the Division of Extramural Activities will serve
as the Executive Secretary for the WGSMPG.
Dr. Bronya Keats, Professor,
Department of Biometry and Genetics, Louisiana State University
, and Dr. Thomas Hixon, Dean of the Graduate College and Assistant
Vice President for Research, University of Arizona, have agreed
to co-chair the WGSMPG. They will synthesize the recommendations
of the group in a brief (<10 page) report. The report will consist
of an introduction which summarizes the current status of the NIDCD
portfolio in single and multiple project awards. This section will
be followed by an executive summary of general recommendations of
the Work Group about the utility of single and multiple project
awards in different research settings, and in achieving specific
research goals. The final section of the report will specifically
address the questions posed in the charge, as articulated in the
beginning of this letter. The report should be completed by August,
in time to be presented to the NDCD Advisory Council meeting in
October for discussion and recommendation to the Director, NIDCD.
Please let me know if
you are willing to serve on the NIDCD Work Group on Single and Multiple
Project Grants. I will be happy to answer questions you may have.
You may reach me at (301) 402-2220, on e-mail at donald_luecke@nih.gov
or by FAX at (301) 402-1590.
Sincerely,
Donald H. Luecke, M.D.
Deputy Director
National Institute on Deafness and
Other Communication Disorders
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