Ensuring Research Integrity - Research, Development, and Demonstration | IR ORI 23 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for IR ORI 23 001

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Research Integrity (ORI) is offering a discretionary grant opportunity, IR-ORI-23-001, titled "Ensuring Research Integrity - Research, Development, and Demonstration." The program is designed to strengthen the integrity and reliability of Public Health Service (PHS)-funded research by supporting practical, evidence-based innovations that improve how research is conducted, reported, and overseen. Funding is authorized under Section 301 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 241) and is closely tied to compliance expectations under the federal research misconduct regulation at 42 C.F.R. Part 93.

Projects funded under this opportunity are expected to follow a clear three-part structure. First, applicants must conduct research focused on one of four ORI priority areas connected to research integrity and Part 93 compliance. Second, they must use the findings from that research to develop an innovative approach, tool, or resource that can be used in real settings. Third, they must demonstrate the impact and/or effectiveness of what they built, meaning the proposal should move beyond analysis or concept development and include some way to test, evaluate, pilot, or otherwise show that the new approach improves practice.

ORI identifies four eligible focus areas for this work. The first is transparency in research reporting, which can include practices that make methods, data, analyses, and outcomes easier to understand, assess, and reproduce. The second is improving communication between authors and collaborators to prevent, manage, or resolve disputes over authorship or collaboration, and to address related integrity concerns such as conflicts of interest, rigor, reproducibility, transparency, and overall research reliability. The third focus area is improving how institutions handle allegations of research misconduct under 42 C.F.R. Part 93, which may include systems, workflows, training, or decision supports that promote fair, timely, compliant processes. The fourth area supports interventions aimed at research culture and climate problems that can undermine integrity, such as ultra-competitive environments, toxic workplaces, bullying, or harassment, especially where these factors negatively affect research quality, conduct, and reliability.

A key expectation is that the approaches, tools, or resources created with grant funding will be disseminated and made freely available to the PHS-funded research community. In other words, ORI is looking for outputs that can be adopted broadly, not proprietary products restricted to a single institution or paywalled resources. At the same time, the program specifically excludes proposals whose primary purpose is to hold meetings, conferences, or workshops; ORI points applicants interested in those activities to a separate opportunity (IR-ORI-23-002).

Funding levels are relatively modest but designed to support targeted, high-impact development and testing. ORI anticipates making about three awards. Each award is expected to be between $75,000 and $150,000 per year in total federal share (including both direct and indirect costs). The maximum project period is two years, structured as two 12-month budget periods. Awardees must submit a non-competing continuation application to receive funding for the second year, and continuation depends on the availability of funds, satisfactory progress toward milestones and goals, timely reporting, compliance with grant terms, and the government’s best interests.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of entities: state, county, and local governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (including small businesses); and individuals. The listing indicates the opportunity is essentially open to any of these entity types, subject to any additional eligibility clarifications in the full announcement. The assistance listing is under CFDA 93.085, and the administering agency is HHS under the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, through ORI.

The FY 2023 posting shows a creation date of March 1, 2023, with an application deadline of May 10, 2023. Applications had to be submitted electronically by 6:00 pm Eastern Time on the closing date.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health in the education, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Ensuring Research Integrity - Research, Development, and Demonstration" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.085.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 01, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 10, 2023 Applications must be submitted electronically no later than 600 pm Eastern Time.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $150,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 3 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Individuals, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for IR ORI 23 001

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