Research Notes

Research information for Brown faculty, grant-related staff,
and students from the Office of the Vice President for Research

Five years after an $11.5 million federal grant launched the COBRE Center for Computational Biology of Human Disease, the NIH has awarded Brown $10.8M in new funds to build on the center’s early success. Read more.

Submit Brown Research Achievement Award Nominations

Brown recognizes outstanding research and scholarship through annual Research Achievement Awards. Early Career Awards - and, new this year - Midcareer Awards will be given in 2022. Midcareer Awards and Distinguished Research Achievement Awards alternate every other year. See guidelines. Submit nominations via UFunds.

Technology Innovations

Bolden Therapeutics awarded Small Business Technology Transfer Grant
Bolden Therapeutics, a biotech company started with Brown IP from Webb and Fallon labs, received a $500,000 Small Business Technology Transfer (SBTT) grant from the National Institute on Aging to develop therapies that improve Alzheimer's disease.

Inventor’s Toolkit: RI Startup Week Oct. 2021
Rhode Island Startup Week connects the startup community across the state through five days of events from Oct. 18-22. The NIH/NIAID will share valuable grant writing tips for students and faculty at the end of the week. Register.

New patents to Brown
Keeping apace with prior months, three patents were awarded to Brown for research from the labs of Michael Black, Computer Science (CA2734143C), Sherief Reda, Engineering (US 11,113,553), and Ben Kimia, Engineering (US 11,112,261). Read more.

Office of Research Strategy and Development

Apply for OVPR Salomon Research Awards
The Richard B. Salomon Faculty Research Awards support excellence in scholarly work, funding projects up to $15,000. Preference given to junior faculty building their research portfolio. Proposals (via UFunds) due by 5pm on Nov. 9. Read more.

Real Talk: Collaborative Conversations about Collaborative Work
These virtual events showcase high-quality Engaged Scholarship and Broader Impacts (ES/BI) work in order to acknowledge excellence and enhance understanding of meaningful ES/BI. Register.
November 5: Elena Shih & Bella Robinson
December 1: Scott Frickel & Summer Gonsalves

Research Development and Grant Writing Newsletter
This monthly newsletter highlights new funding opportunities and offers strategies on how to compete successfully for research funding. For current and past issues, read more.

Office of Research Integrity

Research data management onboarding and offboarding checklists
These onboarding and offboarding checklists serve as a guide for Brown researchers starting or closing out a lab or research project with regard to research data by orienting them to existing policies, guidance, and tools available at Brown.

Looking for a data sharing solution?
In addition to the Brown Digital Repository (BDR), Brown maintains subscriptions to several data sharing resources. Check out the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) and the Qualitative Data Repository (QDR).

LabArchives@Brown
LabArchives@Brown is Brown’s electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) platform. Faculty can create and share LabArchives ELNs for collaborators, students, and lab personnel, and avoid losing access to notebooks when students or personnel leave their labs.

Providing consulting services? Forming a startup?
Outside professional activities must be conducted in accordance with all applicable Brown policies. Check out ORI's detailed guidance on how to set up and manage these activities.

Export Control Virtual Brown Bag
Export controls can affect many university activities, from shipping and travel to teaching and research. To learn more, attend ORI’s Export Control Brown Bag on Nov. 16 at 12:30 pm. To register, email exportcontrol@brown.edu.

Meeting dates & submission deadlines

Research Administration Information Systems

Coeus – avoid errors:  Always check proposal roles
Inactive employees who have roles on your PD record can cause errors in the Narrative as well as approval routing errors. Learn best practices to avoid these errors. Read more.

Workday Grants Management Dashboard – improved access
Beginning October 27, access to the Workday Grants Management Dashboard will be modified to render based on your assigned award roles and will no longer require prompting by award group to view data. Read more.

Office of Sponsored Projects

Agency updates and research current events discussed at Sept. Brown Bag
Thanks to everyone who attended the September OSP Brown Bag Luncheon Series. See the video of our session presentation. If you have any questions or ideas for topics at future Brown Bags, please send them to resadmin@brown.edu.

Federal government closure avoided on September 30th
Yes, we sent out an early warning on how to prepare for a government “shut down.”  Fortunately, it didn't happen, but better safe than sorry. Please remember to always make backup copies of proposals in progress and funding solicitations!

Conferences & Training

Fall 2021 NIH Virtual Seminar on Program Funding and Grants Administration
The Fall 2021 NIH Virtual Seminar on Program Funding and Grants Administration comes direct to your computer Nov. 1 - 4. This free event is designed to demystify the NIH grant application and review process. Register.

2021 National Humanities Conference
This virtual event will be held Nov. 3, 4, & 12 and will feature a range of sessions that invite us to think about diversity, equity, inclusion, and access across the public humanities. Register.

Funding & Awards

Innovation Award: COVID-19 and Health Equity (NIH)
Submit proposals that strengthen COVID-19 health equity research: advancing racial and ethnic minority participation in COVID-19 clinical trials; evaluating outcomes by demographic data; understanding diverse perspectives and unmet needs. Due 11/29.

Limited Submission funding opportunities
Limited Submissions require institutional nomination or endorsement from Brown. Interested? See the featured funding database of searchable limited submission opportunities. 

NIH Federal Updates

NIH Approved Concepts
Many NIH Institutes and Centers meet in September to establish new concepts, the first stage in developing new initiatives that can give researchers a “heads up” on potential future funding opportunities. See what may be coming soon! Read more.