News for CHSS Researchers (New!)

The CHSS Research Listserv delivers timely emails that contain information on sponsor guideline changes, webinars and provides a quarterly list of externally sponsored, federal and foundation funding opportunities, that is created by the CHSS Pre-Award Team.

New-All faculty and researchers working with sponsored research and/or engaging in international activities (such as collaboration, co-authorship, and travel) at George Mason University will be required to take the Research Security Training annually. The university cannot submit proposals to the sponsor if this training is not complete and current.

On July 27, 2026, NIH released NOT-OD-26-094, in which letters of support will be replaced with letters of collaboration to reduce administrative burden.

If you are interested in submitting a grant proposal for externally funded research or scholarly or creative works please submit a PRA form!

The National Humanities Center invites applications for academic-year or semester-long residential fellowships. Fellows enjoy private studies, in-house dining, and the exceptional service of NHC librarians to access and acquire all types of research materials while in residence. The deadline to apply is October 1, 2026.

George Mason’s Research Development Services has just released exciting news that George Mason University is now a participating university member of Research Match. This is an online recruitment and education platform that matches people interested in participating in research studies with researchers conducting studies throughout the United States.

If you are looking for resources or if you are new to preparing grant applications, then the Hanover Grants Learning Center may be just what you are looking for. This resource is particularly helpful if you are new to NIH or NSF CAREER awards and would like to better understand the grant submission process. 

The new Data Management and Sharing Plans (DMSP) templates will go into effect in April and May. Help is available from the University Libraries, which have updated their research guides to reflect these changes.

CHSS recognizes the value of faculty participation at prestigious international conferences and has established a fund to help defray a portion of the travel costs for international overseas conference participation.

OSP has recently made some updates to the internal requirements for research security, including Malign Foreign Talent Program certification for all federal research proposals and research security training in MasonLeaps.

Universities nationwide are currently reporting technical hurdles with the new SciENcv biographical sketch requirement for federal applications. CHSS Pre-Award has provided some guidance to ensure your NIH application doesn't run into any issues!

The National Science Foundation recently announced upcoming changes that may impact grant submission, including research security training modules and supplemental policy changes to the Proposal and Award Policies and Procedure Guide.

There are several NIH changes coming in 2026 including adoption of the Common Forms for all Biosketches and Current and Pending (Other) Support, new Research Security Training requirements (available in Mason LEAPS), and the removal of requirements for Letters of Intent (LOIs) and requirements for $500k or more in direct costs on unsolicited applications.

The Research Affiliate Program at the Center for Advancement of Well-Being (CWB) offers a collaborative community for George Mason University faculty, research staff, and graduate students to share new knowledge and opportunities relating to well-being research. Fostering this network of scholars enables CWB to better advance, support, and celebrate interdisciplinary well-being research across the university.

CHSS Research has partnered with University Libraries to provide an easily understandable "Guide to Navigating the Public Access Policy and How to Post Publications to PubMed Central." This guide provides important information on the new requirements for publishing articles that are federally funded.

Do you need to be added to the Research Development listserv? The Research Development listserv is a great tool created by George Mason's Research Development Office where you can find out about limited submission funding opportunities.

Mason Enterprise will be hosting From Lab to Market: Navigating University Technology Licensing, an online practical workshop designed to help faculty members, researchers, and aspiring entrepreneurs understand how academic innovations move into the marketplace on November 19 at noon. Registration is required.

The Office of Research, Innovation and Economic Impact (ORIEI) Research Development Services, in collaboration with George Mason University Libraries, is developing a central resource of successful grant applications for all academic units. These grants will be stored on a private Open Science Framework platform. Only users approved by Research Development will be allowed to access grant documents.

The updated National Institutes of Health (NIH) public access policy (NOT-OD-25-047) officially went into effect on July 1 (NOT-OD-25-101), for all applicable manuscripts, reflecting NIH's commitment to advancing public access to its funded research.

Effective October 10, all faculty who plan to submit grant proposals to the NSF must complete research security training modules before submitting a proposal. The Research Security Training is designed to raise awareness of, and protect against, external threats and risks to U.S.-funded research that supports research activities at George Mason.

Are you looking to elevate your research but struggling to find the right funding opportunities—or not sure where to start? Don’t let funding challenges hold back your innovative ideas! Fill out our Finding Funding Opportunities Meeting Request Form or check out our website to start working with our Pre-Award Research Administrators today.

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) from the Office of Research Integrity and Assurance (ORIA) has announced a new initiative to populate records in RAMP called "RAMP Transition by IRB." This new process, created based on feedback from researchers, involves the RAMP/ORIA team automatically transitioning the most recently approved documents from IRBNet on behalf of PIs.