February 24-26, 2021 Preliminary Agenda Topics

Specific dates and times, along with additional detail on sessions, will be released in the final agenda and announced to the COGR listserv.

Attendees may send in questions in advance for any session by emailing Toni Russo at trusso@cogr.edu.

For more information about this meeting or to register, please visit our February 2021 Virtual Meeting page.

 

Guest Speaker

Dr. Sethuraman "Panch" Panchanathan, Director of the National Science Foundation.

 

NIH Data Management and Sharing Final Policy 

Carrie Wolinetz, Associate Director of Science Policy, NIH, will provide background and an overview of the Final NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing. In addition, James Luther, Associate Vice President of Finance and Compliance Officer at Duke University will moderate a faculty roundtable to discuss the policy, associated challenges, and answer questions from attendees. 

 

Clinical Trial Diversity 

The recruitment of diverse populations into clinical trials helps to ensure intervention effectiveness and identify adverse events across multiple population segments. Both FDA and NIH have issued guidance/policy in this area that drives home the importance of planning ahead to ensure diverse recruitment.  This session will examine steps that institutions have taken to educate researchers on the importance of diversity in trial populations and to assist them in developing effective recruitment strategies to promote diverse enrollment. 

 

Institutional Experiences with CMMC 

Information security leaders and their organizations are actively preparing their institutions for the DoD’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) requirements, which may span projects from fundamental research through those that face “advance persistent threats” from nation-state actors. Research cybersecurity leaders will discuss the plans and preparations for CMMC that their institutions and others are pursuing, as well as lessons learned that institutions at different levels of CMMC exposure might consider. They will also give their perspectives on the NIST SP 800-171 self-assessment requirement that institutions now face alongside CMMC. 

 

F&A Pressures During COVID-19 

Nothing has been “typical” during the COVID-19 pandemic, including creating and negotiating an F&A cost rate proposal. Some institutions, however, will need to complete an FY21 or FY22 base year proposal and establish F&A rates for FY23 and beyond. This session will address: 1) deciding whether or not to submit a proposal, 2) challenges of completing a proposal during these unprecedented times, and 3) prospective issues applicable to F&A costs beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, some of the prospective issues may need to be considered as institutions establish (and negotiate) F&A rates well beyond FY23. COGR is working on a paper to formalize some of these topics, and this session will preview the paper. 

 

Federal Update: Budget and More!  

Matt Hourihan, Director of the R&D Budget and Policy Program at AAAS, and Matt Owens, Executive VP and VP for Federal Relations at AAU, will discuss the federal R&D budget outlook, the status of pandemic-related research relief funding, and the process by which various forms of federal policy can be rolled back, such as Executive Orders and Memoranda, regulatory changes made late in the prior administration, and more. 

 

JCORE and NDAA COI/COC Disclosure Requirements:  Potential Impacts 

The long-awaited JCORE guidance (NSPM 33) and recommended practices as well as the FY’21 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) address researcher disclosure practices related to researcher conflicts of interest (COI) and commitments (COC).  These may potentially result in new agency requirements which could be problematic for COGR member institutions.   A panel will discuss current agency requirements and the potential implications of the JCORE recommendations, particularly with regard to the new administration and new leadership at OSTP. 

 

Committee Reports

COGR Committee Chairs will update the Membership on the issues being addressed by each Committee. 

 

Let's Talk About It:  Breakout Room Session (COGR Members Only)

In this session, attendees will have the opportunity to have face-to-face (virtual) interactions and discuss a variety of topics in one of five breakout rooms.  Each COGR Committee Chair and Director will facilitate a breakout room on a variety of committee topics, and attendees will be able to ask questions and share their perspectives in real-time.   Attendees will be randomly assigned to a room but have the ability to move around and join a different breakout if they wish.  In addition, COGR Board Chair David Norton from the University of Florida and COGR President Wendy Streitz will be hosting a breakout room for new(ish) members in which attendees can come and hear a little more about COGR, learn how to get involved, and ask questions.  If you would like to secure a spot in this new(ish) members breakout room, please contact Toni Russo at trusso@cogr.edu.