Division of Extramural Activities

Extramural investigators occasionally develop scientific meetings that involve NIA staff in the planning of the meeting (e.g., organizing, developing the agenda, or selecting speakers). Additionally, extramural investigators may serve as an editor and prepare manuscripts from the meeting results. In these circumstances, the NIA staff member provides substantial assistance to the principal investigator (PI) beyond the program administrator's traditional role. When the NIA staff role in a meeting is substantial, a cooperative agreement (U13) application should be submitted.

Although the PI likely will have contact with a particular NIA staff member while preparing the application, it is the PI's responsibility to obtain agreement from the Institute to accept the application. Therefore, investigators should follow the policies described above for R13 applications.

When PIs obtain the agreement of at least one NIA staff member to play a more substantial role in the meeting, the following criteria apply:

• The application should state, following the research plan, the PI acknowledges and agrees to NIA staff post-award involvement in the planning and conducting of the scientific meeting and should describe plans to accommodate this involvement.
• The applicant should describe the role of the NIA staff member(s) in the application.

The terms and conditions of U13 cooperative agreements are given in the NIH program announcement. See: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/r13/index.htm.