[Jennifer Brummet]

Hi Erich, while I don’t have any specific data to provide, we’ve noticed some fluctuations and changes for conference attendance, especially for trainees who may be particularly vulnerable to conference travel budget cuts.

I’m sure increased travel support will make a big impact for trainees or early career investigators who would greatly benefit from the opportunity to travel to conferences. Hopefully Diane or Sharyn from BrightFocus can chime in- I know they are very passionate about travel support and its impact on scientific careers.

I’ll put some other anecdotal feedback we’ve heard below.

For conferences in the United States, I’ve heard budget concerns from US-based scientists (particularly trainees). We’ve also heard concerns from international attendees about entering the US.

For conferences abroad, we’ve heard budget concerns from US-based trainees/early career scientists and have seen slight decreases in attendance.

And from noncitizen US-based scientists in the US on a visa, we’ve also heard concerns about exiting and reentering the US, or, delays around processing necessary paperwork to facilitate a trip of that type.

And on a broader note, many institutions have started to issue their own travel policies/recommendations that may impact their ability to travel outside of budgetary concerns.

[Jennifer Brummet]

CurePSP switched to Rippling last year for HR, time/paychecks, travel, and credit cards/reimbursements. As a user, it has been great to have everything centralized in to one system and it’s a big improvement over our previous systems.

We’ve had a few minor issues emerge, but nothing that has been a “red flag” for me as a user. If you have follow-up questions, I’d be happy to connect you with our operations team who might have more insight in to the back end or any other issues that have popped up.

[Jennifer Brummet]

We host a scientific symposium, and we cover travel costs for all of our invited speakers, including industry representatives that we invite as part of the scientific program.

[Jennifer Brummet]

Hi Guy, we don’t pay any indirects, and have not encountered this issue. We’ve received applications from some of the institutions you list above, although as you note there could be differences across departments. We tend to fund smaller, early career awards- perhaps the amount of the award, and therefore the potential indirect amount, is another factor institutions consider.

[Jennifer Brummet]

Hi Ryan, we’re seeing the same thing at CurePSP- our two grant programs, a student fellowship program and an early career investigator program, have seen increasing numbers, about double where they were in previous cycles.

Based on conversations I’ve had with a few other HRA members, this seems to be a common trend. ProposalCentral, the grant submission portal used by many HRA members, mentioned they’ve seen an increase in submissions across the board.

I’ll be interested to hear from others as to how much of an increase they are seeing, and if they are considering any changes to future cycles because of the increase (for example, changing eligibility, narrowing the scope of the RFA, etc).

[Jennifer Brummet]

CurePSP does not pay indirects. We do allow salary/fringe. We are not considering changing our indirect policy at this time.

 

To your question about reclassifying indirect/direct:

We’ve never had a formal list of what we count as indirect- however, we tend to be very inclusive about allowing expenses that are related to the proposed project. The institutions themselves likely have more restrictions than we do on what they would allow their PIs to shuffle between direct/indirect given they formally calculate their federal IDC rates based on including certain items as indirects.

 

One example to share- we had a grantee express concern that their animal behavior facilities were included as part of the institution’s overhead/F&A. If federal indirects got cut, the grantee was worried this facility would be impacted and compromise their proposed study.

CurePSP would be comfortable providing part of the grant’s budget for the grantee’s usage of the facility for the proposed work, however, the grantee noted that their institution likely would not allow that since it’s considered indirect.

 

Of course, that could all change if the federal IDC rates see a huge change in amount or structure.

 

-Jennifer

 

Jennifer Brummet, PhD

Director of Scientific Affairs and Partnerships

325 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10013 | (347)382-6659 | About Us

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