The Vice President for Research will be issuing institutional notifications to NIH, NSF, and other major federal sponsor to let them know the status of research operations at Duke. 

We encourage investigators and study teams to work directly with sponsors for programmatic changes to ensure the continuity of the research.  In the event a change materially impacts the scope, budget, ability to meet project aims, or where the sponsor requires an institutional official to sign off, please work through ORA, ORC or ORS in your communications with the sponsor.

For non-federal sponsors, or federal sponsors that require project-specific action, please follow the guidance below:

For industry or foundation sponsors For industry/foundation studies, the PI should send the industry/foundation sponsor communication letter with no alterations to the language. 

You may discuss operational flexibility and adjustments with your sponsor; however in the event a sponsor has contractual concerns, please notify:

  • ORC (industry) for SOM/SON at ORC_Industry_Contracts@dm.duke.edu  
  • ORA (foundations) for SOM/SON, via the myRESEARCHhome “Sponsor Notifications” link  
  • ORS (industry and foundations) for campus, via the myRESEARCHhome “Sponsor Notifications” link

For federal sponsors For federally funded grants and cooperative agreements, the institution will send a formal notice to each of our major federal sponsors describing the impact of COVID-19 on studies across the institution so as not to necessitate a notification at the project level.  If the GMS asks for information about the project, or if you need to make a disclosure or request pursuant to guidance the federal sponsor has issued, please use the federal sponsor communication template.  General notices that your project is impacted are not necessary.  Please do not alter the first paragraph, but include programmatic information and the request or disclosure required by the sponsor guidance.  Please route the letter to your pre-award office through the “Sponsor Notifications” link in myRESEARCHhome for submission to the sponsor. 

Federal sponsors have not issued guidance on notifications for federal contracts, so those should be treated in the same manner as the industry/foundation unless the federal contracting officer has made a formal request for information or a prior approval request is necessary, and then the request would follow the federal grant process. 

For assistance with any federal communications, please contact ORA/ORS for guidance. 

myRESEARCHhome instructions Use the following steps to submit requests to ORA or ORS: 

1.  Go to myRESEARCHhome. 

2.  Select ‘Sponsor Notifications’ in the COVID-19 Quick Links Banner or using the ‘Submit a request’ menu on the top right:

3.  Enter an SPS Number to proceed to full form:

4.  Complete the form:

5.  Upload your sponsor notification letter in the Attachments section, if applicable.