NIH to Intensify Scrutiny of Foreign Grant Recipients in Wake of COVID Origins Debate

June 9, 2023

(Nature) – Researchers are upset over a new policy released by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to tighten oversight of its ‘subawards’. These are funds that a primary grant recipient can give to a collaborator to perform research on their behalf. The biomedical funder’s new policy, set to go into effect on 1 October, specifies that foreign subaward recipients, in particular, are subject to extra scrutiny. They will have to provide copies of all relevant lab notebooks, data and documentation to the primary grantee every few months. The NIH also reserves the right to request access to this supporting documentation as part of its oversight responsibilities. (Read More)