Announcements & Trainings

On May 6, 2025, the U.S.G. Policy for Institutional Oversight of Life Sciences Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC) and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential (PEPP) will replace the previous DURC policies and the P3CO framework. This new policy establishes a unified framework for overseeing federally funded life sciences research involving biological agents and toxins that could pose risks to public health, agriculture, and national security. At UNC Charlotte, the USG DURC/PEPP Policy applies to all research, regardless of funding source that meets the criteria for DURC/PEPP research.

As part of this change, the UNC Charlotte Biosafety Program will require PIs working with microorganisms (virus, bacteria, fungi, and parasites) and/or biologically-derived toxins to complete a Self-Assessment to determine if their research falls within the Category 1 or Category 2 research. This assessment must be done before the proposal stage and throughout the research lifecycle.

Detailed information about this policy, including guidance for PIs, can be found on the Biosafety Program – DURC PEPP USG Policy website or contact the Biosafety Program 704-687-1825.

Mark your calendars: Open Forum – Biosafety: DURC/PEPP (direct Zoom link here) hosted on April 25th and May 2, 2025 10-11:30AM.

UNC Charlotte did not qualify for the Title III or Title V designation for 24-25, and won’t qualify for 25-26.  The Department of Education eligibility designations are based on higher institutions that have Pell Grant recipients, who are half time or greater, divided by the number of enrolled undergraduates from IPEDS.  The eligibility requirement is 37% and our University is at 34%.

UPDATE: Federal sponsors are requiring Research Security Training for all researchers with active DOD, DOE, and military grants/contracts. The original 4-hour training has been replaced with a one-hour training.

Deadlines: For researchers with DOE funding, the deadline to complete the training is May 1, 2025.
For researchers with other government grants/military grants or contracts, please note those agencies have not yet set their deadlines, but implementation is expected this year or early next year. As a result, we strongly recommend that researchers go ahead and complete the training in the spring or early summer.

Future Proposals: Importantly, for researchers who intend to apply for federal funding in the future, we also encourage you to complete the training in the spring or early summer to avoid any delays in submitting grants; once the requirement is in place for an agency the proposal will not be able to be submitted without the completion of the training.

You can find detailed information and instructions here for the training module provided through our CITI institutional subscription.

As of February 15th, 2025, outside investigators or consultants listed or added to a sponsored award in Niner Research must obtain a Sponsored Guest Account (@charlotte.edu) approved to log into the system. They will no longer be able to log in with personal email accounts.

This means UNC Charlotte Principal Investigators (PIs) will need to plan for additional time to ensure proper review and approval of University Sponsored Guest Accounts.

Additionally, any consultant or subrecipient who does not have an active and/or enforced compliant conflict of interest policy must agree to abide by UNC Charlotte’s COI policy 101.24 “Conflicts of Interest and Commitment” and complete a COI disclosure form in Niner Research before a proposal can be submitted.