NIH requires disclosure about sexual harassment by grantees

doi:10.1126/science.368.6497.1301

GSTDTAP > 气候变化

DOI	10.1126/science.368.6497.1301
	NIH requires disclosure about sexual harassment by grantees
	Jocelyn Kaiser
	2020-06-19
发表期刊	Science
出版年	2020
英文摘要	The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is tightening grant rules to demand institutions tell it about sexual harassment by researchers it supports. Starting 12 June for new awards, NIH will expect institutions it funds to report when an investigator is removed from a grant because of harassment findings or allegations. NIH also wants to know when an investigator moves their grant to another institution because of sexual misconduct issues. Director Francis Collins and other officials announced the new reporting guidance in an online editorial in Science last week. Together, the requirements will “close two important gaps” in the agency's policies, says NIH Associate Director for Science Policy Carrie Wolinetz, and should prevent cases in which institutions “pass the harasser” without the agency's knowledge. The changes will “further foster a culture whereby sexual harassment and other inappropriate behaviors are not tolerated,” NIH officials write. The changes align NIH's policies more closely with those of the National Science Foundation (NSF), although a gap remains. NSF requires institutions to notify the agency within 10 days of sexual misconduct findings—even if there's no change in an investigator's grant status. NIH has said that because it is not an independent agency like NSF, it doesn't have the legal authority to adopt that policy without lengthy formal rulemaking. But NIH does have authority to ask about changes in grant personnel. Institutions must seek NIH approval for such changes, which can be due to factors including medical leave, job changes, or misconduct investigations. Until now, NIH did not ask the reasons. But the agency recently realized it could fold harassment into grant rules that require “safe and healthful working conditions,” Wolinetz says. An 11 June notice says any request to NIH to change the grant's key personnel should “mention as to whether change(s) … is related to concerns about safety and/or work environments (e.g. due to concerns about harassment, bullying, retaliation, or hostile working conditions).” If an institution reports that a grant's personnel changed because of allegations or findings of harassment, NIH staff will review the information and decide, for example, whether the investigator can keep the grant under supervision, or the grant should end or be transferred. If a grantee is moving to a new institution because of harassment concerns, the agency plans to inform the new institution about the investigator's record. The changes “will hopefully capture the vast majority of cases,” Wolinetz says. “I'm very pleased. It's definitely a step in the right direction,” says Johns Hopkins University biologist and Nobel laureate Carol Greider, a member of a working group of NIH's Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) that in December 2019 advised NIH to make the policy changes. But Greider worries about loopholes. Contrary to NSF's rules, for example, institutions won't have to report findings of sexual harassment by an investigator to NIH if the investigator's status on a grant is unchanged—a step that was recommended by the working group. And such situations appear to be “a worrisome trend,” Wolinetz noted last week at an ACD meeting. The growing number of sexual harassment cases voluntarily reported to NIH has made it clear that universities sometimes remove an investigator from training and supervisory duties without transferring their research grants. It seems that “Institutions are protecting their rainmakers,” Wolinetz said. Francis Cuss, a retired Bristol Myers Squibb official who co-chaired the working group, suggested NIH's policies don't go far enough and “may need … more teeth.” Columbia University virologist Angela Rasmussen, another working group member, agrees. The new policy “is a necessary first step in a much longer journey,” she says.
领域	气候变化 ; 资源环境
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文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.173/C666/handle/2XK7JSWQ/276672
专题	气候变化资源环境科学
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Jocelyn Kaiser. NIH requires disclosure about sexual harassment by grantees[J]. Science,2020.
APA	Jocelyn Kaiser.(2020).NIH requires disclosure about sexual harassment by grantees.Science.
MLA	Jocelyn Kaiser."NIH requires disclosure about sexual harassment by grantees".Science (2020).