Dear colleagues,
Over the past several days, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), like other Schools at Harvard, has received a wave of termination notices for federally sponsored research grants from multiple agencies, including NIH, NSF, DoD, and DoE. In the coming days, Principal Investigators (PIs) with grants subject to termination notices will be contacted directly, and current status information is now available in the Harvard grants management system (GMAS).
In response to these unprecedented circumstances, President Garber and Provost Manning announced that the University has generously committed $250 million in central funding over the next year to support research affected by these terminations, a portion of which is designated for the FAS. I’m writing today to describe how the FAS will deploy these funds – and substantial additional funds and resources from the FAS – to support our research continuity over the coming year.
The Research Continuity Committee (RCC) has been working urgently and tirelessly over the past few weeks to propose a path forward for FAS research. Based on the RCC’s recommendations, the FAS has adopted the following guiding principles in determining our approach to research continuity:
- Safeguard our research and educational mission,
- Protect the FAS’s intellectual capital and our ability to recruit, retain, and support the best and brightest scholars,
- Empower faculty decision-making,
- Use existing mechanisms and departmental structures, rather than establishing new processes, to ease the burden on faculty navigating this transition,
- Acknowledge that institutional resources cannot, and should not, provide a long-term replacement for reduced federal research support.
The Committee has also proposed an actionable set of recommendations, many of which I will be implementing immediately in the FAS through a new program for Research Continuity Funding. For one year (July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026), this funding model will support FAS senior and tenure-track faculty with terminated grants that were administered through the FAS, after which the FAS will evaluate the possibility of extending research continuity support for an additional year. The Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences will issue separate guidance for SEAS faculty.
What do principal investigators (PIs) need to do right now? If a PI is notified by a federal agency, the Harvard GMAS system, or the FAS Office of Research Administration (FORA) that their grant has been included in a termination notice, they should continue their research. They should not hire new researchers or make large purchases, including equipment. The costs associated with the research activities of terminated grants will be covered through June 30, 2025, to allow time for careful planning.
Beginning July 1, 2025, PIs should plan to cover these costs from other funding sources – starting with appropriate alternative grants, when possible, and then with start-up funds and other PI-directed sources of funding (e.g., royalties, gifts, or other restricted funds). PIs should wait for forthcoming guidance before making any changes to charging cost strings.
Once a FAS senior or tenure-track faculty member has spent their PI-directed sources of funding, including their start-up fund balance down to a 10% reserve, they will be eligible for Research Continuity Funding. Up to 80% of the operating expenses of terminated grants that were administered by the FAS will be provided to these PIs. Individual faculty members will have the flexibility to direct how these funds are allocated within their research program, for example, support for postdoctoral fellows and/or staff, as well as research activities, services, and supplies.
In addition, any faculty member who has dean’s ninths may use them in accordance with FAS policy. Tenure-track faculty who do not have dean’s ninths available but have budgeted for supplemental salary on terminated grants will receive ninths to cover the costs of that planned additional compensation.
Graduate students admitted through FAS-based programs, who were funded through recently terminated federally sponsored grants and remain in good standing, will be supported by the FAS, as outlined in their financial aid offer, with tuition and stipend for the year. Graduate student funding will be separate and distinct from Research Continuity Funding.
I will provide additional financial support through the immediate expansion of the Dean’s Competitive Fund for Promising Scholarship by doubling the annual allocation from $4 million to $8 million and prioritizing FAS faculty impacted by federal government action.
In addition, over the coming weeks, the FAS will work to provide additional career support for postdoctoral fellows, arrange opportunities for faculty to learn how to diversify their research funding portfolios, and mobilize philanthropic support and corporate alliances that build financial capacity for the FAS to meet this moment of extraordinary challenge.
I appreciate this is a lot of information to take in. Next week, I will host another town hall for faculty PIs to talk through the guidance and address questions. Research and Department Administrators will be provided with more detailed guidance and can answer questions. The FORA team has also developed a comprehensive guide with Frequently Asked Questions; this document will be updated continuously. Questions can also be directed to: research@fas.harvard.edu.
Over the next year, we must adapt to a new world where our sources of research funding will need to change, but our commitments to academic excellence and high-impact scientific discovery will not. I am extraordinarily grateful to the Research Continuity Committee, chaired by Professor Steve Hyman, for their tireless efforts to help the FAS navigate these uncharted waters. As I’ve said before, these efforts will not be easy. Nothing about this time is easy. But, through the contributions of many, we are forging a path forward together.
Sincerely,
Hopi
Hopi Hoekstra
Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
C. Y. Chan Professor of Arts and Sciences
Xiaomeng Tong and Yu Chen Professor of Life Sciences