The most comprehensive and up-to-date site for information on institutional and agency responses to COVID-19 can be found on the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR) site. Below, we add additional information on how to contact Division of Research (DOR) staff and agency-specific information that is particularly relevant to University of Houston (UH) researchers.

Biweekly VPR Communications

Contact Information for DOR Offices

To contact Research Integrity and Oversight (RIO), Office of Contracts and Grants (OCG), Animal Care Operation (ACO), or DOR Business Operations (BizOps) use the following e-mail addresses:

• • • OCG
      • Award Management: uhpostaward@uh.edu
      • Billing and Payment: dorbill@central.uh.edu
      • Pre-Award Management/Proposal Submission: uhproposals@listserv.uh.edu
    • RIO
      • Human Subjects/IRB: CPHS@central.uh.edu
      • Animal research/IACUC: IACUC@central.uh.edu
      • Conflict of Interest/COI: COI@central.uh.edu
      • Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR): RCR@central.uh.edu
      • Congruency review: GRC@central.uh.edu
    • ACO: aco@uh.edu
    • BizOps: dorbizop@central.uh.edu

If you wish to speak to a staff member directly, please call their office phone number. If they are unable to answer your call or if they work from home, they will receive an e-mail through Outlook with the phone number you used to call them. Staff members will return your call within two hours during the peak work hours 9:00 am and 4:00 pm, or, if the call falls outside of the peak work hours, the next business day.

Online Platforms

There are significant security concerns associated with information sharing through collaboration tools. We require that you use only UH officially licensed applications for all UH related business, not trial versions or personal licenses to make sure that the appropriate security controls can be implemented and that there are UH-accessible logs for the sessions. UH has licenses for following platforms (for additional restrictions when online platforms are used for Human Subject research that require HIPAA or other healthcare privacy compliance, see here):

• • • Microsoft Teams using the UH license. It is the preferred collaboration tool. Tips are available here.
    • Microsoft Skype for Business (SFB) using the UH license. Tips are available here.
    • Zoom using the UH license. Information on how to obtain a UH license can be found here. Tips are available here.

Responses to COVID-19

General Information

• • • Office of Management and Budget
  • • • M-20-11 (expires on July 26, 2020): Administrative Relief for Recipients and Applicants of Federal Financial Assistance Directly Impacted by the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)
      • M-20-17 (rescinded as of June 18, 2020): Administrative Relief for Recipients and Applicants of Federal Financial Assistance Directly Impacted by the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) due to Loss of Operations
      • M-20-18 (rescinded as of June 18, 2020): Managing Federal Contract Performance Issues Associated with the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)
      • M-20-26: Extension of Administrative Relief for Recipients and Applicants of Federal Financial Assistance Directly Impacted by the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) due to Loss of Operations. Note the Salary Flexibility will no longer apply to UH awards starting August 10.

Other Useful Sites

• • COGR's FAQs and Resources on COVID-19's Impact to Federal Awards.
  • InfoEd provides open access to funding opportunities related to COVID-19.
  • APLU maintains a website on the U.S. Government COVID-19 Response.
  • Johns Hopkins University maintains a funding opportunity site that is frequently updated.
  • Eva Garland Consulting, LLC maintains a list of COVID-19 Funding Opportunities and you can sign up for being notified of new opportunities on their site.
  • The ad hoc working group, Parenting During COVID, published Resources on School Support for UH parents.