policies

MorPhiC Affiliate Membership

The MorPhiC Program offers researchers not currently funded by the MorPhiC Consortium the opportunity to apply to join the program as non-voting affiliate members. MorPhiC expects to benefit from the unique expertise affiliated members can bring to the Consortium. MorPhiC anticipates an affiliated member’s benefits will include the highly interactive research environment, participating in Consortium discussions across a broad range of activities, participating in Consortium analyses, and access to data prior to QC.

Affiliate members are expected to contribute to the goals of the MorPhiC Consortium by generating data, analyses, or software tools, by sharing data and/or analyses freely through the MorPhiC Data Resource and Administrative Coordinating Center (DRACC), and/or by contributing to cross- consortium integrative analyses. Alternatives to this are possible e.g., a direct collaboration between a MorPhiC member and an external researcher, without sharing MorPhiC resources beyond what that MorPhiC member has created. Affiliate members are also expected to be actively engaged in MorPhiC activities (i.e. participate in working groups as appropriate, attend the MorPhiC annual meeting) and to abide by all policies approved by the consortium and any other pertinent NIH policies. Failure to abide by these rules and policies may result in suspension of membership.

Affiliate membership does not directly or indirectly imply a commitment to funding by the NIH.

Steps in the process:

  • Submit application to NHGRI Staff via their Institutional Signing Official (example below for US researchers)
  • Bring application SC for approval (NHGRI will do this)
  • Sign Data Use Agreement for access to data before public availability (this will follow standard institutional signature as all MorPhiC members)
  • Investigators who are members of non-US institutions will have to go through a different process for approval (no formal procedure for this has been established yet).

MorPhiC Affiliate Membership Application

Application process for joining the MorPhiC Consortium as an affiliate member

An investigator who is interested in applying for affiliate membership to the MorPhiC Consortium should fill out the application form and submit it via their Institutional Signing Official to MorPhiC NHGRI Program Staff (Adam Felsenfeld, Ajay Pillai and Colin Fletcher). The application will be reviewed by NHGRI staff to determine whether an investigator will be accepted into the Consortium. NHGRI staff will take recommendations to the Steering Committee for approval. Once accepted, affiliate members must sign the MorPhiC Data Use Agreement (DUA). Participation of members in Consortium activities may be reviewed yearly by NHGRI staff to ensure active participation. At any time, an affiliated member may ask to leave the Consortium, but is expected to honor the confidentiality of any information obtained during Consortium membership as appropriate through standard research collaboration practices.

Affiliate Members please note:

  • Follow MorPhiC policies including tracking MorPhiC related publications.
  • If you intend to use pre-published data we are requesting a description of your proposed activities. This will help us respect MorPhiC graduate students, postdocs and other scientists who might be working on similar goals. If there is a potential for such conflicts we can resolve these by converting it potentially into a collaborative activity.
  • If you propose to work on additional projects please submit a separate description for the MorPhiC Steering Committee’s consideration. We might request a brief yearly update on the project at a convenient forum.
  • The MorPhiC Data Use Agreement you (and your institution sign) gives you access to pre-publication data for the purposes described below.

Affiliate membership does not directly or indirectly imply a commitment to funding by the NIH.

Please fill out each section below:

Name
Institutional Affiliation
Date
Personnel (who will be part of the agreement, their Names, Titles, Institutional Affiliation and Email—one per row)
Are you requesting access to Morphic pre-public release data?

Provide a concise description of the planned contribution (proposed experimental and/or analysis plans), specifying the focus of the project as: a) experimental, b) computational analysis, or c) a combination of these.
Response (no more than 2 pages)

Indicate how the proposed work will contribute to the goals of the MorPhiC Consortium and is aligned with MorPhiC activities
Response (no more than half a page):

Provide evidence of funding to conduct the proposed research (grant # or equivalent)
Response:

Indicate agreement to abide by all current (and as agreed to, future policies) MorPhiC policies and not disclose confidential information obtained from members of the Consortium and those fully participating in MorPhiC Consortium activities.
Response:

PI Signature: _________

PI Name:

PI Affiliation: