In case you missed Region 7’s SciENcv webinar

Posted by kimberlycarlo on May 17th, 2026 Posted in: Blog

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Last month, I hosted a webinar called “Region 7 Presents: SciENcv- An Introduction” alongside my colleague, Javier Martinez Rodriguez (Data Services Librarian at NYU Langone Health). In this class, we explained what SciENcv is, the importance of this tool, a walkthrough on how to fill out the form, and a few tips and reminders provided by the NIH. Luckily, participants also were supporting their colleagues and provided their own tips and experiences with each other in the chat. Librarians assist researchers or are the researchers ourselves, as well as have responsibility to apply for and seek grant funding opportunities. You can watch the recording of this webinar on the webpage.

 

SciENcv is an electronic system to help researchers assemble the professional information needed to participate in federally funded research. That includes their job history, education, and scientific contributions. SciENcv was developed by the National Center for Biotechnology (also known as NCBI) and the National Institutes of Health. SciENcv is used to create and maintain biosketches that need to be submitted with grant applications and annual reports.

 

Biosketch is short for “biographical sketch”. This is used to document someone’s qualifications and experience for a specific role in a project. The NIH does require a submission of biosketches for each key contributor on a grant application.

 

There are a few instances where it is required to submit biosketches. This includes when you are in competing applications for many grant programs or in a progress report, when new key contributors are identified, and to support prior approval changes of key contributors or a change in the recipient organization

 

Here are some comments from attendees that were shared in the chat:

• “There’s an NIH FAQ on what to do now that the My Bib link is prohibited”- webpage for common forms FAQ
• “I believe they are still requiring eRA Commons ID in the SF424 key personnel forms, though. We now have to make a special effort to get this information from subs since it’s no longer on the biosketch.”
• “We initially got several errors on our biosketches attached to a March submission as well. Make sure your faculty members check each section of their eRA Commons profile and update as necessary.”
• “Know who at your institution deals with the oversight for NIH/NSF applications & awards (or at least what office deals with it).”

This webinar is featured on Rush University’s website, where you can find additional resources on using SciENcv to create a biosketch.