Ethics, Compliance and Audit Services
NIH and NSF Anti-Sexual Harassment Policies
National Science Foundation (NSF)
NSF has taken steps in its agency-wide effort to ensure the research and learning environments it supports are free from harassment. NSF published a term and condition that requires awardee organizations to report findings and determinations of sexual harassment and established a secure online portal for submitting harassment notifications. See the links below for detailed information on NSF's policy as well as resources for reporting.
NSF Sexual Harassment Policy FAQs (pdf)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
NIH expects that institutions will embrace their responsibilities to end all harassment in their own scientific workplace.
NIH Anti-Sexual Harassment Website
NIH expects the following:
- If a principal investigator or other key personnel named on an NIH grant award is no longer able to fulfill their obligations to conduct research because they have been removed from the workplace because of sexual harassment concerns, NIH requires institutions to notify the agency of this change.
- NIH expects all NIH-funded institutions to have disseminated and implemented policies and practices that
- foster a harassment-free environment;
- maintain clear, unambiguous professional codes of conduct;
- ensure employees are fully aware and regularly reminded of applicable laws,
- regulations, policies, and codes of conduct;
- provide an accessible, effective, and easy process to report sexual harassment, and
- protection from retaliation; and
- respond promptly to allegations to ensure the immediate safety for all involved,
- investigate the allegations, and take appropriate sanctions.
NIH can and will take action if there are concerns that sexual harassment is affecting NIH-funded research. For concerns related to NIH-funded research, an email can be sent to GranteeHarassment@od.nih.gov or concerns may be submitted via the NIH web form NIH Sexual Harassment Reporting Web Form