NSF’s Synergistic Activities document lists up to five distinct examples of a senior/key person’s professional and scholarly activities that demonstrate broader impact through the creation, integration, and transfer of knowledge. Since May 20, 2024, it is a standalone, one-page upload required alongside — but separate from — the NSF Biosketch (SciENcv). Before that date, it was Section (D) of the two-page NSF Biographical Sketch itself. This guide covers what belongs in the document, its formatting rules, how to prepare and submit it, and exactly how the current requirement differs from the pre-2024 format.
What is NSF’s Synergistic Activities document?
Under NSF’s Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG), every individual identified as senior/key personnel on a proposal must submit a Synergistic Activities document. It is a one-page list of up to five distinct examples that demonstrate the individual’s broader professional and scholarly impact — not a narrative essay, and not a comprehensive service record. NSF’s own guidance describes the purpose as showing impact through the creation, integration, and transfer of knowledge, which is a deliberately broader framing than a simple list of committee memberships or honors.
The document is uploaded as part of the senior/key personnel documents in Research.gov. Unlike the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support, it is not generated inside SciENcv — researchers prepare it separately (commonly starting from an institutional sponsored-programs office template) and upload the finished PDF directly.
What belongs in the Synergistic Activities document
Each of the up to five examples should be a single, specific, distinct activity. NSF’s formatting guidance is explicit about what is not permitted: an example must not bundle multiple sub-components into one entry. That means a synergistic activities list should not include:
- A sub-bulleted list of committee memberships presented as one “activity”
- A roll-up of multiple honors or awards under a single heading
- A list of journals or organizations the individual has reviewed for, presented as one entry
Instead, each entry should stand on its own as a distinct activity with enough detail to show its broader impact. NSF’s guidance and common institutional instructions point to categories such as:
- Innovations in teaching, training, or mentoring
- Contributions to the science of learning or to STEM education research
- Development or refinement of research tools, methodologies, or algorithms
- Development of databases or other infrastructure that supports research and education
- Efforts to broaden participation of groups underrepresented in STEM
- Participation in international research collaborations
- Public engagement or science-communication activities connected to the individual’s scholarly work
- Participation in national and/or international standards development efforts
- Service to the scientific and engineering community outside the individual’s immediate organization — for example, peer review, journal editorial roles, or funding-agency review-panel service
Because the entire document is capped at one page across up to five entries, most preparers write two to four sentences per activity: what the activity is, the individual’s role in it, and the outcome or impact.
Does peer review, journal reviewing, or editorial service count as a Synergistic Activity?
Yes. NSF’s PAPPG explicitly lists “service to the scientific and engineering community outside of the individual’s immediate organization” (PAPPG II.D.2.h(iv)) among the categories of synergistic activities — and peer review, journal editorial work, and funding-agency review-panel service all fall within that category. The two formatting rules that govern every entry in this document apply here without exception: each activity must be a single, distinct, summarized entry, and it must not be followed by a list of sub-activities.
In practice that means a reviewer or editorial role can be a legitimate, standalone synergistic activity — but it cannot become a running inventory of every journal, panel, or committee served. NSF’s own guidance draws this line directly: a PI may summarize that they served on ten review panels, but must not then list each of the ten panels within that entry.
| Activity | Qualifies as a Synergistic Activity? | How to present it compliantly |
|---|---|---|
| Peer review for journals | Yes | Summarize as one entry (role, approximate scope or duration, any editorial recognition) — do not list every journal or manuscript reviewed. |
| Serving on NSF or other funding-agency review panels | Yes | Summarize as one entry describing the panel role generally; do not enumerate each individual panel by name or date. |
| Journal editor or associate editor role | Yes | Name the role and journal, then add a sentence of context on scope or impact — not just the title. |
| Conference program or session chairing | Yes | Describe the role and its reach (discipline, scale, audience) as a single entry. |
| A bundled list of every committee, panel, and editorial role held | No, not as written | Consolidate into one summarized entry or select the single highest-impact role — a sub-bulleted roll-up is exactly the format PAPPG’s “no sub-activities” rule prohibits. |
Worked example: compliant vs. non-compliant peer-review entries
Compliant: “Contribution to the scientific community through peer review: serves as a peer reviewer for journals in [field] and has completed NSF panel review service in [program area] across multiple review cycles.” This is one distinct, summarized entry.
Not compliant: “Peer review service: reviewed for Journal A (2021, 2022, 2023); Journal B (2022); Journal C (2023); served on NSF panels in January 2022, July 2022, and March 2023.” This bundles multiple sub-activities under a single heading, which PAPPG’s formatting rule does not permit.
How this differs from the old Synergistic Activities format
The content expectation (up to five distinct examples, broader-impact framing) has not changed. What changed is where the document lives and how it is produced:
- Before May 20, 2024: Synergistic Activities was Section (D) of the NSF Biographical Sketch itself — a single two-page document per senior/key person covering Professional Preparation, Appointments, Products, and Synergistic Activities together. There was no separate upload; the section simply appeared at the end of the biosketch, still bound by the same “distinct activities only” rule and the overall two-page limit for the whole document.
- Since PAPPG NSF 24-1, effective May 20, 2024: Synergistic Activities was removed from the Biographical Sketch and now exists as its own one-page document, uploaded separately in Research.gov as a senior/key personnel document. The Biographical Sketch itself continues to be produced in SciENcv under the NSPM-33 Common Form (Identifying Information, Organization and Location, Professional Preparation, Appointments and Positions, Products, Certification) and no longer has a synergistic-activities section at all.
This split matters procedurally: a complete NSF senior/key-personnel document set is now two SciENcv-generated documents (Biographical Sketch; Current and Pending [Other] Support) plus two documents required but explicitly not produced in SciENcv (Collaborators and Other Affiliations; Synergistic Activities). Submitting a biosketch that still has a Synergistic Activities section baked in — or omitting the standalone Synergistic Activities upload entirely — is a common, avoidable compliance error at proposal intake.
Is there an official NSF template?
NSF’s PAPPG describes the required content and one-page/five-example limits but does not itself distribute a fill-in-the-blank form the way it does for Current and Pending (Other) Support or the Collaborators and Other Affiliations spreadsheet. Most research offices provide their own plain-text or Word template built directly from the PAPPG language so that PIs and co-PIs have a consistent starting structure — typically a short header (name, one-page limit reminder) followed by up to five numbered entries. If your institution’s sponsored-programs office provides one, use it; if not, the structural requirements above (one page, up to five distinct non-bundled examples, broader-impact framing) are sufficient to build a compliant document from a blank page.
Who must submit it, and when
Every individual designated senior/key personnel on an NSF proposal must have their own Synergistic Activities document, submitted with the rest of that person’s senior/key personnel documents at proposal preparation. It applies proposal-by-proposal in the sense that it must be current and accurate at the time of submission, but researchers commonly maintain and update a master version alongside their SciENcv profile rather than starting from scratch each time — the same practice used for the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support.
Common preparation errors
- Bundling several activities into one entry to fit within five, rather than choosing the five strongest distinct activities.
- Reusing a pre-2024 biosketch’s Synergistic Activities section verbatim as the new standalone document without checking it still fits the one-page limit on its own and doesn’t duplicate content moved elsewhere.
- Omitting the document entirely because preparers assume SciENcv still generates it — it does not, and Research.gov proposal compliance checks will flag a missing senior/key personnel document.
- Confusing it with Current and Pending (Other) Support, a different required document covering active and pending funding, not professional/scholarly broader-impact activities.
Frequently asked questions
Is Synergistic Activities still part of the NSF biosketch?
No. As of PAPPG NSF 24-1 (effective May 20, 2024), Synergistic Activities was removed from the Biographical Sketch and is submitted as its own one-page document. Before that date it was Section (D) of the two-page biosketch.
Does peer review or reviewer service count as a Synergistic Activity?
Yes. Peer review, journal editorial service, and funding-agency review-panel service fall under PAPPG’s “service to the scientific and engineering community outside of the individual’s immediate organization” category (PAPPG II.D.2.h(iv)). It must be written as one summarized entry, not an itemized list of every journal or panel served — see the worked example above.
How many examples can I include?
Up to five distinct examples, each a single specific activity rather than a bundled list of sub-activities, fit within one page total.
Is the Synergistic Activities document generated in SciENcv?
No. Unlike the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support, Synergistic Activities is prepared outside SciENcv and uploaded directly as a senior/key personnel document in Research.gov.
Is there an official NSF-provided template file?
NSF’s PAPPG specifies the content and format requirements rather than distributing an official fill-in form; most institutions provide their own template built to those requirements.
Does every senior/key person need a Synergistic Activities document?
Yes — it is required for each individual identified as senior/key personnel on the proposal, the same population that must submit a Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support.
Does the NIH biosketch have a Synergistic Activities section?
No. Synergistic Activities is NSF-specific PAPPG terminology tied to the standalone document described above. NIH’s own biosketch format does not use this label; its closest analogous section is Contributions to Science, which serves a broadly similar purpose — summarizing scholarly impact — but follows different NIH formatting rules and page limits. See CASRAI’s NIH-style biosketch entry for how that document is structured. Anyone who is senior/key personnel on both NSF and NIH-funded projects needs two separate documents; an NSF Synergistic Activities document is not an accepted substitute for the NIH biosketch’s own content.
References
- NSF, “Documents Required for Senior/Key Personnel,” nsf.gov/funding/senior-personnel-documents.
- NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG), NSF 24-1, effective May 20, 2024.
- NSF, “FAQ: Using SciENcv,” nsf.gov/policies/document/faq-using-sciencv.
