NIH eRA Commons Registration and ID Lookup

eRA Commons is the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) electronic system required for managing NIH proposals and awards. To begin using eRA Commons, individuals must register for a Commons ID. U-M ORSP staff are the designated officials who register and update the NIH eRA Commons IDs for all U-M faculty, staff and students. This page contains information on creating an ID, adding or changing roles, affiliating an ID with U-M, and looking up U-M-affiliated Commons IDs.

Steps to request or update a Commons ID

Access and sign in to eRPM

Before completing the form for a future/existing Commons ID, the requester must have previously signed into eResearch. Doing so creates a “person account.” ORSP registers the ID in eRPM and cannot proceed if an individual has not signed in. See Instructions to Login to eRPM. 

Complete the U-M eRA Commons Request Form

Complete U-M NIH eRA Commons Request/Update Form for requests to obtain a new Commons ID or to add/remove roles to an existing Commons ID. Completion should take 1-3 minutes.

If you are unsure about the Role or “Type of User” to select in the form, refer to the eRA Commons User roles on the NIH website.

For role changes, be sure to provide the existing Commons ID. If affiliated with U-M, existing Commons ID can usually be found in eResearch. If an individual is having trouble finding this information, proceed with the form, and ORSP will work with the person to locate and verify the ID.

Note, for new faculty or students or others working with U-M, a U-M email address is needed before an ID can be requested or changed. Contact the relevant school or college to get a sponsored affiliate email address or to proceed with obtaining a U-M email address first. For individuals who do not have an ID and who are not affiliated with U-M, they should work with the department the NIH grant will be with to get sponsored as a U-M affiliate. ORSP does not manage roles for non-U-M users.

Receive an email notification

After ORSP completes the request, the individual will receive an email notification titled, “eRA Commons Notification of Authentication Credentials and New eRA Account” from [email protected]. This email allows users to reset a password. 

Questions?

Contact [email protected].

Logging in with a Federated Account

Once an individual has a Commons ID and password to eRA Commons, ORSP encourages individuals to use the “Login with Federated Account” option for simplicity and added security. To do this, select the University of Michigan under the “Login with Federated Account” option on eRA Commons. Users will be prompted to log in using their U-M two-factor authentication to access the Commons. Make sure your Commons password has not expired. Otherwise, you will not be able to link your Commons account to the U-M federated login.