University Research Awards
What is a University Research Award?
University Research Funding Opportunities
University Research Award Application Process
My PI’s University Research proposal was selected for award. Now what?
From University Research Award PDRF to University Research Award PTA
Funding a University Research Award
Managing My PI's University Research Award
University Research Award Closeout Process
What is University Research?
Internal to Stanford sponsor programs that help support PI Research. The funding is provided through an internal competitive application and award process.
Indicators of University Research Checklist
RPH 13.2 Categories of Sponsored Projects
What is a University Research Award (URA)?
A project is classified as University Research if the activity is supported by funding that meets the following criteria:
- Derived from non-sponsored Stanford institutional funds, and
- Provided through a competitive application and award process, and
- Supported by statement of work or line of inquiry, and
- Providing assistance for a proposed activity which is characterized by the same factors which generally distinguish sponsored projects including:
- a requirement to return any unexpended funds at the end of the project or
- detailed financial reporting (beyond an acknowledgment of funds) or
- terms for the disposition of property (e.g..... equipment, deliverables, data or intellectual property)
University Research Funding Opportunities
- Stanford internal funding opportunities are posted on the Stanford Seed Funding site: https://seedfunding.stanford.edu/
- Some University Research programs also list their funding opportunities on their specific websites
University Research Award Application Process
- University Research proposals are submitted directly by the department or PI(s) to the specific University Research program as per the relevant funding opportunity's instructions.
- University Research proposals do NOT require a SeRA Proposal Intake Form (PIF) or Proposal Development Routing From (PDRF) at the time of proposal
- University Research proposals do NOT require either OSR or RMG review prior to submission
- University Research proposals are NOT subject to the Stanford internal proposal deadline policy
My PI’s University Research proposal was selected for award. Now what?
In order to initiate the sponsored PTA setup process for a newly awarded University Research Award (URA) either the receiving department or awarding program needs to initiate, complete and route a SeRA University Research Award (URA) PDRF to OSR for the project.
- Attach to all URA PDRFs:
- Program guidelines
- Copy of Final Full proposal - A separate Statement of Work attachment is not needed, if included in the Full Proposal attachment
- Budget
- Budget Justification
- Awarding letter from University internal sponsor
- Also refer to the Award Notification/Letter or funding opportunity for PDRF directions for the specific University Research award
From University Research Award PDRF to University Research Award PTA
- Once the department routes a University Research Award (URA) PDRF to OSR, your OSR institutional official (IO) will review it for completeness and accuracy.
- Upon completion of the OSR pre award review, your OSR IO will issue the SeRA Award Acceptance Notification (AAN). SeRA will email a notification to the PI and dept contact that was listed on the URA PDRF. SeRA will also initiate a SeRA New Account setup transaction and assign it the dept. PTA contact that was listed on the URA PDRF.
- The PTA contact listed on the URA PDRF will receive via email a notification that they have been assigned a SeRA New Account setup transaction and can proceed with completing the department portion of said transaction. Once completed, the dept will route the transaction in SeRA to OSR post award.
- Upon receiving the dept completed SeRA New Account setup transaction, your OSR post award research accountant will review and enter the PTA setup information in Oracle to complete the PTA set up process.
- Once the new URA PTA is created and active in Oracle, SeRA will issue the SeRA Notice of Award (NOA) for the URA and email the PI and dept contact that was listed on the URA PDRF. The NOA will list the newly created PTA. The new PTA will show on your PI’s FFIT screen and will be available to begin charging.
Funding a University Research Award
Once a University Research award PTA has been set up, the awarding department must request a fund transfer to the new PTA.
- For School of Medicine University Research sponsors, requests should be emailed to the School of Medicine Department Fund Accountant (currently Gwenevere Mitchell) by following instructions How To: Request a Fund Transfer.
- For University Research sponsors in all other schools, funding transfers should be coordinated through the relevant school's finance team.
Managing My PI's University Research Award
University Research awards should be managed in accordance with the specific award's terms and conditions, and Stanford policy. Please note, Stanford policy requires all PTAs, to be reviewed monthly. However, the policy does not require an administrator to document their review in the eCertification system. Thus, University Research awards will be marked as Review Not Tracked/Certification Not Required within the eCertification system.
URA Sponsor Prior Approval and No Cost Extension (NCE) Requests
For any University Research award sponsor prior approval requests such as rebudgeting, change in PI, No Cost Extension requests etc., awardees should contact the given University Research Award sponsor directly.
You do NOT need to submit a SeRA Central Office Request for any University Research Award sponsor prior approval requests and/or no cost extension requests.
Once you have obtained written approval from a University Research Award sponsor for any prior approval and/or NCE requests, forward the written approval to the OSR Intake email. Your OSR institutional official (IO) will process within SeRA any necessary award amendment to reflect the sponsor's approval of the given project changes. The SeRA award amendment will trigger a PTA amendment to update the associated URA Oracle award attributes as needed.
URAs and Stanford's Fiscal Year End Close
University Research award PTAs CANNOT be in overdraft at Stanford's fiscal year end close (August 31 each year). The PI's award receiving department is responsible for removing any URA overdrafts that are the result of spending exceeding awarded funding prior to SU fiscal close each year.
University Research Award Closeout Process
At the conclusion of a University Research award the PI's department research administrator reviews the award and ensures the following:
- All effort is completed
- No further charges should be charged or allocated
- No additional time will be issued
- No other adjustments are required (e.g., journals, rate adjustments)
- If the award is in overdraft, initiate transfer journal to clear expense
When confident that the above criteria have been met, the department administrator sends an email to the responsible OSR Research Accountant verifying the following:
- All expenditures have been posted or have been transferred off
- No further commitments are to paid
- No Labor Distribution errors exist
- No pending Tuition Allowance charges (pre-paid tuition must be cleared)
- If a fund balance remains, request your OSR accountant to initiate a fund transfer journal to return funds to the University Research sponsor
- Award is ready for closeout
Once the department sends the email indicating the University Research award is ready for closeout, the responsible OSR Research Accountant completes the following:
- Runs expenditure reports/fund statements and reviews expense and fund disposition
- De-obligates budget, project and funded amount in Oracle
- Goes into Oracle and changes the status field to “Closed”
- As needed, initiates a fund transfer journal to return funds to the University Research sponsor
- Notifies University Research sponsor that the award has been financially closed