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Proposal: Institute/Center or Department

Find additional pre-award support resources here: Pre-Award Support

Standard guidelines:

University Research Institutes and Centers (URICs) are aimed at supporting interdisciplinary research collaborations. Proposals submitted through, and housed in, URICs should meet the following criteria:

  • Pursue research and initiatives that are interdisciplinary in nature
  • Include multiple investigators/faculty with representation across multiple schools, or, when the single-PI primary HR appointment is in the URIC

Exceptional circumstances:

There are two circumstances in which exceptions to the standard guidelines apply

  1. For collaborative work with Argonne National Lab when a “NAISE Fellowship” appointment is utilized
    • The proposal must be submitted through NAISE to utilize this model, which allows NAISE to manage the special arrangements required
  1. Single investigator and/or single school proposals that have a clear and direct relationship to a URIC
    • This exception requires the approval of the school and department where the principal investigator’s primary appointment is held
    • One factor, towards exceptions of this nature, is whether the proposal crosses departments within a school, even if it does not cross schools

If there are questions about the circumstances of a specific proposal and what route is appropriate, please consult with the URICA office at the earliest opportunity.

Other considerations

URICs are not academic departments/units, and proposals that relate to career development in academics or academic instruction initiatives are typically not appropriate as URIC proposals.

Graduate students are always appointed and managed in their home academic department. Any proposals that are specifically related to individual graduate students are typically routed through the associated home academic department.

Research appointees should be appointed/reappointed in the unit that hires them and pays the majority of their salary at the time of appointment/reappointment, and include end-dates in alignment with the available funding support. When funding is split equally, the academic department/unit is typically the more appropriate appointment area.

 

Find additional pre-award support resources here: Pre-Award Support