Research Administration 

The School of Information Office of Research

The Associate Dean for Research and Innovation, with the assistance of the school's research staff, oversees research activities at the School, and work in a number of areas to provide support to the School's faculty in the administrative aspects of their research endeavors.  The Office provides expertise in the development, compliance, administrative requirements, and best practices throughout the grant lifecycle. Our support allows researchers to focus on their scientific work while also being excellent stewards of sponsored funds and achieving successful outcomes. These activities start with strategic, proactive, catalytic, and capacity-building activities early in the lifecycle and continue through the submission, management, and closeout of awards.  The Research Office staff help with the full lifecycle of awards and agreements, from ideation to submission, to amendments and closeout. For more information on the Office of Research at the School please refer to https://sites.google.com/a/umich.edu/umsi-research-office/home.

Pre-award: Grant Proposal Submission

Faculty work closely with the associate dean for research and the research staff in the development of proposals. During the proposal preparation process, Research Office staff provides support,. facilitation, management, tools, and resources for proposal submissions. This includes, but is not limited to: Letters of Intent(LOI), Pre-Proposals, Internal submissions, and information required for research grants. The Research Office staff work with faculty to develop the budget, write the budget justification, prepare facilities pages, prepare biographical sketches, prepare current and pending support pages, assemble the proposal, acquire required signatures, and coordinate with the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects (ORSP) to formally submit the research proposal. The Research Office also coordinates the details of cost-sharing, when applicable. Faculty should submit grants in a timely manner to facilitate this process.

Post-award: Facilitate Implementation of Research Projects

It is the responsibility of the principal investigator and other senior personnel to carry out the scientific content of the research project. The Research Office works with a variety of staff in the School of Information to coordinate the activities of key departments that relate to post-award grant logistics and financial accounting. These departments are primarily the school’s financial operations, human resources, facilities, and computing units. The research administration activities of these departments are the reconciliation of the financial statements, hiring personnel on research and sponsored projects, purchasing, computing support, and arranging appropriate space and facilities for sponsored projects.

If necessary, the Research Office facilitates the initiation of contracted work with collaborators outside the University. At the proposal stage, the Research Office will help faculty determine how the proposed work by an outside source should be classified (i.e.: Subcontract, Purchase Order, Hybrid, Service Agreement).

Change Requests to Sponsor

The Office of Research assists faculty in requesting project changes to the Sponsor. This includes no-cost time extensions, re-budgeting, changes in scope, and changes in key personnel or project activities. The Research Office coordinates with the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects (ORSP) to formally submit these requests.

Unfunded Agreements: Data Use, Non-Disclosure, Intellectual Property, and Material Transfer Agreements 

A number of research activities require agreements not associated with money, referred to as Unfunded Agreements (UFAs). Research Office staff facilitate the signatures needed for these agreements which deal with confidentiality, protection of intellectual property, or transferring of materials or data between organizations. Faculty interested in using data from entities external to the University of Michigan or sharing data outside the University, must have a data use agreement. The data use agreement is between the University of Michigan and the external entity, not between the faculty member and the external organization. Unfunded Agreements are documented and routed for university signatures under the UFA section in eResearch (http://eresearch.umich.edu/).

Responsible Conduct of Research

All UMSI researchers who conduct research are entrusted with completing activities ethically and are required to complete training in the responsible conduct of research. The U-M offers an online course the Program for Education and Evaluation in Responsible Research and Scholarship (PEERRS) (http://research-compliance.umich.edu/glossary/peerrs). No grant awards can be accepted by U-M if any of the participating investigators do not have current PEERRS certifications or its equivalent. To determine which PEERRS modules are required, please see PEERRS Portal.

If research involves human subjects, the principal investigator must submit an application to one of the University of Michigan’s Institutional Review Boards (IRB). If research involves human subjects, no funds can be spent until IRB approval or an exemption is received. The principal investigator (PI) is responsible for submitting the proper paperwork to ensure that IRB compliance is met. 

Please note that all students and postdocs working on research projects will need to complete PEERRS training. To determine which PEERRS modules are required, please see http://my.research.umich.edu/peerrs/.

Fiscal Responsibility

The Research Office, in cooperation with the UMSI FinOps staff, arranges for periodic meetings to review grant expenditures and encumbrances. Such meetings occur at varying intervals, depending on the complexity of the project (with more complex projects having more frequent reviews) and the reporting requirements of the sponsor. Such meetings will be attended by the principal investigator (PI), the research administrator, a member of the finance team, and others as required by the nature of the project. The research administrator is responsible for convening such review meetings.

UMSI Finance is responsible for activating a financial file, tracking all expenditures on the project and providing monthly reports on the previous month's expenditures to the faculty. This reporting will alert the PI to spending trends or problems such as spending in restricted categories (e.g., non-budgeted supply items, administrative salaries, etc), or underspending. If there is a need to re-budget funds or ask for supplemental funding, the Research Office will assist the PI in requesting approval from the sponsor for such changes.

Faculty Grant Report for the Faculty Annual Report (FAR)

Each individual faculty member receives an annual report including his/her/their research proposal submissions and funded projects. Each faculty member should notify the research office of activities and status changes to insure that this document is up to date. Faculty are responsible for the accuracy of this report upon review each Winter term. This information is included in the FAR.

Research Reports to Sponsors

The principal Investigator is responsible for all narrative reports. The report deadlines are provided in the initial Award Announcement email from the research office and reminders of reports may be sent to faculty by the sponsor and/or eRPM when reports are due. The Research Office can assist with questions faculty have regarding interim and final reporting requirements to the sponsor. UMSI Finance works with the faculty to finalize all financial reports and ensure they are sent directly to the sponsor. 

Infrastructure at UMSI for Research

Many research projects require physical and human resources. Very specialized resources are generally supported by the sponsored projects. The School provides a number of general resources for research, including space, computing support, and various shared facilities. The associate dean for research works with the facilities manager, computing, and other appropriate agencies to ensure that projects are supported appropriately. The associate dean also proactively seeks to create research infrastructure that has broad applicability for the School. The associate dean works to identify such needs and welcomes opportunities to discuss the ways in which the school can support research in new ways.

Research with Industry and Foundations Sponsors

Faculty may learn about a grant opportunity from industry or a foundation through the development office. The Office of Research should be notified of all research projects to ensure they are processed according to U-M guidelines. The Research Office works closely with the school’s Office of Development to coordinate funding opportunities from corporations and foundations for both specific faculty and targeted areas of research. If you are thinking about proposing an idea to a corporation or foundation it is best to talk with the research office early and develop a draft budget prior to discussing any monetary figures with the corporation or foundation.

Course Buyout from Sponsored Funds

Sometimes faculty on academic year (AY) appointments propose and are awarded a course buyout on sponsored projects. This is effort and funding on a sponsored project that is equivalent to 25% of academic year effort (2.25 months) for Instructional Faculty and 20% of academic year effort (1.8 months) for Clinical Faculty. This reduces the teaching load by one course for a single academic year. Use of a one-course reduction can be arranged with prior approval from the ADAA. Generally, such requests are granted with sufficient lead time (based on the annual curriculum planning schedule), though there may be exceptions if a critical teaching need would not be met. Course buyouts do not qualify for the RESIN reimbursement noted below because of the benefit of a course reduction and the school will incur costs to pay a replacement instructor for the course. Note: these numbers currently reflect residential courses only. 

Policy Statement on the Use of Faculty Research and Discretionary Accounts

All UMSI faculty are expected to follow the policy statement issued by the provost on the Use of Faculty Research and Discretionary Accounts (RESIN), http://www.provost.umich.edu/reports/discretionary/policy_statement.html

We should all be responsible stewards of human, financial, physical and information resources. See the UM “Stewardship Responsibilities in the Management of Human, Financial, Physical and Information Resources” (http://www.hr.umich.edu/stewardship.html).

These funds are intended to promote the research and scholarship, or work in the creative arts, of the University of Michigan faculty member to whom they were granted. Even though a faculty member is given decision-making authority for the expenditure of funds, it is important to remember that these are university funds and they should be used to further the missions of the institution through the work of its faculty. The school, college, or unit has a fiduciary responsibility and, as with all university funds, must be sure that expenditures and use are appropriate and follow university requirements of financial control and oversight (SPG 500.1). Any funding from external sources must adhere to the conditions of the gift or grant, and to the university’s rules governing use of sponsored funds.

Research Incentive Calculation Policy (Policy Last Revised April 21, 2015)

For each project that produces indirect costs of 29% or greater, the School of Information will create a research incentive fund for use by the principal investigator equivalent to 7.5% of the total indirect costs incurred. These funds will be distributed in September financial activity. 

RESIN Reimbursement for Academic Year Salary (Policy Last Revised April 21, 2015)

Various federal, foundation, and industry grants may provide faculty salary during the academic year, thus offsetting the UMSI salary costs. The amount of salary offset by funded research, minus 20%, will be deposited into the faculty member’s RESIN account once a year. As noted above, course buyouts do not qualify for the RESIN reimbursement because of the benefit of a course reduction and the school will incur costs to pay a replacement instructor for the course. Note: faculty are not able to buy out of service obligations.

Incentives for Funding UMSI Doctoral Students on Grants (Policy Last Revised March 23, 2023)

The School of Information is committed to building and supporting an outstanding doctoral program. We provide several subsidies and incentives to encourage faculty to support UMSI doctoral students, both from external funds and from internal funds in accounts that they control.  For more information, see the UMSI Policy and the GSRA Funding Cheat Sheet.

These incentives include:

Subsidies when spending internal funds (RESIN)

Incentives when spending external funds

Summer Salary

Full-time faculty are generally appointed on academic year (AY) basis, with salary corresponding to nine months of service (September through May). Those on AY appointments may obtain other sources of funding for summer salary. See the University of Michigan Standard Practice Guide for more information on Summer Appointments.

UMSI occasionally (but rarely) offers some summer salary in exchange for summer teaching or other significant effort at the request of the school. Normally, faculty do not have significant teaching or service responsibilities during the summer (June through August). Nonetheless, some modest responsibilities are normally expected and carried out during the summer (e.g., some mentoring of one’s doctoral advisees, minor administrative tasks, and teaching preparation for Fall semester, if not completed during the prior Winter semester).

Large Scale Grant Program

UMSI has a Large Scale Grant program which provides resources to faculty who apply for large-scale grants (e.g., those greater than 5 million in total funds over a 5 year period). The types of resources provided in the past include coordination of proposer meetings, editorial support, travel monies to meet funders or collaborators, and in some cases course relief or student support. Please contact the UMSI Associate Dean for Research and the  Assistant Director of Research Development and Administration for details.

Activities Coordinated/Facilitated through the Research Office:

Sponsored Research:

Interested in submitting a proposal to an external sponsor, an internal competition requiring a budget or signature from the UMSI Dean, or gift proposal requiring a budget? 

We will help you with that! Let us know as early as possible by emailing us at umsi.research.office@umich.edu or stop in our office on Tuesdays and Thursdays (Room 4325 just inside the Office of the Dean).

We will create a checklist of items needed for the submission and due dates for those items. We will also schedule a time to meet with you to draft the budget for the project.

Other Research-Related Activities:

Research Development

Unfunded Agreements

Compliance Requirements

Human Subjects Research

Research Resources Online:

[Note: access to webpages linked below are restricted to current UMSI faculty & students]

Check out our UMSI Research Office website here.

We have many resources and FAQs related to research at UMSI. Here are a few examples:

To access the website you will need to log in with your uniqname and Kerberos password. Please contact us at umsi.research.office@umich.edu if you have trouble with the website or have any other research-related questions.