UVM is the legal recipient of all grants and contracts made in support of sponsored projects. However, it is the UVM Principal Investigator who initiates, oversees and develops sponsored project applications and when funded is responsible for project execution, award management, and compliance with all applicable rules and regulations that govern sponsored projects. To serve as Principal Investigator an individual must be a UVM faculty member or other professionally qualified staff, as noted below.

Serving in the role of Principal Investigator is a privilege and failure in the responsible conduct of research, including fiscal oversight, can result in having this privilege revoked.

For more details, see Principal Investigator Roles and Responsibilities.

PI Eligible

UVM salaried employee‘s holding the following titles:

  • All tenured and tenure track faculty
  • All clinical and research professors, assistants, associates
  • All extension professors, assistants, associates
  • Post-Doctoral or Graduate Student fellows on training and fellowship applications, where a UVM PI eligible faculty member is named as a mentor.
  • Professionally qualified UVM employees with Department Chair and SPA approval.

Approval Process: The chair submits the approval letter to the Director of SPA at spa@uvm.edu, who will review, approve and return. For letter content see the below accordion "Request PI Eligibility". The fully approved letter shall be uploaded to the UVMClick - Funding Proposal, other document section, prior to entering the proposal into the workflow approval process.

PI Leaving UVM within 6-months of a Proposal Deadline

  • If a PI is leaving UVM for a new institution within 6-months from a proposal deadline, the PI should work with their new Institution for submission.
  • If the faculty member is not able to arrange for the new institution to be the submitting institution, the faculty member must identify this issue in the UVMClick proposal record so that the PI’s Dean in conjunction with the VP for Research can coordinate with the new institution to arrange for submission by that institution or UVM will continue to support the faculty member’s submission. 
  • If the submitted proposal is awarded to UVM, UVM will have the option of retaining such award and re-assigning the award to a UVM PI, declining the award, or transferring the award to the faculty member’s new institution.

Emeritus Status

Each department shall decide if Emeritus appointees will be allowed to submit proposals and manage awards.

If yes, the chair provides an approval that is uploaded to the UVMClick - Funding Proposal (Submission Information page "Add any Internal Supporting Documents and Sponsor Correspondence) prior to entering the proposal into the workflow approval process."

The Emeritus Professor must have an active job in PeopleSoft HR. This active job will allow the Emeritus Professor to manage the award using the UVM accounting system.

Please contact your Department Chair to initiate the appropriate appointment.

New Hires

New faculty hires who have accepted UVM positions are PI eligible and may submit proposals before they start work date at UVM.

New hires who have accepted a faculty position at UVM should coordinate with their department HR administrator and have a UVM job entry made as soon as possible, which allows the new hire to submit proposals using UVMClick - Grants.

If a job entry cannot be completed, a temporary courtesy faculty appointment should be created by the department HR Team and notify SPA at spa@uvm.edu. SPA will then allow the new hire to submit proposals using UVMClick - Grants prior to starting work.

Ineligible Positions

Individuals in the following categories are not eligible to be a Principal Investigator unless they have written approval from the Department Chair and SPA. The approval letter is uploaded into the UVMClick - Funding Proposal, other documents section. For letter content see the below accordion "Request PI Eligibility".

  • Visiting Faculty
  • Adjunct Faculty
  • Courtesy Faculty
  • Students

Request PI Eligibility for Non-Eligible Positions

If you find you are in one of the ineligible positions and you would like to be approved as a PI, you must receive Chair and SPA approval as follows:

The Chair or designee must generate an approval letter that clearly states the individual is approved to be a PI.

  • The approval letter should be submitted to spa@uvm.edu.
  • The approval can be in email format or as a pdf attachment.
  • The approval should be addressed to Lana Metayer, Director for Sponsored Project Administration.
  • If SPA has concerns they will contact the Department Chair or designee.

The approval letter should address the following information:

  • Provide the name, qualifications and capabilities of the individual that would allow the person to perform the duties of a PI, such as their ability to supervise staff, manage the project funds, and manage the responsible conduct of research.
  • Discuss the importance of the project to the Department.
  • Indicate space and facilities are available to support the project.
  • Include in the request the name of the individual with PI eligibility that will act as the internal Co-PI on the project and will assume the PI role in case the approved PI cannot fulfill the responsibilities.

SPA will review, approve and return the letter for upload into the UVMClick - Funding Proposal, other document section.

 

Updated 10/11/23