Eligibility: Principal Investigator or Project Director

Scope

This policy applies to all Indiana University faculty and staff involved in the submission of applications for externally funded sponsored programs.

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Policy Statement

It is the policy of Indiana University that only individuals meeting the eligibility requirements of a principal investigator or project director as defined in this policy may be listed as such on applications for externally funded sponsored programs.

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Reason for Policy

To establish guidelines and best practices for determining who may serve as principal investigator or project director on applications for externally sponsored programs.

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Procedures

Each project must have a designated principal investigator (PI) or project director (PD). 

The PI/PD may be any full-time academic appointee or staff who is personally and professionally qualified to conduct the project as determined by the dean or director of the submitting unit.  Retired IU faculty holding either a paid exempt level position or no-pay appointment may also be permitted to serve as PI/PD with unit approval. For no-pay appointments, project effort must be tracked in accordance with IU Policy SPA-11-026. Approval of the proposal in Kuali Coeus by the submitting unit or dean’s office constitutes the unit’s approval of the retired employee as PI/PD.

All other persons (such as adjunct faculty; or visiting scholars) or PI/PDs on a Leave of Absence without a paid IU appointment may be  eligible to serve as PI/PD upon approval by the applicable dean's office. In such cases, PI/PD Eligibility Form must be signed and submitted to the Office for Research Administration (ORA) for review. In some cases, it may be appropriate and necessary for a full-time faculty member to be required to serve as a co-PI/PD. Please contact ORA for guidance.

Some individual fellowship application guidelines require that the fellow be listed as PI/PD (e.g. NIH National Research Service Awards). In these cases a sponsor or mentor meeting the eligibility criteria above must be named as project director on IU's internal proposal records. This individual is responsible for administrative and scientific oversight of the project.

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Definitions

Principal Investigator/Project Director: The Principal Investigator or Project Director is the individual designated by the grantee, and approved by the sponsoring agency, who will be responsible for the scientific or technical direction of the project.

Sponsored Program: Any activity that receives funding from outside the University. Sponsored projects may also be known as sponsored programs or sponsored agreements.

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Sanctions

Failure to adhere to this policy and procedures may result in the Office for Research Administration not submitting an application or accepting an award.

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History

Replaces Important Notice 02-9 “Project Director Eligibility”

A substantive review of the policy was conducted by IU Research and minor non-substantive changes were made in March 2024.

Previous Versions:

• Effective Dates: 4-25-2011 through 5-3-2017

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