Dear Colleagues,

In our ongoing effort to reduce the administrative burden placed on both the research community and the staff who support them, we are continuing to review existing processes and policies to determine where changes can be made to improve efficiency. Our goal is to provide efficient and effective service to the research community over the complete grant lifecycle while maintaining work-life balance for Research staff.

As a next step, the following changes relating to the eIAF system are being made:

• eIAFs will no longer be required for general letters of intent (LOIs) or pre-proposals that do not require a detailed budget and budget justification.
• CGO review/approval will be removed from the workflow process as this is now handled by the PI’s CGS Pre-Award Grant Specialist.
• eIAFs will only require the PI and Co-Is who meet the sponsor’s definition of key personnel to sign (rather than all faculty as currently required).
• Once the PI, their chair, and the ADR/Director have signed, the eIAF will be considered complete for submission purposes.
• eIAF revisions will only be required when adding key personnel and will not be necessary for budget revisions or removing personnel.
• Coming soon - Approval workflow will automatically advance for the next signature after 24 hours.

I appreciate the candid feedback you have provided on improving the process of submitting, establishing and managing a grant at UK. We are committed to continued engagement with the research community in these endeavors. I wish everyone a happy and restful Thanksgiving.

Ilhem Messaoudi, PhD
Acting Vice President for Research