Research Administration News & Notes |
Greetings! In the April issue of Research Administration News & Notes, a roundup of year-end deadlines, announcement of the latest NIH salary cap and a delay to the NIH implementation of the common forms, as well as new training opportunities.
We encourage you to stay informed about KU's response to ongoing actions by the federal government on federally funded research projects and invite you to visit Federal Research Updates 2025 and plan to attend virtual town halls hosted by the Provost on Mondays at 4 p.m. during the spring semester. Submit questions or comments online.
If you know individuals who are not currently on this distribution list but should be, please forward this newsletter and encourage them to subscribe. If you would like to suggest newsletter content or provide feedback, please contact Nancy Biles, associate director of research administration, at nbiles@ku.edu or 785-864-7434.
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RFA and payroll adjustment deadlines |
Fiscal year-end is fast approaching, so expect to receive the fiscal year-end memo from the Controller's Office in the near future. In the meantime, please note the following payroll deadlines:
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April 28, 5 p.m. | Deadline for departments to submit RFAs and payroll adjustments to HR or AMS.
- May 5, 5 p.m. | Deadline for AMS and central offices to submit research-funded RFAs to ACA.
- May 23, 5 p.m. | Deadline for central offices to submit RFA requests to Payroll.
- May 30, 5 p.m. | Deadline for central offices to submit payroll adjustments to Payroll.
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June 11, 8 a.m. | Final on-cycle and off-cycle payroll posted to G/L. Pending payroll will be available in OAC on June 12.
- June 13, 5 p.m. | Final RFA processing by Payroll for FY25.
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As usual, year-end payroll deadlines are earlier than other revenue and expense deadlines because RFA and payroll adjustments require more time for processing and final payroll transactions must be posted by June 13.
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The National Institutes of Health has issued their announcement increasing the salary cap to $225,700 for NIH grants and cooperative agreements. Pre-Award staff will use the new salary cap in proposal budgets for individuals whose institutional base salary exceeds the cap. NIH does not make adjustments to awards to accommodate the new cap but will accept rebudgeting from other categories so long as funds are available and other award terms and conditions are followed.
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Common forms implementation delayed for NIH |
The National Institutes of Health has postponed its adoption of the common forms for biographical sketches and current & pending (other) support originally scheduled for May 25, 2025. NIH will issue future notices outlining the new effective date and additional implementation details as they are finalized.
Until further notice, NIH applicants and recipients must continue to use the current NIH biosketch and other support format pages for applications, just-in-time (JIT) and research performance progress reports (RPPR).
In the interim, it is recommended that individuals who are currently serving as PI, co-PI or key personnel on active NIH awards or on pending or planned proposals take the following steps to prepare for implementation of the common forms:
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Register for an ORCID ID if they don't already have one. ORCID is a free, unique, persistent identifier (PID). For more information about the ORCID ID, go to ORCID. To begin your registration, visit Register - ORCID.
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Once ORCID ID registration is complete, make sure the ORCID profile is up to date and connected to funding and publication history. Go to ORCID for Researchers - ORCID to learn how to optimize the ORCID record and minimize manual entry of data.
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Link the ORCID ID to the eRA Commons profile. NIH has posted instructions at The ORCID ID.
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Log in to SciENcv using eRA Commons credentials and create a profile. While the NIH common forms are not yet available in SciENcv, populating a profile, connecting to available data sources and becoming familiar with the interface will ease the transition to this new method for creating biosketch and other support documents when needed for NIH proposals and RPPRs.
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Pre-Award staff are already familiar with the use of SciENcv to complete the NSF common forms, so they can assist with questions about that system as they arise. We expect that NIH will be providing additional resources as they are developed; we will share these with the KU research community when they become available.
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Upcoming training opportunities |
Spring Grant Coordinators meeting
Thursday, May 1 | 10:30 a.m. – noon
Join the meeting
On a quarterly basis, the Office of Research hosts Grant Coordinators meetings for the purpose of sharing information with the greater KU research administration community. The meeting typically follows this agenda:
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- Introduce new personnel
- Announce new policies and procedures
- Demonstrate or clarify existing processes
- Share upcoming staff training opportunities
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NCURA webinars
All presentations run 1 – 2:30 p.m., with "after-the-show" Q&A sessions from 2:35 – 3:30 p.m.
AI: An Intro to Technology Options and Terminology | April 15
Learning objectives:
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Define AI and its role in research administration: Understand what AI is (and what it isn’t), key terminology, and the types of AI tools available to support research administration functions.
- Assess the opportunities and challenges of AI implementation: Explore AI use cases, evaluate accuracy and risks, and learn best practices for data governance, privacy and security in a research administration setting.
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Apply AI tools to improve research administration tasks: Learn practical examples of AI applications, including prompt engineering for basic research administration tasks, and discover available institutional resources for AI adoption.
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AI in Customer Service | April 29
Learning objectives:
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Understanding AI model development: Explore the foundational elements of developing an AI model specifically tailored for customer service applications, ensuring efficient and effective problem-solving.
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Enhancing efficiency in research administration: Investigate how AI can be leveraged to improve efficiency within the customer service sector of research administration, particularly where time is of the essence. Discover how AI can streamline processes, reduce administrative burdens, and enhance overall productivity.
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Current landscape and tools: Gain a comprehensive understanding of the current AI landscape and identify the available tools that are revolutionizing the customer service sector within research administration.
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Research Administration Demonstration Series
Session No. 5: The Age of Regulatory and Non-Compliance Enforcement
Friday, April 18 | 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. | Join this presentation
What you need to know to increase coordination within your institution to stay out of the headlines
2025 Thursday Research Topics
All TRT sessions run from 11 – 11:45 a.m. Paste this Teams meeting link into your calendar and plan to attend! If you have suggestions for future TRT topics, please contact Nancy Biles.
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June 5 | Troublesome Terms
- Fall 2025 | Rerouting Your Project Budget GPS: How to Cope with Budget Changes and other sessions.
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