{"id":22371,"date":"2026-10-15T11:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T15:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/?p=22371"},"modified":"2026-10-15T11:23:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T15:23:52","slug":"october-letteroctober-2026-research-team-monthly-updateoctober-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/research-team-monthly-update\/october-letteroctober-2026-research-team-monthly-updateoctober-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"October 2026 RESEARCH TEAM MONTHLY UPDATE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Updates:<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Staffing:<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Research Team still in search for pre award specialist.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">PRE-AWARD<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Proposal Development &amp; Submission<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Submission of a <a href=\"https:\/\/forms.office.com\/r\/csr5UBWmt6\"><strong>Pre-Award Intake Form<\/strong><\/a> initiates a collaborative process between faculty and the CELS Research Office. Once assigned, please remain available to work with your pre-award specialist and respond to requests for information in a timely manner.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Please plan ahead and allow sufficient time for proposal development, review, and routing. Early engagement helps ensure budgets, compliance requirements, and institutional approvals can be completed prior to submission.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Be mindful of significant proposal changes near the submission deadline. Once routing begins, modifications become more challenging and may require proposals to be returned and re-routed, potentially causing delays.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Remember that the <a href=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/research-admin\/proposal-submission-deadline-guideline\/\"><strong>Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) Five-Day Policy<\/strong><\/a> remains in effect. Proposals submitted fewer than five business days before the sponsor deadline are considered <strong>At-Risk<\/strong> and may not receive a full institutional review before submission. If this is the case, then an award might not be accepted.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The proposal timeline and planning resources available on the <a href=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/research\/research-resources\/\"><strong>CELS Research Website<\/strong><\/a> can help faculty understand key deadlines and engage with research staff at the appropriate stages of proposal development.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Clear and timely communication throughout the proposal process is critical to successful submissions and allows our team to provide the highest level of support.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">POST AWARD<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Budget Revision Requests (BRRs)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>BRRs should be used strategically and, whenever possible, anticipated budget changes should be consolidated into a single request rather than submitted multiple times throughout the life of an award.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Once a BRR form is submitted, please remain available to respond to questions or requests from research staff so revisions can be processed efficiently and without delays.<br><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Grant Closeout<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Faculty should expect communications from <strong>Afsaneh Williston<\/strong> and <strong>Sponsored Cost Accounting<\/strong> beginning approximately 90 days prior to an award&#8217;s end date.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sponsored Cost Accounting now requires a closeout checklist to be completed and submitted once an award has ended and all expenses have been finalized.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To ensure a smooth closeout process,<strong> please maintain communication with the research team regarding outstanding encumbrances, payroll allocations, subawards, and other financial obligations.<\/strong> These items must be resolved before an award can be successfully closed.<br><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Award Reports<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Reports submitted through online portals (e.g., eCommons) must be routed through OSP for official review and should be submitted at least 48 hours before the deadline to allow sufficient time for review and approval.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Any questions\/guidance regarding reports please contact Suraj Pillai<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sponsor Communications<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>**Important** If you receive communications directly from a sponsor that do not include CELS Research staff, such as award modifications, deobligations, or other award-related notices that should raise concern, please forward them to <strong>Suraj Pillai, CELS Research Business Manager<\/strong>, as soon as possible. Timely notification allows the CELS research office to provide any necessary guidance or support.<br><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Faculty and Staff Communication<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Strong communication between faculty and the CELS research office remains essential throughout the life of an award. Keeping the research team informed of sponsor communications, budget concerns, etc, helps us provide support and avoid unnecessary delays.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Updates: Staffing: PRE-AWARD Proposal Development &amp; Submission POST AWARD Budget Revision Requests (BRRs) Grant Closeout Award Reports Sponsor Communications Faculty and Staff Communication<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5144,"featured_media":22372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-team-monthly-update"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22371"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22380,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22371\/revisions\/22380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}