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Research Roadmap

Welcome to the CBE Research Roadmap! Whether this is your first research project or you’re a seasoned expert, we hope you find helpful resources for every step of your process.

Interested in starting a research proposal to be submitted through OSP? Submit a proposal planning intake form.

It is recommended that you start 8-12 weeks before a funding proposal deadline. We will not be able to successfully process a proposal with less than 4 weeks before the funding proposal deadline. All final documents are due 5 business days before the funding proposal/sponsor deadline.

Getting Started

The UW Office of Research provides a slew of resources. To begin, visit the following pages:

CBE provides research trainings:

The UW Office of Research requires researchers take the following trainings:

  • Grants Management for Investigators course: Researchers submitting a proposal as UW Principal Investigator for the first time must attend a workshop within twelve months of submitting the proposal via SAGE, if they have not attended one previously. First-time PIs are strongly encouraged to attend a workshop before submitting the proposal. This training is required every 4 years.
  • Financial Conflict of Interest: Investigators participating in, or applying for, Public Health Service (PHS)-sponsored research are required to complete this training for compliance with PHS regulations. However, all UW personnel participating in research are encouraged to complete this training module. Training is required every 4 years.
  • Other Required Training: Applicable when working with animals, human subjects, clinical trials, HIPAA, controlled substances and specific sponsors.

Other research educational resources include:

All research projects should be designed to answer a specific question, usually by testing a well-formed hypothesis. Ideally, this should be the first step of your research, irrespective of funding opportunities. Contact us at be-research@uw.edu if you would like partnership in exploring research questions.

Everyone conducting research at the UW needs to comply with internal and external requirements; luckily, the UW Office of Research provides information and training to ensure the safety and minimize risk to the researcher.

  1. Examine the requirements at this Compliance Overview page.
  2. Sign up for the Mandatory Compliance Trainings, covering topics like:
  • Funded Research
  • HIPAA
  • Human Subjects, Specimens, or Data
  • Animal Subjects
  • Clinical Research
  • Laboratory Hazardous Materials/Recombinant DNA

Tools for navigating compliance issues include:

  • Zipline: Assistance for the on-line Institutional Review Board (IRB) application submission system
  • Hoverboard: Electronic IACUC protocol management system
  • Financial Interest Disclosure System (FIDS): All UW Investigators must disclose Significant Financial Interests (SFIs) for Sponsored Research proposals via the Financial Interest Disclosure System (FIDS).

Will your research involve human subjects, in any capacity? If your research will involve “a living individual about whom an investigator conducting research obtains:

  1. data through intervention or interaction with the individual, or
  2. identifiable private information”,

you will likely need to have your proposal reviewed by the Institutional Review Board (IRB).

The UW Human Subjects Division provides “getting started” resources regarding IRB applications on their webpage. View the on-demand, e-learning tutorial about getting started with IRB. This short tutorial is required for students who are listed as the principal investigator (PI) on an IRB application. In addition, view the FAQ page, which covers questions about turnaround times for new applications and how to submit.

For further questions, email the Human Subjects Division at hsdinfo@uw.edu. More information and mandatory forms can be found at the Human Subjects Division website.

Intellectual Property refers to property rights in ideas that are protected through federal and state laws governing patents, copyrights, and trade secrets. Know-how is sometimes also included in intellectual property licenses, and covers ideas and information that is not protected by patent, copyright or trade secret.
The value of intellectual property (IP) is not only in the original idea, but in how that idea is protected through copyright, patent or trademark rights. To appropriately and diligently protect IP created at the UW, we use a management strategy that provides our licensees with the freedom they need to meet their strategic business needs, while giving the UW enough control to ensure the IP is as robust and broad as possible throughout the entire life cycle of the innovation.

  • GIM 40 covers Intellectual Property in Sponsored Programs. According to GIM 40, Intellectual Property (IP) created by UW Employees and Agents in the course of carrying out a Sponsored Program is a state asset, subject to control by statute, regulation, other law, and policy. The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) must assure compliance with these laws and policies by consulting with other units concerned as directed by Executive Order 34 (EO34.) Disposition of UW IP must support the University’s interest in execution of its academic and public mission.
  • CoMotion handles intellectual property licensing, protection and advising at the UW in accordance with the Patent, Invention, and Copyright Policy, Executive Order 36, which discusses how and when intellectual property is assigned to UW, and how it is managed.
  • Additional details on licensing and revenue distribution are included in APS 59.4.
  • There are a variety of success stories in getting technologies from the UW to the market, and they follow any of four paths to market: startups, direct licensing to industry, direct-to-user licenses, and programs & projects.
  • Learn more about IP.
  • Schedule a Consultation Request with CoMotion.
Finding Funding
  • Learn about different types of funding in Research FAQs.
  • Check our Funding Opportunities page for a list of funding databases and other ways to learn about funding opportunities.
Creating Your Proposal

READ THE RFP IN DETAIL. It is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator (PI), i.e., the person intellectually leading a proposal, to understand and address all substantive aspects of the funder’s solicitation, to create, oversee and approve all of the materials for the proposal, and to respond to grant administrators’ questions as they support the PI in submitting a proposal.
Especially take note of:

  • DATES AND DEADLINES
    • Proposals require 8-12 weeks’ notice and preparation time.
    • Electronic Grant Applications, or eGC1s, complete with final budget and other business elements should begin to be routed for approval least 11 business days before sponsor deadline, and the routed and approved eGC1 should be submitted to OSP 7 business days before sponsor deadline.
    • Consider this proposal development timeline, provided by the Office of Research, for guidance.
    • CBE will not be able to support proposal development to be submitted through OSP without adequate notice.
  • ELIGIBILITY AND REQUIREMENTS – What are the requirements for the proposal, including PI eligibility, sub-awards, cost-sharing, indirect cost rates, etc., and are they compatible with your proposed project?
  • If this is a LIMITED SUBMISSION: grants, awards, and fellowships that limit the number of applications coming from one institution. If the opportunity you are applying for falls under this category, you will need to add additional time to your timeline so the Office of Sponsored Programs has adequate time to review your proposal. Click here for a thorough – though not complete –  list of Limited Submission opportunities.

Unsure if the funding opportunity is the right one for you? This go/no-go evaluation matrix may help. Contact us at be-research@uw.edu to discuss.

  • Preparing a Proposal: UW Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) provides information on preparing your proposal, budget development, subawards, eGC1s, and sponsor-specific guidelines.
  • Guide for Writing a Funding Proposal (Michigan State University): This covers all the steps necessary to write a successful proposal. Includes examples from a complete proposal.
  • A Guide for Proposal Writing (National Science Foundation): This guide covers all the steps necessary to write a thorough and complete proposal. Also includes tips on what makes an outstanding proposal—from a reviewer’s perspective.

CBE researchers starting a proposal submission should submit a proposal planning intake form, which will be routed to the CBE research administration team for review and response.
Note, those who work with CSDE on their grants/contracts should fill out CSDE’s proposal intake form.

If you are working with either the CBE research administration team or CSDE, the grants manager will submit your proposal and create an eGC1 form through SAGE. Interested in starting a research proposal to be submitted through OSP? Submit a proposal planning intake form. Note, those who work with CSDE on their grants/contracts should fill out CSDE’s proposal intake form.

If you plan to use SAGE yourself, you may want to practice using the system. From the link above, find the blue button to “Sign In”, under which you will see a link to the training server. The training server allows you to practice creating eGC1s without actually submitting any information. Feel free to click the green question marks next to each topic header for more information or clarification. There are also a number of instructor-led courses on SAGE available.

One section of the eGC1 will require you to list all personnel involved in your research; anyone listed as a PI or Co-PI will be required to complete a disclosure notification. Please remind these researchers to check their emails and complete the disclosure once it is sent out, as you will be unable to submit your eGC1 if these are not complete.

You will want to get your eGC1 in early so that it can be routed to the appropriate people for approval prior to reaching OSP. The Chair and Dean for every PI involved in your research will need to review and sign off on your proposal. They are looking for:

  • Academic merit
  • Consistency with the college’s goals
  • Potential commitment of the college’s resources

Once your proposal and eGC1 are submitted through SAGE, the Office of Sponsored Programs will review your information and send it on to your sponsor. Please keep the following in mind:

  • Tenured faculty are automatically added to the SAGE system, although you may need authorization to log in. Please first try logging in using your UW ID.
  • Lecturers and staff need the Dean’s authorization before gaining access to SAGE. If  this is you, please contact Rachel Ward (wardrm@uw.edu). Please allow time to request authorization and gain access.
  • You must have a complete proposal (no further edits) and all approvals by 5:00 PM on the day your proposal is due to the Office of Sponsored Programs through SAGE*. Approvals include signatures from the Dean and Department Chair for every PI involved in the research, acknowledging that they have reviewed the proposal. Please leave time for this.

*The Office of Sponsored Programs requires 7 business days to review your eGC1 PRIOR TO YOUR SPONSOR’S DEADLINE. Please remember these are BUSINESS days, which do not include weekends or holidays when staff are out of the office. Please ensure to have your eGC1 submitted on time to ensure your proposal is submitted to your sponsor by the deadline.

For questions regarding your eGC1 or for help completing it, please contact be-grants@uw.edu.

During the application stage (the time between submitting your eGC1 and receiving your budget number, explained in the next step), you can track the status of your proposal by visiting the Office of Sponsored Programs’ Status Checker.

Receiving a Grant

1. If you are selected to receive the grant, an Award Note will be sent to OSP. At this point, OSP will create a Funding Action and hand your grant off to Grant and Contract Accounting (GCA), who will create a budget number for your grant. Please note that it may take up to four weeks from the issuing of an Award Note to the time when a budget number is created and you can access your grant funds.

2. Once you are awarded a grant and receive you budget number, you can track and view your expenditures by visiting My Financial Desktop.

3. To view the status of invoices from your sponsor, visit the GCA Grant Tracker.

4. The PI will be sent a Notice of Expiration listing the final action date for your grant. Reports must be submitted and all expenditures must be complete prior to this date.