Frequently Asked Questions

All research universities have a central office to oversee sponsored projects (grants and contracts). Grants and contracts are legal agreements for which each university's governing board is liable; consequently, one office on campus is designated to submit grant proposals and accept grant awards on faculty members' behalf. At SIU, that office is OSPA. Central oversight also is needed to make sure that grants and other research activities comply with federal, state and university regulations and policies. This "compliance burden" on universities is ever-growing, and irregularities have caused serious problems in recent years for institutions ranging from the University of Minnesota to Johns Hopkins. 
 
OSPA provides services to researchers such as finding grant opportunities, submitting grant proposals, administering grant awards, and overseeing compliance. See our About OSPA page, which lists our services to the campus community and has a directory of staff contacts.

Yes. We offer a Grant Writing for Graduate Students workshop each semester; look for announcements on OSPA's home page and flyers in departments. We also conduct workshops for colleges, departments or classes on request, both for graduate students and for faculty. Finally, our Grant Funding for Graduate Students guide is available online. More resources are located on our Graduate Student Research page.

• When you have identified a grant program to which you wish to apply (but no later than one week before the agency deadline).
• When you plan to participate as a sub-awardee on another institution’s grant proposal (before the proposal is submitted to the funding agency).
• When you have been contacted by a potential funder to provide a research-related service (before agreeing to anything).
• If you receive a grant agreement, contract or other legally binding document to perform research for a funding agency.
• When you have questions about the proposal submission and award acceptance process.

When you're ready, reach out to our team of professionals to help you through the life of your award process.

Telephone: 618-453-4540
E-mail: OSPA@siu.edu
Campus Mail: Mail Code 4709
Location: Woody Hall A Wing 311

All research institutions have an indirect costs assessment on grants (called "facilities and administrative costs" [F&A] by the federal government). F&A covers the overhead involved in administering sponsored projects—from library costs, to personnel costs involved in processing grant-related paperwork, to heating/cooling/lighting of the labs and offices used for grant projects. Thirty percent (30%) of the funds received for indirect costs go to the colleges/schools/departments involved with the awarded project.

Most universities, including SIU, subsidize some of the overhead costs so that a portion of the recovered indirect costs can support research activities on campus, such as seed grant programs, travel funds and college/departmental research support.

SIU's F&A rates are negotiated with and set by the federal government. SIU's rates are lower than those of most comparable research institutions, which may run to 60% or more. Any waiver or reduction of SIU’s indirect cost rates means that SIU is subsidizing more of the project than it otherwise would.

Contact the Technology Transfer Office at 217-545-3824. They will help you determine when to make an intellectual property disclosure to the university and give you advice about protecting potential patent rights. Our tech transfer services include working with you and with patent attorneys to protect your intellectual property and/or identify potential industry licensees. For more information, see the Technology Transfer website.

We urge all faculty and staff to get acquainted with the OSPA research project specialist who works with their college on proposal submission and grant management. See our directory. This directory also lists OSPA staff you may need to contact for other research- or grant-related matters.

Our website has a detailed section on budget preparation. One-on-one help is available as well: if you contact your OSPA project specialist in advance of the proposal deadline, he or she will be happy to walk you through the budget process or discuss the areas you're unsure about. We have available a Budget Spreadsheet (Excel file) that you are required to complete. Fringe benefit rates and the standard indirect cost rate are already built in to the spreadsheet. You may need other rates, such as graduate assistant stipend rates for your college; see our Rates page. OSPA will review draft budgets on request, and we review the final budget before the proposal is submitted to the funding agency.

• Create a profile and sign up for individualized funding alerts on Pivot, which SIU subscribes to.
• For federal grants, do a search on Grants.gov, the federal government's centralized web portal for grant programs.
• Check out the funding agency links on our External Funding web pages.
• Talk to your colleagues, department chair or associate dean for research about possible grant opportunities.
• Find resources related to your research.

As the principal investigator for the prospective grant, you are responsible for writing the proposal, developing the budget and lining up any cost sharing or other institutional commitments to the project. OSPA can give you guidance on proposal and budget preparation if you contact us early enough. We also have resources online to help you plan your grant project, write the proposal and prepare the budget (see Apply). 

When the proposal is finished, you are responsible for filling out the proposal/award checklist, obtaining the signatures of your department chair and dean and bringing the checklist and proposal to OSPA at least three working days before the submission deadline in the case of an electronic submission (more lead time is recommended) or four working days in the case of a nonelectronic submission. 

OSPA reviews the final budget for accuracy and makes sure the grant application conforms with agency and university policy. We provide the final institutional signature. If the proposal is a nonelectronic submission and you have met the two-day deadline, we prepare necessary agency forms for you and photocopy and mail the proposal (unless you prefer to mail it yourself). 

Listings of individual grant awards may be found via the Award Listings on the Reports tab.

First, make sure you send the award notice to OSPA so that we can review the award agreement and facilitate the account set up process. When you are notified that the account has been set up, acquaint yourself with our manage grants page for information regarding account setup, modifications, subawards, transferring your project and completing your project. You also can call the accountant assigned to your grant for guidance.

It depends on the type of award. For fixed-fee awards, which don't require agency notification of a project extension, OSPA handles the first requested extension to assure that any obligations ("deliverables"), such as research reports, have been met. After that, you can simply contact your accountant for any desired annual extensions. 

For other types of grant/contract awards, the extension is handled through OSPA. Call the OSPA project specialist assigned to your college for assistance.

Any research, grant-funded or otherwise, that directly or indirectly involves human subjects must be approved in advance and monitored by the university for adherence to ethical standards. This is a federal requirement. The definition of human subjects research is very broad, including not just medical trials and other experiments but also surveys, questionnaires, field work and collection or study of existing data, documents, records, pathological specimens or diagnostic specimens. See the Human Subjects page for guidance.

REACH (Research-Enriched Academic Challenge) offers small grants for research done with a faculty mentor and sponsors an Undergraduate Research Forum held each spring semester. The Saluki Research Rookies Program specifically recruits freshmen to carry out research under the guidance of a faculty mentor. The REACH site also lists other on- and off-campus research opportunities for undergraduates, including undergraduate assistantships. Undergrads who are from certain underrepresented groups also may be eligible for SIU's McNair Scholars Program, which has a research component and helps prepare undergraduates for graduate school.