Step 6: Conduct & Oversee the Project

Once your award is set up and work begins, your responsibilities shift to carrying out the research as approved, managing the budget, keeping compliance approvals current, and communicating with your sponsor. As the Principal Investigator, you’re not only the scientific lead — you’re also the legal and ethical lead for the award’s finances. Managing funds well builds a track record that makes you a lower-risk investment for future funding, keeps resources available when your research needs them, and protects you personally: in cases of gross negligence or fraud, PIs can be held individually accountable. Good stewardship — clear documentation, charges made when costs occur rather than cleaned up at the end, and effort that matches the budget — is your best protection. Your GCM and the Post-Award team () are your partners in this throughout the project.

Keep your institutional approvals current

Need a reminder on renewing IRB, animal care, or biosafety approvals during your project? Expand this section for what to keep current and the annual review that confirms it.

• Approvals are not one-time events. Renew and amend your IRB, animal care, and biosafety protocols as required, and make sure any change in your methods is approved before you put it into practice. Complete the annual Research Regulatory Review to confirm that all required reviews remain in place.

Manage research participants (for human subjects research)

Running a study involving people? Expand this section for guidance on recruitment, protocol amendments, and reporting requirements.

• If your study involves people, plan for recruitment and retention, keep accurate participant-level documentation, and handle participant payments according to university procedures and the IRB approved protocol. 
• If you want to change anything in your protocol, you must file an official amendment and receive official IRB approval before instituting that change. Please contact the Associate Director for Human Research Protection with questions ().
• Report safety events, adverse events, and protocol deviations promptly and according to your approved IRB protocol and sponsor requirements.

Paying participants: two different categories

Not sure whether a payment counts as research subject compensation or participant support costs? Expand this section to see how each is handled, taxed, and reported.

• Research subject compensation
  • Payments to human-subjects participants for their time and inconvenience (gift cards, cash, sometimes raffle prizes). 
  • Usually carry full indirect costs
  • The IRB approves the amount — it must be appropriate for the time and burden, not so large that it becomes an undue inducement. There’s no fixed dollar cap. Must be IRB approved.
  • Can have tax implications — a stipend paid through Accounts Payable may generate a 1099 if it reaches the reporting threshold of $2,000 in a calendar year. Track cumulative payments per participant and keep a distribution log.
  • Forest Funds are often the simplest way to handle these. Additional information can be found here
  • If a cash advance for the purchase of gift cards for Research Participant payments is preferred, then a Research Participant Log will need to be completed and submitted to Accounts Payable when reconciling the advance.
  • Reimbursing participant travel for research (for conference attendance, see participant support costs below)
    • Preferred — put it on a PCard. A staff or faculty member books the participant’s travel on their University credit card and reconciles it through an expense report. Because the participant never receives a payment, this is the cleanest option and avoids any 1099 question. Travel
    • Direct reimbursement. If the participant pays and you reimburse them on submission of timely, complete receipts, they must be set up as a supplier in Workday (with a W-9, or a W-8BEN for foreign payees), and payment runs through Accounts Payable. Invoices & reimbursements
• Participant support costs
  • Stipends, travel, subsistence, and fees paid to non-employees attending a conference, workshop, or training — people who are there to learn, not to work on the project.
  • Excluded from indirect costs and are “locked”: you generally need prior sponsor approval to move funds out of this category once they’re budgeted. Keep an attendance record as proof.
• Who to contact: Your GCM can help you set up and track either type correctly; ORSP advises on sponsor approvals.

Manage specimens, animals, materials, and data

Handling specimens, animals, or lab materials, or following your data management plan? Expand this section for what to keep current as the project progresses.

• For work involving specimens, animals, or laboratory materials, follow your approved protocols for collection, handling, and storage, and maintain the training and committee approvals that cover them.
• Follow the data management plan, analysis plan, and compute/storage plan included in your proposal.

Register applicable clinical trials

Not sure if your study qualifies as an “applicable clinical trial”? Expand this section for registration deadlines and who to contact before enrolling participants.

• If your study is a clinical trial, you may be legally required to register it on ClinicalTrials.gov and later post its results.
• This applies to trials of FDA-regulated drugs, biologics, or devices under the federal Final Rule (42 CFR Part 11 / FDAAA), and to all NIH-funded clinical trials under NIH policy. The NIH definition of a clinical trial is broad, so some behavioral and social-science interventions also qualify.
• Register no later than 21 days after the first participant is enrolled, and report summary results within one year of the primary completion date. Many journals also require registration before enrollment as a condition of publishing.
• Non-compliance carries real consequences, including potentially withheld funding, civil penalties, and ineligibility to publish, so confirm whether your study qualifies before you enroll anyone.
• Who to contact: Check with the IRB and ORSP to determine whether your study is an “applicable clinical trial” and who serves as the responsible party for registration and reporting; please also refer to the relevant section in eIRB. 

Submit progress reports and communicate with your sponsor

Need a reminder on interim reporting deadlines and how to keep ORSP in the loop? Expand this section for what’s expected and who to work with.

• Most awards require interim progress reports and disclosures during the project, not only at the end. Track your reporting due dates — for many grants, progress reports are due annually, and when continuation funding is expected the due date may fall before the end of the budget period. 
• Keep ORSP informed of anything that affects scope, effort, or budget.
• Work with your GCM who will coordinate with the authorized representatives in ORSP on any official communications with your sponsor. 

Cost sharing

Does your award require a cost share commitment? Expand this section to see what can count, how approval works, and how to track it once your award starts.

• Cost sharing (or matching) is the portion of a project’s total cost not borne by the sponsor — covered instead by WFU or a third party. WFU commits resources only when a sponsor requires it and the resources are available, because once committed, cost share must be tracked, reported, and documented for audit.
• What can count. WFU recognizes three forms: a cash match, third-party contributions, and in-kind contributions (non-cash resources such as contributed faculty effort). Contributed effort and equipment purchases are the two most common examples.
• The types — and which to avoid. Mandatory cost share is required by the sponsor and stated in the solicitation. Voluntary committed cost share is offered though not required — and WFU generally does not permit it, because once the award is made it becomes a binding, trackable obligation. Voluntary uncommitted cost share isn’t in the proposal or budget and isn’t tracked; PIs are discouraged from offering their time this way after an award.
• Getting it approved. Cost share must be approved before submission: email a request to the Vice Provost for Research and the ORSP Director, with your department, school, or unit expected to provide up to half. ORSP reviews every proposal and removes any unapproved cost share before it’s submitted.
• Guidance: Uniform Guidance 2 CFR 200.306; proposal-stage guidance: Cost-Share in Proposals.
• Expenses incurred to meet matching commitments require separate tracking to ensure compliance. Please work with your GCM to establish tracking procedures as soon as the award starts.
• Who to contact: Your GCM and ORSP confirm whether a match is required, what can count, and how it’s tracked; cost-share commitments require Vice Provost and ORSP approval.

Be ready for audits, monitoring, and site visits

Want to know what it takes to be prepared if your project is reviewed? Expand this section for the documentation habits that make audits and site visits easier.

• Sponsored projects may be subject to audits, sponsor monitoring, or site visits. Keep your records organized and current throughout the project so you can respond quickly. Good ongoing documentation is the best preparation.