Faculty Salary & Effort

School of Medicine Policy Concerning the Portion of Faculty Salary to be Funded from Sponsored Projects

Stanford University policy (Research Policy Handbook 3.1) requires sponsored project proposals to include a commitment of effort on the part of the PI for the proposed period. Please note, this policy does not extend to internal awards or training grants; see FAQs below. Effort commitment should be commensurate with the PI’s effort required to perform the scope of work.

Faculty research activities in the School of Medicine are funded through various sources that include grants and contracts, gifts, endowments, clinical trials, patient care, and operating budget allocation from the School. To ensure faculty in the role of PI/MPI, Co-PI, Co-Investigator or any other investigator recover the associated salary and benefits for effort commitments on sponsored research, the SoM implemented the following policy regarding faculty salaries charged to sponsored projects.

Policy Statement

The following details the School of Medicine's policy regarding the charging of faculty salaries to sponsored projects:

Faculty are expected to develop salary support from sponsored research in an amount reflective of the total amount of time allocated to sponsored research activities.
School of Medicine Faculty who derive their full salary support from the Department of Veteran's Affairs are exempt from this policy. However, if Stanford pays any portion of the faculty salary, the policy applies to the Stanford portion.
On studies (clinical research/clinical trials) where faculty effort is included in the per patient costs, the faculty effort and salary will be reflected in the internal working budget based on anticipated patient enrollment. The total effort over the performance period is based on number of patients recruited. As a result, it is allowable for the total effort over the performance period to be less than 1%.
If the amount of a grant or contract award differs significantly from the proposal, either the faculty salary support and percentage of time to be spent on the project or other expenses must be adjusted accordingly. Prior approval from the sponsor may be required.

Exceptions to Policy
Waiver exceptions to these policies will be considered for the following circumstances:

The sponsor does not provide salary support for the effort committed. The waiver can be provided to allow the department/division to cost-share the associated salary and benefits.
The effort commitment to the sponsor is less than 1% (minimal effort). This effort may be directly charged to the project or a request to cost-share the associated salary and benefits may be included. Note: waiver exceptions are not required for clinical trials based on the policy.
The effort in the role of PI is as mentor to a postdoc or research associate who is responsible for the scope of work (student augmentation).

Process for Requesting a Waiver

Any required Effort Waiver must be obtained before the sponsored project proposal can be submitted.

Your RPM or CT RPM will identify when an Effort Waiver is required. The RPM will draft the waiver request based on the categories of exceptions to the Faculty Salary & Effort Policy provided above.
The investigator associated with the waiver will be required to provide justification on how their situation meets the criteria for exception.
The RPM or CT RPM will then submit the waiver request to the RMG Executive Director for final review and approval.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is student augmentation?

These refer to those awards whose primary purpose is to fund a student’s or post doc’s activity whereby the faculty mentor is named as PI. An effort waiver is requested in these instances to ensure that the program does meet the criteria for student augmentation to confirm that the PI effort requirement does not apply.

Do Co-investigators need effort waivers?

If the Co-Investigators are also Stanford Faculty and are committing to devote a measurable amount of effort to the project, an effort waiver is required if either of the two conditions are met:

(1) they are proposing/committing to a level of effort that is less than 1%
(2) if any portion of their committed effort will be cost-shared and not direct charged to the sponsored project.

Do Other Significant Contributors need effort waivers?

If the sponsor recognizes the role of Other Significant Contributors and the Investigator meets the definition of Other Significant Contributors, using the NIH definition—then an effort waiver is not needed.

Per NIH, an Other Significant Contributor is an individual who does not commit measurable effort to the scientific development or execution of the project. Since this effort is not measurable, an effort waiver is not required.

Are effort waivers needed for S10 equipment grants?

Are effort waivers needed for other sponsored activity?

Per Stanford Policy (Research Policy Handbook 3.1), Other Sponsored Activities do not have a requirement for effort and thus a waiver is not required.

However, although there is no effort requirement for Other Sponsored Activities, if the PI or involved/engaged Faculty anticipate devoting measurable effort to this sponsored project, then it must be either direct charged or cost-shared.

Is a waiver needed for effort/salary reductions that occur during the grant/contract period or no cost extension?

If there are reductions in effort and/or salary during the performance period, an effort waiver is not required. However, effort reductions must be compliant with sponsor policy. If sponsor approval is required, that approval must be obtained before effort can be reduced. This applies to any no cost extension period.

Is an Effort Waiver required for non-faculty (e.g. post-doc, graduate students)?

Research Staff, post-docs, and who have been approved as PI must comply with the Research Policy Handbook 3.1.4: whereby Stanford University requires a commitment of effort on the part of the PI during the performance period. However, if their effort commitment/devoted is less than 1% or if they want to cost-share salary associated with their effort, an effort waiver is not required.

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