About OSR
The Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) is part of the Office of Research reporting to the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost/ Vice Chancellor of Research, who is assisted by an Associate and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research. The OSR consists of these functional units:
- Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research
- Contracts & Grants Division
- Business Research Units
- Conflict of Interest Division
- Industry Contracts Division
- OSR Training and Communications Unit
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research
The Office of Sponsored Research is under the direction of Assistant Vice Chancellor, Erik Lium, Ph.D.
The Assistant Vice Chancellor (AVCR) manages the activities of the Office of Sponsored Research with the primary mission dedicated to facilitating, strengthening, and advancing the research, instruction, and service goals of the University of California, San Francisco. The AVCR coordinates activities with individuals and offices to promote responsible and ethical conduct of research and other sponsored activities.
Other responsibilities include oversight of the units below.
The Contracts & Grants Division (C&G) of OSR serves as the sponsored projects liaison between the campus and government and nonprofit agencies. All proposals at UCSF submitted to those agencies are reviewed, approved and transmitted through the C&G Division. Similarly, all awards from government and nonprofit agencies are reviewed, negotiated and executed by the C&G Division.
C&G activities include serving as the office of record and institutional official on sponsored proposals and awards supporting campus compliance on regulatory issues issuing subawards under sponsored projects awarded to UCSF, partnering with the OSR Training Division to provide campus-wide training on sponsored projects administration, and developing UCSF policies and procedures related to government and nonprofit contract and grant awards.
Contracts & Grant's goal is to provide the highest quality service in support of campus sponsored project efforts in research, instruction, public service, and clinical services.
Business Research Units
OSR partnered with the Diabetes Center in 2005 to create a collaborative Business Research Unit (BRU) at UCSF.
OSR has delegated signature authority for the sponsored research activities of the Diabetes Center to a designated Contracts & Grants Officer, who is embedded in the host department. OSR also provides funding for the assigned Contracts & Grants Officer. The host department provides space and departmentally funded research support staff to deliver highly responsive research administration to its client Investigators. This combination of central-office and departmental personnel are well-trained professionals focused on superior quality customer service. The end result is a hybrid organization that is able to respond to client needs quickly and efficiently providing dedicated professional services of a consistently high quality
The BRU Administrator is responsible for the review and submission of all research, training, and other sponsored projects (public service, clinical trials, etc.) proposals to federal, municipal, non-profit, and industry sponsors. They are also responsible for the review, negotiation, and acceptance of all resulting awards in accordance with all applicable policies. The administrator reports to the AVCR, and serves in a management capacity. The BRU Administrator is responsible for overseeing all BRU functions, for the development of operational policies and procedures for the Unit, and for establishing good working relationships with other OSR entities as well as other internal and external constituencies.
- Kevin Kaier, BRU Manager, Diabetes Center
The Conflict of Interest (COI) Division serves the campus community in reviewing potential conflicts of interest in connection sponsored funding, research gift funding, and clinical studies. The Conflict of Interest Advisory Committee (COIAC) is charged with ensuring that a researcher's personal interest in, or commitment to, entities outside the University's purview does not compromise or appear to compromise his/her objectivity in performing a research project, in mentoring students involved in a research project, or in reporting the results of a research project conducted under the aegis of the University of California.
In assessing research projects for potential conflicts of interest, the COI Division and the COIAC are guided by policies established in 1984 and 1995 by UCOP, by policies established in 1990 by UCSF, and by laws and regulations enacted in 1974 by the State of California, and in July, 1995 by the Public Health Service (PHS) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). The COIAC operates within a University policies that seek to achieve a balance between industry/university collaborations and obligations to maintain the public trust. The COIAC reviews conflicts in connection with projects sponsored by PHS, NSF, private industry/business and other non-governmental agencies, as well as projects sponsored by the UC Special Programs, and clinical trials referred by UCSF”s Institutional Review Board (IRB).
- TBA
Industry Contracts exists to support and foster faculty/industry alliances and commercialization of UCSF technology for the broad public benefit. Industry Contracts emphasizes accessibility, timeliness, and flexibility in its operations and negotiations to ensure that the federal, state and private investment in UCSF research has the greatest possible positive impact on people and the economy.
The Industry Contracts group is responsible for the administration of research funded by for-profit industry sponsors, whether it is in the form of a contract, grant, or clinical trial. Because of the variety of industry agreements, and differences in the pre and post award administration of them, they have been categorized into four groups: Industry Research, Sponsor-Initiated Clinical Trials (Sponsor's Protocol), PI-Initiated Clinical Trials, and Industry-University Cooperative Research Programs.
OSR Training & Communication Unit
The OSR Training & Communications Unit supports all Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) instructional activities for faculty, staff and students in pre-award research administration. It collaborates with the OSR, central units (i.e., Budget, Controller, Gift Administration) and the campus by offering: instructional design, development, instruction, and learning consultative service to develop on-line and classroom-based research administration training, instructional materials, and performance-based job aids.
The unit developed and implemented the "Pre-Award Certification and Training" (PACT) program in order to:
- equip campus participants with instruction in pre-award administration, university regulations, policies, and procedures;
- strengthen internal controls; and
- provide access to important resources and contacts when they need help.
This unit also administers key central electronic communications media for the Office of Sponsored Research.
