On January 10, Sponsored Research (SR) launched a new approach to constituency assignment that matches groupings of departments with teams of seven to nine SR staff members to form capsules. The following capsule explainer targets Northwestern’s research administrators, covering the key points that have the greatest impact on your day-to-day engagement with your capsule. For an in-depth look at the business case for and goals of the capsule approach, read more here.
Capsule organization
Northwestern’s research-centric departments are grouped into eight capsules of similar portfolio volume and a ninth capsule of departments with smaller sponsored research volume. Each capsule includes a dedicated Sponsored Research Officer (SRO) and Awards Management Associate (AMA) as well as members of the Contracts and Subcontracts teams. In addition, some staff will “float” among capsules to provide additional support during peak periods or coverage for colleagues on vacation. The Business Systems and Operations team, including a core of coordinators, provides support to capsule teams across the entire sponsored project lifecycle.
Locating your capsule and determining who to contact for what
Use the Find My Capsule tool to locate your capsule and identify the SR team members in your capsule. Use the Capsule Roles Across the Sponsored Research Lifecycle job aid to identify what business processes each member of the capsule executes across the sponsored research lifecycle. For example, Assistant Sponsored Research Officers review and submit proposals. Keep in mind that capsules do not change the business processes handled by each of SR’s teams; capsules simply pair smaller sets of SR staff with the units they support. For a comprehensive look at SR’s organizational structure, visit Our Teams page to view SR’s organization chart and read more about team roles and responsibilities.
Submitting a new proposal
For all new proposals, create a proposal record in InfoEd with the sponsor due date. Once submitted, InfoEd will route the action to the appropriate capsule team member. Just as capsules have not changed the business processes handled by SR’s teams, capsules have not changed how you a submit a new proposal. If you have questions about setting up a proposal record in InfoEd, check out the SR InfoEd page to access a Getting Started Guide and Proposal Development FAQs.
Capsule Resources
If you have capsule-related questions, you can access resources on the Sponsored Research Capsules page. Check out the Presentations page to read the slide deck or watch the on-demand video from the December 14 CLEAR Meeting that featured a presentation on capsules.
By: Melissa Mizwa, Assistant Director, Administration and Strategic Communications, Sponsored Research