Overview
Interfaculty involvement (IFI) is an internal grants management process. IFI occurs when a project involves other Harvard investigators, staff, facilities, or resources in addition to the lead Principal Investigator (PI). IFI indicates intra-Harvard collaboration with one or more faculty member(s). It also identifies the correct administrative contacts to give appropriate access to the project. An approval/certification from the participating school, department, or center is required. Further, IFI protects and guides the rights of all personnel involved in the project. The IFI section of the PI Dashboard lists projects where the dashboard owner is on the research team, but not the PI of the project. Including IFI in the GMAS proposal request allows the following actions to take place at award stage:
- Use of other school or departmental space, resources and/or facilities (other than service centers)
- Set up of Part-of-accounts to track expenses of IFI department
- Track Cost-Sharing/Matching Fund contributions from IFI department
- Accounting for Contributed effort from IFI department
Note: If the project involves Co-Principal Investigators from different schools/departments, each school/department will follow its own procedures for determining who will act as the lead PI.
Harvard Requirements
Source: Harvard GMAS
Information about interfaculty involvement is required at the proposal entry stage in GMAS and will be provided by the lead PI, or “owning” PI. The responsible GMAS Tub and Org data indicated will be for the lead PI. Information will be added to a separate interfaculty involvement module to include:
- IFI Org, IFI investigator’s name,
- Start and end dates of involvement on the project.
- When the IFI investigator’s name is entered, a prompt will open to add the investigator to the research team by selecting the appropriate role.
- The IFI PI, including one or more IFI administrator(s), are required to approve by electronic signature in GMAS. If the PI or named approver signatories cannot access GMAS, email authorization to acknowledge participation in the proposed project will be uploaded to the document repository. Such authorization(s) will allow OSP to log signatures as needed.
Read full instructions on how to complete the IFI module.
School-specific GMAS Approvals
FAS Interfaculty Involvement (IFI) & Other Schools/Departments
Requires approval of FAS PI, and Department Chair/Designee in GMAS. Dean/Designee (RAS) approval is required for part-of accounts, cost sharing/matching and contributed effort.
SEAS Interfaculty Involvement (IFI)
Requires PI and Dean/Designee approvals in GMAS.
Roles & Responsibilities of Signatories
IFI Principal Investigator
Certifies that the information submitted within the application is true, complete and accurate to the best of his/her knowledge and understands and acknowledges his/her inclusion as an IFI research team member.
Department Chair/Designee
Indicates approval of the PI as a member of the department in good standing, knowledge and approval of the subject area of the proposal, approval of departmental resources used by and/or committed to the project, and that the proposal is complete.
Department Administrator/Designee
At the time of proposal development, the assigned Department Administrator should add interfaculty involvement approval in GMAS (PI & Department Chair/Designee.) They certify that this proposal meets the IFI definition and approval is required before the proposal moves to the submission status. Please consult with OSP representative for more information on who should sign off on each school/department.
Dean’s Approval (School level)
Ensures school policies will be followed, especially regarding faculty effort and special approvals.
OSP Representatives
Once the proposal has been locked and routed in GMAS, OSP will review for compliance.