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Your Questions Answered | What Are Some of the Funniest Things That Were Allowable That Normally Wouldn’t Be?

Each month, the Catalyst will feature a question posed to our panel of SRAI Distinguished Faculty members to get their take on all sorts of topics encompassing research administration. Do you have a research administration question for our experts? Send your questions to catalyst@srainternational.org!

This month, we asked our experts: What are some of the funniest things that were allowable that normally wouldn’t be?

Domenica G. Pappas, CRA, Associate Vice Provost for Research, Office of Research, Illinois Tech, SRAI Distinguished Faculty

• Alcohol! Sometimes it is an allowable expense when one is performing research on the use or substance itself.

Jose G. Alcaine, PhD, Director of Research Services/Affiliate Faculty, Virginia Commonwealth University, SRAI Distinguished Faculty

• I heard it from a friend who said (not necessarily funny, but) alcohol, as in the drinking kind, because yes, the nature of the project was about alcohol use, factors of, etc. I am sure this can replicate for other studies that involve [insert controlled substance, object, or process here] that otherwise would be unallowable.

Tonya K. Edvalson, Operations Manager, University of Utah Health, SRAI Distinguished Faculty

• We were working on a large grant submission and needed to provide information about pregnancy tests that we would use in the protocol. Because we could not find what we needed elsewhere, (the internet was not helpful during this time) I volunteered to buy one so we could get a package insert from it. While this is not really an allowable/unallowable grant situation, it was a fun one to get me reimbursed by the university. I am also not convinced that my husband’s many colleagues who happened to see me at the pharmacy bought my story.

Next month: Stay tuned as our experts reveal more amusing anecdotes!

Authored by SRAI