Clinical trials are a specialized area of research focused on evaluating new medical treatments, procedures, and behavioral interventions for safety and efficacy. Because of their complexity, research administrators who do not regularly work with clinical trials during the pre-award phase may find this area challenging, particularly due to unfamiliar terminology, regulatory requirements, processes, and team roles. This session is designed to demystify clinical trials in the pre-award stage by covering foundational topics, including what constitutes a clinical trial, commonly used clinical trial terminology, and the key stages of a clinical trial during pre-award. In addition, the session will explore how research administrators can effectively support and engage with clinical trial activities in a pre-award context. This presentation is intended as an introductory overview for research administrators who occasionally encounter clinical trials (either Federal or Industry) or are seeking a better understanding of this area. By providing essential foundational knowledge, the session aims to empower participants to engage more confidently in discussions, ask informed questions, and contribute meaningfully to decision-making in this complex and critical area of research. L01 - Understand the basics of clinical trials in a pre-award setting for those who do not regularly interact with this type of research.  / Lo2 - Identify the roles research administrators play within clinical trials. 

Content level: Basic

Learning objectives:

1.  Understand the basics of clinical trials in a pre-award setting for those who do not regularly interact with this type of research.
2. Identify the roles research administrators play within clinical trials. 

Track:  Clinical Trials and Industry Partnerships

Speaker(s): Katherine Bui, Senior Clinical Trial Research Process Manager, Stanford University

Have you ever found yourself in this situation?  The Principal Investigator (PI) assumes the Research Administrator (RA) is monitoring the grant budget and proactively processing salary paperwork. Meanwhile, the RA is waiting for the PI to provide salary specifics, knowing that budgets can shift. Months pass, and when effort reporting is due, the PI is surprised to find no salary charged to the grant. Each believes the other was responsible.  Join us for a deep-dive discussion into real-world scenarios like this one. We'll explore how to navigate unclear roles, prevent communication breakdowns, and share best practices to avoid hard conversations before they happen. LO1 - Implement practical applications for effective communication. LO2 - Integrate new approaches to anticipate grant needs. 

Content level: Basic

Learning objectives:

1. Implement practical applications for effective communication.
2. Integrate new approaches to anticipate grant needs. 

Track: Departmental Administration

Speaker(s): Tamara Ginter, Director of Finance, College of STEM Eastern Washington University, Debbie Hoelscher, Lead Research Administration, University of California, Davis

This session will address the unspoken realities of managing your boss. Through real-world scenarios and guided discussion, participants will explore common challenges such as unclear expectations, competing priorities, communication breakdowns, and differing work styles. The session focuses on practical strategies for aligning with leadership while maintaining boundaries, credibility, and self-advocacy. It emphasizes the importance of understanding your supervisor's priorities, communication style, and expectations, while proactively anticipating their needs and offering solutions to challenges. Key strategies include clear and concise communication, aligning with organizational goals, maintaining transparency, and providing data-driven insights to support decision-making. By practicing empathy, being flexible, and fostering collaboration, research administrators can navigate complex environments more effectively, contributing to both individual and organizational success. 

Content level:  Basic

Learning objectives:

1. Define the concept of managing up and explain its importance by identifying manager priorities and adapting approaches to different work styles and personality types.
2.  Analyze common challenging workplace situations and develop practical strategies for effectively working with supervisors to achieve mutual goals.

Track:  Professional Development and Leadership

Speaker(s): Linda Dement, Grant and Finance Program Manager, Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason, Cecilia Cañadas, Research Administrator, Basic Sciences Pre Award Workgroup, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

The purpose of this presentation is to give a brief introduction to service centers and the federal requirements associated with maintaining them. We will also give participants a brief overview of our journey for overhauling the processes and internal controls of service centers at the University of Maryland College Park. 

Content level: Basic

Learning objectives:

1. Understand internal controls over maintaining service centers
2. Understand the basics of developing a service center rate.

Track: Cost Accounting

Speaker(s): Debra Murray, Assistant Vice President, University of Maryland College Park, Sany Collier, Sandy Collier 
University of Maryland College Park, Director of Operations and Finance 

Research administrators are frequently tasked with developing compliant budgets, forecasting expenditures across complex multi-year sponsored awards, and ensuring costs align with federal, state, and institutional requirements. This session will provide a practical walkthrough of budgeting and forecasting strategies that support effective fiscal stewardship and minimize compliance risk. Participants will learn how to build realistic budgets, monitor award spending, apply cost principles correctly, and forecast financial scenarios through real-world examples. Whether you are new to post-award administration or want a refresher grounded in Uniform Guidance and institutional best practices, this session will equip you with tools and confidence to manage sponsored funds from proposal development through award closeout. 

Content level:  Basic

Learning objectives:

1. Use forecasting techniques to anticipate spending patterns and mitigate budget risks.
2. Identify common budget pitfalls and implement proactive monitoring strategies.

Track: Financial Management, Reporting and Close Out

Speaker(s): Tamara Ginter, Director of Finance, College of STEM Eastern Washington University, Debbie Hoelscher, Lead Research Administration, University of California, Davis

Many factors determine financial and logistical feasibility of clinical research studies for your site. This session provides an overview of standard operating process and tools necessary to make this determination, developed from study examples and case studies. 

Content level:  Advanced

Learning objectives:

1. Analyze the factors impacting logistical & financial feasibility determinations for your site.
2. Cite case study scenarios and mechanisms to determine merit, and financial review of timelines, targets and cost.

Track: Clinical Trials and Industry Partnerships

Speaker(s): Renee Vaughan, CRU Financial Practice Manager, Duke University School of Medicine, Monque Gregory, College of Sciences, Contracts and Grants Manager, Pre-Award Mayo Clinic

Universities often rely on multiple, disconnected financial systems to provide fiscal oversight of sponsored awards, making it difficult to access timely, clear information for effective post-award decision-making. In this session, we will highlight how the UTHealth Houston SPH Research Services team partners with the Programming and Web Development team to build smarter, integrated research dashboards that consolidate data from multiple university financial systems. These dashboards enable post-award staff and principal investigators to more effectively monitor budgets, track expenditures, manage effort reporting, and oversee personnel changes for sponsored projects. This collaborative, technology-driven approach demonstrates how leveraging existing tools can streamline business processes and enhance research administration in an evolving research environment. 

Content level: Intermediate

Learning objectives:

1. Explain how integrated technology solutions, such as research dashboards, support business process improvement and data-driven post-award decision-making.
2. Identify key organizational partners, including research services and technology teams, needed to collaboratively develop tools that improve fiscal oversight of sponsored projects.

Track: Departmental Administration

Speaker(s): Heather Atteberry, Assistant Director, Research Administration, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

This fireside chat will explore how strategic leaders can integrate human expertise and AI enabled approaches to build and scale effective AI in RA solutions across post award administration. Consistent with SRAI’s Intermediate content level, this session focuses on how AI concepts are applied within the research administration framework rather than on introductory definitions or technical instruction. Unlike prior SRAI sessions that highlighted ChatGPT style demonstrations, prompt literacy, or general AI trends, this discussion takes a leadership perspective on how AI use cases are prioritized, developed, governed, evaluated, and operationalized inside a university research administration environment. Grounded in Emory University’s multi year enterprise AI journey, the conversation will highlight how leaders can align human judgment, institutional knowledge, and agentic AI capabilities to improve post award operations and create the conditions for agentic workforce readiness. Using real examples from active AI projects at Emory, including the ORA Virtual Assistant, the Agentic AI closeout framework, the AI compute and cost forecasting model, the enterprise Copilot 365 enablement program, and the institution’s shift toward agentic workforce readiness, this discussion will examine how human augmented intelligence elevates compliance confidence, reduces process variability, and strengthens staff capacity. The session will emphasize what leaders must consider before building AI models, how to evaluate organizational readiness for AI adoption, and how to translate strategic planning into implementation without the need for coding expertise. This conversational format encourages participants to reflect on their own environments and understand how AI concepts relate to central elements of research administration practice

Content level: Intermediate

Learning objectives:

1. Describe how strategic leaders can integrate human augmented intelligence with AI enabled tools to strengthen post award administration, including compliance confidence, process consistency, and staff capacity.
2. Identify leadership level approaches for prioritizing, planning, and scaling AI initiatives in research administration, and articulate the organizational conditions that support agentic workforce readiness.

Track: Departmental Administration

Speaker(s): De Lisa Wilson, Assistant Vice President, Strategic Operations & Training Emory University

On April 22, 2024, OMB made an “extreme makeover” of the Uniform Guidance that results in revisions of 69 out of 191 sections (or 36 percent) from its 2020 edition. The revisions became effective for Federal awards on October 1, 2024. Since then, we have a new Administration that on day one rescinded many Executive Orders (E.O.) that the revisions were based on and issued several E.O.s that drastically altered the grant landscape. E.O. 14332 – Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking (August 7, 2025). The E.O.s have resulted in abrupt terminations in thousands of grant awards by the agencies which would result in a severe loss of reimbursement to research institutes and cripple US research endeavors. Lawsuits have resulted in temporary pause for their implementations. In the meantime, the Joint Associations Group (JAG) has worked with the grant community to propose a brand-new model for charging research costs – the FAIR model. Based on E.O. 14332, Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking (August 7, 2025), OMB plans to issue another round of revisions to the Uniform Guidance that will align better with this Administration’s priorities. This session will highlight all the Government activities, including OMB proposed revisions, related to the changes in grant landscapes and their impact on research administration at your institution. It will provide an update on the proposed JAG’s FAIR model. It will provide an outlook for the grant landscape in 2026.

Content level: Intermediate

Learning objectives:

1. Participants will directly interact with subject matter experts on indirect & direct costing practices
2. Participants will gain deep insights into federal costing & regulatory positions. 

Track: Cost Accounting

Speaker(s): Mark Davis, Managing Partner, Attain Partners

Financial Projections are not the flashiest part of a RA's job. It's not the part that gets celebrated in newsletters or mentioned in grant announcements. But for post award administration, it's the foundation everything stands on. This presentation illustrates how financial projections are not only tools, they are leadership actions. Participants will learn RISE (Reconcile, Interpret, Strategize, and Execute)- The path for research budget and finance, as well as discuss best practices and components of a projection tool.

Content level: Basic

Learning objectives:

1. Understand why Projections are critical through RISE (Reconcile, Interpret, Strategize, and Execute).
2. Critically think about projection tools. 

Track: Financial Management, Reporting and Close Out

Speaker(s): Cassandra Johnson, Post Award-Team Lead, Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center/VCU, Aditi Sharma, Post Award-Team Lead, Virginia Commonwealth University

Subrecipient contracting and monitoring has always been an important element in Research Administration. With an increase in collaboration between institutions, staying on top of these elements has become even more important. In this session, we will explore the comprehensive life cycle of a subagreement, touching on the proposal, agreement process, risk assessment, monitoring, invoicing, and closeout. We will also provide uniform guidance updates affecting the subcontracting world. Attendees will gain practical insights and tools to effectively manage subawards, ensuring adherence to federal regulations and optimizing outcomes.

Content level: Coming Soon

Learning objectives:

1. Understand the lifecycle of a subaward, from setup to closeout.
2. Learn about recent regulatory updates affecting subcontracts.

Track:  Non-Financial Compliance and Monitoring

Speaker(s): Justin Hull, Director, Office of Sponsored Projects Geisinger

This session addresses the crucial need for efficient and effective clinical trial launches. This session will dissect common obstacles hindering study activation and impacting resource allocation and regulatory compliance. Participants will learn to evaluate and implement strategies for streamlining key operational areas, from initial assessments and resource planning to contracting and approvals. Emphasis will be placed on fostering effective collaboration between relevant research stakeholders to create seamless trial startup workflows. Finally, the session will equip attendees with the knowledge to identifying areas for improvement and continuously refining trial startup operations.

Content level: Intermediate

Learning objectives:

1. Analyze common bottlenecks in clinical trial startup processes and their impact on study activation timelines, financial feasibility, and regulatory compliance.
2. Evaluate strategies for improving operational efficiency in clinical trial feasibility assessments, budgeting, contracting, and regulatory approvals.

Track: Clinical Trials and Industry Partnerships

Speaker(s): Melissa Acosta, Executive Director, Research, Innovation, and Sponsored Programs, JPS Health Network

In large research departments, seamless collaboration between pre-award and post-award teams is essential for successful grant management. This session explores strategies to strengthen coordination across the award lifecycle. Participants will learn how to utilize award activation tools, implement structured kick-off meetings, and clarify roles through responsibility matrices. We’ll also dive into ongoing collaboration practices that have been successful in our organization, including NIH RPPRs, subawards, and leveraging shared platforms and trackers. Special attention will be given to joint review processes for NIH Other Support to ensure compliance and accuracy across teams.  The session will also highlight the value of consistent communication and shared training, including the use of a shared “hub” for training resources, to keep both teams aligned with evolving policies and sponsor guidance. Join us to discover how integrated workflows can amplify impact and streamline research administration! 

Content level: Basic

Learning objectives:

1. Facilitate seamless award transitions from pre-award to post-award and enhance coordination, collaboration & communication for successful award management.
2. Clarify roles and responsibilities for departments that have unique pre- and post-award teams. 

Track: Departmental Administration

Speaker(s):  Nicole Webb, Director, Submissions, (UPMC Hillman Cancer Center) University of Pittsburgh, Heather Culp, Assistant Director of Finance, Post-Award Management, University of Pittsburgh, Becky Nau, Pre-Award Administrator, University of Pittsburgh

Changing rules and compliance, constant deadlines, and responsibility for a meaningful role in research can make the life of a research administrator very hectic. This fast-paced environment often results in stressed and mentally worn personnel who struggle to manage their workloads while maintaining mental balance. We will take a look at the the differences in mental health and well-being, break down the "5 Cs: community, compassion, coping, connection and care", and examine the tips and ideas that can help you manage.

Content level: Basic

Learning objectives:

1. Understand the basics of mental health and well-being.
2. Learn ways of coping you can embrace to manage stress. 

Track: Professional Development and Leadership

Speaker(s): Gina Hedberg, Associate Vice President for Research, ED, OSP University of Alabama at Birmingham, Gloria Greene, AVP, Contracts and Grants, Research Compliance, The University of Alabama in Huntsville

In research administration, post-award challenges rarely appear without warning. This session explores how strong, intentional pre-award practices directly shape post-award success and sustainability. Using real-world–inspired case studies from across the research lifecycle, participants will examine how proposal development become binding commitments once an award is made. Through guided analysis and small-group exercises, attendees will identify common pre-award pitfalls that create downstream risk and learn how early intervention can prevent long-term administrative and compliance challenges. 

Content level: Basic

Learning objectives:

1. Analyze real-world case studies to identify pre-award practices that directly influence post-award compliance, financial management, audit readiness, and overall award performance.
2. Apply collaborative strategies, tools, and communication practices that strengthen pre-award–to–post-award handoffs and support long-term award success across the research lifecycle.

Track: Financial Management, Reporting and Close Out

Speaker(s): Linda Dement, Grant and Finance Program Manager, Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason, Cecilia Cañadas, Research Administrator, Basic Sciences Pre Award Workgroup, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Are you leaving money on the proverbial table? Do your clinical trials have positive net income? Are you billing for everything you can in the contract? Are you getting paid in a timely manner? Do you even know the answers to these questions? Come learn from my mistakes. We did leave money on the table. Our clinical trials lost money. (As a side note, this could be considered financially supporting a for-profit company’s activities and jeopardize your non-profit status). We didn’t bill for everything and were not getting paid in a timely manner, if at all. Now, we have systems in place to turn it all around and in the spirit of academia, we want to share our results to help you do the same thing. This isn’t rocket science, but it is medical research and we owe to our current and future patients to get it right in order to continue in this business of improving human health.

Content level: Intermediate 

Learning objectives:

1. Review the common pitfalls and mistakes in clinical trial billing.
2. Receive tools to improve tracking, billing and revenue collection.

Track: Clinical Trials and Industry Partnerships

Speaker(s): Mel Mingler, Business Manager, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), are essential contributors to the national research enterprise. Yet, many operate research compliance and security functions with limited staffing and heavy reliance on single subject-matter experts. As federal requirements expand to encompass research security, foreign influence mitigation, data governance, and audit readiness, the lack of structured succession planning introduces significant institutional risk. Leadership transitions and staff turnover can disrupt compliance continuity through loss of institutional knowledge, and thereby jeopardize Federal wide Assurances (FWAs), and erode sponsor confidence. This presentation introduces an equity-centered, capacity-building succession planning framework designed specifically for HBCUs. The framework emphasizes competency-based career pathways, cross-training and dual-role coverage, funded credential pipelines, interim leadership readiness, and intentional knowledge preservation. Drawing on real-world HBCU compliance environments, the session demonstrates how succession planning strengthens audit readiness, mitigates single-point-of-failure risk, and supports staff retention. 

Content level: Intermediate 

Learning objectives:

1. Identify how limited staffing and inadequate succession planning increase compliance risk through reliance on single individuals and loss of institutional knowledge.
2. Apply an equity-centered succession planning framework to improve compliance continuity and staff retention.

Track: Professional Development and Leadership

Speaker(s): Keyshawn Moncrieffe, Research Compliance, Director (Interim), Morgan State University, Lucy Manyara, CFRA, CPRA, Morgan State University