What are the responsibilities and job description for the Grants and Contracts Associate - Health Policy & Administration, School of Public Health position at uic?
The Grants and Contracts Associate will be responsible for sponsored research administration within the SPH Division of Health Policy and Administration (HPA). HPA is a research-intensive unit, and responsibilities will include identifying funding sources for Principal Investigators (PIs), drafting pre-award proposals for submission, contract negotiation, sub-award issuance, and pre- and post- award administration. Serves as a subject matter expert on grant management to principal investigators, project coordinators and directors, and acts as a liaison to the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP). The position will work closely with divisional colleagues in business/finance administration and human resources to ensure smooth divisional operations.
Duties & Responsibilities:
Post-award Project Administration (financial):
- Acting as a liaison to OSP and external and internal auditors; managing, reviewing, editing, and administering all financial activities of grants, contracts, consulting agreements, subcontracts, and vendor agreements for sponsored projects
- Initiating all purchasing and travel for specified sponsored projects and maintain compliant records of all purchases/grant expenditures
- Informing PIs and research staff of changes in sponsor policies and regulations
- Manage, coordinate and ensure compliance with changes; managing and resolving compliance issues including conflict of interest, sub recipient reporting, etc.
- Collaborating with the unit business manager to respond to internal and external auditors for the audit of research projects by collecting and preparing all necessary information, informing PI and department administration of audit findings
- Obtaining approval of the PI for all financial activities associated with sponsored projects
- Managing personnel appointments and projections to comply with award budget
- Prepare regular expense reports for PI review
- Prepare and process invoices for subawards, consulting agreements, MOUs, and vendor agreements
- Managing requests for no-cost extensions, progress reports, prior approvals, and grant closeouts on behalf of PIs
- Tracking and reporting all effort associated with sponsored research awards; and training all grant personnel including student trainees and student research assistants.
Post-award Project Administration (non-financial):
- Preparing IRB progress reports, final reports, and related forms in collaboration with PIs
- provide orientation to faculty/staff regarding day-to-day management and reporting requirements of research projects
- Train sub-recipients and consultants on appropriate UIC processes for reporting, invoicing, and expensing on awards received.
Pre-award Project Administration:
- Researching sponsor requirements at the proposal stage and ensuring compliance prior to application submission
- Directing the funding application process and administering research proposals and subcontracts
- Preparing Proposal Approval Form (PAF) for routing to the Office of Research Services
- Organizing and preparing pre-award proposal documentation, including budgets, institutional information, budget justifications, sponsor compliance, regulatory information, and Institutional Review Board (IRB) status
- Communicating with subcontract faculty/staff to gather details needed for grant application (budget, justification, scope of work, etc.)
- Collecting and routing documentation for Just-In-Time sponsor requests including supporting documentation.
- Perform other related duties and participate in special projects as assigned.