On This Page
- Who has PI eligibility?
- Obtaining PI waivers for those who do not have PI eligibility
- Other designations: Associate and Co-Investigators
- Matrix of positions: who can submit PI waivers?
- PI Waiver Exception Types: descriptions and criteria
- Career Development Award PI waiver
- Clinician Educator (CE) Faculty PI waiver
- Conferences and Workshops PI waiver
- Early PIship PI waiver
- Expanded Pilot Career Development PI Waiver for Instructors, Postdoctoral fellows and Clinical Fellows
(Waiver request submission deadlines: Feb. 1, April 1, June 1, Aug. 3 and Dec. 1) - Part of Large Interdisciplinary Project PI waiver
- Rare Exceptions PI waiver
- PI Waiver Request Packet Instructions
This webpage contains information on Principal Investigator (PI) eligibility, the criteria for obtaining PI waivers for those without PI eligibility, the various types of PI waiver exceptions (i.e., Career development, CE faculty waivers, Expanded Pilot PI waivers, etc.), and the procedures and checklists for preparing PI waiver memo requests. For questions, please contact your Research Process Manager (RPM) more >>
For links to the PI waiver exception types and the Matrix of positions see the "On this Page" navigation box to the right.
Who has Principal Investigatorship (PI) Eligibility?
Principal Investigatorship (PI) Eligibility and Criteria for Exceptions (Research Policy Handbook RPH 2.1 >>)
Per this policy, eligibility to act as a principal investigator (PI) or co-principal investigator (Co-PI) on externally sponsored projects (see the exception* below >>) is a privilege limited to members of the Academic Council and to the MCL faculty (and includes faculty with UTL and NTL-Research appointments). This policy limitation is in place because principal investigators are responsible for determining the intellectual direction of the research and scholarship, and for the training of graduate students.
*Note: internal funding opportunities: These PI eligibility and PI waiver policies only apply to externally sponsored projects with the exception that CE Faculty must request a CE Faculty PI waiver for each internal Stanford funding opportunity and each external sponsored project. See the CE Faculty PI waiver criteria section below >>.
Obtaining PI Waivers for those who do not have PI eligibility
The designation of "PI" or "Co-PI" for any member of the Academic Staff, or other individual who is not a member of the University's Academic Council or MCL faculty, requires specific approval by the relevant department chair, school dean and, in some cases, the Dean of Research, by obtaining PI Waivers as described under PI Waiver Exception Types.
Who can submit PI waiver requests? See matrix of positions below >>.
- Who can be Associate Investigators? The following individiuals can be "Associate Investigators" on sponsored projects: Members of the Academic Staff-Teaching (AS-T, Lecturers and Sr. Lecturers) ; Academic Staff-Research (AS-R, Research Associate); Senior Research Scientists
- Who can be Co-Investigators? Senior members of the Academic Staff-Research also may be designated by their Academic Council or MCL faculty supervisors as "Co-Investigators" on those externally-funded projects in which the senior AS-R members carry substantial roles.
Matrix: Who can submit requests for PI waivers?
Type of Position | PI Waiver Exception Types* | ||||||
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Eligible for a PI waiver? | Expanded Pilot Career Development PI Waiver Program | Career Development | Clinician Educator | Conferences and Workshops |
Early PI ship | Inter-disciplinary Project | |
Faculty with acting appointments |
Yes | ![]() |
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Academic Staff-Research: Research Associates Senior Research Scientists Senior Research Scholars |
Yes | ![]() |
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Clinical Educator (CE) Faculty |
Yes | ![]() |
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Clinical Educator (CE) Assistant Professors | Yes | ![]() |
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Clinical Instructors |
Yes | ||||||
Clinical / Medical Fellows | Yes | ![]() |
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Instructors Instructors with M.D. , M.D./Ph.D., and Ph.D. degrees are eligible for the Expanded Pilot Career Development PI waiver program |
Yes | ![]() |
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Postdoctoral Fellows PI waivers not needed for Fellowships; but for Fellowships which are mentored career development grants. Postdocs with M.D., M.D./Ph.D. and Ph.D. degrees are eligible for the Expanded Pilot PI Career Development waiver program. |
Yes | ![]() |
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*See the Rare Exception PI waiver category for those that do not fll within eligibility referenced above.
These PI waivers are subject to the approval of the Department Chair and School.
- Early PIship
- Conferences and Workshops
- Career Development Award
- Part of Large Interdisciplinary Project
- Rare Exceptions
- Clinician Educator Faculty
- Expanded Pilot Career Development PI Waiver (formerly entitled, "Expanded Pilot PI waiver")
UPDATE: Your faculty appointment must be pending, you accepted your offer letter, and your Long Form is in process. Your RPM will confirm with Rebecca Robinson in Academic Affairs, regarding the appointment status. An award cannot be accepted until the faculty appointment has been confirmed.
See the PI waiver Memo guideline checklists and templates below>>
May serve as PI on externally-sponsored projects whose sole purpose is to fund short conferences, exhibits, workshops, or other public events of a character appropriate to the University.
Awards whose stated purpose is to advance the individual's scientific career. The project must be carried out under the mentorship of an established faculty investigator who is named in the proposal, and must be conducted within the overall intellectual scope and laboratory space of the faculty advisor [School of Medicine]. (Note: a photocopy of the eligiblity requirements of the non-governmental sponsor's RFP must be attached to the PI Waiver Memo to confirm that the funding opportunity is indeed a career development award. )
If an external mentored career development grant requires a letter of intent, pre-proposal or preliminary proposal, you must submit and receive approval for your Career Development PI waiver through your RPM prior to submitting your letter of intent, pre-proposal, or preliminary proposal.
Reminder: the Career Development PI waiver is the routine waiver you request for each mentored career development award you wish to apply for. This is separate from the one-time only Expanded Pilot Career Development PI waiver request (see below >>).
- is directed by a member
of the Academic Council
- has an expected duration
beyond the involvement of any individual faculty participant
- has more than one
faculty member involved, and
- requires expertise
in more than one discipline or technical area.
- The proposed project must be a demonstrably important component of the success of the overall interdisciplinary program, as defined above
- There is no member of the Academic Council associated with the large interdisciplinary project who is qualified to take responsibility for the scientific direction of the prospective research project
- No incremental space will be required for the project
- For each
graduate student participating on the project, an Academic Council
member has been identified to serve as
research advisor to assure that the student's research program and
the education derived from
it are consistent with the degree for which the student is a candidate
- Exceptions approved under this provision will be reported to the Dean of Research on an annual basis.
Projects within the scope of a large interdisciplinary program defined as:
All of the following conditions must be met in order for the department chair and school dean to approve PI exceptions in cases:
B. RARE EXCEPTIONS:
- Criteria
- How do I submit a Rare Exception PI waiver request?*
(*Note: if you are a Core Director of a Core Center/Shared Facility who plans to be the PI for a 2015 NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant (S10) PAR 15-088, please contact Jeanne Heschele in RMG for separate "Rare Exception PI Waiver for Core Directors" instructions.)
All other situations not listed above. These are subject to the Approval of the Department Chair, School Dean, and University Dean of Research Office. Please see the Research Policy Handbook PI Eligibility and Criteria for Exceptions in the new DoResearch RPH 2.1 webpage >>. Waivers requiring University approval may be approved at the discretion of the Dean of Research in unusual and non-recurring situations that meet a particular need or opportunity for the University. Waivers under these situations, however, will rarely be granted.
May 6, 2013: Memo from Dr. Lloyd Minor, Dean of the School of Medicine, regarding Clinician Educator (CE) Faculty PI waiver changes. Download PDF file
When do CE faculty need to request a CE Faculty PI waiver?
Updated 10/04/13: CE faculty*: you must submit a request memo for a CE Faculty PI Waiver for each internal Stanford funding opportunity AND each external sponsored project/research grant you submit.
See memo guidelines below >>
Description and Criteria*Eligibility: all Clinician Educator (CE) Faculty at the rank of clinical assistant professor and above.
Clinical Instructors are not eligible.Waiver Request: A waiver request from the Department Chair and Division Chief (if applicable) must confirm the competency of the CE to serve as PI. The request must also state that the CE will have sufficient protected time available to conduct the proposed research study and will have access to resources necessary to accomplish the research.
Eligible Studies:
Clinical Research Studies - Clinician Educator (CE) Faculty at the rank of clinical assistant professor and above may request a PI waiver to serve as a Principal Investigator (PI) for most forms of clinical research studies that include a significant component of patients and/or communities served by Stanford Hospital and Clinics, the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, the Palo Alto Veterans Administration Health Care System, the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center as well as the Stanford affiliated medical centers. These clinical studies may involve diagnosis, treatment, or rehabilitation of patients as well as population studies, innovative systems of care, novel methods of clinical teaching, and other forms of clinical research.
Clinical Research is defined by the NIH as:
Research with human subjects that is:
- Patient-oriented research. Research conducted with human subjects (or on material of human origin such as tissues, specimens, and cognitive phenomena) for which an investigator (or colleague) directly interacts with human subjects. Excluded from this definition are in vitro studies that utilize human tissues that cannot be linked to a living individual. It includes:
- mechanisms of human disease,
- therapeutic interventions
- clinical trials
- development of new technologies
- Epidemiological and behavioral studies
- Outcomes research and health services research
Included in this waiver category, as mentioned above, are clinical trials. Clinician Educator (CE) Faculty may request a waiver to serve as a Principal Investigator (PI) for any clinical trials that include participants at the Stanford Hospital & Clinics, the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, the Palo Alto Veterans Administration Healthcare System, the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and/or Stanford affiliated medical centers, whether as an individual PI or as an overall PI for a multi-site study (industry-funded, NIH or other funded) or as the PI for a single-site study. A clinical trial is defined by the NIH as: “A prospective biomedical or behavioral research study of human subjects that is designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions (drugs, treatments, devices, or new ways of using known drugs, treatments, or devices). Clinical trials are used to determine whether new biomedical or behavioral interventions are safe, efficacious, and effective”.
Exceptions:
Some forms of “clinical research” studies are not permitted under this waiver. Examples of research that do not meet the PI waiver criteria include laboratory-based research requiring the use of research laboratory space (even if it is available to the department or on loan from a faculty member with PI status). However, CEs may wish to pursue lab based components of their studies through a collaboration with a faculty member who has a research laboratory and may request a waiver to be a Co-PI under such circumstances.
D. EXPANDED PILOT CAREER DEVELOPMENT PI WAIVER (formerly entitled, "Expanded Pilot PI Waiver")
- Clinical Fellows with M.D. or M.D./Ph.D. degrees
- Instructors with M.D., M.D./Ph.D., and Ph.D. degrees
- Postdoctoral Scholars with M.D. or M.D./Ph.D. and Ph.D. degrees
Positions that are NOT eligible: individuals in Clinical Instructors, basic research scientist, research associate positions are not eligible to request this type of waiver.
Waiver request submission deadlines and instructions
Waivers requests must be submitted per these waiver request instructions >>
by these remaining 2015 deadlines: June 1, August 3, October 1, December 1
Applicants should select the deadline that will allow at least 6 weeks prior to the sponsor's deadline.
Jeanne Heschele in RMG will distribute reminder announcements prior to each deadline. For questions about this program, contact Jeanne at jheschele@stanford.edu.
Purpose
After an initial four-year evaluation period, the University Faculty Senate approved a continuation of the Expanded Pilot Career Development PI Waiver Program for the individuals in the following positions who meet the eligibility and consideration criteria. The Faculty Senate also approved an expansion of the criteria to include individuals with Ph.D. degrees. Clinical Fellows with M.D. or M.D./Ph.D. degrees; Instructors with M.D., M.D./Ph.D., and Ph.D. degrees; Postdoctoral Scholars with M.D. or M.D./Ph.D. and Ph.D. degreesThis program permits individuals in the above positions with two or more years of research training to request a PI waiver that allows him/her to serve as a PI on an extramural independent R01-type (or R21-type) federal and non-federal/ foundation/association grant (see clarification below)** on a one-time basis without the possibility of renewal (unless the trainee is appointed to the Stanford faculty). This one-time opportunity is restricted to only one grant application and its allowable resubmissions, with no possibility of additional applications or resubmissions beyond those allowable for the specific grant application.
The University Faculty Senate has also approved the number of waivers permitted per year: 10 waivers per year for individuals with M.D. and M.D./Ph.D. degrees and 10 waivers per year for individuals with Ph.D. degrees
Types of Grants and Minimum Dollar ThresholdA R01-type or a R21-type grant: is an extramural independent research grant that is either a federal or non-federal [i.e., foundation or association] provides at least $125,000 in direct costs per year for at least two years. Note: it is expected that the funding should not cover mostly the PI's salary.
Eligibility/ Consideration Criteria [revised April 2014]
A faculty mentor may request a PI waiver for an Instructor with M.D. or M.D./Ph.D. and Ph.D., a Postdoctoral Scholar with M.D. or an M.D, and Ph.D. or a Clinical Fellow with an M.D., or M.D./Ph.D., who meets the following criteria to serve as PI on an extramural independent RO1-type or R21-type grant [see clarification above >>] on a one-time basis without the possibility of renewal.
- These positions are eligible:
- Instructors with an M.D. or M.D./Ph.D. and Ph.D. degree;
- Postdoctoral Scholars who hold an M.D or an M.D. plus some other advanced degree (i.e., M.D./Ph.D) or a Ph.D. degree and
- Clinical Fellows with M.D. or M.D./Ph.D. degrees
Positions that are NOT eligible: individuals in Clinical Instructors, basic research scientist, research associate positions are not eligible to request this type of waiver.
- Candidates must have two or more years of research training
- In addition, applicants should have a research record (publications and prior research training) that is consistent with their having a reasonable chance of success on the grant application in order to receive this specific PI career development waiver opportunity.
- Written approval with signatures of the faculty advisor and department chair/ institute or center director are required to document that the individual will be assigned the appropriate space and other resources necessary to support the work described in the grant application for the duration of the grant period, should it be awarded.
- Signature of the PI waiver candidate is required to document that s/he understands the terms of the waiver, including that there is no possibility of renewal if awarded, and no possibility of subsequent submissions (beyond those allowable for the specific grant application) should the application be unsuccessful.
- If the Postdoctoral scholar is successful in receiving an award, the department must appoint him/her as an Instructor.
- In addition, the School will not permit graduate students to be supported on any grant awarded under this PI career development waiver exception. It may be, however, that the grant will have funding to appoint a postdoctoral fellow. If so, the PI would be responsible for the day-to-day research supervision of the work of the postdoc. However, the overall career mentoring of the postdoc would be the responsibility of an Academic Council or Medical Center Line faculty member.
How do I submit a PI Waiver Memo Request? Memo Guidelines and Checklists
The PI Waiver memo guidelines are arranged according to the types of PI waivers:
- Clinicial Educator (CE) Faculty PI Waiver
- Other PI waivers:
- Expanded Pilot Career Development PI Waiver for Instructors with M.D., M.D./Ph.D., and/or Ph.D.; Postdoctoral Fellows with an M.D., M.D./Ph.D., and/or Ph.D., Clinical fellows with an M.D. or M.D./Ph.D.
PI Waiver Request Memo Guidelines for |
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PI Waiver Request Guidelines and Checklists for Career Development Early PI ship Conferences and Workshops Interdisciplinary Projects Rare Exception |
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Expanded Pilot Career Development PI Waiver Request Memo Guidelines for Instructors with M.D., M.D./ Ph.D or Ph.D. Postdoctoral Fellows with M.D., M.D./Ph.D. and Ph.D. Clinical Fellows with M.D. and/or M.D./Ph.D. |
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