Welcome to the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP). Our goal is to assist you in your sponsored activity/research career through various resources. We offer a growing number of videos, subscriptions and other resources to aid you in your efforts. One specific resource is MIT Press Direct's "Demystifying the Academic Research Enterprise: Becoming a Successful Scholar in a Complex and Competitive Environment."
It is most important that when you identify your research agenda or a sponsor you think will be a match to your activity, that you contact OSP as soon as possible. This enables us to become familiar with your proposed work and seek funding opportunities, articles, collaborators, etc. If you have identified a funding opportunity, we will shred it, highlighting areas that you should focus on and remove those that do not require your attention.
Working with us allows you to have a budget that reflects the true costs of your proposed research or sponsored activity. We are happy to review required section versions of your proposal with regards to content and sponsor requirements. We have budget justification templates, links to resources that assist with data management plans, etc.
Please see our OSP Internal Controls document, which provides start-to-finish guidance on the grant lifecycle at Christopher Newport.
A number of faculty who have been successful in their proposals to sponsors have offered to review your proposal if given enough advance notice. Advance notice should be at least a month, preferably more. Please contact OSP if you would like to avail yourself of this resource.
The process required to submit a proposal:
The OSP electronic Proposal Summary Form (ePSF) is located below. This Google form requires that two forms be completed before you start the ePSF. First, you will need an OSP approved budget, developed with your assistance by OSP. If the amount and distribution of the budget is fixed, OSP still needs to review sponsor documentation and will create a budget form accordingly. If cost-sharing or matching is required, you must identify the source of the funding and provide documentation from the source committing the cost share, so that OSP can integrate it into the budget. Once complete, OSP will send the budget to the PI for approval. The approved budget will need to be uploaded into the ePSF. Finally, each PI must complete a Proposal Certification Form. These forms need to be saved somewhere so that they can be uploaded to the ePSF as you are completing it.
If you have co-PI’s who are not CNU employees, they do not need to be included in the ePSF. This form is for internal institutional approval. The use of external email addresses on this form is prohibited as the form is only sent to CNU email addresses and will stop the process with external addresses.
Please also note, the form is not editable once submitted. So, if a budget, not approved by OSP is attached, the entire form needs to be resubmitted. If you have any questions, please contact OSP and we will be happy to walk you through the process.
Then you simply click submit.
Please note: Faculty are not authorized to submit proposals or to receive awards. The MOU indicates authorized signatory of the University.
We have created a streamlined, electronic Proposal Summary Form (ePSF) that will expedites required institutional approval. If the ePSF is not functioning, please contact OSP. (Required two weeks in advance of the due date of a proposal)
In order to complete an ePSF please work with OSP to create your budget and complete the certification form prior to starting the ePSF. The budget should have already been approved by OSP. A certification form should be completed by all PIs and co-PIs to be uploaded to the ePSF. If cost sharing is included in the proposal, you must provide documentation of the source so that OSP can integrate it into the budget. You must also upload any letters or emails from third-party cost sharing sources.
Process
- Identify funding opportunity
- Contact OSP - determine eligibility
- Draft whitepaper and OSP will provide guidance to contact sponsor
- If a match, begin to build program working with OSP to develop a budget
- Complete ePSF two full weeks prior to the submission date
- Share draft versions of proposal with OSP to ensure compliance and editing
- Final Draft of proposal to OSP 3 business days prior to the due date
- OSP submits proposal
- Wait. If funded, OSP will negotiate any issues and issue a Notice of Grant Award.
- Business Office issues Banner ID. After PI Orientation with OSP, begin your research!
Resources
The Office of Sponsored programs provides the following resources to support the sponsored program lifecycle. Our staff are always happy to “meet” or talk about proposals. The following resources have been curated for your use:
- Training: CITI training program for IRB, IACUC, RCR, Export Controls and other topics of the day
- GrantForward: Funding opportunity search subscription. We can provide guidance on its use in person or via electronic meeting
- ePSF, or the electronic proposal summary form which you can utilize after working with OSP to develop an acceptable budget. Once the OSP budget has been developed, it along with the PI completed Proposal Certification/s can be uploaded into the ePSF and when complete, simply submit two weeks prior to the due date of your proposal to obtain institutional approval.
- There are many nuisances to a sponsored budget and funding opportunity announcement. We strongly suggest that you contact OSP as soon as you have decided that you want to seek funding for a project
- The Sponsored Programs Handbook: This contains all policies and procedures having to do with proposal development, submission and research compliance. We suggest that you keep a copy on your desktop as a reference.
- Other Resources: OSP has gathered videos and texts to assist in proposal development. Please feel free to review these items and visit the link often as we hope to continue to build the resource