The Office of Research Services (ORS) would like the campus community to know that the Contracts Research Policy has been replaced with a new Sponsored Research and Research Contracts Policy, now available on UPEI’s Policy website. This new policy, along with the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), comes into effect now so all new sponsored research will be governed by this policy and its procedures. ORS encourages researchers to review the policy and SOPs. 

Summary of main changes: The indirect cost rate for research projects (“overhead”) has been revised to adopt a fixed rate of 25% on all direct costs, with half of this going to the Office of the Vice-President Academic and Research and half to the PI’s Faculty, with some exceptions, as outlined in the SOPs. Additionally, there is a portion of indirect costs (generally 30% of the Faculty’s share) that will be distributed from the Faculty to the PI to support research-related activities. The AVC Distribution of Overheads from Research Contracts Policy is unchanged and applies to all AVC research projects. The AVC Policy can be found on myupei.ca.   

The following changes have been applied to UPEI Researcher Portal application forms:

• Research CONTRACTS Approvals Form (rev. Sept 2022): An updated budget spreadsheet incorporating the new indirect cost calculations is available in this form. All new contracts submitted must use the new budget spreadsheet. There are separate tabs for MAIN campus and AVC that automate the indirect cost rate calculations.
• Research GRANTS Approvals Form (rev. Sept 2022): The budget spreadsheet is removed from this form and is no longer required.

The following change has been applied to UPEI Researcher Portal event forms:

• Account Modification Form (Rev July 2024): modified to permit the option for the PI to request their portion of the Faculty’s indirect costs (generally 30%). These requests for PI share of indirect costs must occur after the funds have been transferred to the faculty, which is based on the contract terms and conditions. Normally, project claims occur at the end of the project. 

If there are any questions about the changes and updates, please contact Maria Steele, Manager of Research Administration, Partnerships, and Innovation, at 902-566-6479, mlsteele@upei.ca.