Principal Investigator Eligibility for External Funding

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PI Eligible Positions
PI Ineligible Positions
Request a PI Eligibility Waiver

PI Eligible Positions

It is University Policy that any individual who holds one of the following UF positions and have signed the Intellectual Property Agreement Section of the UF HR Four-in-One form are eligible to be a Principal Investigator (PI), including all PIs on a multiple PI project, and submit proposals for external funding:

A. Faculty in Tenure Accruing Tracks

• Professor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor
• Curator, Assistant Curator, Associate Curator
• Librarian, Assistant Librarian, Associate Librarian
• Graduate Research Professor
• Distinguished Service Professor
• Distinguished Research Curator
• Eminent Scholar

B.  Faculty in Non-Tenure Accruing Tracks

• Scientist, Assistant Scientist, Associate Scientist
• Scholar, Assistant Scholar, Associate Scholar
• Engineer, Assistant Engineer, Associate Engineer
• Research Professor, Assistant Research Professor, Associate Research Professor
• Extension Scientist, Assistant Extension Scientist, Associate Extension Scientist
• Clinical Professor, Clinical Assistant Professor, Clinical Associate Professor

C. Other University Faculty and Personnel

• Professor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor at P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School
• Instructor at P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School
• IFAS County Extension Faculty
• Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, and Master Lecturer
• Chief of Police

D. Emeritus Appointees

Each unit shall decide if Emeritus appointees will be allowed to submit proposals. If yes, the Emeritus Professor must have an active job in PeopleSoft HR (generally courtesy faculty). Once this job is active, the Chair must still request PI eligibility per the section titled “PI Ineligible Positions to Submit Proposals” below.

E. New Hires

New faculty hires with a PI eligible position will automatically be loaded into UFIRST as soon as they have an active job in PeopleSoft HR. It is strongly recommended that for any faculty member who has accepted a faculty position at UF, the unit have a UF job entry created as soon as possible. If only a temporary courtesy faculty appointment is created, when a UFIRST proposal is initiated, the unit will need to send a UFIRST ad hoc approval request (type: “Request  PI Eligibility”) to Stephanie Gray and include a copy of the official job offer letter. With a copy of the job offer loaded, the Chair/College/Director/Dean approval referenced below can be skipped. Please note that a UFID and GatorLink are both needed before an individual will populate in UFIRST.

PI Ineligible Positions

Individuals who hold the following UF positions are not eligible to be a Principal Investigator unless they have a UF eligible PI serve as Co-Principal Investigator (internally or as part of the formal grant application) and have written approval from the unit (Chair/Director and Dean or the cabinet member over the unit if administrative) and DSP.

A. Ineligible Positions

• Visiting Faculty
• Assistant In, Associate In, Senior Associate In
• Adjunct Faculty
• Research Associates
• Courtesy Faculty
• Postdoctoral Employees
• OPS Faculty
• Graduate Students
• Non-Faculty

Use UFIRST to Request a Waiver of PI Eligibility for Non-Eligible Positions:

• Use the “Request Ad Hoc Review” activity on the appropriate UFIRST Proposal. Select DSP’s Director, Stephanie Gray, as the ad hoc reviewer and select “Request PI Eligibility” as the type of review.
• The request should be specific to the project and contain information about the qualifications and capabilities of the individual that would allow the person to perform the duties of a PI.
• Include in the request the name of the individual with PI eligibility that will act as Co-PI on the project and assume the PI role in case the approved PI cannot fulfill the responsibilities.
• Include correspondence indicating Chair/Director and Associate Dean approval, or have such ad hoc approvals already completed on the UFIRST record.
  • For new hires, this approval can be in the form of a signed job offer letter. If the individual seeking eligibility is not within an academic unit, approval from the cabinet member over the unit must be attached.

Last updated 9/13/24