Changes to Sponsored Research Structure and Contacts
November 6, 2025
As a part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen operations, Sponsored Research (SR) will be implementing an internal restructuring which will impact the Proposals & Award Acceptance and Contracts & Negotiations teams. No other SR teams are impacted by the re-organization. The main objective of these changes is to improve efficiency, strengthen partnerships with the research community, and streamline processes. These changes will take effect on Tuesday, November 18, 2025.
Functional Team Changes
Teams will be restructured into a Pre-Award team, an Award Management team, and a Contracts & Award Acceptance team:
- The Pre-Award team (previously known as the Proposals team) will handle all pre-award activities, including proposal review and submission, post-submission updates, and other activities such as submission of just-in-time information.
- The Award Management team will handle all post-award activities. A single point of contact will be assigned to each department for all award management responsibilities. This team member will be your liaison for post-award changes, including the acceptance of outyear funding, and award modification requests. They will also assist with any annual or final reporting that requires Sponsored Research endorsement (anticipated January 2026).
- The new Contracts & Award Acceptance team (previously known as Contracts & Negotiations) will handle all complex award reviews and all negotiations. This team brings together the expertise of Sponsored Research Officers - who have traditionally managed Federal and non-profit award acceptance - with the team responsible for negotiating industry-sponsored funding and non-funded agreements.
Summary of roles & responsibilities
Contacts and Constituency Changes
As a result of these changes, some SR team members will have new roles, and you may see a change in the team members assigned to your department. A list of new constituency assignments will go into effect on November 18.
Assignments in CERES
- Be sure to check the Specialist assigned to your proposal or award in CERES; this will be your primary contact for any pre- or post-award activity.
- Agreement assignments and status updates can be monitored on the specific Agreement record. The “Owner” assigned on the agreement is the direct contact for any questions or concerns.
Items in Process
- Items that are currently being reviewed (e.g., proposals with revisions requested or AMRs pending a sponsor response) will stay with the currently assigned SR team member.
- All items that have not yet been reviewed will be re-assigned to the new SR team member responsible. This includes award modification requests and awards under negotiation.
Additional Information
A webinar will be held on November 13, 2025, at 2:00pm to provide an overview of these changes and answer questions from the community. We encourage your questions, which can be submitted in advance by emailing SponsoredResearch@northwestern.edu or submitted live during the session. Register for the webinar now.