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SR News & Updates

September 16, 2026

New Proposal Development & Submission Training and Resources  

 As announced at the beginning of September, a new Proposal Development and Submission SPOT course is now available in MyHR Learn as part of the Intro to Research Administration curriculum. This 45-minute course provides research administrators with an overview of the processes, policies, and expectations for preparing and submitting proposals at Northwestern. In addition, the following resources were developed to complement the course: 

Designed for both new and experienced research administrators, the course establishes a common foundation of knowledge and reflects current proposal requirements and review practices. Participants will learn about:  

  • Required proposal documentation and approvals 
  • Which proposal components are reviewed by Sponsored Research and which are not  
  • Best practices for compliant, complete, and on-time proposal submissions  

Research administrators who prepare or submit proposals, as well as managers who oversee proposal submissions, are asked to complete the course and become familiar with the accompanying resources.   

October Coffee Connect: Required Documents

Tuesday, October 6, 11:00am

Ever had a proposal returned without review because it was missing required documentation? Join us to learn more about the standard documents needed for proposal review. Bring your coffee and your questions!

Research Portal Enhancement Project Phase 1 

 New functions and features were added to the Research Portal on September 10, including: 

  1. Ability for PIs to create favorite lists
  2. Salary summary pages and downloadable reports 
  3. Additional non-sponsored funding sources 
  4. Clinical trial display and balance enhancements 

Favorite Lists 

PIs can now create a personalized list of personnel within the Research Portal to quickly access salary information for staff they supervise. To add individuals paid from sponsored projects, click the star icon next to the person's name. The new Add People feature allows PIs to search for and add additional staff members to their list. Research administrators with Research Portal access can also view a PI's favorite list to support collaboration and reporting. 

Summary Page 

Users can now view salary summary information for personnel based on selected filters. From the People page, select a personnel filter and click Show Summary to generate a salary report. Users can also export the previous 12 months of data to Excel by selecting Download Summary. 

Non-Sponsored Funding Sources 

Additional non-sponsored and non-project funding sources are now available in the Research Portal, providing enhanced reporting and planning capabilities for researchers. Salary data continues to adhere to university security parameters, including restrictions on faculty access to other faculty salary information. Restricted salary amounts are displayed as ‘$*.**’. 

Clinical Trial Updates 

The updated Project page includes a new Industry Clinical Trials section for projects with a clinical trial balance. As a result, not all clinical trials will appear in this section. Federal clinical trials and clinical trials with no expenses or cash received will continue to appear in the Sponsored Projects section. For applicable projects, the new Clinical Trials section displays a calculated balance of cash received less expenses. Project detail pages for these trials have also been updated to remove budgeted amounts and display the calculated clinical trial balance instead. 

NIH 2026 LRP Cycle is Open 

The 2026 application period for NIH Extramural Loan Repayment Programs (LRP) is now open. The NIH LRPs are a set of programs designed to recruit and retain highly qualified health professionals into biomedical or biobehavioral research careers. Detailed information can be found on the NIH LRP website.    

Northwestern Submission Process    

Applicants must submit a completed and signed Northwestern Loan Repayment Program Certification Form by close of business on November 12, 2026. The form must be completed, attested by the applicant, departmental administrator/manager, department chair/division chief, and submitted via the NIH LRP Certification Submission e-Form. Visit the NIH Loan Repayment Program (LRP) page on the Sponsored Research website for more information about completing the institutional certifications.