Principal Investigator (PI): identifies the individual responsible for activities on a research project or activity, particularly those funded by a grant, a cooperative agreement, a training or public service project, a contract, or other sponsored mechanism. Responsibilities include the intellectual conduct of the project, fiscal accountability, administration, and compliance. The PI may share these responsibilities with a multi-investigator team.

Project Director (PD): identifies an individual responsible for the conduct of a non-research sponsored project. Responsibilities are the same as the Principal Investigator.

Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI): identifies a senior member of the key personnel team who shares administrative, fiscal, and scientific conduct with the PI on research projects. A Co-PI can be named in the proposal and on project documentation, provided that the role of Co-PI is accepted by the sponsor. For example, NIH allows the designation of only a single PI and does not recognize Co-PI as a role. As such, the terms “Co-PI” and “multiple PI” are not interchangeable for NIH grants (See definition of MPI).

Co-Investigator (Co-I): identifies a member of the project team who conducts the scientific portion of a research project. Co-Is can be named in the proposal provided the sponsor accepts the role.    

Multiple Principal Investigator (MPI): identifies two or more individuals who share responsibility for the conduct of the project. Investigators will use the multiple PD/PI designation when all PDs/PIs share the responsibility and authority and when the sponsor so indicates. Under the multiple principal investigators concept, the National Institute of Health (NIH) refers to multiple investigators as “PI” while the National Science Foundation (NSF) does not infer any distinction in scientific stature among multiple PIs, and refers to multiple investigators as “Co-PIs”.  See NIH Multiple Principal Investigators for more sponsor specifics. For both sponsors, the first PI listed will serve as the contact PI and must be affiliated with the submitting institution.

Contact PI: Projects with Multiple Principal Investigators must designate a Contact PI responsible for communications among the project team, the sponsor, and UMB.

Each proposed Principal Investigator must have an appropriate level of authority and responsibility to direct the project or program supported by the grant. The presence of more than one identified PD/PI on an application or award diminishes neither the responsibility nor the accountability of any individual PD/PI. Each PD/PI is responsible and accountable to the applicant organization, or, as appropriate, to a collaborating organization, for the proper conduct of the project or program including the submission of all required reports.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has established review criteria to evaluate investigators. Peer reviewers are asked to consider the following in proposal review:

• Are the PD/PIs, collaborators, and other researchers well-suited to the project?
• If Early Stage Investigators or New Investigators, do they have appropriate experience and training? If established, have they demonstrated an ongoing record of accomplishments that have advanced their field(s)?
• If the project is collaborative or multi-PD/PI, do the investigators have complementary and integrated expertise; are their leadership approach, governance, and organizational structure appropriate for the project?

To facilitate communication with the NIH, a “Contact PI” is identified at the time of application. The Contact PI is analogous to a corresponding author on a publication. The Contact PI will be responsible for relaying communications between all of the PIs and the NIH. Being named Contact PI does not confer any special authority or responsibility for the project. It is possible, and may be desirable, for UMB to periodically designate a change in Contact PI. For example, it may be desirable to rotate the role of Contact PI among the Multiple PIs at UMB on an annual basis at the time of grant renewal. The Contact PI must be located at the institution submitting the application. In Kuali Research, for PHS grants, the roles of PI/Contact and PI/Multiple will be available.

The NIH requires a Leadership Plan to describe the roles and areas of responsibility of the named PIs. The Leadership Plan must lay out the process for making decisions on scientific direction, allocating resources, and resolving disputes that may arise. The peer reviewers will consider the quality of the Leadership Plan as part of the assessment of scientific and technical merit. NIH Resource on creating a strong Multiple PI Leadership Plan.

If budget allocation among UMB PIs is planned, the distribution of resources to specific components of the project or the individual PIs should be delineated in the proposal.

For NIH proposals, the allocation must be described in the Leadership Plan. In the event of an award, the requested allocations will be reflected in a footnote on the Notice of Grant Award that indicates the allocations requested. Re-allocation of funds must be via a joint decision of the PIs, and the process for re-allocation should be included as part of the approach described in the Leadership Plan.

For NIH proposals, if one of the PIs is at another institution, the proposal should include a subcontract proposal for the other institution, and the funding allocation will be administered through a subcontract.

For NSF proposals, a single proposal may include a subaward for a PI at another institution, or by simultaneous submission of proposals from different organizations, with each organization requesting a separate award.

For NIH proposals, if one of the PIs is at another institution, the proposal should include a subcontract proposal for the other institution, and the funding allocation will be administered through a subcontract. The Contact PI must be located at the institution submitting the application.

NSF’s proposal preparation requirements accommodate the ability to identify Principal Investigators located at different institutions through use of the collaborative proposal process. Collaborative proposals may be submitted to NSF in one of two methods: as a single proposal, in which a single award is being requested (with subawards administered by the lead organization); or by simultaneous submission of proposals from different organizations, with each organization requesting a separate award. In either case, the lead organization's proposal must contain all of the requisite sections as a single package to be provided to reviewers.