UW Effort and what's allocable to sponsored projects

This section contains some long lists. You don't need to memorize them, as they're posted for your reference on the RSP Web site. But you should understand the general principles regarding how to classify your work activities as well as some specifics we highlight along the way.

What counts as UW Effort?

Because you must certify 100% of your UW effort, it's important to know what counts as UW effort and what doesn't. The basic rule is:

Your UW effort includes all the professional activities for which you are compensated by the university.

Specifically, it includes the following:

•		Externally sponsored research, including all activities that the federal government recognizes as allocable to sponsored projects
•		Departmental and university research that is not funded by an outside source
•		Instruction and university supported academic effort, including classroom teaching and resident training
•		Administration, including your role as department chair, program director, or dean
•		Service on institutional committees such as IRBs, IACUCs, and governance bodies
•		Effort expended on preparing proposals for new or continuing sponsored projects
•		Activities related to pursuing intellectual property
•		Public service activities directly related to UW professional duties
•		Outreach activities that directly relate to UW professional duties
•		Paid absences, including vacation time and sick leave

When you receive compensation from someone else, the activity is not part of your UW effort. In addition, some other uncompensated activities do not count as UW effort. Specifically, the activities you SHOULD NOT count as part of your total UW effort are:

•		Consulting outside of the UW
•		Clinical activities for which you are compensated by the UW Medical Foundation
•		Veterans Administration Hospital compensated activities, which are documented in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
•		Advisory activities for sponsors, such as service on an NIH study section or NSF peer review panel, regardless of whether you are compensated in any way
•		Peer review of manuscripts, regardless of whether you are compensated
•		Leadership in professional societies
•		Volunteer community or public service not directly related to UW effort
•		Lectures or presentations for which you're compensated by a source other than the UW
•		Other special activities resulting in a payment of a bonus or other one-time extra compensation
•		Activities over and above or separate from your assigned responsibilities in your primary position, including service as the primary editor of a journal
•		Unpaid absences

Activities that can be allocated to a sponsored project

Your sponsored effort is part of your UW effort. When you certify sponsored effort, it’s important to know what activities can be allocated to a sponsored project. The basic rule is:

A sponsored project can only be charged for activities that directly relate to the work of the project.

Here are some specific activities that can be charged to sponsored research:

•		Directing or participating in any aspect of the research related to the specific project
•		Providing clinical patient care to human research subjects as designated in an IRB-approved research protocol
•		Writing a progress report for the project, sometimes called a continuation proposal
•		Holding a meeting with lab staff to discuss the specific research project
•		Activities *contributing to and intimately related to work under the agreement*, including: Participating in appropriate seminars Consulting with colleagues about specific aspects of the project Delivering special lectures about specific aspects of the ongoing activity Attending a scientific conference held by an outside professional society to present research results Reading scientific journals to keep up to date with the latest developments in one's field Mentoring graduate students on the specific research project
•		Making an invention disclosure, and some other activities related to pursuing intellectual property – as long as it is directly related to the project and the effort occurs within the project award period

Activities that cannot be allocated to sponsored projects

Here are some specific activities that cannot be charged to a sponsored project because they do not directly relate to the work of the project:

•		Proposal-writing, except for non-competing continuations (progress reports); this includes: Developing necessary data to support the proposal Writing, editing, and submitting the proposal
•		Administration, including service as a department chair or dean
•		Instruction, office hours, counseling for students, and mentoring graduate students on something other than a specific research project
•		Clinical activity, except patient care for an IRB-approved sponsored research activity
•		Service on an IRB, IACUC, selection committee, or other similar group
•		Course or curriculum development not specific to your research project
•		Writing textbook chapters
•		Fundraising
•		Lobbying

In addition, work that falls outside of the definition of UW effort would not be allocated to a sponsored project. This includes:

•		Service as the primary editor of a journal
•		Peer review of manuscripts, regardless of whether compensation is received
•		Advisory activities for sponsors, including service on an NIH study section or NSF review panel, regardless of whether compensation is received

Examples of specific activities and how to classify them

From the above lists, a few items deserve special mention:

Type of activity		How to classify it
Writing a proposal for a new sponsored project or competing continuation		You cannot charge a sponsor for your time spent doing this. You must count this as a non-sponsored activity. It falls under the heading of *administration*.
Mentoring students		When the mentoring is specific to a sponsored project, this is a sponsored project activity. When the mentoring is of a general nature, or specific to something other than the sponsored project, you cannot count it as a sponsored project activity.
Research patient care		*Only* the care that is described in an IRB-approved protocol, and that would not have been provided but for a specific research purpose, counts as sponsored activity. Patient care that is part of the normal standard of care *cannot* be counted as sponsored activity, even if provided to a research subject.
UWMF clinical activity		This is *outside of total UW effort*, because your compensation comes directly from the UW Medical Foundation rather than the university.
UW clinical activity		This is part of your total UW effort, because you are compensated directly by the university. But you cannot count it as sponsored project activity.

Effort that's too small to count

Activities that you do on an infrequent, irregular basis are sometimes "so small" that they cannot (and should not) be accounted for. In any calculations of effort, you can ignore these activities when they add up to less than one percent of your total UW effort.

Activities that may qualify as de minimis effort – depending on their nature and extent, and on the amount of time you devote to them relative to your total UW effort – include service on an ad hoc committee (like a search committee) and participating in department or division meetings.

In addition, some activities are intrinsic to your daily routine and not separate from your teaching, research, administrative, or other duties. Requesting your parking assignment, picking up your complimentary Madison Metro bus pass, and submitting a travel expense report are examples of such activities. Do not count these in a separate category of effort.

Grant proposal writing and well-defined, regular administrative or service activities cannot be considered "so small," and therefore don't qualify as de minimis effort.

True UW activities cannot be characterized as unfunded, volunteer, or weekend work