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MANAGEMENT & ETHICS

When is PI's travel "excessive"? Can it be charged to grant?

Reader Question: I have several grants that require me to collaborate with out-of-town researchers in three locations. I've also received a number of requests to describe my research in seminars at other universities. But here's my question: What criteria does one use to decide how much travel is "too much?" Also, would these trips be chargeable to my grant? What about the cost of visiting a distant university to present a seminar on my grant subject?

Expert Comments: I have several grants that require me to collaborate with out-of-town researchers in three locations. I've also received a number of requests to describe my research in seminars at other universities. Here's my question: What criteria does one use to decide how much travel is "too much?" Also, would these trips be chargeable to my grant?

• You’re getting your research done.
• You’re submitting timely progress reports of your research.
• Your reports are approved.

To arrive at those outcomes, you’ll need to look at some management issues. Consider these questions: How much of your work are you comfortable having done at your institution by post-docs and graduate students? Who's going to observe and mentor them when you’re away? How can you oversee people conducting research and preparing documents for which you as principal investigator are ultimately responsible?

To do a lot of traveling (and have satisfactory answers to the above questions), you’ll need to depend a great deal on the people around you. How much faith do you have in those to whom you delegate the above responsibilities? If you fully trust them, fine. But if you have doubts, you could be putting yourself in a potentially tenuous situation by not being readily available. So ultimately, it’s about outcomes (the research is getting done) — and process (how well your staff is managing when you’re not there).

Of course you can remain in frequent communication, but it’s not the same as being in the lab, directly supervising people. At the very least, you'll want someone in charge who'll make sound decisions and respond to most situations the way you would.

The terms and conditions of your hire matter, too. If this amount of travel was expected at the time of hire, it shouldn't be an issue now. If not, you should have had those discussions with your department chair during your grant-application processes and before you signed the Notice of Grant Awards. The point is, your travel shouldn’t be a surprise.

One piece of advice: Keep in frequent contact with the post-docs, showing interest in what they're doing, regularly asking simple but sincere questions like, "What are you working on today? "How did that project turn out yesterday?" or "Will you call me tomorrow at 2 and let me know the results of the experiment?" Such questions show your keen interest what your staff is doing, and from their feedback you'll know their comfort level with this much delegation.

Is the travel chargeable to the grant? If the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is giving you a grant and allows these travel charges, then you’re OK. The answer is specific to your grant and your institution's policies — your program officer will tell you. If the travel isn’t chargeable, then you will have to find other sources of funds to cover it.

Expert Comments Coming Next Week: by Barbara Humphrey, research development coordinator, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, N.Y.