Role Confusion: How to tell the difference between Co-Investigators, Consultants, and others for an NIH proposal

Role confusion comes up often when planning NIH grant proposals.  There are several terms that are sometimes used interchangeably which actually represent different things.  Also, NIH terms differ from those of other funding agencies.  It is important to pay attention to the various role definitions and ensure you are using them correctly in your application.

For example, I have often heard Principal Investigators (PIs) refer to individuals from within their organizations as "Consultants".  At most universities, a Consultant is unable to be listed from within the organization.  Consultants are paid directly from the grant - the money is sent to them in their name - and thus it is typical to include individuals from within the organization as Co-Investigators (with measurable effort) or Other Significant Contributors (with no measurable effort). 

The term "Co-PI" is also used often to describe multiple PIs on a grant application.  However, NIH does not recognize the term "Co-PI"; rather, NIH uses the Multiple PI model and the PIs are referred to as Contact PI or MPI.

Confused yet?

Thankfully, there is a helpful page from NIAID that lists key roles and their definitions.  Keep this handy as you develop your Budget Justification and write about the research team in your Research Strategy.