r/ResearchAdmin

This notice came on 17 August 2026. The Department of War (DoW) sent notices to 30 US universities. The notices tell the universities to check their ties with foreign entities of concern. The check must cover academic ties, funding ties, and research ties.

The notices name two types of foreign entities:

**•**	Entities on the Section 1286 list. This list comes from the FY19 NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act).  
**•**	Groups connected to renamed Confucius Institutes.

The Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering sent the notices. Emil Michael holds this position. He said the DoW will not accept academic partnerships that create risk to national security. Dr. Joseph Jewell is the Assistant Secretary of War for Science and Technology. He said the DoW must protect its research funds from foreign misuse.

Each university must do four tasks before 31 August 2026:

**1.**	Audit all known foreign collaborations.  
**2.**	Check if the audit finds risk to sensitive or export-controlled research.  
**3.**	Write a plan to reduce the risk. The plan may include the end of some partnerships.  
**4.**	Send a report to the DoW. The report must describe the findings and the actions.

If a university does not comply, the university may lose future federal research funds.

The DoW works with other groups on this action:

**•**	House Armed Services Committee  
**•**	Senate Armed Services Committee  
**•**	House Appropriations Committee  
**•**	Senate Appropriations Committee  
**•**	House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party

Why this notice is important for other institutions:

The DoW did not name your institution in this notice. But the notice sends a clear signal to all institutions that receive federal research funds. Research security compliance is now mandatory. It is not optional.

Federal rules now require institutions to show proof of compliance. Institutions cannot only state that they comply. These rules include NSPM-33 (National Security Presidential Memorandum 33), foreign influence disclosure rules, and export control rules.

The DoW gave the 30 universities a short time to respond. This short deadline reveals a problem. Many research security programs cannot give fast answers during an audit. Data about foreign collaborations is often spread across many places. This data includes co-authorship records, funding disclosures, and training records. Each department may hold different pieces of this data. Each researcher may also hold different pieces of this data. For this reason, a routine audit can become a serious risk to funding.

Does anyone here work at one of the 30 named universities?

Um. Y'all. I just tried to save JIT materials in Commons on behalf of a PI, and it seems the Commons permissions are now set so that only a SO and the PI can save them. I swear I just saved JIT materials for a PI in the last few weeks...

We’re submitting U grant for Oct 2nd deadline.

Should I be getting letters of collaboration in the new format instead of a letter of support?

Asking to get some context on whether unallowed foreign subawards can be adjusted to domestic/removed during the pre-award phase.

I recently finished my master’s in psychology and after job hunting for a bit found an entry level research administrator role at a cancer institute and accepted their offer (the role covers full end-to-end cycle).

I’m curious from those of you who have done the job, regardless of what field you’re in now, giving a bit of details on career progression (i.e., job title, salary, years it took to get there, work/life balance, and if there’s any unique skills/background as to why you got there if it’s abnormal).

I would also love to hear pros/cons but feel free to keep it as detailed or succinct as you are willing to be!

I unfortunately recently lost my job as a Program Coordinator for an academic program due to loss of external funding. A little bit about my career, I did a PhD in pathology and worked in cancer research for a couple decades before shifting to admin style work. Bascially helped run research programs and projects for grad students and coordinating events/symposiums and grant applications and whatnot. I understand the job market isn't the best, honestly just looking for anything that could be remotely a fit with a half decent salary. Any tips are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hello! Does anyone know of a mechanism to check if an NIH biosketch is compliant before submitting an application? One of my Co-I’s told me his orcid and commons were linked but turns out they were not. We discovered this when the system validated. My PI told me that I need to ensure compliance prior to applying but I thought I did (by verifying with the Co-I).
Is there any way for an admin to check Biosketch compliance prior to submission? TIA!

Just got back from NCURA, and everyone there seemed like they used AI a ton for their work. I have a paid Claude account that I use to check NOFOS, but not sure what else to do? Never built any agents either.

Any advice?

We received a JIT request asking for Other Support. The PI I support is listed as a mentor on the K01 application. Should this K01 be included on the mentor’s Other Support with 0% effort? TIA!

I’ve always thought that although visa costs is acceptable on grants, the premium processing fee is not (per the uniform guidance) on federal grants. I recently took over a portfolio and have a PI who told me that the previous grants manager has approved paying for premium processing fee on the grant before.

My old institution used to always have processing fee be covered under institutional funds. Am I misremembering about premium fees? Does anyone have the link to where in UG it specifies that premium fees are not allowable? TIA!

I'm looking to relocate to San Diego from the east coast, and I've been a Research Administrator for over 10 years. There r a few openings on the website, and I was wondering if any current employees can share their experience working there? I know every department can drastically differ, but hoping to get a general idea. Looking at the job description for the RA 3, it seems a lot of responsibility and high volume for the salary. I know it'll be expensive moving and the SD lifestyle, so I'm looking at $95K+. Also how many days r u required to be in the office?