Process for Extramural Grants Submission
AKU uses an electronic extramural grant submission portal:
Pure Award Management Module (AMM), for due diligence review and approval by the various support offices of the University.
Proposal (Pre-Award) Submission Requirements
To apply for an external grant, please follow these steps:
- Create an application in the system through
Pure (AMM). Once the application has been created and all the required information has been entered in the system, the Principal Investigators (PIs)/Grant Administrators (GAs)/ should notify the Research Office (RO) for validation via history and comment section within Pure AMM. The
list of authorized faculty and staff registered in Pure AMM are as follows:
Pure Users Pakistan
Pure Users East Africa
Pure Users United Kingdom
After receiving the online proposal (pre-award) application, the RO
initiates a review process and validates the application. The review and approval from all the relevant departments will be recorded online on Pure AMM. The stakeholders of the proposal i.e. PIs, Co-Investigators (Co-Is), and GAs will receive notifications in case there are any queries to be addressed. The applications are initiated by the GAs on behalf of the PIs in the Pure AMM at least
10 working days before the proposal submission deadline to allow for a thorough review and validation by all authorized institutional approvers, including the RO. The final RO review, resolution of further queries after review, and sign-off require 48 hours altogether (included in the 10-working day window) after all approvals have been obtained from the authorized institutional approvers.
| Description | Responsible Person(s) | Timeline (Working days) |
| Proposal (Pre-Award) Application Initiation | Principal Investigator (PI) or Grant Administrator (GA) on behalf of PI | At least 10 days before the sponsor deadline |
| The Research Office (RO) reviews and validates the application | RO | Immediately after being notified by PI or GA in Pure AMM (RO validates within a day) |
| Department/Entity Head and Stakeholder Approvals | All relevant departments | Within a 07 days window |
| RO Final Check (after all departmental approvals received) | RO | Within 2 days |
The PI is required to complete the section on collaborators entitled
‘Multicentre /Collaborative Grants’ in the application to ensure that the relationship between AKU and the sub-recipient is clear, and the selection of the sub-recipient can be justified. For all subcontracts/collaborative sub-awards (national/international). AKU will ensure that due diligence of new sub-recipients is undertaken. This would require the sub-recipient to fill out the relevant forms detailed below:
- Form A is for reputable collaborators and only seeks basic information e.g. reputable universities in the West.
- Form B is for new sub-awardees and more detailed information is asked to enable internal AKU departments like Finance, Legal, and others to review the organization.
- Form C has especially been prepared for government entities.
The relevant forms are to be provided along with the supporting documents. The RO, Finance, and Legal will review the documents relevant to the scope of their risk review (e.g. Legal office will review the constitution documents of the potential sub-recipient to confirm the legal status while Finance may opine on the financials). Refer to
Annexure III: Process for Research Reputational Risk Assessment of Sponsors/Sub-awardees for Extramural Grant Applications.
Review the list of AKU pre-approved sponsors. If the sponsor is not on the list, initiate the new sponsor due diligence process. Once approvals are obtained from all relevant authorised institutional approvers, the Department Head/Entity Head, and the RO, the grant proposal can be submitted to the funding agency.
For queries related to the technical aspects of the Pure AMM, contact pure.support@aku.edu or refer to the Pure AMM User Guide.
Award Phase Requirements
The official signing authority for all documents to be submitted, resides with the Vice Provost (VP), Research. Final approval of all grants (research, educational, developmental, clinical trials), letters of intent (LOIs), contracts, applications for performance of work (APWs), and agreements are endorsed by the VP, Research before submission to the funding agency.
Please notify the RO via Pure AMM (history and comments section) when the submission of the proposal to the funding agency is done so that the status of your proposal can be recorded accordingly.
Agreement/Acceptance
Once you receive an acceptance offer from the grant agency, immediately inform the RO (via the history and comments section) to initiate the award workflow phase. RO, Finance, Legal, and Compliance will provide their input to ensure the aptness of each clause in the agreement. Such clauses may need to be negotiated with the funding agent for appropriate adjustment. Once all observations are satisfied, the clean agreement is then uploaded to the Pure AMM for the final signature of the VP, Research or the desginee.
The signing official in line with AKU authorization matrix, has institutional authority to legally bind the institution in matters of grant administration. A five working day timeline is required for the VP, Research to sign off on grants/any other related documents.
Withdrawals and Rejection
If the PI/GA receives notice that the proposal has been rejected or that they choose to withdraw the application, please forward the written notification via Pure AMM (history and comments section) to update on the status of the grant. It is important also to get a written justification/comments on why the proposal was rejected, to inform future proposals.
Reporting
The funding agency will require you to submit interim and/or final reports about the project. Please create the milestones/deliverables in the project phase created by RO in the Pure AMM following the agency’s stated guidelines for reporting and upload all the reports into the Pure AMM for record purposes.
Electronic Submission Requirements
Electronic submission refers to the submission of grant applications by means of email, web form, or funding agency’s portal. When applicants are required to submit proposals electronically, the PI/GA should at the time of initiating the grant applications:
E-Submission Portal List – PK
E-Submission Portal List – EA
E-Submission Portal List - UK
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If the funding portal is not on any of these lists, please notify the RO immediately via
research.office@aku.edu so that they can create a central institutional portal. Please do not create a portal at the entity/department/user end to avoid duplication of portals.
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Where applicable, notify the RO at
research.office@aku.edu that the submission is due via a funding agency’s portal.
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Strictly adhere to the guidelines of the funding agency.
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Immediately respond to queries highlighted by the RO to ensure timely proposal submission.
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Submit the final application to RO 5 business days prior to the funding agency’s deadline to allow RO time to address errors identified by the electronic system and submit an error-free application on time.
Send softcopies of the project proposal via Pure AMM for sign-off to the RO by the VP, Research.
Please use
research.office@aku.edu as the official contact address for the institutional authorized signatory, and refrain from providing the personal email address of the VP, Research.
