Don’t fear university contracts officers—we’re here to help
Of all the inhabitants of a university research office, the contracts officers are perhaps the least well-known.
As an academic, you know where you are with pre-award support staff: they are there to help you win awards by providing project costings, explaining funder guidelines and generally burnishing your application to a brilliant shine. Next, once the project has been awarded funding, the finance team will give you the budget code that allows you to start hiring staff, spending and generally getting stuck into the research.