Types of Sponsored Agreements

Overview

An agreement is a legal document detailing the obligations of two or more parties over the course of a research or services project.  It typically has specific deliverables and milestones to be met and dictates how the contracting parties will interact with each other, including payment and from time-to-time, other issues such as publicity, confidentiality, publication and ownership of intellectual property (including academic and other copyrights, and inventions or patents, and options to license the intellectual property arising from the research).  Agreements may be called by a variety of names, such as a sponsored research agreement, contract for services, subaward, or master agreement. Examples are listed below.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks, rather than a UAF principal investigator (PI), is the responsible contracting party in relation to formal agreements. This means all contracts must be negotiated, reviewed, and accepted by the University rather than by individual faculty. Each agreement comes with terms and conditions which must be thoroughly reviewed prior to acceptance.  While UAF policy and State law give general direction regarding acceptable terms, the nature of the proposed project and sponsor type will ultimately determine how an agreement is written and who can approve and sign it.