Special Research Projects

Special Research Projects (SRPs) are a type of research project used to hold funding that meets the following three conditions:

If any of the above criteria are not met, the funds cannot reside in an SRP.

These projects must be used to incur research related expenses, in accordance with the Special Research Projects Procedure .

All SRPs require a minimum opening balance of $2,000.

There are two types of Special Research Projects (SRPs): internal and external. Faculty members may only hold one of each.

internal SRPs are used when the funding is awarded by a Queen’s program or unit.
external SRPs are used when the sponsor/source of funding is external to Queen’s.

PROCEDURES AT A GLANCE

For more detail, please refer to the Special Research Projects Procedure .

To open a new SRP, please create a TRAQ DSS. See the general checklist for a more detailed step-by-step guide
Project title: please include “Internal SRP” or “External SRP”
If internal SRP: select Queen’s as the “Agency” and your Faculty or Department (depending where the funds are coming from) as the “Program”
If external SRP: if the sponsor is not an available Agency, please contact traq@queensu.ca to request adding them to the list of available sponsors
Upload a copy of the funding letter: dated, addressed to the PI as recipient of the funds and the amount, stating no conditions (as listed above)**
Attach any required certifications (Human Ethics/Animal Care/Biohazard)

**Please note that an invoice or cheque is NOT sufficient documentation to set-up a new SRP.

If you have an active SRP, additional funds of the same source category (internal or external) may be deposited directly by your departmental finance officer without notifying Research Services
Please speak with Research Accounting at research.accounting@queensu.ca if you are receiving funds from a collaborator to offset costs already incurred as eligible expenses against another research project, e.g., when offsetting expenses related to training student from a collaborator’s research group. Research Accounting staff can help determine whether the scenario is eligible for External Cost Recovery instead of setting up a new project
Depositing personal funds into an SRP requires pre-approval from your Associate Dean (Research), Research Accounting and the VP Research portfolio
Questions regarding indirect costs revenue or management of residual funding from other projects should be directed to research.accounting@queensu.ca and do not require a new TRAQ submission

For more information:

If you have any questions, please reach out to a Research Facilitator in Research Services:

Jenn Nicol