Funding lifecycle and financial vocabulary Working Group

Charter and scope

What the Funding lifecycle and financial vocabulary working group covers

The Funding lifecycle and financial vocabulary working group defines the language of grant calls, awards, no-cost extensions, indirect costs, biosketches, current-and-pending support and the financial reporting expected by funders. It works with the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA), Association of Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA), euroCRIS and major funder offices to harmonise vocabulary so research-administration data flows cleanly from pre-award through closeout, and so a researcher's funding portfolio means the same thing in any system.

• ›Pre-award lifecycle vocabulary (calls, intentions, proposals)
• ›Award terms (indirect costs, F&A, overhead variants)
• ›Current-and-pending support and other support disclosure
• ›No-cost extensions, supplements, carryover, rebudgeting
• ›Biosketch and CV elements driven by funder
• ›Sub-award and consortium financial vocabulary
• ›Closeout and final-reporting terminology

This is one of 33 CASRAI working groups. Its remit is the Funding lifecycle and financial vocabulary dictionary domain. Related groups: Responsible research assessment Working Group, Knowledge equity, diversity, global-south inclusion Working Group and Engagement, impact, and SDG alignment Working Group.

Composition

Chair and seats on the Funding lifecycle and financial vocabulary working group

Deliverables

Planned deliverables of the Funding lifecycle and financial vocabulary working group

1. Funding lifecycle vocabulary v1
2. Cross-walk: NIH, NSF, UKRI, ERC, HE pre-award terms
3. Other-Support disclosure profile (NSPM-33 aligned)
4. Sub-award and consortium financial-terms set
5. Implementer guidance for pre-award and post-award systems

Recent activity

Funding lifecycle and financial vocabulary working group: cadence and milestones

Illustrative working-group cadence for the 2026 forming round. Substantive deliverables and meeting minutes will be linked here as the group convenes.

• 2026-05-15 · Milestone

  Working group forming — call for chair candidates

  Open call for chair and co-chair of the Funding lifecycle and financial vocabulary working group. Candidates are under review.

• 2026-04-22 · Release

  Domain scope confirmed for v2026.2

  Scope of the Funding lifecycle and financial vocabulary domain confirmed against the v2026.2 dictionary release plan.

• 2026-03-10 · Added

  Forming round announced

  CASRAI announced the 2026 forming round for all 24 working groups, with seat allocations and review rubric published.

Open consultations

Currently in public comment

Currently none open. Subscribe via /get-involved/comment for future calls.

External bodies

Standards and organisations we work with

• NCURA — National Council of University Research Administrators ↗
• ARMA — Association of Research Managers and Administrators (UK) ↗
• SRA International — Society of Research Administrators ↗
• INORMS — International Network of Research Management Societies ↗
• EARMA — European Association of Research Managers and Administrators ↗

Going deeper on CASRAI

Related CASRAI guidance

• Funding + finance terms →
• Research lifecycle WG →
• RIS / CRIS WG →
• NIH funder guidance →
• Editorial — funding lifecycle →

Adjacent working groups

Working groups related to Funding lifecycle and financial vocabulary

How to join

Apply to a seat on the Funding lifecycle and financial vocabulary working group

This working group is receiving candidates for the 2026 forming round. The application is short — name, institution, ORCID iD (optional), the seat you are applying for, and a paragraph on why this domain. Decisions are returned within four weeks of the close of the open-call window.

FAQ

Frequently asked

What is current and pending support?

Current and pending support, called "other support" by NIH, is a disclosure of all research funding and resources a researcher has, has applied for or expects to receive, submitted with a proposal. Funders use it to check for overlap. The group defines shared vocabulary for these disclosures.

What are indirect costs?

Indirect costs, also called facilities and administrative (F&A) costs or overhead, are shared institutional expenses such as facilities and administration that cannot be charged to a single project. Funders apply a rate to direct costs to reimburse them. The group standardises how these variants are named.

What is a biosketch?

A biosketch is a structured summary of a researcher's qualifications, positions and relevant experience required with a grant application, distinct from a standard CV. NIH and NSF each define their own elements. The group maps these funder-specific elements so they can be compared and reused.

What does this working group do?

The Funding lifecycle and financial vocabulary working group is the community body that drafts, reviews and ratifies dictionary entries for the Funding lifecycle and financial vocabulary domain. It maintains scope, cross-walks to adjacent standards and the cadence of public review. The first scope area is: Pre-award lifecycle vocabulary (calls, intentions, proposals).

Who can apply to join?

Working-group membership is open to qualified practitioners — researchers, research-office staff, librarians, publishers, repository managers, integrity officers, CRIS administrators, regulators and funders. Institutional membership is not required. The qualification test is competence and time, not affiliation. Apply via the working-group application form.

What is the time commitment?

Cadence: Quarterly virtual sessions; two release windows per year (March and September).. Time commitment averages four hours per quarter for an active member, more for a chair. Asynchronous review happens between meetings via email. Chairs are recognised on the editorial masthead and serve a two-year term, renewable once.

How are seats allocated?

Each working group has 12 community seats plus a chair and (optionally) a co-chair. Seats are filled by an open call reviewed against a published rubric: domain expertise, institutional diversity, regional balance, and an explicit slot for early-career researchers. Applications for the 2026 forming round are open and candidates are currently under review — see how to apply.

Can my institution sponsor a seat?

Institutional sponsorship is welcome but is not a route to a guaranteed seat. Sponsors support meeting infrastructure, public-comment publication and contributor honoraria; they receive named acknowledgement on the working-group page and in release notes. Sponsorship enquiries go to [email protected]. Seat selection remains on merit.