v2026.1CASRAI Dictionary 1,610 entries across 24 domains · CC-BY 4.01,610 entries · CC-BY 4.0

Dictionary termTrack EStablev2026.2

Project lifecycle

The complete sequence of phases through which a research project progresses from initial idea through proposal, award, execution, reporting, closeout, and post-project legacy.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

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Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
A research office training module walks new PIs through the full project lifecycle from idea to archive.
Is an instance
An institutional dashboard shows each active project's current lifecycle phase.

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
A single experiment within execution is not the lifecycle.
Not an instance
An administrative billing year is not the lifecycle.

Editorial commentary

The research project lifecycle is the umbrella framework within which research administrators, PIs, sponsors, and institutions structure their respective contributions. Common phase models include: PMBOK initiation-planning-execution-closing, the research-specific idea-proposal-award-execution-reporting-closeout-archive sequence, and lifecycle-aware funder reviews. Lifecycle thinking supports anticipation of governance steps (e.g., ethics approval, data management plan, sustainability planning) at the right time and reduces last-minute compliance surprises.

References

PMBOK Guide; Horizon Europe Project Lifecycle guidance; NIH Grants Process Overview.

Also known as

Research project lifecycle · Grant lifecycle

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Project lifecycle"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/project-lifecycle" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/project-lifecycle",
  "name": "Project lifecycle",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/project-lifecycle",
  "description": "The complete sequence of phases through which a research project progresses from initial idea through proposal, award, execution, reporting, closeout, and post-project legacy.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/research-lifecycle#set",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/project-lifecycle",
  "sameAs": [
    "Research project lifecycle",
    "Grant lifecycle"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "publisher": {
    "@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
  },
  "dateModified": "2026-05-21T02:23:00",
  "inLanguage": "en"
}

Referenced across the research world

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