Temporary changes in PI may be needed if the PI cannot provide oversight of a research study for a planned period of time (e.g., parental leave, sabbatical) or unplanned leave for a substantial period of time. For federally funded research, it is the responsibility of the PI to ensure that funding agencies are notified of any temporary changes.

In cases where the leave will be less than 6 weeks, but is assumed to be temporary, the PI is responsible either for ceasing study activities or ensuring oversight of these activities is delegated to a qualified member of the study team. The study team does not need to inform the IRB in these cases.

In cases where the leave will be 6 weeks or longer and the PI cannot provide research oversight, but the leave is assumed to be temporary, the study team should submit a New Information Report. Additional information about what should be in this report, along with other information related to PI changes, can be found here in our Investigator Manual.