If you are planning an application that will include multiple program directors/principal investigators (PD/PIs), naturally you would expect the collaboration to be productive. But even successful partnerships experience disagreements and disputes. To ensure those moments don’t derail your science, you need to have an established conflict resolution plan.
Before you begin writing an application’s Multiple PD/PI Leadership Plan, discuss the aspects NIH asks you to cover with all PD/PIs. They include:
- Rationale and justification for choosing the multiple PD/PI approach
- Team governance and organizational structure
- Conflict resolution procedures
- Decision process for scientific direction and allocating funds and resources
Your team agreed to work together because you all plan to contribute to the goal, so it’s easy to overlook or minimize how you will handle changes or disputes. Be sure to plan a thorough process for adjusting to change in research direction, effort on the project, or other unanticipated events. What provisions can you make ahead of time to avoid potential disagreements?
Reviewers like to see a carefully considered Multiple PD/PI Leadership Plan that addresses procedures for resolving conflicts, which could include the involvement of well-respected people outside of the project to mediate disputes if the PD/PIs are unable to resolve the issues by themselves. If you cannot come to an agreement, will you bring in an arbitration committee? If so, who and how many people will be on it? Will you use a preset timeframe to resolve any conflicts?
This same overarching recommendation—that you should have a predetermined method for resolving conflict—is applicable to any collaborative relationships you might be planning. For example, if your research project will rely on a subaward, the agreement should include the method by which you will address any impasses that may arise. Even when arranging roles for consultants and other significant contributors, you should have in mind a process to work through disputes.
For more advice on grant applications that take a team science approach, read Build Your Team and Multiple Principal Investigators.