2026 SRAI Annual Meeting

Attain Partners is proud to be an official Gold sponsor of the 2026 SRAI Annual Meeting, taking place October 10 – 14 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Connect with our team at Booth #6 during the conference.

Our team will be onsite connecting with research administration professionals to discuss grants management, regulatory compliance, cost recovery, operational improvement, and technology supporting the research enterprise.

Hear from Attain Partners

Financial Acumen for Research Leaders
Saturday, October 10 | 3:30p – 5p Hawaii | Senior Research Administrator Leadership Program

Research leaders fluent in the language of institutional finance are better positioned to steward resources, protect research infrastructure, and earn credibility with senior leadership. This session will address the financial fluency and strategic insight AVPs, VPRs, and other senior research leaders need to navigate budget negotiations, evaluate institutional financial performance, and make sound decisions in an increasingly complex research environment. Participants will gain a leadership-level understanding of F&A rates, indirect cost recovery, budget model tradeoffs, post-award financial oversight, and the compliance and governance risks that can quietly undermine research operations.

The session will also explore how financial strategy intersects with broader research leadership responsibilities, including subrecipient risk management, ` support and incentive models, infrastructure investment, and balancing administrative burden with effective financial controls. Participants will consider how evolving federal policy, research security requirements, global collaboration risks, and the growing financial implications of data governance and artificial intelligence are shaping the future of research enterprise management.

The format includes an introductory presentation, a peer panel featuring senior research officers who will share budget models and practical lessons learned, and a tabletop exercise that allows participants to apply structured decision-making to a real-world financial challenge. Together, these components will help leaders strengthen their ability to manage risk, sustain operations, and make defensible choices that align financial stewardship with institutional mission and research growth.

Learning Objectives

• Interpret F&A rates, indirect cost recovery, budget models, and research financial performance to inform strategic decision-making.
• Align funding strategies, cost structures, and research investments with institutional priorities and sustainability goals.
• Identify and mitigate high-risk financial and compliance issues, including cost-sharing commitments, subaward exposure, effort reporting errors, and post-award performance risks.
• Assess subrecipient financial risk and prioritize investments in research infrastructure, faculty support, and operational sustainability.
• Balance administrative burden with strong financial controls and effective governance to improve efficiency and accountability.
• Respond to emerging financial pressures, including policy changes, research security concerns, global collaboration risks, and AI-related impacts on research operations.
• Apply structured triage and decision-making logic to budget constraints to protect compliance-critical functions, strategic investments, and faculty trust. 

Speaker

• Shacey Temperly, Managing Director, Attain Partners

Navigating Contracting for Multi-National Clinical Trials
Monday, October 12 | 10:30a – 11:30a Hawaii

Clinical trial agreements (CTAs) between two domestic parties can be complicated. When clinical trials cross international borders, that complication factor is compounded. Negotiating with international parties can be tricky and nuanced. Understanding negotiation tactics that work with multinational parties can ease cultural tensions and reduce barriers created by cultural differences. Increasing familiarity with typical contractual language that appears in international CTAs will increase comfort during review and ease negotiation tensions. This session will explore the legal, operational, and strategic complexities of contracting CTAs across borders in today’s global research landscape. This presentation breaks down the end-to-end contracting process—from sponsor and CRO agreements to site, vendor, and investigator contracts—highlighting how local laws, regulatory expectations, and cultural norms can shape timelines and risk. Attendees will gain practical insights into common challenges such as aligning global templates with country-specific requirements, managing data protection and IP across jurisdictions, and negotiating efficiently without compromising compliance. Through real-world examples and best practices, the session will equip clinical research professionals with tools to streamline negotiations, reduce delays, and build contracts that support successful multinational trial execution. This advanced session will focus on the specifics of negotiating CTA-specific agreements across international borders and provide details about specific clauses that may be present in international agreements.

Speakers

• Istvan Fekete, Principal, Attain Partners
• Emily Njus, JD, Attorney, Njus Partners LLLP

Governing AI in Research Operations: Balancing Innovation, Compliance, and Trust
Monday, October 12 | 1p – 2p Hawaii

Artificial intelligence is no longer theoretical in research administration—it is already embedded in contract lifecycle management platforms, transcription and meeting-summary tools, clinical trial workflows, data abstraction processes, and even sponsor-drafted Clinical Trial Agreement (CTA) language. Despite this rapid integration, many institutions continue to approach AI reactively, addressing risks only after tools are adopted. This session reframes the conversation from “Should we allow AI?” to a more strategic question: “How do we govern AI responsibly while improving institutional performance and measurable outcomes?”

Drawing on cross-institution advisory experience and firsthand implementation insights, this panel will explore how research organizations can design balanced, scalable AI governance frameworks. The goal is to protect data integrity, ensure regulatory compliance, and preserve sponsor trust—while still enabling innovation, efficiency, and long-term competitive advantage. Panelists will discuss the evolving AI landscape and highlight practical operational use cases across research administration and contracting workflows. The session will also address vendor oversight, data security expectations, and due diligence considerations. Finally, speakers will outline a practical, layered governance model that institutions can adapt to align leadership, legal, compliance, IT, and research operations around responsible, sustainable AI adoption.

Speakers

• Istvan Fekete, Principal, Attain Partners
• Janette Hannam Hayes, Director, Office of Sponsored Programs, Emory University

Hot Issues in Grants, Including the Latest on Uniform Guidance Revisions

2025 has been a wild ride year for research! Starting in February 2025, leading with the National Institutes of Health, several other agencies (i.e., Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, and Department of Defense) proposed to cap the indirect cost rate at 15%, which would result in a severe loss of reimbursement to research institutes and cripple US research endeavors. Lawsuits have resulted in temporary pauses for their implementation.

In the meantime, the Joint Associations Group (JAG) has worked with the grant community to propose a brand-new model for charging research costs – the FAIR model (Financial Accountability in Research). Congress has expressed its support for the FAIR model in several of the 2026 Appropriation bills. However, a clear outcome is still pending on Congressional and OMB final actions. In addition, based on the Presidential directives in E.O. 14332, Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking (August 7, 2025), OMB plans to issue another round of revisions to the Uniform Guidance that will align better with this Administration’s priorities. The revisions will certainly further restrictions on indirect costs recovery. The wild ride continues in 2026!

This session will highlight all the Government activities, including OMB’s proposed revisions, related to the changes in grant landscapes (particularly in the cost areas), and their impact on research administration at your institution. It will provide an update on the proposed JAG’s FAIR model and an outlook for the grant landscape in 2026.

Speaker

• Gil Tran, CPA, Senior Specialist Leader, Grants Management