About RAC

The Research Administration and Compliance Office (RAC), led by Kairi Williams, Assistant Vice Chancellor — Research Administration and Compliance, is the administrative office at UC Berkeley responsible for facilitating and ensuring campus compliance with federal, state, and university regulations pertaining to research administration, including policies governing research animal care and use, human research subjects protection, financial conflict of interest in research, and grants and contracts administration. RAC is under the purview of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research. RAC includes the campus support offices described below.

RAC makes the following Land Acknowledgement.


Animal Care and Use

The Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUC) at UC Berkeley is the institutional committee charged with reviewing and approving all proposed uses of live vertebrate animals in teaching and research. The ACUC’s activities are mandated by the U.S. Animal Welfare Act and Public Health Service Policy. The Office for Animal Care and Use (OACU) provides the administrative infrastructure required to support the Committee’s work to review, approve, and administer those activities.

Conflict of Interest

The faculty Conflict of Interest Committee is responsible for the review and assessment of all financial disclosures related to research projects at UC Berkeley and for determining any actions required to ensure that real or perceived financial conflicts of interest are managed or eliminated. RAC staff provide the operational support required to implement and administer COI Committee decisions.

Human Research Protection

The Committee for Protection of Human Subjects (CPHS) serves as the institutional review board (IRB) at UC Berkeley. The IRB must review and approve the use of human subjects in research. The process is designed to ensure that the rights and welfare of human subjects are protected throughout their participation in research projects. UC Berkeley operates within the regulations and guidelines set forth by federal authorities, primarily the Office for Human Research Protections and the Food and Drug Administration, as well as other bodies. The Office for Protection of Human Subjects (OPHS) provides operational and staffing support to the CPHS and administers all human subjects research performed on behalf of UC Berkeley.

Sponsored Projects

The Sponsored Projects Office (SPO) at UC Berkeley is responsible for reviewing and authorizing proposals for submission and for interpreting, negotiating, and accepting contracts and grants for sponsored projects funded by federal and state agencies, foundations, and other public and private sources. SPO prepares and negotiates all subawards for collaborative research. SPO also provides resources for finding funding opportunities.

RAC Information Services

The RAC Information Services team develops and manages RAC systems, such as the Phoebe system, RAC business intelligence tools, such as Tableau, and RAC web content. RAC-IS also manages SPO records, including distribution of transaction information to the campus for all SPO proposal, award, and subaward actions.