Person months represent the effort or amount of time PIs, faculty, and other senior personnel dedicate to a specific project. Effort corresponds to the type of appointment: calendar year (CY), academic year (AY), and/or summer term (SM).
To convert percent effort to person months, multiply the percentage of effort associated with the project by the number of months. For example:
- 25% of a 9-month academic year appointment equals 2.25 (AY) person months (9x0.25=2.25)
For SF424 (R&R) budgets for competing applications, applicants can include up to two decimal places to represent partial months. For Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPRs), investigators should list person months with whole numbers rounded to the nearest whole person month.
NIH has compiled a frequently asked questions page for reference.
For more information please view NIH's webpage.