engineering and physical sciences research council
DESCRIPTION
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN2 1ET Tel (01793) 444000 http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/ e-mail: [email protected] Helpline (01793) 444100. John Wand Programme Operations Tel: 01793 444457 e-mail: [email protected] - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN2 1ET Tel (01793) 444000
http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/ e-mail: [email protected] (01793) 444100
Engineering and Physical SciencesResearch Council
John WandProgramme Operations
Tel: 01793 444457
e-mail: [email protected]
EPSRCPolaris House
North Star AvenueSwindon SN2 1ET
Who funds HE research?
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available - see SET Statistics
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1988-89 1999-00
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OST/DTI
Funding Councils
UK IndustryEUUK charities
Government
Other
HEI Research income
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Expenditure by FCs and other funders
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1988-89 1989-90 1990-91 1991-92 1992-93 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-00
HEFCs Total project funders
The problem: trends
Increased pressure on all HEI staff to conduct and publish research
Poor understanding of cost base Neglect of long-run costs Low price culture
Stagnating QR alongside increased project funding
The problem: present position
Under-investment in university infrastructure highlighted in the Dearing Report in 1997
Transparency Review (2000) detailed Backlog Recurrent gap
Investing in Innovation (2002) confirmed a “persistent failure to invest in research infrastructure”
S&I Investment Framework (2004) affirmed need to address this
Investing in Innovation/S&I Investment Framework
Research in HEIs must be sustainable HEIs must understand and recover FEC overall Dual support system remains Government is contributing very significant amounts of
money for sustainability: SRIF increasing to a permanent stream of £500M per year Extra QR (£244M + SR2004) Extra money for Research Councils (£120M+£80M)
Better cost recovery from others eg Government Departments
Implementation Calculating full economic cost of individual
projects Terms of trade between HEIs and RCs
TRAC Methodology TRansparent Approach to Costing Activity Based Costing Introduced at high level Teaching (public & non publicly funded) Research (PF and NPF) Other Cost not Income Accepted by HMT
TRAC Methodology Extend to Project level Robust, consistent Balance accuracy and bureaucracy NO Timesheets Roll out by January 2005 (grant applications to RCs
from Sep ‘05, money paid out from April 2006) QA process Benchmarking exercise
Project Costing
Current fECDedicated staff X XAcademic staff -time X XAcademic staff - cost XEquipment X XOther costs, T&S X XIndirect costs – 46% XSpace charge – per FTE XIndirect cost – per FTE X
Terms of trade between HEIs and RCs
RCs pay a fixed % of full economic cost Moving to ‘close to’ 100% by 2010 Includes Fellowships (including RS, RAEng) Excludes PGR (for the present)
RC Funding; current positionFULL ECONOMIC COSTS
Direct costs
Indirect costs
eligible staff costs
(e.g. Research Assistants,support staff)
Research council contribution to indirect costs = 46% of eligible direct staff costs
The institution must find the rest from other sources.
other eligible
costs (e.g. equipmentequipment)
ineligible costs
(e.g. salary of the Principal Investigator)
Eligible – RC will pay these costsShaded area – what RC will fund
RC funding; proposed model
FULL ECONOMIC COSTS
Direct costs
Indirect costs
Research Council
pays approx 70% of full costs
The institution must
find the rest from other sources.
Proposal Form
Directly Incurred Staff Equipment T&S Consumables
Directly Allocated Investigators Estates Other Directly Allocated (eg pool technicians)
Indirect Costs Exceptions
Issues for move to FEC What percentage of FEC? roughly 70% Same for all disciplines/RCs? (Yes) Paying for P.I. salary? (Yes) 37.5 hr working week for costing purposes Departments with no QR? (Yes) Timescale and transition (Sept 2005) Monitoring and adjustments
Issues for RCs for move to FEC Monitoring academic time on projects etc Application numbers Differences between indirect cost rates
‘legitimate’ or inefficient? Verification/audit Assessment – value for money? Mathematics Small Grants
Value for Money ‘Research grant applications will be externally
peer reviewed in the same way as they are at present. …. This will not require a fundamental change in the role of the Committees whose job has always been primarily to advise on the quality of science described in the applications.’
Issues for HoDs in move to FEC
Academic time – balance between T & R Budget
are costs being recovered?What does the department pay for?
Access to QR funds
Provisional Timescale
New data requirements and processes (Paper based) September 2004
Administrative Workshops Autumn 2004 Training of peer reviewers mid 2005 Electronic forms available mid 2005 Applications on new basis from Sept 2005
Culture Change Project costing methodology to be rolled out
further than TRAC in HEIs (will impact on P.I.s) HEIs know costs and set prices accordingly RCs operations will need to change (brief peer
reviewers) Non RC funders – expect to fund all or part of FEC