your research project - effective post award management
TRANSCRIPT
How we can support your
research
David Law
Head of Research Support Group
Research Support
Group
Research Support Group
Who we are
What we do to help you
How you can help us to help you
Who are we?
Research
Facilitators
Finance Office
Research and
Innovation Services
Contracts
Research Support
Group
5 teams
27 staff
Research
Support Office
Research
Finance
Strategic Partnerships,
Specialist Support (EU FP7),
Commercial Development
7 Officers
3 Assistants
Research
Support Partner
Colleges
Governance and
Ethics
2 teams
7 staff
College / school
administration
Research
Facilitators
Finance Office
Research and
Innovation Services
Contracts
Research Support
Group
5 teams
27 staff
Research
Support Office
Research
Finance
Strategic Partnerships,
Specialist Support (EU FP7),
Commercial Development
7 Officers
3 Assistants
Research
Support Partner
College / school
administration
Colleges
Governance and
Ethics
2 teams
7 staff
Costings, pre and post award administration
Separate EU team (6 staff)
2 MDS teams(11 staff)
Project cost updates ,
purchase orders, expenses,
payments etc
Research Finance
What we do
Project costings (fEC and other) 5,500 per year
RCUK and other major funder applications 750
New project accounts opened 1,350
Approval of research project staff appointments 4,250
Claims and invoicing 1,750
Account monitoring and administration 2,500 live accounts
Account closure and Final Expenditure Statements 1,000
Research Finance
Post
award
How the RF teams are structured
CLOSEApplicationOpen
accountApprove
staff
FES, final invoicing, account closure
AmendmentsAccount
administration
Collate approvals and open
Check, submit
and record
Monitoring, claims,
invoicing
AWARD
Costing
Approval of staff at
the start of a project
Approval of staff changes, project extensions, and
new funding
PROJECT START
POST-AWARDPRE-AWARD
How the RF teams are structured
CLOSEApplicationOpen
accountApprove
staff
FES, final invoicing, account closure
AmendmentsAccount
administration
Collate approvals and open
Check, submit
and record
Monitoring, claims,
invoicing
AWARD
Costing
Approval of staff at
the start of a project
Approval of staff changes, project extensions, and
new funding
New Account Team
PROJECT START
Everything financial that you need to START your research project; urgent deadlines, avoiding costly delays
POST-AWARDPRE-AWARD
How the RF teams are structured
CLOSEApplicationOpen
accountApprove
staff
FES, final invoicing, account closure
AmendmentsAccount
administration
Collate approvals and open
Check, submit
and record
Monitoring, claims,
invoicing
Account Administration Team
AWARD
Helping you to maximise the income from your research project
Costing
Approval of staff at
the start of a project
Approval of staff changes, project extensions, and
new funding
New Account Team
PROJECT START
Everything financial that you need to START your research project; urgent deadlines, avoiding costly delays
POST-AWARDPRE-AWARD
How can you help us?
Supporting evidence required by funders
– Expense details and receipts
– EU and other timesheets
– Research deliverables as condition of invoicing
Lead time
– Final expenditure statements
– Extensions
Research Finance: post award
Research
Facilitators
Finance Office
Research and
Innovation Services
Contracts
Research Support
Group
5 teams
27 staff
Research
Support Office
Research
Finance
Strategic Partnerships,
Specialist Support (EU FP7),
Commercial Development
7 Officers
3 Assistants
Research
Support Partner
Colleges
Governance and
Ethics
2 teams
7 staff
Prepare, review, negotiate and
authorise research contracts
Research Contracts
College / school
administration
What the contracts team does
Negotiate 1,400 research contracts per year
– Financial and non-financial (eg Confidentiality
Agreements, Material Transfer Agreements)
– Mostly post-award
Protect the University and its researchers
– eg your right to publish, intellectual property rights,
limiting our liabilities, safeguarding our charitable
status
– eg. financial terms (VAT, conditional milestones and
penalties)
How can you help us?
Accurate and detailed information
– Contract request form needed
– The sooner we start, the sooner we are likely to finish
Lead time
– Negotiating a contract can take several months - we
can only go as quickly as the other party does
Please don’t sign contracts yourself
Research Contracts
Research
Facilitators
Finance Office
Research and
Innovation Services
Contracts
Research Support
Group
5 teams
27 staff
Research
Support Office
Research
Finance
Strategic Partnerships,
Specialist Support (EU FP7),
Commercial Development
7 Officers
3 Assistants
Research
Support Partner
Colleges
Governance and
Ethics
2 teams
7 staff
Management of sponsorship, clinical trial
insurance and ethical review
Quality Management
Team
Research Governance and Ethics
College / school
administration
What the Governance and Ethics team do
Co-ordinate all ethical review processes*
– 1,500 Self Assessment Forms
– 400 internal ethical review committee referrals
– 250 external ethical review applications (NRES)
Act as the sponsor representative
– Approve sponsorship
– Co-ordinate clinical trial insurance
– Monitor compliance with regulatory requirements
(collation of evidence NOT on-site auditing)
* Except animal research approvals – dealt with by BERSC
How can you help us?
Please do the Self Assessment Form early– You won’t be able to spend your money without it
– It acts as your sponsorship application
Please make sure the sponsor’s representative can comply with our regulatory requirements– The MHRA need us to have annual progress
reports, DSURs, SUSARs, ethical approval applications and amendments
Research Governance and Ethics
Research Support Group
We’re here to give you the best support
service we possibly can
– Maximising your income
– Protecting your interests
– Obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals
Please help us to help you
If we get it wrong, tell us and we’ll put it right
Where to find us
We’re based in Aston Webb B Block
Contact details, forms, guidance etc are on the
Intranet (under ‘Finance/Accounting’)
www.birmingham.ac.uk/researchsupportgroup
Please contact us whenever you need to
Any questions?
Academic Perspective
Kate Fletcher, Primary Care Clinical Sciences
Start of the Study
Contracts
Sponsorship
Finance
HR
Regulatory Approvals
Ongoing/Study Closedown
Finance
Ongoing Monitoring/Reporting
Closedown Reports
Pitfalls and hints
Remember it is your project!
Ask lots of questions
Follow up
Plan budgets and monitor regularly
Staff contracts
What is good project
management?
Sarah Knaggs
So you’ve been awarded a grant…
Grants
Vary in size and complexity - from small projects for a student or
Research Fellow to large scale multidisciplinary and multi-
organisation activities
Are awarded to perform a project / a programme of research,
within a fixed budget and duration
Often involve balancing innovation with delivery
Are awarded to the institution via a member of staff
Come with regulations and constraints
May be taken away again if the institution does not comply
Are seen as a measure of your success
Often don’t have dedicated project managers!
Do I need project management?
Project management is the discipline of organizing
and managing resources (e.g. people) in such a way
that the project is completed within defined scope,
quality, time and cost constraints
All research projects need careful management (wrtresources, timelines, budgets, reporting, deliverables, etc.) to ensure the integrity and quality of the research, recording/storage of data and timely delivery of outputs within the project budget
What project management isn’t
A box ticking exercise
About just managing a big plan
A recipe for 100% success
Rigid – it evolves and need to adapt style and method according to the groups you are working with
Typical tasks or stages in projects
Initiation – involves contracts team, Research Finance, research governance/ethics, HR…– define critical success factors/risks, project structure,
constraints, recruitment, legal agreements, setup budgets
Planning – divide work into manageable chunks/tasks that have defined timelines
Executing – delivery by project team
Controlling – monitoring and taking corrective action where required
Closing – lessons learnt, data archiving, final reports, account closure
During the project lifetime…
• Financial management
– Purchasing
– Completing claims
– Monitoring expenditure, profiling spend and forecasting
• Communication
– Within and beyond the University
• Project reporting
– Delivery of required reports: progress reports and
expenditure statements
Compliance issues…
Ensure familiarity with:
Funder T&Cs and policies: expenditure, reporting,
outputs, data, staffing
Regulatory requirements affecting project: research
governance and ethics (MHRA, HTA, REC),
Health & Safety, Data Protection Act,
Copyright Law, UKBA
University and local
College policies/CoP
Specific award terms
University / College policies
Funder policies
Statutory Laws / Government regulations
Elements of good project
management
Be prepared
Be organised
Manage the resources – people, budget, etc
Conduct your research ethically
Provide leadership
Create a supportive and enabling environment -
foster a productive research culture
Establish effective communications
Record, store and archive data/materials
Planning for success
Identify the main tasks that will need to be performed, then split
the main tasks into their respective subtasks
Consider how much time each task takes
Determine which tasks run simultaneously
Assess the consequences if a task takes more time to complete
Determine what resources (people, space, equipment, etc.) are
required to undertake the tasks
Allow for some slippage in your timelines and have contingency
plans (mitigate risk)
Add in ‘checkpoints’ to evaluate progress in the project
Consider data management up-front
Ensure familiarity with funder T&C, UoB policies & regulatory
requirements affecting the project and who to seek help from
Defining roles… at proposal stage
Many research projects are a team effort, so at proposal
stage:
• Determine how much involvement the PI/Co-Is can really
give or have promised to give
• Are the tasks suitable for a project manager or
administration support?
• Are the tasks required across the full duration of the
project?
• Define how decisions will be made and by who
• Define stakeholders to determine the characteristics of a
project ‘lead’
• Ask ‘Am I happy to empower someone to facilitate the
project process?’
Where do I draw the boundary lines?
• Act as a figurehead for the project
• Define reporting structures
• Support recruitment process
• Ensure meetings/reviews/steering committees happen
• Ensure meetings documented and communicated
• Ensure budgets setup and managed
• Ensure contracts negotiated in a timely manner
• Ensure communication across project
• Project identity – website, template documents, logo, sample talks, PR
• Plan activity across parts of all of project in detail
• Manage the staff
• Monitor performance of partners and staff
• Reporting on progress to stakeholders
• Managing risk and dependencies
• Manage external communication for the project
• Manage requirements/needs/input to research
• Manage decision making processes for milestones
How much do you reallywant to do ?Should I employ someone part-time/full-time?Can I utilise an existing member of staff with project management experience?
Typical split on larger projects with a
project manager
Scientific lead
• Drive and direct the science
• Supervise/motivate staff and
students
• Drive future scientific direction
• Report scientifically
Operational lead
• Ensure projects are delivered
• Advise, support where
required
• Facilitate
• Ensure whole project
supported and conflicts
resolvedAdministrative and
financial support
• Provide essential support
for the project, including
finance, travel, workshop
organisation
Role of the ‘Project Manager’ is to..
Ensure deliver on proposed project
to budget and within time
Manage and mitigate project risk
Ensure communication to project
teams, and stakeholders as well as
the public where required
Make decisions with the support of
a management team
Address conflicts, fight fires,
manage relationships
So to help make your projects a
success…
Consider how your project will be managed and who
will be involved in this
Spend the time considering the initiation tasks early
to ensure that the project gets off to a flying start
Take care to adhere to funder T&Cs, regulatory
requirements and UoB policies/CoPs
Keep an eye on deadlines and deliverables
Motivate the team – or will be like swimming in
treacle!
In Summary
Grant/project management processes need to be
considered for every project
Roles and responsibilities need to be established
early!
Non compliance may result in withdrawn funding and
damaged reputation
Seek help if you are not sure… speak to your School
Research Facilitator and/or College Strategic Project
Manager
Any Questions?