Applying for funding
The role of the Research Office is to provide assistance to academics and departmental
administrators applying for research grant funding. We have detailed knowledge
of a wide range of funding issues and the
electronic submission of applications, and we are the main point of contact
for several external funding bodies such as the Research Councils and UK
Charities.
We also
provide training with
using pFACT, the research costing tool used by the University for research
grant applications and contracts.
The standard research grant application process
Once you have decided
to apply for a research grant from a sponsor, please complete the following steps:
1 Check the sponsor’s guidance notes
As well as providing useful guidance, these notes should indicate whether you
are eligible for the funding scheme for which you are intending to apply.
2 Work out costs and price using pFACT
pFACT is the costing tool used
to calculate the Full Economic Cost (fEC) of a given project before applying
for funding. Your
DA should be able to assist you with preparing the pFACT, and we offer training, assistance and further practice
with using this tool.
3 Obtain departmental approval
Please consult with the appropriate person in your
department (Head of Department or their designated delegate such as the DA) to
check that the pFACT project proposal has been approved.
4 Check tenure requirements
Please check that the academic who is leading and responsible for the
research project – the Principal Investigator (PI) – meets the tenure requirements of the
funding body. This is also relevant for Co-Investigators (Co-Is).
How to submit your application
From 1 November 2010, there are two types of application procedures: applications
under £150,000 fEC* (full economic costing) and applications over £150,000 fEC.
Applications under £150,000 fEC*
From 1 November 2010 the Research Office will not routinely check any applications under £150,000 fEC*, this means that Departments can use a checklist to review their own applications. The Department checklist
can be found here.
Although the application may not be checked by the Research Office, we still need to submit the application, so please ensure this is with us at least 1 working day before the deadline.
If you would like the Research Office to check your application, please advise the administrator in your School Team at the Research Office. You will also need to allow 3 working days turnaround for specific calls and 5 workings day turnaround for open calls.
*Exceptions: If there are any costs for subcontracting, ethical issues, collaborations, special insurance requirements or if the application is for a restricted call, please contact the administrator in your School Team at the Research Office so that we can carry out full checks on your application.
Applications over £150,000 fEC
You should allow at least 3 working days for us to approve your research grant application, and if it is an open call please allow at least 5 working days. If a grant is over £5m fEC, please allow 5 working days regardless of the type of call due to the approval process. If your application is coming from the Clinical Schools and is over £1m fEC please allow an extra 3 working days for your application to be approved by the Head of the Clinical School.
When you are ready to submit the application to us for checking, please ask your Head of Department to approve the application and completed pFACT proposal. The approval from the Head of Department means that if the grant is awarded with no substantial change, we will assume the department’s willingness to accept the award and we will activate the award forthwith. If your application is urgent, please indicate this and we will do what we can to help. Please also specify how you wish the proposal to be returned to you (see Notes section of the pFACT proposal).
So that we can avoid delays wherever possible, please check that a designated person has been named on the pFACT proposal – someone we can contact when we check the application and who has authorisation to amend the application form or pFACT proposal if necessary. At any stage in the process, please don’t hesitate to contact us for help and advice.
Submitting the application to the sponsor
For
electronic submission forms and pFACT
proposals, we will submit the checked application to the sponsor on your behalf
and notify you of the submission. For paper applications, we will notify you
that we have completed checking the application and that the document is ready
for collection for you to send to the sponsor.
Further information
RG number
We will provide you with an internal reference number (an RG number) on the pFACT proposal
that you can quote in any future correspondence.
Does your funding application also require
negotiation?
Certain research projects require the University to sign a contract with the other parties
involved. If this applies to your project, please get in touch with your
Contract Manager at the Research Office who will
help put a contract in place with external funding bodies such as industrial sponsors on behalf of the University.
As the Research Councils and most UK
Charities have standard terms that are accepted by the University, most funding
applications do not require negotiation.
What’s our role in the process?
Our aim is to ensure that all applications meet the criteria set out by the sponsor to avoid delays or disappointment for academics later in the assessment process.
We endeavour to ensure that the sponsor will have all the information they need to make a decision about your proposal and that the application is submitted in time.
If your application is successful
- When you are notified of the result of an application please tell the
administrator in your School Team as not all sponsors inform us of the outcome of applications
- If your application is successful and the grant offered matches the costs identified on the original pFACT proposal, we will assume you are happy to proceed with the research,
and will accept the award and activate the grant so that you can get started.
If the amount is significantly different then we will consult you and the Head of Department before activating the grant or accepting the award.
If your application is not successful
From 1 November 2010 when an application is submitted to a sponsor, the Research Office retain the file until either we have been advised that it has been unsuccessful or 12 months has passed.
Once an application is deemed unsuccessful the Research Office will:
- Change the pFACT status to Project Rejected
- Send a monthly e-mail to Departments listing the unsuccessful applications which are due to be destroyed
- Retain the paperwork for a further 3 months before destroying unless the Department requests otherwise
Need further information?
Please contact the Administrator in your School Team.
