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Research Operations Office

 

Published on Tue, 21/04/2015 - 12:23

News received last week from Research Councils UK (RCUK) is that research offices will no longer be required to use their reduced indirect cost rate in new applications submitted from 1 July.  Current rates will continue to be used and awards will be based on these rates.  Research Councils will instead claw back the indirect costs through a single invoice to the University - a top-slice – which is what they already plan to do for existing grants with funds still due on 1 July.  As a consequence, until further notice, pFACT will no longer be adjusted to take account of reduced indirect cost rates for Research Council applications.

Discussions about how the University will manage the top-slicing are underway and conclusions will be reported as soon as the outcomes are known.

With regard to the new equipment rules, the EPSRC is leading work in the sector to look at how asset registers may be used nationally, though we expect this work to take some time.  NERC have followed the EPSRC in issuing their own further guidance and warn that they do not expect to fund more than a “minor fraction” of any capital equipment, up to a maximum of 50%.  Applicants with proposals depending on equipment are advised to discuss their applications with NERC in advance.  Full details found here: http://www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/news/equip-funding-guidance.asp.  Although we have not seen extra guidance from other research councils, there are increasing questions about equipment costs more generally.

If you have any queries, please contact Clara East clara.east@admin.cam.ac.uk or your administrator in your School Team at the Research Office http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/research/contact/List.aspx