skip to content

Research Operations Office

 

Published on 26 November 2010


Research Grants User Group (RGUG) Meeting - Tuesday 30 November 2010

The next meeting of the RGUG will take place on Tuesday 30 November at 9:30am and will be held in Lecture Theatre 2, Clinical School, Addenbrookes Site. The RGUG is led by the Research Office and is a forum where research grant administration issues and developments are discussed. Further details can be found on the Research Office website http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/research/rgug/default.aspx 

EC Audit Fees

From 1 January 2011, all EC Framework 7 applications should be budgeted at £2000 per audit.  This is because:

  • audit costs have remained the same for a number of years and inflationary pressures during this period means that the budgeted amount now needs to be increased.
  • as part of FP7, the Commission has specific procedures which are to be undertaken during an audit and this can take a number of days. As a result auditing firms are tending to move away from charging a flat fee for their services, and instead charging a daily rate. Therefore increasing the amount budgeted for an audit, means that should the need arise to appoint a new auditing firm in the future we will have the necessary flexibility.

Grants that are already activated will not be affected because the existing auditing rates will apply. If you have any questions please contact your School Team at the Research Office http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/research/contact/list.aspx

 

Timesheets for Research Councils UK (RCUK)

Currently it is a requirement to keep timesheets for EC FP 7 Awards and NIH Awards (where a person is not charged 100% to the grant). As part of the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) Update no.3 issued by RCUK, from 1 December 2010 it will be a requirement to keep timesheets for all Research Council awards for Directly Incurred (DI) staff who are not contracted 100% to a single project. Directly Allocated staff and pooled labour do not need to complete timesheets for RCUK awards.

The guidance given by RCUK includes:

  • Timesheets to be completed monthly and promptly
  • Timesheets to be completed for each month that the member of staff works on the project
  • Timesheets to be completed by the individual and signed by their manager
  • Timesheets to show all productive hours (not just the hours spent on the project)

If you have any questions please contact your School Team at the Research Office http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/research/contact/list.aspx

DHL charges for EC grants

As of 25 November 2010, the Research Office will no longer recharge DHL courier costs for EC grants to Departments or to the research grant. These costs will now be covered by the Research Office. If you have any queries, please contact your School Team http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/research/contact/list.aspx

 

Delegated Authority Letters

During October 2010 the Research Office sent a letter to each Department regarding delegated authority.  Thank you to those who have already replied, if you are yet to do so, please return the form as soon as possible. If you have any questions, contact the Assistant Director in your School Team http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/research/contact/list.aspx

Research Office closed - Thursday 9 December 2010

The Research Office Staff Conference is taking place on Thursday 9 December which means that the Office will be closed on this day. If you have a deadline for either the 9 or 10 December, please make sure your application is with the Research Office by Friday 3 December.