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Research Operations Office

 

Published on 6 April 2017


Apprenticeship Levy

From 6 April 2017, employers with a wage bill over £3 million per year, must pay the apprenticeship levy which is charged at 0.5% of the annual pay bill.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-levy/apprenticeship-levy|

Funders who have indicated they will be accepting the costs on new applications include RCUK, EC and Wellcome Trust. Currently there are two funders who deem costs ineligible - CRUK and Leverhulme. Where the levy isn’t accepted by the funder it will need to be covered by departments.

X5 will be updated on 11th April so that the Levy will be included in National Insurance as part of the salary costs. If you need to create a costing without the levy, use the Rates Tab and select the NI rate file dated 05/04/2017 and save. 

Workshops for PIs – Your Views on Research Administration

The University’s Research Administration was reviewed in 2016 with the objective of recommending the administrative structure that will best support the University’s research activity. The aim is to have in place a facilitative, flexible research administration where each element adds value.

 

The Research Office would like to provide an opportunity for PIs to give their views on  how research administration can best support your research activity. Linda Spinks from UIS will be running two (identical) workshops to seek your feedback.

Monday 24th April 2017

10am - 12noon

Seminar Room B, 1st floor,17 Mill Lane

To register https://researchofficeseekingpiviews24april.eventbrite.co.uk

Thursday 27 April 2017

10am - 12noon

Seminar Room B, 1st floor,17 Mill Lane

To register https://researchofficeseekingpiviews27april.eventbrite.co.uk

Please note there are a limited number of places however if there is interest, further sessions could be arranged.

If you have any queries or are interested in participating but unable to attend, please email Marwah.Hassan@admin.cam.ac.uk

 

H2020 Timesheets & Declaration of 100% Working

Following revised guidance from the European Commission, beneficiaries can now claim personnel costs on the basis of actual monthly personnel costs. The University has therefore revised the Horizon 2020 template timesheet and the Research Operations Office now require a Declaration of Exclusivity for any staff working 100% on an EC grant.

Please note that staff working 100% on an EC grant may also be required to provide additional evidence of time worked on the project, and must provide person month information per work package, therefore it is strongly recommended that all staff complete full timesheets.

Further details are available on the ROO website including the new Declaration of Exclusivity form and the new Horizon 2020 timesheet template.

New Wellcome Trust and COAF Open Access Requirements

The Wellcome Trust has recently updated their guidance for the use of the Charity Open Access Fund (COAF), which supports researchers funded by six partner charities: Arthritis Research UK, Bloodwise, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Parkinson’s UK and the Wellcome Trust. 

This new guidance means that from 1 April 2017, publishers and institutions will need to take additional steps to ensure compliance with the COAF policy, as Article Processing Charges (APCs) for COAF funded research outputs will only be paid to publishers who are compliant with three key service requirements:

  • the final peer-reviewed article must be deposited in PubMed Central (PMC) where it is made freely available at the time of publication. 
  • articles must be published with a Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY).
  • at a minimum, publishers must include the article title on APC invoices and have a policy for refunding APC payments when service levels are not met.

COAF-funded researchers in the University have received an email from the Open Access Team in the Office of Scholarly Communication setting out these new requirements and what they need to do need to comply. Find further information about Publisher requirements here. 

 

fEC and Income Allocation Policy Seminar – 25 April

This briefing is relevant to all staff involved in research grants, particularly those new to the University or wishing to increase their understanding of University policy and its impact on research grants and their administration.

Content includes

  • Clarity on definitions of Direct costs and Indirect costs
  • What the PI should be aware of at application stage
  • What information might the Head of Department need to know before approving the application
  • What questions the Departmental Administrator may ask before submitting the application
  • How the Income Allocation Policy apportions overheads between the Department and the University

This briefing is about the theory to costing a project and the University’s policies which may affect pricing and allocation of overheads, it is not a practical training session on how to use X5.

Tuesday 25 April 2017 9:30am - 10:45am Room F, 17 Mill Lane

To book your place e-mail Debbie.West-Lewis@admin.cam.ac.uk

X5 training dates

The training covers setting up an X5 using the Project Wizard as well as using the correct methodology for capturing costs.  

Thursday

27th April 2017

Greenwich House

Spaces

Monday

15th May 2017

17 Mill Lane

Full

Thursday

22nd June 2017

17 Mill Lane

Spaces

The training will be 9:00am to 12:30pm. To book a place please contact Debbie.West-Lewis@admin.cam.ac.uk at the Research Operations Office.

Research Grants User Group Meeting - 23 May 2017

The next Research Grants User Group Meeting will be held on Tuesday 23rd May 2017 at 10am in LR3 Inglis Building, Dept of Engineering, Trumpington Street. Presentations from the previous meeting are available on the ROO website.