Published on 24 April 2020
Grant Application Deadlines From Monday 27th April
We would like to remind you that from Monday 27th April there will be some changes to the way in which grant applications will be dealt with:
- a minimum of 4 weeks notice of your intention to submit to a particular scheme
- a copy of the full proposal at least seven working days in advance of your funder’s deadline
- small applications should reach the ROO no less than two working days in advance of the funder's deadline
Some funders have very short turnaround times which means that it's not always possible to give the Research Office 4 weeks' notice of intention to submit. In these circumstances, please contact ROO at the earliest opportunity so that we can assess the resource requirements to support the application. Further details can be found on the Research Office COVID-19 webpage.
COVID-19 Contracts Response Team
The University requires COVID-19 related research to be prioritised. ROO has therefore set up a Covid Contracts Response Team to ensure that its resources are available to respond to this priority work. As part of this scheme the contracts staff dealing with your matters may be asked to temporarily re-focus on COVID-19 related contracts. We trust that you will accept this necessary re-organisation (and any delays that it may cause to your matters) with good grace and patience and will help our team in supporting the vital COVID-19 initiatives of our academics.
Research Ethics Review
Research Ethics Committees (RECs) across the University continue to operate remotely during the University shutdown, but some at reduced capacity. All RECs have been asked to prioritise COVID-19 related research and will seek to progress such applications as quickly as possible. This may result in delays to the review of non-COVID-19 related research.
Researchers making significant changes to previously approved projects to refocus their work onto COVID-19 are reminded that they may need to seek an amendment to their ethical approval from the relevant REC. Such amendments will similarly be prioritised.
Anyone undertaking COVID-19 related research that requires approval through the Health Research Authority (HRA) should read the HRA's guidance on how they will handle such applications. Investigators should inform the Clinical School's Research Governance Team as usual researchgovernance@medschl.cam.ac.uk and the COVID-19 and Clinical Research Oversight Group .
Fellowship Interview Panels
Some funders are still going ahead with fellowship interviews remotely, here are some tips for researchers who need to take part in remote interviews https://postdoccareers.edublogs.org/2020/04/01/taking-on-a-fellowship-interview-panel-from-your-home/
X5 Upgrade
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the X5 Upgrade will no longer be taking place this month (April 2020). However, technical work will continue at UIS and once we get to the point of user acceptance testing (UAT) we will review the resource requirements in UIS, ROO and Departments to determine how best to proceed. In the meantime, if you have any queries please contact Liam.Boote@uis.cam.ac.uk.
Single Audit Report
The single audit report for federal grants for Financial Year 17/18 is now finalised and available from the ROO website.