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Research Operations Office

 

Published on 10 December 2021


Reminder - Christmas and New Year Deadlines for Applications and Expenditure Statements

Due to the Christmas vacation the Research Operations Office (ROO) will close from 1pm on Friday 24th December 2021 and will re-open on Tuesday 4th January 2022. Therefore please be aware of the following deadlines and ensure that your researchers are made aware of these arrangements. 

  • If you have a funder deadline application between Thursday 23rd December 2021 – Tuesday 4th January 2022, applications should reach the ROO by
 2 working days deadline Tuesday 21st December 2021
7 Working days deadline Tuesday 14th December 2021

 

  • If you have applications with a funder deadline in the first week of January, when counting back for 2 or 7 working days, Thursday 23rd December will be the last full working day before Christmas. For example 
Funder deadline Friday 7th January 2022, 5pm 
2 working days Wednesday 5th January 2022, 5pm 
7 working days Monday 20th December 2021, 5pm 

 

As a reminder, the ROO asks for a minimum of four weeks’ notice of the intention to submit to a particular scheme. Some funders have very short turnaround times which means that it's not always possible to give the ROO four weeks' notice of intention to submit. In these circumstances, please continue to contact the ROO at the earliest opportunity so that we can assess the resource requirements to support the application. Full details of the deadline policy and the application deadline calculator can be found on the ROO website

 

RGUG Meeting 30th November - Recording and Presentations now available

Thank you to those who were able to attend the Research Grants User Group Meeting (RGUG) on 30th November. The recording and slides are now available to view. The meeting included a presentation about the new Large Grant Contributions Fund and a talk about the preparation needed for the annual Researchfish submission.    

 

EC Update: Clarification of the Use of the Internally Invoiced Goods and Services category in Horizon Europe

In an update to the information circulated at RGUG, departments are asked to cost Facilities via the “Internal Invoicing” funder budget heading – where possible, these should be costed on the Facilities Tab to ensure the correct unit price is used, as the Horizon Europe X5 templates have been updated to include the Facilities fEC rate. The Facilities fEC rates incorporate an indirect cost element, and no additional overheads are applied in the Horizon Europe costing.

The next major Horizon Europe call is the ERC Starting Grant, and details of how to enter Internal Invoicing costs on X5 are available in the Research Office’s ERC Starting Grant cribsheet. As per the information given at RGUG, claims for Facilities usage on Horizon Europe grants will then be made in accordance with the new requirements as agreed methodology comes on-line in 2022.

In response to a query raised at RGUG, we can confirm that costs associated with supply from the University’s Colleges should not be classed as Internal Invoicing. This is because they are not classed as an internal supply as Colleges are separate legal entities to the University.

 

ERC Advanced Grant Webinars Feb 2022

The UK Research Office (UKRO), in its capacity as UK National Contact Point for the European Research Council (ERC), is holding two information webinars for organisations and individuals interested in applying to the 2022 ERC Advanced Grant call. The first information day will take place on 2nd February 2022 and the second will be on 3rd February 2022. 

The first webinar on 2nd February will focus on:

  • An initial overview of the European Research Council and what an ERC Advanced Grant is 
  • UK participation in the ERC
  • Eligibility criteria
  • Proposal development

The second webinar on 3rd February will focus on:

  • Information on the submission process
  • How proposals are evaluated
  • Other elements to consider when designing a project for your big research idea

Further details and registration are available on the UKRO website.

 

Research Professional

The University subscribes to Research Professional, giving all members of staff unlimited access to information about current, past, and upcoming funding opportunities. Take a look at the Funding Know How section which offers guidance on developing winning proposals and click the “Email me updates” option in the right top corner to subscribe to updates directly.

The News section of Research Professional focuses on research policy, research funding and research politics. Articles such as the lack of academic freedom in Danish universities (where Cambridge and Oxford are mentioned for academic independence in the UK) can offer interesting perspective on what is happening around the world in research.

More information about Research Professional can be found on the University Research Information webpage, including links to help sections for new users. Research Professional also has its own dedicated YouTube channel with useful tutorials.