FEC Costings consist of three categories:

• Directly Incurred costs (DI): staff and non-staff costs that are directly incurred on a research project. If the project did not take place then the expenditure would not be incurred. Examples include research assistants, consumables, travel & subsistence, and equipment.
• Directly Allocated costs (DA): staff and non-staff costs that are shared between several projects and activities and charged to the project on an estimated basis. Examples include DA academic staff costs, this being the costs of academic and research staff who work on more than one project; DA lab technician costs, this being the costs of pooled technicians who support a number of projects; Estates costs for both the space in the research area required for the project, and local support space charged on the basis of actual costs incurred by the University; two rates are calculated (one for laboratory based departments and one for non-laboratory based departments) and are charged to the projects as a £ per FTE of all academic and research staff, but not staff on administrative or clerical employment contracts.
• Indirect Costs: Non-specific costs, not otherwise included as DA, that are charged across all projects. These costs are necessary for underpinning research but cannot be calculated on individual projects (e.g. personnel and finance departments, library, central computing and some departmental services). One indirect rate is calculated at the University and charged to projects as a £ per FTE of all academic and research staff, but not staff on administrative or clerical employment contracts.