All externally funded research must be formally accepted by the University through Research Support Services.  This includes research grants, contract research and donations given for research purposes.

Please ensure all documentation relating to a research award is forwarded to Research Support Services.  You will be notified of a pre-award reference number.  Please use this when corresponding with Research Support Services.

Who can Accept an Award?

No individual member of staff or a Department of the University can officially accept an award.  All awards are legal contracts between the funder and the University and therefore must be authorised and accepted on behalf of the University by Research Support Services.

As a Principal Investigator you may also need to sign the documentation associated with accepting an award, as may the co-investigators, partners or research students funded on the project.  It is very important that whatever documents you sign, you are fully aware of the obligations you are accepting. If you are in any doubt at all about what you are signing and why, please contact Research Support Services.

When is an Award Accepted?

Research Support Services will ensure that all legal documentation necessary to accept the award is fully signed and executed and despatched to the funder.  Duplicate copies of contracts, one for each partner in the research project, may need to be signed by all parties.  This will take some time, as only contracts with original signatures will be admissible and legally binding.

A contract is not in place until all parties have signed to accept it.  You should not begin to expend any sums against the project until you have a copy of the fully signed and executed contract, and the project code, as required in the University's finance system, SAP.  A project code can not be issued until an agreement has been fully signed by all parties.

You may feel under pressure to begin your research ahead of the contract being in place.  However confident you may feel that the project will go ahead, there are many reasons why this may not happen.  Without a contract in place, whatever efforts you have made or sums you have committed to the project, there may be no legal recourse and no chance to recoup money spent.

By undertaking work on the project before a signed contract is in place, the position regarding any Intellectual Property is at best unclear.  This could potentially result in protracted arguments with sponsors should some item of exploitable IP be developed in the period of work not covered by a contract.

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