PI & Departmental Approval: Research Grants

The PI, Departmental Administrator, and Head of Department (Head of Division in the case of WMS) will receive a Resources Statement Form (or ‘FP14a’) that must be reviewed and approved, to indicate that the Department is content to proceed with the submission of a grant to an external funder. The FP14a will be alerted to the PI via an automated IDEATE email that will be sent directly to the Outlook email account of the relevant signatory. It is the responsibility of the PI to ensure that all of the information contained within the FP14a is correct before s/he provides the PI approval, following which the FP14a is progressed to the Departmental Administrator and the Head of Department respectively. Projects that involve more than one Department shall each receive an FP14a approval request.

In signing the FP14a, the PI confirms that the proposal complies with the relevant regulations of both the University regulations and the external funder, and further confirms their awareness that the University does not guarantee to make resources available for a project, except where a formal written agreement has been made to this affect (see below for University contribution processes). The Departmental Administrator’s approval at FP14a confirms their approval of the cost and price of the proposal. The approval of the Head of Department at FP14a confirms that they are aware of the resource implications of the project and have an identified strategy for meeting these (either from within the Department or via a pre-agreed University contribution). The Head of Department further confirms that the academic content of the proposal is worthy of University support, and that they are agreement with the PI’s statements made in FP14a.

PIs that are also Heads of Department shall have their Departmental approval function delegated to the Chair of Faculty. In these cases, IDEATE shall automatically generate an FP14a review email directly to Chair of Faculty following PI and Departmental Administrator approval. Each Head of Department should identify an alternate for instances where s/he is away from the University. R&IS maintains an up-to-date list of alternates and shall ensure that the correct FP14a route is followed.

The Department must also review and agree any grants that are agreed by the funder (‘grant awards’). The initial notification of a grant success will generally be sent from the funder to the PI, who should notify R&IS in a timely fashion so that the necessary Departmental approvals can be arranged. IDEATE will generate a Head of Department Acceptance Memo (or ‘FP14b’) and this will be sent to the PI, the Departmental Administrator, and the Head of Department respectively. Within the FP14b, R&IS will highlight any key conditions and risks, but it is important that all parties that are involved in signing the FP14a read for themselves the funder contract, directing any queries on this to R&IS for advice and guidance.

In agreeing the FP14b, the PI confirms that s/he has read and understands the terms of the awards and are able to comply with them and with the University’s relevant policies and procedures; the Departmental Administrator confirms that the Funder Price is acceptable and takes note of any important points with regards to contractual responsibilities; the Head of Department confirms that they have read and understand the terms of the award, and have taken specific note of any risks and/or special conditions that have been highlighted by R&IS in the FP14b. The Head of Department, in signing the FP14b, confirms that in their view the terms are acceptable to the University, and recommends that they be accepted.

As with the FP14a process, conflicts of interest that would arise due to a PI also being a Head of Department are minimised via the FP14b being directed to the Chair of Faculty following the agreement of the Departmental Administrator. It is also important that PIs notify R&IS of unsuccessful grant proposals, in order that IDEATE can be updated accordingly and subsequent University Management Information.

All research proposals and awards must also be agreed by the University prior to submission or acceptance. Table 14.1 outlines the relevant institutional signatories and Table 14.2 outlines the R&IS risk assessment criteria.