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21 Apr 2015: pFACT will no longer be supported after 31st July 2014 and therefore will no longer be available for use after this date.What do you need to do ?1) Please ensure that any reports you need access to are printed and/or saved before 31st July 2014 so

21 Apr 2015: An additional workshop aimed at assisting Departmental Administrators prepare for the RCUK Assurance visit, taking place from 14 - 16 November 2012, will take place on Friday 12 October 2012 at 2pmat Mill Lane lecture theatre, room 6. We hope that

16 Apr 2015: We have a set of model and template agreements that contain the University's preferred terms for specific types of research collaborations.

10 Dec 2015: Open Data Afternoon Session will: provide you with all the necessary information you need to know about your funder requirements for research data sharing how to avoid sanctions for non-compliance with your funder policies allow you to ask any

21 Apr 2015: As mentioned at the RGUG, demonstrations of the new ‘Research Systems Store’ are being held at 16 Mill Lane on the following dates:Monday 9th December – 14:00 to 15:00Thursday 12th December – 11:00 to 12:00To reserve a place, please email

21 Apr 2015: From 1 January 2011 it is a requirement to keep timesheets for Research Council grants for all Directly Incurred staff, except those who are working 100% of their contracted time on one project and Post Graduate Research students funded under a

21 Apr 2015: The Isaac Newton Trust has recently written to all the Heads of Departments in the Biological, Clinical, Physical Sciences and Technology Schools advising them of a change to the application process. The key change is that for all

21 Apr 2015: We are aware of an issue with Euro and USD currency rates not updating when the file is updated through the rates tab within the costing screen. Whilst we are waiting for a fix from the developers we would advise users to: i) Check that the rate is

25 Jun 2015: The earlier the Contracts Manager is involved in the process the greater the likelihood of putting in place an agreement with suitable terms for both parties. The University has its own set of standard agreements that cover a range of different

10 Dec 2015: Open Data Afternoon Session will: provide you with all the necessary information you need to know about your funder requirements for research data sharing how to avoid sanctions for non-compliance with your funder policies allow you to ask any

21 Apr 2015: Further to the note in Research Office bulletin 88 this is a reminder that access to pFACT will be removed after 31st July 2014. Please ensure that any reports to which you need access are printed and/or saved before 31st July 2014 so that you have

21 Apr 2015: Following a number of requests for the RCUK Assurance presentation to be made available electronically, we are very pleased to attach a link to the presentation here. RCUK Assurance Workshop Please do contact Charles

21 Apr 2015: As part of the Research Council’s commitment to moving to the Shared Services Centre, the MRC will be transferring to the RCUK joint electronic system (JeS) at the end of March. All applications to the MRC with a deadline before the end of March

21 Apr 2015: NIH A-133 audit Findings The recent audit findings highlighted two areas for improvement.  It is important that the destination and reason for travel are included on the invoice/purchase order or travel claim. There were instances where travel h

27 Feb 2015: The Framework Programme for Research and Technology (FP7) was the main research funding stream in the European Union from 2007 until 2013 with a €54 billion budget. Recipients of EC FP7 funds are required to manage the administration of their fund

21 Apr 2015: The new version of the Marie Curie Financial Guidelines includes an important change which affects all Form Cs that are submitted from July 2011 onwards.Under the new revised guidelines, categories D and E (if applicable) should now be reported as a

21 Apr 2015: In light of the new foreign exchange policy, it has been agreed that the inflation index used within pFACT for calculating costs on applications to overseas funders will be reduced to 3.5% with effect from 1st October 2010.

21 Apr 2015: As of 25 November 2010, the Research Office will no longer recharge DHL courier costs for EC grants to Departments or to the research grant. These costs will now be covered by the Research Office. If you have any queries, please contact your School

10 Dec 2015: Several resources exist to guide Researchfish users and answer FAQs: See RCUK’s website for a research outcome overview Any PIs or their delegates can register for one of the weekly webinars hosted by Researchfish The Researchfish tutorial video

14 Jul 2015: The sharing of reagents and scientific materials is widespread throughout the scientific community and is vital for the progress of research. Most organisations (including academic institutions) will only release materials if there is a Material

21 Apr 2015: The European Union has imposed two rounds of sanctions on Russia since 31 July 2014. A guidance document is available on the Research Operations Office website. Principal Investigators should consider this guidance whenever planning to undertake

21 Apr 2015: This is an advance notice that the University, in line with fEC guidelines, has to implement revised full economic cost rates from 1 February each year. More information regarding these changes will be available in the next Bulletin. Please note

23 Jun 2015: The Research Grants User Group (RGUG) is a forum led by the Research Operations Office where research grant administration issues and developments are discussed. The next RGUG meeting will take place on Tuesday 16 June at 9.30am in Mill Lane Lecture

21 Apr 2015: In line with fEC guidelines, the University has to implement revised full economic cost rates from February each year. Therefore, please be advised that the University fEC rates will change on 2 February 2015. X5 will not be available on Monday 2

25 Jun 2015: The amount of time to put in place a signed contract can vary considerably depending upon a number of factors such as the complexity of the project the number of parties involved how speedily the other party/ies respond to correspondence the

6 Aug 2015: The Research Operations Office is again offering X5 training and would like to invite departmental staff, both academic and administrative, who are required to generate costings for themselves or for their departments, to attend one of these events.

21 Apr 2015: Emma Carey, European Advisor for UKRO, gave two presentations on Monday 16 March about Horizon 2020 and the Marie Sklodowska- Curie Actions. A copy of her presentations are now available on our website:

21 Apr 2015: Dr Ian Viney, Head of Strategic Evaluation from the MRC visited Cambridge on Wednesday 26 January to talk about the MRC's second annual output data gathering survey e-Val and how the data gathered will impact on the future availability of f

21 Apr 2015: Applicants and grant holders of the Wellcome Trust should be aware of the following funding updates: Funding for enhancements is now available. It is designed to provide additional funding for existing grant holders to explore important new

21 Apr 2015: The ERC has issued a statement containing indicative dates for the next ERC calls for proposals in 2014. These dates are liable to change, as negotiations on the forthcoming Horizon 2020 programme are still ongoing.

21 Apr 2015: After an extensive tender process CG LEES Accountants have been appointed to conduct audits on EC awards.  They have a wealth of experience with regards grant auditing and also have agreed to ensure that those doing the fieldwork will be qualified

21 Apr 2015: We have now received the final report from RCUK assurance in relation to their visit in November 2012 and include their findings below. “The visit has provided Substantial Assurance (1 rated) to the Research Councils regarding the review of

16 Apr 2015: Collaborators and funders sometimes supply their own contract, which will contain those terms most beneficial to that party but may also contain terms detrimental to the researcher or omit terms that are necessary to the University.

16 Apr 2015: Bespoke Agreements A bespoke agreement, based on one of our models where possible, is drafted and negotiated so that the research contract is tailored for a specific project. These research contracts take longer to finalise and take longer to

21 Apr 2015: A salary file update will be applied to X5 on Monday 5th August. This is to allow for the following salary changes: Changes to National Insurance contribution rates from 06 April 2013 Changes to Clinical Grades from April 2013 These changes will

21 Apr 2015: During October 2010 the Research Office sent a letter to each Department regarding delegated authority.  Thank you to those who have already replied, if you are yet to do so, please return the form as soon as possible. If you have any questions,

20 Aug 2015: Some users of the Online Contracts Submission for MTAs and CDA have encountered difficulties when uploading supporting documentation. Affected users are presented with an error message regarding a file name that is too long. If you see this message

21 Apr 2015: The annual MRC outputs data gathering exercise will begin on 1 October. MRC requires all researchers that have held MRC funding since 2006 to annually update and submit feedback on the results of MRC funded research. The system used for this is

21 Apr 2015: Addgene http://www.addgene.org is a non-profit plasmid repository based in Massachusetts, USA and is dedicated to helping scientists share plasmids.  The organisation helps academic laboratories to store, archive and distribute plasmids to

21 Apr 2015: For the latest information, see ‘Final and Interim Reports’ on the following url.

4 Jun 2015: Each month X5 is updated with a default exchange rate for Euros, based on the average of the rates for the previous month. Recent substantial increases in the exchange rate between submission of the application and notification of award has resulted

21 Apr 2015: A polite reminder that the final RCUK 2012 Workshop will be held tomorrow,  Friday, 5th October from 10-11.30am at the Clinical School Lecture Theatre 2.It is very important that you all attend – there is no need to pre-book, please just turn

21 Apr 2015: To All pFACT UsersAs you may be aware, the University is in the process of replacing pFACT with a new costing tool called X5.

21 Apr 2015: Further to the RGUG discussions held in March and July of this year, we would like to remind all departments that interim financial reports are based on grant expenditure claims which have been made during and up to the end of the period. This means

21 Apr 2015: The Research Councils continue to require increased efficiency and effectiveness in the use of equipment and facilities with the expectation that there will be sharing of assets between Departments and Universities wherever possible. In order to

21 Apr 2015: A new FAQ has been added to the X5 submission reports about a type of warning message. Please refer to p5 for more details.

21 Apr 2015: As you may be aware, the University will be replacing pFACT with a new costing tool called X5. When X5 goes live during Michaelmas Term 2012, some of the data within pFACT will need to be migrated into the new costing tool.

21 Apr 2015: In order to facilitate the Equipment Sharing project currently underway, the Finance Division will be running workshops to assist departmental staff in preparing a suitable costing for shared equipment.The workshops will also provide the opportunity

21 Apr 2015: As from Friday 13 May 2011, Martin Reavley stepped down as Director of the Research Office after more than two and a half years in the role. Monique Carew has been appointed Acting Director of the Office with effect from the same date and her new

21 Apr 2015: As a follow up to the previous Bulletin on Friday 13 May which outlined changes to equipment funding, the Research Office will be giving a presentation at RGUG on Tuesday 24 May.  We are still awaiting further information from RCUK on