Research Funding
Dr Campbell Thomson
Research Services
Overview
• Context
• Competitive Grant Funding
- Constructing a research budget
- Infrastructure and full costing
- Cost versus price
• Block Grant funding
- SRE, ERA and transparent costing
• Roles and responsibilities
Overview
• Context
• Competitive Grant Funding
- Constructing a research budget
- Infrastructure and full costing
- Cost versus price
• Block Grant funding
- SRE, ERA and transparent costing
• Roles and responsibilities
Context
Government investment into research 2010-2011
Context (cont.)
• Government investment into higher education
research is about 41%
• Dual funding system:
– Competitive schemes:
$1.6 billion (ARC + NHMRC)
– Block funding schemes: $1.7 billion
• Competitive grants encourage researchers to
compete on quality and impact; Block funding
provides a research base to allow institutions to
make strategic choices
Overview
• Context
• Competitive Grant Funding
- Constructing a research budget
- Infrastructure and full costing
- Cost versus price
• Block Grant funding
- SRE, ERA and transparent costing
• Roles and responsibilities
Competitive Grant Funding
2009
• ARC competitive funding
$550 million
• NHMRC competitive funding
$625 million
• Other competitive programs
$400 million
(including CRCs)
$1,575 million
Overview
• Context
• Competitive Grant Funding
- Constructing a research budget
- Infrastructure and full costing
- Cost versus price
• Block Grant funding
- SRE, ERA and transparent costing
• Roles and responsibilities
Constructing a research budget
• Forms the basis on which your project is funded
• A well constructed budget should include all direct
costs of your project
• A well justified budget should increase your
chances of having these direct costs funded
• 2005 ARC Discovery Project round UWA’s average
grant size increased from $248,000 to $360,000
Project costing template
Project costing template (cont.)
Project costing template (cont.)
Project costing template (cont.)
Other DIRECT project costs
• Equipment
• Maintenance and travel
• Overseas per diem and accommodation (ATO)
• Relocation and appointment expenses (HR)
• Animal agistment costs
• Occupational health and safety costs
• External audit costs
INDIRECT project costs
• Laboratory/office space
• Existing research support/administrative support
• Libraries
• Power and lighting
• Computer services and telecommunications
• Building maintenance/cleaning
How to calculate indirect costs
• Percentage of direct costs
• Apply a multiplier against all professional salaries
- High cost school/centre – 127%
- Medium cost school/centre – 114%
- Low cost school/centre – 100%
Overview
• Context
• Competitive Grant Funding
- Constructing a research budget
- Infrastructure and full costing
- Cost versus price
• Block Grant funding
- SRE, ERA and transparent costing
• Roles and responsibilities
Infrastructure
• Infrastructure = indirect costs
• When to apply infrastructure charge:
On all research grants, contracts, tenders and consultancies with
the exception of:
- Australian Competitive Grants
- Bona fide donations
- Scholarship stipends
• Full infrastructure should be applied if IP or
publishing rights are not fully retained
How to calculate infrastructure
• Percentage of direct costs – 35% or 15%.
Current University policy
• Apply a salary multiplier against all professional
salaries - 127%, 114%, 100%
• Contracts and tenders must be fully costed to
comply with competitive neutrality policy
NOTE: All contracts and tenders must be submitted through the
Research Grants Office and must be signed by an authorised
signatory
What happens to infrastructure recoveries
• 68% to the school/centre
• 32% to central services
- 35% to Universities Facilities
(ACU/CMM etc.)
- 35% to Academic Services
(Research Services/Legal Services/Financial
Services etc.)
- 30% to the Library
Fully costed budget using % of direct costs
Fund Body
University
Total
Postdoc Fellow
$71,267
-
$71,267
Research Assistant
$66,836
-
$66,836
CI (LVLC 1) (20%)
-
$20,716
$20,716
$100,000
-
$100,000
-
$90,587
$90,587
$238,103
$111,303
$349,406
DIRECT COSTS
equipment
INDIRECT COSTS
35% of direct costs
TOTAL
Fully costed budget using salary multiplier
Fund Body
University
Total
Postdoc Fellow
$71,267
-
$71,267
Research Assistant
$66,836
-
$66,836
CI (LVLC 1) (20%)
-
$20,716
$20,716
$100,000
-
$100,000
Post doc x 127%
-
$90,509
$90,509
RA
-
-
-
CI x 127%
-
$26,309
$26,309
DIRECT COSTS
equipment
INDIRECT COSTS
($90,587)
TOTAL
$238,103
$137,534
$375,637
Overview
• Context
• Competitive Grant Funding
- Constructing a research budget
- Infrastructure and full costing
- Cost versus price
• Block Grant funding
- SRE, ERA and transparent costing
• Roles and responsibilities
Cost versus price
• Price: Amount charged or paid by the research
sponsor
• Cost: The sum of all costs, direct and indirect,
associated with a research project
direct
indirect (in-kind + Facilities & Admin)
Cost to Res. Org.
(Full Economic Cost)
direct
overhead
Price to Client
$
Overview
• Context
• Competitive Grant Funding
- Constructing a research budget
- Infrastructure and full costing
- Cost versus price
• Block Grant funding
- SRE, ERA and transparent costing
• Roles and responsibilities
Metrics (HERDC)
• Research income categories:
–
–
–
–
Category 1 income: ACG e.g. ARC, NHMRC
Category 2 income: Public Sector
Category 3 income: Industry
Category 4 income: CRCs
• Publication categories:
–
–
–
–
A1: Book
B1: Book chapter
C1: Refereed journal article
E1: Refereed conference article
DIISR block funding flows 2009
• Research Infrastructure Block Grant (RIBG) $220 M
- % share of most recent two years Category 1 Income
• Research Training Scheme (RTS) $615 M
- % share of HDR student completions (50%), % share of
Category 1,2,3,4 income (40%), and % share A1,B1,C1
and E1 publications (10%)
• Institutional Grants Scheme (IGS) $325 M
- % share of Category 1,2,3,4 income (60%), % share of
HDR student load (30%), and % share A1,B1,C1 and E1
publications (10%)
DIISR block funding flows 2010
• Research Infrastructure Block Grant (RIBG) $220 M
• Research Training Scheme (RTS) $615 M
• Joint Research Engagement (JRE) $325 M
– % share of Category 2,3,4 income
• Sustainable Research Excellence (SRE) $300 M
– % share of Category 1 income moderated by quality and
indirect cost drivers
• Collaborative Research Networks (CRN) $50 M
Overview
• Context
• Competitive Grant Funding
- Constructing a research budget
- Infrastructure and full costing
- Cost versus price
• Block Grant funding
- SRE, ERA and transparent costing
• Roles and responsibilities
Sustainable Research Excellence (SRE)
• 2009/10 budget reform to boost Australia’s
competitiveness by:
- Increasing the number of research groups
performing at world-class levels
- Addressing the shortfall in funding of indirect
costs of Australian Competitive Grants (ACGs)
- Return of 50 cents in the dollar of ACG
income
SRE block funding
• 20% baseline on % share of ACG income
• 13% for universities who sign up for Excellence in
Research for Australia (ERA) and transparent
costing (TC) – based on % share of first $2.5M ACG
(threshold 1)
• 67% for universities signed up for ERA and TC –
based on % share of ACG above $2.5M moderated
by quality (ERA) and costs (TC) (threshold 2)
SRE moderated by quality
• Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) initiative
– Publications over a 6 year window by FOR
– Discipline specific outputs peer reviewed
– Esteem factors
• Results published at FOR level (1,2,3,4, or 5)
• UWA had 91% of assessable two-digit FORs rated
at world class or above (3,4,5)
• Ei moderator
SRE moderated by costs
• Transparent costing (TC) based on reported indirect
costs and the effort of staff directed towards ACG
research (staff survey)
• UWA reported 50% of time spent on research and
26% of time spent on ACG research activity
• Total indirect costs at UWA = $276.8M; ACG indirect
costs 26% of $276.8M = $72.0M; ACG indirect
costs/ACG income = $72.0M/$84.1M = 85.6 cents
in the dollar
• TC moderator
SRE threshold 2 funding
• Two pools:
Share of ACG income x TC moderator = Share of TC pool
Share of ACG income x Ei moderators = Share of Ei pool
• One pool:
Share of ACG income x TC moderator x Ei moderator = Share
of total pool
• Ei could be share of research outputs in FORs rated
3,4 or 5 as a proportion of total research outputs
Overview
• Context
• Competitive Grant Funding
- Constructing a research budget
- Infrastructure and full costing
- Cost versus price
• Block Grant funding
- SRE, ERA and transparent costing
• Roles and responsibilities
Roles and responsibilities
• Research Grants Office:
- Opening PGs to accept funds
- Preparing financial schedules as per contracts
- Notifying CIs/school managers/finance officers
- Invoicing funds as per contract
- Preparing financial statements
- Audits as required
Roles and responsibilities
• Business Unit:
- Day to day management of the research PG
- Ensuring expenditure according to terms & conditions
(NHMRC has issued an eligible direct costs schedule)
- Providing regular updates to CIs on expenditure & balances
- Ensuring other income is not invoiced to research PG
- Notifying RGO when milestones are complete to initiate
invoices
- Notifying RGO of any changes, variations or extensions
Further information
• Internal guidelines
(http://www.research.uwa.edu.au/staff/applying-for-funding)
• Contacts
(http://www.research.uwa.edu.au/staff/contact)
QUESTIONS ?