Help Text
Table of Contents
What is the purpose of the Census and how are the findings used? .........................2
How to use the online form .....................................................................................2
Active vs Inactive Awards ........................................................................................2
Period of Cover .......................................................................................................3
Who needs to complete the questionnaire? ............................................................3
CSET & SRCs ................................................................................................................ 4
Multiple Awards (other than CSET/SRC) ..................................................................... 4
Multiple Awards of the same type (e.g. 2 RFPs) ......................................................... 4
Walton, Stokes, TIDA, Stars, UREKA ........................................................................... 5
Additional clarifications on who needs to complete the fome .................................. 5
How to fill out the different sections (incl. definitions) ............................................5
Section 2: Constitution of the Research Team ........................................................... 5
Section 3: Qualifications awarded and First Destination of Departing Team
Members ..................................................................................................................... 7
Section 4: Research Outputs ....................................................................................... 7
Section 4.1: Publications ............................................................................................. 7
Section 4.3-4.8: Pre-commercial Outputs................................................................... 8
Section 5: Collaborations ............................................................................................ 9
Section 6.2: External Non-SFI Funding ...................................................................... 10
Record Reusability ................................................................................................ 11
Questions & Help. ................................................................................................. 11
What is the purpose of the Census and how are the findings used?
The purpose of the annual census is many-fold.
The findings from the census are a critical source of information which is used
throughout the year in an aggregated format to convince pivotal stakeholders that
investment in research is justified, is delivering a return to Ireland, and should be
maintained.
The findings may also be used to facilitate the roles of the other enterprise agencies,
such as Enterprise Ireland, the IDA and Forfás. This is particularly relevant for
information provided on patents, licenses, spin-offs and company collaborations. This
year we have included a tick box in the industry-academic collaboration sections which
allows you inform us if we may share information on the companies you are
collaborating with. Please read the collaborations section for further information.
Individual funding data, personal data and commercially sensitive data will never be
shared externally.
Internally, the information provided in the census provides SFI with calendar year data
to enable improved planning. For example, data is used by SFI’s Scientific Programme
Managers to monitor and evaluate individual programmes, such as PI, RFP etc.
How to use the online form
Click on your individual link provided in the email you receive from SPSS. It is important
that you save this email as you will need this link to return to the census if you decide to
save a draft and return later.
Please use the “Save & Proceed to Next Page” button to move forward in the form.
Please use the “Save as Draft and Exit” button to save a draft. You will be exited from
the form and need to click on the original link in the mail from SPSS to resume.
Please ensure you “Submit” at the end of the form when you are satisfied with your
responses and wish to submit the form. Please note that once you submit, you will not
be permitted to re-enter the form to make changes.
Active vs Inactive Awards
Active awards refer to awards that received funding from SFI in 2011 and will continue
to receive funding from SFI in 2012; for example RFP 10 awards are currently active.
Inactive awards are considered “expired” by SFI, i.e. on the 31/12/2011 they will no
longer receive funding from SFI.
Period of Cover
The online form will remain open for 6 weeks, from the 7th December 2011 to the 20th
January 2012. This is to allow you as much time as possible to fill in the questionnaire.
Nevertheless, the outputs to be included in the form should cover the period 1 st January
2011 to 31st December 2012. If, for example, you decide to fill out the questionnaire on
the 7th of December, but you know that a paper will be published between the 7 th
December and the 31st December 2011, you may include this paper in the count of
publications for the year.
Note: SPSS Ireland will close their office for the Christmas period between the 23 rd
December 2011 and the 2nd January 2012. There will be no technical support available
during this period.
Who needs to complete the questionnaire?
If you are the lead person named on the SFI Letter of Offer for one of the following
active awards, then you need to complete the questionnaire:
 SFI Principal Investigator (PI)
 SFI President of Ireland Young Researcher Award (PIYRA)
 SFI Principal Investigator Career Advancement Award (PICA)
 SFI Maths Initiative (MI)
 SFI Research Frontiers Programme (RFP)
 SFI Research Professor Recruitment Award (RP)
 SFI Charles Parsons Energy Research (CP)
 SFI Starting Investigator Research Grant (SIRG)
 SFI US-Ireland R&D Partnership Programme (US-IRE)
 SFI Centres for Science, Engineering & Technology (CSET)
 SFI Strategic Research Clusters (SRC)
If you have ever been the lead person named on the SFI Letter of Offer for an inactive
award one of the following awards, then we request that you also complete the
questionnaire:
 SFI Principal Investigator (PI)
 SFI President of Ireland Young Researcher Award (PIYRA)
 SFI Principal Investigator Career Advancement Award (PICA)
 SFI Maths Initiative (MI)
 SFI Research Frontiers Programme (RFP)
 SFI Research Professor Recruitment Award (RP)
 SFI Charles Parsons Energy Research (CP)
 SFI Starting Investigator Research Grant (SIRG)
 SFI US-Ireland R&D Partnership Programme (US-IRE)
 SFI Centres for Science, Engineering & Technology (CSET)
 SFI Strategic Research Clusters (SRC)
CSET & SRCs
For CSETs and SRCs we ask that the Directors fill in a single census for the entire CSET or
SRC award. Where a CSET/SRC Director also holds, or held, additional SFI awards (e.g. PI
or RFP), those additional awards require a separate census form to be completed.
Multiple Awards (other than CSET/SRC)
Where a researcher holds, or held two or more awards (other than CSET or SRC)
simultaneously (e.g. PI and RFP), that researcher should fill in a single census. In this
case the census will allow the researcher to attribute data (e.g. team members,
publications etc.) to specific award categories.
Multiple Awards of the same type (e.g. 2 RFPs)
Where a researcher holds, or held, two or more of the same awards, that researcher
should fill in a single census form, combining the data for this award type, i.e. there is no
need to attribute data between the two awards.
PI
PIYRA PICA
Singlecombin
PI
e
Single Single
Single
combi
PIYRA Single ne
Single
Single
combi
PICA Single Single ne
MI
Single
RFP
Single
RP
Single
CP
Single
SIRG
Single
US-IRE Single
MI
RFP
RP
SIRG
USIRE CSET
SRC
Single
Singl
e
Two
Two
Single
Singl
e
Two
Two
Single
Single
Singl
e
Two
Two
Single
Single
Singl
e
Two
Two
Single
Singl
e
Two
Two
CP
Single Single Single Single
Single Single Single Single
Sing Single Single
Single
combi
Single Single ne
Single Single
Singlecombi
Single Single Single ne
Single
Single
combi
Single Single Single Single ne
Single
Singl
Single Single e
SingleSingl
Single Single Single Single Single combine Single e
Single- Singl
Single Single Single Single Single Single combine e
Sing
Single Single Single Single Single Single Single le-
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
Two
CSET Two
Two Two Two Two Two Two
Two
SRC
Two
Two Two Two Two Two Two
Two
Single: Complete one form
Single – combine: Complete one form and combine RFP outputs
Two – Complete two separate forms
com
bine
Two
Two
Walton, Stokes, TIDA, Stars, UREKA
The questionnaire does not have to be completed for these awards.
Additional clarifications on who needs to complete the fome
I am a co-PI on an award; do I need to complete the questionnaire?
No. Only the lead (first named on Letter of Offer) grant holder completes the
questionnaire
Why do I need to complete the questionnaire for expired awards?
The rationale behind this is to capture information/output from your award that may
have occurred with a lag, i.e. after the expiration of the award. This information will
help to reinforce the case for investment in R&D, and in particular the question of a
time lag for research outputs. Note, the information on your team composition relating
to this award at 31-12-2011 will be zero.
I only recently commenced an SFI award; do I need to complete the questionnaire?
Yes, please complete the questionnaire with any information available. We are aware
that outputs may be minimal but we want to record team composition and related data
where available.
How to fill out the different sections (incl. definitions)
Section 2: Constitution of the Research Team
In this section, please provide information regarding the gender/nationality breakdown
of your team in 2011.
This section is split into two parts;
- Composition of your SFI funded team at 31/12/2011
- Composition of your overall team at 31/12/2011, i.e. SFI funded team members
plus any other team members that may be funded from different sources
Postdoctoral Researchers includes immediate up to Co-PI/Funded Investigator.
Co-PIs and Funded Investigators may be included in the “Other” category.
Note for Centre awards (CSET/SRC).
The following example demonstrates how to complete this section:
(i) Overall Centre team members = 20
 10 in HEI A
 6 in HEI B
 4 in HEI C
These team members are funded by SFI & other sources and should be included in the
“Overall Team Members” question.
(ii) SFI funded CSET/SRC award = 12
 6 in HEI A
 4 in HEI B
 2 in HEI C
This is a subset of (i) above. These team members are funded by SFI only and should be
included in “SFI SRC or CSET” question.
My award expired during 2011 or before 31/12/2011; do I need to fill in the questions
on research team compositions?
No, you do not need to complete this section. The number of team members reported
is taken at a point in time i.e. the 31st December 2011.
Section 3: Qualifications awarded and First Destination of Departing Team Members
This section captures information on (i) PhD and Masters students that have graduated
during the year and (ii) the first destination of SFI funded team members that have left
your group during 2011.
Section 4: Research Outputs
Please note that all outputs, whether for active or inactive awards, must have arisen
during 2011.
Section 4.1: Publications
To ensure accuracy and quality of data, please do not include publications that are in
preparation, submitted that have not yet been accepted (in press), non peer reviewed
publications or abstracts. The exclusion to this applies if you decide to complete the
questionnaire before the 31st December (i.e. between the 7th-31st December 2011) and
you know that a paper will be published in this period. Only include publication in which
you are the fully named author, not just acknowledged.
In order to simplify the questionnaire and shorten the time it takes to complete this
form, we are not asking respondents to list or upload a bibliography of their
publications.
Data quality is of primary concern with respect to this census. The internal integrity of
records received from respondents and the reasonableness of a respondents’
information provided are continually assessed through both manual and electronic
editing of the data. Non-respondents and data anomalies will be identified and will be
followed up by SFI.
Definitions:
Refereed Original Articles
The number of peer reviewed research journal articles published during the reporting
period (including partner institutions in the case of CSET/SRCs).
Refereed Review Articles
The number of peer reviewed review journal articles published during the reporting
period (including partner institutions in the case of CSET/SRCs).
Books Authored/Edited
The number of books published where team members were authors or editors during
the reporting period.
Book Chapters
The number of book chapters published during the reporting period.
Refereed Conference/Meetings Papers
The number of refereed conference/meeting papers published during the reporting
period
Edited Conference/Meeting Papers
The number of edited conference papers published during the reporting period.
Open Access
An Open Access Publication is one that meets the following two conditions:
1. The author(s) and copyright holder(s) grant(s) to all users a free, irrevocable,
worldwide, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute,
transmit and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative
works, in any digital medium for any responsible purpose, subject to proper
attribution of authorship, as well as the right to make small numbers of printed
copies for their personal use.
2. A complete version of the work and all supplemental materials, including a copy
of the permission as stated above, in a suitable standard electronic format is
deposited immediately upon initial publication in at least one online repository
that is supported by an academic institution, scholarly society, government
agency, or other well-established organization that seeks to enable open access,
unrestricted distribution, interoperability, and long-term archiving (for the
biomedical sciences, PubMed Central is such a repository).
Examples of Open Access Repositories are; PubMed Central
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/) , UK PubMed (http://ukpmc.ac.uk/) , or in
Institutional repositories. Information on the Irish universities’ institutional repositories
is available through IREL-Open (http://www.irel-open.ie/ )
Section 4.3-4.8: Pre-commercial Outputs
The Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) in the universities and colleges are the primary
source of information on the commercialization activities. SFI will cross-check the
numbers provided here with the TTOs. Please ensure that the numbers that are
included here refer to outputs that have been agreed by your TTO.
Invention Disclosures: This question relates to the number of Invention Disclosure
Forms (IDF) that you have submitted to your Technology Transfer Office (TTO) in 2011.
The TTO must have checked and accepted the signed and completed IDF for it to be
counted in the census. The Invention Disclosure Form (IDF) is the first step in a process
that could potentially lead to commercialisation of technology. It is a written, dated
record of an invention. It contains basic information which helps to evaluate,
subsequently protect and potentially commercialise the intellectual property associated
with an invention.
Patents Filed: this refers to initial patent applications made by a patent agent. The
priority date must fall within 2011.
Spin-Offs: A Spin Out is an incorporated entity, with a business plan consistent, set up
for the purpose of exploiting technology from a university.
Licenses: A license is an agreement between a public research organisation and one or
more commercial undertakings, whereby IP rights are transferred to that undertaking
for the purpose of commercialisation.
Conditions for inclusion
The licence category is subdivided into 3 subsets that can be counted.
 Full licence
 Option exercised
 Assignment
In all cases the assignee or licensee must be a commercial entity and the purpose must
be for commercial exploitation. An exception to this may be in circumstances where a
licensee is another non-commercial institution such as another HEI but require to
licence in IP for the purposes of bundling with their own IP to a third commercial party.
Options granted under collaborative research agreements to foreground IP only cannot
be counted. For the avoidance of doubt, this in general applies to agreements under
the Innovation Partnership Programme and collaborative research agreements funded
by other sources. However, should a company partner in a collaborative agreement
decide to exercise it’s option on specific IP generated in the project in question, then at
this point the full licence /the exercise of option/assignment can be counted.
A transaction can only be counted once. The number of licenses reported here must
equate to the number of licenses reported to and approved by the TTO.
ICT Standards/Specifications: Standards are technical specifications that support the
development of open and competitive markets for the benefit of both consumers and
industry. The number of standards submitted or approved during the reporting period.
(Examples would include WWW Consortium Standards, 3G Partnership Project Global
Standards etc.)
Section 5: Collaborations
Definitions of Industry Types:
Multinational Corporation (MNC): A multinational corporation is a business enterprise
that retains direct investments overseas and that maintains value-added holdings in
more than one country. A multinational firm sends abroad a package of capital,
technology, managerial talent, and marketing skills to carry out production in foreign
countries. For the purposes of this census, companies with greater than 250 employees
are considered MNCs.
SME: SMEs are described as enterprises, which employ fewer than 250 people and
whose turnover does not exceed €50 million per annum.
Permission: The data that is submitted here is very pertinent and is invaluable to SFI in
reinforcing the message of the need for continued support for investment in research
and development and for communicating the positive outputs of research in Ireland.
Examples of how this information is used externally:
1. Providing the IDA with information on collaborations with companies that do not
already have a presence in Ireland. This is a vital means for the IDA to make
contact with these companies.
2. Providing the IDA & EI with information on collaborations with companies that
already have a presence in Ireland. This is used to strengthen the existing
relationship with these companies.
3. Providing DETI and DFA with information on international collaborations. These
may be used in briefing documents for State or Ministerial visits abroad.
We would appreciate it, therefore, if you could give us permission to share information
on the companies that you are collaborating with. Please note that SFI will never
inform any third party of the details of the research that is being undertaken, simply
the fact that a collaboration exists between both parties.
Fields that we may share: Company Name, Company Location, SFI Researcher
Fields that we will not share: Contact Name, Department, Legal Agreement, Nature,
Objective, Lay person’s description of the work being undertaken.
Please check the tick box after each collaboration, to indicate whether you do or do not
give us permission to use the collaboration information externally.
Section 6.2: External Non-SFI Funding
The securing of external (non SFI) funding is an important measure of the
competitiveness of a research group. It is critical that SFI obtain accurate and true
measures of its community’s external funding. In previous SFI censuses there has been
significant over-reporting of such external funding, making the findings unreliable and
potentially questioning the credibility of the overall census findings. This year we are
asking you to report the amount acquired for the overall project and your portion of this
amount.
For example: FP7 project – total funding €1 million
 German partner = €400k
 Belgian partner = €300k
 UK partner = €200k
 Irish partner = €100k.
Report €1m in the census for the overall amount.
Report €100k in the census for your portion.
Record Reusability
On completion of the census you will be able to retain a record of your entries by
printing the final summary screen prior to submitting. SPSS Ireland, our partner in this
project, will be sending all respondents a MS Word version of the information that they
entered, on a weekly batched basis. This is to facilitate the re-use of information for
annual reports and other purposes.
Questions & Help.
The main point of contact for queries is Sinead Flahive, SPSS.
Telephone: 01 4150234
Email: Sinead.flahive@spss.ie
Note: SPSS Ireland will close their office for the Christmas period between the 23 rd
December 2011 and the 2nd January 2012. There will be no technical support available
during this period.
Please check our website www.sfi.ie for updates.