A. Yes you can apply for a Research grant but you cannot claim salary and indirect & estates costs if you are already receiving these on the fellowship. Further details of eligibility can be found in the Research Grants Handbook section 2.3 Eligibility of Applicants
A. Estates, Infrastructure Technicians & Indirect costs may only be requested for individual visits in excess of six months. Further details of the application process and eligible costs can be found in the Research Grants Handbook Section 5.2.8 visiting researchers
A. The original rates used on your application should be used during and re-costing exercise.
A. You may delay the start of your grant by up to 3 months, after which time the grant offer will lapse. Please see the Research Grants Handbook Section 7.4 Starting a Research Grant for more details
A. In the first instance you should email the RCUK post award team or call +44 (0)1793 867 121.
A. No, A start date is defined as the date when expenditure is first incurred. Please see the Research Grants Handbook, section 7.4 Starting a Research Grant for details of appropriate costs to start a research grant. You should have documentary evidence that expenditure has been incurred, e.g. proof that a member of staff has commenced work on the project.
A. No, to qualify for Researcher Co-Investigator status you need to make a significant contribution to the proposal & the ensuing research and be working on the grant for at least 50% of your time, which would not be the case if you are funded 100% on another grant. Please see the Research Grants Handbook for further details regarding eligibility Section 2.3 Eligibility of Applicants
A. No, The virement of funds between fund headings is permitted only within and between Directly Incurred costs and Exceptions excluding equipment. Equipment funding is ring-fenced and transfers into or out of equipment headings, whether under Directly Incurred or Exceptions is not permitted. Please see the Research Grants Handbook Section 7.10 Virement of funds
A. A non-STFC funded PDRA can claim T&S (Travel & Subsistence) costs as long as they 1) are working on the STFC project & 2) obtain the Principal Investigator's (PI's) approval to use the grant funds for each time T&S costs are incurred. Please see the Research Grants Handbook Section 7.8 Travel and subsistence
A. The Research Organisation (RO) must notify STFC if it is proposed to change the PI, for example, following retirement, resignation or death, in which circumstance the research organisation may nominate a replacement PI. In all circumstances, STFC will wish to be assured that the replacement meets the eligibility criteria for applicants and has the expertise and experience to lead the project to a successful conclusion, in accordance with its research objectives. Please see the Research Grants Handbook section 2.3 Eligibility of Applicants. The official request should be made via Je-S using the grant maintenance functionality.
A. Yes you may transfer your grant award to another UK RO as long as written agreement from both the relinquishing and receiving organisations has been received. The relevant STFC secretariat should be notified and the new institution must meet STFC's eligibility criteria . Further information regarding the transfer of a grant to another UK Research Organisation can be found in the Research Grants Handbook section 7.11, Transfer of a Grant between Research Organisations in the UK. The request should be made via Je-S using the grant maintenance functionality.
A. Transfers of funds can be made to research organisations in other European countries under the Money Follows Researcher scheme, provided the relevant Research Funding Organisation in that country has signed up to the scheme. Further information and details of the scheme can be found on the following Research Grants Handbook reference: Section 7.12 Transfer of a grant to another European Country
A. You may extend the duration of the grant by up to 12 months or claim additional funds for making a substitute appointment. Please see the Research Grants Handbook for further details, Section 7.13 Extensions to Research Grants. The salary costs of any substitute appointment must not exceed that of the individual on leave. Please see the Research Grants Handbook for further details, Section 7.7 Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, and Parental & Long Term Sick Leave
A. Suspension should be considered when no research is being carried out on the grant or fellowship e.g. no member of staff employed on the award at that time. This will include issues such as gaps in employment whilst awaiting staff replacements.
A. You may remain on the grant as a PI or a CO-I so long as your RO has provided formal commitment that they will continue to provide support for your post until the end of the grant. For further details, please see Section 5.3.1 Investigator Posts and Section 2.3 Eligibility of Applicants
A. The virement of funds between fund headings are permitted only within and between Directly Incurred costs and Exceptions excluding equipment. Equipment funding is ring-fenced and transfers into or out of equipment headings, whether under Directly Incurred or Exceptions is not permitted. Section 7.10 Virement of Funds refers. Additionally, prior written approval must be sought from STFC in order to purchase equipment in the last 6 months of a grant. Section 7.9 Equipment refers.
A. RCUK visit research organisations or carry out desk-based reviews to ensure that there are proper controls and procedures in place so that research council grants are managed appropriately. Those ROs which feature in the top 50 funded (by value) by RCUK should ordinarily expect to be approached every three years. Those with lower volumes of funding will be approached on a risk basis.Further details can be found in the Research Grants Handbook section 1.3 Accountability of Research Grant Funds
A. Potential applicants should contact STFC via email well in advance of submitting a proposal if they are unsure whether their proposal falls within STFC’s remit or which are of STFC is most appropriate. Please see the Research Grants Handbook section 2.1 Eligibility of Subject Area for further details including procedures for administering proposals that cross Research Council boundaries.
A. STFC reserves the right to impose financial sanctions where it identifies areas of non-compliance in relation to the terms and conditions of grants. Any deliverables that are received late will incur a sanction, although the Research Organisation can appeal up to 90 days after the sanction was implemented. Payments may also be suspended for non-completion of ResearchFish. Please see the Research Grants Handbook section 7.17 for further details
A. Researchfish is a means of collecting data, impacts and outputs from the results of research grants. Principal Investigators will be requested to participate in updating the Researchfish database with updates during the lifetime of their grant and for up to 5 years afterwards. Further information is available on the STFC website.
A. Proposals for projects that would result in the production or collection of scientific data should include a Data Management Plan within the case for support. In the case of proposals that are part of a larger collaborative project, STFC recognises that data management may not be within the sole control of the applicant, or the applicant’s institute. In such cases, where a suitable project wide data management plan exists, this may be referred to.
Further details can be found in the Research Grants Handbook section: 5.8.5 Data Management Plan
A. All standard grant proposals are required to submit an Impact Plan, identifying the potential economic impacts of their proposal. The STFC website has further details of what is required, please see: Economic Impact in Peer Review. This page also has a link to Guidance for Completing the Pathways to Impact document.
A. The Case for Support, Impact plan and other attachments are only required on the lead proposal, except in the case of consortium grants where non-lead proposals may have different Impact Plans.
A. Following the publication of the revised RCUK policy on open access, and the decision to provide research organisations with block funding for publication costs, STFC no longer provides funding in research grants for any publication costs associated with peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers. Publication costs associated with research outputs other than journal articles and conference papers, such as books, monographs, critical editions, catalogues etc may, however, continue to be included in grants as a Directly Incurred Other Cost. The Research Grants Handbook section 5.2 refers.
A. STFC comply to an Information Charter, encompassing the Data Protection Act 1998 which can be viewed on the STFC website.
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