Post-Award Process

Home After Funding Post-Award Process

On notification of an external research funding award or contract, the first step is to contact the Research Support Administrator assigned to your Funding Agency. This person will co-ordinate the review/sign-off of all contract documentation and the setting up of your research account.

All contracts/letters of offer sent directly to you should be forwarded to your Research Support Administrator.

The contract/agreement sign off process is as follows:

A. All research contracts/agreements must be reviewed by the relevant University Offices before they can be signed–off and a research account opened.

B. To allow review of the contract/agreement, the following documentation should be made available to your Research Support Administrator:

1. Initial Proposal (if not already furnished)
2. Completed and signed Proposal Review Form (Appendix A) (if not already furnished) via IRIS Proposals. The web-based form can be accessed by logging in to your IRIS Profile.  For further information on IRIS Proposals, please go to the IRIS Proposals FAQ section of the website
   
3. Completed Contract Assessment Form (Appendix C). This document must be signed you (and any co-PIs), your Head of Unit, and the relevant Head of College. Please refer to the frequently used forms section of the website
4. All contract documentation from the Funding Agency (with all Terms & Conditions) OR the original signed Letter of Offer (or Award Acceptance Certificates) from Funding Agency.

The Research Support Administrator will work with the following University Offices to coordinate the review of your contract/agreement:

• Finance Office: Financial review
• Office of Technology Transfer (TTO): Intellectual property review
• Office for Corporate and Legal Affairs (OCLA): Review of additional legal issues (if necessary). If a research collaboration agreement is required, the OCLA will assist in the drafting of this document.

After the contract/agreement has been approved by the Finance Office, TTO and OCLA, the document will be signed by the Research Office and will be returned to you and/or the relevant Funding Agency.

When the fully executed contract/agreement is returned to the Research & Innovation Office, it will be sent to the Finance Office who will arrange for the research account to be set up. The Finance Office will contact you with account code information [please refer to the Financial Procedures section of the website]

The original fully executed contract/agreement will be stored by the Finance Office and a copy will be sent to you for your records.

EU-FP7 Awards: Process

(i) UCC as a Partner:
Following notification of the award, the Research Support Administrator will arrange for the review of two documents that will be made available by the Commission and the Coordinator of the Project:

1. The Grant Agreement Preparation Form (GAPF) — This document will be reviewed by the Finance Office. For this review to take place, you must also submit (a) the proposal/Description of Workt; (b) the signed and completed Appendix A form; (c) the signed and completed Appendix C form; (d) all relevant annexes and T&Cs.
2. Consortium Agreement — This will be reviewed by the OTT

Following successful review of the GAPF by the Finance Office, the Research & Innovation Office will sign the relevant part of the GAPF (section A2.5). This is returned to the Coordinator of the project.

Following this step and subsequent approval of the GAPF by the Commission, the Grant Agreement is generated. The Coordinator sends the Grant Agreement Accession Form (Form A) to the partner institutions to be signed and these are returned to the Coordinator. The Grant Agreement itself is signed by the Coordinator and Commission — a signed copy is sent to the partner institutions.

In parallel with the generation and sign-off of the GAPF and the Grant Agreement, the Consortium Agreement needs to be furnished by the Coordinator, reviewed by the OTT, and signed-off by Research & Innovation Office.

Once all the above documentation is fully signed and returned, the hard-copy file is sent to the Finance Office who will set up the Research Account.

In summary, to open an FP7 research account, the following documentation is required by the Finance Office:

1. Initial Proposal/Description of Work (if not already furnished)
2. Completed and signed Proposal Review Form (Appendix A)
3. Completed and signed Contract Assessment Form (Appendix C).
4. Grant Agreement Preparation Form (completed & signed)
5. Grant Agreement Accession Form (Form A) (signed by the project coordinator and UCC)
6. A copy of Grant Agreement (signed by Co-ordinator and Commission)
7. Consortium Agreement (signed by all partners and co-ordinator)
8. All relevant annexes mentioned in any of the above documentation

(ii) UCC as a Coordinator

The process is essentially as above. The Research & Innovation Office will take care of all administrative aspects of the process and can liaise with the partners on your behalf.

Who Signs Contracts?

Only the legally authorised representative of the University (or their nominee) can sign research contracts (from any Funding Agency or sponsor).  Researchers cannot sign and return any contract documentation. There may be a field for you to complete and sign, but the overall signing of contracts rests with the Research & Innovation Office.

How Do I Get Ethical Approval?

Please refer to the Ethics page on the website

Please bear in mind that ethical approval can take up to 6 weeks to obtain so submit your application in plenty of time.