Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN2 1ET Tel (01793) 444000http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/ e-mail: infoline@epsrc.ac.ukHelpline (01793) 444100

John Wand Programme Operations Tel: 01793 444457 e-mail: john.wand@epsrc.ac.uk EPSRCPolaris HouseNorth Star AvenueSwindon SN2 1ET

Who funds HE research? Insert pie chart of sources of HE Research income for most recent year available - see SET Statistics

Expenditureby FCs and other funders 2500 Insert the slide from the XCR and the IiI report 2000 1500 1000 500 HEFCs Total project funders 0 1988-89 1989-90 1990-91 1991-92 1992-93 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 HEI Research income

The problem: trends • Stagnating QR alongside increased project funding • Increased pressure on all HEI staff to conduct and publish research • Poor understanding of cost base • Neglect of long-run costs • Low price culture

The problem: present position • Under-investment in university infrastructure highlighted in the Dearing Report in 1997 • Transparency Review (2000) detailed • Backlog • Recurrent gap • Investing in Innovation (2002) confirmed a “persistent failure to invest in research infrastructure” • S&I Investment Framework (2004)affirmed need to address this

Investing in Innovation/S&I Investment Framework • Research in HEIs must be sustainable • HEIs must understand and recover FEC overall • Dual support system remains • Government is contributing very significant amounts of money for sustainability: • SRIF increasing to a permanent stream of £500M per year • Extra QR (£244M + SR2004) • Extra money for Research Councils (£120M+£80M) • Better cost recovery from others eg Government Departments

Implementation • Calculating full economic cost of individual projects • Terms of trade between HEIs and RCs

TRAC Methodology • TRansparent Approach to Costing • Activity Based Costing • Introduced at high level • Teaching (public & non publicly funded) • Research (PF and NPF) • Other • Cost not Income • Accepted by HMT

TRAC Methodology • Extend to Project level • Robust, consistent • Balance accuracy and bureaucracy • NO Timesheets • Roll out by January 2005 (grant applications to RCs from Sep ‘05, money paid out from April 2006) • QA process • Benchmarking exercise

Project Costing

Terms of trade between HEIs and RCs • RCs pay a fixed % of full economic cost • Moving to ‘close to’ 100% by 2010 • Includes Fellowships (including RS, RAEng) • Excludes PGR (for the present)

RC Funding; current position FULL ECONOMIC COSTS Direct costs Indirect costs eligible staff costs (e.g. Research Assistants, support staff) Research council contribution to indirect costs = 46% of eligible direct staff costs The institution must find the rest from other sources. other eligible costs (e.g. equipment) ineligible costs (e.g. salary of the Principal Investigator) Eligible – RC will pay these costs Shaded area – what RC will fund

FULL ECONOMIC COSTS Direct costs Indirect costs Research Council pays approx 70% of full costs The institution must find the rest from other sources. RC funding; proposed model

Proposal Form • Directly Incurred • Staff • Equipment • T&S • Consumables • Directly Allocated • Investigators • Estates • Other Directly Allocated (eg pool technicians) • Indirect Costs • Exceptions

Issues for move to FEC • What percentage of FEC? roughly 70% • Same for all disciplines/RCs? (Yes) • Paying for P.I. salary? (Yes) • 37.5 hr working week for costing purposes • Departments with no QR? (Yes) • Timescale and transition (Sept 2005) • Monitoring and adjustments

Issues for RCs for move to FEC • Monitoring academic time on projects etc • Application numbers • Differences between indirect cost rates ‘legitimate’ or inefficient? • Verification/audit • Assessment – value for money? • Mathematics Small Grants

Value for Money • ‘Research grant applications will be externally peer reviewed in the same way as they are at present. …. This will not require a fundamental change in the role of the Committees whose job has always been primarily to advise on the quality of science described in the applications.’

Issues for HoDs in move to FEC • Academic time – balance between T & R • Budget • are costs being recovered? • What does the department pay for? • Access to QR funds

Provisional Timescale • New data requirements and processes (Paper based) September 2004 • Administrative Workshops Autumn 2004 • Training of peer reviewers mid 2005 • Electronic forms available mid 2005 • Applications on new basis from Sept 2005

Culture Change • Project costing methodology to be rolled out further than TRAC in HEIs (will impact on P.I.s) • HEIs know costs and set prices accordingly • RCs operations will need to change (brief peer reviewers) • Non RC funders – expect to fund all or part of FEC

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council