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Find answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about Crick attachments.
Governing principles
- Is research at the Crick governed by UCL or Crick’s policies?
The Principal Investigator (PI) retains scientific and financial responsibility for the activity at both UCL and The Crick with exception of Intellectual Property (see below).
UCL attachments will remain governed by UCL’s policies as these relate to the development of research funding proposals and subsequent award management including (but not limited to) UCL Financial Regulations and Expenses policies.
UCL attachments will continue to be subject to UCL’s research-related policies on Open Access, Research Data Management, and Research Integrity.
UCL attachments will be subject to the relevant Crick policies and procedures governing activity within the Crick, e.g., Health and Safety Procedures, building access etc.
The PI retains scientific and financial responsibility for the activity at both UCL and the Crick.
Applying for research funding
- Should the Crick or UCL be named as the Lead/Submitting Organisation on proposals?
Where the Principal Investigator (PI) is a UCL employee, then UCL should be named as the lead/submitting organisation on a research funding proposal (grant application or contract), irrespective of the location of the research, i.e., a grant application arising from a university PI located at the Crick (Group Secondment or Sabbatical) must still state UCL as the lead organisation. However, if the UCL employee is a co-applicant or collaborator on the application and the PI is a Crick employee then the Crick should be named as the lead/submitting organisation.
Proposals must clearly describe the nature of the research collaboration and wherever possible, should describe the location(s) of the proposed research activities.
- Will my proposal be supported by Crick Grants/Legal Office or UCL Award Services?
Where the PI is a UCL employee, Award Services will lead the review (and if required negotiation) of the terms and conditions of funding
Institutional Authority to submit and accept a grant application, or execute a research contract, will not be granted without prior approval from all partners, e.g., Award Services will not approve submission without prior approval from the Crick’s grants team and vice versa.
- Should the proposal be developed/costed using UCL or Crick’s Worktribe system?
All UCL costs should be costed using UCL's Worktribe system.
To ensure the proposal is correctly identified, the Project Title field should include <CRICK Attachment (attachment type)> ahead of the full Title in the Project Title field on Worktribe. This annotation will be removed prior to submission by Award Services.
Where UCL is the lead, the UCL Worktribe record should capture ‘UCL Costs’, ‘UCL @ Crick Costs’, and if relevant any ‘Crick @ Crick Costs’ under separate tabs. Where UCL is not the lead, there is no need to capture Crick @ Crick Costs within UCL’s systems.
Crick @ Crick costs should be developed by the Crick Co-I and provided to UCL in the necessary funder format subsequent to approval by the Crick Grants Office.
UCL Costs UCL @ Crick Costs (X-OSR) Crick @ Crick Costs (X-COL) Cost to be incurred by UCL e.g. Staff Costs, ‘Overheads’, and Travel Costs and any scientific costs that will be incurred at UCL. Costs to be incurred by UCL Employees @ Crick to enable local purchasing / spend e.g., materials / consumables, STP access. Costs incurred by any collaborating employees. To be entered in the UCL Worktribe record under relevant Research Partner headings. These should be costed using UCL Worktribe Research Management. These should be costed by the Crick and incorporated into the UCL Worktribe costing. These should be costed by the Crick and incorporated into the UCL Worktribe costing.
- Should I cost project staff using UCL or Crick pay scales?
The PI’s employer will be the default employing organisation for staff recruited (or extended) on projects unless otherwise approved.
Where a UCL attachment is the PI, any new researchers funded by the award will become UCL employees and should be costed on UCL’s pay scales using UCL Worktribe.
- How should the Project Indirect and Estates Costs be calculated?
The Indirect Cost Rate applied should be that of the post’s employer, whereas the Estates Rate used should reflect the main location of the post. For example, a UCL employed researcher seconded to the Crick should be costed using UCL’s Indirect Cost rate but the Crick’s Estates Rate.
UCL Worktribe will default to the relevant UCL Department Estates Rate and can be assumed as a proxy for Crick’s Estates rate. In the event the overhead recovery is materially higher than the Crick per capita charge, consideration may need to be given at award stage to relinquish excess awarded budget back to the Funder.
Where research funding is being applied from a commercial source, the price should be at a minimum of 100% FEC.
- What do I need to consider if the project if I need to apply for equipment funding?
When costing Equipment, it is important to establish which organisation will own any new equipment, and be responsible for procurement, installation, on-going maintenance, insurance etc.
Proposals requiring an Institutional commitment to contribute to the purchase of mid/major equipment to be installed at the Crick (including UKRI applications), must be negotiated and agreed between the relevant authorised UCL and Crick Finance Officers prior to submission of the application/contract execution.
- Is there anything I need to consider when budgeting travel and subsistence?
Project related travel and subsistence should be costed in line with the relevant employers’ expenses policy, or where more stringent, that of the Funder e.g. a UCL staff member should refer to UCL’s expenses policy.
For ease of estimating travel and subsistence costs for a project including both UCL and Crick employed staff, a pragmatic approach should be adopted.
Where the grant is awarded to UCL, all travel should be booked through UCL’s preferred suppliers, expense claims submitted through MyFinance etc.
- Is there anything I need to consider when budgeting access to facilities/platforms?
Confirmation of the availability and cost of Crick resources (Science Technology Platforms, Laboratory Infrastructure, Biological Services and Scientific IT requirements) must be obtained from the relevant Crick facility manager, and approved by the Crick grants team.
Confirmation of the availability and cost of any UCL facilities to be used must be obtained from the relevant UCL facility manager.
New awards
- Will UCL Award Services or the Crick Grants Office be responsible for accepting and setting up the new award?
This will depend on which organisation is the lead and the nature of the award. If UCL has acted as the lead/submitting organisation, the award will likely be made to UCL, and UCL will be expected to place a sub-agreement to flow terms and funds to the Crick.
In some instances UCL and the Crick will receive individual awards from the Funder (or another lead organisation). In this case, UCL and Crick will responsible for setting up their aspect of the award. It is advisable to notify both UCL and Crick offices of new awards as soon as possible.
- Will any of the awarded Indirect/Estates Costs or any associated QR be reallocated to Crick?
No. UCL has agreed an annual per-capita fee for all UCL-Crick Attachment which is payable irrespective of overhead recovery. Any overheads secured through research funding will continue to be credited to the relevant academic unit in line with expenditure or time (as appropriate)
UCL will retain QR associated with their employees. Universities will account transparently for Crick sub-award budgets so that University activity undertaken at the Crick can be included in the HESA returns (and therefore attract QR funding for the Universities), but remain clearly identifiable.
Moving active UCL projects to the Crick
- Can I move all of my UCL projects to the Crick?
Not always. It is important to recognise that the terms of the funding may prevent the research from being undertaken at the Crick. It is therefore really important to establish whether any restrictions exist and UCL options to manage these, before making any plans for the research to move. Furthermore, approval will be required from all parties (UCL, the Crick, the Funder) ahead of any move.
- Will my UCL project formally transfer/novate to the Crick?
Generally not. Transferring / novating awards is a complex process, and will mean that the award can no longer be reported as UCL income. Consequently UCL will lose any associated overhead or QR income, but still be required to pay Crick an annual overhead charge. Furthermore, the award period may not be aligned with the secondment period.
If however if all parties are in agreement, Award Services can place a sub-agreement to reallocate a proportion of the non-staff budget to the Crick (up to 90% of the remaining budget). This is only allowable for certain funders, so advice should be sought as soon as possible from UCL Award Services.
UCL is not permitted to subcontract EC funding. However, there may be an option to establish Crick as a linked-third party, providing a mechanism for activity to be undertaken at the Crick. Any overheads associated with the Crick budget will transfer from UCL to Crick (and be lost to the Department).
No funding can be reallocated from UCL to Crick without approval from the Funder.
- How do I arrange for funds to be reallocated to the Crick?
Presuming your UCL Department, the Crick and Funder (and any collaborators) have agreed in principle with the reallocation of non-staff costs, a Contract Request should be created in Worktribe to formally start the process. Please contact Award Services for advice on obtaining these approvals.
To ensure the contract request is correctly identified, it should be entitled <MyFinance Project Code>Research Sub-Award – Crick Attachment (type of attachment) and include the following information:
- Scope of activity to be undertaken
- Confirmation of start and end dates (aggregate period must be within period of main award)
- Confirmation of total budget and breakdown (aggregate sum must be within limit of main award)
- Confirmation of funder approval
The Contract should abide by the following criteria:
- Only non-staff costs (excluding travel) and a maximum of 90% of the remaining budget can be allocated to the Crick. The amounts are pro-rata according to the period remaining at the Crick.
- Budgets for equipment will need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis which will consider initial and future ownership and associated issues (insurance, maintenance etc.)
Award Services will review the terms of the award, and if the terms permit, seek to place a research collaboration agreement to reallocate the relevant budget to the Crick.
Whilst collaboration agreements (flowing research funding to the Crick) may be initiated, finalisation is subject to the Researcher Collaboration (Secondment) Agreement being placed by HR.
Managing UCL-Crick awards
- How do I get a Crick account set-up?
The UCL-Crick research collaboration agreement sets out to the maximum budget that has been allocated to the Crick, and the terms and conditions of funding. Crick will use this to set an account to which purchases and STP usage for the project should be charged.
The group will be permitted to incur costs up to the maximum budget as stated in the collaboration agreement. The Crick will then invoice UCL for these costs, along with transactional-level supporting reports.
- How will Crick budgets be identified in MyFinance?
The UCL @ Crick budget (as set out in the research collaboration agreement) will be set up in MyFinance under X-OSR (Off-Site Research) and will continue to be returned as UCL research activity.
Any budget belonging to Crick collaborators (Crick @ Crick) will be set up under X-COL (Collaborators), and will not be returned as UCL research activity.
UCL Costs UCL @ Crick Costs (X-OSR) Crick @ Crick Costs (X-COL) Cost to be incurred by UCL e.g. Staff Costs, ‘Overheads’, and Travel Costs and any scientific costs that will be incurred at UCL. Costs to be incurred by UCL Employees @ Crick to enable local purchasing / spend e.g., materials / consumables, STP access. Costs incurred by any collaborating employees. To be entered in the UCL Worktribe record under relevant Research Partner headings. These should be costed using UCL Worktribe Research Management. These should be costed by the Crick and incorporated into the UCL Worktribe costing. These should be costed by the Crick and incorporated into the UCL Worktribe costing.
- How will I oversee expenditure at UCL and Crick?
You will receive monthly MyFinance expenditure reports which will detail UCL expenditure and any expenditure which has been invoiced by the Crick and processed by UCL Award Services. It is important to note that there may be a significant delay between costs being incurred at the Crick and these being charged to UCL.
The Crick Grants Office will provide the PI with monthly budget vs spend reports.
UCL Award Services and the Crick Research Offices commit to jointly review the balance of relevant awards ahead of submitting any financial report/invoice to the Funder.
Staff recruitment should be undertaken through whichever organisation is to be the employer, in accordance with all relevant HR policies.
Procurement of goods and services should be undertaken by whichever organisation holds the budget and should be undertaken in accordance with all relevant procurement policies.
Project-related travel and subsistence should be booked and claimed in accordance with the individual’s employer’s Expenses policy, or where more stringent, that of the Funder.