Risk management and compliance

Each funder has a different set of contractual regulations surrounding the funding they award, so it is important that the Principal Investigator informs him/herself of the regulations before embarking on a research or enterprise project. This page gives some detail about how to manage project risks and ensure compliance.

Irrespective of the funder, key things to remember include:

• Funding can only be spent on the items included in the proposal unless the funder has given explicit written permission to deviate from this.
• All members of staff on projects must adhere to the University’s Financial Regulations at all times. These regulations incorporate the Procurement regulations and also the Expenses and Benefits policy.
• Some funders, such as the European Regional Development Fund, have additional procurement rules that we must follow – these are over and above our own procurement regulations.
• If the funder’s procurement regulations are not followed, such expenditure will be ineligible, unable to be claimed and charged directly to the School/Service.
• If the funder sets a deadline for a report or a claim to be submitted by, we must abide by this as it will be a contractual obligation.
• Not all funders support redundancy costs, so if a fixed term post is included in the project, these costs will need to be paid by the School/Service.
• When working with industrial organisations, it is important to remember that they can experience financial difficulties during a project which could jeopardise contractual arrangements with the University. Financial Services chases outstanding invoices on behalf of Schools/Services
• Expenditure incurred after the end date of a project may not be eligible to be claimed from the funder unless this is explicitly included in the contract/award letter. Any expenditure which has been incurred but is ineligible for the funder will not be claimed and will be charged directly to the School
• External funding must be acknowledged wherever possible, for example, on staff advertisements, publicity brochures, journal and conference papers

For major projects, the Post-Award Team will issue Principal Investigators with a detailed project management guide specific to their project and also the funder.