Transcript Staff Induction 2012

Everything you wanted to know about
SEX (research budgets) but were afraid to
ask
Research Budgets and Funding Flows
Dr Campbell Thomson, Director Office of Research Enterprise
Overview
• Context
• How does the Australian research funding system
work?
• How do you construct a research budget?
• What is research infrastructure and why do we
charge it?
2014-15 Federal
Budget
(Approx. AU$415 Billion)
2014-15 Federal
Budget
(Approx. AU$415 Billion)
Australian Government expenditure on
science, research and innovation, by
category, 2010-11
Australian Government expenditure on
science, research and innovation, by
category, 2010-11
ARC NCGP funding by University ($m) 2007-2013
RUN
IRU
ATN
Go8
Unaligned
Australian Government expenditure on
science, research and innovation, by
category, 2010-11
Australian dual funding system
• Competitive research grants encourage
researchers to compete on quality and impact
• Research block funding provides a research base
to allow institutions to make strategic choices
University research block grants
The Conversation
($1.0m)
NCRIS ($100.1m)
AIATSIS ($13.2m)
HERP ($4.8m)
CRN ($10.3m)
CommonwealthANU relationship
($0.5m)
JRE ($356.1m)
APA ($279.1m)
SRE ($185.0m)
RIBG ($239.4m)
RTS ($676.7m)
IPRS ($22.2m)
Research metrics
• Research income categories:
–
–
–
–
Category 1 income: ACG e.g. ARC, NHMRC
Category 2 income: Public Sector
Category 3 income: Industry
Category 4 income: CRCs
• Publication categories:
–
–
–
–
A1: Book
B1: Book chapter
C1: Refereed journal article
E1: Refereed conference article
Block grants are performance based
• Research Infrastructure Block Grants (RIBG)
- % share of Category 1 income
• Sustainable Research Excellence (SRE) scheme
- % share of Category 1 income moderated by costs and quality (ERA)
• Joint Research Engagement (JRE) scheme
- % share of Category 2,3,4 (60%), HDR student load (30%),
A1, B1, C1, E1 publications (10%)
• Research Training Scheme (RTS)
- % share of HDR completions (50%), Category 1,2,3,4 income (40%),
A1, B1, C1 , E1 publication (10%)
Drivers of RBG amounts – 2014
Data type
Research Income Category 1
Research Income Categories 2, 3 & 4
Publications
% of total RBG funding Amount of total RBG
driven
funding driven by data
by data type
type ($m)
34%
584.8
24%
417.0
8%
131.6
HDR Completions
28%
484.8
RTS Student Load
6%
103.8
Total
100%
1,721.9
* Other data types are used as ‘moderators’ to make modest adjustments
to initial funding amounts allocated based on performance on the data
types above
Sustainable Research Excellence (SRE)
• 2009/10 budget reform to boost Australia’s
competitiveness by:
- Increasing the number of research groups performing at
world-class
- Addressing the shortfall in funding of indirect costs of
Australian Competitive Grants (ACGs)
- Returning 50 cents in the dollar of ACG income
SRE block funding
• 20% baseline on % share of ACG income
• 13% for universities who sign up for Excellence in
Research for Australia (ERA) and transparent
costing (TC) – based on % share of first $2.5M
ACG (threshold 1)
• 67% for universities signed up for ERA and TC –
based on % share of ACG above $2.5M moderated
by quality (ERA) and costs (TC) (threshold 2)
SRE moderated by quality
• Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) initiative
- Publications over a 6 year window by Field of
Research (FOR)
- Discipline specific outputs peer reviewed
- Esteem factors
• Results published at FOR level on 5 point scale
1 is well below world class
5 is well above world class
• Ei moderator
SRE moderated by costs
• Transparent costing (TC) based on reported indirect
costs and the effort of staff directed towards ACG
research (staff survey)
• UWA reported 50% of time spent on research and
26% of time spent on ACG research activity
• Total indirect costs at UWA = $276.8M; ACG
indirect costs 26% of $276.8M = $72.0M; ACG
indirect costs/ACG income = $72.0M/$84.1M = 85.6
cents in the dollar
• TC moderator
SRE threshold 2 funding
• Two pools:
Share of ACG income x TC moderator = Share of TC pool (40%)
Share of ACG income x Ei moderator = Share of Ei pool (60%)
• Ei is share of research outputs in FORs rated 3,4 or
5 as a proportion of total research outputs
• TC is a multiplier between 1 and 1.2
Constructing a research budget
• Forms the basis on which your project is funded
• A well constructed budget should include all direct
costs of your project
• A well justified budget should increase your
chances of having these direct costs funded
Project costing template
(http://costcalculator.research.uwa.edu.au/)
Direct cost of salaries
Other DIRECT project costs
• Equipment
• Maintenance and travel
• Overseas per diem and accommodation (ATO)
• Relocation and appointment expenses (HR)
• Animal agistment costs
• Occupational health and safety costs
• External audit costs
INDIRECT project costs
• Laboratory/office space
• Existing research support/administrative support
• Libraries
• Power and lighting
• Computer services and telecommunications
• Building maintenance/cleaning
Indirect costs = infrastructure
• When to apply infrastructure charge:
- All research grants, contracts tenders and consultancies
except:
- Australian Competitive Grants (e.g. ARC and NHRMC)
- Projects funded by Charitable Trusts/Foundations
- Bona-fide donations
- Student stipends
• University policy at
http://www.governance.uwa.edu.au/procedures/policies/policies-andprocedures?method=document&id=UP07/2
How to calculate infrastructure
• Percentage of direct costs – 35%
• Salary multiplier – 127% or 100%
• Contracts and tenders must be fully costed to
comply with competitive neutrality
• Independent of IP and publishing rights
• Infrastructure recoveries: 68% to schools/centres
and 32% central services
Fully costed budget using % of direct costs
Fund Body
University
Total
Postdoc Fellow
$71,267
-
$71,267
Research Assistant
$66,836
-
$66,836
CI (LVLC 1) (20%)
-
$20,716
$20,716
$100,000
-
$100,000
-
$90,587
$90,587
$238,103
$111,303
$349,406
DIRECT COSTS
equipment
INDIRECT COSTS
35% of direct costs
TOTAL
Fully costed budget using salary multiplier
Fund Body
University
Total
Postdoc Fellow
$71,267
-
$71,267
Research Assistant
$66,836
-
$66,836
CI (LVLC 1) (20%)
-
$20,716
$20,716
$100,000
-
$100,000
Post doc x 127%
-
$90,509
$90,509
RA
-
-
-
CI x 127%
-
$26,309
$26,309
DIRECT COSTS
equipment
INDIRECT COSTS
($90,587)
TOTAL
$238,103
$137,534
$375,637
Cost versus price
• Price: Amount charged or paid to the research
sponsor
• Cost: The sum of all costs, direct and indirect,
associated with a research project
direct
indirect (in-kind + Facilities & Admin)
Cost to Res. Org.
(Full Economic Cost)
direct
overhead
Price to Client
$
What are the barriers to industry supporting
university research ?
What are the barriers to industry supporting
university research ?
• Intellectual property
• Cost!