Everything you wanted to know about SEX (research budgets) but were afraid to ask

Research Budgets and Funding FlowsDr 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

RUNIRUATNGo8Unaligned

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

JRE ($356.1m) IPRS ($22.2m)

RIBG ($239.4m)

RTS ($676.7m)

SRE ($185.0m)

APA ($279.1m)

CRN ($10.3m)

Commonwealth-ANU re-lationship ($0.5m)

NCRIS ($100.1m)The Conversation ($1.0m) AIATSIS ($13.2m)

HERP ($4.8m)

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% of total RBG funding driven by data type

Amount of total RBG funding driven by data type ($m)

Research Income - Category 1 34% 584.8

Research Income - Categories 2, 3 & 4 24% 417.0

Publications 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-and-procedures?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

DIRECT COSTS

Postdoc Fellow $71,267 - $71,267

Research Assistant $66,836 - $66,836

CI (LVLC 1) (20%) - $20,716 $20,716

equipment $100,000 - $100,000

INDIRECT COSTS

35% of direct costs - $90,587 $90,587

TOTAL $238,103 $111,303 $349,406

Fully costed budget using salary multiplier

Fund Body University Total

DIRECT COSTS

Postdoc Fellow $71,267 - $71,267

Research Assistant $66,836 - $66,836

CI (LVLC 1) (20%) - $20,716 $20,716

equipment $100,000 - $100,000

INDIRECT COSTS

Post doc x 127% - $90,509 $90,509

RA - - -

CI x 127% - $26,309 $26,309

($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

$

Cost to Res. Org.(Full Economic Cost)

Price to Client

direct indirect (in-kind + Facilities & Admin)

direct overhead

What are the barriers to industry supporting university research ?

What are the barriers to industry supporting university research ?

• Intellectual property

• Cost!