Research Term Definitions

Numerous terms are used by sponsors and the University in the research support environment. This section provides definitions for clarity.

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Research Term	Definition
Academic CV	The University System used for confirmation in post and professional review performance management exercises.
Adjustment	An adjustment may be made to the award value due to subsequent issues such as change in exchange rates, funder going insolvent, the PI leaving the organisation and negotiating to take the grant or percentage of the grant with them.
Amendment – contracting	A formal contract between parties to an existing contract for the purpose of amending the terms and conditions of the existing agreement.
Applicants	The people applying for funding on the application
Application Date / Application Submission Date	The date the status of the application record was changed to ‘Submitted to Funder’ in the Research Grants Database. If due process is followed this should be the date the application record is submitted to the funder. However, if Faculty Finance are notified late on an application this will be date the application record was updated in the database to signify it has been submitted to the funder.
Application Deadline	The application submission deadline provided by the Funder.
Application ID	Research Grants Database Application Identifier
Application Percentage Ownership	The percentage split of the application value applicable to an investigator on a research application bid. This is the ‘internal’ percentage split of the application between Queens staff (must add up to 100%. No decimal places on percentage values are recorded).
Application Status	The workflow status of an application
Application Type	The type of application, outline, full proposal or supplement.
Application Value	The value of the application – same as the Applied Amount.
Applied Amount	The amount of money requested from the funder on the application.
Award Date	Date of formal award notification The date the status of the application record was changed to ‘Successful’ in the Research Grants Database. If due process is followed this should be the date of formal award notification. However, if Faculty or Research Finance are not informed promptly by the PI. The date recorded will be the date in which the Finance office was notified and the record updated.
Award Pending	Informal notification provided subject to contract negotiation and agreement.
Award Percentage Ownership	The percentage of the award value applicable to an investigator on an awarded research grant. This is the ‘internal’ percentage split of the award between Queens staff (must add up to 100%. No decimal places on percentage values are recorded).
Award Value	The amount awarded to the institution as a result of a successful grant application.
BHSCT	Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
Call (also: call for proposals, call for applications or call for tenders)	Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving funding.
CASE	Collaborative Awards in Science and Engineering (CASE) Some institutions in Great Britain offer Collaborative Awards in Science and Engineering (CASE), which are the same as CAST awards in Northern Ireland. These awards are mutually useful research partnerships between academic and partner organisations. CASE studentships are collaborative training grants that provide top quality science and engineering students with an excellent and challenging training experience, leading to a PhD.
CAST	Co-operative Awards in Science and Technology (CAST) studentship is a NI Direct scheme. CAST awards support research students and encourage partnerships between academic institutions and private sector industries, which jointly develop the projects.
CI – CoI(s) CI (UKRI Definition) CI (Research Ethics & NHS)	The Co-Investigator (s) on a research application, award or research project. Note the CIs may be different between the application, award and the resulting project. A persons who assists the Grant Holder in the management and leadership of a project. In a research ethics context and within the NHS, CI refers to Chief Investigator. The Chief Investigator has overall responsibility for a research project across multiple sites.
CIC	Confidence in Concept. A commercialisation funding programme.
Clinical Trial	Clinical trials are regulated studies of a medicinal product or medical device. Regulated by the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004 or European Medical Device Directive.
Clinical Trial Agreement	A legally binding contract made between two parties, one of whom is the party sponsoring the clinical trial, while the other is the organisation receiving the sponsorship for conducting the clinical trial. An agreement with [describe parties] for [include definition of Clinical Trial.] May be Investigator-led (designed by academics and usually sponsored by their employer) or commercially-led (designed, sponsored and funded by a for-profit company). Funded by grants from research councils, government bodies, charities or for-profit companies. Multiple ancillary agreements may be required (eg Site Agreements, Site, Sponsorship and Services Agreements etc) depending on the nature of the Trial.
Collaboration Agreement	An agreement covering a collaboration where both QUB and the other party or parties are contributing to the performance of a research scope of work. This can be with for-profit, non-profit or academic entities. The agreement is a legally binding contract between two or more parties on a project where they agree to work together to accomplish mutually beneficial ends (usually following joint application).
Collaborator	For the purposes of the RAS and RGD collaborators are the research organisations of project investigators named on a joint grant application from research organisations outside of Queen’s University Belfast.
Conflict of interest	A conflict of interest (COI) occurs when there is a divergence between an individual’s private interests and his or her professional obligations to the University, such that an independent observer might reasonably question whether the individual’s professional actions or decisions are determined by considerations of personal gain, financial or otherwise. A conflict of interest depends on the situation, and not on the character or actions of the individual.
Consent (Contracting MTAs)	Consent in relation to requesting Contracting team involvement in relation to a Material Transfer Agreement concerns having all consents including donor consent for use of the material been obtained.
Consortium Agreement	A formal legal document for use in a multi-party project which imposes a set of standard conditions and obligations covering circumstances which might arise in such parties working together to carry out a project. An agreement that governs the terms of membership in a consortium. Consortium is typically a group of multiple sponsors who contribute mutually to research and benefit equally from it to achieve a goal that is beyond the capabilities or resources of any one member. Often used in European funding to supplement the terms of an overall grant agreement.
Consultancy Agreement	An agreement between QUB and a third party under which QUB makes available named faculty or other academic employees to outside entities for the purpose of performing expert consultancy services. In QUB, this is done under the rules of the Consultancy scheme and, unlike in other institutions, the employee is not a party.
Contracts Request Form	University Form to be used when requesting a contracting matter.
Contract Type	Categorisation of a contract (e.g. Licence agreement, Heads of Terms, Amendment)
Creator	The individual who created the RAS record.
CRN	Clinical Research Network
CTIMPS	Clinical Trials of Investigational Medicinal Products. A Clinical Trial of an Investigational Medicinal Product is a regulated study that looks at the safety or efficacy of a medicine/foodstuff/placebo in humans, as defined by the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004.
CTU	Clinical Trials Unit (outwith QUB) Core Technology Unit (within QUB)
Date Received (Contracting)	Date an instruction / matter is received.
Data Sharing Agreement (non personal data)	An agreement between the university and another party (academic institution, government entity, or company) to exchange a limited data set which does not include information from which a living individual may be identified or identifiable, for the purpose of furthering research. The agreement ensures appropriate treatment of the exchanged data under the applicable data protection laws.
Data Sharing Agreement (personal data)	An agreement between the university and another party (academic institution, government entity, or company) to exchange a limited data set, which does include information from which a living individual may be identified or identifiable, for the purpose of furthering research. The agreement ensures appropriate treatment of the exchanged data under the applicable data protection laws. All agreements for the sharing of personal data must be executed by QUB’s information compliance team.
Directly Allocated Costs Directly Allocated Costs (UKRI Definition)	Directly allocated costs are a share of the costs of a resource used by a project, where the same resource is also used by other activities. The key difference between Directly Incurred costs and Directly Allocated costs is that the latter will be charged based upon an estimate, rather than actual cash values. The costs of resources used by a project that are shared by other activities. They are charged to projects on the basis of estimates rather than actual costs and do not represent the actual costs on a project by project basis.
Directly Incurred Costs Directly Incurred Costs (UKRI Definition)	Directly incurred costs. Directly incurred (DI) costs are items or services incurred or purchased specifically for a project. As well as Research Assistants they include consumables, travel and subsistence, equipment purchase and dedicated technicians or other support staff. Costs that are explicitly identifiable as arising from the conduct of a project, are charged as the cash value actually spent and are supported by an audit record.
DUNS	The Dun and Bradstreet (D-U-N-S) number is a unique nine digit identifer for business organisations. It can be required for funding applications (particularly with US funders). Faculty Finance can provide the Queen's University identifer when required.
EC Applicants Portal	European Commission portal for submitting research applications
Estimated Duration	The estimated length of time a piece of work will take when costing a research application.
Estimate Start Date	The estimated start date of a piece of work resulting from a research award.
Ethical Expiry (Human Tissue)	The proximity to the expiry date
Exceptions (UKRI Definition)	Directly Incurred Costs that Research Councils fund at 100% of fEC subject to actual expenditure incurred, or items that are outside fEC.
Externally Sponsored Research Agreement	An agreement directly with a for-profit company providing funding for a defined pre-clinical or non-clinical research project. It may be supported by funding from for-profit (e.g., private industry) or nonprofit (government, foundations, etc.) sponsors.
Extension	Extensions are where the funder is providing additional funding to take the project beyond the original contracted end date. This will involve a revision of the project end date. No-cost extensions will involve a revision of the end date in QFIS (Post Award Tab). If there is additional funding to be received and a new estimated start and end dates then this will be recorded as a supplement in the RGD by the Research Finance Office and Faculty Finance are to be notified.
fEC fEC (UKRI Definition)	The full economic cost of the proposed application. A cost which, if recovered across an organisation’s full programme, would recover the total cost (direct, indirect and total overhead) including an adequate recurring investment in the organisation’s infrastructure.
Fellowship Grant (UKRI Definition)	An award made through a fellowship competition provide a contribution to the support of a named individual. It covers the cost of the time dedicated by the fellow their personal research programme, and may or may not include research support costs.
FTE	Full Time Equivalent
Framework Agreement	A formal agreement between two parties that recognises that the parties have not come to a final agreement on all matters relevant to the relationship between them, but have come to agreement on enough headline matters to move forward with the relationship, with further details to be agreed to in the future, usually on an individual project basis.
Funder(s)	The organisation(s) that will fund / financially sponsor the grant application
Funder Programme	The programme run by the funder from which the funds will be sourced.
Funder Sub-Programme	The sub-programme run by the funder from which the funds will be sourced.
FUSION	FUSION programme. An InterTradeIreland part funded programme to encourage cross border collaboration with businesses.
FWA	Federal Wide Assurance (FWA) for the Protection of Human Subjects.
GCRF	Global Challenges Research Fund is a source of international funding
GDPR	General Data Protection Regulation
Governance Sponsor	The organisation sponsoring the research from an ethical / governance standpoint.
Grant (UKRI definition)	Support for a proportion of the full economic costs of a project.
Grant Holder (UKRI definition)	The person to whom the grant is assigned and who has responsibility for the intellectual leadership of the project and for the overall management of the research. The Grant Holder is either the Principle Investigator (in the case of a Research Grant) or a Research Fellow (in the case of a Fellowship Grant).
Heads of Terms	A legal document which sets out the terms of a commercial transaction agreed in principle between parties in the course of negotiations.
HESA	Higher Education Statistics Agency
HESA Cost Centre Codes - 2012	Cost centres defined by HESA in 2012
HESA Types	Funder categories defined by HESA.
HPW	Hours per Week
HSC	Health and Social Care
HTA	Human Tissue Authority
HTDB	Human Tissue Database
Human Participants	Human participants are defined as including: living human beings human beings who are recently deceased (cadavers, human remains, and body parts) embryos and foetuses human tissue and bodily fluids human data and records - such as, but not restricted to, medical, genetic, financial, personnel, criminal, or administrative records and test results including scholastic achievements.
Human Tissue	Categories of Human tissue and bodily fluids defined by the Human Tissue Authority as being covered by the Human Tissue Act.
IAA	Impact Acceleration Account. An EPSRC commercialisation funding programme.
IDF	Invention Disclosure Form. A form required in the first step of the process to identify and assess intellectual property within Queen’s University Belfast.
Income in Kind	Receipt of income in a non-monetary form (e.g. time using equipment or a facility).
Indirect Costs (UKRI Definition)	Non-specific costs charged across all projects based on estimates that are not otherwise included as Directly Allocated Costs, They include the costs of the Research Organisation’s administration such as personnel, finance, library and some departmental services.
Innovation Voucher	An InvestNI funding programme, An Innovation Voucher provides funding to small and medium sized businesses to work with an expert Knowledge Provider from a University, College or other Public Sector Research Body bringing new knowledge to help businesses innovate, develop and grow.
Institutional Contribution	The contribution that will be made by the institution (Queen’s University Belfast) to cover the full economic cost if the application is successful.
Institutional fEC	The full economic cost to the institution.
Internal / External (Contracting)	Is the proposed contract a QUB originated contract or an external contract.
IP	Intellectual Property
Je-S	UKRI’s application submission system
Je-S submitter pool	Area for research applications to be uploaded and entered into the UKRI research application portal by the PI on the application.
Je-S approver pool	Area within the UKRI research application portal for Faculty Finance personnel to approve the submission of the application to the funder.
KTP	Knowledge Transfer Programme. A part government-funded programme to encourage collaboration between businesses and universities in the United Kingdom.
Lab-Based	Research that will be based in a laboratory or clinical setting
Lead	The lead collaborative partner on a research grant application
LEAR	Legal Entity Appointed Representative - required for EU applications
Letter of Notification	The letter received from the funder notifying the PI of the success or failure in applying for funding
Leveraged Studentships	Provision of a funded studentship on a research grant. Allocations of studentships will only be made for: Institutional bids e.g. single, managed bids of significant size and scale. A limited range of prestigious funded Fellowships (ERC, some RCUK, Royal Society and Wellcome Trust). Applications where leverage support is a clear mandatory requirement from the funder(s).
Matter (Matter Title)	Name given to the title of a contract case to be actioned
Matter Code	The matter identifier in the Repstor Case Management System
MOU	Memorandum of Understanding - A preliminary document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement intended to be put in place between parties. An MoU is usually not intended to be legally binding, but to set out expectations for an anticipated future legal relationship.
MTA	Material Transfer Agreement: An agreement that governs the transfer of tangible research materials between the university and a third party, and provides for a permitted scope of use, IP, publication and confidentiality rights. These agreements will differ depending on whether QUB is transferring or receiving the Materials, whether the NI Biobank is involved, and whether the Materials are Human Tissue Act-relevant.


NCAGE	NATO Commercial And Government Entity (NCAGE) code - required for applications to the Ministry of Defence
NDA	Non-Disclosure Agreement. An agreement that allows QUB faculty and staff to exchange confidential information with outside third parties under obligations to protect and preserve the confidentiality of the information. Generally, NDAs are entered into for the purpose of exploring a potential research collaboration, application for funding or licensing agreement. Also called Confidentiality Agreement or Confidential Disclosure Agreement (CDA).
New Staff	New staff to be employed as the result of a successful grant application
Newton	Newton Fund is a source of international funding
NIH	National Institutes of Health (NIH). An agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
NIHR	The National Institute of Health Research (NIHR)
Non-Lab Based	Research that will not be based in laboratory
Non Pay Elements	Costs associated with the grant application that are not staff pay (e.g. travel, animal, equipment costs)
Outline	An application type. An outline application is where the funder has imposed a two stage application process, where the applicant must be successful in submitting an initial outline application to be eligible to submit a subsequent full application proposal.
OFAC	US Office of Foreign Assets Control. Reports on US sanctioned organisations and individuals.
Participating Organisation	Other organisations, who are participating in the research project as collaborators, project partners or subcontractors.
Participant Portal	EU website where EU bodies and beneficiaries manage EU funding. Unique entry point for all EU funds/funding programmes that are part of eGrants and eProcurement (fully electronic grant and procurement management).
PHA	Public Health Agency
PI	Principle Investigator – The Queen’s University PI on a research application, award or project. Note the PI can change between the application record, the award record and a resulting research project. A research application/award can have only one PI.
POC	Proof of Concept. A commercialisation funding programme.
POP	Proof of Principle. A commercialisation funding programme.
PPI	Personal and Public Involvement (PPI) in research
Project Partner (Je-S guidance)	An organisation should only be named as a project partner if it is providing specific contributions (either direct or indirect) to the research project. A Project Partner can be any organisation who will not receive funding directly from the grant, but will have an integral role in the proposed research.
Proposal	A full proposal application type in RAS and RGD
Pure	Pure is the Current Research Information System used by the University
QFIS	Queen’s University Finance Information System – The University’s Finance System
QFIS Project Code	Project Identifier in QFIS
R&D Office	HSC Research and Development Division - part of the Public Health Agency Northern Ireland
RAF	Research Award Form – An internal form used for formal acceptance of a research award
RAS	Research Application System
RAS ID	Research Application System record identifier
RCUK	Research Councils United Kingdom. The former name for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
RDM	Research Data Management
RDM Plan	Research Data Management Plan – A plan detailing what data will be collected and curated during a project.
REF	Research Excellence Framework
REF income sources	Funder categories defined by Research England for REF
REF Percentage Ownership (REF split)	The percentage of an award value being attributed to a Unit of Assessment (UoA) (via the UoA affiliation of each investigator) for the purpose of the REF assessment process. The allocation of income does not require the investigator to be eligible for REF as an individual. For the REF 2014 and 2021 income return, the affiliation of an investigator to a UoA is solely required to apportion income into the appropriate Units. The total REF percentage ownership assigned to an award must add up to 100%. No decimal places on percentage values are recorded.
Reporting PI	The reporting PI is an internal PI shown against the project in RGD
Repstor	The Case Management System used by Contracting, Research Governance and Faculty Finance to progress contract case files and store associated correspondence.
Research	Research and experimental development (R&D) comprises creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications. R&D is a term covering three activities: basic research, applied research and experimental development. Basic research - Experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundation of phenomena and observable facts, without any particular application or use in view. Applied research - Also original investigation undertaken in order to acquire new knowledge. It is, however, directed primarily towards a specific practical aim or objective. Experimental development - Systematic work, drawing on existing knowledge gained from research and/or practical experience that is directed to producing new materials, products or devices, to installing new processes, systems and services, or to improving substantially those already produced or installed
Research Grant (UKRI Definition)	A contribution to the costs of a stated research project which has been assessed as eligible for funding through the procedures establish by the relevant Research Council.
Research Organisation (UKRI Definition)	Research Organisation or Grant Awardee. The organisation to which the grant is awarded and which takes responsibility for the management of the research project and the accountability of the funds provided.
Research project	A funded project which support research (as defined above) and classified in Qfis with an ‘R’ code.
Research Professional	A 3^rd party system used by the University to identify externally funded research opportunities.
RGAS	Research Grant Application Summary Form – Form to be approved by Head of School or Faculty Pro VC to allow a research application to be submitted to a funder.
RGD	Research Grants Database
RGD Code	Research Grants Database project identifier
Role	The role of the investigator on a research application and resulting award and project. This can be: PI – Principal Investigator. Will have a percentage academic ownership of the application, award and project. CI- Co Investigator. Can have a percentage academic ownership of the application, award and project. Other – engaged in the project but with no academic ownership
SAM	System for Award Management (SAM) - required for many US funding applications.
Sample (Human Tissue)	An individual human tissue sample collected within a study
Sanctioned	Organisations may be flagged on international or governmental sanction lists. Research Partner and Funder organisations will be checked against UN, UK, US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned organisations. Other categories such as tobacco companies may be highlighted in this process. Any proposed partnership or funding from such an organisation in RAS will be highlighted for review.
Services Agreement	An agreement between the University and a service recipient in which the University is performing a service for hire. These agreements are only appropriate for projects that do not involve any basic or applied research.
Service / Non-research	Consultancy is a service, not research. In practice, deciding whether a piece of work can or cannot be classed as research is usually, but not always, straightforward. The following are examples of activities that are not normally classed as research: Routine testing and analysis of materials Components and processes, (e.g. for the maintenance of national standards, as distinct from the development of new analytical techniques) Feasibility studies (where it is not an integral part of an overall research project) Routine software development General purpose data collection
SOPS	Standard Operating Procedures
SoECAT	The Schedule of Events Cost Attribution Template (SoECAT) captures and calculates the different activities and costs associated with clinical research in a standardised and consistent way. You need to complete a SoECAT if you are the lead applicant, will carry out the research in the UK, and your research will use NHS facilities. You must complete a SoECAT even if you don't think your clinical research will involve excess treatment costs (ETCs). Guidance on how to complete a SoECAT can be found here: https://www.nihr.ac.uk/documents/etc-soecat-guidance/11483
Specimen Type (Human Tissue)	The type of sample being collected / stored
Study CI (Human Tissue)	The Chief Investigator on a Human Tissue study
Study (Human Tissue)	The overall study / project for which the tissue is being collected
Sub-Contract	An agreement issued to QUB under a prime contract, agreement or grant; OR a subcontract placed by the university with a third party sub-contractor to perform a defined element of the work under a prime contract, agreement or grant. Typically, a subcontractor does not share the benefit of the research in terms of IP, publications and recognition of research involvement.
Subcontractor	A third party who has entered into an agreement with a beneficiary to carry out part of the project tasks
Submission Method	System or approach to be used to submit a research application (e.g. using Je-S)
Supplement	Addition to a research grant where the funder is providing additional funding for an agreed purpose. E.g. An agreement to pay additional costs not factored into the original application Funding for additional research to be undertaken within the agreed timeframe. Revision of agreed costs due to external factors such as rising costs/inflation In the RGD, new award and application records (and IDs) are created to account for the value and date of the supplement. At present, new records are only created in cases where additional funding is received. Reductions in the value of agreed awards are not recorded in the RGD.
Studentship Agreement	An Agreement to provide a student for funding for research conducted under academic supervision. An Agreement is required between QUB and the Funder and the funding will normally include tuition fees, bursary and consumables/travel costs. IP treatment depends on the level of funding; a decision matrix is available. CASE Studentships (Collaborative Awards in Science and Engineering) are a type of industrial sponsorships allocated to companies who add top-up funding to the basic Research Councils’ awards.
Teaming Agreement	An agreement entered into at the pre-proposal stage of funding between the university and a collaborator. This agreement allows the parties to express their willingness to work together to bid on a funding opportunity, may discuss plans for a future subaward, and provides for the protection of any confidential information exchanged. These agreements are often requested by entities who want to ensure the confidential treatment of any proprietary information they disclose while collaborating on the proposal.
Technician costs	Project-specific technician costs – where technician staff provide dedicated project-specific support for a research project, their costs should be charged directly to the research project. Infrastructure technician rate – This rate reflects the cost of providing general technician support related to activities such as Health and Safety , stores, lab equipment maintenance, hazardous materials handling, administration, which cannot be assigned directly to a research project. This cost is automatically allocated into costings at a rate per Research FTE on the project, and there is no need to separately identify the cost of these technician staff in research application costings.
Third Party (UKRI Definition)	Any person/organisation to which the award holding Research Organisation passes on any of the grant funds awarded by the Research Council.
TRAC	The Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) is a standard methodology used by all UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to cost their main activities of teaching, research and other core activities. The methodology is basically a full economic costing model that enable the complete cost of each activity to be accurately calculated.
UKRI	UK Research and Innovation
UoA	Unit of Assessment. A research theme / grouping as defined by Research England for REF. REF 2014 UoAs – REF UoAs defined for REF 2014 REF 2021 UoAs – REF UoAs defined for REF 2021
US-Ireland	US-Ireland is a source of international funding
Value of overheads on award budget allocation	The sum of the PI/CI contribution, research overhead, estates contribution and indirect contribution when allocating budget from the research award.
WTE	Whole Time Equivalent (favoured by the NHS) as opposed to Full Time Equivalent (FTE)

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Research Term Definitions

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