Roles and Responsibilities

As project lead you will:

• Notify R&IS of requirement for contract, via email or NOI process
• Detail the purpose, aims and considerations to enable R&IS to tailor agreement
• Provide details of any considerations concerning UK or EU legislations, for example: export control, NS&I, Nagoya, Human Tissue, GDPR
• Introduce R&IS contact to external stakeholder(s) to facilitate smooth communications

Provide details which will aid discussions around:

• Background intellectual property (IP) for the project
• Planned treatment or potential value of any arising IP
• Nuances or relationship considerations to be aware of

Provide risk mitigation statements as required to support risk-mitigation for higher risk activities.

Although R&IS may lead on communications with external collaborators regarding negotiations, the PI’s support is invaluable in ensuring smooth discussions. This can be in the form of assisting to gain the buy-in of external collaborators, helping R&IS with context such IP value, future work etc. if negotiations stall.

Review of:

• The final agreement in the Research system.
• Any system notes from R&IS.

Provide PI approval in the system as confirmation that the agreement meets the needs of the project, that you can adhere to all terms and conditions and that all information is correct.

The PI has overall responsibility for the management of their research funds, including compliance with funder guidelines, University policies and all relevant laws and legislation.

To help support this, please notify R&IS of any change post contracting stage, which may result in an amendment to the contract: i.e. extension, data sharing requirements, amendments to materials, changes to deliverables, or changes to key staff or collaborators.

Recommend academic colleagues talk to R&IS for their contracting needs and support with pre-ward / pre-contracting activities.

• In certain cases, R&IS may need to escalate some non-standard contracts for your input.
• Review projects for export control consideration if flagged by the RSO/RDO and supports the submission of export control licences
• Support the creation and submission of Nagoya protocol documentation

• Review the final agreement in the Research system.
• Review any system notes from R&IS, the PI or the DA.

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Recommend academic colleagues talk to R&IS for their contracting needs and support with pre-ward / pre-contracting activities.

• Provides department level guidance for non-standard projects and contracts, advise on and what is and is not acceptable to the department, or escalate to the HoD as necessary.
• Support R&IS with any department specific questions.
• Review budgets to ensure costs meet the needs of the department. Advise R&IS on any departmental preferences for costings.
• Where working on a transfer in, support R&IS by providing agreed salary rates for new staff. Provide any other relevant information to R&IS which may affect the cost recovery of the incoming grant or contracting process.
• Where working on a transfer out of a grant, work with Research Finance to provide the final expenditure report to the funder. Provide any other relevant information to R&IS which may affect the contracting process

• Complete a final review of the contract budget ensuring appropriate cost recovery for the department.
• Review R&IS commentary provided in research system.
• Review reporting deadlines and deliverables to ensure ability to comply.
• Approve the contract in the research system.
• Add any commentary relevant to the HoD or R&IS to the research system.
• Notify central university departments if their involvement is required at post award stage, e.g. Purchasing, HR/Payroll, Insurance

• Monitor the project during delivery to ensure compliance with funder rules and Warwick financial procedures including FP11, FP14 and FP15.
• Work with Research Finance to adhere to project reporting deadlines.
• Notify R&IS of any change post contracting stage, which may result in an amendment to the contract: i.e. extension (including no cost), data sharing requirements, amendments to materials, changes to deliverables, or changes to key staff or collaborators.

• Working closely with the PI and DA to advise on contracting needs for the project.
• Drafting of an appropriate contract.
• Work with the PI to ensure contact contains all relevant clauses, to support compliance with Warwick regulations, funder requirements and all relevant laws and legislation.
• Perform due diligence on the project, collaborators and partners. Perform a risk assessment and where necessary escalate for approvals to ensure compliance with Warwick procedures and Funder requirements.
• Request assistance from other central support functions, including tax, insurance, IGC and compliance to help with project development.

• Negotiate the contract with the external stakeholder and ask for appropriate approvals prior to signature
• Negotiate contract with external parties to ensure the contract adheres to all Warwick and legislative guidelines and supports the purpose and delivery of the project.
• Cost the project in line with Warwick financial procedures and cost recovery
• Coordinate the work of all other stakeholders to bring the contract to signature.
• Ensure PI is kept up to date with developments.
• Provide guidance for NSI, due diligence, export control, Nagoya protocol and human tissue and GDPR regulations, link PI with specialist R&IS teams as necessary.
• Seek to mitigate risk through appropriate mechanisms and escalating issues as required.
• Review projects for export control consideration if flagged by the RSO/RDO and supports the submission of export control licences
• Support the creation and submission of Nagoya protocol documentation

Ensure all information is detailed within the research system to facilitate approvals, including:

• Proposal
• Costing
• Funder terms
• Copy of contract
• Risk mitigation document
• Any other key information

Provide head notes which contain a support of any key terms or information which affects the department or project delivery.

• Finalise research system to trigger finance code request
• Liaise with research finance for more complex projects to ensure appropriate hand over.
• Support contract variations as required.

• Point of contact for DAs and PIs for general discussions surrounding due diligence, export control licencing, NSI Nagoya protocol, and human tissue.
• Support PI in obtaining licences required to perform the research.
• Provide support to R&IS colleagues for escalated due diligence reports. Facilitate escalations to senior officers.

• Facilitate senior officer approvals for projects linked to the military or dual use technologies

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• Provide final expenditure statements for project transfers, and support R&IS by collating financial information in to contract appropriate format.
• Provides HoD level guidance for non-standard projects and contracts, advise on and what is and is not acceptable to the department.

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• Review contracts that do not fall within the pre-approval insurance guidance
• Approve above mentioned cases
• Provide guidance on how to change contracts to be acceptable for signature if they do not conform to standard insurance positions or provide approval for said positions.

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Reviews tax queries from R&IS and costing departers

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Informed only (DA)

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Informed only (DA)

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Review of requests related to due diligence, military work and cost recovery escalated to them.

Final Warwick approval authority that decided on whether a contract can go ahead or not if it is high risk or has low cost recovery.

Review of requests related to due diligence, military work and cost recovery escalated to them.

Support queries surrounding licencing and commercialization of IP

Provide guidance on what can and cannot be accepted regarding IP licencing and commercial terms in contracts specifically in cases where a new agreement used Background Ip that has been licensed to another party.