UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has updated its full economic cost (FEC) grant terms and conditions and training grant terms and conditions.
National security and investment
In this revision, UKRI has added a new condition to reflect the statutory requirements introduced through the National Security and Investment Act 2021.
Research organisations will need to ensure they follow the rules of this legislation.
The legislation enables government to scrutinise and intervene in certain acquisitions that could harm the UKs national security.
Good research and open access
UKRI has also revised its policies on:
- governance of good research practice
- open access.
Governance of good research practice policy
The revised UKRI governance of good research practice policy replaces the Research Councils UK (RCUK) policy on the governance of good research conduct.
The policy aims to set out UKRI expectations to organisations.
Organisations should have policies and activities in place that support a positive environment within which all individuals involved in the research process can discuss, adopt and develop good research practice.
The good research resource hub has guidance which should be read alongside the UKRI policy on the governance of good research practice.
It supports organisations to have fair, transparent and robust policies and procedures in place to enable them to respond to and address incidents of research misconduct.
Open access policy
Revisions have been made to the terms and conditions in response to the new UKRI open access policy, which will apply to:
- in-scope research articles submitted for publication on or after 1 April 2022
- in-scope monographs, book chapters and edited collections published on or after 1 January 2024.
The publishing your research findings section should be read alongside the policy for further information on open access and how to acknowledge a grant.
Updated supporting information
As part of this exercise, supporting information within the accompanying terms and conditions guidance documents has also been updated in relation to the following:
Supporting staff
UKRI has added information to employment and staff costs to clarify its position on funding that is eligible and how UKRI continues to support research staff.
Organisations continue to be wholly responsible for their staff and their terms and conditions of employment.
Support through the pandemic
Clarity has been provided on UKRI’s sick leave policy training grants.
UKRI continues to support students through these continued difficult times.
All guidance should be read in conjunction with the updated FEC grant and training grant terms and conditions.
The updated FEC and training grant terms and conditions will take effect from 5 April 2022 and are now available.
For further information, email fundingpolicy@ukri.org.
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