Most grants will require reports to be submitted to the funder during the lifetime of the project. All research activity reports are the responsibility of the PI to prepare and submit by the deadline. RSO PA or Project Administrators can provide assistance with preparing financial information for these reports if needed. Please read your grant agreement carefully to identify any reports that must be submitted, especially if these are indicated as project milestones and if any payments to the university are linked to their submission.

Reporting on expenditure is also outlined on the grant agreement. Preparing and submitting these reports is the responsibility of RSO PA or the Project Administrator if one is in place. See further information in section Income – Invoicing and Funder Claims.

PIs holding Research Council grants with students attached must ensure all student details entered on Je-S by their department.

Some grants require some staff working on research projects to keep accurate timesheets on a monthly basis. The most common are for UKRI grants where a DI staff member is paid through multiple UKRI grants and European Commission funded projects. RSO PA creates the templates for these across the university and collects these on a regular basis, unless a Project Administrator is in place in which case it is their responsibility. Please click on the links for Timesheets.

RSO PA arrange and coordinate any grant audits that may be required either during the lifetime or after the final reporting period. KPMG are the current external auditors for Lancaster University. RSO PA will inform the PI, and Project Administrator if applicable, when the audit is to take place and will liaise (with both) to ensure that all the required information is held by RSO PA in advance. This includes RSO PA asking for timesheets to be sent on a regular basis throughout the project.

PIs may have contacts with their research project funder and may liaise directly with them over matters concerning their project. If any aspects of your project change as a result of these communications PIs should inform RSO PA as soon as possible to ensure that all resulting actions are followed up.

RSO PA or your Project Administrator will liaise directly with the funder if required by the PI. Similar to above PIs will be kept informed of any communications/changes relating to their grant and asked to approve where necessary.

During your grant, several details can change such as PI or Co-I names or you may need to extend the project dates to allow for full budget expenditure or to complete the research objectives. Requests for any changes should be sent to RSO PA in plenty of time so that changes can be requested and approved by funders.

UKRI-funded grants maintenance takes place via the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) online portal. RSO PA will submit any extension requests or change of details through Je-S on behalf of the PI.

When requesting extensions or changes to Research Council grants, requests should be submitted promptly, i.e. as soon as you know a staff member is leaving, or there has been a technical problem.

They should contain actual dates and be as detailed as possible. Multiple requests for the same grant can be submitted in certain circumstances.

For further guidance on what information should / shouldn’t be included please take a look at the UKRI guidance

Please do not hesitate to contact Post Award if you require assistance writing an extension request.

All research involving staff and students should be conducted in line with the principles set out in the university's Code of Practice and shall at all times be legal and transparent following the principles set out in the Concordat to Support Research Integrity. Responsibility and accountability for research integrity is placed with the PI or Supervisor. These responsibilities include ensuring that all (i) grant milestones are met and reported, (ii) activities and expenditure are eligible within the funder terms and conditions, and (iii) research is conducted according to the approved ethical application. Any allegations of research misconduct are taken seriously and investigated appropriately.

During a grant, changes may need to be made to a collaboration agreement or other research contracts. Requests for change (including as many details as possible) should be submitted via RSO PA who gather any additional information and forward to the contracts team (who may forward to a delegated departmental contact) for review and negotiation. Please allow sufficient time for all aspects of this process when requesting changes, negotiating with partners is often not a quick job.

Internal and external reporting requirements are supported through a central research information management system (Pure), contact RSO Systems for access problems and help using Pure or any of the research systems. Research Services supports the reporting of information for internal university, faculty or departmental strategic planning, staff promotions and external reporting such as HESA and HEBCI.