The Research and Development Authority All Questions

Who do I approach at the Research & Development Authority and about what?

Research Liaison Section – matters pertaining to research contracts, such as finding funding resources, search for potential collaborations, preparation and submission of research proposals. Scientific Publications Section – scientific and language editing of research proposals written in English. Research Budget Management, Israeli Section or International Section, depending on the funding source – management of current research, including authorization of expenses, financial reports, collection of moneys from funding sources, budgets changes and help with building budgets for research proposals. Comptroller – Exploitation of University resources http://in.bgu.ac.il/en/osr/Pages/Authority-Personnel0407-8324.aspx

What is the process for submitting a research proposal?

Procedure for the submission of research proposals.pdf

Why do I receive calls from all the funding sources pertaining to all the disciplines?

Today, research trends are interdisciplinary; therefore sectorization of information may prevent you from receiving calls relevant to you. Thus, the choice as to the relevance of each call is left to the researcher. At the same time, the Office of Sponsored Research makes a special effort to draw the attention of researchers to calls that are particularly relevant to them. You should therefore keep the Research Liaison Section updated as to your fields of interest.

How can I find partners for joint research proposals?

For finding partners for GIF, BSF or FP7 programs, the first step is to take the initiative! Identify potential partners and make contact with them. How? Through professional journals in the relevant field; from lists of participants at conferences that you have attended; from lists of members of Editorial Boards of journals in the field; by consulting with a senior colleague in the field. Sometimes funding bodies provide grants for partner research and sometimes funding bodies aid in the search for partner

What is the integration package?

Upon starting to work at the University, new researchers may receive an integration package for the purpose of setting up a laboratory or for meeting other needs. This funding may later be regarded as the 'matching' component of grants received from funding bodies. Details may be obtained from the Office of the Vice-President and Dean for R&D.

What is the University's policy for overheads? How does it fit together with the policy for overheads of different funding bodies?

The overhead taken by the University is 20% of total direct expenses of the research. In cases where the regulations of the funding body determine otherwise, the University acts according to the regulations of the funding body. Before preparing a budget for a particular funding body, you must consult with the relevant Research Budget Management Section and then obtain authorization to submit the budget to the funding body.

How do I obtain instruction as to how to manage a research project? Where do I start?

Instructions describing the general process for managing a research project may be found here. Additional information and individual instruction may be obtained from one of the budget officers at the R&D Authority.

How can I monitor budgets of my research projects?

Budgets are monitored through TAFNIT, the University's financial data program. TAFNIT may be used for reserving amounts for salaries, authorization of payments, internal transfers, budgetary purchases, and foreign travel. The system can also be used for monitoring research balances, monitoring salaries, and other follow-ups. To open an account in TAFNIT and to obtain a password for accessing the system, you should contact the Financial and Budgetary Unit of the Information Systems Department, internal phone 72101. This unit will also provide you with personal instruction in the use of TAFNIT.

If there is a discrepancy between the balance showing in the research budget in the currency of the budget, and that showing in shekels, which is correct?

The research management program functions in many currencies and enables a research budget to be opened in any of these currencies. The correct and definitive balance after conducting research program activities is the balance in the currency of the grant. The research management program operates in shekels and does not update values continuously. In those cases where the research budget is not in shekels and a balance is shown in the currency of the grant, the currency of the grant is definitive. If it is not possible to reserve the costs of a particular operation, such as a purchase order in shekels, contact the Research Budget Management Section to enable the required purchase.

What does it mean if a budget is not fully utilized and how can one prevent this?

For budgets that require financial reporting, the meaning of non-utilization of the full budget is that money may have to be returned to the funding agency. In addition it may be problematic to show the link between the scientific part and the financial part of the research study. Significant non-utilization of the budget could also lead the Vice President and Dean for R&D to decide that the incentive sum paid in the salary in relation to that research study will have to be repaid to the University and will be deducted from the Researcher's salary. Every quarter a report is e-mailed reminding the Researcher about possible non-utilization of his/her budget(s) proportionately to the time of the study that has elapsed. Underutilization of the budget should be discussed with the budget officer.

The research has been completed, but I have not yet received the balance of my research grant. Why?

The procedure for closing off a research study is carried out once all the research obligations have been fulfilled (both scientific and financial) and the final payments have been received from the funding agency. If all these criteria have been met, the procedure for closing a research project is begun, starting with the Research Budget Management Section and finishing with the Funds and Research Unit of the Finance Division, which will credit the balance after all the necessary steps have been taken.

What are the rules concerning Research Management Allowances? Where can I find a list of funds that permit Research Management Allowances A and B?

A researcher paid according to the Research salary scale or equivalent, from the level of Lecturer and up, is entitled to a Research Management Allowance if he manages a research program. The attached link (http://in.bgu.ac.il/osh/ResearchcharP/14-005.pdf) directs you to the full procedure governing Research Allowances. You will also find a list of the Funding Agencies that permit Research Allowance B.

What is a Researcher's "Research Credit" and how does one find these data?

Once a year, the Vice-President and Dean for R&D sends a detailed report to the Deans of the Faculties listing the proportionate contributions of researchers to the research funding awarded to them. Only Principal Investigators receive "credit" for research. If there is more than one Principal Investigator, each researcher receives proportionate credit for the Research program in which he is involved. These data are collected for statistical analysis of the University's research.