Counting the pennies: how the FHS research finance team ensures funding keeps flowing

This article is the second in a four-part series showcasing UCT's research-supporting units and departments. Read the first article here.

Funding is the lifeblood of research. Without it, researchers would be unable to achieve the groundbreaking discoveries UCT is known for. Mismanagement of research funds, especially from international funders with strict policies, can have serious consequences for both individual researchers and institutions. Fortunately, UCT’s Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) has an experienced research finance team that supports researchers through every step, from pre-award to post-award and project close-out. This ensures UCT maintains good standing with funders, making it easier for researchers to secure future grants. 

FHS is the only faculty that separates the management and support of pre-awards and post-awards within the finance team. The team is broken up into two distinct hubs, one of which supports the on-campus research groups and the other supports those operating from the academic hospitals. 

Support through the pre-award costing process 

In 2018 UCT introduced the electronic Research Administration (eRA) system to support research administration at the institution and manage risk. Through this system researchers need to submit a pre-award application, which includes the research proposal and proposed budget.  

“There are many intricacies that come into costing and budgeting for a research project because you have to consider UCT’s policies and procedures as well as that of the funder,” says Joy Joachims, assistant research management accountant in FHS research finance. This is where Joachims and her team specialise, they offer guidance, advice and assistance as well as series of templates to help researchers through the process of costing every aspect of a research project, down to the cost of syringes and needles. 

“Part of our job is to help researchers bridge the gap between what they want to do, and what is economically possible,” she says. 
 

Part of our job is to help researchers bridge the gap between what they want to do, and what is economically possible. 

Managing post-awards 

The post-awards team steps in once the research grant has been awarded. They then help manage the funds throughout the lifecycle of the grant, from establishing the fund to support with day-to-day financial administration and any necessary financial reporting to funders or audits to the close-out of the fund at the end of the project. 

Much like the pre-awards team it is critical that the post-awards team are well-informed of the various terms and conditions of the different funders. 

Consequences of non-compliance 

“Funders do not take a laissez-faire approach to the financial management of their money, and so, as UCT, nor can we,” says Darren Meyer, research management accountant in FHS research finance.  

Funders do not take a laissez-faire approach to the financial management of their money, and so, as UCT, nor can we. 

Non-compliance poses a serious risk not only to the individual researcher but also to other researchers reliant on a particular funder for their work and the university. This is why this careful management is critical from pre-awards all the way to post-awards and project close-out. 

“When a research contract is signed there are certain deliverables in that contract, and if a researcher can’t deliver them because they did not cost their budget appropriately, they will then be in breach of contract,” says Joachim. 

This is in part why UCT implemented the eRA system to ensure institutional due diligence and risk mitigation. 

When it comes to post-awards small errors in budgeting can result in certain costs being deemed ineligible by the funder. This means the researcher will have to reimburse the funder for those costs through other means. 

Serious non-compliance can have major effects for the institution and all the researchers relying on grants from a certain funder. 

“The worst-case scenario, of a major breach of compliance,” says Meyer, “is that a funder can pull all funding from an institution and refuse to fund researchers affiliated with that institution again.” 

But as it stands UCT has strong financial management systems in place that funders are happy with. 

And for the finance team, there is huge satisfaction in working in the research space, knowing their efforts are contributing to such critical work: 

“Our FHS researchers are doing amazing work, ground-breaking stuff that can tangibly change lives for the better,” says Meyer. “We feel quite privileged to play a part, however small, in this work.”