Research Projects

A detailed budget along with a budget justification is required when submitting a research funding proposal.   The Research Finance Office assists with the preparation, review and approval of research proposal budgets.  The budget must be in compliance with the terms and conditions of the funding agency and the specific funding call.  The budget guidelines are included with the funding call guidelines.  These will include details of eligible & ineligible costs, amount of funding available and budget duration.

When the technical content and the budget has been finalised a Research Proposal Authorisation Form must be completed and signed by the applicant(s), Head of Department, Research Finance Office and Research Office.

Click here for Research Proposal Budget Guidelines.

On being awarded research funding the Principal Investigator completes a Research Project Set up form to open a cost centre in Agresso and access the research project budget.  The Research Project Set up form is signed by the Project Leader, Head of Department and VPR.  It is then submitted to Finance along with a copy of the signed funding agreement and a budget breakdown.  The cost centre number will be emailed to the PI who will be given access to the new cost centre and budget on Agresso.  Only eligible expenditure relating to that project should be charged to the cost centre.  Monthly cost centre statements are emailed to cost centre managers.

Research Finance review and approve expenditure against available budget and complete all financial reports for review by the PI & submission to the funding agency.  We assist with preparing requests for budget reallocations or extensions and submit these to the funding agency.

A number of on-line research reports have been developed on Agresso to assist Project Leaders with the management of their research accounts.   Cost centre managers can review income, expenditure & PO commitments for their project on Agresso.

Monthly cost centre statements are also emailed to cost centre managers.

The Research Finance Office allocates overheads in accordance with the Research Overheads Policy annually.

Where UL is a co-ordinator and is responsible for transferring funds to other Research Partners the allocation of partner budgets and transfer of funding is done by the Research Finance Office.  For industry funded research an invoicing schedule is maintained and all sales invoices for research services are issued by the Finance Department.  All requests to raise invoices for research services should be emailed to Research.Invoicing@ul.ie

Research Projects are subject to audit ongoing throughout the life of the project and for many years after the project ends e.g. ERDF 2022.  Compliance with the terms & conditions of Grant Agreements is critical and non-compliance can result in financial penalties for the project.  It is important that all persons with responsibility for funded research projects ensure that they have a clear understanding of the compliance requirements for these projects.

Click here for guidelines on Audit of Research Projects.