This page sets out the steps for transfer of the administration of an NHMRC funded research grant to a new Institution. Such transfers can be made from either from an Administering Institution or Actual Institution, as defined below:
- An Administering Institution is one that is responsible for all aspects of administration of the grant, including financial aspects.
- An Actual Institution is one where the research is being conducted or is the primary workplace of an Investigator.
Thus, the Administering and Actual Institutions may be the one and the same or they may be separate Institutions.
The procedures below set out the responsibilities of the following entities in the process for transfer of a grant to another Administering Institution:
- Chief Investigator A (CIA)
- Relinquishing Institution
- New Institution
- NHMRC
For the purpose of these instructions, and unless otherwise specified, any reference to Investigator should be read as being interchangeable with a Fellowship or Scholarship holder. Although much of the process is similar for all funding types, some additional requirements exist for various grant types and this is indicated where applicable. All requests for transfer are to be submitted via RGMS.
It is the responsibility of the CIA to drive the transfer process and to ensure that the completed transfer request is submitted to NHMRC in a timely manner.
Deeds of Agreement
There are two Deeds of Agreement (DoA), one for research funding schemes and one for researcher support schemes. Each covers various NHMRC grant types. The Deed places legal obligations on the Institution relating to the administration and acquittal of Commonwealth money and matters relevant to the conduct of research.
If a researcher transfers Institutions and the relevant DoA is not in place then a transfer cannot proceed until the appropriate DoA has been executed. This is outlined in NHMRC’s Administering Institutions Policy where it states that ‘prior to receipt of NHMRC research funds, Institutions are required to sign a Deed of Agreement with the Commonwealth of Australia’.
The DoA provides for a researcher, at any time, to apply to transfer to another Institution to continue work relating to their research grant (clause 11 and clause 10 for the Research and Researcher Support Deeds, respectively). Approval for such a transfer is at the discretion of NHMRC.
Completing the Request to Transfer a Grant
(i) Completing the Request (Chief Investigator A)
When a decision to transfer to another Institution is made by an Investigator, the CIA on the grant must create then complete and certify a variation request through the Grantee Variation section of RGMS. After CIA certification, the request will become available to the Research Administrative Officer (RAO) of the relinquishing Institution for RAO certification before it is submitted to the NHMRC. The additional requirements for Program Grant, Early Career Fellowship and Scholarship holders are as follows:
- Early Career Fellowship and Scholarship holders must also include a letter of support for the transfer from both his/her current and proposed supervisor.
The Transfer of Program Grants will trigger an additional Program Grant Administrative Review.
(ii) Completing the Request (relinquishing Institution)
After the CIA has certified and submitted the transfer request to the RAO, the RAO is to ensure that all relevant information is provided to facilitate the transfer, and the RAO then certifies and submits the request to NHMRC through RGMS.
Note that the relinquishing Institution must provide a transfer acquittal statement within four weeks of the requested date of transfer.
(iii) Completing the Request (new Institution)
During the processing of the transfer request, the RAO of the accepting institution will have no access to the Grant via RGMS. It is up to the CIA and/or relinquishing RAO to ensure that documentation evidencing the accepting Institutions’s agreement to the transfer is obtained and attached to the variation prior to submitting the request to NHMRC. The evidence of agreement can be provided as a letter or a scanned email.
Processing the transfer application (NHMRC)
(i) Review the application (Grants Management)
On receipt of a transfer application it is incumbent upon the relevant NHMRC Officer to review it for completeness.
(ii) Suspension of grant
The NHMRC Officer must then suspend the Grant in RGMS in accordance with the effective date of the transfer, as indicated by the CIA in the transfer request. This will ensure that no further funding is paid to the relinquishing Institution.
(iii) Check status of the new Institution (Grants Management)
A transfer between Institutions cannot be effected if the new Institution is not registered as an Administering Institutionfor the purposes of administering NHMRC research funds. In addition to this registration, the new Institution must have executed a Deed of Agreement in which it undertakes to comply with the legal obligations of it in using NHMRC funds for research.
Where no Deed of Agreement exists, NHMRC will initiate the required process of establishing a Deed of Agreement. Where a Deed of Agreement is already in place with the new Institution, the transfer will take effect following the issue and completion of a new Schedule to the Deed of Agreement.
(iv) Review by Scientific Evaluation Panel (Scientific Evaluation Panel)
For those transfer applications where the reason for transferring is scientific, the NHMRC officer must forward the application to a Scientific Evaluation Panel (SEP) in NHMRC for review and approval before proceeding with the transfer. This is done via RGMS.
(v) Notification to RAO of approval of Transfer Request (Grants Management)
Following agreement by the SEP (if applicable), the NHMRC Officer is to advise the Investigator, through the RAOs of both the new and relinquishing Institutions, that the transfer has been approved and the date the transfer will take effect. This advice is to be accompanied by the revised schedule.
(vi) Notification to RAO of rejection of Transfer Request (Grants Management)
Following notification by the SEP, the NHMRC Officer is to advise the Investigator, through the RAO, that the transfer has not been approved. As part of this advice the reasons the request has been rejected should be included. If the reasons for rejection of the request can be remedied, this will enable the various parties to the transfer request to address the issues given by NHMRC for rejection of the request and should then lead to a resubmission of the request.
(vii) Recovery of unspent funds (Grants Management)
NHMRC generally provides grant funds, in advance, on a quarterly basis. As such, it is often necessary to recover unspent funds from the relinquishing Institution.
NHMRC will determine the amount to be recovered based on the calculation example shown in Table 1 below, and will raise a Debtor Tax invoice through the Finance Section of NHMRC. This should be supported with details of how the amount has been determined.
Table 1 - Calculation of funds to be recovered
(1) Salaries and allowances (pro-rata calculation)
If the effective date of transfer is 1November and the relinquishing Institution has received $100,000 on 1 October for the final quarterly payment, of which $60,000 is for salaries and allowances, then the relinquishing Institution will need to be invoiced as follows:
((92-31)/92) days x $60,000 = $39,782.61
to be recovered for unspent salaries and wages at transfer date. Any difference between paid salaries and allowances and the pro-rata calculation should remain with the Institution.
(2) Other funds
The remaining funds at the effective date of transfer which have not been spent, or committed to be spent, must be recovered. This amount must be the product of negotiation with the RAO of the relinquishing Institution.
(3) RGMS editing
Where salary package funds cannot be calculated to the exact percentage level, the one-off payment allowance should be used.
(viii) Issuing a new Schedule and Signature Block (Grants Management)
For each approved transfer a revised Schedule and Signature Block for Schedule must be prepared, including an amended budget, taking into account the balance unpaid at the approved date of transfer.
(ix) Ethics clearance (Grants Management)
The relinquishing Institution’s ethics clearances may no longer be valid in relation to the transferred grant. It is important, therefore, to ensure that the new Institution has obtained ethics clearances from a Research Ethics Committee and provided confirmation of these clearances in the format available below.
- Ethics clearance form (Grants Management) (DOC, 135KB)
- Ethics clearance form (Grants Management) (PDF, 39KB)
(x) Reactivation of grant payments (Grants Management, Finance Services)
Grant payments cannot be made by NHMRC to the new Institution until the following have occurred:
- Confirmation that all necessary ethics clearances are held by the new Institution; and
- The revised schedule (and DoA, if applicable) have been duly executed.
To reactivate the funds, the relevant NHMRC Officer must un-suspend the Grant in RGMS.
While it is desirable that the relinquishing Institution has returned any unspent funds, commencement of payments to the new Institution is not contingent upon this. However, the recovery of these monies is to be given a high priority.
Acquittal financial statement and reporting of transfers
The relinquishing Institution is required to complete a financial statement and disclose any unspent amount to be refunded to NHMRC at the date of transfer. The statement must be completed and submitted within four weeks of the effective date of the transfer. The relinquishing Institution acknowledges this requirement as part of its certification of the variation request.
Procedures for transfer to another Institution
Note that additional requirements exist for Program Grant Investigators as such a transfer automatically triggers an Administrative Review.
Suspension of funding for the Program would not normally occur.