Sources of financial assistance
There are several sources of financial assistance upon which staff can draw with respect to research. They include the following:
- Monies that staff members direct into research accounts as a result of consultancies etc.. For example, some staff choose to pay into research accounts amounts that are received for activities such as professional training. Staff members can readily access such funds for legitimate research-related purposes, including required computer equipment and conference travel/costs. Using such funds does not require the approval of the Research Committee unless there is some issue with respect to the nature of the request.
- Amounts that are credited to staff as a result of research publications. For example, in 2009 the Law School received an amount of $1,511 per UWA point (for a C1 refereed article); this amount varies from year to year. In the Law School, $1,000 of this amount is credited to the responsible staff member. Owing to the time lag in the distribution of funds to the Faculty, staff can expect funds for publications to be distributed to their research accounts at the start of the second year after publication. For example, if an article is published in 2007, funding will be distributed at the start of 2009). Again, these funds can be accessed by the staff member for legitimate research purposes without the approval of the Research Committee.
- Funds that come from the award of a research grant or contract.
- Study leave grants.
- Unlike most other faculties at UWA, the Law School has chosen to create for the benefit of staff a limited residual fund (called hereafter the ‘general fund’) that has been used to assist staff in conference travel and activities related to research output. Straightforward requests (for example, requests for conference funding that clearly meet the criteria set out below) are approved by the Chair of the Research Committee in consultation with the Dean. If any issues of principle or any concerns are identified with respect to the application, the Chair of the Research Committee will refer the application to the Research Committee.
Principles
The guidelines set out below reflect a number of core principles:
- Use of all funds should be related directly to research activity. Examples of relevant activities include:
- Employment of research assistants
- Conferences (Note: if a proposed conference relates primarily to teaching rather than research, the staff member should still be aiming - especially in the absence of other published research outputs by that staff member - to publish on legal education).
- Travel related to collaborative and cross-jurisdictional research
- Access to specialist library resources
- Preference will be given to applications that can demonstrate how the project/travel contributes to the research operational priorities of the Faculty as outlined in the Faculty Operational Priorities Plan (OPP). Each application for funding should specify which research OPP objective and implementation
- strategy it relates to and how the funding will contribute to the achievement of that objective.
- There should be an equitable but not inflexible approach to administration of the general fund to ensure fairness between staff and to encourage less experienced staff to attend relevant conferences and develop a profile.
- Staff who choose to direct funds into research accounts from consultancies and other professional activities should not be disadvantaged in terms of their access to the general fund.
- ‘Double dipping’ should be avoided. For example:
- During periods of study leave, staff should utilise the study leave grant scheme and research/consulting funds rather than the general fund.
- Staff member Dr X receives $1,000 from the general account for conference attendance in early 2008. Assisted by this grant, Dr X then publishes a C1 article later in 2008. In 2009, Dr X is credited with $**** for this publication. Dr X then wishes to attend another conference. In these circumstances, Dr X should draw first on the $**** that was credited to him or her as a result of the 2008 article before applying for money from the general fund. However, Dr X may be allowed to draw on the general fund before accessing funds that he or she chose to put into a research account as a result of other professional activities.
- The ultimate goal should be to wind back the general fund (except for less experienced staff and for special cases), and for staff to manage their own funds, as is the case in other faculties.
Research/consulting funds
Provided that the claim is legitimate and reasonable, there are no particular constraints on using funds that were directed to the staff member’s research account.
For example, if Dr Z directed to a research account a fee of $1,500 for delivering a professional training program, he or she can draw on that money for the purposes of conference attendance, attending professional, research-related functions or the purchase of computer equipment for research purposes.
The General Fund: conferences
Subject to the above principles, grants on the following conditions are available as a contribution to costs associated with attendance at the conference or conferences,
including registration fees, travel costs and the like.
- Attendance $500 per annum (but with no carryover from year-to-year) will be available to meet the costs of attendance at a conference, seminar or workshop to each full-time
academic staff member, except those on study, long service or unpaid leave. Holders of fractional appointments are entitled to that fraction of that amount. The conference seminar or workshop must be related to the staff member’s teaching or research. - Speaker or paper presentation Where the staff member delivers a paper, $1000 per annum (but with no carryover from year-to-year) will be available to meet costs of attendance at a conference,
seminar or workshop to each full time staff member, except those on study, long service or unpaid leave. The speaker or paper presentation grant ((a)) is not cumulative upon the attendance grant ((b)). - Research committee:
- Applications for conference grants will be considered by the Chair of the Research Committee, and in cases of doubt by the Research Committee as a whole, according to the criteria set out above. Account will be taken of the staff member’s published outputs following any previous grants and of the standing and value of the conference.
The General Fund: other expenditure
The Research Committee will also consider requests from staff members for other forms of assistance related to research. These will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Potential examples include the following:
- Dr A seeks $1,000 by way of research assistance to help convert a PhD into a published book.
- Dr B seeks assistance with the typing and final editing work on a book.
In considering such requests, account will be taken of the staff member’s track record in research, the availability of other sources of funding and the reasons for the specific request.
It is possible for any grant to be made on condition that the amount of the grant is returned to the general fund rather than to the individual staff member’s account following future publications.
