RCUK's aim is that the Research Councils should have a common research administration
system enabling the electronic processing of grants, fellowships and studentships
from submission to completion. Implementing this approach drives down the complexity
and therefore cost of research administration and will deliver benefits for researchers,
Higher Education Institute (HEI) administrators and the Research Councils alike.
Joint Electronic Submission System (JeS)
The first phase of this research administration programme has been the
implementation of the
Joint Electronic Submission System (JeS), which currently supports online
submission of research grant proposals, fellowships and expenditure statements.
It also offers a service whereby research organisations can check the status of
their grant portfolio online, helping to improve management of current awards.
By the end of September 2006, around 25,000 research proposals had been received
via JeS and over 300 organisations had registered to use the system. Following
consultation with HEIs, Councils discontinued paper based submission at the end
of March 2005.
The initial JeS project was praised by the Government for reducing
bureaucracy in its response to the Better Regulation Task Force's Report on
administrative red tape in the higher education sector. Also when the House of
Commons Science and Technology Select Committee reviewed RCUK in 2005, their
report stated "We commend RCUK's role in the implementation of the JeS system,
which will provide significant improvements for researchers in applying for
grants and will make interdisciplinary applications more straightforward".
RCUK Shared Services Centre
In 2011 the Research Councils made changes to the way they process grants, studentship and fellowship applications. This change is part of an ongoing programme of harmonisation to ensure all the Research Councils use the same system and processes.
Going forward the RCUK Shared Services Centre (SSC) will handle the processing of grants, studentships and fellowships on behalf of the Research Councils. There will be a phased transfer of processing to the SSC and each Research Council will keep their communities up to date with details of these changes.
Research Administration Polices network (RAP-n)
The role of RAP-nis to develop and maintain common, harmonised policies, processes
and administrative arrangements associated with grants, studentships and fellowships. Further information on the Research Councils' position on full cost reporting is available here.
View the
RAP-n Terms of Reference
A summary of harmonisation activities from the Research Administration Polices network is available
here.
Research Organisation Consultation Network (ROCN)
This group, whose members have been selected from a range of Research Organisations,
will provide an ongoing forum for discussion between Research Councils and Research
Organisations on a range of research administration issues.
View the
ROCN Terms of Reference
Summaries of Joint RACN-ROCN Meetings
Below is a summary of the items discussed at the joint meeting of RACN and
ROCN.
Summary of the RACN-ROCN Meeting held on 19 January 2010
Summary of the RACN-ROCN Meeting held on 20 July 2010
Peer Review and Grants Policy Group (PRGPN)
A summary of the current harmonisation activities of the Peer Review and Grants
Policy Network (PRGPN) is available
here.