Congratulations on receiving funding for your research or innovation project. Find out what to do following a successful funding application.
This page will guide you through the award setup process at UCL, from marking an application as successful to accepting an award when an account (Project Code or ‘PTA’) is prepared to manage the funding. Once these steps are completed, you will need to activate your project before you can start charging expenditure to your grant.
In addition to the information below, we recommend you refer to our process map (view accessible version) and checklist for detailed guidance on the award setup process. Principal Investigators (PIs) and research support staff in departments who need to make changes to a project or the budget in Worktribe can also find step-by-step guidance in our online training module (which also includes a section on account codes) and process walkthrough video.
Changes to the award setup process: August 2024
We recently made some changes to the award setup process to reduce the time it takes to amend or accept a new research or innovation project and generate a project code. Hear from our Director of Award Services and Assistant Director of Research Development and Support, about the change programme and the new process. Watch the video.
Information sessions
We are running 1-hour online training sessions for department and faculty staff to learn more about the changes. We are also holding drop-in sessions every Tuesday and Thursday, 10:00-10:15am, from 27 August until 17 December. Sessions will take place on Microsoft Teams and there is no need to register in advance. Add the drop-in sessions to your calendar.
Notification of award
An application can be marked successful in Worktribe when notification of the award has been received. This can be an award letter, contract, acceptance form, or email correspondence from the funder, or the lead institution if the project is not being led by UCL. Ideally, the notification should include the:
- Project title
- Principal Investigator’s name
- Awardee institution
- Project dates
- Award value
- Terms and conditions on which the award is made.
Notifying Award Services
Our Award Services Pre-Award team need to be notified when an application has been successful.
In some instances, our Pre-Award team are notified directly by the funder. For example, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the European Commission (EC) will notify the team through their online portals. Where Pre-Award receives direct notification, the department's Pre-Award contact, known as the Research Support Officer (RSO), will upload this and any other relevant documentation provided, to the documents tab in the Worktribe project record. They will then notify the PI and department via the comments tab.
If PIs or departmental research support staff receive notification of an award this should be uploaded to the documents tab in the Worktribe project record, along with any acceptance forms, terms and conditions, report templates, and other relevant documentation received from the funder or lead. The relevant RSO should then be informed of the award notification using the comments tab in Worktribe.
If a Worktribe project record has not been created, PIs or departmental research support staff can create one retrospectively to obtain the necessary internal approvals and institutional authorisation, after which the application can then be marked as successful.
Award setup
Departments are responsible for making changes agreed with the funder. The PI or department research support staff should complete the following tasks in Worktribe as part of the award setup process:
- Review the budget against the award letter or contract, and query, amend or negotiate changes with the funder/lead as required.
- Submit a contract request if a contract has been sent by the funder or lead institution.
- Enter budget changes into the project budget and assign the finance task codes.
- Check the ‘Risk’ tab and that any requirements highlighted in the risk assessment have been actioned e.g. conflict management plan.
- Initiate linked processes such as full due diligence, research ethics review, and Home Office licenses where required and ensure they are completed.
Award acceptance
As the delegated Institutional Authority for UCL, Award Services is responsible for accepting the award on your behalf. As part of the acceptance process, the Pre-Award team:
- Add indexation (inflation) to the Worktribe project budget, providing a budget breakdown for UCL and any external collaborating parties.
- Review the submitted Worktribe project budget against the award letter, contract or acceptance form, providing assurance that the project is compliant with UCL and funder policies and processes
- Review the terms and conditions of the award and provide guidance to the PI and department on other non-financial steps that need to be put in place before the project can be accepted.
- Provide any relevant documentation required by the funder and formally confirm your acceptance to the funder.
- Generate MyFinance project and award codes for the management of the project – the ‘Project Code’ or ‘PTAE’.
Once the award has been accepted, the project workflow is handed over to the Award Services Post-Award team who will activate the project code and mark the award as live in UCL’s financial systems. If required by the funder, the PI and department may need to take additional steps to officially ‘start’ the project. See some of these steps illustrated on our Activating your project page.