Congratulations.
Your research idea and project application were successful
and you have received a funding commitment from the third party.
Now you can start the implementation.In the course of this,
you’will be in contact with several sections
from different departments at the level of the Central University Administration
and as well with the administrative staff
of your faculty and/or Cluster of Excellence.
This is because the responsibilities
for individual sub-processes lie in different areas.
This can be confusing at times and thus hinder the start of the project.
Please do not hesitate, ask for support, ask for clarifications
because in the end
the success of your project will depend significantly on good communication
with all the individual actors involved in the process.
So make sure to get in touch
with the staff of Section 62 from the Human Resources Department.
Section 75 from the Finance Department,
as well as with the Regional Computing Center, RRZ
these three units are particularly relevant for you,
but so are the advisors and scientific coordinators in your respective field.
The advisors and coordinators provide support in organizing
workspaces, equipment and other facilities and arranging teaching contracts
to successfully start your research on site.
All other aspects are monitored centrally,
such as the administration of third party funding, the hiring of staff,
the procurement of consumables, and the various I.T.
services.
Use the organigrams on the related university websites
to find out about the facilities and the allocation of the individual services.
Various portals such as the KUS
portal, for members of Universität Hamburg, the RRZ service
or the simple external funding portal should make it easier for you
to get started with the wide range of available services.
Only staff
members can receive project funds from third parties.
If you commence at the university with a successful external funding,
please apply for employment on time through your hosts at Universität Hamburg.
They will act as your supervisors in administrative terms.
If you have any questions, please contact the HR Section
The next step is to set up the so called PSP element.
This is the booking account assigned to your project
where all project specific bookings are made and mapped.
The PSP element is set up by section
75 external funding management and made available to the project leader.
Who’s usually yourself.
As a rule, third party funders transfer the approved project
funds in individual batches and upon request by the fund manager.
If large amounts of material funds are spent,
this can contemporary lead to a negative cash balance,
which would also be indicated in the annual reports on the use of funds.
But don't worry.
You can prevent this by notifying the third
party fund management in advance of larger purchases
so that the call for funds can be controlled accordingly.
All funding
bodies link the allocation of the funds to requirements because public funds
are fundamentally earmarked for a specific purpose.
The funding agencies must ensure that their funds,
which serve to promote science, are used economically and properly.
Accordingly, there are general terms and conditions
of funding, such as the DFG’s guidelines for the use of funds.
The Federal Ministry's guidelines for grant contracts,
or the Volkswagen Foundation's grant principles.
In any case, you should read and observe these funding conditions very carefully
because as project leader, you are responsible
for compliance, not the Universität Hamburg.
The proper use of the funding must be presented
to the funding bodies and form of financial reports or proof of use,
as these are an elementary component in securing the funding.
In doing so, you should of course adhere to the corresponding guidelines
and regulations so that reclaims, additional interest payments or anything
similar will not affect you and keep you from receiving complete funding.
If your project proposal includes
funding for doctoral students, student assistants or postdocs,
you will usually have to initiate one or more recruitment procedures yourself.
Be aware that this might take several weeks or even months.
We recommend that you contact the HR services
early as possible and ask for information.
Use the organigrams available in the KUS portal
for the various recruitment processes to get an overview of
which documents have to be submitted with the application.
Direct contact with the respective HR section can also become relevant again
at some later point if you want to extend existing contracts.
So a good working relationship pays off in the long run
and makes the administrative aspects of your research project easier
for you.
Administrative changes
and particularities may arise in the course of the project.
For example, due to parental leave,
reductions in working time, relocation and additions.
In this case, you should contact the third party funding body immediately
and in advance to inform them in writing about the new situation.
Of course, you must also inform the human resources
service and the external funding management of the university
as they are usually not notified by the external funding provider.
As well as direct costs, there are also a number of indirect expenses.
Therefore, not all, but many third party funders
pay so-called overheads in addition to the project funds applied for.
These are billable amounts that are intended to cover
the indirect project costs, at least proportionally.
The university scientists have access to their project account
and also their overhead account via the Web based SharePoint platform.
In this video, we try to cover a variety
of common challenges you are facing when applying for external funding.
My colleagues and I hope you find the information
helpful and we are looking forward to welcome you at our offices to proceed
with the next steps.