Responsibilities
Investigators
Clarity of the responsibilities of an investigator is important, and is necessary to support the decisions of a HoD/S about suitability for being an investigator. The responsibilities of an investigator, which may not all apply to all projects, given their nature, include:
i) Research Leadership and Quality |
The creation of an environment in which high quality research is undertaken, in a collegiate and supportive fashion. The provision of suitable direction to enable productive research, along with controls to ensure quality. |
ii) Management of Project Staff |
The recruitment and development of members of the team (employees and students), and their direction and supervision in delivering against research targets. Management of partners and collaborators against agreed plans. Supervision and successful completion of thesis. |
iii) Financial Management |
Appropriate use of resources within the terms of the funding agreement and within the University’s policies and procedures. |
iv) Health and Safety |
Ensuring an environment in which the risks to staff and participants have been assessed and are appropriately managed. |
v) Reporting, Dissemination and Publication |
Providing appropriate reports on progress to the funder and others as required. Ensuring results are suitably disseminated, exploited, and published. |
vi) Research Governance |
Ensuring good research practice, and adherence to any relevant legislation, regulation, or policies. |
vii) Contractual and Project Management |
Recognising and meeting the contractual obligations of the funding. Ensuring that the project is undertaken in a timely fashion, against an agreed plan. |
In some of these areas, there is a balance of responsibility between the investigator and their HoD/S. For collaborative bids with a number of named Sussex PI’s, one of these will be identified as the lead PI at Sussex with overall responsibility for co-ordinating internal and external communications and effective project management.
Professional Support Staff
The list of investigator responsibilities indicates the breadth of those responsibilities. As such, investigators need support in delivering these responsibilities, in particular where someone has numbers of projects, or a project is large and complex. The areas in which support might be delivered are:
i) Administrative |
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ii) Financial |
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iii) Staffing |
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iv) Environment |
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v) Reporting |
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vi) Commercial |
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vii) Project Management |
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The delivery of these types of support can take a number of forms, but are particularly in the form of people and systems that can be organised on a centralised, localised, or mixed basis. The most productive arrangement is to have common systems used by a mixed displacement of staff.
Staff undertaking this support will include those in central offices (e.g. HR, R&E, EFM, and Finance), those in school positions (e.g. R&E Co-ordinators and others in generic roles), and those in positions dedicated to specific projects. Staff in support roles might be in administrative, clerical, or technical positions. Achieving a suitable balance is important, recognising the need for dedicated resource to be built explicitly into the budgets of some projects.