A wide range of agreements and contracts are available, but which is the right one for your project? Often a complex array of organisation are involved in multi-disciplinary research initiatives such as the UKPRP Consortiums and Networks. It is essential that clear structures and agreements be in place that describe the responsibilities, expectations and resource allocations for each partner. Usually the details of resources and the planned work is outlined the grant application and associated award letter from the funding body. Nevertheless, most funding bodies will encourage those in a collaboration to draw up a collaboration agreement, confidentiality agreement or memorandum of understanding as a minimum. There are multiple collaboration agreement templates available. Each Higher Education Institution will have a Research Support Office (RSO) or Contracts Office who will provide legal advice, guidance and support to navigate the processes of putting a research contract or agreement in place. They will normally draft the agreements with input from the Principal Investigator and Project/Consortium Manager as appropriate. This section of the toolkit provides an explanation of the types of agreements that you might need and references templates and examples that are available. However, you must not personally enact or share an agreement not legally vetted and approved by your Institution. Always contact your RSO for advice. Research led from outside HEI setting may not have the same infrastructure to draw upon. For example, the UKPRP Consortium ActEarly, led by the Bradford Institute for Health Research, has an alternative mode of operation and contracting requirements may differ to those of an academic institution. It is also worth remembering that it is impossible to foresee and plan for every single eventuality within contracts and agreements. In practice it is key to build up contacts across your Institution (where possible) to draw on for advice and to maintain strong working relationships with those wider teams to avoid falling back on contractual obligations. Drafting an agreement that is acceptable to all partners can be time-consuming – it took some of the UKPRP Consortia 12-months or more to execute a Collaboration Agreement that was acceptable by all partners. Finally, when existing collaborators exit the project, move to a new employer or new collaborators join, it will be necessary to update the collaboration agreement and this can be a time-consuming process, as all parties will be required to review and approve the changes Research Collaboration Agreements The Brunswick Group developed a range of templates designed for use by HEI and not-for-profit organisations and they include Research Collaboration, Studentship and Material Transfer Agreements. Thus, most Higher Education Institutions will adopt and adapt the Brunswick Research Collaboration Agreement (RCA) where appropriate. The RCA has two versions: a short and a long version universally accepted for use in a collaboration funded by research councils (or a third sector organisation) and the terms of the award have no restrictions in terms of ownership or publication of outputs. Current versions of the templates are available from the Association of Research Managers and Administrators website. Conversely, the Lambert Agreement designed by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) - which is the official UK government body responsible for intellectual property (IP) rights including patents, designs, trademarks and copyright - for use when HEIs intend to work with commercial partners to deliver a research collaboration. It can be adapted and adopted as necessary to suit the particular work planned. There are 7 potential templates available and a decision guide is available to help identify which template is most appropriate. The Lambert agreements and supporting materials should be treated as crown copyright. They are free for universities, institutions and companies to use, adapt and re-use for the purpose of undertaking collaborative research. Projects funded by the European Commission are often encouraged to use the comprehensive DESCA 2020 (Development of a Simplified Consortium Agreement) Model Consortium Agreement for Horizon 2020. Initiated by key FP7 stakeholders and updated for Horizon 2020 in consultation with the FP community, it offers a reliable frame of reference for project consortia. Again, the template may be adapted to suit the requirements and circumstances of each project. Confidentiality Agreements Confidentiality clauses are usually included in any standard Research Collaboration Agreement. However, there are occasions where discussions are required prior to the formal engagement of parties in a collaboration. To enable those involved to speak freely, a Confidentiality Agreement may be considered. The simplest approach is to utilise the Brunswick versions of these agreements, which are available via ARMA. An alternative agreement that facilitates free discussion and information exchange about an invention or intellectual property in confidence would be a non-disclosure agreement. Guidance on these agreements is available on the UK Government website. Industry Collaboration Agreement Researchers working with industry should set up an Industry Collaboration Agreement before a project starts. A key feature of such an agreement should be flexibility, allowing the level and nature of the industry contribution to vary per scientific need, from cash and time input, to sharing assets and staff. Including a Heads of Terms (HoT) between the academic institution and industry partner, setting out the IP management and revenue distribution arrangements, if relevant, is key. When engaging with commercial or industrial partners, it is useful to refer to guidance from the relevant particular funding body on this and specifically reviewing any exceptions or exclusions. For example, the UKPRP do not support collaborations with commercial or other vested interests of the tobacco industry. This includes alternative nicotine delivery system (e-cigarettes etc.) companies and research organisations funded by the tobacco industry. The purposes of the UKPRP procedures and guidance on this are: to support collaboration between academia and industry when there are benefits from doing so to ensure that collaboration(s) with an industry partner or partners is/are conducted with integrity and that interests are open and transparent and conflicts are managed appropriately to ensure research collaborations conform to EU and UK regulations. Memorandum of Understanding Whilst not legally binding, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) is a description of the terms of agreement under which two or more partners who have agreed to collaborate. It is a statement of serious intent that outlines: the expectations of those involved, what each partner is contributing and expecting in return. Further detailed guidance on MoUs is available on the UK Government Website. This article was published on 2022-07-13
