Home > Grants > Grant Terms

Terms and Conditions of BIA Fellowship, Small Grants and Exchange

NB: These are template Terms and Conditions and may be amended as per the grant awarded.

1) The award is given to support the BIA Small Research Project Grant as finally approved by the BIA in the relevant application. Any significant departures from the work as set out in the application must be notified immediately to the Association (via the Scientific and Research Officer), in order that it may determine whether to continue its support.

2) Employment of Staff and Responsibility of the Research Institution
(a) The BIA does not act as an employer and therefore the Institution is/remains the employer, and undertakes to fulfil all the duties and responsibilities required of employers in accordance with current legislation. The BIA will not be responsible for claims under any statute or at common law in relation to, nor any liabilities arising from, the employment of staff, nor will they indemnify the Institution against any claim for compensation or against any other claims for which the Institution may be liable as an employer, including those related to Occupational injuries to the Awardee or others concerned with the project undertaken by the Awardee. Risk assessments must be made for those Awardees undertaking project work overseas and it is the responsibility of the host institution to provide arrangements for those working overseas with regard to Health and Safety.

(b) The BIA requires to be notified immediately of any changes to senior personnel engaged in the supervision of the Research Project during the relevant period.

(c) The Institution must obtain from the Awardee undertakings in favour of the BIA of an equivalent nature to those on the part of the Institution contained in the application and in these terms and conditions of grant aid.

(d) The Institution shall accept full responsibility for the management, monitoring and control (including the requirements of all regulatory authorities governing the use of radioactive isotopes, animals, pathogenic organisms, genetically manipulated organisms (GMOs), toxic and hazardous substances, and research on human subjects and human embryos) of all the research work funded as the result of the award.

(e) The Research Organisation is responsible for ensuring that all clinicians working under a BIA award are aware that they are individually responsible for maintaining appropriate cover with a professional defence organisation for any activities not covered by NHS indemnity arrangements or by any additional provision made by the Research Organisation. The BIA will not meet the costs of such cover. The Research Organisation is responsible for ensuring that any honorary clinical contracts required by clinical staff working under a BIA award have been obtained prior to the start of the award.

(f) The Institution shall ensure that the Awardee receives training appropriate to the work of the project, in accordance with the regulations set down under the COSHH, ACDP and ACGM guidelines, the Health and Safety at Work regulations and any other regulatory requirements as may apply from time to time.

(g)The Research Organisation must provide the infrastructure required to support the Awardee’s research training together with any specific contributions identified in the application.

(h) The Research Organisation must ensure that the Awardee is made aware of their responsibilities and that they observe the terms and conditions of this award.

(i) The Research Organisation must ensure that the research supported by the award complies with all relevant legislation and Government regulation, including that introduced while work is in progress. This requirement includes approval or licence from any regulatory body that may be required before the research can commence.

(k) The BIA will not be willing to consider requests for additional funds for salary purposes. Any increments or other salary increases not identified in the original application will be the responsibility of the Institution.

(l) The tenure of the Fellowship must be confined strictly to the period of the grant unless the Institution wishes to retain the Fellow beyond this period for its own purpose and at its own expense.

3) Ethics and Good Scientific Practice
It is the responsibility of the Research Organisation to ensure that the research is organised and undertaken within a framework of best practice that recognises the various factors that may influence or impact on a research project. Particular requirements are to ensure that all necessary permissions are obtained before the research begins, and that there is clarity of role and responsibility between the Awardee/sponsor and any collaborators.

The BIA expects research to be conducted in accordance with the highest standards of scientific integrity and research methodology - following the principles of good research practice detailed in the document published by the MRC, ‘Good Research Practice Guidelines’. Attention is drawn to any recent changes in requirements for ethical approval in relation to the Human Tissue Act.

(a)    The Research Organisation is responsible for ensuring that ethical issues relating to the research project are identified and brought to the attention of the relevant approval or regulatory body. Approval to undertake the research must be awarded before any work requiring approval begins. No funded work may commence using human subjects without the appropriate approval of the Ethics Committee (or Committees) of the Institution (or Institutions, if work is to be conducted on more than one site). Research involving human participants in developing societies presents specific ethical challenges and the guidelines published by the MRC, ‘MRC Sponsored Studies in Developing Societies Involving Human Participants (interim)’, must be followed.
(b)   The BIA cannot itself sponsor clinical trials or research projects involving humans and accepts no responsibility, financial or otherwise, for any liability arising from the conduct of a clinical trial or research project. The Research Organisation and the Fellow are responsible for ensuring that any clinical trial is conducted in accordance with the terms set out in the MRC’s guidelines on ‘Good Clinical Practice in MRC-Funded Trials(1998)’.(c)    The use of animals in experiments must be strictly limited to that set out in the application.
(d)    It is expected that the highest standards of integrity are adhered to by the Awardee and that the Institution have in place its own published standards of good practice and have formal written procedures for the investigation of allegations of scientific misconduct.

4) Limitations of the BIA Liability
The BIA accepts no responsibility, financial or otherwise, for the application of the grant monies or for any liability arising from their expenditure or otherwise arising out of the funded work. The control of expenditure to be funded under this grant must be governed by the normal standards and procedures of the Institution and must be covered by the formal audit arrangements that exist in the Institution.

5) Financial Arrangements
The start of an award is defined as the date on which expenditure is first incurred. Normally this is also the date at which the Awardee is deemed to have commenced the project. The project must commence within 6 months of notification of the award. A separate acceptance letter will also be required. Under exceptional circumstances, where delays in starting the project or completion of the proposed work in the designated period are unavoidable, the Scientific & Research Secretary must be contacted in timely fashion for discussion and consideration of alternative arrangements on a case-by-case basis.

Reimbursement of expenditure funded by grant monies will only be made by the BIA on receipt of claims certified to be correct by either the chief finance officer or the chief administrative officer of the Institution. Claims for reimbursement of expenditure in each quarter (January-March, April-June, July-September, October-December) should be submitted in arrears within 3 months of the end of the quarter. If any of these conditions cannot be met due to exceptional circumstances, the BIA Treasurer should be contacted, so that other arrangements can be considered. Claims should be submitted to:

Dr Hiten Thaker
Treasurer, British Infection Association
treasurer@britishinfection.org                                               

The BIA reserves the right to refuse payment if any of these conditions are not met.

6) Intellectual Property Rights
If research results in discoveries which have the potential for commercial exploitation, all relevant information with regard to the same must be disclosed to the BIA and any intellectual property rights (IPRs) which may arise as a result of the research and are capable of patent protection must be patented and protected in the appropriate manner. Sometimes the obligation to publish set out below in paragraph 11 may conflict with the need to protect IPRs. This is recognised by the BIA, and any conflict will be subject to liaison and agreement between the BIA and the Institution. In the normal course of events, if IPRs are to be patented, publication of the research findings should be delayed until adequate protection under the patent procedure has been obtained.

The research and the results of the research may not be commercially exploited in any way without the prior written agreement of the BIA (which will include agreement concerning the ownership of all IPRs arising, and who will benefit from their exploitation). Such agreement would normally be granted, subject to such conditions as the BIA may decide (and the BIA's agreement may require prior agreement between the Institution and the BIA as to the sharing of the financial benefits arising from the exploitation). IPRs will normally be owned by the Institution and/or any project collaborators, subject to the agreement with BIA regarding revenue shares in the event of any commercial exploitation of such IP. The extent of the BIA's share in such an agreement would depend principally upon the level of its funding or other contribution to the costs of the research project overall.

Neither may any individual nor the Institution enter into confidentiality agreements with any other party, where that party would place restrictions on the publication of, or obtain prior knowledge of, the research findings.

The Institution must apply with full rigour all the relevant arrangements, as may from time to time be mutually agreed between the BIA and the Institution, for the protection of any patentable intellectual property rights arising from any research funded as a result of the application. However if the Institution shall decide not to proceed with the protection of any patentable intellectual property rights, it will fully co-operate (and ensure that its employees co-operate) with the BIA so that the BIA will have an unreserved and unrestricted right, but not a duty, to seek patent protection (by its own hand or through its agent) and the Institution will not be entitled to share in any resulting profit or benefit.

7) Termination of a Grant
When the BIA makes a grant, it reserves the right, without notice to terminate it should it so wish. In such a case, the BIA will reimburse the Institution for expenditure properly incurred under the award up to termination date, but it will not be in any event be responsible for, nor indemnify the Institution against any other costs or liabilities nor, without limitation, any of the matters referred to in paragraph 2a.

Termination of grant would only normally occur if reports or reviews of funded work are deemed to be unsatisfactory by the BIA, and after discussion with the Institution, or in the event of a serious breach of any of the terms and conditions attaching to the grant which is either not remedied within a reasonable time or is incapable of remedy.

8) Acceptance of the Grant 
Before the award may be activated, the Institution must accept, and agree to abide by, these Terms and Conditions of Grant Aid, by signing and returning one copy to the BIA. This form may only be signed by a senior staff member who has the authority to commit the Institution to such an agreement. Such as individual may be: The Principal, Vice Chancellor or Dean, the Registrar, the Secretary, The Research Contracts Officer, The Bursar, Finance Officer or Chief Accountant.

9) Reports
The recipient of the award is required to submit a final report on the project within three months of the end of the period of support. The Institution may be required to provide a breakdown of the expenditure of all monies provided on the grant. The Institution should note that failure to submit a report may cause the BIA to refuse to consider further grant requests, or withhold grant payments pending receipt of a satisfactory report.

10)  The BIA has a responsibility to ensure that work of the highest quality is produced. The BIA therefore requires that the institution ensures that all funded work is at all times adequately supervised, monitored and evaluated. The results of the research must be subject to proper evaluation before they are published.

11) Publications and Publicity
The BIA must be kept informed at all times of the results of the research. BIA current Privacy Policies can also be viewed on the BIA Website.  Subject to paragraph 6 above, the Institution must ensure that all useful knowledge acquired from research funded by the BIA is disseminated through presentation (ideally at BIA scientific meetings) and peer reviewed scientific publications.

The BIA Fellow must take all reasonable actions to ensure that the BIA's contribution to the funding of the research is suitably acknowledged in all publications. In any media coverage the BIA Fellow should ensure that all opportunities to promote the BIA are taken and ensure that any written press statement associated wholly or partly with the research to be funded by the grant is approved by the BIA. The BIA reserves the right to require that the Institution makes clear in any published material, that the conclusions of the research are not the views of the BIA. The BIA must therefore be given sufficient notice of proposed publications to exercise this right.  The BIA Fellow shall ensure that one copy of research papers (based wholly or partly upon research to be funded by the grant) will be forwarded to the BIA upon publication.

NB: Please note that grants awarded by the BIA are subject to the standard Terms and Conditions of Grant Aid at the time that the grant is awarded. The BIA reserves the right to change the Terms and Conditions of Grant Aid from time to time. If for any reason during the lifetime of the grant an amendment is made to the award, the BIA reserves the right to apply the Terms and Conditions of Grant current at the time of the amendment.