Download UWA Full Costing on External Research Grants

Costing Staff Time on External Research Grants
1.
The University has two methods of fully costing research by estimating indirect costs (i.e. cost of
power and lighting, accommodation, general laboratories, general technical and secretarial,
service areas etc). One method uses a flat percentage of direct costs (35% for full costing) and
the other method is based on multiplier of academic staff time (between 100% and 127% of staff
time depending on the discipline). A UWA policy on charging infrastructure (or indirect costs) is
available at http://www.research.uwa.edu.au/staff/applying-for-funding/budget/costs-policy.
2.
It is becoming more apparent that UWA’s participation in large collaborative research ventures
requires us to cost our research on the basis of academic staff time. CSIRO partnerships often
quote multipliers of between 2.2 and 3.1 when CSIRO staff are committed to the project. Unless
our costing model is the same then our participating share in the joint venture is significantly
diminished.
3.
At UWA the full costing policy based on the imputed cost of academic staff time in a high cost
discipline is as follows:
Direct costs
Indirect costs
= base salary + salary on-costs (super, payroll tax, LSL etc.)
= 127% x (base salary + salary on-costs)
Full costs
= direct costs + indirect costs
= (base salary + salary on-costs) + (1.27 x (base salary + salary on-costs)
= 2.27 x (base salary + salary on-costs)
UWA’s full costing is a 2.27 multiplier of base salary plus salary on-costs
4.
Full costing can also be calculated on the basis of base salary only, as is often the case when
negotiating collaborative arrangements for Cooperative Research Centres where a 3 times
multiplier is suggested. At UWA:
Full costs
= 2.27 x (base salary + salary on-costs)
= 2.27 x (base salary + 30.65%)
= 2.97 x (base salary)
UWA’s full costing is a 2.97 multiplier of base salary only
5.
In many collaborative external grant applications it may be the case that fully costed staff time
can be counted as a cash rather than in-kind commitment to the project. Increasingly we are
finding that our partners are doing this with the quite reasonable justification that staff time bares
a real cost committed to the project which should be reflected as a cash contribution. Please
check with Research Services if you are in doubt about eligible costs for any particular funding
scheme.
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