Post-Award Support

In most cases results are notified approximately five months after the application deadline.

Notification emails are sent to coordinators (or applicants in the case of ERC or Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships) and copied to everyone who has access to the proposal on the EC Portal. Once results are notified evaluation reports are available on the EC portal. For successful projects a grant preparation phase is opened for the project on the portal – accessed through “My Projects”.

All H2020 projects go through a grant preparation process between receiving notification of success and signature of the grant agreement. The process is led by the project coordinator (or host institution in the case of ERC grants and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships).

The Research Funding Team of Research Services supports this process. As soon as an award is notified we email the Oxford PI and their Department to explain the process, timescales and where responsibility for action lies. The Research Funding Lead within the Research Funding Team is the only person authorised at Oxford to sign European Commission grant agreements on behalf of the University.

Please contact the Research Funding Team at ecresearch@admin.ox.ac.uk if you have any questions regarding a new EC award.

All EC projects undergo ethical review at award stage and you may receive a report which requires answers to specific ethics related questions. The Research Governance, Ethics & Assurance Team of Research Services can assist. More information can be found on the Research Support website. Ethics compliance deliverables may be written into the project grant agreement. For some projects the grant agreement will not be signed until the EC can confirm that they are fully satisfied with ethics responses.

Information on the EC ethics process can be found on the European Commission's website.

It is a condition of funding for collaborative EC projects that a consortium agreement is signed by all members of the project consortium. The project coordinator leads this process. The consortium agreement covers the internal management of the project and includes clauses on IP and the distribution of project funds.

At Oxford the Research Services Contracts Team are responsible for negotiation and signature of consortium agreements. It is essential that any draft consortium agreements are forwarded to Contracts colleagues as soon as they are received. To find the relevant RS contact for the Consortium Agreement, use 'Find a contact' on the RS Contacts page.

Recruitment to and management of staff on ERC grants and EC collaborative projects do not require particular special HR actions. Best practice is to make it clear in contracts of employment what percentage of time a person will be spending on the grant and, if appropriate, the dependency on the funding source for employment. HR Business Partners will be able to advise. Recruitment on EC-funded projects must follow the Code of Conduct for Recruitment of Researchers.

For Marie Skłodowska-Curie projects (ITNs and Individual Fellowships) there are very specific employment and recruitment requirements which must be followed. More information on these can be found on our MSCA HR Support pages on MSCA ITNs and MSCA Individual Fellowships.

It is essential to keep complete and accurate records according to the requirements of each Horizon 2020 project type. Failure to do so will mean that costs are disallowed.

Most projects require timesheet records. The latest timesheets can be found on the Research Support website (under 'Horizon 2020 detailed guidance').

Spend on travel, conference attendance and accommodation, in particular should be clearly documented and justified in terms of relevance to the project. For any third-party costs e.g. subcontracting, records of compliance with the University's procurement processes are necessary.

For Marie Skłodowska-Curie projects (ITNs and Individual Fellowships) it is important that evidence is kept on the eligibility of fellows.

Research Accounts (contactable via euresacc@admin.ox.ac.uk) can provide detailed information about the records that need to be kept.

All H2020 project types have scientific and financial reporting requirements.

Most projects require continuous reporting against project deliverables and milestones which feeds into periodic reporting. Periodic reports are generally due every 18 months (depending on the length of the project) and at the end of the project.

Detailed EC guidance on reporting can be found on the EC website.

Specific guidance on scientific reporting for ERC projects can be found on the ERC website.

Research Accounts are responsible for all EC project financial reporting. Information on EC Financial Reporting considerations can be found on the Research Support website and they can be contacted at euresacc@admin.ox.ac.uk.

Formal amendments to the grant agreement will be needed for no-cost project extensions, for leaving or joining a consortium and for moving elements of work to a new host institution. Other changes can be made through agreement between partners on a grant.

Please contact the Research Funding Team for advice and support as early as possible if you think an amendment might be needed.