Research Project Management

All research projects that UiB participates in need to be legally secured. While a contract is signed by the coordinator and the external financing source, collaboration (or consortium) agreements regulate rights and obligations between the coordinator and the project partners. The documents are set up in collaboration with the legal advisers of the BOA-team. For further information, please have a look at the BOA websites.

It is important that the department and the faculty are involved in the preparation of contracts and collaboration agreements, and that they receive relevant information about and copies of all contracts /agreements!

It is the project manager (responsible scientist) who is, in collaboration with the project owner (department, faculty, University of Bergen), responsible for the correctness of all information before and during the negotiations.

Important during contract negotiations:

• Project steering
• Regulations regarding background and foreground
• Use of research results and data
• Publication plan

A research contract shall secure the involved parties' rights. It is therefore important to have clear agreements related to financial commitments, accessing and storing research data, as well as to safeguard the IPR (Intellectual Property Rights).

Data Processor Agreement

Data processor agreements need to be established in case an entity needs to process personal and health information on behalf of another party. Data processor agreements shall ensure that the information is handled by the responsible data controller, as well as;

• that it is used for its designated purpose only and based on the agreed provisions.
• that it is secured.
• that it is processed within the agreed time frame.
• that it is not revealed to other parties without the consent of the responsible controller.

The responsible data controller for a research project is the entity that has clearance from the Regional Committees for Medical and Health Research Ethics (REK), a special permit from The Norwegian Data Protection Authority (Datatilsynet) and/or a recommendation from the data protection officer (personvernombudet) to handle health-related and personal information.

Once the funding has been awarded, the project starts and there are several things that you as a project manager (responsible scientist) need to keep track of. For projects coordinated by one of our researchers, the faculty invites to a kick-off meeting shortly after the agreement with the funding source is in place.

At this meeting, representatives from the department, accounting, personnel and research sections take part. We will go through the project description and milestones, in order to start and facilitate the operational phase as smoothly as possible. We will, amongst others, discuss:

• Financial work and reporting.

• Employment plans.

• Contract, collaboration agreement, ethics issues, routines for internal control.

• Other issues (arranging meetings, communication, admission of PhD candidates etc.).

For EU projects, the BOA-team will arrange a separate kick-off meeting. Please have a look at their websites for more detailed information.

The BOA-team has prepared detailed websites on this topic.