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CoRE: Frequently Asked QuestionsThese have
been re-ordered so that
the most recent questions appear first
Q. What can we ask for from the Capital Fund? A. The intention of the Capital Fund is to provide capital for purchases of equipment required by the Centre in order to undertake their planned research. The Fund cannot be used for buildings or general infrastructure. It is anticipated that applicants will focus their requests on large items of equipment that will significantly enhance their ability to undertake their research or on sets of smaller items that collectively expand the capability of the Centre. The Capital Fund cannot be used to pay for the lease or rental costs of major items already owned by the Host or partners. These costs should be requested as part of the CoRE Fund operating costs. Similarly, the cost of depreciation on all items used in the CoRE-funded research (including any items sought from the Capital Fund) should be included in the operating costs. There is no need to include quotes for items sought from the Capital Fund. If your application is amongst those selected for funding, the TEC will approach you to confirm your capital requests. Q. In the Full
Application, what is the difference between the abstract and the
summary? A. The Abstract is a
shortened version of the Summary. They are for a similar audience
and both may be used for publicity purposes. The reason for
having both is that sometimes we may need a short summary, at other
times we may need more detail. Q. Regarding the extra 5 pages for references, is it OK to footnote the references on the relevant page (for ease of reading) and to spread the entire Strategic Plan over 35 pages? A. Each CoRE
application can decide how they would like to present their 5 pages of
references. In some instances they may be more appropriate
distributed as footnotes throughout the document, in other cases they
are better at the end of the Strategic Plan. In both cases, the
font size for the references remains at 12 pt. Q. How do we
represent the contribution of PIs and AI's from non-tertiary
institutions in the CoRE Budget table? A. In the CoRE Budget table, part (a) is intended for the salary costs of researchers who are staff members of tertiary education institutions. The costs for all members of the CoRE who are not staff members of a tertiary institution and any other researchers who are not in partner organisations should be included as part of a single figure given under "subcontracts". Then, on the following page in section 9b), break down the single "subcontract" figure to show how it has been arrived at, eg salaries, overheads, direct costs etc. This represents a slight change to what was in the guidelines and is not at all important for the evaluation of the proposal, but will be helpful later on if your application is successful. When TEC contract the CoREs, all the costs that move outside the tertiary system will be easily identified. Q.
In the Centre Staffing Plan (FTE Table), it requires FTEs of Principal
Investigators, Associate Investigators and Subcontractors. If a
PI or an AI is not staff of either the Host Organisation or any of the
Partner Institutes), where should the FTE go in the table? Q. Does the Title/Abstract on the Final Application have to be the same as that on the EoI? A. You can submit a different
abstract in your Full Application. The Centre Title may also
change, however please let us know that this will happen before
submitting the Full Application. Q. Some of the Maori researchers in our CoRE re-bid have many contract reports, hui and other substantial research outputs, but often these achievements are not reflected in refereed journal publications or conference proceedings. Can we include these research outputs? A. You can include these outputs,
we suggest that you include them in the main CV body under new
appropriate headings. Please make sure that it is very clear
which are refereed publications and which are not refereed, to assist
the reviewers and panellists. Q.
Are
we able to include supporting material in our Full Applications? A. All
applicants can supply up to 10 pages of
supplementary material, that summarises or provides examples
of
previous research or Centre development activities.
The supplementary material must be confined
to previous work and cannot be used as a platform for expanding on the
CoRE funding
proposal. The supporting material will
be sent to the Panels and CoRE Fund Committee, but will not be
forwarded to the
referees. Information in excess of the
10 pages will be able to be viewed by the CoRE Fund Committee at the
site visits,
should an application proceed to that stage. Q.
Can
people be named on 2 CoRE applications? A. Yes,
people can be researchers or on the governance
boards of more than 1 CoRE application. Q.
What stage do you expect Memoranda of
Understanding to be at when
the Full applications are submitted? A. We do not expect that Partnership Agreements for the proposed Centres will be finalised by the date of submission. It is important that the Panels and Committee have some assurance that, should the application be successful, fundamental issues about the purpose, research programme and the way the Centre will be governed and managed have been sorted out. We expect that the partners intending to form a Centre will have a well-developed understanding that has been formalised in an exchange of letters or a Memorandum of Understanding. Q.
When the site visit is being carried out,
what are you expecting from the University? A. The site visits are primarily intended to give the Committee an opportunity to meet with the proposed Director and senior researchers to discuss the application, and to gauge the level of support from the host institution. The visits also provide an opportunity for the applicants to present their case for a Centre to the Committee and update them on the research programme or the partnership if necessary. Q.
Are
we able to include repatriation costs in the budget? Q. In
the Guidelines for
Applicants, it states that publications since, but not including 2001
should be
included in the CV. In the CV template,
it states that publications since, but not including 2000 should be
included. Which should we use? A. Please include in your CV's publications since, but not including 2000. Q. Does
the 30 page limit on
the Strategic Plan include references? A. The
30 page limit does not
include references, however please keep this supplementary material to
5 pages
or under. Q. Are
these CoRE proposals
to be fully costed? A. All
CoRE funded research
should be fully costed. If a Centre’s host or partner intends to
contribute to part of the cost of the research, then this should be
indicated
in the overall Centre budget in Section 5 viii. Q. In section 4.4
(Governance and Management Structure) of the Guidelines, under the
Indicators
for Management Structure and Business Plan it says the Centre’s Charter
or
Business Plan will be evaluated. Is the Business Plan the same as
the
Strategic Plan in the Application form? A. The
Strategic Plan is
essentially the business plan. Q. Is there a limit
to the number of PI and AI’s? A. There is no limit
to the number of PI’s and AI’s on a proposal. Q. Does the Budget
in section 8.2 include the various forms of funding highlighted in
section 5
viii such as co-funding or does it just mean the money from CoRE? A. The budget in
section 8.2 of the application form includes only the CoRE funded
component. Q. How can we include equipment
depreciation in the application? A. There is a space in the Full
Application for depreciation (see sections 8.2 and 9a). We
suggest that
you use separate lines for depreciation of existing equipment, and
requests for
new items from the Capital Fund. Q. In the Expression of
Interest Document, section 3, what if we need more than 5 codes to
accurately
describe our Fields of Research? A. If your research is multidisciplinary and you need to use
more than
5 codes, please add extra lines to the table as necessary. Q. What is the yearly
operational budget for the CoRE Fund? A. The CoRE Fund’s budget for the next 6 years will be $31.4
million
per annum Q. Can we adjust the proposed
CoRE budgets for inflation from year to year? A. In your proposed budgets you can adjust for variable costs
from
year to year, including salary increases. Once the CoRE funding
is
awarded however, there will be no yearly adjustments for inflation. Q. In the Expression of
Interest, we have to name the PIs and AIs. Can we add/delete
names in the
full bid? A. We would like an accurate a list as possible of all the
investigators, including those based overseas. The reason why we
want to
know the names at the EoI stage is that we will be using the
information to
find panellists and referees. Obviously, we cannot use people who
have
connections with a proposed Centre's researchers. If you do
change or add
to the list when you submit your Full Proposal in December, can you
please signal
any changes so that we can make sure we do not inadvertently send your
documents to an inappropriate person. Q. What is the definition of
co-funding? Does this funding have to be managed within the
Centre budget
or can it be managed by another institute? A. Any type of contribution to the
operation of the Centre that is not coming from CoRE funding is
co-funding.
It can be through other sources of income and as an in-kind
contribution
from the host and partners. In most instances, other activities
funded
from other sources would be managed through the Centre budget, but it
is not
mandatory. The idea of asking for this information is to give the
CoRE
Fund Committee an idea of the scale of the Centre's operation and the
extent of
the commitment to the Centre from the host and partners. Q. What can the CoRE Fund
cover for overseas collaborators? A. CoRE funding cannot be used to pay the salaries and
institutional
overheads of overseas-based researchers. Most other costs would
be
eligible. For example, funds can be used to pay for other costs
of
collaborating such as their travel costs when they come to New Zealand
and
"bench fees" if a New Zealand-based researcher is spending time with
an overseas collaborator. Q. Can we pay PhD student
fees with CoRE funding? A. CoRE funding should not be used to pay for activities that are paid for through the regular channels of funding that institutions receive for postgraduate education. In particular, this excludes CoRE funding being used for paying for the cost of supervising students such as the salaries of supervisors and associated overhead costs. CoRE funds can be used to pay student stipends and fees, consumables, thesis preparation costs, travel to conferences or collaborators and so on. Q. Are PhD students who are
undertaking research on behalf of the CoRE, able to be based at an
overseas
university? If so, can CoRE funding be used for their stipends
and fees? A. PhD students who are undertaking research on behalf of the CoRE are able to be based at an overseas university. However, CoRE funding cannot be used for their stipends and fees because the intent is to keep CoRE funds within the New Zealand Tertiary Education sector. Q. What is the definition of
a "subcontractor"? A. Subcontracts are payments to organisations who are not partners in the Centre.
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