Frequently asked questions

Need help to maximise HERDC income ?

For research activity to qualify for HERDC, please refer to the below checklist.

For the activity to qualify as HERDC-compliant research, the answer to all five questions must be  ‘YES’

 Examples of activities that meet the definition of R&D (as per HERDC specifications for collection of 2022 data, Section 3.1.1):  

1. Professional, technical, administrative or clerical support staff directly engaged in activities essential to the conduct of R&D.  
2. The activities of HDR² students enrolled at the HEP.  
3. The development of HDR training and courses.  
4. The supervision of HDR students enrolled at the HEP.
5. R&D into applications software, new programming languages and new operating systems  
6. Prototype development and testing.  
7. Construction and operation of a pilot plant where the primary objective is to make further   
8. Trial production where there is full scale testing and subsequent further design and engineering.  
9. Phases I to III of clinical trials; and  
10. Non-traditional research creative arts, including original creative works, live performance of creative works, recorded or rendered works, and curated exhibitions or events.  

Examples of activities that do not meet the definition of R&D (as per HERDC specifications for collection of 2022 data, Section 3.1.2):  

1. Scientific and technical information services
2. General purpose or routine data collection  
3. Standardisation and routine testing  
4. Feasibility studies (except into R&D projects)  
5. Specialised, routine medical care  
6. Literature reviews that are predominantly a summary of the current knowledge and findings of a particular R&D field or topic and do not include any critical assessment or report any new findings or original experimental work  
7. Commercial, legal and administrative aspects of patenting, plant breeders’ rights, copyright, material transfer agreements or intellectual property licensing, option and assignment activities, and royalties  
8. Routine computer programming, systems work, or software maintenance
9. Stages of product development that do not meet the five R&D criteria above[refer to checklist]
10. Pre-production development  
11. Market research  
12. Construction of fully tested prototypes for marketing purposes  
13. After sales service and troubleshooting  
14. Industrial engineering and design for production purposes  
15. Creative activities that do not meet the five core R&D criteria above [refer to checklist]  
16. R&D financing and support services  
17. Consultancies or framework analysis activities that are designed to analyse or evaluate processes at external operators
18. Teaching services based on existing knowledge which do not constitute entirely new advancements in knowledge.

Useful Links:  

• Australian Government Department of Education – Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC): https://www.education.gov.au/research-block-grants/higher-education-research-data-collection-herdc  
• Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – Frascati Manual: https://www.oecd.org/publications/frascati-manual-2015-9789264239012-en.htm  
• UniSA Research and Enterprise - Intranet Site: https://i.unisa.edu.au/staff/research-and-enterprise/  
• UniSA Research Office - Intranet Site: https://i.unisa.edu.au/staff/research/  
• UniSA Governance and Policies – Intranet Site: https://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/ 
• UniSA Research and Consultancy Guidelines – Intranet Site : https://i.unisa.edu.au/contentassets/90396185acf244f78d31a34cd22c3f00/research-and-consultancy-guidelines_2001.pdf

You should consider the following areas in consultation with the URO Contracts Team at the earliest opportunity. This will help inform the university’s negotiation position and may facilitate swift agreement with the other party or parties.

Key information includes:

More is better Include as much information in your request as possible. This could include what stage any discussions, what information you have provided to the funder, or what in-principle agreements the parties have made. The more we know about your project and your goals for the agreement, the easier it is for us to provide a contract that meets all of your needs.

Funding

• Who the funder is, what are their details
• Whether the funder has indicated a budget limit
• The cost / price of the activity (if known).
• Whether there are any other parties providing funding, materials or otherwise,

Key dates / deadlines

• Whether there any deadlines or dates that the contracts team should know about.

Who is involved

• Whether there any international parties involved
• If there are multiple parties, provide details of all participants and the nature of their participation.

Details of the research activity itself, including:

• Who developed the proposal
• The scope of work, what this will entail and whether it is large-scale work
• Who will be doing what
• Whether the work is part of a long-term strategy.

The location of work

• Where will work be carried out, i.e., on university premises, at the funder’s premises, elsewhere.

Connections with other projects

• What relationship (if any) does the work have with similar projects taking place, or those that are due to take place in the university?

Intellectual property (IP)

• Whether the work relies on background IP
• Whether any third party-owned background IP or materials may be required
• Whether novel or commercially viable IP is likely to arise.

Clinical research

• Whether there is any clinical activity associated with the project, i.e does it involve humans or animal subjects, their tissues and/or data?
• Whether there are any non-clinical ethical considerations

Anticipate delays

• When there are several external parties to an agreement, the review and signature time of these contracts can be quite lengthy. We recommend that you plan for this when mapping out your project timelines.

There often many moving parts throughout the Contract Process, and managing peoples expectations and timelines can be a challenge.

Key tips to help:

• When VC or DVCRE Signing is required

Please provide agreement early on and allow adequate time for briefing and signing. This will ensure signing is procured in case of unavailability . Please provide clear cash and in-kind details.

• When multi parties are required to sign 

Please make sure the relationship and expectations of each of the parties has been discussed and agreed to prior to an agreement being issued. This will reduce the amount of time it takes to secure agreement from all the parties. Please highlight any special project-specifics e.g. special IP plans, at the outset. 

• If international parties are involved 

Please advise the jurisdiction position desired by the international parties.

• Complexity of contract 

Please provide as much details as possible and any historical content that can assist with the contract, explain the nature of arrangement clearly, allow for sufficient lead time, highlight relevant considerations to fulfill the required commitment by the university e.g. investment, branding, facilities, tax, insurance, commercialisation etc.