Project management support
After the agreement with the funding agency has been signed and the project activities has started, it is the assigned project leader and financial officer at the school who are responsible for the project execution and reporting to the funding agency. Research Support Office continues to provide support on specific issues as described below.
Specialised support when KTH is coordinator
After a written agreement with the school and the project leader, a team of project managers at RSO can offer professional assistance with project coordination, follow-up, and reporting following the funding agency's requirements and in line with local and national rules. The support is primarily intended for EU-funded collaborative research projects and is foreseen to ensure high quality in KTH's management of EU projects. Its scope depends on the project type, size, and activities. It also depends on the project leader's level of experience and needs for support. The service is expected to be reimbursed directly from the EU project based on actual hours reported by the project manager and specified in the invoice sent to the school by RSO.
Examples of support provided by RSO:
Project meetings
- Organise and participate in the kick-off meeting and present the administrative and financial issues of the project
- Assist in planning/scheduling, organization, administration and implementation of the project's management meetings in accordance with the consortium agreement and other needs of the project
- Support at preparation for the project review meetings required by EU
Follow-up
- Continuous follow-up of project’s deliverables and resources
- Risk management, follow-up and reporting of the major deviations from the project plan
- If necessary, support the financial officer at the school with budget and payments follow-up
- Contract amendments – preparation and administration (RSO is formally responsible for the signature of the request for contract amendment to be submitted to EU)
Communication
- Regular communication with EU Project Officer
- Forwarding formal information and documentation from EU to other partners
- Assistance with solving conflict situations in the project
- Contact point towards other services at KTH's University administration
Reporting
- Make sure that all reports and deliverables are submitted in time
- Practical support with periodic and final reporting (and regular follow-up of these) – development of project-adapted templates, gathering and compilation of input from partners, submission of the reports to the funding body
Overall support to project leaders
- Support with interpretation of the funding rules and principals
- Support with contract amendments
- Advisory support with IP/IPR issues
- Advisory support with periodic and final reporting
- Legal support at conflict situation with other partners or the funding agency
Specific support for financial managers at the schools
- KTH Intranät (in Swedish only) with instructions, templates for budgeting and reporting in EU-funded projects
- Internal courses for beginners in EU-project administration and financial reporting
- Regular meetings within the internal network for KTH EU-financial managers
- Contact point for financial audit issues and coordination of EU-audits
KTH central co-funding for EU-projects
- Research Support Office is responsible for approval of the applications for receiving the central co-funding provided by KTH for research projects funded by EU. Detailed information is available on KTH intranet (in Swedish only).