Managing Awards

COVID-19

This section is created to provide information and guidance for all QNRF awarded institutions and researchers affected by the outbreak of COVID-19 as a result of the measures taken nationally and internationally with regard to lockdown, work from home and flight cancellation.

QNRF would like to emphasize that it is the responsibility of the Awardee /RO to ensure that all their researchers adhere and comply with the measures, directives laid out by the State of Qatar and their institutions as the safety of people comes first and the issues related to their research projects can be overcome through available resources and alternatives. Similarly we call upon all our international awardees to observe guidelines and obligations issued by their respective national authorities.

For more details on the guidelines, please click here

In addition, QNRF  is providing a Frequently Asked Questions  document in response to inquiries on policies and programs affecting research progress. 

 

Grant Management

Objective

The QNRF grant management model is designed to help investigators and research administrators meet the compliance requirements of the grants awarded within QNRF funding programs. This is done through the QNRF Online Submission System (OSS) which controls all post-award phase aspects of the awards - from the awards start date, through monitoring of the progress of the research to payment of installments and subsequent monitoring of outcomes.

Platform

Totally based on an IT solution, OSS allows real-time interaction of individual investigators, centers, schools, colleges and universities with their awards and supports their need to adapt to any change.
OSS tracks information such as the award period and deadline, award status and information regarding key investigators as well as task performance, effort and financial activities.

In addition, OSS includes compliance monitoring (IRB, IACUC, IBC, and more), award development and change at any given time of the award duration. It also maintains schedules for Progress Report due dates and compliance expiration dates. OSS reporting functions include features that track when awards reports are due, when awards are ending and the status of any submitted report. Awarded investigators can also view their past activities and previously submitted reports.

For the investigators and research administrators, QNRF’s OSS interface provides for day-to-day project management, allowing them to produce reports and request changes to the grants, such as changes to the research team members, award timeline, and so on. The system is accessible from anywhere, online, at the following link: https://www.qnrfsubmission.org/

QNRF’s OSS also contains sophisticated workflow technology that automatically forwards the activities/requests to the approval authorities, as described in the QNRF Award Management Guide (AMG), which investigators and research administrators are highly encouraged to review as it provides a detailed description of the approval responsibilities, as well as the system itself.

Responsibility

The Research Office of the Awarded Institution has the ultimate responsibility of managing the awards in compliance with QNRF policies and those of the awarded institution. The management activities include:

  • Assigning an Authorized Research Office Representative (AROR) for the Awarded Institution.
  • Executing the Fund Management Agreement (FMA) and complying with its terms and conditions.
  • Submitting and vetting all post award requirements/changes (change requests, progress and final reports, no cost time extension ...etc.) to QNRF, as applicable, before making any changes to the awards.
  • Monitoring the performance of Awards on a timely manner, submitting progress reports and ensuring adherence to performance goals, to time schedules and other requirements, as appropriate.
  • Managing the compensation of research team members, travel, procurement and miscellaneous expenses in accordance with the terms of the Fund Management Agreement (FMA).
  • Managing all legal and administrative aspects with the sub-awardees.
  • Ensuring continuous communications with the research team members during the Awards lifetime.
  • Ensuring compliance with the applicable laws of the State of Qatar including the policies of the Qatar Supreme Council of Health (SCH).
  • Maintain record of all documents relevant to the award.

Progress Reports

The management of awarded grants is done online through the QNRF Online Submission System (OSS). Subsequently, the awarded Investigator and relevant AROR shall use the OSS to respectively submit and vet progress/final reports and change requests.

The awarded investigator shall submit a progress report using the OSS to the RO of the Awardee, who, prior to final submission to QNRF via the Online RO Channel, shall vet the progress report and include an expenditure report detailing the costs incurred per budget category during the reporting period. (Please refer to the FMA for the frequency of reporting)

This report should highlight progress made and detailed accomplishments of each specific aim and task as well as the overall goals and objectives, including results obtained, problems or difficulties encountered.

Payment of installments will be tied to acceptance of satisfactory progress reports. Progress Reports will be reviewed to ensure compliance with QNRF policies and guidelines as well as progress in implementing the research plan aims and tasks.

Change Requests

The QNRF Online Submission System (OSS) shall be the tool for the Awardee’s ROs to vet and process all change requests, related to the awarded projects.

QNRF understands that due to the nature of research, the awarded investigator may need to modify its project during performance to accomplish the award's proposed objectives. Therefore, QNRF provides some flexibility for Awardees to make changes from the original proposal, depending on the deviation's significance to the project or activity.

The RO may approve change requests identified in the Matrix of “Change Request Functions” on the OSS for awarded projects. The RO’s right of approval should be exercised appropriately within the premise of ensuring effective execution of the awarded project, while being in compliance with the awardee’s policies and procedure.

More significant post-award changes will require QNRF prior approval. Prior approval requirements and authorities are discussed in the Award Management Guide (AMG).