Part V - TRAC fEC

Section C: Estimating researcher costs

Chapter C.5 Supervising PGRs

1. The annual TRAC process recognises an activity called the supervision and training of PGRs. This is different from the work undertaken by an academic in a research project. A PGR student is not considered to be a member of academic staff.
2. Where a PGR is on a project studentship linked to a project, they may be recognised on the project-costing schedule. All of the costs associated with their supervision and training should, however, be kept separate from all other costs of the research project itself.
3. As funders (including the Research Councils) do not currently fund PGRs on an fEC-basis, and as establishing the fEC can be complex, it is good practice to estimate their costs on a research project, but it is not a minimum requirement under TRAC. (The Research Councils, for example, require appropriate project studentships to be recorded on their application form under ‘exceptions’ and these are funded on the basis of stipends plus fees – not on the basis of fEC.)
4. Therefore the time the supervisor spends in PGR training and development (and this would include the time of internal and external examiners, co-supervisors, etc.) and stipends paid to students, should not be included as part of the research project fEC. (And, therefore, the indirect costs and estates costs associated with this time should not be included either.)
5. Where the PGR is closely linked with one research project, it is good practice to show the fEC of this activity on the same research project costing schedule. However, this should be shown as a clearly separate category of expenditure from the costs of the research project.
   

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