Match funding for equipment

Guidance for Applicants:

• Available on the Research Services Webpage
• For Research Council applications large items of equipment will usually only be funded at 50% of the total cost. In some cases, other funders, such as NWCR, may also require a match funding contribution to equipment.
• Please check the individual Funder scheme for guidance on the eligibility of equipment requests. Certain items (e.g. those over the OJEU threshold) will require a business case and others will require up to three quotes.

There is an expectation from the Research Councils that the University will provide 50% match funding for equipment requests (items costing £10,000 or more including VAT). The University has set aside an equipment fund (the ‘Lancaster University Equipment Fund’ – LUEF) for match funding of Research Council equipment applications. This has now been widened to include other funding sources where match funding is required, e.g. charities. This fund has been subject to budget cuts over the past year or so, and is smaller now than it has been in recent years, meaning requests from this fund may be subject to more scrutiny than before.

The LUEF is part of the budget held by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise, Professor Louise Heathwaite, and managed with delegated authority by the Associate Dean for Research (cross-faculty), Professor Malcolm Joyce. Requests must be routed through faculty approvals first, as follows:

For Principal Investigators (PIs) in the Faculty of Science and Technology (FST), please contact Professor Rich Haley as soon as you are aware of a need for match funding of equipment.

PIs in the Faculty of Health and Medicine (FHM), please contact your Head of Department and/or Research Director (copying in your Research Development Officer). FHM Equipment Policy

PIs in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), please contact your Research Development Officer.

PIs in the Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) should speak to their Research Development Officer in the first instance, but approval routes will follow the same threshold.

The approval routes for equipment depend on the total equipment value:

1. Total equipment <£50K (LU contribution <£25K) – FST/FHM delegated authority
2. Total equipment >£50K (LU contribution >£25K) - PVC-R&E delegated authority approval following faculty recommendation from FST/FHM
3. Total equipment >£200K (LU contribution >£100K) - UPRG approval

Your request for match funding should include VAT and Import Duty (where applicable). Please also ensure appropriate carriage is included with any quote. Once your match funding request has been approved, please send confirmation to your RDO/RSA who will arrange a signed institutional letter that can be attached to the grant application.

Other match funding

The University expects all Directly Incurred costs of research to be covered on a per-project basis. Where direct costs for a project are not covered in full (either by 100% from the Funder or by offsetting with Directly Allocated income), the Principal Investigator should explore the possibility of match funding with their department in the first instance.