Chief Investigator responsibilities
Chief Investigator (CI) is a term applied to a University staff member who provides the intellectual, administrative and ethical leadership to a research project or program. Increasingly, research is carried out in collaborative arrangements involving a number of "co-investigators" at one or more institutions. In such cases, one CI is usually designated for administrative purposes as the key contact.
Key responsibilities
The first named CI has overall responsibility for the management of the research project, including:- Acting as the administrative contact person for the project
- Ensuring that all investigators on the project are fully informed of University policy and administrative requirements associated with the project.
- Effective intellectual property management.
- Obtaining any required ethical clearances and related approvals (eg wildlife, customs importation, radiation use) and ensuring that the project is carried out in accordance with approved protocols and conditions of approval.
- Effective risk assessment and management, including environmental health and safety.
- Compliance with codes of good practice in research, and in particular University Code of Conduct for Research.
- Effective financial management of the project, ensuring that expenditures:
- expenditures are in accordance with the conditions of award (eg a grant may prohibit or limit expenditure on, eg, travel, equipment or teaching relief);
- costs are necessary to the research endeavour being undertaken;
- spending occurs within the award period;
- outgoings do not exceed the funds available;
- expenditures are approved in accordance with University policy; and
- invoices are raised where external partners have agreed to contribute funds to the project.
Other responsibilities
The first named CI is responsible overall to their Head of Department for the successful outcome of the research project and for meeting any project milestones that might be set under the grant or contract, and for ensuring that progress or final reports are submitted on time and in the format prescribed.If the research involves the use of animal or human participants or if it has safety implications the first named CI is responsible for obtaining clearances from the Animal Ethics Committee, Human Research Ethics Committee, Gene Technology and Biosafety Committee or other relevant committee before the research gets underway.
Other CIs share responsibility for the the effective and efficient conduct of the project, in accord with the conditions of award/contract and University policy.
Responsibilities in relation to student intellectual property
In the event that a student you are supervising is undertaking research on a project that is governed by a third party agreement, it is your responsibility to inform the student of the University's rights to the IP they create during the project. Examples of such agreements include research contracts, funding agreements, and CRC Centre agreements.For further information refer to the Intellectual Property website.