Step 1. Getting started / Preparation
• Identify a collaborative partner or funding body
• Assess opportunities and risks
• Understand what type of agreement is important in your case
• Identify a responsible person for the contract process
Who is responsible for the contract process?
- Each research contract requires a person to be responsible for coordinating the process. Through the process the checklist for research contracts can be used, which is available in Swedish and in English.
- This person can be the PI or in some cases a specifically appointed person/function at the department - always contact your department administration to identify the responsible person. If there is a conflict of interest with the counterparty, another person can be assigned by the Head of Department.
- The Contract process coordinator should for example organise communication between all parties internally and externally, and can throughout the process get support from different support functions at KI.
- The Head of Department and in some cases the Head of Administration should review the contract and decide if the contract also needs to be reviewed by the Legal unit.
What you need to do
Photo: GettyImages.
- Identify Principal Investigator and researchers involved (affiliated, consultants, students, PhD students)
- Identify appropriate type of collaboration and agreement
- Discuss risks in choice of collaborative partner or financing organisation:
- Is the collaborator appropriate?
- Companies in which researchers have interests might have weak economies and thus unstable legal system
- Identify potential conflicts of interest:
- Be aware of any possible situations of conflict of interest. A general principle is that KI will not have contracts with companies in which the KI employees have significant responsibility or influence.
- Read Rules for handling secondary occupations and Guidelines on conflict of interest (COI)
At your department:
- Discuss the collaboration plans with your Head of Department and/or Head of Administration
- The Head of Department will be the one approving the contract based on the recommendations by the Legal unit at KI
- If necessary, the Head of Department or Head of Administration can initiate a support case at External Engagement Office to get support in the contract preparation process.
There are many different types of contracts, depending on the nature of the partnership. The name or title of a contract does not always match the content.
- Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or Letters of Intent (LOI)
- Confidential Disclosure Agreement (CDA) or Non-disclosure Agreement (NDA)
- Grant Agreements
- Contract Research or Commissioned Research
- Deed of Donation
- Consultancy Agreement
- Subawards, subcontracts
- Visiting researcher agreement
- Secondment
- Research Collaboration Agreement
- Consortium Agreement
- Agreement for PhD student with external employment
- Material Transfer Agreement (MTA)
- Personal Data Agreements
- Data Transfer Agreement (DTA)
- Data Processing Agreement (DPA)
- Joint Controller Agreement (JCA)
- Non-personal Data Agreements