Terms and conditions

Standard terms and conditions of Bupa Foundation grants

1. Offers of funding are conditional on applicants identifying a sponsor for their research.
2. Whenever appropriate, an offer of funding is also conditional on obtaining any necessary ethical approval.
3. Successful applicants are required to inform the registrar of the appropriate payee bank details on headed paper.
4. Payments will not be made payable to individuals but only to medical institutions or charity/research accounts.
5. No project may be started until written proof of ethical consent is provided to the Foundation. The first payment will also be payable only on receipt of this evidence.
6. Funding is to be used solely in respect of the specific piece of research for which the grant is awarded and can only be changed with the Board's specific prior approval, before any expenditure is incurred on the amended research.
7. The Bupa Foundation application form contains a lay summary section to assist lay members of The Foundation Board understand the project. Grant holders are advised that the Bupa Foundation adheres to a strict confidentiality policy, however on occasion the application may be shared in the strictest confidence with the Foundation’s major donor, Bupa, on approval of the funding.
8. Any proposed amendments to the use of funding (or virement of funds) during the course of the project must be referred to the Board for approval prior to such changes being initiated.
9. The start of the project may be delayed, with the Board's agreement, for up to 6 months from the date on the offer letter. The grant may lapse if work is not started within this period.
10. The Governors expect to be kept informed of the progress made in the projects which the Foundation supports and grant holders are asked to provide interim reports in the format provided on the grant holder(s) pages of the Bupa Foundation site. The link to this will be made available to grant holder(s) on activation of the grant. Interim reports should be provided at six and twelve months after receiving their grant and annually thereafter, (if the project is for a period in excess of one year) until the final report is produced for the research project.
11. It is the responsibility of the grant holder(s) to complete and return interim report(s) on time. Failure to forward reports in line with term 10 above will result in a delay to funding and, at the absolute discretion of the Board, may result in the grant holder forfeiting any future payments under the original grant.
12. In line with AMRC Guidelines, the Bupa Foundation expects the host institution to meet the cost of any long-term leave, other than annual holiday. Such leave could include maternity leave, paternity leave or long-term sick leave. If a Bupa Foundation funded employee is due to take maternity leave, the grantholder should inform the charity of the dates in advance so that the grant can be suspended for the period of maternity leave until full-time employment is resumed. As a charity, the Bupa Foundation cannot cover the costs of the employed person’s maternity leave but on a case-by-case basis, the Bupa Foundation may consider covering the cost of another individual filling the position on a temporary basis if it encourages timely completion of the research, provided that the cost of doing so does not exceed the total amount of the salary component of the grant and no costs are claimed for the employee who is on maternity leave. If this is not possible the grant will be suspended until the employee returns from maternity leave.
13. Site visits may be made at any time upon reasonable notice by Bupa Foundation or its agents. The Bupa Foundation reserves the right to request at any time during the period of three years from the end of the funding of a project, an informal update from either the grant holder or sponsor institution on research funded.
14. The Grant Holders are obliged to inform the Foundation (or to inform the sponsor institution, if so required by The Bupa Foundation), preferably in advance, of any publications or press coverage that may arise from their research project as well as presentations at any conferences, as the Charities Act imparts a burden of responsibility on the Foundation's Trustees to ensure that the results of any research supported by the Foundation are disseminated to the public at large. To further facilitate this dissemination, grant holders are advised that our own PR team may contact them in relation to potential press releases.
15. The Bupa Foundation board encourages researchers to publish in open access journals and from 2013, will make a contribution towards this. The cost of open access publishing must be be included in your original application and should be clearly justified. Any unspent publishing funds should be returned to the Bupa Foundation within 6 months of the end of the grant. Any grants awarded before 2013 will be subject to the previous terms and conditions surrounding open access publishing.
16. The Final Report must be submitted on all Bupa Foundation research grants within three months of the grant ending. The standard format is available on the grant holder(s) pages of the Bupa Foundation site. The link to this will be made available to grant holder(s) on activation of the grant. It is the responsibility of the grant holder(s) to complete and return the final report on time.
17. The final payment on a grant may be withheld until a report is submitted which meets the criteria laid down in the guidelines.
18. Further research applications to the Bupa Foundation will not be accepted from any grant holder who has an outstanding Final Report.
19. Grant Holder(s) should ensure that any publications (referred to in (14) above) carry acknowledgements to the Foundation's financial support in the format: 'This work was supported by The Bupa Foundation (grant number TBFXXXX)'. Please note that the reference is to "The Bupa Foundation" (not to "Bupa"). This applies to all press releases about the project including any published in the general press.
20. Intellectual Property (IP) - as a charity, the Bupa Foundation will not normally seek to own or exploit intellectual property resulting from the research that it funds. However all medical research charities including the Bupa Foundation are under an obligation to ensure that the useful results of research that they fund (whether in whole or in part) are applied for the public good. The Bupa Foundation realises that in some circumstances this obligation may be best achieved through the protection of intellectual property and commercial exploitation.
21. The institution and grant holders should notify the Bupa Foundation promptly in writing when IP arises from the grant and take reasonable steps to ensure that such IP is protected and not published or otherwise disclosed publicly prior to protection (whilst at the same time ensuring that potential delays in publication are minimised).
22. The institution should seek the Bupa Foundation's consent to commercially exploit the results of any research it has funded. Consent will not be unreasonably withheld, and the Bupa Foundation will only refuse an institution's request where it considers that the proposed commercial exploitation would run counter to its interests and charitable objectives. As a condition of granting consent, the Bupa Foundation will require the institution to accept the standard revenue and equity sharing terms of the charity.
23. The Bupa Foundation requires the institution to have procedures in place for the identification, protection, management and exploitation of Bupa Foundation-funded intellectual property.
24. The institution, grant holders and co-applicants should inform the charity of any pre-existing arrangements of which they are aware and which could lead to a breach of the Bupa Foundation standard conditions. The institution should take reasonable endeavours to ensure that no consultancies, third party restrictions or arrangements which might impact on a Bupa Foundation-funded grant are entered into in relation to any Bupa Foundation-funded person or activity without prior agreement of the charity. Bupa Foundation-funded investigators or individuals involved in a Bupa Foundation-funded project should not use materials or compounds (other than those obtained commercially), on terms which would place restrictions on the publication of the results. Institutions should take reasonable endeavours to ensure that 'reach through rights' have not been granted on any Bupa Foundation-funded IP in favour of commercial organisations providing materials or compounds to Bupa Foundation-funded individuals for research purposes. However, the Bupa Foundation recognises that companies providing materials may often require exclusive rights to any intellectual property arising from use of that material, and that this requirement is often non-negotiable. Where intellectual property arises from research linked indirectly to the use of material provided under such agreement, the provider should be offered a time-limited opportunity to take out a revenue-generating licence.
25. All persons in receipt of Bupa Foundation funding or working on a Bupa Foundation funded activity (including employees, students, visiting staff and subcontractors) must be employed or retained on terms that vest in the Institution all Bupa Foundation-funded IP.
26. If the institution decides not to protect, manage, exploit any Bupa Foundation-funded IP arising out of the grant then the charity has a right, but not a duty, to protect, manage or exploit such IP.
27. Grant Holders are advised that the Bupa Foundation is a registered partner with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) for the purpose of submitting data on all projects funded. All Grant Holders are required to submit details of their Foundation funded projects to the NIHR Portfolio as required by this institution.
28. If the Bupa Foundation ceases operations, the sponsor institution shall be under an obligation to ensure that all unspent funds are held as restricted funds for use for work which continues the objects of the charity, which are: To prevent, relieve and cure sickness, ill-health and infirmity of every kind (including physical injuries) and to preserve and safeguard health by conducting and commissioning research (the results of such research to be disseminated to the public) for the purpose of the preservation and safeguarding of health and in addition by the award of grants to individuals to undertake such research in furtherance of the objects.
29. The Bupa Foundation holds all information on applications in the strictest confidence and in compliance with the relevant UK data security requirements.
30. Details of unsuccessful applications will be retained for monitoring purposes only.
31. Individuals on our database may be provided with details of Bupa Foundation funding opportunities and annual prizes from time to time. We will remove names and contact details from our database on request. Please write to the registrar at Bupa Foundation, Bupa House, 15-19 Bloomsbury Way, London WC1A 2BA with your request.
32. The chairman’s decision is final on all matters relating to the Bupa Foundation.
33. The board of the Bupa Foundation reserve the right to vary these terms and conditions at any time without prior notice.