FAQ - From application to project
Please co-sign contracts involving external funding and forward them to Contract Management. By co-signing them you (internally) express your consent to the contents of the contract. Legally binding declarations to the contractual partners generally can be made only by the legal representatives of the University of Wuppertal (usually the Chancellor). Contract Management knows who is authorised and to what extent and will arrange the legally binding signature of the contract accordingly. As a project manager, you can only sign the non-disclosure agreement available above, provided that the wording of the contract is not changed.
The persons in charge of project management require the following documents for the establishment of a cost centre:
- A fully signed contract or – in case of application of the exceptional costs procedure – a signed offer and a signed acceptance or a notice of acceptance
- External funding notification
- Declaration on the liability to pay income tax, if necessary with expertise
- In individual cases and upon request by Contract Management, a declaration on the risk assessment of economic projects
- Declaration of commitment from all employees involved in the project and the project managers
Generally, cost centres can only be established after all signatures for a contract have been obtained. In an emergency, exceptions are possible which require coordination in advance between the project managers and Unit 1.1.
If staff is to be hired for a specific project, this project must first have been established. This means that all parties must have signed the contract and Unit 1.1 must have established a corresponding cost centre.
- Under certain conditions, retired professors can continue externally funded projects started during their term of active employment, or can even raise funds for and organise new externally funded projects.
- This requires entering into a written agreement known as a retiree agreement between the retired professor, the faculty (dean) and a person who is intended to assume management authority and staff responsibility for the employees involved in the project.
- Management authority and responsibility for staff can only be assigned to a person currently in active employment. As a rule, this means the successors to a professorship, holders of professorships in related fields or also spokespersons for specific fields and, in rare cases, deans.
- Retiree agreements shall also be concluded if the retired professor wants to conduct activities for which funds from remaining external funding or donation cost centres are to be used which were obtained during their active employment.
- For the conclusion of a retiree agreement, please contact the Contract Management (vertragsmanagement[at]uni-wuppertal.de).
- If no retiree agreement is to be concluded for certain cost centres, the procedure coordinated between the Rectorate and the administration for the reconciliation and termination of “inactive” external funding cost centres of project managers no longer in active employment will be applied. This shall be done in close coordination between the Research Funding Management and the faculty.
It depends on the sponsor’s specifications, which have to be reviewed on an individual-case basis, whether financing of fees for lectures and colloquia from an externally funded project is possible. The Research Services will be happy to help you with this.
If financing through external funds is possible, please apply for the conclusion of a fee contract (for private persons) or submit a procurement application (for self-employed speakers and persons acting on behalf of a company). If the lump-sum fee (incl. travel expenses) to private individuals does not exceed €500, a simplified procedure applies. For this purpose, an "Antrag zur Abrechnung von Vorträgen und Kolloquien bis max. 500€" must be submitted in advance of the event. An overview of the procedures can be found here. For more information please contact Unit 1.3.
