Grants and Publications Policy

1. Summary

This policy was prepared on behalf of the Trustees, Members and Officers of The Houghton Trust (hereafter referred to as the Committee), to define the responsibilities of the Trust and recipients of its funding regarding grant administration, conduct of research, and publication of findings. It also summarises the Trust’s funding schemes and processes for application, review, payment and reporting.

2. Grants offered by The Houghton Trust

The primary objective of The Houghton Trust is to advance knowledge in the field of Avian Pathology, with particular reference to the United Kingdom, by encouraging education and research in all matters related to diseases of avian species, and the dissemination of such knowledge. The Trust offers four types of grant:

• International Travel Grants
• Small Project Research Grants
• Researcher Mobility Grants
• Vacation Studentships

3. Application for grants

• Details of the purpose of each type of grant, eligibility criteria, deadlines, and the maximum value of awards are available on the grant webpages of The Houghton Trust website together with application forms.
• Completed applications, accompanied by supporting documents where required, must be sent by E-mail to the Secretary of The Houghton Trust by the application deadline. Late applications will not be considered.

4. Review of grants

• The Secretary of the Trust will collate applications and supporting documents and identify any concerns regarding eligibility.
• Applications will be assigned to at least two suitably experienced reviewers from within the Committee. If necessary, the Chair of the Trust may commission specialist reviewers from outside of the Committee.
• Applications and supporting documents will be circulated to reviewers via an online repository (e.g. Dropbox), using a secure link.
• Reviewers will be asked to notify the Secretary of any conflicts of interest.
• Reviewers will be provided with a list of criteria against which they should assess applications.
• If advised by the Treasurer of the Trust, reviewers will be provided with a maximum budget for the grant round.
• Reviewers will return their assessments in a timely manner to the Secretary of the Trust without consultation with other reviewers. The Secretary will collate comments and recommendations.
• Final decisions will be made by the Chair of the Trust, with further input from reviewers if necessary to moderate recommendations on the number or value of awards to be made.
• The Secretary will inform all applicants of decisions in a timely manner by email. A formal letter will be attached for successful applicants detailing the amount of the award, and the terms and conditions of the grant.
• For Small Project Research Grants, Researcher Mobility Grants, and Vacation Studentships, award letters may include feedback on the application and will request an end of grant report.
• End of grant reports will be assessed by two suitably experienced reviewers from within the Committee. They will assess the quality of the report, the research conducted (relative to the original grant application), and whether funding has been used appropriately. Feedback will be provided to the grant recipient and their project supervisor and/or Head of Department.

5. Payment of grants

• The Houghton Trust Secretary will liaise with successful applicants to arrange the payment.
• For Small Project Research Grants, Researcher Mobility Grants, and Vacation Studentships, payment is made at the start of the grant, usually to the host organisation with due monitoring of expenditure and return of unspent funds if required.
• For Travel Grants, payment will be made only after the applicant’s travel is completed. The applicant must provide original receipts for expenses incurred. If the amount spent is less than the grant offered, the lower amount will be paid. Payment will usually be made directly to the applicant.
• Payments are made by electronic bank transfer and must be authorised by two people. Those authorised to raise and approve payments are the Secretary and Trustees (one of whom is also the Treasurer). Please see the Payment Policy of The Houghton Trust for more detail.

6. Responsibilities of The Houghton Trust and grant recipients

• Grant conditions shall be interpreted in accordance with English Law and subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
• All personal and bank information collected by the Trust will be captured, processed and retained in accordance with UK data protection regulations as described in the Trust’s General Data Protection Regulations Statement & Privacy policy.
• Funds provided by the Trust may only be used for the purpose(s) specified in the original application. Exceptions must be requested in writing and approved by the Trust. Funding must not duplicate awards from other sources for the same purpose. In the event that funds are obtained for the same purpose from other sources, it is expected that recipients will alert the Trust and, if appropriate, return all or part of the award.
• Where grants from the Trust support all or part of the cost of salary or stipend for a researcher, it will be the responsibility of the host organisation to ensure that tax, national insurance and superannuation deductions are made in accordance with contract terms.
• For grants involving travel, it will be the responsibility of the grant recipient to obtain consent to travel (e.g. a visa if required) and to arrange travel, accommodation, subsistence and insurance. The Trust will not be liable for any losses, expenses or harm incurred during travel it has funded.
• Where potentially harmful substances are to be used in research funded by the Trust (e.g. pathogens, toxins, genetically modified organisms, chemicals, radioisotopes etc.), risks and controls should be assessed by the host organisation. It will be the responsibility of grant recipients and their host organisation to obtain consent from regulators (if required) and to work in full compliance with their conditions, including by completing training if required. The Trust will not be liable for any breaches of regulations or institutional policies by grant recipients or the host organisation.
• If animals are to be used in research funded by the Trust, this must be done in full compliance with relevant regulations (e.g. the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in the United Kingdom or overseas equivalent). Study plans must consider statistical power and approaches to replace, reduce and refine animal use in research. If grants involve animal use outside the United Kingdom, it is expected that these will comply with the same ethical and welfare standards as prescribed by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. Details of animal studies should be captured and reported in accordance with ARRIVE 2.0 guidelines (Percie du Sert N, et al. 2020. The ARRIVE guidelines 2.0: Updated guidelines for reporting animal research. PLoS Biol 18:e3000410).
• If the studies include human participation (e.g. surveys etc.), the appropriate ethical approval (University Ethics Committee or NHS Ethics Committee) must be obtained.
• It will be the responsibility of the host organisation to maintain infrastructure and equipment to the standards required to comply with relevant Health & Safety regulations. The Trust will not be liable for injury, damage or failure to comply with such regulations.
• Host organisations for research funded by the Trust will have policies in place for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI), Safeguarding, and Bullying & Harassment. For research conducted in the UK, it is expected that host organisations will act in accordance with all ethical, legal and regulatory requirements including, but not limited to, the Equality Act 2010, Fraud Act 2006, Modern Slavery Act 2015, Bribery Act 2010, and Data Protection Act 2018.
• Researchers funded by the Trust will operate under their host organisation’s policies for research culture, including as it pertains to integrity, data and material transfer, data storage, ethics, and responsible innovation. The Trust will not be liable for unintended negative consequences of the research it has funded.
• Grant recipients and their host organisation will hold Intellectual Property Rights for work they have conducted with funding from the Trust.
• Grant recipients are expected to acknowledge funding from the Trust in publications or other outcomes from research it supported.
• The responsibilities of the Trust and the grant recipients are summarised in the table on page 4.

7. Publications

• The grant recipient shall inform the Secretary of the Trust of any publication(s) arising from the work, and acknowledge Houghton Trust funding in any publication (including preprints and public data repositories) as follows: This work was supported by a Small Project Research Grant awarded by the Houghton Trust (UK Company No: 1534794, Charity Commission No: 281834) [grant number provided by the Houghton Trust at the time of the award].
• The grant recipient shall inform the Secretary of the Trust of any correction or retraction of publications with which it is associated.
• Publications arising from research funded in full or in part by the Houghton Trust should be made freely and promptly available upon acceptance to the greatest extent possible, for example via the ‘green’ Open Access route whereby the authors version of the accepted manuscript is shared on the host organisations website or a public repository.
• Oral or poster presentations of research supported by the Houghton Trust should acknowledge funding by inclusion of the Houghton Trust logo.

8. Review of Grants & Publications policy

• This policy will be reviewed annually at the annual meeting of the Committee.
• This policy was last reviewed in May 2025.
• Any questions about this policy may be addressed to the Secretary (sue.baigent@outlook.com).

Responsibilities of the Houghton Trust and the grant recipient