Guidelines on setting up a Newman Fellowship

1. Background
The Newman Fellowship Programme is UCDs most prestigious post-
doctoral programme and is a leading international platform for
researchers in the humanities and sciences. The programme is
100% financed by business and industry and is a key mechanism for
building strategic partnerships between the private sector and
academia. The Newman Fellowship Programme is managed by the
UCD Foundation, a registered charity (CHY12448) and the preferred
destination for all private donations to UCD. Currently corporate
donors to the Newman Fellowship Programme can avail of tax relief
at 12.5%.

2. Budget
The total cost to the Donor for a two-year Newman Fellowship is
100,000. This can be paid in one or more stages as agreed with
the Donor. This donation provides funding for the following:
Each Newman Fellow receives a Fellowship bursary of 35,000 per
annum for a fixed period of two years, totalling 70,000. This is
paid monthly in arrears via a standard UCD Research R account
(see pt. 12 below).
14,000 is provided to the academic supervisor, via the same R
a/c, to cover research expenses related to the Fellowship, such as
consumables, laboratory costs, travel and conference expenses.
10,000 is retained by the UCD Foundation for recruitment and PR
costs. Any under spend remaining at the end of Year One is
transferred into the supervisors designated research account, to
supplement the Fellowship expenses.
1000 is retained by the UCD Foundation for stewardship
activities (500 pa). These include the annual Newman Fellowship
Dinner and engraving the Donor and Fellows name on the Donor
Roll in OReilly Hall on the Belfield campus.
5000 is retained by UCD Foundation for programme support
costs directly related to the Newman Fellowship Programme.
The total cost of a Newman Fellowship may be increased to cover
additional research consumable costs required in the specific area of
research being undertaken. Any increase in funding above the
standard 100,000 donation must be discussed and agreed with the
Donor and the supervisor and the UCD Foundation prior to the
launch of the Fellowship.

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3. Academic approval
The Dean of Graduate Studies must approve the proposed post
doctoral research plan for each Newman Fellowship. UCD Foundation
will send the Newman Fellowship Research Proposal form to the
academic supervisor for completion. The proposal will then be
forwarded to the Dean of Graduate Studies for assessment. The
assessment process involves peer-review by two or three UCD staff
working within the relevant field and can take several weeks,
especially if revisions are required. This academic assessment
should be initiated at the earliest opportunity.
Newman Fellowship Research Proposal form - To be completed
by Academic Supervisor and submitted to UCD Foundation

4. The Pledge Agreement

The academic supervisor should agree the level of funding, timing
and schedule of payments with the Donor. This agreement is then
formalised within a UCD Foundation Pledge Agreement which is
signed by each of the 3 main parties (DONOR, SCHOOL and UCD
Foundation). UCD Foundation will liaise with the supervisor to draft
the Pledge Agreement, in correspondence with the Donor, and
manage the circulation of signed copies.
Newman Fellowship Pledge Agreement - drafted by UCD
Foundation and signed by Donor, supervisor and submitted to UCD
Foundation.

5. Payment
Once the Pledge Agreement has been signed by all parties, the UCD
Foundation will invoice the Donor for the first of several phased
payments. Once the UCD Foundation has received the first payment
from the Donor, UCD Graduate Studies will be notified that
recruitment can commence, on condition that academic approval
has already been granted.

6. Recruitment
The Dean of Graduate Studies will oversee the recruitment of the
candidate. To initiate the process, the supervisor should send the
UCD Foundation a draft advert for posting on the Graduate Studies
webpage at:
http://www.ucd.ie/graduatestudies/coursefinder/researchprogramme
s/ .The advert should include a profile of the ideal candidate, a brief
description of the research area and the name and contact details of
the academic supervisor, for informal enquiries.
UCD Graduate Studies will host the advert on their website with the
application form and the referee form for a minimum of three weeks.
An advert will also be placed on relevant EU and UK websites such
as http://www.jobs.ac.uk/ and http://www.findapostdoc.com/. The

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supervisor should notify the UCD Foundation of any discipline-
specific websites which should also feature the advert. After the
closing date, UCD Graduate Studies will forward the applications to
the supervisor for consideration. Interviews for the short-listed
candidates will be coordinated by UCD Graduate Studies.
Advert (no form) - To be completed by Supervisor and forwarded to
UCD Foundation.

7. Appointment
Following selection at interview, UCD Graduate Studies will send a
Letter of Offer to the preferred candidate. This letter must be signed
and returned to UCD Graduate Studies by the Fellow; it is an
acceptance of the terms of the Fellowship. UCD Graduate Studies
will also send a letter to the academic supervisor advising him/her of
the terms and conditions of the Fellowship for the appointee. The
letter also advises the supervisor that he/she is responsible for
completing the online Scholarship Authorisation Form. The
supervisor completes part one and the Fellow part two. This enables
the Fellow to be set up on payroll.

8. Registration
The newly-appointed Fellow must register as a full time student at
UCD. Fellows based in the School of Medicine usually register for an
M.D. Further information on registration for an M.D. is available at:
http://www.ucd.ie/medicine/studywithus/graduateresearch/ . For
other degrees, the applicant should refer to the specific application
procedures for the course for which they intend to register or
contact the local Graduate School for assistance. Once their
application has been accepted and approved by the relevant
Graduate School, Registry will be notified and the Fellow will be
prompted to register online via the SIS Web system:
http://www.ucd.ie/students/index.html and https://sisweb.ucd.ie.
Newman Fellows must register on an annual basis and are
responsible for paying the mandatory Student Centre levy; 247 for
the academic year 2015/2016.

9. Tuition Fees
As part of their Newman Fellowship, Newman Fellows are granted a
tuition fee waiver by the university; therefore they are not required
to pay tuition fees for the duration of their Fellowship. Once they
have been accepted at a School level, they will be issued with a
student number. At this stage the Fees & Grants Office will grant a
fee concession. No draw down of funds takes place in relation to this
contract.

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10. Payment
Upon registration, each Fellow will receive a monthly stipend
payment of 2916.66. This is paid via UCD payroll into the bank
account they provided when completing the online Scholarship
Authorisation Form.

NB: Many of the Newman Fellows take up their Fellowship in the

hospitals at the beginning of July. However, graduate students are
only able to register in UCD at the beginning of September, January
or April; therefore there can be a time lag of 3 months from the start
of the Fellowship to the date of first payment. Fellows should be
made aware of this time lag. Upon payment at the end of October
they receive the back-dated payments.
11. Donor Acknowledgement
UCD will acknowledge the Donors in an appropriate manner in
appreciation of their support. Donors can, in conjunction with UCD
Foundation, leverage the awarding of the Fellowship, the
appointment of a Newman Fellow and the publication of research
findings as opportunities to generate positive public relations
materials in both general and industry specific media.

Each year all Donors are invited to a Newman Fellowship reception,

along with their Fellows and their supervisors. The name of each
Donor and their Fellow is on public display on the Newman
Fellowship Donor Board in the foyer of the OReilly Hall, on the UCD
Belfield campus. The name of each donor is also included on the
Donor Roll which is published on the UCD Foundation website. The
website includes a profile of each Newman Fellow:
http://www.ucdfoundation.ie/funding-priorities/newman-fellowship-
programme/. Where appropriate, Donors should be invited to
presentations/lectures given by their Newman Fellow and to
selected events in the UCD calendar. The UCD Foundation can assist
with additional stewardship activities, as required.

12. Establishing a UCD Research account

The funds provided to the supervisor for Fellowship expenses are
accessed via a standard UCD research account. Once the donation
has been received by the UCD Foundation, UCD Research will be
notified to begin the process for establishing the dedicated research
account. The supervisor will be notified by UCD Research to
complete an online registration process (Grant Registration Form-
GRF). The funding is made available in line with the pre-agreed
instalment schedule; therefore if 84,000 is available in total,
42,000 is usually available in Year One and 42,000 in Year Two. A
cost-extension form may be required to extend the research
accounts budget for the second year of funding. The account will be

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set up for 24 months, in line with the duration of the Fellowship. If
there are funds remaining towards the end of the Fellowship, the
supervisor can request that the account be extended for an
additional 6 months to enable spend down. Further details and a
user guide are available at:
https://intranet.ucd.ie/research/setuparesearchaccount/

15. Reporting
At the end of their first year each Newman Fellow will be contacted
by the UCD Foundation to complete a Newman Fellowship Interim
Report Form. At the end of their Fellowship each Newman Fellow will
be contacted by the UCD Foundation to complete a Newman
Fellowship End of Award Report Form. UCD Foundation will send the
completed forms to the Donor to notify them of the achievements of
the Fellow during their Fellowship.
Newman Fellowship Interim Report Form
Newman Fellowship End of Award Report Form

Terms & conditions

Please note the following terms and conditions which apply to all
Newman Fellowships:
The objective of the Fellowship is the promotion of the Fellows
education and not the promotion of the research through the
Fellow.
Each Fellowship is for at least two years.
Each Fellow must register as a full-time UCD student. They are not
UCD staff and do not have employee benefits, such as pension
contributions, maternity payments etc.
The Fellow must complete an Interim Report at the end of their
first year and an End of Award Report at the end of their final
year.
Each Fellow must attend the annual Newman Fellowship
Dinner/Reception.
Each Fellow must refer to themselves as the [Donor] Newman
Fellowship in X in publications, conference proceedings etc. and
acknowledge their Donor.
There is no element of service (directly or indirectly) between the
Donor and Fellow
The Fellowship must not arise out of employment (directly or
indirectly) with the Donor.
The Fellow must not be connected directly or indirectly with the
Donor as an employee, a member of the household of an
employee, a director or a member of the household of a director.

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Relevant UCD Forms

Academic Approval
Newman Fellowship Research Proposal form
To be completed by Academic Supervisor and submitted to UCD
Foundation

Pledge Agreement
Newman Fellowship Pledge Agreement
To be drafted by UCD Foundation and signed by Donor, UCD
Academic Supervisor and submitted to UCD Foundation.

Recruitment
Advert (no form)
To be completed by Academic Supervisor and forwarded to UCD
Foundation.

Appointment
Scholarship Authorisation Form - online
To be completed by Academic Supervisor and then Fellow.

Reporting: End of Year One

Newman Fellowship Interim Report Form
At the end of their first year each Newman Fellow will be contacted
by the UCD Foundation to complete a Newman Fellowship Interim
Report Form. UCD Foundation will send the completed form to the
Donor to update them on progress with the Fellowship.

Reporting: End of Fellowship

Newman Fellowship End of Award Report Form
At the end of their Fellowship each Newman Fellow will be contacted
by the UCD Foundation to complete a Newman Fellowship End of
Award Report Form. UCD Foundation will send the completed form to
the Donor to notify them of the achievements of the Fellow during
their Fellowship.

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