Our Main Responsibilities

• Providing expert advice, training and guidance on the content and principles of contracts, policies and regulations related to research and innovation activities at LSE
• Reviewing, drafting and negotiating bespoke and precedented contractual agreements in line with UK legislation and LSE policy. This includes providing expert advice and support to pre-award colleagues across LSE in managing contracts, and wrap-around support for all agreements post-award
• Approving agreed contractual terms in accordance with LSE's Scheme of Delegated Legal Authority.

Who We Are

Our Contracts Team has extensive experience in dealing with agreements related to academic and non-academic research and innovation activity. We work with LSE partners across all sectors, from external funders to academic collaborators including corporate entities, national and international government bodies, UK and international charities, and small-scale community-based organisations and individuals.

We take a partnerships-first approach to contracting, putting research and innovation activities at the heart of what we do, whilst ensuring that UK legislation and LSE policy is upheld. LSE has a specialist place for know-how and expertise in the UK and international SHAPE environment. We seek to protect and enhance the commercial interests of LSE by mitigating risks and ensuring that LSE has rights of ownership of arising know-how and intellectual property.  

How to Engage Us

Our Research Impact, Research Development and Research Awards Managers remain the main point of contact with LSE academics, researchers and their teams. Please liaise with your unit's R&I contact to arrange any agreement(s) for your partnership. For all other general research and innovation contracts-related queries please contact RI.Contracts@lse.ac.uk. 

We require a base level of information to effectively review and/or draft a research or innovation-related contract. Without this information we could potentially draft an inappropriate or incomplete contract which is likely to significantly delay discussions and the start of the project or fail to protect LSE or its academics. Please provide the following information for all agreement requests:

• Third party name(s)
• Third party contact details
• Type of contract(s)
• Details of the relationship including scope of work, duration, budget available and all associated documentation. 

Contracts Process

Our Contracts Team has responsibility for and is delegated by LSE to supply professional legal and contractual research services and support to every constituency. Colleagues must therefore not draft, re-draft, negotiate, finalise, agree or execute any type of research and innovation contract or agreement, be it wrriten or verbal.

Other teams within the School provide legal support servicing. View full details of our Contracts Process including team roles and responsibilities here.              

Timescales

The overall time from initiation to signature of a research or innovation-related contract can vary from a few working days to multiple months depending on several factors, so you must consider these when planning project kick-offs.

It is important to have realistic expectations from the beginning of the contracting process and engage our team as soon as possible. Delays contacting us in good time leading to lack of a signed contract can result in unintended consequences for the project starting, funding being received or recruitment timeframes.

Negotiation of a research-related contract can be affected by the following:

• The complexity of the matter (e.g., is the project particularly sensitive or controversial)
• The number and type of parties to the agreement (e.g., UK/international, university/industry)
• The responsiveness of other parties
• The timely provision of relevant information to our Contracts Team
• General workload of our Contracts Team (e.g., end of financial year). 

The average turnaround time for completion of a research contract is 49 days. This is the time taken from when our Contracts Team receives all the information required to begin work, to receipt of the final fully signed contract, and includes when the contract is with a third party.

This is for all types of contracts. More complex matters may take this length of time or longer and straightforward matters should take considerably less time.

Our Contracts Team is unable to guarantee that a contract will be signed or concluded by any given date but will endeavour to progress a matter as quickly as possible, taking into consideration any external or internal deadlines which may result in a loss of contract or funding, and subject to workload/capacity at that time.

Our Service Response Times

We aim to respond within the following service response times:

• First substantive response (i.e., a review of terms, a draft agreement fit for purpose, or other contractual response): within 10 working days of receipt
• Any subsequent contractual response to new comments or edits to a previously circulated agreement: within 5 working days of receipt
• For general contract enquiries: within 3 working days of receipt.