Research support services
For more information on completing a funding application, for the publication count or for another research process, you can request assistance from Research Support Services here.
Training
If you require eRA access with a role other than the researcher role, please ensure that you book the required training through SuccessFactors before the role can be assigned to you.
Knowledge management
Request data or reports. If you need research-related information, use this option and describe what information you are looking for.
System access
Request access to the eRA systems. If you need access to any of the eRA systems, use this option to request access and describe what you would like to do on the systems.
System issues and requests
Log issues, or request changes to the eRA. If you find an error in the system or if you would like to suggest additional functionality in the system.
Using ServiceNow to report eRA system-related issues
Support announcements
See below for a historical account of support updates circulated to the research community:
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Demystifying eRA pre-awards (21 November 2019)
Missed the eRA updates?
We have recently become aware that not all researchers have been receiving Research Announcements, which include updates on the electronic Research Administration (eRA) system.
We have taken steps to merge lists and fill the gaps.
If you know someone who should be receiving these emails and is not, please ask them to subscribe here.
Thank you and welcome to our new and improved distribution list.
For those who are still in the dark about what the eRA is, why it is necessary and how it will affect you, please see some of the key eRA communications below:
• Helping our researchers compete on the global funding stage
• Preparing for change in your funding application process
You can access all the past Research Announcements here.
You can also see a list of frequently asked questions here and our various how-to guides and videos here.
When do you need to submit an eRA pre-award?
There are two types of approval that researchers can apply for on the eRA system:
Proposal approval
When a researcher is applying for a research grant, e.g. in response to a specific funding opportunity announcement or request for applications from an external funding agency. This includes those that don’t need sign-off by an authorised official i.e. Research Contracts & Innovation (RC&I).
Contract approval- All monetary-related contracts should be submitted through eRA pre-awards.
- Where a proposal was submitted to a funder before 1 October, with a successful outcome, and the project now requires a contract from RC&I.
For now, the following agreements are to be sent to RC&I directly. These include:
- Confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements
- Materials transfer and data sharing agreements
- No cost extensions
- Assignment agreements and license agreements
- Inter-institutional agreements
- Sub-contracts: when a researcher requires a contract to be established between UCT and a sub-contractor (most often a company or another academic research institution)
- Sales orders linked to analytical tests
- License agreements.
See our frequently asked questions here for more information about when to submit a pre-awards application.
Find out more about the eRA pre-awards applications here.
Understanding eRA unique reference numbers
The eRA system is designed to support the administration of a research project throughout its lifecycle. This starts at the pre-awards module, before an application is even submitted to the funder, into the contracts phase and the post-awards where a fund is opened and finances managed.
For the eRA system to effectively track these various stages, reference numbers are assigned at each stage of the module. These reference numbers are different at each stage, as they need to allow for situations where, for instance, several contracts need to be signed for a single research project, or if more than one fund is to be opened.
This means you will be assigned a different number depending on where your project is in the eRA system. This number will be easy to track, as you will receive an automated notification about the status of your project in the system. It is just important to be aware that, depending on where your project is, the number will be different.
Quick guide to unique reference numbers
Pre-awards module
Internal approvals, conference travel and open-access fournal publication fund (APC) and page cost applications IDs take the format ERA0000xxxx
Contracts module
• New contracts which emanated from the eRA system IDs take the format UCT000xxxxx
• Older contracts imported from the IRMA system take the format of a 5-digit number
Post-Awards module
Project award form IDs take the format of PRJ0000xx
If you require more information, please log a call here. -
(Reminder) Don't miss the final information session for 2019 (3 December 2019)
(Reminder) Don't miss the final information session for 2019.
If you are still unsure of how the electronic Research Administration (eRA) system will affect you and your research administration, please RSVP to the last information session of the year.
Our senior co-ordinator Nikhat Hoosen will take you through the various modules of the eRA system and explain how it is designed to help both researchers and their support staff to more easily capture and track the administrative processes around the research lifecycle.
Date: Friday 6 December 2019
Time: 10h15 to 11h45
Venue: RISR Seminar Room, Allan Cormack House (Research Office)
2 Rhodes Avenue, Mowbray
Parking available on top of Shoprite
RSVP: Natalie Simon by 4 December 2019. -
Need more information about eRA? Sign up now for Friday's information session (21 January 2020)
If you are still unsure of how the electronic Research Administration (eRA) system will affect you and your research administration, please RSVP to the first information session of 2020.
Our senior co-ordinator Nikhat Hoosen will take you through the various modules of the eRA system and explain how it is designed to help both researchers and their support staff to more easily capture and track the administrative processes around the research lifecycle.
Date: Friday 24 January 2020
Time: 14h30 to 16h00
Venue: RISR Seminar Room, Allan Cormack House (Research Office)
2 Rhodes Avenue, Mowbray
Parking available on top of Shoprite
RSVP: Natalie Simon by end of day Thursday 23 January 2020. -
Don't miss the next eRA seminar (20 February 2020)
UCT has moved research administrative processes to an online platform, the electronic Research Administration (eRA) system. eRA was developed to better support the increasingly complex research enterprise at the university and maintain UCT’s competitive edge both locally and internationally.
This seminar, hosted by the Emerging Research Programme, will provide an overview of eRA from the researcher’s perspective, and a live demo of the system.
Date: 5 March 2020
Time: 12:30 to 14:00
Venue: Research Office Seminar Room, Allan Cormack House, 2 Rhodes Avenue, Mowbray
RSVP to Judith Rix by 2 March 2020
Download the pamphlet for more information. -
Get your legal, finance and eRA questions answered at the research support hot desk (12 March 2020)
Representatives from Research Contracts and Innovation (RC&I), Research Finance and the electronic Research Administration (eRA) project will be available to answer your questions as part of the research support hot desking initiative.
Come find out more about (among others)- the eRA system: how it works and how to use it
- ORCID iDs and why you should have one
- intellectual property protection
- commercialisation of UCT research and spin-off company formation
- material transfer agreements
- fund management
- full cost; costing templates and overhead recovery.
Date: 20 March 2020
Time: 12:30 to 14:00
Venue: Hlanganani Junction, Chancellor Oppenheimer Library, Upper Campus.
This is the first hot desk engagement of 2020. If you would like the team to hot desk at your department, please contact Yandi Sopete. -
Log a call for eRA support (9 April 2020)
UCT's electronic Research Administration (eRA) System is fully functional during the COVID-19 lockdown. The following resources are available for researchers:
- Pre-awards application process: The pre-awards section of the eRA system was created to streamline and standardise the current UCT’s grant application and approval processes. This includes internal approvals, conference travel, URC article processing charges (APCs) and page costs.
- eRA post-awards project award process: The eRA post-awards module follows on from the pre-awards module, assuming the grant application is successful and the contract has been processed and signed by Research Contracts & Innovation (RC&I) within the university.
- : UCT’s research outputs are submitted to the Department for Higher Education and Training (DHET) for the allocation of government subsidy to universities each year. This vital process has direct influence on the amount of funding the university receives from the government. Each department is responsible for collecting and loading research output electronically on the eRA system.
- Researcher profiles: The eRA system offers the functionality to build researcher profiles based on generated research outputs and academic engagements. This functionality allows you to capture researcher information as well as CV activities from the eRA dashboard.
For more information, you can request help from the eRA support team.
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Showcasing your publications on your eRA researcher profile (24 April 2020)
The electronic research administration (eRA) system offers researchers the ability to harvest research outputs from multiple external sources such Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus and ORCID. For more information on how to link your eRA researcher profile to your ORCID account, please click here.
For detailed instructions on how to move your imported publication list from 'draft' status to be visible on your profile, please click here.
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ORCID iD: why you should get one (20 May 2020)
Do you have an ORCID iD yet? More than 8.5 million researchers across the globe have already signed up for this permanent research identifier, which works across a range of platforms to connect researchers digitally with their research outputs.
ORCID - Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier – gives you free, lifelong control over a trusted and easily shareable record of your research activities and affiliations.
For optimal use of your ORCID iD with UCT systems, start by connecting your ORCID iD to the eRA system.7 reasons to get your ORCID iD today
- It increases recognition and discoverability of your research outputs.
- It ensures that all your research outputs and activities are correctly attributed to you.
- It is rapidly becoming required by publishers, research funders (such as Wellcome Trust, UK Research and Innovation, and the National Research Foundation) and universities across the world.
- Your ORCID iD belongs to you and stays with you throughout your career.
- You own and control your record, managing what information is connected and how it is shared.
- ORCID iD reduces time spent on repetitive data entry by pulling information from other sources.
- With an ORCID iD, you can keep all your publications in a single virtual space to make preparing funding applications easier.
Click on the image to open a high-resolution version or download it here.
For queries, contact us at eresearch@uct.ac.za
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Keeping your publications up to date on your eRA researcher profile (21 May 2020)
UCT’s electronic Research Administration (eRA) system allows you to capture all your outputs directly, whether or not they qualify for the Department of Higher Education and Training submission. This allows for greater visibility of your work.
Publications that pre-date 2016 may not be available on eRA, but there is a feature on the system to import publications from external sources. This will allow you to have all your publications in one place, with the option of making them visible on your researcher profile.
Download the how-to guide in pdf format to help you through the process.When importing your publication from an external source, the publications are automatically housed in draft status for review.
Download the how-to guide to help you through the process.For more about publications and the eRA system see our FAQ page on the Research Support Hub, with pdf how-to guides and explainer video.
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Understanding eRA unique reference numbers and navigating the system to keep track of your project-related records (19 June 2020)
The eRA system is designed to support the administration of a research project throughout its lifecycle. This starts at the pre-awards module for internal approval, before an application is submitted to the funder, into the contracts phase for contract negotiation and – once the contract has been awarded – the post-awards phase where a fund is opened and finance management kicks in
For the eRA system to track these various stages effectively, reference numbers are assigned at each stage of the module. These numbers are different at each stage, as they need to allow for situations where, for instance, one project has related renewals or amendments linked to it or if there is more than one contract that relates to a single research project.
This means you will be assigned a different reference number depending on which phase your project is in on the eRA system. This number will be easy to track, as you will receive automated notifications at certain stages, alerting you to the progress of your project in the system.
It is, however, important to be aware that, depending on where your project is (based on the phases mentioned above), the number will be different. As the researcher, you can keep track of your related records by using the reference number to view the status of your record. Click here to access the guide on how to search for and track your related project record.
Quick guide to unique reference numbers
Pre-awards module
Internal approvals, conference travel and open-access journal publication fund (APC) and page-cost application IDs
ERA0000xxxxContracts module
• New contracts that emanated from the eRA system IDs
• Older contracts imported from the IRMA system (that take the format of a 5-digit number)
UCT000xxxxx
Post-awards module
Project award form IDs
PRJ000xxxx
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Using ServiceNow to report eRA system-related issues (2 July 2020)
Please ensure that you log all eRA support requests on ServiceNow, the call management system for assistance from the research systems support team. You will be able to track the progress of your requests with a reference number provided.
Download this PDF to learn how to report eRA system-related issues via ServiceNow.
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An introduction to eRA at UCT (8 October 2020)
Wednesday 28 October 2020, 14:00–15:30, via Zoom
The Research Systems Support team will present an overview of the Electronic Research Administration (eRA) system at UCT. The eRA system is a ‘one-stop shop’ to manage and track the administrative workflow within a project lifecycle and beyond.
For more information on the eRA visit the Research Support Hub.
RSVP to Judith Rix by 26 October to receive the Zoom link for the meeting.