Policy #42: Management of Research Funds

42.1 Purpose

When a Principal Investigator with the Canadian International Institute of Art Therapy and the Proulx Global Education and Community Foundation is successful in obtaining any type of grant, award, or contract for research (salary, operations, equipment, etc.), whether from internal or external sources, and for which the Institution will be financially responsible for managing, the Principal Investigator will follow the procedures of this policy to supply timely information to the appropriate administrative personnel at the Institution and ensure that they have reviewed and are familiar with their responsibilities as the Financial Manager of the funds set up by the CiiAT Research Ethics Committee for their grant, award, or contract.

It is essential that all Principal Investigators/Financial Managers review, be familiar with, and follow the foregoing policies and guidelines and follow the Standards of Practice of the Canadian Art Therapy Association.

42.2 Financial Management of Research Funds

All funds for support of research are held by the Institute and are not the property of individual researchers. Ownership of equipment and materials purchased from research funds will be vested with the Institute and not with the individual researcher. No expenditures may be made before the establishment of a research fund at CiiAT.

• Individuals who are eligible to be principal investigators can be granted the role of financial manager of research funds.
• Over budget expenditures are not permitted on research funds.
• The financial manager must authorize all expenditures.
• Financial managers are responsible for ensuring that all charges authorized against research funds conform to allowable expenditures within approved budgets.
• Expenditures must conform to all terms and conditions of the grants or contracts, all regulations of the sponsoring agencies, and relevant Institute policies and regulations.

42.3 Procedure

1. Upon the successful receipt of a grant, award, or contract for a research project, the principal investigator will provide the following information to the Managing Director of Academic Services and the Billing Department:
   1. Cover page, project summary, and budget page as submitted on the funding application;
   2. Letter of award or contract from the sponsoring agency with all pertinent details of any restrictions on fund expenditures, and dates by which the funds must be expended; and
   3. Budget as approved by sponsoring agency.
2. Hiring of personnel to be paid from research funds requires regular Institution hiring procedures to apply.
3. Spending of research funds must be kept within the research budget and no expenditures will be made into creating a deficit budget. The Principal Investigator is responsible for ensuring accurate budgeting and working with the bookkeeper to keep accounts up to date.
4. The principal investigator must report to the Academic Manager on a monthly basis regarding the research process, findings, budget, and goals of the sponsoring agency.

42.4 Breach of Policy

The Canadian International Institute of Art Therapy has the right to approve or to disallow any research proposal for breach of policy, lack of integrity in the research procedure, breach of ethical standards, or mismanagement of research funds.

42.5 Guiding Principles

• Research activities will be self-funded through research grants, contracts, etc. that comply with current applicable Institute policies and standards. All research will adhere to established ethical principles and standards, appropriate scientific rigor, and be vetted by the CiiAT Research Ethics Committee. All research must adhere to the Canadian Art Therapy Association Standards of Practice and to the Canadian Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans.
• When such research is approved, the Institute will provide support services in the form of suitable facilities, clerical support, mentorship, and professional development when required.
• All research will be approached with scholarly integrity. Such integrity of scholarship will require attention to authorship and publication rights as well as disclosure of any potential conflicts of interest.
• Students will be involved in applied research activities whenever appropriate to provide them with new and enhanced opportunities for learning.
• Such research will enhance the knowledge and experience of Institution faculty and staff and work to build a positive reputation for the Institute in the realm of applied art therapy research.
• Applied research will serve to establish collaborative and mutually beneficial arrangements and/or partnerships with agencies in the public sectors of the Institute region and beyond.

42.6 Definitions for the Purpose of This Policy

• Research means the gathering of information from or about living individuals or groups of living individuals.
• Human participant means any living person who is a source of primary data.
• Researcher means anyone who carries out the research.
• Principal Investigator means the researcher who has primary responsibility for a given research project.
• Therapeutic research means research regarding a treatment involving subjects who could benefit from the treatment.
• Non-therapeutic research means research performed regarding a treatment that involves subjects who will not benefit from the treatment.

The standard of minimal risk is commonly defined as follows: if potential subjects can reasonably be expected to regard the probability and magnitude of possible harms implied by participation in the research to be no greater than those encountered by the subject in those aspects of his or her every day life that relate to the research, then the research can be regarded as within the range of minimal risk.