The Brunswick Group has developed a number of template agreements for use between two universities or similar not-for-profit organisations. The aim is to remove the need to spend time on drafting and negotiation in the majority of cases.
Development of the template agreements is led by ARMA. Please note that revised agreements are now available from the ARMA website. These are based upon both the earlier Brunswick agreements and a suite of agreements which had been generated and agreed for use by all Scottish universities and have been subject to consultation with both Russell Group and Brunswick Group Universities. They have been updated to accommodate changes that have come to the fore since their inception and to reflect the English jurisdiction, where applicable.
The current agreements are:
- Material Transfer
- Research Collaboration
- Studentship
Brunswick Material Transfer Agreement
The Material Transfer Agreement is for use between two universities (or similar) to facilitate routine transfer of materials between academic institutions. The aim is to remove the need to spend time on drafting and negotiation in the majority of cases, and to avoid the embarrassing situation where a provider of material asks for MTA terms that they would not accept as a recipient.
We consider that it is reasonable to expect that for routine transfers of materials universities should be prepared to sign up to identical terms for both incoming and outgoing transfers. Therefore, although this agreement may be used unilaterally, we believe that it will be more effective as the basis of an agreement between two institutions for all routine transfers between them in either direction.
The approach is deliberately minimal, and is not intended to cater for all situations. In particular, it is not suitable for use with clinical materials. Situations in which there is known to be an IP position that needs careful treatment are also not suitable. However, we have avoided the inclusion of onerous IP terms, just in case IP is an issue, by insisting that no one in the drafting group propose an amendment that they would not accept both as donor and recipient. This agreement is not designed for use between universities and commercial organisations, a task that is being tackled by the Lambert Group.
The template is available for use by all universities and other public sector research institutions, not just those in the Brunswick Group. Institutions that have signed up for its use are:
Arden Tissue Bank
Bangor
Birmingham
Bristol
Cambridge
Cardiff
Durham
Edinburgh
Exeter
Glasgow
Imperial College London
Kings College London
Leeds
Liverpool
Newcastle
Nottingham
Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust
Oxford
Portsmouth
Queen Mary & Westfield College, University of London
Royal Holloway College, University of London
Royal Veterinary College, London
Sheffield
Southampton
Sunderland
Sussex
University College Dublin
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire
University of the West of England, Bristol
Brunswick Academic Research Collaboration Agreements
The Academic Research Collaboration Agreements come in two forms: short and long. They have been designed to be suitable for the majority of cases where two or more universities receive a joint grant from a research council or charity. Of course, occasionally a different arrangement will be required, but in the absence of special circumstances it is expected that one of the Brunswick agreements will be used.
It is intended that both the Short-Form Letter of Agreement and the Long Collaboration Agreement will govern collaborations which are funded by research councils and charities where:
(i) the award is made for a research project (not a Centre) under standard terms;
(ii) the collaborators are academic or non-profit making institutions;
(iii) the collaborating institutions are named in the application as undertaking a specific and significant proportion of the project; and
(iv) the terms of the award do not restrict the universities' ownership or publication of research results or include warranties of any kind.
Both templates are available to download from the ARMA Brunswick Agreements webpage.
Guidance Notes are available here. If you have any queries, please contact Barbara Murray.
The template is available for use by all universities and other public sector research institutions, not just those in the Brunswick Group. Institutions that have signed up for its use are:
Bangor
Cambridge
Cardiff
Edinburgh
Imperial College London
King's College London
Liverpool
Oxford
Sheffield
Southampton
Sussex
University College London
University of the West of England, Bristol
University of York
Russell Group Studentship Agreement
The studentship agreement is for use between a university and a company for the support of a postgraduate research student. The Studentship Agreement is available to download from the ARMA Brunswick Agreements webpage.
Although originated by the Brunswick Group, it has been styled through the Lambert toolkit on the Intellectual Property Office web site as the Russell Group Studentship Agreement.