General:

  • Please note that the RIA will not fund retrospective activities which means that no costs may be incurred as part of your proposed project before you receive your decision letter.
  • The recipient shall comply in all respects with the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and any other Act amending that Act and with any Statutory Instruments or Regulations issued thereunder.
  • Applicants should be aware that provisions of the Historic and Archaeological Heritage and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 may come into force during the project, until which time the existing legislation is still in force.
  • Please  note  that  under  Section  14  of  the  National Monuments  Act  1930  (as  amended  by Section 5 of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act 2004), consent from the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht will  be  required  before  any  works  can take place at or in proximity to a National Monument of which the Minister or a Local Authority are the owners or guardians, or in respect of which a preservation order is in force.
  • Please note that under Article 4 of the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (NI) Order 1995 any works resulting in the demolition, destruction or disturbance of, or any damage to, a scheduled historic monument require Scheduled Monument Consent from the Department for Communities.
  • If, during the course of the project, previously unknown monuments are discovered, details should be forwarded to the relevant authority – the Archaeological Survey of Ireland, DHLGH, for inclusion in the Sites and Monuments Record, or to the Department for Communities for inclusion in the Historic Environment Record of Northern Ireland (HERoNI).
  • Please note any works involving the alteration of archaeological objects requires a licence from the National Museum of Ireland in accordance with Sec 25-1 of the National Monuments Act 1930 (as amended by the National Monument Amendments Acts 1954, 1987, 1994).
  • Please note any works involving the export of archaeological objects requires a licence from the National Museum of Ireland in accordance with Sec 24-1 of the National Monuments Acts 1930 (as amended by the National Monument Amendments Acts 1954, 1987, 1994) and Section 49 of the National Cultural Institutions Act 1997. Export of archaeological objects outside the EU must be undertaken in accordance with a licence issued under EU 116/2019. Archaeological applications relevant to this regulation are routed through the National Museum of Ireland and licences are issued by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
  • If, during the course of the project, any archaeological objects are discovered, they must be reported to the National Museum of Ireland within 96 hours under Sec 23-1 of the National Monuments Act 1930 (as amended by the National Monument Amendments Acts 1954, 1987, 1994, 2004).
  • Where relevant, all required licence(s) from the National Monuments Service (NMS), the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) or Department for Communities NI must be obtained prior to research commencing. RIA awards are subject to this licencing process and approval.
  • Where relevant, evidence that the applicant’s proposal has provided for the necessary conservation and scientific resources and facilities.
  • Recipients are required to disseminate the results of the project in an appropriate manner agreed with the RIA. All such dissemination must acknowledge the assistance of the NMS, Department for Communities NI, and RIA in line with ‘Guidelines for Acknowledging funding’. This must take place within two years of the last draw-down of the project.
  • The RIA reserves the right to publish relevant details of recipients and funding including, but not necessarily limited to, the names of recipients, the amount of the funding offered and a summary of the proposed activity.
  • The RIA reserves the right to seek the full repayment of the grant if the applicant fails to comply with any of the reporting and publication requirements in these guidelines for applicants.
  • Applicants are required to inform the RIA of any potential conflicts of interests. In this regard applicants proposing to employ family members or spouses during the course of the research are required to disclose this to the RIA in advance of the drawdown of funds.
  • Failure to comply with any terms and conditions in these guidelines for applicants and/or any terms and conditions for recipients imposed by the Standing Committee for Archaeology as a condition of award, may disqualify the candidate from future funding.

Reports and Publication:

  1. Final report: Grant recipients are asked to submit a report which can be found here outlining the main findings of the project, along with plans for dissemination of the outcomes.
  2. RIA conference: Grant recipients may be asked to present their finding(s) at the biennial RIA ‘Revealing the Past’ conference.
  3. Financial report: The final report form must be accompanied by a statement of income and expenditure. The template for this statement is here. This statement must be populated, be accompanied by an itemised list of receipts (copies of receipts will suffice, please keep the original receipts) and then uploaded to the final report form.
  4. Feedback: Grant recipients will be asked to provide feedback on the grants processes.

Some or all of these illustrated reports may:

  • form the basis of a press release to be issued jointly by the NMS, HED and the RIA
  • be published on the RIA’s website
  • be made available on the Digital Repository of Ireland
  • figure in other publications of the RIA, NMS or HED.

Where relevant, grant recipients are required to meet their reporting obligations as per any statutory licence/consent conditions issued by the relevant licensing authorities.

Where relevant submission of reports to the Academy does not exempt a grantee from a separate requirement to submit reports to the relevant licensing authority as per any licence/consent conditions.

Recipients are required to submit for publication the results of the project in an appropriate manner agreed with the RIA within two years unless otherwise agreed. All such publications must acknowledge the assistance of the RIA, NMS and HED as appropriate.

Payment and expenses:

  • Initial payment will be made when all the correct documentation has been received. Once approved the successful recipient can start the process to draw down 50% of the grant. The remaining instalment of the grant (50%) will be released upon submission of a final report, an income and expenditure statement and an itemized list and copy of vouched receipts as outlined above.
  • It is a condition of acceptance of a grant that the recipient ensures that appropriate insurance cover is in place for any project involving fieldwork. A copy of that insurance policy must be provided to the RIA in advance of the initial payment of the grant.
  • The grant, upon the submission of vouched expenditure, in line with DPER regulations may be used to pay out of pocket expenses accrued as a result of working on the project e.g. travel, accommodation, subsistence etc.
  • Please remember that expenses should be kept within reasonable bounds and are subject to specific Department of Public Expenditure and Reform regulations.
  • Salary costs of grant recipients are considered an eligible cost if, in order to participate in the project they must have their time ‘bought out’, or they must take time out from their usual employment, or would not be funded to do this work without the grant funding and are not simultaneously in receipt of another income. As the Academy can only reimburse costs which are supported by evidence of payment any request to reimburse salary costs must be supported by evidence that the salary has been paid (in the form of payslips, paid invoices etc.) from the employing body.
  • Subsistence rates set down by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform can be used as a guideline but only expenditure that is vouched can be reimbursed.
  • Recipients are required to retain accounts of expenditure and all receipts for a period of not less than six years from completion of all project work. No card machine receipts can be accepted when submitting vouched expenses.
  • If professional archaeologists or other professionals are to be employed, the recipient shall pay rates of wages and observe hours of labour and conditions of employment in line with the industry norm and standards. Funds are allocated according to the decision letter for the purposes specified in an application or as otherwise indicated by the Committee. It is recognised, however, that circumstances may necessitate some minor reorientation of funds during the course of a project but no significant alteration in the terms of any grant may be made without the prior consent of the Committee.