This document outlines the responsibilities and rights of the UMGC and its collaborators involved in original research projects (ORPs).

ORPs will start with well-defined scientific goal(s). The UMGC will work closely with collaborators to reach an agreement on the research approaches to take, the estimated timelines for the project, the data to obtain, and the major contents in the final project report. The UMGC will frequently communicate, formally (with written reports) and informally (orally, or short emails), with collaborators on all ORPs. Depending on the data collected, UMGC and collaborators will re-evaluate the ORP at each stage and decide if the project will continue as planned, needs to be re-approached, or stopped altogether.

The collaborator will provide funds for all required consumables and equipment usage (if not available in UMGC or the laboratory of the collaborator), and compensate for the labor and intellectual input of the UMGC. The compensation for UMGC may be an hourly fee ($45/hour) or calculated at a predetermined cost in grant applications.

Should ORP-relevant data be used for publications, the UMGC is entitled to co-authorship on the publication. Should ORP-relevant data or ideas be used for grant applications, UMGC asks to be listed as funded collaborator in the grant proposal. UMGC is happy to assist the writing of the grant proposal for the relevant portion.