WT e-Val - reporting your grant progress online

We are introducing a new online portal for our grantholders to report on their funded work.

WT e-Val is replacing the existing paper-based reporting system. It takes information on progress and outputs from our supported researchers throughout the life of a grant, helping us to track and understand the impact of the research and activities that we support.

We first launched WT e-Val in May 2012, just for Investigator Award holders, and now we are extending it to all our major grant schemes. If you hold a grant from one of these schemes, we will email you with information about how to get started on the system.

We developed WT e-Val in partnership with ResearchFish, who supply online reporting systems for a number of other research funders. While our system shares some functionality with these others, it is a separate, standalone system, uniquely tailored to support our ongoing grant management and assurance.

If you have any questions about WT e-Val not covered below, email wteval@wellcome.ac.uk or call our grant enquiries line: +44 (0)20 7611 2020.

Frequently asked questions

How do I access WT e-Val?
If you are funded by a scheme that uses WT e-Val, we will email you with log-in details and a link to the registration page. Once you have set up your account and logged on, you will be able to enter any relevant data into the system at any point during the life of your grant.

For all new grantholders, if your scheme uses WT e-Val, this will be clearly stated in your award letter.

When should I enter data into WT e-Val?
Once you have logged on, you will be able to enter data into the system at any point during the life of your grant. At a minimum, a full update - in which you confirm that all the information on your grant is up-to-date - is required once a year. We will email you when this is needed.

Do I have to complete an annual progress update on WT e-Val?
Reporting on progress is a core part of our Grant Conditions and you are expected to comply.

WT e-Val should make it easier for you to provide us with updates throughout the life of your grant and will reduce the burden at the end of your grant, because much of the data required at the end will already be captured (e.g. your publication list).

As the principal grantholder, do I have to complete WT e-Val myself?
WT e-Val has a ‘delegate’ function that you can use to allow one or more other people to enter data on your behalf, as appropriate. However, as now, the principal grantholder is responsible for all reporting associated with a grant and therefore the only individual allowed to sign off the content and submit information via the system is the principal researcher.

If I have had my grant for several years and I am now required to complete WT e-Val, do I need to describe all the grant-related progress and outputs that have accumulated to date?
For some sets of questions, yes.

Most grantholders of our major schemes are already required to provide annual reporting and we are now moving this process online to support better integration, analysis and use of the valuable information provided.

We appreciate that, for some grantholders, this means that the reporting requirement has changed during the grant period. For such individuals, the first time that WT e-Val is used, there will be some effort in updating some of the more quantitative and descriptive lists of achievements already associated with the grant. However, in subsequent years - and at end of the grant especially - the effort will be significantly reduced, as much of the data and information required will have been captured and retained from previous years.

In addition, as described above, primary grantholders can delegate access and data entry to colleagues to help share the burden.

Can I use my ResearchFish log in to access WT e-Val?
No. While WT e-Val and ResearchFish have been developed by the same company, they are different systems and have unique log-ins. You cannot use your ResearchFish login details to access WT e-Val.

Why is WT e-Val different to ResearchFish?
The two systems have very different emphases. WT e-Val includes a range of narrative questions alongside more quantitative reporting of research progress and outputs. Both are important to us in understanding how the research we support is progressing and to help support our grant management and assurance processes.

The ResearchFish system is not configured to collect narrative description of outputs in the way that we need.

What if the internet connections and web browsers that I am using are poor?
WT e-Val has been designed to be compatible with a range of web browsers. Aesthetically, it looks best on higher-specification browsers such as Google Chrome, IE9, Safari and Firefox, but the functionality works just as well on lower-specification browsers.

The system has multiple save points within each set of questions. As long as you save what you are entering as you go along, data will not be lost if the system crashes or the internet connection drops out, and what you have entered will be there when you log back in.

Will I be able to input data after the end date of my grant? And if so, for how long?
Yes. You will be able to add to your grant information on WT e-Val for at least two years beyond the end of your grant, as we know that many of the outputs associated with a specific grant emerge some time after it has ended.

Your end-of-grant report should be made easier because you will have accumulated a lot of the relevant information in WT e-Val during the course of your grant.

How can I get help and support?
If you have any technical or administrative queries, email wteval@wellcome.ac.uk or call our grant enquiries line: +44 (0)20 7611 2020.