Agreements

One condition for the handling of all agreements is that the person responsible for an agreement is to be informed about the agreement situation and assess whether the agreement is acceptable from an organisational perspective. As support for this review, you can follow our guide for agreement reviews. There are also several template agreements to use in different situations. See more below.

If you need legal support in connection with commercialising your research results, please contact LU Innovation. You can read more about what kind of support LU Innovation offers on the LU Innovation website, which you will reach by clicking on this link (opens in the same window).

How do you assess an agreement?

The agreement is to reflect the conditions and interests that are important to the University and the individual project. Any person who is responsible for a project or an agreement therefore needs to be thoroughly informed about these conditions. 

To support a simpler and faster handling of agreements, the Legal Division has produced a Guide for agreement review that can be used for all types of agreements. The idea is that the guide will increase your understanding of the contents of the agreement when you carry out your review of a draft agreement and, to a greater extent, provide you with the ability to handle agreement situations independently. The guide, which you will reach by clicking on the link below, lists the most common contractual provisions. It also gives you the University’s position on different issues, for draft agreement reviews.  In the University’s template agreements, there are examples of how the University prefers to formulate different contractual provisions. 

Guide for agreement review (PDF, 60 kB, new window)

The University’s collection of templates covers many different types of agreement and they are available here on the website. The agreement templates can be used both in their entirety to produce a complete draft agreement and to provide proposals for individual agreement provisions in a negotiation situation. See below.

If you still need to turn to the Legal Division for advice and support we would first like to have some information to be able to help you as best we can. A detailed description of the situation makes our work easier and saves a lot of time. What we usually need to know is detailed in the form Background questions prior to legal review, which we ask you fill in and submit when you contact us. Please remember to contact us as far in advance as possible.  

Background questions prior to legal review (Word, 51 kB, new window)

What does the Legal Division review?

Certain contractual provisions are more significant for the University’s activities and can sometimes be experienced as more difficult than others to understand and take a position on. The Legal Division can help you to assess these. The matters concerned belong to the following categories.  

• Publication matters
•  Management of intellectual property rights, for example, rights to results. 
• Confidentiality regulations
• The University’s responsibility with regard to e.g. expected results, usability of results, damages and losses of different kinds

What does the Legal Division not review?

Examples of agreement content that must be assessed in relation to the specific circumstances of the relevant organisation are as follows.

• Establishing support for the project – the project manager is responsible for securing support for the project at department/faculty level
• The content and delimitations of the project – the project description is very important for the delimitation of the agreement and its content cannot be assessed by the Legal Division
• Budget and financing issues
• Issues concerning conflict of interest and secondary employment – the project manager is responsible for disclosing such circumstances
• Personnel affiliation – people involved in the project must be employed by the University
• Procurement – issues concerning procurement are to be discussed with Purchasing and Procurement
• Premises and equipment – issues concerning premises and equipment are to be discussed with LU Estates
• Project management and organisation – the Legal Division checks that there is sufficient opportunity for the authority to influence decisions through, for example, voting and veto rules. The project manager on the other hand has the responsibility to assess what is suitable with regard to the aims and content of the project

Are there any template agreements?

A well-composed agreement should reflect the situation in which it is to be used. Therefore, all agreements will also be different. However, in order to facilitate the process, we have developed template agreements for the most frequent agreement types at the University, click on the links below. If you have any questions on how to use the template agreements, please contact the Legal Division. 

Template agreements available in Swedish

Below you will find the template agreements available in Swedish, click on the names to reach each template. The templates will all open in a new window.

• Sekretessavtal (Word, 57 kB)
• Avtal om forskningssamarbete (Word, 148 kB) 
• Uppdragsforskningsavtal (Word, 86 kB)
• Personuppgiftsbiträdesavtal (Word, 25 kB) 
• Överenskommelse avseende gemensamt personuppgiftsansvar (Word 51 kB)
• Industridoktorandavtal (Word, 77 kB) 
• Uppdragsutbildningsavtal – The template is available on the LUCE (Lund University Commissioned Education) website on practical support and templates (opens in the same window). LUCE is Lund University’s department for contract education. 
• Avtal om anställning som adjungerad professor. You can download the template and read more about the form of employement of Adjunct Professors on the HR-websites (in Swedish): Adjungeringar, gästprofessorer och pensionerade professorers verksamhet | HR-webben (opens in the same window).
• Student Exchange Agreements - If questions should arise regarding student exchange agreements, please begin with contacting either faculty's International Office. For more information, please see International Office | Lund University (opens in the same window).

Template agreements available in English

Below you will find the template agreements available in English. The templates will open in a new window.

• Confidentiality agreement (Word, 53 kB)
• Research Collaboration Agreement (Word, 126 kB)
• Amendment to Research Collaboration Agreement (Word, 43 kB)
• Contract Research Agreement (Word, 125 kB)
• Amendment to Contract Research Agreement (Word, 42 kB)
• Consortium agreements in EU research programmes - the template is available on DESCA's website (opens in a new window).
• Processor Agreement regarding Personal Data (Word, 80 kB)
• Joint Data Controller Agreement (Word 59 kB)
• Data Processing Agreement (Word 81 kB)
• Material Transfer Agreement, MTA (Word, 18 kB)
• Material Transfer Agreement, MTA, Biomaterial, Personal Data (Word, 24 kB)
• Letter of Intent (Word, 22 kB)
• Memorandum of Understanding (Word, 24 kB)
• Sub-Award Agreement (Word, 30 kB)
• Externally Employed Doctoral Student Agreement (Word, 88 kB)
• Double Degree Agreement (Word, 26 kB) and Checklist regarding Double Degree Agreements (PDF, 12 kB)
• Student Thesis and Internship Project Agreement (Please note: LU is not a party) (Word, 29 kB)

Who is to sign the agreement?

The content of the agreement and its total value determines who is authorised to sign the agreement on behalf of Lund University. The vice-chancellor decision ‘Rules on the allocation of decision-making powers at Lund University’ specifies who is authorised to sign agreements at Lund University.

Read more in the Rules on the allocation of decision-making powers at Lund University, which you will find by clicking on this link (PDF, 357 kB, opens in a new window).

The person authorised to sign an agreement, in accordance with the regulations above, must always review the content of the agreement and decide whether the University should enter into it or not. This applies regardless of whether the agreement has been reviewed by a legal counsel or not.  Agreements always contain material conditions which cannot be assessed by the Legal Division. The project manager is to make sure that there is sufficient supporting documentation, such as financial documentation, documented support for the project at department/faculty level and any comments from the legal counsel responsible for the matter.   

Document registration of the agreement

An agreement regarding a collaboration with an external party constitutes a matter at Lund University and must be registered at department or faculty level. Any correspondence between the Legal Division and the external party during the negotiations is also to be registered as part of the matter. As the project manager, you are responsible for the agreement and ensuring that this takes place. Contact the Lund University registrar’s office if you need more information. 

Conflict of interest, secondary employment and engaging companies with ties to University staff

When working with an agreement, for example in the context of a collaboration with a company in which an employee has business interests, you may need to discuss issues of conflict of interest and secondary employment. You will also have to adhere to the rules that apply when companies with ties to University staff are engaged. See the guidelines below. 

You can read more in the Regulations on secondary employment, available on the Staff website, which you will reach by clicking on this link (opens in the same window).

You can read more in the Regulations for Purchasing at Lund University (opens in the same window).