Let’s keep talking about indirect costs
I love to talk about what we as a society consider, indirect costs.
I actually think of indirect costs as the heroes. They do all the supporting work in the background so the direct costs can be in the limelight. And the way indirect costs have been organized (so as to NOT steal the limelight) is great. It simplifies things. I love that too.
A MASSIVE amount of planning, systems, regulation, research, justification and collaboration goes into indirect costs whether in governmental supported research or in life.
Think of all the indirect costs we have in our daily lives, personal and professional.
Some people see and manage them, others don’t.
I saw this explanation on a list-serve the last few weeks and thought it was wonderful. (I would love to credit it to the PhD student from Harvard – if you know who it is, please let me know.)
I want to run a comparison alongside for illustrative purposes. This comparison is a fictional composite of many people and stories I have heard over the years.
These are what indirect “costs” – in TIME & MONEY – really look like.
Note: This has been edited for clarity.
Backstory: I am a PhD student at Harvard researching a protein implicated in brain cancers, including glioblastoma and pediatric gliomas. The goal of my project is to learn more about a particular protein that we think has the potential to be a target for brain cancer drugs. I have built tools to accelerate the research of this protein and learned more about how the protein works. One of the tools I have built will allow my lab and others to more easily search for drugs that will work on this protein and hopefully kill brain cancer cells in patients.
Backstory: I am a middle aged woman, with a full-time job, a partner (also employed full-time) and two kids, aged 8 and aged 6 in public school. The goal of my work and life is to make a contribution to my field, while also raising caring, aware and intelligent children. I also want to contribute to my extended family and friends and my community by supporting what they care about and have time for my own pursuits.
Many biomedical research projects in the US are funded by the NIH.
Many things that happen in the home are funded and done by various members of my family, specifically me and my partner.
When a researcher applies for an NIH grant (an extremely competitive process) and gets funded, the specific lab and project gets that money to conduct the specific research outlined in the grant. This is known as direct research costs.
My partner and I have our own set of values, preferences and goals for our year and our life together. We decide our goals for our family each year, and day by day. That is what decides what happens in the household and what doesn’t – how and what the money gets spent on particularly for each person’s wants/hobbies etc and what does not make the cut.
In addition, the institution where the research is conducted gets more money on top of that. These additional funds go towards electricity, janitorial staff, shared instruments/equipment, accounting, safety measures, and more. This is called indirect research costs.
Within that year, we don’t just have to figure out what we and the kids want, we have to figure out how to best survive. How to best fund the life we want and meet our needs and requirements: housing, food, clothing, transportation, heat/air, electricity, communication, cleaning, maintenance of all the above. And we have to keep that all going every single day. (This has also been called the invisible and unregulated world of domestic labor.)
Currently, the NIH and institutions negotiate on how much indirect research costs the institution will get with their grants. This number can range from 10% to 70% of the grant depending on the institution and the project.
The only way me and my partner get more money is to work more (or at a job with higher pay) or cut back on something, somewhere along the way. A new or different job, a cut, this all requires discussion and negotiation with my nearest and dearest on what stays and what goes. And once decisions are made, we usually have to change how our lives work in some way shape or form AND give it the time to make it stick.
A day in my life:
I (my salary paid by direct costs, health insurance by indirect costs) walk into the building, say “good morning!” to the security guard (paid by indirect costs) and walk upstairs to my lab. I turn on the lights in my lab (electricity paid for by indirect costs) and put my stuff down by my desk (infrastructure paid for by indirect costs).
A day in my life:
Before I even go to my office, I made sure my family (and myself) had everything they need for the day (grocery shopping, immediate and previous meal prep, laundry, purchase of and verification of the items needed for school for 2 children, transportation arranged, appropriate clothing packed and all the other things that need to be done to set up 2 children and 2 adults for a regular weekday). I checked in with my partner about the things we need to take care of (I will call the plumber today and he will pick up the kids and get the quote for tires on the car.) Only THEN, can I head to my office…
I quickly run to the bathroom (which is cleaned daily thanks to indirect costs), and then I prepare the material I need to purify a protein (purchased by direct costs) and prep my supplies in a special cold room that is set to 39 degrees F (special cold room paid for and kept cold by indirect costs).
I quickly run to the bathroom at work and after that called the plumber. Then I remember that we need to get questions answered about my daughter’s after-school activities and my son’s upcoming field trip so I also take care of those while I’m thinking about it before I forget while on my break.
To purify this protein, I use a ~$70,000 instrument that is shared across my department (indirect cost). While the instrument is running, I go on the server (computational resources paid for by indirect costs) to model the movement of this protein. When the instrument is done running, I realize I need another material to further purify my protein.
While I’m at work, I’m focused on the tasks at hand. I know that I need to get additional training and need to expand my knowledge to stay competitive and relevant. I know that I may have to do this in my spare time and with our personal funds depending on what is covered by my employer. I spend a few minutes looking at some options so I know what to ask for when the time comes.
I realize it is lunch time and I decide to go to a lunch seminar where a visiting professor from another state is presenting their work (their travel expenses paid by indirect costs).
On my lunch break (packed earlier from home) I step away and eat while making the arrangements for our next vacation. I call my father to check-in on his status – all is well but there has been an ongoing mild medical concern that I want to stay informed about.
After lunch, now that my protein is semi-pure, I need to concentrate. I go to use the centrifuge in our lab (paid for by direct costs), but it is not turning on. I ask our lab manager (again, paid for by indirect costs) to contact the centrifuge company to come fix it. As we did not budget for fixing the centrifuge in our grant, the maintenance or replacement (~$15,000) of it is paid for by indirect costs.
Back from lunch a few minutes early I do some work on some industry and networking groups that I am a part of – as this is not seen as directly related to my job, I need to do this on my break time. I grab another 15 minutes while eating a granola bar mid-afternoon on my “break.” I hope I’m using my time wisely to support myself and my family and wonder if these commitments are supporting my work and home life as much as I hope they are or will in the future.
Then, I plan out my experiments for the next day, booking an instrument that is found not in my lab, but in a core research facility (paid for by indirect costs) because it is too expensive (~$150,000) for one single lab to purchase on direct costs. While I am at my desk, the safety team (paid for by indirect costs) comes by to pick up my radioactivity badge (paid for by indirect costs). They ask me questions to make sure I am following protocol and not exposing myself and others to dangerous amounts of radioactivity. They then take my badge and bring it to a facility to test my radioactivity exposure (paid for by indirect costs). I thank them for keeping me and my labmates safe.
I am constantly looking at my calendar to juggle the things I have to do for both work and home as well as what I would like to do in both places. Inevitably, the day will derail, I’ll have to pick up a sick child, forget to pack a granola bar (and have to spend $5.00 in the vending machine just to have a good snack to keep me going) and all the other things that happen, what they call life.
Before I head out at the end of the day, I check on my cancer cells (purchased by direct costs) in a sterile environment (paid for and maintained by indirect costs) in the special cell room we have in our department (room maintained by indirect costs).
Before I head out at the end of the day, for my next shift, shuttling various kids (mine and others) to activities, I’m grateful that I can do this for them but know that I will not get home until later this evening. Laundry, dishes, food prep, cleaning all still have to be done. Maybe not today or tomorrow but it will be there and it will need to be done soon. Plus everything to get ready for tomorrow.
I find indirect costs to be more visible in terms of time in the personal sphere and in money in the work/business sphere. However, that doesn’t mean that there is no overlap and there are things we can learn from the way things are handled on either side.
The biggest thing I saw in the student’s description was how she illustrated and listed exactly what was paid for by indirect costs. I showed it more in the time and larger decisions that take up both time and money (and ultimately energy) in personal life.
We have to decide what to do with limited amounts of everything.
Life is full-life with many people, parts, pieces and goals, one of which may include business.
It is those “indirect” things, those invisible things, matter and support.
You cannot do any of the direct things (go to work, do the research, write the book, drive the car) without those indirect costs – someone paid them, somewhere, with their time and money.
We must keep talking about them. This makes everything more transparent and less invisible.
And THEN we can have the conversations, we don’t want to have but need to have to make life livable and understandable for all of us.
(Thank you Artem Podrez for the photo at the top of this article.)