How to Ethics

Initially the most important task is to find out when the ethics committee meets, and then submit to them at least 14 days prior so that your application can be scheduled in for that meeting. Meeting dates for 2019 can be found here. The committee should generally get back to you within 10 days of the Meeting with a decision.

For your ethics submission you will require the following documents

1. Ethikantrag (Ethics Application)
2. Anschreiben (Cover Letter)
3. Studieninformation (Study Information for Participants),
4. Einwilligungserklärung (Participant Consent Form)
5. Case Report Form – in most cases this is not needed, but be sure to check first.

The Ethikantrag can be downloaded here. However, check on the website if there is a newer version.

The key to writing the Ethikantrag is to be clear and precise, but not too detailed. The latter may seem counter-intuitive, but being too specific in your explanations may then require you to submit amendments to ethics for every small change you want to make. Reviewers are unlikely to care about the specificities of your research, as their priority is ensuring that you have identified potential risks for participants and that participants are aware of their rights. Furthermore, in many cases, ethics is time-pressured and often submitted before you yourself have an extremely clear idea of the ins and outs of your study. An example of this would be saying “validated and commonly used tests of memory, attention and speed will be used to test the cognitive functioning of participants”, instead of listing out each and every test, and then later having to make an ethics amendment if you wish to change one. However, if you are already quite sure of what test you will be using, then by all means, list it.

There are many sections (e.g. data protection, insurance, participant rights) from each of the required documents which can be copied directly from previous submissions. Just ask a lab member if they could forward you one of the previous applications.

As for a general template or structure of the various required documents, Stephan kindly shared around approved Study Information and Consent forms for the V-Reha project in 2018 which can be found here.

How to: Get a Charité e-mail address / SAP access

[Written by Josephine on 2019/01/14]

Table of content

1. Charité e-mail address
   • Why do I need it?
   • How do I get it?
2. SAP access
   • Why do I need it?
   • How do I get it?

Charité e-mail address

1.1.          Why do I need it?

Your Charité e-mail address will not only make a more professional impression when contacting study participants, it is also needed to access various applications at the Charité workplace, including:

• Log in to the Charité desktop PCs (‘Klinischer Arbeitsplatz’)
• Using the T: drive as your personal backup, accessible from every desktop PC on campus
• Getting access to the Charité intranet website
• Getting access to the Charité corporate benefit system
• Providing an official e-mail for correspondence authorships

1.2.          How do I get it?

You will need a Charité e-mail address in order to apply for SAP. Fill out the attached application form for external employees if you do not have an official contract with Charité.

The ‘HR-OE’ organizational unit of the Department of Neurology (CCM) is: MNE-FO.

Heading 2

2.1.     Why do I need it?

Your SAP log in will allow you to access the digital patient documentation system. This includes information about:

• Patients’ medical documentation and letters
• Current patient lists of the wards
• Scheduled appointments, tests and diagnostic findings of in-patients

Downloads: Go to the intranet and search for SAP-Antragsformular.

Order Retourenkleber

[Written by Johanna on 2019/06/17]

Table of content

1. What are Retourenkleber?
2. Quick and easy: How to order them

What are “Retourenkleber”?

Retourenkleber are stickers you can hand out to patients or study participants when you want them to not have to pay the postage for the return of documents.

It means that we (aka Carstens third-party funds) pay for it once it arrives at the post office at Charité.

Currently, only the lab in Sauerbruchweg 5 uses Retourenkleber and we store them there.

They look like this:

Quick and easy: How to order them

1. Ask Carsten which Kostenstelle should be used for the new Retourenkleber.
2. Take the one of the old Retourenkleber and go to the post office in Charité Mitte (Hufelandweg 9, on the ground floor. Follow the signs.)
3. Fill in a form to order the new ones, the friendly person behind the corner will help.
4. Pick them up the next day at the post office.

Dienstreise/Travel request at the Charité

This applies to Charité employees and externals going on business trips funded by the Charité.
For business trips funded by Mind & Brain, we need an additional entry.

Before the trip – Travel request

1. Find out what kind of business trip you are doing. This determines who you need to notify and who is responsible for reimbursing you.
   • Examples: Business trip funded by the Charité, business trip funded by external sponsors, trip as part of a secondary employment (no travel request necessary)
2. File your travel request
   • For Charité employees
     • Go to the Charité application portal https://csportal.charite.de/irj/portal/gbp and log in with you Charité user name and password à Go to Applications (Anwendungen) à Travel request (Reiseantrag) à Enter/confirm your email address à Enter all relevant information about the business trip (date, time, reason for business trip, …) à Click on complete (Fertig stellen) à The pre-filled request form will now be send to your email address
     • Fill out the rest of the details on the request from (e.g. combination with private vacation, sponsoring, secondary employment, …) à Sign the request à Get a signature from your supervisor to grant your request (see [here], German only), for this you need to show her/him some proof of the event (e.g. conference program, invitations, …)
   • For external employees
     • Fill out this form from the intranet [form] à Sign the request à Get a signature from your supervisor to grant your request (see [here], German only), for this you need to show her/him some proof of the event (e.g. conference program, invitations, …)

3. Once your travel request is granted, you can use it to book your trip at the Charité travel agency Lufthansa City Center Titanic Reisen
   • Contact: email charite@aer.de, phone +49(0)30 450 578163 (Charité-intern) or +49 (0)30 28390589 (Charité-extern), office Reinhardtstr. 46, 10117 Berlin, open Monday to Friday 10 am to 6 pm
   • In some cases you’re also allowed to book the trip yourself (I am not sure about this, if someone knows more, please add here)
4. Now forward the signed travel request and proof of the event (e.g. conference program, invitations, …) to the responsible department
   • For Charité-funded trip: to Reisekostenstelle im GB Personal
   • For sponsoring trip funded by others: to GB Rechtsabteilung – Nebentätigkeiten (CVK)
   • For trip as an official Charité representative: to GB Rechtsabteilung – Nebentätigkeiten (CVK), including additional documents

During the trip – Keep all documents

5. Keep all original receipts (e.g. train tickets) and make sure that all invoices (e.g. hotel, rental car) are addressed to your Charité work address

After the trip – Request for reimbursement of travel expenses

6. File your reimbursement request
   • For Charité employees
     • Fill out and sign this [form]
   • For external employees
     • Fill out and sign this [form]

7. Send the signed form including all original documents via in-house mail to Reisekostenstelle GB Personal (CVK). You will be notified via email once the reimbursement is processed.

Downloads:
[Antrag Reisekostenerstattung]
[Genehmigungsverfahren für Dienstreisen]
[Reisekostenabrechnung Charité]
[Reisekostenabrechnung Extern]

To receive a key or transponder to a Charité building/ office/ laboratory follow the steps below:

1. Download the word-document  [Anforderung Schlüssel- und Transponder]
2. Use word or a comparable program to edit the document
3. Fill in your personal details as shown in [here]

Travel Reimbursement Mind & Brain

[Written by Nina Mar 22^nd , 2018]

Generally, Annette Winkelmann (AW) is very supportive and generous when it comes to travel and conference reimbursements. But keep in mind that she likes conscientious and neat work as much as she deprecates a sloppy one, so increase your chances of a successful application by reading the information below carefully.

AW will not process unsigned/unsupported travel grant forms or students’ informal requests by telephone or e-mail. Therefore, a formal application has to be handed to AW either by you (less than 150€) or by Carsten only (more than 150€). AW won’t accept the latter if it is not handed in by Carsten.

Table of content

1. Before your trip: Application for Travel Grant
   • Travels up to 150€
   • Travels above 150€
   • Fill in the forms
   • Request fee reimbursements only
2. Application for early partial payment (Abschlagszahlung)
3. Booking: General recommendations
4. After your trip: get reimbursed!
   • General information
   • Fill in the form …
   • Things that cannot be reimbursed
5. Good to know
6. Links/Attachments

Before your trip: Application for Travel Grant

• If you do not have any other funding source (external scholarship), it is important that you check your eligibility for a travel grant reimbursement by handing in your travel grant application forms at least 2 weeks before buying tickets or paying conference fees. Due to financial restrictions that may apply during the course of the financial year there is no guarantee that M&B can support you in every case.

Travels up to 150€

• Fill in Form_TravelGrant_under150_Nov2017 (preferably with the computer)
• Can only be used for travels within Germany.
• These requests can be passed to AW by you directly.

Travels above 150€

• Fill in Form_TravelGrant_over150_Nov2017 (preferably with the computer)
• This form is also used for travels under 150€ outside of Germany.
• These requests must be passed to AW by Carsten!

Fill in the forms

• Attachment (a)
  • attach at least 3 price comparisons as screenshots/prints for the days you want to travel (return trip)
  • if you want to combine your trip with holidays, add additional comparisons for those days
  • Travel includes all the way from your home to the place of the conference and bag (i.e. a train/bus to the airport is covered)
  • Keep in mind that with cheap flights, luggage costs might be extra. Add this to your calculation (and explain if not obvious)
  • If you plan on booking two pieces on one flight (e.g. additional poster roll), you need to check with AW first.
  • If prices went up until Annette gave her consent, please sent her an email with a short explanation and the screenshots of the new prices à wait for her response!
• Attachment (b)
  • Essay of 100w if you are an active member (i.e. presenting a poster/talk)
  • Essay of 500w if you are a passive member
• Attachment (c)
  • Usually the program
• Attachment (d)
  • A screenshot of the confirmation mail will do the job
• Accommodation
  • No price comparison needed (see section ‘Booking: General recommendations’ for tips).

Request fee reimbursements only

• Fill in the form Reimbursement_Fees_190322_en

Application for early partial payment (Abschlagszahlung)

• If you travel to a conference overseas, costs easily exceed 1000€. If you can’t pay this in advance, you can apply at the HU Geschäftsstelle for a “Dienstreise” and a “Abschlagszahlung”. This means, that the HU is paying you 80% of the calculated costs in advance.
• This is quite time consuming and has to be planned in advance (I’d say at least 4 weeks prior to booking). It is probably less work to ask your parents (or someone else) to borrow you some money until you get reimbursed.
• If this is not possible
  • Fill out the first page of “Antrag auf Genehmigung einer Dienstreise” (attached). The second page has to be filled out by AW.
  • As soon as your “Reisekostenantrag” is approved, fill out “Antrag auf Abschlagszahlung” and send it to the HU-Geschäftsstelle
• More Infos and both documents can also be found here: https://www.personalabteilung.hu-berlin.de/themen-a-z/reisekosten/ (HU network necessary for download)

Booking: General recommendations

• Keep all original receipts and try to get reimbursed
• Avoid mobile tickets, use the old-fashioned paper tickets
  • Train tickets must be stamped
• Accommodation:
  • A cheap solution is usually the desired one (AirBnB is often cheaper than a hotel, service fees included)
  • If an accommodation is in a walking distance from the conference, you can also choose a more expensive option, since you do not need to be reimbursed for bus/train to the conference site. However, the mark-up needs to be reasonable.
  • Some countries add a visitor’s tax to the hotel cost. Check this and eventually add it to the accommodation cost. However, sometimes a visitor’s tax cannot be reimbursed, but it is worth a try.
  • If you are planning to share your accommodation with colleagues (e.g. Airbnb), divide the price though the number of fellow travelers and add a short explanation for AW.
• Hotel invoices should be issued to your name followed by Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10099 Berlin
• In case of Airbnb the invoice has to be issued to your private home address.
• As soon as you paid, print out the bank statement that the money was transferred.
• In case of foreign currency, use oanda (https://www.oanda.com/lang/de/currency/converter/) to provide the exact amount in € on that particular day.

After your trip: get reimbursed!

General information

• Fill in the Travel expenses and reimbursement claim form on your computer and hand in the original (no scans).
• Important: reimbursements for travel/conference fees are strictly only possible within six months of travelling/attending and are only possible with receipts!
• Since reimbursements can only take place against original travel

documents/receipts:

• Hand in original invoices/receipts/tickets according to the requirements described in the  Travel expenses and reimbursement claim form
• Trains: You should try *not* to travel on a mobile phone e-ticket. Ideally, print out your train e-ticket and have it stamped by the train personnel.
• However, if you do travel on a mobile phone ticket you will have to print it out and hand in to us a signed and dated confirmation (by the train personnel!) saying that you actually travelled on this ticket.
• With electronic flight tickets please also hand in your boarding passes.

• Travel expense can only be reimbursed to a german account!

Fill in the form…

• Vacation:
  • Here, you are supposed to literally make a list, e.g.
    • Day 1: Travel
    • Day 2: Conference
    • Day 3: Conference
    • Day 4: Workshop
    • …
  • Accommodation:
    • If you shared accommodation with your colleagues, list all the names and what everybody paid (might differ regarding shared/single room)
  • Third-Party Payments
    • In case the invoice of conference fees etc. has not your name on it because it was paid by your parents or another external source.
  • List of attachments (receipts/invoices/bus tickets/…)
    • AW wants everything numbered in the top right corner!
    • Small receipts have to be taped on a blank A4 sheet (TESA preferred)
    • A lot of conferences do not give certificates of attendance any more, ask on site if they can give you one. If this is not possible, tell AW or take a picture of you at the conference 😉

Things that cannot be reimbursed

• Poster prints at the conference site (or city where the conference takes place)
  • M&B generally does not reimburse for poster printing, however, it is possible to print at HU Berlin for free
• Food

Good to know …

• M&B can only reimburse conference travel if you are an active member, i.e. if you present a poster or give a talk. M&B need to see an invitation and a certificate or confirmation of attendance (e.g. e-mail, that your abstract was accepted).
  • Exception may be made in 2 cases (worth to hand in an application):
    • Annual/biannual meetings of professional organizations such as the DGPPN (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Psychosomatik und Nervenheilkunde), or similar
    • If you are a passive member at a conference/workshop, Attachment (b) in both application forms must encompass at least 500w. Additionally, a second 500w report is necessary, describing your experience at the conference/workshop.
  • SPM/MATLAB/… or other method courses are not eligible for travel reimbursement by M&B.
  • If you have an external funding source but your application has not been approved yet: you can also apply for M&B funding and withdraw any time from the M&B application as soon as your external funding organization approves to fund you. If you do not get fully funded by the external source, costs can be split.
  • Generally, conference travels can be combined with private holidays if the travel costs are not significantly higher.

Links/Attachments

• https://www.personalabteilung.hu-berlin.de/themen-a-z/reisekosten/
• Form_TravelGrant_under150_Nov2017
• Form_TravelGrant_over150_Nov2017
• Antrag auf Genehmigung einer Dienstreise
• Antrag auf Abschlagszahlung
• Travel expenses and reimbursement claim form
• https://www.oanda.com/lang/de/currency/converter/