How research offices use the UKRI Funding Service

This guidance is for research office staff at all levels to help you understand:

how the UKRI Funding Service will work for you
how you can support applicants when using the Funding Service
the timeline for developing and enhancing research office functionality in the service

In the ‘resources’ section you can find further information to help you when using the Funding Service. This includes access to recordings of our regular webinars, newsletters, and related webpages.

We will continue to keep you updated in advance of any changes.

For more information, see council transition to the new Funding Service.

Sign in to the UKRI Funding Service

You’ll need the email address and password used to set up your research office account.

How the Funding Service will make your role easier

The UKRI Funding Service will reduce the burden of finding, applying for and managing research funding.

Over 2023, all research councils will transition from the Joint Electronic Submissions system (Je-S) to the Funding Service. This means that research support staff, along with other users, will use the new service.

The Funding Service is being designed to make your role easier when providing support, information and guidance to your researchers and research communities.

Over time we aim to reduce some of the administrative burdens Je-S users currently experience, such as:

large numbers of attachments to administer and difficulties in getting data from these
too many returns for amendment
checking of page length and formatting
high variation in cases for support

How to create a research office account

Research offices need to set up their own accounts to access the Funding Service.

To get an account, email the Funding Service helpdesk at support@funding-service.ukri.org with the following details:

first name
last name
organisation name
email address (only individual addresses, not group or ‘mailbox’ addresses)
phone number

Following a brief verification process, you will be sent an invitation to create an account.

All applications created by your organisation for the opportunities being run on the new UKRI Funding Service will then be viewable.

Please ensure anyone whose details you provide are aware that these will be shared with other members of, and applicants from, your organisation.

Research offices are responsible for managing their Funding Service accounts, including how many you have.

Supporting applicants using your account

If you have a Funding Service account with administrator status you will be notified when an applicant from your organisation creates an application.

This will help you to support the applicant as they complete it and point them towards important information if needed.

In the Funding Service you can:

view all applications from your organisation (including draft applications)
return applications to the applicant for editing
confirm applicants
authorise and submit the application to UKRI

It is important that you check the application prior to submission to ensure it is completed correctly and that all necessary documents have been provided.

We have added new roles for project team members.

We have also recently added functionality to help research officers filter by application status, sort applications by ‘recently started’ and ‘ending soon’, and to search for applications.

Sign in to support your organisation’s applications

You’ll need the email address and password used to set up your research office account.

Timeline: what you can do now and what to expect in future

We are developing the Funding Service in an iterative way, gradually introducing functionality and piloting new features and different funding types.

We have provided some initial functionality to help research offices, such as enhanced filtering and sorting of opportunities and applications.

More research office functionality such as advanced filtering will be added in later updates of the service, expected by September 2023, with more to come after that.

Below we have outlined what is available now and what you can expect and when. Bear in mind these timelines are indicative and may change.

Available now

You can:

create a research office account (see ’how to create a research office account’ )
filter by application status
sort applications by ‘recently started’ and ‘ending soon’
search for applications

Some award functionality has been released on a small ‘pilot’ and will be more widely available towards the end of the year, including:

view award details
access the award agreement for acceptance
submit a start confirmation
submit ‘change requests’ to requests the suspension, resumption, extensions, or a change to the start date of an award
view associated change request history

September 2023

Further administrator enhancements such as filtering by department.

Future functionality

We are working to further increase functionality so that research office staff who support grant maintenance will be able to:

submit more types of change requests
submit a final expenditure statement

We will keep you updated on new functionality and enhancements coming for research offices.

If you would like to be involved in our ongoing user research, see the ‘let us know what you think’ section.

Resources: webinars, newsletters and other webpages

Webinars

Our quarterly webinars aimed at research office directors, administrators, and research management professionals at all levels are continuing.

Watch recordings of our Simpler and Better Funding webinars for research offices

Keep abreast of the latest developments in the Funding Service through future editions of the ‘Simpler and Better’ newsletter.

Subscribe to the Simpler and Better Funding newsletter

Previous editions

May 2023 newsletter

February 2023 newsletter

November 2022 newsletter

Webpages

See the links to further information to keep up to date with our latest news.

Additional resources and training on transitioning to the new Funding Service will be available shortly.

Our pathway for change

How applicants use the UKRI Funding Service

Council transition to the new Funding Service

Let us know what you think

We continue to welcome feedback from research offices along with our other users to inform the design of the Funding Service.

So far, you’ve told us:

when managing lots of users and applications you need to focus on what’s important so that you efficiently administer the work
when an application is made you need the right staff to support it so you have the highest chance of success
when an application is made you need to know it’s correct and complete so you don’t waste time, and maximise our chances
when providing costs you need tools that support financial information so that you are efficient and accurate

We are using your feedback to focus on further improvements for research offices.

Sign up to take part in our user research

Email: userresearch@ukri.org

Ask a question about using the Funding Service

The Funding Service helpdesk can provide support with your questions about using the service.

Email

support@funding-service.ukri.org

Telephone

01793 547490

Last updated: 6 June 2023