A two-stage application process will be used.
Stage one: applicants must submit a technical assessment form to the service they are applying to access, which includes a short project description. This form will be assessed by the service and returned to the applicant. The contact details applicants must use for each service can be found in the supporting documentation.
Stage two: applicants must then submit their application via the form on the EPSRC opportunity page, where they:
- must submit the following as separate PDF documents:
- document one: a completed application form
- document two: a one-page diagrammatic workplan
- document three: a completed and approved technical assessment
- optional: applicants may separately submit a cover letter which will be seen only by EPSRC and not sent to peer review.
Stage one: obtain a technical assessment
All full proposals must be accompanied by a technical assessment completed by both the applicant (or applicants) and service they wish to access. This step is to ensure that the resource request is appropriate and so that all technical requirements have been considered prior to submission.
The services will examine and comment on the technical assessment form, and applicants will have the opportunity to amend the technical aspects based on these comments before the service decides whether to give its approval.
In order to obtain a completed technical assessment, applicants should follow these steps.
- Complete section one of the technical assessment form (available for download from the EPSRC opportunity page where you accessed this document, note there are different forms for ARCHER2 and Tier-2).
- Submit the technical assessment form (with section one completed) to service they are applying to by 2 April 2021 16:00, using the details listed in the supporting documentation. Please make sure the subject header of your submission email states that this is an “Access to HPC submission”.
Please note we will not accept proposals that reuse previous technical assessments without the explicit consent of the service. Doing so may cause your proposal to be rejected.
The service will normally return the technical assessment (either approved or with requests for amendments) to the applicant promptly, but this is dependent upon the service and the level of demand at the time of submission.
EPSRC and the services cannot be held responsible for applications that miss the final deadline if the applicant has not met the deadline specified above for submission of the technical assessment.
Stage two: application form and workplan
Applicants should download the application form from the EPSRC opportunity page, where they accessed this document.
When completing your application form you should take into account the assessment criteria given below and keep in mind that proposals will be assessed by a generalist panel drawn from research areas across EPSRC’s remit with computational expertise.
Applications submitted on an incorrect form will not be considered. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, only information contained in the application form and the technical assessment, as well as a separate diagrammatic workplan will be considered by the panel. No additional letters of support are allowed.
Submitting an application
To submit their application to EPSRC the applicant must create up to four separate PDF files containing:
- document one: a completed application form
- document two: a one-page diagrammatic workplan
- document three: a technical assessment approved by the service
- document four (optional): cover letter
Submit it through the SmartSurvey which can be found on the EPSRC opportunity page before the call deadline. A checklist of the required information can be found in the supporting documentation, and further details are given in the ‘guidance on writing an application’ section below.
Please note we will not accept proposals that reuse previous technical assessments without the explicit consent of the service. Doing so may cause your proposal to be rejected.
Guidance on writing an application
When drafting the sections below, the applicant (or applicants) should keep in mind:
- the assessment criterion: the criterion with which the panels will score the proposals can be found in the assessment criteria section below
- the panel expertise: the panel run by each service will draw upon a broad cross-section of HPC users from disciplines within engineering and the physical sciences. Each service aims to engage panel members who cover the expertise of the research areas of the submitted applications. However, it is not guaranteed that there will be an expert for every application area. Therefore, it is important that the case for support can be understood by a general scientific audience with significant computational expertise.
Objectives (maximum half page)
Briefly list the main objectives of the proposed research. Explain how access to your chosen service will help you to meet these objectives.
Description of the proposed research and its context (maximum two and a half pages)
Describe your proposed computational research project: detail the scientific and wider context, explain what you are aiming to achieve with the computational resource and how the project will advance the current context, highlight the novelty and timeliness of the work. Explain how the project will deliver or enable high-quality scientific research.
Identify any potential applications of the proposed work. Include how it would contribute to computational science, for example through generating new code, development of existing code, increased computational efficiency, opening up HPC for new scientific areas and industrial sectors.
Please explain why the service applied for is the most appropriate resource for this work.
Importance (maximum one page)
Explain why this proposal warrants support in terms of the importance to the UK. This could include (but is not limited to) economic or industrial impacts, advancing world leading research activities and identifying how the proposed research contributes to national and EPSRC priority areas.
Expertise and track record of the team (max 1 pages)
Provide details of the applicant (or applicants) track record in computational science and engineering, porting, developing and using codes and on the use of relevant HPC facilities. Highlight any previous publications or other scientific outputs arising from HPC work related to this application. If you are new to HPC, explain how you plan to involve partners and use service support to ensure there is sufficient computational expertise to achieve the stated objectives. Include any other information you think is relevant to demonstrate applicant(s) suitability to undertake this work.
Other associated resources (maximum half page)
State details of any additional financial and/or technical support for this or related research projects relevant to this application. As this proposal is for computing resources only, applicants should give details of how any other necessary resources for the project (for example, staff time) will be made available.
Resource management (maximum on and a half pages)
Please state the requested number of compute units needed throughout the project; as approved by the technical assessment.
Explain how you plan to use and manage the allocated computational resources. It is imperative that applicants only request an allocation they can realistically use in the allocation period. This should take into account queuing times, potential issues with newly ported codes, scheduled maintenance periods and the time needed to interpret intermediate results. Any compute units which have not been used by the end of the period will be lost.
Please remember that the total number of compute units allocated through this process is limited. You need to demonstrate that your code (or codes) can make optimal use of this resource – for example, by providing detailed, relevant, benchmarking and scaling data. Please note, the panels can recommend a reduction in units or time awarded if the original request is not fully justified.
Describe the staff resources available and how they will be used to complete the project. Keep in mind that it is important that you start the project promptly (see funding requirements in the funding available section), use the resource efficiently and finish within the allocation period.
If the work has particularly novel elements that could be considered high-risk/high reward please indicate how the risks will be managed.
Work plan (maximum one page)
Please attach a diagrammatic work plan for the proposed project to justify the requested amount of time and use of the compute units.
Cover letter (no page limit, optional)
Applicants can use the proposal cover letter to express any other information they feel is relevant to their application.
This letter will only be seen by EPSRC and will not be sent to peer review, in particular the letter will not be shared with the service unless this is specifically requested by the applicant. If the letter contains sensitive information, then the applicant should state clearly whether the information is confidential. The proposal cover letter should also be used to highlight anything that has been discussed and agreed with EPSRC staff beforehand. For example:
- applicant is on maternity leave until a certain date
- declaration of interest
- additional information about eligibility to apply that would not be appropriately shared in the track record
- conflict of interest for EPSRC to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection
- the application is an invited resubmission.
Other guidance
EPSRC will not fund a project if it believes that there are ethical concerns that have been overlooked or not appropriately accounted for. If the research will involve human participation or the use of animals covered by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 it is recommended that applicants pay particular attention to the guidance highlighted below. EPSRC reserves the right to reject applications prior to peer review if the Ethical Information sections are not completed correctly.
Other relevant guidance includes: EPSRC’s policy on animal use in research and the Responsible Innovation Framework.
Read advice on writing proposals.