You must apply using the UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) new Funding Service.
We recommend you start your application early.
Your host organisation will also be able to provide advice and guidance.
Information for research office professionals
If an application is created by a member of an organisation where we do not currently have contact details with their research office, we will contact them to enable administrator access. This provides:
- oversight of every funding service application opened on behalf of your organisation
- the ability to review and submit applications, which must be received by 25 May 2023 4:00pm UK time
If you anticipate researchers from your organisation applying for this funding opportunity, but have not already received an invitation to open an account, email support@funding-service.ukri.org
As an administrator, you will be responsible for the final submission of the application to UKRI and ensuring internal deadlines are made clear to applicants from your organisation. To hear more about the role of administrators, and the current functionality of the new funding service and how it will further develop, please see a recording of the most recent research office webinar.
For applicants
What follows is the essence of the sections and questions you will need to complete and answer on the UKRI Funding Service. You cannot apply for this funding opportunity on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.
Submitting your application
Applications should be prepared and submitted by the lead research organisation but should be co-created with input from all investigators, and project partners, and should represent the proposed work of the entire consortia.
You will need to take the following steps to apply:
- Select the ‘Start application’ button at the start of this page.
- This will open the ‘Sign in’ page of UKRI’s Funding Service. If you do not already have an account, you’ll be able to create one. This is a 2-minute process requiring you to verify your email address and set a password.
- Start answering the questions detailed in this section of ‘How to apply’. You can save your work and come back to it later. You can also work ‘offline’, copying and pasting into the text boxes provided for your answers.
- Once complete, use the service to send your application to your research office for review. They’ll check it and return it to you if it needs editing.
- Once happy, your research office will submit it to UKRI for assessment. Only they can do this.
As citations can be integral to a case for support, you should balance their inclusion and the benefit they provide against the inclusion of other parts of your answer to each question. Bear in mind that citations, associated reference lists or bibliographies, or both, contribute to, and are included in, the word count of the relevant section.
Deadline
BBSRC must receive your application by 25 May 2023 at 4:00pm UK time.
You will not be able to apply after this time.
You should ensure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines that may be in place.
General text on processing personal data
BBSRC as part of UKRI, will need to collect some personal information to manage your funding service account and the registration of your funding applications.
We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our privacy notice.
If your application is successful, some personal information will be published via the UKRI Gateway to Research.
Section guidance
Summary
In plain English, provide a summary that can be sent to potential reviewers to determine if your proposal is within their field of expertise.
This summary may be made publicly available on external facing websites, so please ensure it can be understood by a variety of readers, for example:
- opinion-formers
- policymakers
- the general public
- the wider research community
Guidance for writing a summary
Succinctly describe your proposed work in terms of:
- its context
- the challenge the project addresses and how it will be applied to this
- its aims and objectives
- its potential applications and benefits
Word count: 550
Applicants
List the key members of your team and assign them roles, for example:
Vision
What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Explain how the work you are seeking funding for:
- is of excellent quality and importance within or beyond the fields or areas
- has the potential to advance current understanding, generates new knowledge, thinking or discovery within or beyond the field or area
- is timely given current trends, context and needs
- impacts world-leading research, society, the economy or the environment
Within the Vision section it is expected you also:
- identify the potential direct or indirect benefits and who the beneficiaries might be
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
Word count: 2,100
Approach
How are you going to deliver your proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Explain how you have designed your approach so that it:
- is effective and appropriate to achieve your objectives
- is feasible, and comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how they will be managed
- if applicable, uses a clear and transparent methodology
- if applicable, summarises the previous work and describes how this will be built upon and progressed
- will maximise translation of outputs into outcomes and impacts
- describes how your research environment (in terms of the place, its location, reputation, and relevance to the project) will contribute to the success of the work
Within the Approach section we also expect you to:
- demonstrate access to the appropriate services, facilities, infrastructure, or equipment to deliver the work
- provide detail about the negotiations held or other offers considered that informed the decision of the chosen host (for example consideration of mentorship schemes, training courses and financial support)
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
Word count 3,000
Project plan
Provide a detailed and comprehensive project plan and timelines.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Project deliverables, including timelines, milestones, and the resourcing necessary to deliver the proposed work in the form of a Gantt chart or similar aide (1-page A4 PDF). Upload instructions will be provided in the service.
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
References and resources
List the references you’ve use to support your application.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Ensure your application is a self-contained description. References should be linked to relevant text by, for example, sequential numbering and superscript reference numbers embedded in the body of the document.
The citation of preprints is acceptable, see Access to research outputs
Within the list of references, URL links to relevant publications or online resources are allowed if they do not extend the case for support. Assessors are not obliged to access the information they lead to or consider it in their assessment of your application. You must not include links to web resources to extend your application. If linking to web resources, to ensure the information’s integrity is maintained include, where possible, persistent identifiers such as digital object identifiers.
Word count 700
Applicant capability to deliver
How will this fellowship develop you and your career?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Provide evidence that you have:
- outlined an appropriate plan to develop skills, like leadership, communication, and management, as part of achieving your potential
- outlined how you will become an ambassador or advocate in your field or research area
- outlined how you will become a more independent professional in your developing career
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
Word count: 700
Applicant capability to deliver
Why do you think you are suitable for this fellowship? Complete this section using the Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) module headings.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
You should use each heading once, see the UKRI guidance on R4RI. You can enter ‘N/A’ for any you think irrelevant, and will not be penalised for doing so, but it is recommended that you carefully consider the breadth of your experience.
This includes:
- contributions to the generation of new ideas, tools, methodologies or knowledge
- the development of others and maintenance of effective working relationships
- contributions to the wider research and innovation community
- contributions to broader research or innovation users and audiences and towards wider societal benefit
- additions (you can use this heading to provide information that provides context to the wider application, such as detail of career breaks. It is not a requirement)
You should complete this as a narrative and you should avoid CV type format. You can refer to important publications as an example of contributions, but you should avoid listing all publications.
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
Word count: 2,500
Applicant eligibility
Provide confirmation that you meet the eligibility criteria for the BBSRC Discovery Fellowship.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Confirmation that you meet the eligibility criteria and that you do not currently hold, or have previously held:
- a position at lecturer level (or the equivalent in an institution other than a university)
- an equivalent competitive fellowship that allows you to establish an independent research group, and therefore independent researcher status
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
Word count: 50
Host support: head of department statement and package of support
Describe the reasoning behind supporting the applicant and describe the package of support from the host organisation.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
This should be provided by the proposed head of department (in discussion with the applicant) on behalf of the host department and organisation and uploaded as a PDF file (2-pages A4 maximum).
This should include:
- a signed statement of support from the research organisation detailing why the proposed work is needed and why the host organisation wishes to support the applicant in their BBSRC fellowship application
- evidence of support from the principal investigator of the proposed host research group
- evidence of funding that will be provided to support the fellowship and evidence of access to the appropriate services, facilities, infrastructure, or equipment to deliver the work proposed
- details of the negotiations held with the applicant
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
Word count: 10
Project partners: contributions
Provide details about any project partners’ contributions using the template provided.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If you do not have any project partners, simply add ‘N/A’ into the text box, mark this section as complete and move to the next section.
If you do have project partners, download and complete the project partner contributions template (DOCX, 52KB) then copy and paste the table within it into the text box.
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
Word count: 500
Project partners: letters (or emails) of support
Upload a single PDF containing the letters or emails of support from each partner you named in the table in the previous ‘contributions’ section.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If you do not have any project partners, simply add ‘N/A’ into the text box, mark this section as complete and move to the next section.
If you have named project partners in the previous ‘contributions’ section, enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box.
Each letter or email you provide should:
- confirm the partner’s commitment to the project
- clearly explain the value, relevance, and possible benefits of the work to them
- describe any additional value that they bring to the project
- refer to BBSRC’s guide for more guidance
Please do not provide letters of support from host research organisations.
Unless specifically requested, please do not include any personal data within the attachment.
Upload details are provided within the service on the actual application.
For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
Word count: 10
Data collection or acquisition
How will you manage and share data collected or acquired through the proposed research?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Provide a data management plan which should clearly detail how you will comply with BBSRC’s published data sharing policy.
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
Word count: 700
Intellectual property rights (IPR)
Provide a brief description of the intellectual assets underpinning the proposed work.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Include any IPR if appropriate. If your IPR is a patent, please include the patent number or numbers along with a summary scope of the claims. BBSRC recognises that not all applications to the Discovery Fellowships will have a patent or other IPR.
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
Word count: 500
Outsourcing
Are you outsourcing any Discovery Fellowship activity?
If you are not, enter ‘N/A’ in the text box, mark this section as complete and move to the next question.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
UKRI recognises that in some instances, it may be appropriate to outsource or sub-contract elements of the proposed work. If that is the case in this application, please provide the following information:
- the scope of the outsourced activity, that means what is being undertaken and what will be delivered
- the relevance of the outsourced activity to the application
- why the outsourced activity cannot be undertaken in-house
- why this provider is the most appropriate
- the cost or costs of the outsourced activity and the tendering process that has been followed
Please provide any goods and services quotations.
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
Word count: 700
Facilities
Does your proposed research require the support and use of a third party facility?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If not, enter ‘N/A’ into the text box, mark this section as complete and move on to the next section.
If you will need to use a facility, you should follow your proposed facility’s normal access request procedures. Also, where prior agreement is required, ensure you obtain their agreement that, should you be offered funding, they will support the use of their facility on your project.
In the text box, provide:
- the name of facility
- a description of the type of access they are granting you, for example: hours, units or value requested
- an explanation of how you will use the facility in your research
Do not put the facility contact details in your response.
If facility access is being requested specifically for the Earlham Institute, the supercomputing ARCHER2 facility at University of Edinburgh, or the UK 850MHz Solid State NMR Facility at the University of Warwick, a Technical Assessment Form (TAF) is required and should be uploaded as a PDF file. Failure to include the required forms will result in withdrawal of the proposal.
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
Word count: 100
Resources and cost justification
What will you need to deliver your proposed work and how much will it cost?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Download and complete the full economic costings template (DOCX, 66KB) and then upload it as explained.
Using the text box, demonstrate how the resources you anticipate needing for your proposed work:
- are comprehensive, appropriate, and justified
- represent the optimal use of resources to achieve the intended outcomes
- maximise potential outcomes and impacts
This section should not simply be a list of the resources requested, as this will already be given in the detailed ‘costs’ table. Costings should be justified on the basis of full economic costs (FEC) of the project, not just on the costs expected from UKRI. For some items we do not expect you to justify the monetary value, rather the type of resource, such as amount of time or type of staff requested.
Where you do not provide adequate justification for a resource, we may deduct it from any funding awarded.
The costs for meeting training needs should be included and fellows should ensure that training activities are carried out. In addition, Discovery fellows are required to attend some mandatory events, conferences and other meetings arranged by BBSRC to discuss progress under the fellowship. Some of these costs must be budgeted for at the proposal stage (see ‘Annex 2’ in the fellowship award terms and conditions).
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
Word count: 1,400
Genetic and biological risk
Does your proposed research involve any genetic or biological risk?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If not, enter ‘N/A’ into the text box, mark this section as complete and move on to the next section.
In respect of animals, plants or microbes, are you proposing to:
- use genetic modification as an experimental tool, like studying gene function in a genetically modified organism
- release genetically modified organisms
- ultimately develop commercial and industrial genetically modified outcomes
If yes, provide the name of any required approving body and state if approval is already in place. If it is not, provide an indicative timeframe for obtaining the required approval.
Identify the organism or organisms as a plant, animal or microbe and specify the species and which of the 3 categories the research relates to.
Identify the genetic and biological risks resulting from the proposed research, their implications and any mitigation you plan on taking. Assessors will want to know you have considered the risks and their implications to justify that any identified risks do not outweigh any benefits of the proposed research.
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
Word count: 700
Research involving the use of animals
Does your proposed research involve the use of vertebrate animals or other organisms covered by the Animals Scientific Procedures Act?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If not, enter ‘N/A’ into the text box, mark this section as complete and do the same for the next question.
If you are proposing research that requires using animals, write ‘Yes’ in the text box. Then, download and complete the animal research question template (DOCX, 52KB), which contains all the questions relating to research using vertebrate animals or other Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 regulated organisms. Then, save it as a PDF.
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
Word count: 10
Conducting research with animal overseas
Will any of the proposed animal research be conducted overseas?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If not, enter ‘N/A’ in the text box, mark as complete and move to the next question.
If you are proposing to conduct overseas research, it must be conducted in accordance with welfare standards consistent with those in the UK, as per Responsibility in the Use of Animals in Bioscience Research, on page 14.
You should also ensure all named applicants in the UK and overseas are aware of this requirement and provide a statement below to confirm that:
- all named applicants are aware of the requirements and have agreed to abide by them
- this overseas research will be conducted in accordance with welfare standards consistent with the principles of UK legislation
- the expectation set out in ‘Responsibility in the Use of Animals in Bioscience Research’ will be applied and maintained
- appropriate national and institutional approvals are in place
Overseas studies proposing to use non-human primates, cats, dogs, equines or pigs, will be assessed during NC3Rs review of research proposals. The required information should be provided by completing the template from the question ‘Research Involving the use of animals’.
For studies involving other species listed, you should select the relevant checklist or checklists from the following list below, complete it and save it as a PDF and use the file upload feature to attach. If you need to complete more than 1 checklist, you should merge them into a single document and then save it as a PDF before uploading it.
Additional questions on the use of rodents overseas (DOCX, 49KB)
Additional questions on the use of rabbits overseas (DOCX, 49KB)
Additional questions on the use of sheep overseas (DOCX, 51KB)
Additional questions on the use of goats overseas (DOCX, 47KB)
Additional questions on the use of pigs overseas (DOCX, 51KB)
Additional questions on the use of cattle overseas (DOCX, 57KB)
Additional questions on the use of Xenopus laevis and Xenopus tropicalis overseas (DOCX, 57KB)
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
Word count: 10
Research involving human participation
Will the project involve the use of human subjects?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If not, enter ‘N/A’ into the text box, mark this section as complete and move on to the next section.
If you are proposing research that requires the involvement of human subjects, provide the name of any required approving body and whether approval is already in place. Then, justify the number and the diversity of the participants involved, as well as any procedures.
Provide details of any areas of substantial or moderate severity of impact.
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
Word count: 700
Research involving human tissues or biological samples
Does your proposed research involve the use of human tissues, or biological samples?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If not, enter ‘N/A’ into the text box, mark this section as complete and move on to the next section.
If you’re answering ‘yes’, provide the name of any required approving body and whether approval is already in place.
You should justify the use of human tissue or biological samples specifying the nature and quantity of the material to be used and its source.
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
Word count: 700
Personal information
Will your research require personal information about human participants to be used?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If not, enter ‘N/A’ into the text box, mark this section as complete and move on to the next section.
If you are proposing research that requires the involvement of human subjects, provide the name of any required approving body and whether approval is already in place. Then justify the number and the diversity of the participants involved, as well as any procedures.
Provide details of any areas of substantial or moderate severity of impact.
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
Word count: 700
Sensitive information relating to you as an applicant
Use this section to provide us with sensitive information you need to tell us that you do not want shared with assessors.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If you do not need to tell us anything, enter ‘N/A’ into the text box, mark this section as complete and move on to the next section.
If you need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, please enter the words ‘email sent’ in the text box. Then, contact the funding service helpdesk on support@funding-service.ukri.org and include your application name and number in the subject line, after the pre-populated words ‘sensitive information’.
Typical examples of confidential information include:
- an applicant is unavailable 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 BBSRC to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection.
For information about how UKRI handles personal data, please see UKRI’s privacy notice.
Please note, external web links are not permitted in this section.
Word count: 10
