Funding opportunity

Funding opportunity: Bioinformatics and Biological Resources Fund (24BBR)

Apply for funding to implement, improve or consolidate bioinformatics or biological resources in support of UK bioscience, helping to drive forwards progress in bioscience research and innovation.

Your project must focus on the delivery of a community resource that addresses a significant demand or supports an established user base in the biosciences.

You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) funding.

The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £2,000,000. BBSRC will fund 80% of the FEC.

Projects can be up to five years in duration.

Who can apply

Before applying for funding, check the Eligibility of your organisation.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the new UKRI Funding Service.

For full details, visit Eligibility as an individual.

Building on the Technician Commitment UKRI Action Plan and the UKRI people and teams action plan, we particularly encourage applications from research technical professionals and research software engineers as either project leads or project co-leads.

All project leads and project co-leads must meet the eligibility criteria.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.

We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes:

  • career breaks
  • support for people with caring responsibilities
  • flexible working
  • alternative working patterns

Find out more about equality, diversity and inclusion at UKRI.

What we're looking for

Scope

Bioinformatics and biological resources are an essential component of the UK’s bioscience infrastructure, helping drive forwards progress in bioscience research and innovation.

Sustainable provision of high-quality FAIR biological data and cutting-edge bioinformatics software are critical enablers of data-driven discoveries in the 21st century. The availability of nationally and internationally important bioscience data assets are key to ensuring the UK’s future international competitiveness, particularly for application of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies that promise to transform our understanding of living systems and accelerate the bioeconomy.

Similarly, provision of comprehensive, cutting-edge biological materials is vital to enabling efficient use of resources across research communities, unlocking new opportunities for research across diverse and distributed teams in the UK, and to enhance the reproducibility of research findings by ensuring consistent biological standards within the field.

The Bioinformatics and Biological Resources Fund (BBR) aims to help address this need by providing a sustainable route to support resources such as databases, software and biological materials.

Projects supported through BBR focus on high quality community-focused provision such as:

  • management and sharing of large and complex datasets at a community level for data discovery, data mining and data integration
  • state-of-the-art, well maintained software tools enabling cutting-edge analyses, workflows and ultimately novel insights from bioscience data, such as from AI and machine learning
  • access to materials that underpin world class bioscience research, including but not limited to culture and germplasm collections, mutant lines and clones, DNA samples and genetic libraries

While this funding opportunity includes a plant health spotlight, the scope and remit of BBR remains open across BBSRC’s remit. There is no requirement for projects to address the spotlight area, but we would expect relevance to one or more of BBSRC’s world-class ideas and impact themes within our strategic delivery plan.

Plant health spotlight

Plant health underpins the sustainable production of food, as well as maintaining the natural environment around us. Recognising plant health as a particular area of current strategic interest, BBSRC launched a plant health spotlight in our 2024 Responsive Mode scheme to encourage submissions. The plant health spotlight in BBR aims to complement the responsive mode mechanism by encouraging submissions of resource proposals within the same discipline.

For the purposes of this funding opportunity, plant health includes any pathogen (fungal, oomycete, viral or bacterial) or invertebrate pest (for example, insects, nematodes, molluscs) as well as insect vectors of plant pathogens.

The spotlight will focus on resources supporting assets relevant to the plant health community, including but not limited to genomics, metabolomics, phenomics, studies of climate change impact on plant health, and covering host plants, pests, pathogens and their environments.

In addition to adhering to the overall BBR scope, resources that want to be considered under the plant health spotlight are expected to:

  • demonstrate the resource is directly and primarily relevant to the plant health community
  • focus on plant health problems involving pathogens (fungal, oomycete, viral or bacterial) or invertebrate pest (for example, insects, nematodes, molluscs) as well as insect vectors of plant pathogens

An additional budget allocation is available to support proposals relevant to the spotlight.

The final decision whether a project falls within the scope of the plant health spotlight lies with BBSRC.

What we will fund

BBR supports the following types of applications:

  • establishment of a new and innovative resource that will be beneficial to a broader BBSRC user base
  • maturation and subsequent maintenance of a project-based resource into a community-based one
  • further development or essential maintenance of an existing community resource, with well-established access mechanisms, to increase its relevance, quality and utility, for example:
    • by enabling the resource to support FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) principles
    • by enabling new uses, for example metadata enrichment for machine learning and AI approaches
  • association, or integration, of distinct resources that will create an upgraded resource with a greater value than the sum of the parts

All applications are expected to evidence consideration for alternative long-term sustainability options beyond BBSRC support as well.

While the intention for BBR projects is to benefit UK researchers, we recognise that internationally leading infrastructures, facilities and resources will also have significant portions of their user base outside of the UK. When scoping your project please consider that resources with a significant impact and demand from within the UK research base fit the scope of the opportunity better than projects that serve a broad international community in which the UK only has a relatively small domestic user base.

What we will not fund

Applications in the following areas are excluded from BBR and will not be accepted. We may reject these applications without consultation:

  • projects where the resource does not have primary relevance to BBSRC’s remit and mission, for example generic software platforms applicable to any area of research
  • projects where the expected use of the resource and user communities lack a clear focus within the biosciences, for example biomedical and clinical data
  • research proposals where the primary aim is to address specific research hypotheses or questions, versus building or enhancing a community resource
  • projects that focus solely on creation of data that could be placed in existing repositories, or that lack strong justification for why there is a specific need to generate data as part of resource provision
  • resources already suitably supported via other means
  • resources that only provide institutional, or restricted access
  • collections of preserved, non-recoverable specimens, for example, herbaria, formalin-fixed material
  • archive-only resources without active usage

If you are unsure whether your proposed application fits the scope of BBR or BBSRC remit, please contact us at bbr.fund@bbsrc.ukri.org with a short summary of your project.

Supporting skills and talent

We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.

Trusted Research and Innovation

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is committed to ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.

As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.

See further guidance and information about TR&I, including where you can find additional support.

As part of this funding opportunity you cannot claim costs for international project partners or collaborators.

Duration

The duration of this award is a maximum of five years.

Projects can only start by 1 September 2024 at the earliest.

Funding available

The full economic cost of your project can be up to £2,000,000.

BBSRC will fund 80% of the full economic cost.

The indicative budget for this funding opportunity is up to £7 million.

An additional budget of up to £2 million is available to support at least one proposal relevant to the plant health spotlight.

Final funding decisions will take account of the panel outcomes, quality of the applications received, and the portfolio of projects that can be supported using the available budgets.

Applicant webinar

We will hold a webinar on 25 March 2024 at 11:00am UK time. This will provide more information about the funding opportunity and a chance to ask questions. The registration form also includes an opportunity for you to ask questions in advance. The registration link can be found in the ‘Additional Information’ section of this page.

How to apply

We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.

The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.

Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI.

To apply

Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page.

  1. Confirm you are the project lead.
  2. Sign in or create a Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a password. If your organisation is not listed, email support@funding-service.ukri.org
    Please allow at least 10 working days for your organisation to be added to the Funding Service.
  3. Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page.
  4. Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.
  5. Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.
  6. Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI.

Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant:

  • use images sparingly and only to convey important information that cannot easily be put into words
  • insert each new image onto a new line
  • provide a descriptive legend for each image immediately underneath it (this counts towards your word limit)
  • files must be smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format

Watch our research office webinars about the new Funding Service.

For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:

References

Applications should be self-contained, and hyperlinks should only be used to provide links directly to reference information. To ensure the information’s integrity is maintained, where possible, persistent identifiers such as digital object identifiers should be used. Assessors are not required to access links to carry out assessment or recommend a funding decision. You should use your discretion when including reference and prioritise those most pertinent to the application.

References should be included in the appropriate question section of the application and be easily identifiable by the assessors, for example Smith, Research Paper, 2019.

You must not include links to web resources to extend your application.

Deadline

BBSRC must receive your application by 7 May 2024 at 4:00pm UK time.

You will not be able to apply after this time.

Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.

Joint proposals via separate linked submissions are not permitted. It is the responsibility of the project lead and their research organisation to make the submission on behalf of all investigators.

Following the submission of your application to the funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and applications will not be returned for amendment. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.

Personal data

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.

Publication of outcomes

BBSRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity on this funding finder page in due course.

If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research.

Summary

Word limit: 550

In plain English, provide a summary we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.

We usually make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, therefore do not include any confidential or sensitive information. Make it suitable for a variety of readers, for example:

  • opinion-formers
  • policymakers
  • the public
  • the wider research community

Guidance for writing a summary

Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of:

  • context
  • the research the infrastructure, facility or resource will enable
  • aims and objectives
  • potential user communities, applications and benefits

Core team

List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following:

  • project lead (PL)
  • project co-lead (UK) (PcL)
  • researcher co-lead (RcL)
  • specialist
  • professional enabling staff
  • research and innovation associate
  • technician
  • visiting researcher

Only list one individual as project lead.

A research technical professional or research software engineer can be listed as a project lead or project co-lead, provided that:

  • their appointment is resourced from the central funds of their research organisation at the time of application
  • their level of responsibilities and duties is appropriate to a person with substantial research experience
  • their contract extends beyond the duration of the project

The researcher co-lead role has replaced the research co-investigator role previously used in Je-S grant applications. They will be an individual who merits appropriate recognition for making a substantial contribution to the formulation and development of the application and will be closely involved with the project. They will be employed on the project by and based at the institutions of the project lead or any project co-leads.

Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications.

Application questions

Vision

Word limit: 1,700

What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how your proposed work:

  • is of excellent quality and importance within or beyond the field(s) or area(s)
  • has the potential to advance current understanding, or generate 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

Include the following in your statement:

  • the uniqueness and expected added value of the proposed resource to the UK bioscience research community and infrastructure landscape
  • how the resource relates to past and current resources in the subject area in both the UK and abroad
  • full details of the resource and an overview of the associated objectives. Details on how these objectives are delivered should be included in the Approach section
  • a description of the types of research that will be enabled by the resource
  • consideration of the potential impact on the scientific community and other possibly dependent resources if the resource did not exist
  • only if applicable, relevance of the proposed work to the plant health spotlight

In your vision, you should also clearly identify which of the following categories your proposed resource falls under, and expand on the relevant points raised below:

  • establishment of a new and innovative resource that will be beneficial to a broader BBSRC user base. Explain why a new resource is needed and what unique and important features it will offer
  • maturation and subsequent maintenance of a project-based resource into a community-based one. Briefly explain the background to the resource, current usage, proposed changes and the benefits this will lead to for the research community
  • further development or essential maintenance of an existing community resource, with well-established access mechanisms. Explain current usage and how this project will increase its relevance, quality and utility, for example:
    • by enabling the resource to support FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) principles
    • by enabling new uses, for example metadata enrichment for machine learning and AI approaches
  • association, or integration, of distinct resources. Explain current usage and how the proposed plans will create an upgraded resource with a greater value than the sum of the parts

References may be included within this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

Approach

Word limit: 4,400

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
  • uses a clearly written and transparent methodology (if applicable)
  • summarises the previous work and describes how this will be built upon and progressed (if applicable)
  • will maximise translation of outputs into outcomes and impacts
  • describes how your, and if applicable your team’s, research environment (in terms of the place and relevance to the project) will contribute to the success of the work

Include the following when describing your approach:

  • measurable targets against which the outcome of the work will be assessed
  • significant technical details for the development, maintenance or enhancement of the resource, indicating how this is of internationally exceptional quality
  • any proposed research efforts and how they directly facilitate development of the resource (if applicable)
  • if the focus is on maintaining an existing resource instead of suggesting further development, provide evidence of why significant upgrades are not required at this time and detail why the resource needs continued support to maintain world-leading functionality (if applicable)

Describe the specific contribution of each applicant to the proposed resource:

  • their scientific contributions, for example, research field and specialist knowledge, experience, resource management expertise, technical and data analysis expertise
  • their role and responsibilities, for example, managerial, leadership, mentoring
  • references to specific work packages are recommended
  • highlight where applicants will work collaboratively to deliver specific project requirements
  • include clear time commitments for each applicant

There is no need to duplicate information included in the ‘Applicant and team capability to deliver’ section.

References may be included within this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

A project Gannt chart is compulsory and should be inserted as an image at the very end of this section. The Gannt chart should identify appropriate deliverables, responsibilities and time points for each objective.

Community demand: letters (or emails) of support

Letters (or emails) of support demonstrating community demand are mandatory for BBR.

Upload a single PDF of maximum 8MB containing a maximum of 10 letters or emails of support. These should be uploaded in English or Welsh only. Enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

The letters should give an indication of community demand for the resource in question, demonstrating the breadth of research and the high-quality science relevant to BBSRC remit that the resource would underpin.

Add the following details for each letter:

  • the organisation name (searchable via a drop-down list or enter the organisation’s details manually, as applicable)
  • contact name of the signatory

Letters of support aimed at demonstrating community demand should:

  • outline the uniqueness and expected added value of the proposed resource to the UK bioscience research community and infrastructure landscape
  • clearly explain the impact and benefit of the proposed resource on the writer’s research and the associated community
  • if possible, explain where this supported research has already demonstrated or could have potential for particular scientific, economic or societal impact
  • help to demonstrate the breadth of the relevant user community

Letters of support that fail to do so, in particular template letters indicating generic support without identifying a particular usage, are of negligible value for the assessment and should not be submitted. Carefully chosen letters containing relevant evidence of the requirement or benefit to be gained, are of greater value than large numbers of letters.

The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.

Applicant and team capability to deliver

Word limit: 1,650

Why are you the right individual or team to successfully deliver the proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Evidence of how you, and if relevant your team, have:

  • the relevant experience (appropriate to career stage) to deliver the proposed work
  • the right balance of skills and expertise to cover the proposed work
  • the appropriate leadership and management skills to deliver the work and your approach to develop others
  • contributed to developing a positive research environment and wider community

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

The word count for this section is 1,650 words: 1,150 words to be used for R4RI modules (including references) and, if necessary, a further 500 words for Additions.

Use the Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) format to showcase the range of relevant skills you and, if relevant, your team (project and project co-leads, researchers, technicians, specialists, partners and so on) have and how this will help deliver the proposed work. You can include individuals’ specific achievements but only choose past contributions that best evidence their ability to deliver this work.

Complete this section using the R4RI module headings listed. Use each heading once and include a response for the whole team, see the UKRI guidance on R4RI. You should consider how to balance your answer, and emphasise where appropriate the key skills each team member brings:

  • 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

Provide any further details relevant to your application. This section is optional and can be up to 500 words. You should not use it to describe additional skills, experiences, or outputs, but you can use it to describe any factors that provide context for the rest of your R4RI (for example, details of career breaks if you wish to disclose them).

Complete this as a narrative. Do not format it like a CV.

There is no need to duplicate information included in the ‘Approach’ section.

UKRI has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the new Funding Service.

For full details, see Eligibility as an individual.

References may be included within this section.

Project partners

Add details about any project partners’ contributions. If there are no project partners, you can indicate this on the Funding Service.

A project partner is a collaborating organisation who will have an integral role in the proposed research. This may include direct (cash) or indirect (in-kind) contributions such as expertise, staff time or use of facilities.

Add the following project partner details:

  • the organisation name and address (searchable via a drop-down list or enter the organisation’s details manually, as applicable)
  • the project partner contact name and email address
  • the type of contribution (direct or in-direct) and its monetary value

If a detail is entered incorrectly and you have saved the entry, remove the specific project partner record and re-add it with the correct information.

For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.

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 Project Partner section. These should be uploaded in English or Welsh only.

Enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box, or if you do not have any project partners enter N/A.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

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

The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply. If you do not have any project partners, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.

Ensure you have prior agreement from project partners so that, if you are offered funding, they will support your project as indicated in the project partners’ section.

For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.

Management strategy

Word limit: 500

How do you plan to manage the resource?

What the assessors are looking for in your response
  • resources will be expected to have governance arrangements appropriate for the oversight and successful delivery of the project’s complexity
  • provide details about the project’s management and advisory structure
  • provide details of the approach to project and risk management, and the monitoring strategy for tracking progress of the proposed programme
  • provide details on how demand and access requests will be managed, and what support will be provided to the users of the resource
  • an advisory board is required for all projects, which is independent from both the academic institutions and project partners involved in the proposal. Provide information on the proposed membership of this advisory board and how it will be used
  • provide details on how the resource user perspective and their needs will be considered, including how feedback will be sought and subsequently used to inform the management of the resource

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

Data management and sharing

Word limit: 1,500

How will you manage and share data collected or acquired as part of the proposed resource?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Provide a data management plan using the BBR DMP template structure that clearly details how your proposed resource will comply with UKRI’s published data sharing policy, which includes detailed guidance notes.

Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)

Word limit: 500

Does the proposed work involve international collaboration in a sensitive research or technology area?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Demonstrate how your proposed international collaboration relates to trusted research and innovation, including:

  • list the countries your international project co-leads, project partners and visiting researchers, or other collaborators are based in
  • if international collaboration is involved, explain whether this project is relevant to one or more of the 17 areas of the UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act
  • if one or more of the 17 areas of the UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act are involved, please identify which areas

If your proposed work does not involve any international collaboration, answer ‘n/a’ here.

We may ask you to provide additional information about how your proposed project will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.

Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)

Word limit: 500

What are the ethical or RRI implications and issues relating to the proposed work? If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical or RRI issues, explain why.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated:

  • the relevant ethical or responsible research and innovation considerations
  • how you will manage these considerations

Consider in particular if the following aspects are relevant to your proposed resource:

  • genetic and biological risk
  • research involving the use of animals
  • conducting research with animals overseas
  • research involving human participation
  • research involving human tissues or biological samples

Genetic and biological risk

Word limit: 700

Does your proposed research involve any genetic or biological risk?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

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 three 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.

If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.

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 you are proposing research that requires using animals, download and complete the Animals Scientific Procedures Act template (DOCX, 74KB), which contains all the questions relating to research using vertebrate animals or other Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 regulated organisms.

Save it as a PDF. The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply. If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.

Conducting research with animals overseas

Word limit: 700

Will any of the proposed animal research be conducted overseas?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

If you are proposing to conduct overseas research, it must be conducted in accordance with welfare standards consistent with those in the UK, as in Responsibility in the use of animals in bioscience research, page 14. Ensure all named applicants in the UK and overseas are aware of this requirement.

If your application proposes animal research to be conducted overseas, you must provide a statement in the text box. Depending on the species involved, you may also need to upload a completed template for each species listed.

Statement

Provide a statement 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
Templates

Overseas studies proposing to use non-human primates, cats, dogs, equines or pigs will be assessed during NC3Rs review of research applications. Provide the required information by completing the template from the question ‘Research involving the use of animals’.

For studies involving other species, select, download, and complete the relevant Word checklist or checklists from this list:

Save your completed template as a PDF and upload to the Funding service. If you use more than one checklist template, save it as a single PDF.

The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.

If conducting research with animals overseas does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.

Research involving human participation

Word limit: 700

Will the project involve the use of human subjects or their personal information?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

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.

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.

If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.

Research involving human tissues or biological samples

Word limit: 700

Does your proposed research involve the use of human tissues, or biological samples?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

If you are proposing work that involves human tissues or biological samples, provide the name of any required approving body and whether approval is already in place.

Justify the use of human tissue or biological samples specifying the nature and quantity of the material to be used and its source.

If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.

Facilities

Word limit: 500

Does your proposed project require the support and use of a facility?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

If you will need to use a facility, follow your proposed facility’s normal access request procedures. Ensure you have prior agreement so that if you are offered funding, they will support the use of their facility on your project.

For each requested facility you will need to provide the:

  • name of facility, copied and pasted from the facility information list (DOCX, 35KB)
  • proposed usage or costs, or costs per unit where indicated on the facility information list
  • confirmation you have their agreement where required

If you will not need to use a facility, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.

Resources and cost justification

Word limit: 1,000

What will you need to deliver your proposed work and how much will it cost?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Justify the application’s more costly resources, in particular:

  • project staff
  • significant travel for field work or collaboration (but not regular travel between collaborating organisations or to conferences)
  • any equipment that will cost more than £10,000
  • any consumables beyond typical requirements, or that are required in exceptional quantities
  • all facilities and infrastructure costs
  • all resources that have been costed as ‘Exceptions’

Assessors are not looking for detailed costs or a line-by-line breakdown of all project resources. Overall, they want you to 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
  • evidence appropriate consideration for alternative long-term sustainability options beyond BBSRC funding

Your organisation’s support

Word limit: 500

Provide details of support from your research organisation and project co-lead research organisations.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Provide a statement of support from all participating research organisations detailing why they are best placed to support the proposed project. This should include details of any matched funding that will be provided to support the activity and any additional support that might add value to the work.

Assessors will be looking for a strong statement of commitment from your research organisations.

BBSRC recognises that in some instances, this information may be provided by the Research Office, the Technology Transfer Office (TTO) or equivalent, or a combination of both.

You must also include the following details:

  • a significant person’s name and their position, from the TTO or Research Office, or both
  • office address or web link

Upload details are provided within the service on the actual application.

We do not require separate institutional letters of support as attachments. By submitting your application to us, you are confirming that your institutions are supportive of and committed to your project.

How we will assess your application

Assessment process

We will assess your application using the following process.

Individual review by panel members

Each proposal will be allocated to three members of the expert panel who will provide independent initial reviews of the assigned proposals, against the specified criteria for this funding opportunity. The panel members will be asked to provide comments, raise questions and give an indicative pre-score.

Ad hoc reviews by external reviewers will only be gathered by exception, therefore most applicants should expect to receive only three reviews to respond to.

Project lead response

Following the individual review by the assigned panel members the project lead will have the opportunity to respond to any comments or questions raised, usually within a 10-working day period.

Panel members assigned to your proposal may adjust their pre-scores ahead of the panel meeting following your response, so you are advised to directly address all questions and issues raised.

The panel will use your response as part of the final scoring of your proposal.

Expert Panel

Following the individual review by expert panel members and your response, we will invite the whole panel to assess the quality of your application, come to a consensus and rank it alongside other applications.

Final funding decisions will take account of the panel outcomes, quality of the applications received, and the portfolio of projects that can be supported using the available budgets.

Feedback

We will give feedback to all applicants with the outcome of their application.

Principles of assessment

We support the San Francisco declaration on research assessment and recognise the relationship between research assessment and research integrity.

Find out about the UKRI principles of assessment and decision making.

Assessment areas

The following are the areas used for assessment:

  • vision
  • approach
  • community demand
  • applicant and team capability to deliver
  • project partners
  • management strategy
  • data management and sharing
  • resources and cost justification

We reserve the right to modify the assessment process as needed.

Contact details

Get help with your application

If you have a question and the answers aren’t provided on this page

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Helpdesk is committed to helping users of the UKRI Funding Service as effectively and as quickly as possible. In order to manage cases at peak volume times, the Helpdesk will triage and prioritise those queries with an imminent opportunity deadline or a technical issue. Enquiries raised where information is available on the Funding Finder opportunity page and should be understood early in the application process (for example, regarding eligibility or content/remit of an opportunity) will not constitute a priority case and will be addressed as soon as possible.

Contact details

For help and advice on costings and writing your proposal please contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process.

For questions related to this specific funding opportunity please contact bbr.fund@bbsrc.ukri.org

Any queries regarding the system or the submission of applications through the Funding Service should be directed to the helpdesk.

Email: support@funding-service.ukri.org

Phone: 01793 547490

Our phone lines are open:

  • Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 5:00pm
  • Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm

To help us process queries quicker, we request that users highlight the council and opportunity name in the subject title of their email query, include the application reference number, and refrain from contacting more than one mailbox at a time.

You can also find information on submitting an application.

Sensitive information

If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email bbr.fund@bbsrc.ukri.org

Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number].

Typical examples of confidential information include:

  • individual is unavailable until a certain date (for example due to parental leave)
  • declaration of interest
  • additional information about eligibility to apply that would not be appropriately shared in the ‘Applicant and team capability’ section
  • conflict of interest for UKRI to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection
  • the application is an invited resubmission

For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read UKRI’s privacy notice.

Additional info

Webinar for potential applicants

We held a webinar on 25 March 2024 at 11:00am UK time. This provided more information about the funding opportunity and a chance to ask questions.

Watch the webinar recording on YouTube

View the webinar slides (PDF, 2MB)

Research disruption due to COVID-19

We recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused major interruptions and disruptions across our communities. We are committed to ensuring that individual applicants and their wider team, including partners and networks, are not penalised for any disruption to their career, such as:

  • breaks and delays
  • disruptive working patterns and conditions
  • the loss of ongoing work
  • role changes that may have been caused by the pandemic

Reviewers and panel members will be advised to consider the unequal impacts that COVID-19 related disruption might have had on the capability to deliver and career development of those individuals included in the application. They will be asked to consider the capability of the applicant and their wider team to deliver the research they are proposing.

Where disruptions have occurred, you can highlight this within your application if you wish, but there is no requirement to detail the specific circumstances that caused the disruption.

Supporting documents

Frequently asked questions (PDF, 153KB)

Updates

  • 11 April 2024
    Updated data management plan template added in Additional info and How to apply. Frequently asked questions document added in Additional info.

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