UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service
We are running the funding opportunity on the new UKRI Funding Service. You cannot apply for this funding opportunity on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.
If you do not already have an account with the UKRI Funding Service, you will be able to create one by selecting the ‘start application’ button at the start of this page. Creating an account is a two-minute process requiring you to verify your email address and set a password.
If you are a member of an organisation with a research office that we do not have contact details for, we will contact them to enable administrator access. This provides:
- oversight of every UKRI Funding Service application opened on behalf of your organisation
- the ability to review and submit applications
Research offices that have not already received an invitation to open an account should email support@funding-service.ukri.org
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.
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 two-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
UKRI must receive your application by 27 July 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
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.
General text on outcomes publication
AHRC will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at: Board and panel outcomes.
If your application is successful, some personal information will be published via the UKRI Gateway to Research.
UKRI Funding Service: 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: 500
Applicants
List the key members of your team and assign them roles, for example:
- principal investigator
- business partner
- co-investigator
- researcher
- technician
You should only list one individual as principal investigator.
Section: Vision
Question: 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, generates new knowledge, thinking or discovery within or beyond the field or area
- is timely given current trends, context and needs
- will impact world-leading research, society, the economy or the environment
- will catalyse, convene and conduct research and innovation through a systems, human-centred approach to strengthening societal and economic resilience
- enhance security across virtual and physical environments by improving awareness of risks and threats, preparedness, informed decision-making and response in an integrated manner
- will become an equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) role model, actively promoting EDI in the research and innovation community
Within the vision section we also expect you to:
- identify the potential direct or indirect benefits and who the beneficiaries might be
Word count: 500
Section: Approach
Question: 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
- 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, its location and relevance to the project) will contribute to the success of the work
- will coordinate and maximise the impact of the range of activities commissioned
- will lead, plan, deliver and manage a multidisciplinary programme of research and devolved funding opportunities in identified areas of knowledge, and evidence gaps within the scope of the theme
- delivers strong management and governance structures that have EDI considerations built in at a fundamental level
- will build strong connections with a variety of stakeholders across central and local government, devolved administrations, internationally and the general public
Word count: 3,000
Section: Data management and sharing
Question: 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 UKRI’s published data sharing policy, which includes detailed guidance notes.
Word count: 500
Section: Your organisation’s support
Question: provide details of support from your research organisation.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Provide a statement of support from your research organisation detailing why the proposed work is needed. The committee will be looking for a strong statement of commitment from your research organisation.
UKRI 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
Word count:1,000
Section: Project partners: contributions
Question: 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.
Ensure you have obtained prior agreement from project partners that, should you be offered funding, they will support your project as indicated in the template.
Word count: 500
Section: Project partners: letters (or emails) of support
Question: 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 below.
Each letter or email you provide should:
- confirm the partner’s commitment to the project (letters must be signed, dated and on headed paper)
- clearly explain the value, relevance and possible benefits of the work to them
- describe any additional value that they bring to the project
Please do not provide letters of support from host and co-investigator’s 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.
Word count: 5
Section: International co-investigator head of department letter (or email) of support (if applicable)
Question: upload a single PDF containing signed and dated letters of support (on headed paper) from the head of department for each international co-investigator
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If you do not have any international co-investigators, simply add ‘N/A’ into the text box.
If you have named international co-investigators in the applicants’ section, enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box.
Each letter you provide should:
- explain what the international co-investigator is bringing to the project and why they are best placed to conduct the research
- state how they will deliver the project’s objectives
- describe how their institution will support them during the lifetime of the project
- provide assurances that their contract will be in place for the duration of the project
- be no more than two sides of A4
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.
Word count: 5
Section: Applicant and team capability to deliver
Question: 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
Use the Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) format to showcase the range of relevant skills you, and if relevant your team (investigators, researchers, other (technical) staff for example research software engineers, data scientists and so on, and partners), have and how this will help to 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. You should use each heading once and include a response for the whole team, 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:
- 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 which 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.
Word count: 1,000
Section: Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)
Question: 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
Using the text box, demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated the relevant ethical or responsible research and innovation considerations, and how you will manage them.
You should provide safeguarding and risk assessments of all researchers, partners and collaborators, including provision of psychosocial support for researchers or participants where appropriate, and considerations of differing international research contexts.
If you are collecting or using data you should identify:
- any legal and ethical considerations of collecting, releasing or storing the data including consent, confidentiality, anonymisation, security and other ethical considerations and, in particular, strategies taken to not preclude further reuse of data
- formal information standards with which study will be compliant
Word count: 1,000
Section: Resources and cost justification
Question: 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 the full economic costings (FEC) template (DOCX, 92KB), complete it 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 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.
You should identify:
- all devolved funding costs, which must be clearly marked ‘DF’ in order to distinguish them from funds related to the direct funding of the hub
- support for activities to either increase impact, for public engagement, knowledge exchange, to support responsible innovation or both
- support for access to facilities, infrastructure, procurement of equipment or both
- support for preserving, long-term storage, or sharing of data
- support from your organisation or partner organisations and how that enhances value for money
Word count: 1,000
