We are running this funding opportunity on the new UKRI Funding Service. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.
You are responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect you to consult with sponsors and any project partners and mentors throughout the application process for advice.
Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UK Research & Innovation (UKRI).
If the lead research organisation is an NHS organisation, check it is available in the Funding Service. You are encouraged to check this early as there may be additional steps for the organisation to be set up before you can apply.
To apply:
Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page.
- Confirm you are the fellowship applicant.
- Sign in or create a UKRI 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.
You will be prompted to select the organisation you are applying with to host the fellowship before you start your application. If you are not currently based at that organisation, ensure the research office are aware of your application.
- 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
- Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.
- Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI.
Watch our research office webinars about the new UKRI Funding Service.
Deadline
We must receive your application on 13 September 2023 by 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.
You will not be able to apply after the funding opportunity has closed. We will not consider late applications.
Following the close of 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
We 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 you apply for a jointly funded fellowship, MRC as part of UKRI will need to share the application and any personal information that it contains with the joint funder so that they can participate in the assessment process. For more information on how the joint funders use personal information, visit their websites.
Publication of outcomes
We will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at Board and panel outcomes – MRC.
If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research.
UKRI Funding Service: section guidance
Summary
Word count: 550
In plain English, provide a summary we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.
We may make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, so 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 challenge the project addresses
- aims and objectives
- potential applications and benefits
Core team
List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following:
- specialist
- professional enabling staff (assign your sponsors this role)
- research and innovation associate
- technician
- fellow
Only list one individual as fellow.
You must list at least one sponsor and assign them as professional enabling staff.
Mentors should not be listed in the core team.
Find out more about UKRI’s new grant roles.
Vision and Approach
Word count: 10
Create a document that includes your responses to all criteria. The document should not be more than six sides of A4, single spaced in paper in 11-point Arial, or equivalent sans serif font, with margins of at least 2cm. You may include images, graphs, tables.
You can have an additional page for your project plan, plus an optional additional page for reproducibility information. If additional pages are completed the maximum length of the document is eight pages. If you do not want to provide additional information, or it is not relevant to your application, you must limit the length of your document accordingly and not use additional pages for anything other than the specified purpose.
For the file name, use the unique UKRI Funding Service number the system gives you when you create an application, followed by the words ‘Vision and Approach’.
Save this document as a single PDF file, no bigger than 8MB. Unless specifically requested, please do not include any personal data within the attachment.
If the attachment does not meet these requirements, the application will be rejected.
The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.
Question: What are you hoping to achieve with and how will you deliver your proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
For the Vision, 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
- impacts world-leading research, society, the economy or the environment
Within the Vision section we also expect you to:
- identify the potential direct or indirect benefits and who the beneficiaries might be
- identify potential improvements in human or population health, whether through contributing to relieving disease or disability burden, improving quality of life, or providing benefit to the health service or health-related industry
- outline your plans for engagement, communication and dissemination about your research and its outcomes with the research community and, where appropriate, with potentially interested wider audiences
For the Approach, explain how you have designed your work so that it:
- is effective and appropriate to achieve your objectives
- is feasible, and comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how you will manage them
- uses a clearly written and transparent methodology, if applicable
- summarises the previous work and describes how you will build on and progress this work, if applicable
- will maximise translation of outputs into outcomes and impacts
- demonstrates how your research environment will contribute to the success of the work, in terms of the place and relevance to the project
Within the Approach section we also expect you to:
- provide a detailed and comprehensive project plan of training and development to support career advancement, including milestones and timelines in the form of a Gantt chart or similar (additional one-page A4)
- demonstrate access to the appropriate services, facilities, infrastructure, or equipment to deliver the proposed work
- explain the specific training and research considerations which led to the choice of host department
- describe the special features or facilities of the research training environment in the host organisation that will benefit you
- if this is where you have been based for a year or more, explain your reasons for remaining
- explain who you intend to collaborate with at the host organisation and your plans for wider research collaborations. Project partner details should be provided only in that section
- include details of work that will take place as part of the proposed fellowship at a second UK or overseas centre, if applicable
- specify population groups in relation to their diversity characteristics and the proposed analysis, following the MRC embedding diversity in research design policy, if applicable
- if applicable, show how you will use both sexes in research involving animals, tissues and cells. If you are not proposing to do this, a strong justification is required
You have the option to provide additional information about reproducibility and how you will ensure reliability and robustness of your work, such as further details of statistical analyses, methodology and experimental design.
The reproducibility information should be a clearly identified page in your vision and approach document. We expect you to seek professional statistical or other relevant advice in preparing your response, which may include:
- experimental approach to address objectives
- sample and effect sizes
- planned statistical analyses
- models chosen, for example animal model or cell line
Refer to the MRC guidance for applicants, section 2.2.3.5 ‘Reproducibility and statistical design’ for further information, examples and online tools.
If your proposed work involves animals, and you provide information on animal sample sizes and statistical analyses in the vision and approach document, you should not duplicate it in the ‘Research involving the use of animals’ section, specifically within the experimental design and statistical framework section of the template. Use the ‘Research involving the use of animals’ section to provide information on the rationale for using animals, choice of species, welfare and procedure severity.
Section: career progression
Word count: 700 words
Question: Why is the proposed work, the environment it will be conducted in, and the support provided by the host organisation the right way to develop your career?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Ensure that you have identified:
- career progression goals appropriate to the fellowship funding opportunity
- necessary support to enable you to transition, change and grow to the next career stage and achieve your stated career progression goals
- how the proposed work will provide a feasible and appropriate trajectory for you to acquire additional skills, like leadership, communication and management skills
Applicant capability to deliver
Word count: 1,500
Question: Why are you the right individual to successfully deliver the proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Evidence of how you have:
- the relevant experience (appropriate to career stage) to make best use of the benefits presented by this funding opportunity to develop your career
- the right balance of skills and aptitude to deliver the proposed work, or feasible plans to develop these
- contributed to developing a positive research environment and wider community
The word count for this section is 1,500 words, 1,000 words to be used for R4RI modules 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 have and how this will help to deliver the proposed work. You can include specific achievements and choose past contributions that best evidence your ability to deliver this work.
Complete this section using the following R4RI module headings. You should use each heading once, 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.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the new UKRI Funding Service.
For full details, see Eligibility as an individual.
References
Word count: 1,000
List the references you have used to support your application.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Include all references in this section, not in the rest of the application questions.
You should not include any other information in this section.
We advise you not to include hyperlinks, as assessors are not obliged to access the information they lead to or consider it in their assessment of your application.
If linking to web resources, to maintain the information’s integrity, include persistent identifiers, such as digital object identifiers, where possible.
You must not include links to web resources to extend your application.
Section: Head of department statements
Word count: 10
Question: Provide your head of department supporting statements.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Provide evidence that the host organisation for your fellowship is committed to helping you realise your full potential in terms of establishing yourself as a research and innovation leader, including how they will support you and ensure your time commitment to the fellowship is protected.
A signed letter of support must be provided by the head of the department where you are applying to host your fellowship and uploaded to the application. This letter of support should include:
- name and position of the person providing the statement
- how long they have known you
- their assessment of your suitability for an MRC fellowship
- their assessment of the suitability of the department for your project and your research training and career development
- the commitments the department will make to support you, such as laboratory space, access to equipment, facilities and PhD students
Additional letters of support may also be required, from:
Second centres: if a second centre is involved in your fellowship application, you must also include an additional letter of support from the industrial partner or second research organisation head of department, confirming their commitment to support you.
Previous head of department: if you have recently moved department or plan to undertake your fellowship at a different department to your current affiliation, an additional letter of support should be included from your previous or current head of department, with their assessment of your suitability for an MRC fellowship.
Create a PDF document that combines all your letters of support. Each letter should not be more than two sides of A4, single spaced in paper in 11-point Arial (or equivalent sans serif font) with margins of at least 2cm.
The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.
Section: Sponsors
Word count: 3,000
Question: Provide details of your sponsors and their support.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
A statement must be provided by at least one sponsor who is a senior member of the department where you are applying to host your fellowship and who will have academic responsibility for you. Other sponsors can be named if necessary to support all areas of the proposed work and may be from other organisations.
A sponsor is not expected to fulfil a supervisory role during the fellowship, but they act as a supporter for the application and the fellowship.
A sponsor should have expertise in the research area of the application and will act as guarantor for the quality of the proposed research, suitability of you as a fellowship candidate and the quality of training and development you will receive.
An entry should be included for each sponsor, detailing:
- the sponsor’s name and current position
- in what capacity they know you
- how long they have known you
- their views on your research ability and suitability for this fellowship
- measures of research activity where you will be based, such as the number of academic staff
- the suitability and quality of the support, training and skills that you will receive, including how your research area fits with the priorities of the research environment
A sponsor statement should be up to 1,000 words, only use the full word count if you have multiple sponsors.
Section: Mentors
Word count: 500
Question: How will you be mentored during the fellowship?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Explain your proposed mentoring arrangements.
If a mentor has been identified, they should be named in the response to this question and provide a statement of support detailing how they will support you.
Project partners
Word count: 1,000
Provide details of any project partners’ contributions, and letters or emails of support from each named partner.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Download and complete the Project partner contributions template (DOCX, 52KB).
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 UKRI 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 contributions template.
For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.
Do not provide project partner letters of support from host research organisations.
If your application includes industry project partners, you will also need to complete the Industry Collaboration Framework (ICF) section.
Find out more about ICF.
Section: Industry Collaboration Framework (ICF)
Word count: 1,500
Question: Does your application include industry project partners?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If industry collaboration does not apply to any of your project partners, or you don’t have any project partners, simply add ‘N/A’ into the text box.
If your research project involves collaboration between an academic organisation and an industry or company, you are likely to need to follow the industry collaboration framework and answer this question, check using the ICF decision tree.
By ‘industry or company’ we mean an enterprise that puts goods or services on a market and whose commercial activities are greater than 20% of their overall annual capacity.
The assessors are looking for information relating to the nature, goals and conditions of the collaboration and any restrictions or rights to the project results that could be claimed by the project partner.
Find out more about ICF, including:
- collaboration agreements
- definitions of basic or applied research
- internationally based companies
- subsidy control
- Intellectual property (IP) arrangements
- fully flexible and gated contributions
- the ICF assessment criteria
In addition to the project partner information completed in the previous section, confirm your answers to the ICF questions in the text box, repeat this process for each ICF project partner:
- Name the industry or company project partner considered under ICF.
- Indicate whether your application is either basic research or applied research.
- Explain why, in the absence of the requested UKRI funding, the collaboration and the planned research could not be undertaken.
- State whether your application is under the category of either fully flexible contribution or gated contribution, based on the IP sharing arrangements with the ICF partner.
- Outline the pre-existing IP or ‘background IP’ that each project partner, including the academic partner, will bring to the collaborative research project and the terms under which project partners may access these assets.
- Outline the IP or ‘foreground IP’ that is expected to be developed during the collaborative research project and briefly outline how it will be managed, including:
-
- which project partners will own this IP
- what rights project partners will have to use academically-generated foreground IP during and after the research project, for internal research and development or for commercial purposes
- any rights of the academic partner to commercialise the foreground IP (including foreground IP generated by project partners)
- Outline any restrictions to dissemination of the project results, including the rights of the project partner to:
- review, approve or delay publications, including the time period associated with such rights
- request or require the removal of any information.
- Declare any conflicts of interest held by the applicants in relation to the project partners and describe how they will be managed.
- If applicable, justify collaborating with an overseas industry or company under ICF.
Failure to provide the information requested for industry partners under ICF could result in your application being rejected.
You are recommended to discuss the goals and conditions of any collaboration with an industry or company project partner with your university technology transfer or contracts office before applying.
Facilities
Word count: 250
Does your proposed research 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.
Section: Data management and sharing
Word count: 1,500
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 MRC’s published data management and sharing policies, which includes detailed guidance notes. Provide your response following the MRC data management plan template.
The length of your plan will vary depending on the type of study being undertaken:
- population cohorts; longitudinal studies; genetic, omics and imaging data; biobanks, and other collections that are potentially a rich resource for the wider research community: maximum of 1,500 words
- for all other research, including less complex, the plan may be as short as 500 words
Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)
Word count: 500
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
Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated:
- the relevant ethical or responsible research and innovation considerations
- how you will manage these considerations
Consider the MRC guidance on ethics and approvals.
If you are collecting or using data, 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 to not preclude further re-use of data
- formal information standards with which your study will comply
Genetic and biological risk
Word count: 700
Question: 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
Word count: 10
Question: 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 count: 10
Question: 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. 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
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 as a PDF. If you use more than one checklist, save it as a single 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.
Research involving human participation
Word count: 700
Question: 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 count: 700
Question: 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.
Resources and cost justification
Word count: 1,000
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
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’
- support to work at a second centre in the UK or overseas
- support for training activities
- support for public and patient involvement and engagement
- support for preserving, long-term storage, or sharing of data
- NHS research costs, when they are associated with NHS studies
- animal costs, such as numbers that need to be bred or maintained and to achieve high welfare standards
- support for sponsors, which must not exceed 5% of their time
Assessors are not looking for detailed costs or a line-by-line breakdown of all project resources. Overall, they want to be assured that:
- all resources are appropriate
- the project will make optimal use of resources to achieve its outcomes
Section: Clinical research in the NHS, public health or social care
Word count: 250
Question: Will your research take place in an NHS, public health or social care setting?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If not, enter ‘N/A’ into the text box.
Researchers applying for clinical research in the NHS, public health or social care need to complete a Schedule of Events Cost Attribution Tool (SoECAT) to be eligible for the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network (CRN) portfolio. This is the route through which support and excess treatment costs are provided in England.
You must answer ‘Yes’ and complete and upload a SoECAT if you are applying for clinical research funding, and:
- you will carry out your research in the UK
- it is intended for the NIHR CRN portfolio; this may include studies in a social care or public health setting
- the research requires approval by Health Research Authority (England) or its equivalents in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales
- your research will use NHS resources
You must complete a SoECAT even if you don’t think your clinical research will involve excess treatment costs (ETCs).
See MRC guidance 3.5.1 on who needs to complete a SoECAT.
If you are applying for clinical research in the NHS, public health or social care and don’t think you need to complete a SoECAT, answer ‘Yes’ and explain why a SoECAT is not necessary.
We want to know that you have taken the appropriate steps for the full costs of your research to be attributed, calculated and paid.
We want to see the expected total resources required for your project, such as ETCs, to consider if these are appropriate.
How to complete a SoECAT
SoECAT guidance can be found on the NIHR website.
These are the steps you need to take:
- Contact an Attributing the costs of health and social care Research & Development (AcoRD) specialist as early as possible in the application process.
- Complete an online SoECAT. Excel versions of the form have been discontinued. If you don’t have an account for NIHR’s Central Portfolio Management System (CPMS) you will need create and activate one. See the user guide for instructions.
- Request authorisation of your SoECAT.
- Once authorised convert the ‘Summary’ page from the ‘Funder Export’ as a PDF and upload it to your application.
Applications that require a SoECAT but have not attached the SoECAT funder export summary may be rejected.
Contact support@funding-service.ukri.org if you have questions about the UKRI aspects of this process or have concerns that your SoECAT may not be authorised in time for the application deadline.
Section: Related applications
Word count: 500
Question: Is this application related to another application to MRC or other funding organisation?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If not, enter N/A.
If yes, explain how this new application is related to the other application.
You are allowed to apply for fellowship funding from other funders or research organisations at the same time as this application. If the related application was submitted to another funder you should identify the name of the funder and when you applied.
If this is a resubmission, include the reference number of your previous MRC application. Describe how this application differs from the previous application and how feedback on the previous application has been considered and acted on.
You may only apply twice for any MRC fellowship, regardless of the extent of changes to the application. Changing your organisation or project does not reset your number of previous applications.
Section: Joint Funders
Word count: 20
Question: Are you applying for a jointly-funded fellowship?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If not, enter N/A into the text box
If you are applying for a jointly-funded fellowship we want to know the name of the joint funder. If applicable, select your joint funder from the below list and copy it in the text box:
- Blood Cancer UK
- The Borne Foundation
- DEBRA
- Multiple Sclerosis Society
- Parkinson’s UK
- Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
- Tuberous Sclerosis Association
- Diabetes UK
- Kidney Research UK
By selecting a joint funder, you agree to us sharing this application and your personal information with the chosen joint funder or funders.
