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.
- Confirm you are the project lead.
- 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
- 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.
- Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.
- 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.
Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. You must:
- 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)
- ensure files are 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:
Deadline
EPSRC must receive your application by 4:00pm UK time on 10 April 2024.
You will not be able to apply after this time.
Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.
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. If an application is withdrawn prior to peer review or office rejected due to substantive errors in the application, it cannot be resubmitted to the opportunity.
Personal data
Processing personal data
EPSRC, 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
ESPRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity.
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 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:
- fellow
- project co-lead (UK) (PcL)
- specialist
- grant manager
- professional enabling staff
- research and innovation associate
- technician
- visiting researcher
For fellowships, the role of ‘fellow’ will be responsible for intellectual leadership and management (equivalent to project lead). You can only list one fellow on the application.
We generally do not allow project co-leads to be named on fellowship applications unless this could be fully justified. This is because a fellowship is an individual award for an applicant, based on their individual circumstances and career.
We would only consider project co-leads on a fellowship application if they are contributing expertise that is not available in the skills set of the fellow and such expertise is essential to the success of the fellowship; for example, clinicians as project co-lead on fellowships associated with healthcare technologies research.
In all cases, the project co-lead would not be permitted to take over the operation of the fellowship if the fellow leaves the project.
Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications.
Application questions
Vision and approach
Word limit: 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 a diagrammatic workplan.
For the file name, use the unique 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, do not include any sensitive data within the attachment.
If the attachment does not meet these requirements, the application will be rejected.
What are you hoping to achieve with and how are you going to 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, or generate new knowledge, thinking or discovery within or beyond the field or area of its focus
- is timely, given current trends, context, and needs
- will contribute to further commercialisation of quantum technologies
- impacts world-leading research, society, the economy or the environment
In the Vision section we also expect you to:
- identify the potential direct or indirect benefits and who the beneficiaries might be
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
- 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
Within the Approach section we also expect you to:
- provide a detailed and comprehensive project plan, including milestones and timelines
Applicant capability to deliver
Word limit: 2,000
Why are you the right individual to successfully deliver the proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Evidence of:
- 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
- contributed to developing a positive research environment and wider community
- the appropriate team working or leadership skills (appropriate to career stage)
Opportunity specific: This funding opportunity is for early career researchers (ECRs) who are looking to lead their own research programme and further develop their independent research profile within the sector. For more information, please refer to the ‘Who can apply’ section.
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 2,000 words, 1,500 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 you bring:
- 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 to describe any factors which may provide context for the rest of your R4RI (for example, details of career breaks if you wish to disclose them). However, you are not required to provide this information.
This section is optional and can be up to 500 words.
Do not use this section to describe additional skills, experiences or outputs, as this information will not be assessed.
You should complete this section as a narrative. Do not format it like a CV.
Career development
Word limit: 1,000
Why is this fellowship the right way to develop your career and how will you use it to benefit others?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Ensure that you have identified:
- career development goals appropriate to the fellowship funding opportunity
- how the fellowship will provide a feasible and appropriate trajectory for your personal development and to achieve your stated career development goals (as appropriate to your career stage and field)
- how you will instigate positive change in the wider research and innovation community, for example through equality diversity and inclusion, advocacy or advisory roles, stakeholder engagement, participation in peer review, influencing policy, public engagement, or outreach
To address the funding opportunity specific scope, we also expect you to describe:
- how would this fellowship accelerate your personal development and career
- any mentoring arrangements proposed and how they are appropriate to you
- how you will develop your role within the research environment to lead and support the teams and people around you including details on:
Creating a positive change in the research community by championing an identified topic
Word limit: 500
How will you champion and contribute to the continued development of a vibrant and networked QT community?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Given that you have allocated time within your fellowship to create a positive change in the QT community, explain how you have:
- identified the area you intend to champion for your programme
- explained the timeliness and relevance of your chosen area
- explained the objectives of your proposal in this context
- planned to implement these objectives, including your ability to be an advocate for this area and to influence others
Host organisation support
Word limit: 1,000
How will the host organisation support your fellowship?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
The assessors expect you to:
- provide evidence detailing how the host will support you, as appropriate for your career development and the vision and approach of the fellowship
- provide the name and role of who you have engaged with in your host organisation
- explain how your research environment will contribute to the success of the work, in terms of suitability of the host organisation and strategic relevance to the project
- explain how the host organisation will ensure your time commitment to the fellowship is protected
- advise what development and training opportunities will be provided and how they form a cohesive career development package tailored to your aims and aspirations
- advise what financial or practical support, such as access to the appropriate services, facilities, infrastructure, or equipment, is being provided and how this strengthens your application
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
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
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
- training costs
- all resources that have been costed as ‘Exceptions’
*For all items of equipment costing more than £25,000, we expect you to provide a short summary of quotations from at least three suppliers for all items of equipment costing more than £25,000. If there are only one or two suppliers for any piece of equipment, state this and explain why.
Find out more on EPSRC’s approach to equipment funding. The last section outlines specific information on applying for equipment funding on the Funding Service.
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
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.
References
Word limit: 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.
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
Word limit: 10
Upload a single PDF containing the letters or emails of support from each partner you named in the ‘Project partner’ section.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box, or if you do not have any project partners enter N/A. 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
Save letters or emails of support from each partner in a single PDF no bigger than 8MB. Unless specially requested, please do not include any sensitive personal data within the attachment.
For the file name, use the unique Funding Service number the system gives you when you create an application, followed by the words ‘Project partner’.
If the attachment does not meet these requirements, the application will be rejected.
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 contributions template.
For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.
Do not provide letters of support from host and project co-leads’ research organisations.
Facilities
Word limit: 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, 37KB)
- proposed usage or costs, or costs per unit where indicated on the facility information list
- confirmation you have their agreement where required
Enter N/A in the text box if not applicable to your proposed work.
