This is an open funding opportunity for ESRC-led funding opportunities with a two-stage application process (expression of interest and full proposal).
Before applying, discuss with your research team whether the lead agency should be NSF-SBE or ESRC. You must base this decision on where you plan to carry out most of the research.
If you are planning to submit an application to NSF-SBE as the lead agency, you will need to check submission deadlines for the SBE participating research programmes most relevant to your project.
Expression of interest
You must submit your expression of interest (EOI) using the NSF-SBE – UKRI expression of interest template (PDF, 107KB). You must then email your completed EOI in PDF format to your chosen lead agency.
If ESRC is the lead agency, you must email your EOI to sbeleadagency@ukri.org.
If NSF is the lead agency, email your EOI to sbe-ukri@nsf.gov.
This should outline:
- the proposed research
- the research teams that are involved
- bottom line estimates of funding at 100% full economic cost to be requested from both the NSF and UKRI (including all research-related and institutional administrative costs for the US budget request)
The expression of interest should include:
- a brief summary
- the main objectives and research challenges of the proposed research
- the methodologies to be used
- the outputs, impact and beneficiaries
The EOI template should not exceed either 1,000 words or two pages in length. The EOI will be shared with the non-lead agencies to check for eligibility.
Upon confirmation from the lead agency that the proposed collaborative research is appropriate for the NSF-SBE – UKRI lead agency funding opportunity, researchers may submit a full research proposal to the lead agency.
Full proposal
Applying through UK Funding Service
If your EOI is accepted as falling within the scope of research typically reviewed by the NSF-SBE programme, as well as fitting within ESRC, we will invite you to submit a full research proposal.
Full proposal budgets should not vary from those specified in the approved EOI by more than 10%, and you must justify any changes.
We expect that full proposals will be submitted within one year of receiving EOI approval. If more time is needed for proposal preparation, an additional EOI may be required.
If you submit a full proposal before receiving EOI approval, the proposal will be rejected.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service
We are running this funding opportunity on the new UKRI Funding Service. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.
The UK project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the UKRI 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.
If the NSF-SBE is the lead agency, you must submit your proposal via Fastlane, Grants.gov or Research.gov.
To apply:
- Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this page.
- Confirm you are the project lead.
- 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.
- Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. 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 by 28 September 2023 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.
Previously, this funding opportunity was open for applications on an ongoing basis. From 28 June 2023, there will be consecutive rounds with opening and closing dates for applications.
The subsequent responsive mode round on the UKRI Funding Service will open on 29 September 2023.
ESRC, 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.
ESRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding Opportunity at What ESRC has funded.
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: 550
Core team
List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following:
- project lead (PL)
- project co-lead UK (PcL)
- project co-lead (International) (PcL (I))
Only list one individual as project lead.
All US-based applicants for whom funds are being requested from NSF-SBE must be listed as project co-lead (International) in the Funding Service. Any such individuals must be eligible for funding from NSF-SBE as their costs will not be covered by ESRC.
Find out more about UKRI new grant rules.
Section: Primary discipline classification
Question: Enter the primary discipline for this project.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Select the primary area of research from the list of social disciplines and enter into the text field. This information is used to determine eligibility for ESRC funding and to assist in the selection of appropriate reviewers. The social disciplines include:
- area studies
- demography
- development studies
- economics
- education
- environmental planning
- history
- human geography
- law and legal studies
- linguistics
- management and business studies
- political science and international studies
- psychology
- science and technology studies
- social anthropology
- social policy
- social work
- sociology
- tools, technologies and methods
Section: Vision and Approach
For this round we will ask you to submit a single six-page PDF attachment covering the ‘Vision’ and ‘Approach’ sections of the application and enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box below. The document must have single line spacing, margins of at least 2 cm and be typed using Arial 11pt, or another ‘sans serif’ font with an equivalent size to Arial 11pt.
Question: What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work and how will you deliver it?
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 fields or areas
- has the potential to advance current understanding, generates new knowledge, thinking or discovery within or beyond the field or area
- is timely given current trends, context and needs
- impacts world-leading research, society, the economy or the environment
Within the Vision section we also expect you to:
- consider potential beneficiaries and users of the proposed research, including the relevance of the research to these beneficiaries
- indicate the expected outputs; both academic and those orientated to users
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 they will be managed
- if applicable, uses a clear and transparent methodology
- if applicable, summarises the previous work and describes how this will be built upon and progressed
- will maximise translation of outputs into outcomes and impacts
- describes how your, 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
Within the Approach section we also expect you to:
- clearly describe both the framework and specific analysis methods proposed and explain the reasons for their choice. You should particularly mention any innovation in this or how different methodologies or methods may be combined
- explain what steps you will take to provide opportunities for users to benefit from your research, and to ensure that your research has maximum economic and societal impact
Note: All applicants planning to generate data as part of their grant must complete the separate Data management question.
A list of references used to support your application can be added in the References question.
Word count: 5
Section: References
Question: List the references you’ve used to support your application.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
All references should be included in this section of the application and not in any other application question.
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, use persistent identifiers such as digital object identifiers to ensure the information’s integrity is maintained.
Word count: 1,000
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
- 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, 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 listed below. You should use each heading once and include a response for the whole team, including the NSF-SBE 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 any factors that provide context for the rest of your R4RI (for example, details of career breaks if you wish to disclose them).
You should complete this as a narrative and you should avoid CV type format.
Word count: 1,500
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 below.
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: 1,000
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
- clearly explain the value, relevance and possible benefits of the work to them
- describe any additional value that they bring to the project
- be no more than one A4 page in length
Other accepted letters of support include those confirming access to datasets or confirming access to or use of the facilities provided by named collaborating organisations.
Letters of support may only be included where they confirm a specific contribution to the project as described above.
Letters of support from host or project co-lead’s research organisations will not be accepted.
Unless specifically requested, 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: Facilities
Question: Does your proposed research require the support and use of a facility?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If not, enter N/A into the text box, mark this section as complete and move on to the next section.
If you will need to use a facility (including access to, and use of data, infrastructure and resources) you should follow your proposed facility’s normal access request procedures. Where prior agreement is required, ensure you obtain their agreement that, should you be offered funding, they will support the use of their facility on your project. We encourage the use of secondary and linked datasets.
In the text box below, for each requested facility you should provide:
- the name of facility, copied and pasted from this list
- the proposed usage or costs, or costs per unit where indicted on that list
- confirmation you have their agreement where required
Do not put the facility contact details in your response.
Word count: 250
Section: Data management
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 our published Research Data Policy, which includes detailed guidance notes.
If you are not generating new data as part of your grant application, you are not required to complete this section. Please enter ‘N/A’ in the text box, mark this section as complete and move to the next question.
We recognise the importance of research data quality and provenance. Research data generated by ESRC-funded research must be well-managed by the grant holder to enable their data to be exploited to the maximum potential for further research.
Using the text box below you should:
- describe how you will publish your research findings
- demonstrate that you comply with ESRC’s Research Data Policy and ESRC Framework for Research Ethics. This should include confirmation that existing datasets have been reviewed and why currently available datasets are inadequate for the proposed research. You should cover any legal and ethical considerations of collecting, releasing or storing the data, including consent, confidentiality, anonymisation, security and other ethical issues
- explain how data collected, generated or acquired through the proposed research (such as primary input into research and first order results of that research) will be managed, including planning for the research through the life cycle of the award until data is accepted for archiving by the UK Data Service (UKDS). See the importance of managing and sharing data on the UKDS website for further information. Detailed advice on what assessors are looking for in your response can also be found on the UKDS site. We expect you to provide a summary of the points provided
- critically consider any challenges to data sharing (e.g., copyright or data confidentiality), with possible solutions discussed to optimise data sharing. Most data collected, generated or acquired as a result of economic and social research can be successfully archived and shared. However, some research data are more sensitive than others. It is a responsibility of the grant holders to consider all issues related to confidentiality, ethics, security and copyright before initiating the research
Word count: 500
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.
All proposals have to comply with the ESRC Framework for Research Ethics which includes guidance for applicants and links to related web resources.
All necessary ethical approvals must be in place before the project commences, but do not need to have been secured at the time of application.
If you are generating new data as part of your project, you should complete the Data Management question and should cover ethical considerations relating to data in your response.
If you are not generating new data and have not completed the Data Management question you should address any legal or ethical considerations relating to your use of data here.
Additional sub-questions (to be answered only if appropriate) relating to research involving:
- animals
- human participants
- genetically modified organisms
Word count: 500
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
Use the resources and cost summary table to enter the full UK costs. Include high-level costs only, not a breakdown of individual items. The NSF-SBE budget form should include the SBE budget, therefore you are not required to include NSF-SBE-based researcher costs here.
Use the justification text box to demonstrate how the resources you anticipate needing for your proposed work for both the UK and NSF-SBE:
- 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 costs table. Costings should be justified on the basis of full economic costs (FEC) of the project, not just on the costs expected from UKRI. For some items we do not expect you to justify the monetary value, rather the type of resource, such as amount of time or type of staff requested.
Where you do not provide adequate justification for a resource, we may deduct it from any funding awarded.
You should explain:
- support for activities to either increase impact, for public engagement, knowledge exchange or to support responsible innovation
- support for access to facilities, infrastructure or procurement of equipment
- support for preserving, long-term storage, or sharing of data
- support from your organisation or partner organisations and how that enhances value for money
- support for activities outsourced to a third party (such as consultancy or social surveys)
- support for project co-leads under our international, business and third sector eligibility policies
For detailed guidance on eligible costs please see the ESRC Research Funding Guide.
The NSF-SBE budget form should be uploaded as per the guidance.
Word count: 1,000
