Funding opportunity

ESRC: Working with Luxembourg researchers

• Opportunity status: Open
• Funders: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), UK Research and Innovation
• Co-funders: Fonds National de la Recherche (FNR)
• Funding type: Grant
• Award range: £350,000 - £1,000,000
• Publication date: 24 October 2020
• Opening date: N/A
• Closing date: Open - no closing date

Last updated: 1 December 2021

You can apply to work with researchers in Luxembourg. Collaborative work is governed by an agreement between UKRI and Fonds National de la Recherche (FNR), Luxembourg.

You can apply for between £350,000 and £1 million full economic cost for the UK part of the project. If your application is successful, ESRC will contribute 80% of your costs and the host institution is expected to support the remaining 20%.

You may submit collaborative research proposals in any area of social sciences within the remit of both the ESRC and FNR. Projects can last up to five years.

Who can apply

UK partners

You are eligible to apply if you:

• are a member of a recognised UK research organisation or have an offer of support (including use of facilities) from a recognised research organisation
• live within reasonable travelling distance of the research organisation
• take responsibility for directing the research and will be actively involved in carrying it through
• are a member of the Peer Review College or willing to join.

UK applicants must comply with ESRC’s eligibility requirements for standard research grants.

Luxembourg partners

You must be based at an eligible institution in Luxembourg. These include public research centres, the University of Luxembourg, public bodies, departments and establishments which can support research in your chosen area.

You should contact FNR to confirm you are eligible to apply.

What we're looking for

You can submit a collaborative research proposal in any area of the social sciences within the remit of both the ESRC and FNR.

All proposals should be submitted through our standard grants scheme.

The costs being requested from ESRC for the UK part of the project should be a minimum of £350,000 and no more than £1 million at 100% full economic cost.

If you are unsure whether your research is suitable for ESRC funding, please read our full list of acceptable ESRC research areas.

How to apply

You must apply using the Joint Electronic Submission system (Je-S).

You do not need to apply to FNR as well but you should include the costs you are requesting from FNR in your UK proposal.

The funding you request from ESRC for the UK part of the project must be between £350,000 and £1 million full economic cost.

The funding you request from FNR must follow the relevant FNR funding rules. You do not have to request equal amounts from ESRC and FNR. The difference should reflect the variations in costs and local prices.

When applying, select ‘new document’ then:

• council: ESRC
• document type: Standard Proposal
• scheme: Research Grants
• call/type/mode: Research Grants (Open Call).

You must follow the guidelines specified in the ESRC-FNR lead agency agreement Je-S guidance for applicants (PDF, 291KB).

You should draft proposals according to the criteria in the international common application process guide.

The title field of the proposal must begin with the words ‘Bilateral ESRC/FNR’.

You must attach the following documents to your Je-S application:

• a case for support – this is an extended document that allows up to 5,000 words and should follow the international common application process criteria
• justification of UK resources
• a data management plan (if your proposal involves the generation of data)
• CVs for all named researchers, both UK and Luxembourg-based – each CV should be no more than two pages long.

Luxembourg researchers should also complete the following as additional Je-S attachments (all available on the FNR website) and pass them onto their UK PI to upload to the proposal:

• an FNR project plan form
• an FNR budget spreadsheet
• an FNR justification of costs form (for costs being requested from FNR).

You can find further information on submitting an ESRC-FNR bilateral proposal in the Je-S guidance (PDF, 291KB).

You can also find advice on completing your application in the Je-S handbook.

If you need further help, you can contact the Je-S help desk on 01793 444164 or by emailing jeshelp@je-s.ukri.org.

There is no application deadline and you can submit proposals to this call at any time. We will accept proposals on an ongoing basis until the UKRI-FNR agreement expires on 4 June 2022.

How we will assess your application

We will accept applications under the terms of the UKRI-FNR statement of intent to our research grants scheme.

We will assess your proposal against the criteria outlined in the International Common Application Process.

We will assess applications in the same way as our normal standard grants competition, except that:

• we will include an FNR-nominated reviewer
• both ESRC and FNR will approve the final funding decision.

Please note that decisions can take more than six months from submission.

Contact details

For UK enquiries, email international@esrc.ac.uk.

For Luxembourg enquiries, email burg@fnr.lu.

For help using Je-S, call the help desk on 01793 444164 or email jeshelp@je-s.ukri.org.

Additional info

UKRI and FNR, Luxembourg, have signed a statement of intent to encourage and support proposals that involve international collaborative teams.

Proposals approved for funding will be jointly supported by the ESRC and FNR.

For further information, read the operational guidance of the UKRI-FNR Lead Agency Agreement Guidance Note (PDF, 100KB).

Supporting documents

• Je-S guidance for applicants (PDF, 226KB)