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 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.
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 UKRI 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 by 4 October 2023 at 4:00pm UK time.
You will not be able to apply after this time. We will not consider late applications.
You should ensure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines that may be in place.
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.
Processing personal data
MRC, 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.
Outcomes publication
We will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at board and panel outcomes – MRC.
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
- 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, for example:
- project lead (PL)
- project co-lead (UK) (PcL)
- project co-lead (international) (PcL (I))
- researcher co-lead
- grant manager
- research and innovation associate
- visiting researcher
- specialist
- technician
- professional enabling staff
Only list one individual as project lead.
Find out more about UKRI’s new grant roles.
Section: Related Applications
Question: Is this application a re-submission of a previous experimental medicine stage one or stage two application and, if so, how have you considered and acted on the feedback you received?
What the assessors are looking for in your response:
- please enter N/A into the text box if this is your first time applying to experimental medicine stage one for your proposed research
- if your application is a resubmission, describe how feedback on your previous the stage one or stage two application has been considered and acted on
- if your application is a resubmission, provide succinct responses to the panel’s comments on your previous stage one application
Word count: 1,500
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
- impacts world-leading research, society, the economy or the environment
Within the Vision section we also expect you to:
- outline the current clinical challenge, healthcare burden or knowledge gap
- summarise the current state of understanding about the relevant mechanisms of disease
- identify the current gap in mechanistic understanding
- state the mechanistic hypothesis to be tested
- include any relevant figures
- provide only a small selection of images that complement the written content in a section
- include within the image itself only text that is an integral part of it
- include a brief description of the image within the “Alternative description” text field, so that screen reader software can describe the image to meet accessibility requirements
- include all other text associated with the description of the image, such as the figure number, figure title and figure legend, within the narrative text so that it can be read by screen readers and contribute to the word count of a section.
Word count: 500
Section: Intervention
Question: What is the planned intervention?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Explain the planned intervention to be used in the proposed work, including:
- the type of intervention, which may include compound, biologic, psychological, physiological, or infection
- relevant background information, including its established safety profile and use in other mechanistic studies
- include any relevant figures
Provide only a small selection of images that complement the written content in a section, include:
- within the image itself only text that is an integral part of it
- a brief description of the image within the “Alternative description” text field, so that screen reader software can describe the image to meet accessibility requirements
- all other text associated with the description of the image, such as the figure number, figure title and figure legend, within the narrative text so that it can be read by screen readers and contribute to the word count of a section
Word count: 250
Section: Approach
Question: How are you going to deliver your proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Within the Approach section we expect you to:
- provide an outline project plan, including project milestones and timelines, demonstrating:
- how you propose to address the identified gap in knowledge
- the objectives of the proposed research in order of priority
- the primary and secondary experimental outcomes and how they relate to the experimental objectives
- how the proposed work packages will ensure the project objectives are achieved
- the success criteria that will be used for each Milestone, detailing the robust Go / No-Go criteria
To visualise your project plan, you must also upload a one-page Gantt chart to support your response that should include:
- project tasks (these being short, achievable and measurable activities) with, where relevant, the party responsible for delivering the task and dependency relationships between tasks
- at least two progression milestones (to include the project end goal), these being major specifically-timed decision points
Within the Approach section we also expect you to:
- outline the proposed methodology and experimental design, including:
- the experiments you will undertake to probe the stated hypothesis
- the data you will collect and how it will test the hypothesis
- the proposed trial design and why this approach is appropriate to meet the study objectives
- the statistical analysis plan, providing sufficient details for the replication of any sample size calculations; and consideration of potential sources of biases and the strategies that will be adopted to minimise their effects
- As part of your methodology and experimental design, outline the nature of human participation in your proposed work, including:
- the characteristics of the participants (such as age, disease) and the rationale for their selection
- the specific population groups in relation to their diversity characteristics and the proposed analysis, following the MRC embedding diversity in research design policy
- target and acceptable levels of participant recruitment across the project timeline
- evidence of recruitment feasibility
- the human participant recruitment strategy, including the steps that will be taken if patient recruitment does not reach the set targets
- if applicable, outline how any limited animal, library specimen or isolate cell work will inform the human-centric proposed work. For any research involving animals and tissues and cells, you must show how you will use both sexes. If you are not proposing to do this, a strong justification is required
- outline the project risks and risk management, including:
- how likely the risks are to occur
- what their impact would be on the success and deliverability of the project
- your risk mitigation strategy, giving particular consideration to any potential safety risks and how these risks will be controlled
- demonstrate access to the appropriate services, clinical support, facilities, infrastructure, or equipment to deliver the proposed work, including details of:
- specialist equipment or infrastructure required to deliver the project objectives
- the use of existing clinical infrastructure such as Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres, NIHR Biomedical Research Centres, NIHR Clinical research facilities, patient cohorts
We suggest you structure your response using the following headings, with approximate words counts for each:
- project plan and milestones 500 words
- methodology and experimental design 500 words
- risk management 300 words
- infrastructure and equipment 200 words
include any relevant figures:
- provide only a small selection of images that complement the written content in a section
- include within the image itself only text that is an integral part of it
- include a brief description of the image within the “Alternative description” text field, so that screen reader software can describe the image to meet accessibility requirements
- include all other text associated with the description of the image, such as the figure number, figure title and figure legend, within the narrative text so that it can be read by screen readers and contribute to the word count of a section.
Word count: 1,500
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 (project and project co-leads, researchers, technicians, specialists, partners and so on) have and how this will help 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. Use each heading once and include a response for the whole 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 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.
UKRI has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the new Funding Service.
For full details, see Eligibility as an individual.
Word count 1,500
Section: References
Question: List the references you’ve 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.
Word count: 250
Section: Project Partners
Question: 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
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 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 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 UKRI 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.
Word count: 1,000
Section: Outline costs
Provide costs that reflect, as accurately as possible, the funding you will need.
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.
Consider the MRC guidance on ethics and approvals
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 re-use of data
- formal information standards with which study will be compliant
Word count 500
