Apply for funding to support gravitational waves research.
To be eligible for this funding opportunity you must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for STFC funding. In addition proposals must meet STFC’s particle astrophysics gravitational waves remit.
STFC will fund 80% of the full economic cost (FEC). Please note that some capital costs may be funded at a variable rate between 50% and 100%.
Projects will be funded for three years.
Before applying for funding, check the Eligibility of your organisation.
If you are considering applying, you are encouraged to contact STFC [email: particle.astro@stfc.ukri.org] at the earliest opportunity. This will allow STFC staff to gauge potential demand, and ensure that any updates or communications are disseminated rapidly to potential applicants.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the new UKRI Funding Service. For full details, visit Eligibility as an individual.
Researchers employed by UK institutions eligible for UKRI funding are eligible to apply for this funding opportunity. Standard UKRI/STFC eligibility criteria applies.
Please note that each university institution (or equivalent sub-unit with the university) may submit one consolidated grant proposal to this funding opportunity.
Newly appointed academic members of staff (lecturers or lecturer equivalent fellows) who have joined a department between grant reviews may exceptionally apply separately for support. This will potentially allow them to begin to establish a research programme on appointment. If grant funding is agreed, funding is likely to be awarded as an addition to the department’s existing consortium or consolidated grant.
For more details see STFC new applicant funding.
It is possible to apply for project PhD studentships as part of grant proposals. For guidance please see the STFC guidance for applicants. A strong case needs to be made explaining how essential the student is to the research on which they will be working. The panel will assess the scientific quality of the project, consider whether the project offers suitable training in research methods and techniques, comment on the broader training and consider if the studentship adds value overall to the research proposal. All potential costs should be included in the proposal.
We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.
We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes:
Find out more about equality, diversity and inclusion at UKRI.
All activities funded within this opportunity must meet STFC’s revised remit for Gravitational Waves research (PDF, 131KB).
Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO):
Both LIGO and non-LIGO members can request support for activities through this funding opportunity, but applicants need to demonstrate how the work fits into the LIGO Scientific Collaboration programme and provides benefit to the LIGO programme. This will be scrutinised by the panel.
STFC provides support for the gravitational waves programme through consolidated grants, which were first introduced in 2010. Each university Institution (or equivalent sub-unit with the university) may submit one consolidated grant proposal per subject area every three years. This grants round will consider consolidated grant requests in the ground based gravitational waves subject area, with a specific focus on activities within the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. Where more than one department/group at a university is involved in the same subject area a single consolidated grant proposal should be submitted.
You should request three years of support and should note that consolidated grants are considered independently of each other. If a consolidated grant is awarded that overlaps with an existing grant due to an extension, the existing grant remains active and its duration unchanged.
Posts will normally be awarded for three years, but where required an extension of up to one year may be applied for to provide groups with flexibility, for example to delay the start date of a post. An extension cannot be applied for at the time of the proposal submission, but can be applied for once the grant is active and any delayed posts have commenced.
Groups from different institutions working collaboratively in the same well-defined research area may apply for a consolidated research grant as a consortium. This is intended to allow members of such consortia the opportunity to bid for shared resources, that they might not otherwise be able to secure on their own, perhaps due to the size or scope of their activity. This requires the submission of a single application by the lead research organisation on behalf of the consortium. Where successful, the lead research organisation will be responsible for distributing the agreed funding to consortium partners.
All activities funded within this funding opportunity must meet STFC’s revised remit for Gravitational Waves research (PDF, 131KB). Requests can be made for the following activities:
Clarification: If it is recognised that the work being proposed has a realistic potential to influence the LIGO collaboration/operation, then it can be submitted to this funding opportunity. If it is a generic development that would support all future technologies, then this should be submitted through future Astronomy Grants Panel rounds.
Please note that support for new research and development for non-project specific technologies (that is, ones that could be used for a range of opportunities including gravitational wave infrastructures which are not suspended-mass laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors) and exploitation activities related to gravitational wave astronomy should be requested through the support for the Small and Large Awards for Astronomy. This includes the development of non-LIGO related astrophysical models for:
The duration of this award is three years.
Projects must start by 1 October 2025.
STFC will fund 80% of the FEC. Exceptions and capital equipment costs may be funded at other variable rates.
The current total allocated budget for the 2024 gravitational wave consolidated grant round is up to £10 million (including £300,000 for capital equipment) subject to future spending review settlements.
For this funding opportunity, we will fund equipment costs and expect to contribute around 50% of the cost of equipment items costing between £10,000 and £138,000, although this will be assessed on a case by case basis. For full details see STFC equipment policy.
Standard STFC funding policy will apply. See costs we fund for details.
Please note that at present it is not possible to add capital equipment costs at 50% to the high-level ‘Resources and costs’ section of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service. As such you should enter equipment costs within the ‘Directly incurred cost’ heading (at 80%) on the understanding that STFC will only supply 50% of the total equipment cost for items in excess of £10,000. We recognise that this may result in the final requested funding amount listed on the UKRI Funding Service being higher than the figures provided in the Vision and Approach document and the Financial Requirements form. The work package cost tables (within the Vision and Approach document) and the Financial Requirements table should list capital equipment costs at 50%.
Projects that do not fall within the scope of the Particle Astrophysics Gravitational Waves consolidated grants, as detailed on STFC’s Particle Astrophysics Gravitational Waves remit clarification. These would be:
We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.
If your application includes international applicants, project partners or collaborators, visit UKRI’s trusted research and innovation for more information on effective international collaboration.
UKRI is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.
As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.
See further guidance and information about TR&I – including where you can find additional support.
Find out about getting funding for international collaboration.
If you have queries regarding remit, you are encouraged to contact STFC [email: particle.astro@stfc.ukri.org] at the earliest opportunity.
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.
Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page.
Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. You should:
Watch our research office webinars about the new Funding Service.
For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:
Applications should be self-contained, and hyperlinks should only be used to provide links directly to reference information. To ensure the information’s integrity is maintained, where possible, persistent identifiers such as digital object identifiers should be used. Assessors are not required to access links to carry out assessment or recommend a funding decision. You should use your discretion when including reference and prioritise those most pertinent to the application.
Reference should be included in the appropriate question section of the application and be easily identifiable by the assessors for example (Smith, Research Paper, 2019).
You must not include links to web resources to extend your application.
STFC must receive your application by 6 August 2024 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.
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.
STFC, 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.
The nature of STFC consolidated grants means we cannot show them in board and panel outcomes, as they are ranked by the constituent scientific themes rather than by the grants themselves. Instead, we will contact applicants individually to provide written feedback and let them know how their application did compared to others.
If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research.
Word limit: 550
In plain English, provide a summary we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.
We usually make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, therefore do not include any confidential or sensitive information. Make it suitable for a variety of readers, for example:
Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of:
List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following:
Only list one individual as project lead.
Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications.
Consolidated grants have three categories of staff: academics, core staff and non-core staff. All staff posts in your application should be assigned to one of these categories, and this should be recorded within your Vision and Approach document, as well as Form X.
New posts may be requested in either the core or non-core categories, or a change in categorisation may be requested, so a post assigned as non-core in the 2020 round may now be requested as part of the core group and vice versa. It is not expected that core posts would represent a high proportion of the non-academic total grant costs.
‘Core posts’ are defined as underpinning research activity that is, to a great extent, not contingent on the specific details of the group’s future programme of work. It is not normally expected that RA posts would be defined as core posts. Ultimately, the grants panel will make judgements on a case-by-case basis, but the following may be used as a guide:
The senior research posts would only be identified as core staff if their role is essential to the scientific success of the group and they possess critical expertise with skills that would be difficult to replace. Pool staff and general secretarial or computing support staff would not be considered to be core staff.
If requesting core posts, each group must make a case as part of their proposal, stressing the areas of expertise of the post(s), over the last four years. The proposal should also give a plan of work for the next three years (meaning from 1 October 2025), and explain the contribution of the core post(s).
Posts requested as core may be awarded as non-core posts by the panel, if it is felt that the scientific case does not require the long-term continuity intended for core posts, but that the case is strong enough to justify funding.
Non-core posts will be allocated in response to strong physics cases. A competitive allocation procedure will be used for them, comparing cases for continuation of existing, and for new posts. Requests may also be made for support staff, which includes administrative effort as well as general computing support. These posts are considered as non-core posts. Support staff should be identified on Form X as Non-core (NC) in the staff category and support (SU) in the ‘Staff Type’.
What are you hoping to achieve with and how will you deliver your proposed work?
A single PDF document that provides:
Please use the GW Vision and Approach template (DOCX, 47KB) to structure your document, and take note of the Vision and Approach assessment criteria.
In addition to providing financial details of each theme within the Vision and Approach document, you should complete and return the financial requirements form (XLS, 39KB), to provide a detailed overview of all the costs requested within your application. See ‘Resource and cost justification’ section.
For the Vision, explain how your proposed work:
The following can be included to support your response, and shows how your application:
For the Approach, explain how you have designed your work so that it:
The following can be included to support your response:
Please provide information for each of the scientific themes within your application, with detailed justification, costs and resource requests for each. Please use the Theme Vision and Approach assessment criteria provided in the GW Vision and Approach template.
Each theme should consist of a clearly defined, cohesive, scientific programme of work. Where there are strong synergies between themes within a proposal, you should consider if it would be more appropriate to combine themes in order to create a cohesive programme. References may be included within this section.
Requests for support for Advanced LIGO operations should be made as a discrete theme within your Vision and Approach document (using the template provided). If required, this theme can be split into work packages. If there is cross-over between this theme and others (especially in relation to descriptions of physics results and exploitation activities) then please refer to other themes if appropriate, rather than duplicate information. Should UK institutes participating in operations support wish to provide a joint case rather than individual cases, this is advisable.
The Advanced LIGO operations theme should contain:
An additional 10 pages may be used to cover the Advanced LIGO operations theme within your Vision and Approach document. The request for resources and justification should be made as per the instructions given above for all themes.
The maximum page extent of your Vision and Approach document will be determined by the total full time equivalent (FTE) staff requests:
For the file name, use the unique Funding Service number the system gives you when you create an application, your institution name followed by the words ‘vision_approach’:
Save the completed document as a single PDF file, no bigger than 8MB. Unless specifically requested, please do not include any sensitive 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.
Word limit: 2,000
Why are you the right individual or team to successfully deliver the proposed work?
Evidence of how you, and if relevant your team, have:
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the service.
The word count for this section is 2,000 words: 1,500 words to be used for R4RI modules (including references) 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:
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.
References may be included within this section.
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 limit: 1,000
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.
Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated:
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.
Word limit: 100
Does the proposed work involve international collaboration in a sensitive research or technology area?
Demonstrate how your proposed international collaboration relates to Trusted Research and Innovation, including:
If your proposed work does not involve international collaboration, answer ‘n/a’ here.
We may ask you to provide additional information about how your proposed project will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help manage these risks.
Does your proposed research involve the use of vertebrate animals or other organisms covered by the Animals Scientific Procedures Act?
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.
If you are not proposing research that requires using animals, please mark this section as ‘Not applicable’.
Word limit: 25
You are required to input financial information for all the staff requested and provide high level information for the non-staff costs within this section of the Funding Service.
In addition, we require you to:
You will need to confirm you have submitted this additional information within the Funding Service by writing ‘Additional financial information provided’ in the textbox.
All costs associated with the research proposal must be justified, with the exception of estates, indirects, and infrastructure technician costs, and the unit cost of the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) determined elements such as investigator salary costs or research facility charge-out costs, although the amount of resource required does need to be justified.
Assessors want you to demonstrate how the resources you anticipate needing for your proposed work show the following:
Please add equipment costs to the ‘Directly incurred cost’ heading (at 80%) on the understanding that STFC will only supply 50% of the total equipment cost for items in excess of £10,000.
To complete and return the Financial Requirements form, create and save an Excel file.
For the file name, use the unique Funding Service number the system gives you when you create an application, followed by the name of your institution and ‘Financial_Requirements’:
Please note that as it is not currently possible to upload Excel files to the Funding Service, you must email your completed financial requirements form (as an Excel document) to particle.astro@stfc.ukri.org
Please ensure you include ‘Grav waves CG24’ in the subject line.
A link to the Finance Requirements form can be found in the ‘Additional information’ section below.
Word limit: 25
Form X should provide a detailed breakdown of the staff requests for your application.
Please use the Form X template (XLS, 714KB) provided and upload the completed document (as a PDF) to this section.
Form X should provide a detailed breakdown of the staff requests for your application. It is divided into three parts.
A list of all the experimental, theoretical and research and development (R&D) programmes or themes in which members of the group will be involved over the period of the grant. This should also include construction projects and other programmes in which group members are involved, or plan to be over the same period.
An indication of how the focus of effort for each staff post will change through the period of the grant. Some pre-set layouts will be provided on the spreadsheet, which should be duplicated to allow entry for each staff member (existing and requested) in the group including non-STFC-funded members of staff. Further information on adding more rows for additional themes is shown in Part three.
Provides an option to add additional lines for further information on additional themes.
Please note that effort should be given as a percentage of full time equivalent (FTE). The typical values for an academic in a full financial year are 60%, and 100% for a core or responsive post.
Additional guidance is available on the Form X instructions tab.
Details of staff resource requests in Form X should correspond with information provided in ‘Case for the themes’ and ‘Resources and cost justification’ sections.
Upload Form X as a single PDF ensuring it is no larger than 8MB.
For the file name, use the unique Funding Service number the system gives you when you create an application, followed by the name of your institution and ‘FormX’:
If the attachment does not meet these requirements, the application will be rejected.
Unless specifically requested, please do not include any sensitive personal data within the attachment.
In addition to uploading a PDF copy of Form X to this section, please email a copy in Excel format to: particle.astro@stfc.ukri.org
Please ensure that you include ‘Grav Waves CG24’ in the subject line of this email.
Word limit: 1,000
Provide details of support from your research organisation.
Provide a Statement of Support from your research organisation detailing why the proposed work is needed. This should include details of any matched funding that will be provided to support the activity and any additional support that might add value to the work.
The committee will be looking for a strong statement of commitment from your research organisation.
STFC recognises that in some instances, this information may be provided by the Research Office, the Technology Transfer Office (TTO) or equivalent, or a combination of both.
You must also include the following details:
Upload details are provided within the service on the actual application.
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:
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.
Upload a single PDF containing the letters or emails of support from each partner you named in the ‘Project partner’ section. These should be uploaded in English or Welsh only.
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:
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 ‘Project partners’ section.
For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.
Upload as a single PDF ensuring it is no larger than 8MB.
For the file name, use the unique Funding Service number the system gives you when you create an application, followed by the words ‘PP_LoS’.
If the attachment does not meet these requirements, the application will be rejected.
Unless specifically requested, please do not include any sensitive personal data within the attachment.
Word limit: 1,000
How will you manage and share data collected or acquired through the proposed research?
Provide a data management plan that clearly details how you will comply with UKRI’s published data sharing policy, which includes detailed guidance notes.
Word limit: 1000
Does your proposed research require the support and use of a facility?
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:
If you will not need to use a facility, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
We will assess your application using the following process.
We will invite peers to review your application independently, against the specified criteria for this funding opportunity.
You will not be able to nominate reviewers for applications on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service. Research councils will continue to select expert reviewers.
We are monitoring the requirement for applicant-nominated reviewers as we review policies and processes as part of the continued development of the new Funding Service.
You will be provided with copies of the peer-reviews of your application and given an opportunity to submit a written response. This response will be shared with the grants panel and may be used by them when assessing your project.
Following peer review and applicant response stage, we will invite peers to use the evidence provided by reviewers and your applicant response to assess the quality of your application. In line with previous consolidated grant rounds the panel will also assess and prioritise each of the scientific themes within your proposal, and decide upon appropriate levels of funding. The panel’s recommendations will be sent to STFC Science Board for ratification.
STFC will make the final funding decision.
We aim to complete the assessment process within eight months of receiving your application.
We will give feedback with the outcome of your application.
We support the San Francisco declaration on research assessment and recognise the relationship between research assessment and research integrity.
Find out about the UKRI principles of assessment and decision making.
We reserve the right to modify the assessment process as needed.
The assessment areas we will use are:
Find details of assessment questions and criteria under the ‘Application questions’ heading in the ‘How to apply’ section.
If you have a question and the answers aren’t provided on this page
Important note: The Helpdesk is committed to helping users of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service as effectively and as quickly as possible. In order to manage cases at peak volume times, the Helpdesk will triage and prioritise those queries with an imminent opportunity deadline or a technical issue. Enquiries raised where information is available on the Funding Finder opportunity page and should be understood early in the application process (for example, regarding eligibility or content/remit of an opportunity) will not constitute a priority case and will be addressed as soon as possible.
For help and advice on costings and writing your proposal please contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process.
For questions related to this specific funding opportunity please email: particle.astro@stfc.ukri.org
Please ensure that you include ‘Grav Waves CG24’ in the subject line of your message.
Any queries regarding the system or the submission of applications through the Funding Service should be directed to the helpdesk.
Email: support@funding-service.ukri.org
Phone: 01793 547490
Our phone lines are open:
To help us process queries quicker, we request that users highlight the council and opportunity name in the subject title of their email query, include the application reference number, and refrain from contacting more than one mailbox at a time.
You can also find information on submitting an application.
If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email: grantspolicy@stfc.ac.uk
Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number].
Typical examples of confidential information include:
For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read UKRI’s privacy notice.
STFC provides support for gravitational wave research through consolidated grants (CG). Applications must fall within STFC’s Particle Astrophysics Gravitational Waves remit. In addition, it is important that proposals are ambitious and forward looking, and align with STFC’s strategic science objectives and priorities.
Each university Institution (or equivalent sub-unit with the university) may submit one consolidated grant proposal per subject area every three years. This grants round will consider consolidated grant requests in the ground based gravitational waves subject area. Where more than one department/group at a university is involved in the same subject area a single consolidated grant proposal should be submitted.
We recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused major interruptions and disruptions across our communities. We are committed to ensuring that individual applicants and their wider team, including partners and networks, are not penalised for any disruption to their career, such as:
Reviewers and panel members will be advised to consider the unequal impacts that COVID-19 related disruption might have had on the capability to deliver and career development of those individuals included in the application. They will be asked to consider the capability of the applicant and their wider team to deliver the research they are proposing.
Where disruptions have occurred, you can highlight this within your application if you wish, but there is no requirement to detail the specific circumstances that caused the disruption.
STFC Project Management Framework (PDF, 2MB)
Equality Impact Assessment (PDF, 186KB)
Vision and Approach template (DOCX, 47KB)
