UKRI aims to base funding and support for innovation and research on a robust and actionable evidence base. This includes identifying the optimal conditions for innovation and its successful adoption and diffusion across different firms, sectors and regions. This will drive development in policy and practice to achieve UK-wide growth and prosperity. It should also improve understanding of the wider research and innovation system, enabling evidence-based delivery of the UKRI strategy.
We need access to both new and existing evidence base, as well as to skilled individuals who can help us understand and action those insights. To help enable and support UKRI to be a global leader in understanding and creating the evidence in the research and innovation funding system, we are seeking to fund an ambitious new investment in an Innovation and Research Caucus.
The caucus will support UKRI to remove barriers and create the best conditions for a thriving innovation ecosystem. This will include supporting us to understand key innovation drivers, such as finance and business models, labour markets and skills, consumer behaviour, regulation and broader macroeconomic conditions, as well as effective approaches to the adoption and diffusion of innovation throughout society.
For a thriving innovation ecosystem, we also need a thriving research sector, and an understanding of the wide and interconnected research and innovation system. The caucus will support UKRI to use research to improve policymaking, building our understanding of what works in supporting the system efficiently and effectively. This could include:
- supporting us to understand the importance of connectivity and porosity between the research base and business innovation
- supporting us to foresee the changing nature of research and requirements in infrastructure and labour
- building an understanding of the international context, UK comparative advantage, and collaborative opportunity.
Within innovation and across the research and innovation system, the work will likely include:
- evidence syntheses
- synthetic and comparative analysis
- expert consultation
- novel research
- convening expert groups
- building new networks across the community
- articulating common agendas and questions
- the production of accessible and actionable guidance for decision-makers.
Crucially, it will also mean providing the thought leadership to support UKRI to adapt its strategies and processes in ways which allow us to optimise innovation and our research base across the UK. This will ensure that the caucus will become a valued investment by the community and sectors as a go-to place for evidence.
Scope
The caucus directors will work for an initial period of 3 months to:
- engage with key stakeholders in UKRI
- develop a detailed proposal for a flexible programme of work with an appropriate and agile governance structure.
This 3-month period will be in addition to the 35-month duration of the full grant.
The caucus directors will support research and innovation-led growth by:
- convening and leading a network (or networks) of experts in business innovation and research funding policy who are able to provide expert insight and research as required. This is to add value to innovation and research activity across UKRI. It is expected that network membership will grow and evolve over the funded period and will be multidisciplinary and multisectoral. Non-academic network members are encouraged, but please refer to the ESRC research funding guide for more information on eligible costs
- acting as a key contact point who can speak with authority on economic and social sciences perspectives on innovation and research funding policy and practice to the funders, key stakeholders and user communities
- work closely with funders and key UKRI stakeholders throughout the funded period, acting as a trusted expert and supporting UKRI to hone research questions and fully understand the innovation and research funding and policy ecosystems,
providing research insights on the theory, policy and practice of innovation and research support and funding
- undertaking systematic assessments of relevant evidence on the effectiveness of innovation and research funding and support, and translating it into clear and actionable guidance for UKRI to put into practice
- building an evidence base of knowledge and impact across the caucus. This includes identifying research and capability gaps and providing responsive research allied with actionable insights
- managing a devolved fund to support those within and beyond the network to provide expert insight and research on evidence and capability gaps as required,
sharing findings in a format that can be understood, interpreted and acted upon, not only by UKRI, but also by the wider business, research and policymaking communities. Creative approaches to communication and engagement are encouraged
- acting as a champion for the social, behavioural and economic sciences and their role in understanding and harnessing innovation and research, enabling greater engagement between innovation and research funding policy scholars and key UKRI stakeholders
- providing critical input into the development of new research and innovation policies and approaches at UKRI, as well as supporting the improvement of existing mechanisms of support
- increasing capacity for engaging with innovation and research funding policy through network-building, and the development of early career researchers and knowledge exchange professionals. This also involves ensuring the activities of the caucus address and support diversity and inclusion.
Expected areas of focus include, but are not limited to:
- understanding the innovation and research ecosystem and how UKRI funding impacts this, including developing frameworks to evaluate these impacts
- responsible innovation and how UKRI can support innovation which meets UK and global societal goals
- the role of UK research in growing and sustaining innovation in the UK and beyond, including through the commercialisation of UK research
- place-based innovation and the role of the local in innovation, with particular reference to how UKRI can support and catalyse local development by place-based innovation
- insights and evidence to support the implementation of Innovate UK’s Plan for Action and the UK Innovation Strategy
- insights and evidence to help UKRI better understand what works in strategy and intervention decisions, enabling effective implementation of the UKRI strategy. This could include a focus on what works for enabling interdisciplinarity, understanding system sustainability, and addressing national and global challenges
- international research and innovation comparators, including the benefits and opportunities for international research and innovation collaboration, competition and areas of UK comparative advantage
- drivers and interactions between research and innovation system-level properties, such as resilience, connectivity, diversity and engagement
- directors, who are expected to add value across the caucus activities (for example, by identifying opportunities for shared learning across projects and coordinating the activity of research groups). Where applications include co-directors, applicants are expected to evidence how the co-directors will work together to cover the expectations above and provide unified leadership across the caucus activities.
Aims
You should aim to meet the following:
Clear objectives
You should:
- demonstrate good knowledge of the aims of the caucus and the context they are working within
- show an understanding of the current relationship between the funders, evidence users and evidence producers, and of the drivers that influence users’ decision-making. This should include clear outcomes to work towards. Please note, while applicants are required to illustrate how they will manage an extended network of experts, and are encouraged to include potential network members in their application, it is expected network membership will grow and evolve over the funded period.
Robust governance
Co-design an effective agile governance structure with the funders during the 3-month co-design period to manage the broader caucus activities.
Engaging users
Evidence of collaborating with different stakeholders to meet their needs, and increasing their capability, motivation and opportunity to use evidence. Key areas of work to enable evidence uptake may include:
- engaging intended users about their evidence needs, including supporting problem identification, question development and developing actionable insights
- collaborating with users to create new evidence, potentially including through placements and secondments between the caucus and UKRI
- communicating and interpreting evidence, and creating actionable insights for diverse groups of end users, including funders, policymakers and businesses
- increasing capabilities to use evidence
- embedding evidence in working culture and practices
- ensuring robust evidence is sourced from diverse communities
- identifying evidence gaps and supporting users to address these.
Rigorous curation and creation of evidence
You should illustrate a robust and transparent approach to selecting and generating high-quality evidence for caucus partners and the wider research funding policy, business and innovation communities, including:
- defining what the caucus considers to be ‘evidence’ and deciding what evidence the caucus will curate
- mapping and synthesising existing evidence
- filling gaps with primary research
- building sector-wide capacity to create robust evidence and actionable insights.
Focus on impact
You should demonstrate an ability to co-design activities, create actionable insights for different users and a commitment to learn from your activities, including successes and failures, so that you can increase your effectiveness in achieving the caucus aims.
Skills development
You should demonstrate a commitment to skills development, including the development of researchers and project staff at all stages of their career.
Research organisation support
You should demonstrate research organisation support as appropriate. Transparent decision-making processes should be put in place for the award of any activity-based, grant or developed funding.
Support from the host research organisation will be essential in ensuring the budget is appropriately administered. As such, we will require a letter of support from a named senior contact supporting the application. This must detail the willingness of the institution to administer the devolved budget in a clear and transparent manner which meets ESRC expectations.
Funding available
This opportunity is for interdisciplinary collaborative grants, for which UKRI will contribute at least £6 million. This is a single opportunity, divided into 2 stages. You should detail your resourcing and activity plans for both stages in your application.
UKRI will provide up to £100,000 (80% full economic cost) for stage 1 (co-design), where 1 successful applicant will enter a 3-month scoping period to co-develop a flexible programme of activity, and an agile governance structure with UKRI.
On submission of a successful report (including a flexible programme of work with an appropriate and agile governance structure) to UKRI at the end of stage 1, we will provide at least an additional £5.9 million for the delivery of a programme of activity over 35 months. Successful applicants will be able to alter both costings and work plans for stage 2 during the co-design stage.
Stage 1 (co-design) must start on 9 January 2023 and be completed by 31 March 2023. Stage 2 (programme delivery) will start by 1 May 2023 and be completed by 31 March 2026.
Activities and costs
Stage 1 (co-design)
UKRI will contribute £100,000.
This will involve:
- up to 2 caucus directors who can act as the leads for the caucus. This should include regular interactions with the funders as trusted partners in order to co-design a robust governance approach and a programme of activities to be delivered in stage 2. During the scoping phase it is expected that the caucus directors would dedicate significant time to the co-design of the programme
- a programme manager who can coordinate caucus activities and act as an administrative point of contact for stakeholders and network members. At the co-design stage, the programme manager would be expected to specifically support the co-development of a robust and agile governance structure with the funders
- estates and indirect costs for those involved in the co-design process
- funding for travel and subsistence as part of the scoping work, including travel to London and Swindon to meet the funders and UKRI partners.
Stage 2 (programme delivery)
Up to £5.9 million available.
This will involve:
- up to 2 caucus directors who can act as the leads for the caucus:
- regularly interacting with the funders and UKRI stakeholders as trusted partners
- acting as champions for evidence-based approaches to innovation and research funding
- convening and leading networks of innovation and research experts, and identifying gaps in network expertise and working to address them. Where relevant, co-directors may direct separate activity strands, but will be required to demonstrate how they will work together to provide a unified leadership structure for the caucus
- a programme manager who can coordinate caucus activities and act as an administrative point of contact for stakeholders and network members. Key caucus activities will include communication with stakeholders and network members, tracking progress against deliverables (including any devolved funding and impacts), and coordinating multiple strands of activities
- communications and engagement support to help ensure appropriate outputs are created to help deliver outcomes, and supporting the ambitious aims of creating interdisciplinary networks of business innovation and research funding policy experts
- research assistance, which may be pooled across small projects, or used to support core activities such as evidence synthesis, the provision of briefings and the production of guidance for non-academic audiences
- estates and indirect costs relating to staff employed by the caucus
- funding for travel, subsistence and venue hire for events held by the caucus as well as for meetings with key stakeholders and network members
- the cost of any external communication, including website development and engaging with network members
- activity-based funding to be awarded by the caucus for responsive projects. It is expected approximately 80% of the grant should be allocated to responsive caucus activities, of which a significant proportion can be assigned as grants or devolved funding.
Please note, UKRI will fund travel and subsistence costs for network members when on caucus business, but will not pay salary, estates or indirect costs, unless that network member is working on a specific agreed caucus project, including those funded via the activity-based pot.
Further expectations
The grant will be expected to include a significant proportion of programme funding, which the caucus can access to support responsive activities agreed with the funders. Funding may also be used for internships into UKRI, including for PhD and early-career researchers, in order to increase capacity for engaging with research and innovation policy, and to help embed evidence-led decision-making into UKRI practices.
Due and appropriate consideration should be given to the career development of all caucus staff in line with broader objectives of developing skills among early career researchers and knowledge exchange professionals.
We encourage a model in which all caucus members, the funders and UKRI stakeholders play an active role in the intellectual direction of the network.
These aspects of the role are not exhaustive, and you are encouraged to present your vision of how you think you can add value.
It is expected that the caucus directors will also draw upon existing UKRI investments including other ESRC and UKRI activities.
You should carefully consider the full range of costs needed for your research (in particular, costs associated with non-academic staffing and delivery costs, to ensure the caucus can effectively deliver actionable insights and engage and communicate with key stakeholders).
Capacity-building
We will be looking for evidence of a strong commitment to the development of researchers and project staff at all stages of their career. Capacity-building must be an integral part of the programme.
Proposals will be expected to include a strong development programme shaped to suit the career stage of researchers and professional support staff. This should include, but is not limited to, early career staff. You are encouraged to consider how you can support the continuing career development of all members of the team regardless of their career stage.
Examples of building capacity include, but is not limited to:
- supporting and mentoring for all members of the team
- building networks within and beyond academia (including with UKRI stakeholders)
- supporting placements from or to UKRI.
Impact
This is an impact-led opportunity, and it is expected that this will be central to all applications. For more information on impact expectations and advice on maximising your impact, see ESRC’s impact toolkit.
Webinar
A webinar to support applicants was held on 28 July 2022 at 1:00pm UK time.
Watch a recording of the webinar with the Access Passcode: nHWHAh&8
