We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service so please ensure that your organisation is registered. 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.
If the lead research organisation is an NHS organisation, check it is available in the Funding Service. You are encouraged to check this early as there may be additional steps for the organisation to be set up before you can apply.
To apply
Three grant types are available, research, new investigator, and partnership. Before you select ‘Start application’, check you are applying for the appropriate grant type. Applications submitted to the incorrect grant type will be rejected.
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.
- 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 Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page.
- Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.
- 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.
Please be aware that research office and finance teams undertake checks on hosting arrangements and financial eligibility. The ultimate responsibility for ensuring compliance with all opportunity requirements lies with the applicant.
Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.
When including images, you must:
- provide a descriptive caption or legend for each image immediately underneath it in the text box (this must be outside the image and counts towards your word limit)
- insert each new image on a new line
- use files smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format
Images should only be used to convey important visual information that cannot easily be put into words. The following are not permitted, and your application will be rejected if you include:
- sentences or paragraphs of text
- tables
- excessive quantities of images
A few words are permitted where the image would lack clarity without the contextual words, such as a diagram, where text labels are required for an axis or graph column.
For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:
References
References should be included within the word count of the appropriate question section. You should use your discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to the application.
Hyperlinks can be used in reference information. When including references, you should consider how your references will be viewed and used by the assessors, ensuring that:
- references are easily identifiable by the assessors
- references are formatted as appropriate to your research
- persistent identifiers are used where possible
General use of hyperlinks
Applications should be self-contained. You should only use hyperlinks to link directly to reference information. You must not include links to web resources to extend your application. Assessors are not required to access links to conduct assessment or recommend a funding decision.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI)
Use of generative AI tools to prepare funding applications is permitted, however, caution should be applied.
For more information see our policy on the use of generative AI in application and assessment.
Deadline
We do not have closing dates for applications. You should simply submit your application when it is ready.
Applications are accepted and processed continuously, so there is no need to focus on a specific deadline.
You may see a notional future closing date displayed in the Funding Service. This is a system requirement and does not reflect an actual deadline. You should ignore this date and submit your application whenever it is ready.
Due to the continuing development of the Funding Service, we will occasionally need to make changes to this funding opportunity to allow technical updates or new policies to be implemented. When updates are required, we will highlight any changes to this funding opportunity on this page. If you are preparing an application, we will contact you and provide an eight week transition period to allow you to complete and submit your application before the current funding opportunity closes, or to apply through the updated funding opportunity.
Following the submission of your application to the funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed by you or us. If there is a problem with an application it will either fail our examination checks and be rejected, or your research organisation may withdraw your application. You would then need to submit a new revised application. Because there are no closing dates you can do this more easily.
Personal data
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.
If you apply using the MRC Charity Co-funding Framework, you agree to MRC sharing your personal data with the relevant co-funder(s). This information could include your application, relevant information as part of the assessment process, the award offer letter, and subsequent grant reporting.
Sensitive information
If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email applicantleddiscovery@mrc.ukri.org
Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number].
Typical examples of confidential information include:
- individual is unavailable until a certain date (for example due to parental leave)
- declaration of interest
- additional information about eligibility to apply that would not be appropriately shared in the ‘Applicant and team capability’ section
- conflict of interest for UKRI to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection
- the application is an invited resubmission
For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read UKRI’s privacy notice.
Institutional matched funding
There is no requirement for matched funding from the institutions hosting the project lead, project co-leads or other staff employed on the application, beyond the standard 20% FEC. Expert reviewers and panels assessing UKRI funding applications must not consider levels of institutional matched funding as a factor on which to base recommendations. Direct and in-kind contributions from third party project partners are encouraged.
This policy does not remove the need for support from host organisations who must provide the necessary research environment and infrastructure for award-specific activities funded by UKRI. For example, research facilities, training and development of staff.
Publication of outcomes
MRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at board and panel outcomes.
If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research.
Summary
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:
- opinion-formers
- policymakers
- the public
- the wider research community
Guidance for writing a summary
Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of:
- context
- the challenge the project addresses and how tackling this will deliver real impact in the field(s) or area(s)
- aims and objectives
- potential applications and benefits
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))
- specialist
- grant manager
- professional enabling staff
- research and innovation associate
- visiting researcher
- researcher co-lead (RcL)
Only list one individual as project lead. If you include more than one project lead your application will fail at the checking stage.
UKRI has introduced a new addition to the ‘Specialist’ role type. Public contributors such as people with lived experience can now be added to an application.
Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications.
Application questions
Vision
Word limit: 750
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 fields or areas
- has the potential to advance current understanding, or generate 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:
- identify the potential direct or indirect benefits and who the beneficiaries might be
- identify potential improvements in human or population health, whether through contributing to relieving disease or disability burden, improving quality of life or providing benefit to the health service or health-related industry
- explain the ambition of your vision and how it will improve understanding of causes and mechanisms of human disease
- explain why establishing a partnership is necessary in this area and how it will add value to the current research landscape
References may be included within this section.
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.
Approach
Word limit: 3,300
How are you going to deliver your proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Explain how you have designed your approach 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
- uses a clearly written and transparent methodology (if applicable)
- summarises the previous work and describes how this will be built upon and progressed (if applicable)
- 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 and relevance to the project) will contribute to the success of the work
Within the Approach section we also expect you to:
- demonstrate access to the appropriate services, facilities, infrastructure, or equipment to deliver the project
- provide a project plan including milestones and timelines, in the form of an embedded Gantt chart or similar
- explain how the partnership will be planned and managed
- explain how the partnership will enable researchers to work together, network and build capability in a strategic area
- demonstrate how the partnership will benefit the wider research community
- if applicable, explain how partnership services, equipment or infrastructure will be accessed by the wider research community
- outline future plans for sustaining the partnership beyond MRC funding, or for funding research which may develop from the partnership
- explain and justify the inclusion of public partnerships (if applicable) and the added value these offer
- describe how you will obtain ethical and regulatory approvals, including the current status of any approvals. Consider the MRC guidance on ethics and approvals
- explain and justify any involvement of human participants, including participant numbers, characteristics, recruitment methods, the procedures to be undertaken, and their severity
- explain and justify any use of human tissues or biological samples, including the type of material to be used, quantity required, and its source
References may be included within this section.
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.
Applicant and team capability to deliver
Word limit: 2,000
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
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.
The word limit for this section is 2,000 words: 1,500 words to be used for Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) modules (including references) and, if necessary, a further 500 words for Additions.
Use the 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. You are encouraged to include ORCID iDs for individuals where relevant, as this can help to demonstrate and verify their achievements.
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, this may include your previous funding and key outputs such as publications
- 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, including public partnerships
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.
References may be included within this section.
The roles in funding applications policy has descriptions of the different project roles.
Resources and cost justification
Word limit: 1,000
What will you need to deliver your proposed work and how much will it cost?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Justify the application’s more costly resources, in particular:
- project staff
- significant travel for field work or collaboration (but not regular travel between collaborating organisations or to conferences)
- any equipment that will cost more than £25,000
- any consumables beyond typical requirements, or that are required in exceptional quantities
- all facilities and infrastructure costs
- all resources that have been costed as ‘Exceptions’
- support for public and patient involvement and engagement. See Payments to public partners
- support for preserving, long-term storage, or sharing of data
- support for international co-leads, demonstrating this is within the 30% costs cap for co-leads from high income countries, India and China. There is no cap on costs requested for international applicants from DAC list countries
- NHS research costs, when they are associated with NHS studies
- animal costs, such as numbers that need to be bred or maintained and to maintain high welfare standards
Justify why the partnership cannot be supported in any other way than the MRC funding requested.
Justify why each applicant is necessary for the partnership, including their level of time commitment.
You can request costs associated with reasonable adjustments where they increase as a direct result of working on the project. For further information see Disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders. Where a funding limit is imposed on the opportunity, requested costs for reasonable adjustments may exceed the maximum funding amount.
Assessors are not looking for detailed costs or a line-by-line breakdown of all project resources. Overall, they want you to demonstrate how the resources you anticipate needing for your proposed work:
- are comprehensive, appropriate, and justified
- represent the optimal use of resources to achieve the intended outcomes
- maximise potential outcomes and impacts
Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)
What are the ethical and RRI considerations, 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
Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated:
- the relevant ethical and RRI considerations, including both the research or topic area itself and the design and delivery of the project
- the wider implications of the proposed work, and how you will maximise the positive societal, environmental, and economic benefits arising from the project, whilst minimising unintended negative impacts, such as research misuse or accidental harm
- how you will manage these considerations throughout the lifecycle of the project
Please refer to the UKRI position statement on funding ethical research and Responsible innovation for more information around our expectations on ethical and responsible research and innovation.
Animal involvement and ‘3Rs’
You must complete this section about how your proposed project will involve or impact animals.
If your project does not involve or impact animals, you must confirm this on the next page.
You may be asked about:
- what animals you are involving
- the severity of the procedures you are using
- where the procedures will take place
- welfare standards you aim to meet
- the relevance of your project to the development, validation or dissemination of the 3Rs
You may also need to download, complete, and upload at least one set of additional questions. You will be told how to do this towards the end of this section.
To complete this section and check whether your project is in the scope of the questions, refer to the UKRI policy for research and innovation involving animals.
What counts as an animal
UKRI policy relates to all animals in the Kingdom Animalia, including vertebrates and invertebrates.
Genetically modified organisms and biological risk
You must complete this section if your project will include genetically modified organisms or genetic technologies.
If your project does not involve genetically modified organisms or genetic technologies, you must confirm this on the next page.
You may be asked about:
- the type of organism your project will involve and the procedures your project will include
- the intended use of the organism or genetic technology
- the genetic, biological and environmental risks of your project
For more information, see UKRI’s guidance on genetic technologies.
Human participation in health-related research
You must complete this section about whether your project will include human participation.
If your project does not involve human participation, you must confirm this on the next page.
You may be asked about:
- what type of human participation your project includes
- the project design for human participation
- the phase of the clinical trial
- whether the project will be in an NHS setting, if so how the project will be registered
- whether diversity and inclusion will be considered
For more information, see UKRI’s guidance for human participants in research.
Data management and sharing
Word limit: 1,500
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 MRC’s published data management and sharing policies, which includes detailed guidance notes.
Provide your response in the text box following the headings in the MRC data management plan template. You are not required to upload the document to your application.
The length of your plan will vary depending on the type of study being undertaken, as follows:
- population cohorts, longitudinal studies, genetic, omics and imaging data, biobanks, and other collections that are potentially a rich resource for the wider research community: maximum of 1,500 words
- all other research, less complex, the plan may be as short as 500 words
Facilities
Word limit: 250
Does your proposed research require the support and use of a facility?
The ARCHER2 service will end on 21 November 2026, and UKRI is currently transitioning to a new compute landscape. Until details of new compute provision are confirmed, applicants who require HPC resources beyond November 2026 have been advised to select ARCHER2 at application and to describe their compute requirements in full.
Other compute investments to be aware of include:
What the assessors are looking for in your response
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:
- name of facility, copied and pasted from information list
- confirmation you have their agreement where required
Facilities should only be named if they are on the facility information list above. If you will not need to use a facility, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Project partners
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 person or organisation who will have an integral role in your proposed research. This may include direct contributions for example cash, donated equipment and resources, or staff seconded to the project, or indirect and in-kind contributions for example use of project partner’s equipment, datasets, or facilities. Project partners may be in industry, academia, third sector or government organisations in the UK or overseas, including partners based in the EU.
A project partner is not anyone in your core team or anyone from your organisation or any of the other organisations represented by core team members.
Add the following project partner details:
- the organisation name (searchable via a drop-down list or enter the organisation’s details manually, as applicable)
- the project partner contact name and email address
- the type of contribution (direct or in-direct) and its monetary value
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.
If there are specific circumstances where project partners do require funding for minor costs such as travel and subsistence, these project partner costs should be claimed and justified within the resources and costs section of your application.
Important information
If you are adding a project partner to this section, you must ensure they provide you with a letter or email of support and you upload it to ‘Project partners: letters or emails of support’.
If your project partners are from industry or a company, you must also complete the ‘Industry Collaboration Framework (ICF)’ section.
Project partners responsible for carrying out animal work
If the project partner is responsible for conducting animal work or providing animals or animal tissue samples, you must ensure that you complete and upload the appropriate forms under the ‘Animal involvement and ‘3Rs’’ section (if applicable).
For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.
Project partners: letters (or emails) of support
Word limit: 10
Upload a single PDF containing the letters or emails of support from each partner you named in the ‘Project partners’ section. These should be uploaded in English or Welsh only.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If you do not have any project partners, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
What supporting statements we are looking for
We are looking for you to provide letters or emails of support from all your identified project partners.
What we are not looking for
We don’t want any other letters (or emails) of support, from people who are not your identified project partners, such as those simply expressing general support for your project. If these are included by you, they will be ignored by us and will not be used in the assessment process.
Important information
You should only provide letters or emails of support from people you have identified in the project partner section of your application, who will have an integral role in your proposed research.
What each project partner letter or email of support must include
Each project partner letter or email you provide should:
- include the name of the project partner organisation and contact information
- explain the project partners’ commitment to the project
- explain the value, relevance, and possible benefits of the proposed work, to them
- describe any additional value they will bring to the project
- not exceed two sides of A4 per project partner
Project partner letters and emails of support are not required to be on headed paper or include handwritten signatures (electronic signatures are acceptable).
The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.
Project partners from industry or a company
Industry or company project partners are required to download and complete the industry or company letter of support template. You must also complete the ‘Industry Collaboration Framework (ICF)’ section. Find out more about ICF.
Project partners responsible for recruiting research participants or providing human tissue or samples
If the project partner is responsible for the recruitment of people as research participants or providing human tissue, their letter or email of support should include:
- agreement that the project partner will recruit the participants or provide tissue
- confirmation that what is being supplied is suitable for the proposed work
- confirmation that the quantity of tissue being supplied is suitable, but not excessive for achieving meaningful results (if applicable)
Agreement with your project partners
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.
Industry Collaboration Framework (ICF)
Word limit: 1,500
Does your application include collaboration with industry or company project partners?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
The assessors are looking for you to confirm if your proposed work involves collaboration with an industry or company project partner. If it does, you will need to follow the MRC ICF.
By ‘industry or company’ we mean an enterprise that puts or has intention to put goods or services on a market.
For guidance to assist your decision if your proposed work requires you to follow ICF, you should explore the ICF decision tree and find out more about ICF which includes:
- collaboration agreements
- definitions of basic or applied research
- internationally based companies
- subsidy control
- intellectual property (IP) arrangements
- fully flexible and gated contributions
- the ICF assessment criteria
Enter ‘Yes’ in the text box if you have industry or company project partners and you are likely to follow ICF. You should also confirm your answers to the ICF questions one to nine in the text box for each ICF project partner.
Contact us if you are unsure if your application should follow ICF. Find contacts in the ‘Contact details’ section.
In addition to the project partner information completed in the previous section, the assessors are looking for information relating to the nature, goals and conditions of the collaboration and any restrictions or rights to the project results that could be claimed by the industry or company project partner.
Confirm your answers to the ICF questions in the text box, repeat this process for each ICF project partner:
- Name the industry or company project partner considered under ICF.
- Indicate whether your application is basic research or applied research.
- Explain why, in the absence of the requested UKRI funding, the collaboration and the planned research could not be undertaken.
- State whether your application is under the category of fully flexible contribution or gated contribution (based on the IP sharing arrangements with the industry or company partner).
- Outline the pre-existing IP (‘background IP’) that each partner, including the academic partner, will bring to the collaborative research project and the terms under which partners may access these assets.
- Outline the IP that is expected to be developed during the collaborative research project (‘foreground IP’) and briefly outline how it will be managed, including:
- who will own this IP
- what rights industry or company partners will have to use academically-generated foreground IP during and after the research project, for internal research and development or for commercial purposes
- any rights of the academic partner to commercialise the foreground IP, including foreground IP generated by industry or company partners
- Outline any restrictions to dissemination of the project results, including the rights of the industry or company partner to:
- review, approve or delay publications (including the time period associated with such rights)
- request or require the removal of any information
- Declare any conflicts of interest held by the applicants in relation to the industry or company project partners and describe how they will be managed.
- Justify collaborating with an overseas industry or company under ICF (if applicable).
Failure to provide the information requested for industry or company partners under ICF could result in your application being rejected.
You are recommended to discuss the goals and conditions of any collaboration with an industry or company with your technology transfer or contracts office before applying.
For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made. You must provide us with a copy of the collaboration agreement, signed by all partners, before an ICF award starts.
If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service
Related applications
Word limit: 2,000
Is this application related to another application to MRC or other funding organisation?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If your application is not related to another, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
If your application is related to another, state your previous reference number and explain how this new application is related to the other application.
If the related application was submitted to another funder you should identify the name of the funder and when you applied.
Resubmissions
Going forward, we will not accept uninvited resubmission of unsuccessful applications that were submitted after 1 April 2026 to MRC or the rest of UKRI. Uninvited resubmissions will be rejected.
If your unsuccessful application was submitted before 1 April 2026 follow our previous policy, this means you may resubmit it after waiting 12 months. Early resubmissions will be rejected.
Where relevant confirm the details of your previous application or invitation to resubmit and describe how this application differs from the previous application and how feedback on the previous application has been considered and acted on. If you are resubmitting an application that previously allowed a higher word count, you may include additional detail in this section.
Duplicate submissions
You can only apply to us at the same time as another funder to support the same work if they are outside UKRI, also allow this and the application is time sensitive. You must explain the time sensitivity of the proposed research based on its urgency or feasibility and justify why a duplicate submission is necessary. The end of a grant or contract is not considered justification for duplicate submission. If there isn’t a clearly justified time sensitive research need your application will be rejected. For more information see submitting your application
Charity co-funders
Word limit: 10
Provide the name of the charity organisation that has agreed to co-fund this application.
What assessors are looking for in your response
If you are not applying for a charity co-funded grant, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Co-funding must be discussed with, and agreed by, the charity co-funder before submission. Refer to the MRC Charity Co-funding Framework guidance for details of the process and a list of participating charity co-funders. If the charity is not listed, contact partnership@mrc.ukri.org so we may confirm eligibility.
Only name a charity co-funder where prior agreement has been obtained. Applications naming a co-funder that has not agreed to contribute before submission will not be considered for co-funding.
You must provide the charity co-funder’s contribution within the next section.
By applying using the MRC Charity Co-funding Framework, you agree to MRC sharing your personal data with the relevant co-funder(s). This information could include your application, relevant information as part of the assessment process, the award offer letter, and subsequent grant reporting.
For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our privacy notice.
Charity co-funder’s contribution
Word limit: 1
What percentage contribution has the charity co-funder agreed to provide?
What assessors are looking for in your response
If you are not applying for a charity co-funded grant, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Only complete this section where the co-funder has confirmed a contribution before submission.
Provide the indicative percentage contribution agreed by the charity co-funder.
International agreements
Word limit: 50
Is your application using an international agreement?
What assessors are looking for in your response
If your application is not using an international agreement, enter ‘N/A’ in the text box.
If your application is using an international agreement, identify the agreement concerned by answering ‘Yes’ followed by ‘FAPESP’ or ‘FNR’ or ‘RCN’:
- lead agency agreement with Luxembourg (FNR)
- lead agency agreement with Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)
- Collaborate with researchers in Norway (RCN)
Lead agency agreements
For applications using a lead agency agreement the assessors are looking for you to create and upload the required lead agency documents, to support your application. You must complete all the relevant documentation and attach it to this application as a single PDF. This is not required for applications using the Collaborate with researchers in Norway agreement.
FAPESP
FAPESP applicants must complete the FAPESP-specific forms.
Documents and guidance are available on the FAPESP website, including the FAPESP proposal forms. The proposal form should include:
- consolidated budget form
- letter of eligibility
FNR
FNR applicants should complete the FNR-specific forms.
Documents and guidance are available on the FNR website, including:
- INTER budget sheet
- INTER budget justification
- INTER budget plan
- FNR eligibility letter of support
You must also complete the ‘Project partners’ section, with information about the international research partner, including:
- international lead applicant contact name and organisation details
- contribution from the international funder (FAPESP or FNR)
Include the experience, skills and contributions of your international research partners in the response to ‘Applicant and team capability to deliver’.
You should ensure that you have read and understood the specific requirements for the lead agency agreement you are applying to, especially for costing the applications. Failure to comply with the specific guidance may result in the rejection of your application.
On receipt of your application, we will provide the international funder (FAPESP or FNR) with a copy to complete eligibility checks and provide names of expert reviewers.
For general FAPESP guidance please see the FAPESP website.
For general FNR guidance please see the FNR website.
Collaborate with researchers in Norway
There are no additional documents, complete the application as normal requesting all the required resources and costs and include the Norway-based researcher as a project co-lead (international).
See further guidance, including the costs the MRC will cover.
If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Keywords
Word limit: 10
Provide up to five keywords that describe your application.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Provide up to a maximum of five keywords including the health area, for example, mental health, engineering biology, environmental health, diagnosis, obesity, vaccine development.
Use commas or spaces to distinguish individual terms or phrases.
This is for administrative purposes to help with the initial application processing and will not affect the overall assessment or influence the outcome of your application.
Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)
Trusted Research and Innovation is the protection of the UK’s intellectual property, sensitive research, people, and infrastructure from potential theft, misuse, and exploitation.
Organisations receiving UKRI funding are obliged to act in line with UK government legislation. They are also expected to undertake appropriate due diligence assessments of organisations involved in research partnerships, collaboration agreements, and commercial contracts.
You will be asked about:
- which areas of the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act your project relates to
- who you intend to collaborate with and how
- if your project requires an export control licence
Your answers may affect the T&Cs of your funding agreement if you are successful. We may use your answers to determine that our current T&Cs are sufficient or if additional T&Cs are required.
