This opportunity takes part in two stages:
- submission of an outline proposal
- invited submission of a full proposal, if successful at stage one.
If you have any questions about your eligibility, the application process, or you have sensitive information you want conveyed to NERC in confidence, contact the funding service team on support@funding-service.ukri.org.
For information about how UKRI handles personal data please see UKRI’s privacy notice.
Stage one questions
What follows is a copy of the sections and questions you’ll need to complete and answer for your stage one application on UKRI’s Funding Service. You cannot apply for stage one of this opportunity on Je-S. Only the person creating this application can edit it. If you need to collaborate with other co-applicants, you should do so offline.
Applicants will need to take the following steps to apply:
- select the ‘Start application’ button at the start of this page
- this will open the ‘Sign in’ page of UKRI’s Funding Service. If you do not already have an account, you’ll be able to create one. This is a two-minute process requiring you to verify your email address and set a password
- start answering the questions detailed in this section of ‘how to apply.’ You can save your work and come back to it later
- once complete, use the service to send your application to your research office for review. They’ll check it and return it to you if it needs editing
- once happy, your research office will submit it to UKRI for assessment. Only they can do this.
Make sure you get any necessary approval from your organisation in advance and give your research office plenty of time before the closing date.
If you’re submitting a proposal as a joint application, then only the lead organisation should submit a proposal at this stage.
Details and summary
Application name
This should be the title of your proposed project.
Limited to 20 words.
Question: describe your research idea
Provide a brief overview of the challenge you’re looking to address and how you are planning to do it.
Guidance: you should also include an estimate of your total costs. This should be a single figure, not a breakdown. If your application is successful, we will ask you to submit a full breakdown of costs as part of the next stage.
Limited to 500 words.
Add applicants
In this section you will be asked to provide principal investigator and co-investigator details.
Case for support
Question: provide a case for support, making sure to include the information asked for in ‘what the assessors are looking for in your response’.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
You should make sure you include enough information for assessors to score your application against all the assessment criteria, so they can decide whether to invite you to submit a full proposal. Structure your response using the subheadings (in bold) provided below.
Research vision
What is your research vision and how does it fall within NERC’s remit.
Research challenge
Identify the overall aims of your research and the challenges it will address. Explain why the proposed research is novel, timely and innovative. Explain how the proposed research fits the aims of this opportunity.
Project team
Briefly explain who will be involved in the project and what expertise they’ll contribute. We’re committed to DORA and you should not quote journal-based metrics as evidence.
Proposed programme
Describe the programme of research that will be carried out using the funding, showing how the work packages relate to each other. Outline the methodology to be used in the research and justify this choice.
Data collection and management
Outline what data you’ll be collecting as part of your project and how you’ll manage it.
Large versus small scale: explain why a large-scale project is more appropriate than several smaller projects.
You will be able to include up to two images, each no larger than A4 and accompanied by no more than 20 words, in a single PDF that’s a maximum of 8MB.
Word count: 2,200 words.
NERC international partnership joint funding
Question: Are you submitting your proposal under a NERC international partnership joint funding agreement?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
NERC is working internationally with other funding organisations to help support excellent research collaborations. Agreements are now in place with:
- the US’s National Science Foundation (NSF)
- FAPESP (Brazil)
- Fonds National de la Recherche (FNR) in Luxembourg.
The assessors want to understand whether you intend to submit a full proposal using an existing international partnership if your outline proposal is successful. Find out more about our international funding agreements.
If ‘yes’, please provide the details of which agreement you’re submitting this proposal under. Please also detail the team, the collaboration and the added value to the project, including bottom line estimates of funding the team will be requesting from the collaborating organisation.
If ‘no’, please enter ‘not applicable’.
Word count: 500 words.
