We are running this funding opportunity on the new UKRI Funding Service. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.
The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the 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 UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Watch our recording on how to apply for an opportunity in the Funding Service.
To apply
Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page.
- Confirm you are the project lead.
- Sign in or create a Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a password. If your organisation is not listed, email support@funding-service.ukri.org
- Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page.
- Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.
- Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI.
Watch our research office webinars about the new UKRI Funding Service.
Deadline
We must receive your application by 16 November 2023 at 4.00pm UK time.
You will not be able to apply after this time. If an application is withdrawn prior to peer review or office rejected due to substantive errors in the application, it cannot be re-submitted to the same round. Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.
Personal data
NERC, 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.
Publication of outcomes
NERC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity on What NERC has funded.
If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research.
Summary
Word count: 550
In plain English, provide a summary that we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.
We may make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, so 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
- 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))
- researcher co-lead (RcL)
- specialist
- grant manager
- professional enabling staff
- research and innovation associate
- technician
- visiting researcher
Only list one individual as project lead.
If appointing unnamed research and innovation associates or technicians, you do not include them as a team member role but should include their costs in the likely project budget.
The PcL (I) role should only be used for applications making use of the UKRI-RCN Money Follows Cooperation agreement or the UKRI-IIASA agreement. We do not otherwise accept project co-lead (international) applicants.
Find out more about UKRI’s new grant roles.
Core questions
Vision and approach
Word count: 10
What are you hoping to achieve with and how will you deliver your proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
For the Vision, explain how your proposed work:
- is of excellent quality and importance within or beyond the field(s) or area(s)
- has the potential to advance current understanding, generates new knowledge, thinking or discovery within or beyond the field or area
- is timely given current trends, context and needs
- impacts world-leading research, society, the economy or the environment
Within the Vision section we also expect you to:
- identify the potential direct or indirect benefits and who the beneficiaries might be
- explain why a large-scale project is more effective and appropriate than several smaller projects to achieve your objectives
For the Approach, explain how you have designed your work 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
- if applicable, uses a clear and transparent methodology
- if applicable, summarises the previous work and describes how this will be built upon and progressed
- 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 proposed work
- provide a project plan including milestones and timelines in the form of a Gantt chart or similar (to be included within the ten page limit)
You should not include a detailed plan for how you will acquire and manage data. Once the decision has been made on applications that are likely to be in the funding frame, we will request further details about the data management and requirements.
Upload guidance
You should upload the Vision and Approach document as a ten-page PDF. The document must have single line spacing, margins of at least 2cm and be typed using Arial 11pt, or another ‘sans serif’ font with an equivalent size to Arial 11pt.
You may include images, graphs, tables and a diagrammatic workplan including milestones and timelines in the form of a Gantt chart or similar.
For the file name, use the unique UKRI funding service number the system gives you when you create an application, followed by the words ‘Vision and Approach’.
Save this document as a single PDF file, no bigger than 8MB. Unless specifically requested, please do not include any personal data within the attachment.
If the attachment does not meet these requirements, the application will be rejected.
Once you have uploaded, mark this section as complete and move to the next one.
Applicant and team capability to deliver
Word count: 1,500 (1,000 words to be used for R4RI modules and, if necessary, a further 500 words for Additions)
Why are you the right individual or team to successfully deliver the proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Evidence of how you, and if relevant your team, have:
- the relevant experience (appropriate to career stage) to deliver the proposed work
- the right balance of skills and expertise to cover the proposed work
- the appropriate leadership and management skills to deliver the work and your approach to develop others
- contributed to developing a positive research environment and wider community
The word count for this section is 1,500 words, 1,000 words to be used for R4RI modules and, if necessary, a further 500 words for Additions.
Use the Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) format to showcase the range of relevant skills you and, if relevant, your team (project and project co-leads, researchers, technicians, specialists, partners and so on) have and how this will help deliver the proposed work. You can include individuals’ specific achievements but only choose past contributions that best evidence their ability to deliver this work.
Complete this section using the R4RI module headings listed. Use each heading once and include a response for the whole team, see the UKRI guidance on R4RI. You should consider how to balance your answer, and emphasise where appropriate the key skills each team member brings:
- contributions to the generation of new ideas, tools, methodologies, or knowledge
- the development of others and maintenance of effective working relationships
- contributions to the wider research and innovation community
- contributions to broader research or innovation users and audiences and towards wider societal benefit
You should complete this as a narrative and you should avoid CV type format.
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).
UKRI has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the new Funding Service.
For full details, see Eligibility as an individual.
Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)
Word count: 500
What are the ethical or RRI implications and issues relating to the proposed work? If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical or RRI issues, explain why.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Using the text box, demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated the relevant ethical or responsible research and innovation considerations, and how you will manage them. Including:
- research involving animals
- research involving human tissues or biological samples, including the nature and quantity of the material used and its source
- research involving human participation, including the numbers and diversity of the participants involved and any procedures
- potential impacts of the proposed research on the environment or society in general
State the names of any bodies you will require approval from and whether you already have it. If it is not yet in place, then give an indicative timeframe for when it will be.
Cost range
Word count: 10 words
What is the estimated cost range of your project?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
In your application you must include an indication of the likely cost of the project (at 100% FEC) by selecting one cost range:
- up to £3 million
- £3 million to £3.7 million
- up to £4 million
No further information on costs will be submitted at the time of application. Most applications are expected to be under £3.7 million. We recognise that a small number of projects have exceptional costs that require the budget to exceed the £3.7 million limit. A third option (up to £4 million) is available to recognise this limited number of cases. As costs will be indicative only you do not need to request permission in advance to exceed the limit.
References
Word count: 1,000
List the references you have used to support your application.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
You should include all references in this section of the application and not in the rest of the application questions.
You should not include any other information in this section.
We advise you not to include hyperlinks as assessors are not obliged to access the information they lead to or consider it in their assessment of your application.
If linking to web resources, to ensure the information’s integrity is maintained include, where possible, persistent identifiers such as digital object identifiers.
You must not include links to web resources in order to extend your application.
Optional additional questions
NERC international partnership joint funding
Word count: 10 words
Are you submitting your application under a NERC international partnership joint funding agreement?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If not, enter ‘N/A’ into the text box, mark this section as complete and move on to the next section.
If your application is in partnership with the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the US, São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) in Brazil or Fonds National de la Recherche (FNR) in Luxembourg, please provide the name of which agreement you are submitting under in the text box.
You should include further detail of the team, the collaboration and the added value to the project in the appropriate sections of the application, not here.
Add any further documentation required for the international funder as a single PDF attachment in this section.
Any involvement of international project co-leads from IIASA or Norway should be included in ‘Core team’, ‘Applicant and team capability to deliver’ and any other relevant sections and are not applicable to this question.
Project partners: contributions
Word count: 1,000
Provide details about any project partners’ contributions using the template provided.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If you do not have any project partners, simply add ‘N/A’ into the text box, mark this section as complete and move to the next section.
If you do have project partners, download and complete the project partner contributions template (DOCX, 52KB) then copy and paste the table within it into the text box.
Ensure you have obtained prior agreement from project partners that, should you be offered funding, they will support your project as indicated in the template.
A project partner is a collaborating organisation that is contributing to the application and will have an integral role in the proposed research. Project partners cannot normally receive funding directly from the grant. Two exceptions to this are:
- where a project partner is providing services or equipment that will go through a formal procurement process audited by the host research organisation
- the project partner can receive small amounts of funding from the grant, such as for travel and subsistence to attend project meetings
For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.
Facilities
Word count: 250
Does your proposed research require the support and use of a facility?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If you do not need to use a facility, simply add ‘N/A’ into the text box, mark this section as complete and move to the next section.
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 the facility information list (DOCX, 35KB)
- proposed usage or costs, or costs per unit where indicated on the facility information list
- confirmation you have their agreement where required
If you have to attach a facility form, for example NERC ship-time and marine equipment, then upload it as a PDF. If you need to upload multiple forms, then combine them into a single PDF.
Upload guidance
Upload a single PDF containing facility forms ensuring it is no larger than 8MB, if applicable.
For the file name, use the unique UKRI Funding Service number the system gives to your proposal when you create an application, immediately followed by the words ‘facility forms’, then use the ‘Upload’ button.
Unless specifically requested, please do not include any personal data within the attachment.
Once you have uploaded, mark this section as complete and move to the next one.
Associated Studentships
Word count: 5,000 (1,000 per studentship, maximum of 5 studentships)
What is the studentship project and how will the studentship be delivered?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
For each studentship, explain:
- the supervisory arrangements including supervisor name(s), organisation, proposed start and end dates
- what the project will be and how the student will develop new research ideas
- how the research undertaken through the studentship will be closely associated with the work carried out in the grant but still constitute a distinct project
If you are successful, you will be required to provide further information about the provision of training and delivery of the studentship.
If you are not requesting any associated studentships, add N/A into the text box, mark this section as complete and move to the next section.
