Apply for the opportunity to run the Northern Ireland Election Study (NIES ) between 2026 and 2036, and the funding for the 2027 devolved election and the 2029 UK general election in Northern Ireland.
You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funding.
This is a pre-announcement and the information may change.
When the funding opportunity opens, more information will be available on this page then.
This opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility, and organisations who are based overseas. Check if your organisation is eligible.
As ESRC research council is the lead funder for this opportunity, international researchers can apply as ‘project co-lead (international)’. You should include all other international collaborators (or UK partners not based at approved organisations) as project partners.
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:
UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process.
This is a pre-announcement and the information may change.
When the funding opportunity opens, more information will be available on this page. Please contact us if you are interested in this opportunity and we will notify you when the opportunity is updated and open.
The aims of this opportunity will be:
ESRC’s objectives for the successful applicant will be to:
By delivering the objectives the NIES will support the delivery of ESRC’s data infrastructure strategy. In particular building and sustaining a foundation and impact and public benefit.
Applications should clearly outline how their project objectives and work packages contribute to the above ESRC funding objectives for NIES. Applications will be assessed and prioritised based on how well they deliver the funding objectives and the opportunity specification.
ESRC is keen to capitalise on recent major developments in the capability of artificial intelligence (AI) in relation to social science data infrastructure. Applicants are encouraged to consider how they might utilise AI to more effectively deliver the study objectives and how they can enable users to use AI techniques when working with NIES data. ESRC encourages collaboration to address this, with work to incorporate AI proportionate to the investment.
NIES will collect high quality, politically independent data at scale to inform research into Northern Irish politics, elections and voting behaviour. It will contribute to the understanding of political attitudes and behaviour in Northern Ireland as they are today, and how they change over time. It will facilitate comparative research within the UK and potentially internationally. The data will support academics and other key stakeholders in the UK democratic system. Key stakeholder groups include:
The successful applicant(s) and host institution will lead NIES between 2026 and 2036 (subject to likely future election dates). Applicants should provide their strategic vision for the study up to 2036.
Initial funding is available from May 2026 to 2031 (up to 60 months). ESRC will invite the successful applicant(s) and host institution to apply for funding to cover the anticipated elections for the remainder of the 2026 to 2036 period subject to performance, funding availability and sufficient consistency in the delivery team and host institution.
This initial application should describe the applicant’s approach for delivery up to 2031.
This funding will support:
As an investment from the ESRC infrastructure team, academic research using the data is not within scope of this funding opportunity, for further details on this please see the ‘What we will fund’ and ‘What we will not fund’ section.
Activities funded from ESRC’s contribution must be used for the delivery or improvement of the study as a data infrastructure for use by the wider research community. However, applicants are welcome to conduct aligned activities using different funding sources, these can be discussed in the application where they provide additional value to NIES.
The team must have the ability to successfully engage with stakeholders in the relevant political systems and act as a trusted source of impartial political data in the Northern Ireland and UK political systems. This includes having a strong understanding of the political context of the data collection activity. Applicants should sufficiently prioritise enabling research within their local context as well as on wider UK issues.
Applicants should outline why their decided approach is the best way of delivering the study.
Effective consultation should take place with key stakeholder groups ensuring that the study considers and addresses user needs from academic and non-academic communities, whilst ensuring the studies make a distinct contribution to polling in the setting.
Non-academic user communities include the media, policymakers, political parties, the polling industry, lobby groups and charities, and educators. Stakeholders should also be considered at both the sub-national and UK level, as well as internationally (where appropriate). Consultations should meaningfully inform the design of the study and its wider activities, described under ‘Scope ’.
To maintain a degree of consistency in the long-term data series it is expected that the data collected will include:
These surveys are the core data collection activity and should take place as close to the election as practicable.
In addition, ESRC allows data collection at other points of the election cycle where applicants can evidence strong scientific need or potential impact and appropriately balance this with the core data collection within the available budget.
Applicants should review the previous questionnaires and related documentation, which are available from the UK Data Service.
For the data collection, applicants must ensure that:
Although ESRC welcomes innovative approaches to the design of the study, building on and extending the previous Northern Ireland election studies, applicants should carefully consider the degree to which any changes will maintain consistency with prior data collection. Where changes are proposed, these should be clearly described, and applicants must explain the potential benefits, trade-offs and risks, alongside how continuity will be ensured. For example, continuity can be balanced with the inclusion of questions on themes and issues of topical concern and importance.
ESRC recognise that following the COVID-19 pandemic there has been a substantial shift in fieldwork methodologies, for example a growing number of studies are utilising mixed mode approaches. ESRC are open to methodological changes, however if changes are proposed, appropriate assessment and care must be undertaken to ensure methodological comparability.
Applicants are asked to consider whether to collect data on social media consumption and exposure, and its impact on political behaviour.
As a data infrastructure, NIES must ensure stakeholders can easily access and use the data. Applicants are encouraged to also consider how they can enable user-led AI application on NIES data.
For the data processing and publication, applicants must ensure that:
In line with the ESRC research funding guide, all subcontracted social surveys must be subject to normal competitive purchasing principles. ESRC requires that surveys over £10,000 (£8,333 exclusive of VAT) are subject to external competition to ensure best value for money through competitive purchasing processes. Where surveys are expected to exceed £25,000 (£20,830 exclusive of VAT) the research organisation’s full tendering procedures must be followed.
Applicants must ensure sufficient time is built into the project timeline to enable a competitive tender process .
Applicant should seek out quotations for a minimum of three potential fieldwork providers and provide these estimates in the ‘Resources and cost justification’. Otherwise, applicants must explain and evidence why this is not possible and demonstrate that they have considered alternative approaches to procuring some or all aspects of the fieldwork.
ESRC reserves the right to reject applications whose subcontracted social surveys are not subject to external competition or where they do not provide the necessary evidence prior to expert review .
As a resource for the community, the NIES must promote the use of the data by both academic and non-academic communities. The election studies have a unique user base that extends beyond academia and policy, as described in the consultation section. Applicants are asked to propose a framework to both support non-academic stakeholders and promote the data for academic use. Ongoing engagement with stakeholders to refine the framework is encouraged.
Applicants must ensure that their proposed activities:
These activities can include initial findings for academic and non-academic audiences.
The objective of initial findings for academic audiences are to demonstrate the utility, availability and relevance of the data to a wide user base.
In developing initial findings for academic audiences, the team must minimise the risk of being perceived to have unfairly utilised access to earlier cuts of the data to conduct research before full data release. To this end initial findings for academic audiences should ideally be released alongside the data or shortly after, and this should not delay data release itself. Any analysis and its presentation must be sufficiently simple for users to quickly and easily understand the potential of the data. Accessibility must be prioritised over research quality or value .
The objective of initial findings for non-academic audiences is to accelerate impact, including in the period shortly following elections. The analysis and its presentation must be sufficiently simple for users to quickly and easily understand how they can use the information, and only as complex as required to ensure stakeholders can be confident to use it. Accessibility and utility to the stakeholders is the focus.
In both cases, initial findings should be presented such that they do not compromise the actual and perceived rigour of the final data.
Collaboration within the ESRC election studies portfolio is essential to facilitate meaningful comparison of UK elections and the views and behaviour of UK electorates. For example, collaboration on questionnaire design is strongly encouraged, whether via common themes, questions or standards.
Coordination should be targeted at areas where comparative research would be of particularly high value, whilst retaining sufficient flexibility to tailor the study to its electoral context.
Collaboration to tackle shared challenges or opportunities is also encouraged. The successful applicant will be required to collaborate with the other ESRC election studies portfolio to increase the value of elections data for the community and meet the needs of the community. Applicants should outline their approach to collaborating with the other ESRC election studies and their anticipated benefits .
Applicants should also consider engagement and collaboration opportunities with other ESRC investments and the wider social science community, where activities and learning may overlap (such as other data collection projects and on challenges and opportunities such as the use of AI in social science data infrastructures). Applicants should outline any other planned collaborations and their related benefits.
ESRC encourages relevant collaboration with other international election surveys to enable comparison of Northern Ireland data in the international context. The election studies are a key resource in facilitating comparative research across the UK and international collaborative research. This should be considered by applicants when designing NIES.
ESRC encourages applicants to consider capacity building in their approach and application. Applicants can highlight any plans to support capacity building. Approaches could include utilising opportunities to diversify the NIES team and offering opportunities for training and networking.
ESRC will set out monitoring and reporting requirements in the terms and conditions of the award. Award holders will be required to produce an updated timeline, deliverables list and risk register at the start of the grant, for regular discussion with us.
The award holders will be expected to provide ESRC with a short, written, six-monthly update on activities, including risk, finance, progress, and where applicable impact including data usage statistics. More frequent updates will be expected on important activities, risks and major project changes if they present a risk to meeting its objectives. Researchfish reporting is also required.
ESRC will assign an investment manager as a lead contact for each funded investment. Contact will include a twice-yearly meeting between ESRC and the project lead, as well as other members of the team where appropriate.
Applications should include sufficient time for project leads and (where relevant) co-leads to meet these monitoring requirements as well as any other additional governance arrangements they see fit.
Applications must comply with the ESRC research funding guide.
The duration of this award is a maximum of 60 months.
We will be looking for a strong statement of support from your research organisation to contribute to a successful delivery of the NIES.
We expect applications to include details of support including why this organisation is well-placed to host the NIES. The statement should demonstrate its commitment to hosting and running this strategic investment and detail any aligned funding that will be provided to support the activity and additional support that might add value to the work.
We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.
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 applicants can find additional support.
ESRC supports a range of data infrastructure. Where relevant, we encourage applicants to consider whether the use of these resources could add value to the project. See facilities and resources for information on finding and using ESRC datasets which are available across the UK.
Where relevant, details of datasets and infrastructure to be used in your project should be given in the Facilities section.
ESRC recognises the importance of data quality and provenance. Data generated, collected or acquired by ESRC-funded research must be well-managed by the grant holder to enable their data to be exploited to the maximum potential for further research. See our research data policy for details and further information on data requirements. The requirements of the research data policy are a condition of ESRC research funding.
Where relevant, details on data management and sharing should be provided in the Data Management section. See the importance of managing and sharing data and content for inclusion in a data management plan on the UK Data Service (UKDS) website for further guidance. We expect applicants to provide a summary of the points provided. The UKDS (datasharing@ukdataservice.ac.uk) will be pleased to advise applicants on the availability of data within the academic community and provide advice on data deposit requirements.
We expect applicants to consider the potential scientific, societal and economic impacts of their research. Outputs, dissemination and impact are a key part of the criteria for most expert review and assessment processes. We also encourage applications that demonstrate innovation and interdisciplinarity (research combining approaches from more than one discipline).
We are committed to knowledge exchange and encouraging collaboration between researchers and the private, public and civil society sectors. Collaborative working benefits both the researchers and the individuals/organisations involved. Through collaboration, partners learn about each other’s expertise, share knowledge and gain an appreciation of different professional cultures. Collaborative activity can therefore lead to a better understanding of the ways that academic research can add value and offer insights to key issues of concern for policy and practice.
Knowledge exchange should not be treated as an ‘add-on’ at the end of a project but considered before the start and built into a project.
ESRC requires that the research we support is designed and conducted in such a way that it meets ethical principles and is subject to proper professional and institutional oversight in terms of research governance. We have agreed a Framework for Research Ethics that all submitted proposals must comply with. Read further details about the Framework for Research Ethics and guidance on compliance.
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. We will publish full details on how to apply when the funding opportunity opens.
The project lead will be 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.
Please note that you will need to sign in or create a Funding Service account to be able to apply. 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. Please allow at least 10 working days for your organisation to be added to the Funding Service. We strongly suggest that if you are asking UKRI to add your organisation to the Funding Service to enable you to apply to this opportunity, you also create an organisation Administration Account. This will be needed to allow the acceptance and management of any grant that might be offered to you.
Please allow enough time to prepare your application before sending to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.
Note that your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI.
For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:
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:
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.
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.
ESRC will publish the deadline when the funding opportunity opens.
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 this funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and submitted applications will not be amended. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.
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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 or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email datainfrastructure@esrc.ukri.org
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.
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.
ESRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at What ESRC has funded.
If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research.
Application questions will be published when the funding opportunity opens.
We reserve the right to amend this assessment process as the funding opportunity progresses. If this is the case, we will publish details of the amended process.
We will assess your application using the following process.
We will appoint a panel of experts spanning the breadth of the funding opportunity’s scope to assess the quality of your application against the assessment areas. There will be an opportunity to respond to these comments.
Each panel member will individually assess and score your application against the questions and expectations outlined in the ‘How to apply’ section. The panel will then meet to agree a final score and make a funding recommendation to ESRC.
ESRC will make the final funding decision, based on the advice provided by the panel.
We support the San Francisco declaration on research assessment (DORA) and recognise the relationship between research assessment and research integrity.
Find out about the UKRI Principles of Assessment and Decision Making.
Reviewers and panellists are not permitted to use generative AI tools to develop their assessment. Using these tools can potentially compromise the confidentiality of the ideas that applicants have entrusted to UKRI to safeguard.
For more detail see our policy on the use of generative AI.
We reserve the right to modify the assessment process as needed.
If you have a question and the answers aren’t provided on this page.
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For further information on submitting an application read How applicants use the Funding Service.
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) previously funded the Northern Ireland Assembly Election Study (NIAES) and the Northern Ireland General Election Study separately.
NIAES covered the Northern Ireland Assembly elections, examining voting and attitudes at Northern Ireland Assembly elections since 1998.
The Northern Ireland General Election Study covers the UK General Elections in Northern Ireland, as the ESRC funded British Election Study does not cover Northern Ireland. It has examined voting and attitudes at the UK general election since 2010, filling an important gap in elections research. ESRC also funds three other election studies in the UK the British, Scottish and Welsh election studies .
ESRC recently undertook a review of their election studies portfolio, findings from which have informed this opportunity, most notably combining the two studies in Northern Ireland. ESRC is developing an action plan in response to the review. Once the review and action plan are published, the successful applicants will work with ESRC and its other election studies on its implementation.
Impact can be defined as the long-term intended or unintended effect research and innovation has on society, economy and the environment; to individuals, organisations, and the wider global population.
EIA for the opportunity, (PDF 288KB)
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.
