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
- 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)
- specialist
- grant manager
- professional enabling staff
Only list one individual as project lead.
It is mandatory for every application to include a subject matter expert (SME) in an STFC funded remit area. The SME can be any one of the PL, PcL or specialist role holders.
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.
Vision
Word limit: 500
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 high quality and importance within or beyond the field(s) or area(s)
- equitably engages with public groups and audiences
- is timely given current trends, context and needs
- promotes wider advocacy, leadership, promotion and championing of public engagement
Approach
Word limit: 850
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:
- clearly describes the different engagement, networking or capacity building activities planned as part of the project
- clearly identifies target audiences
- provides clear evidence of audience demand for the project
- demonstrates the appropriateness of the methodology proposed to reach and appeal to the intended audiences
- demonstrates and builds upon learning from previous activities and wider sector good practice
- is effective and appropriate to achieve your objectives
- is feasible, and comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how they will be managed
- embeds equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI)
You are expected to upload a single PDF document to provide evidence of audience demand. If you are not doing so, you will need to provide a reason.
The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply. If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Applicant and team capability to deliver
Word limit: 750
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 to deliver the proposed work
- the right balance of skills and expertise to cover the proposed work including, where relevant, lived experience
- the appropriate leadership and management skills to deliver the work and your approach to develop others
- contributed to developing a positive working environment and wider community and appropriate safeguarding measures when working with people with lived experience
You should complete this section as a narrative. Do not format it like a CV.
Resources and costs
Word limit: 500
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
- any consumables beyond typical requirements, or that are required in exceptional quantities
- all resources that have been costed as ‘Exceptions’
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.
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
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 organisation who will have an integral role in the 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.
Add the following project partner details:
- the organisation name and address (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 indirect) 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.
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
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
Enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box, or if you do not have any project partners enter ‘N/A’. Each letter or email you provide should:
- confirm the partner’s commitment to the project
- clearly explain the value, relevance, and possible benefits of the work to them
- describe any additional value that they bring to the project
- have a page limit of two sides A4 per partner
The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.
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.
Host organisation’s support
Word limit: 500
Provide details of support from your research organisation.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Ensure the head of department (or equivalent) of the host organisation provides you with a supporting statement (which they have written), that includes details of any additional support that might add value to the work.
Assessors will be looking for a strong statement of support from your research organisation. This information should have been approved for submission by an appropriate institutional authority.
You must also include the following details:
- full name
- their position or role
- the department, school or institute they lead
- their contact details
The statement of support provided by your host organisation should be copied and pasted into the text box. You cannot upload the statement of support to this section as an attachment. Your application may be rejected if you upload a host organisation statement of support to the ‘Project partners: letters (or emails) of support’ section or any other section of your application.
Evaluation plan
Word limit: 750
How will the outputs, outcomes and impacts of the project be captured, evaluated and shared?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
You will need to supply clear evidence of the following:
- a detailed evaluation plan including methodology
- how the evaluation is linked to the STFC Public Engagement Evaluation Framework, as funded applicants will be required to report to this framework
- how learning from the proposed activity will be captured and shared
Dissemination plan
Word limit: 400
What the assessors are looking for in your response
What is your plan for disseminating resources, outputs and so on to relevant audiences?
You will need to supply clear evidence of the following:
- planning for dissemination of the resources, outcomes, outputs, and so on, to relevant audiences
- how wider audiences could benefit through activities, such as the sharing of good practice or sharing learning
Target audience
Word limit: 100
We expect that projects will focus on audiences based in the UK.
Please show the total number estimated number of people who will be reached within each audience group shown below and express this as a percentage (which must total 100%):
- primary school children
- secondary school children (up to 16 years old)
- 16 to 19-year-olds
- teachers
- general public
- families
- other
You are asked to show a breakdown of Wonder and non-Wonder audiences, where applicable.
If you are targeting a specific subset of the general public not mentioned above, please use the entry for ‘general public’ and specify here (for example gender specific or SEN audiences).
Linkage to specific STFC funded science, technology and research
Word limit: 300
Clearly describe how the activities that are proposed in your project link directly to science, technology or research that is funded by STFC as part of its remit.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
The information should correlate to the percentages that have been supplied in the response to the STFC programme area question above.
It is essential for any application for projects that include quantum technologies to demonstrate clear links to the STFC-delivered and funded centres, programmes and facilities.
Provide a clear, evidenced, description of how the proposed project activities map onto the STFC funded remit areas.
Safeguarding and use of data
Word limit: 650
What are the ethical, RRI and safeguarding considerations, implications and issues relating to the proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Specifically, any potential issues with respect to vulnerable adults, children and young people should be considered and mitigated.
If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical, RRI or safeguarding issues, explain why.
Demonstrate that you have identified, evaluated and mitigated:
- the relevant ethical and RRI considerations, including both the topic area itself and the design and delivery of the project
- how you will manage these considerations throughout the lifecycle of the project
- how you manage any, and all, safeguarding issues
If you are collecting or using data, you should identify:
- any legal and ethical considerations of collecting, releasing and storing the data (including consent, confidentiality, anonymisation, security and other ethical considerations and, in particular, strategies to not preclude further reuse of data)
- formal information standards that your proposed work will comply with
- how you will ensure that all data and content from activities that involves vulnerable adults, children and young people is securely and appropriately managed
See further information around our expectations on ethical research and responsible innovation.
Wonder initiative
Word limit: 300
If appropriate, how will your project engage with the Wonder Initiative audience and what is the anticipated impact?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Please provide details of the following:
- clear evidence of demand
- clear evidence of how the audience would be reached and how proposed activities would appeal
- the appropriateness of the activities to the audience
- the potential impact on the audience
The Wonder initiative aims to connect people from all backgrounds with our science, technology and research. Wonder is about giving under-served communities an equal voice by listening, understanding and responding to what people want to know about science and technology.
The Wonder Initiative focuses on working with participants from the 40% most socio-economically deprived areas of the UK, in particular eight to 14-year-olds and their families and carers.
Applications that are regarded as fundable and have a strong Wonder focus will be prioritised.
STFC programme area
Word limit: 50
What are the STFC funded remit areas relevant to your project?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
List which of the STFC funded remit areas are relevant to your project. You will need to have provided clear evidence of links to the STFC’s funded remit elsewhere in the application.
Please show the percentage of relevant programme areas and approximate percentages (which must total 100%).
The STFC funded remit areas are:
- astronomy, solar and planetary science
- particle physics
- particle astrophysics
- nuclear physics
- accelerator science
- computational science
- quantum technologies
- STFC facilities
Trusted research and innovation (TR&I)
TR&I 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:
- which areas of the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act your project relates to
- who you intend to collaborate with and how
- whether 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.
