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 UKRI.
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 3 October 2023 at 4:00pm UK time.
You will not be able to apply after this time.
Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.
Personal data
Processing personal data
STFC 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
STFC as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at Industrial CASE studentships.
If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research.
Summary
Word count: maximum 550
In plain English, provide a summary 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)
- doctoral student
Only list one individual as project lead.
We recognise that the student will not be recruited at the point of application submission.
Find out more about UKRI’s new grant roles.
Vision
Word count: 750
What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
This section allows you to give a brief overview of the project and outline the vison of the project, covering the following criteria:
- is the proposed project well-aligned to our core programme?
- is the project of a sufficient quality for a PhD project?
- what is innovative about this project? Identify the extent to which the project is innovative both commercially and technically
- describe any evidence you have to substantiate your belief that the intended project is innovative
- highlight and explain the timeliness and novelty of the project.
Give details of the economic, social and environmental benefits that the project is expected to deliver. List any beneficiaries from the research, for example those who will benefit from the proposed research- directly or indirectly. It may be useful to think of beneficiaries as ‘users’ of the research outputs. Beneficiaries must consist of a wider group than that of the investigator’s immediate professional circle carrying out similar research.
Economic – Highlight benefits to users, suppliers, the broader industrial markets and the UK economy. The application should identify and quantify where possible the benefit to each of the beneficiaries.
Social – Quantify any expected social impacts, either positive or negative, on, for example, the quality of life, social inclusion/exclusion, education, public empowerment, health and safety, regulation, diversity and any expected impact on government priorities.
Environmental – If applicable, demonstrate how the project will benefit the natural environment:
- what economic, social & environmental benefits, beyond that of the investigator’s immediate professional circle, is the project expected to deliver?
- has a case been made for the collaboration?
Explain how the collaboration will provide the student with a challenging research training experience, within a context of a mutually beneficial research collaboration between the student, academic and non-academic industry partner. Explain how the project will be managed in order to maximise the benefit to all parties in terms of student training and scientific output showing:
- how will the collaboration benefit the proposed project? Can the project be done without the collaboration?
- how will the collaboration benefit both the academic and non-academic partner?
- has a case been made for the collaboration?
- provide the unique qualities of the collaboration. How will the collaboration benefit the proposed project? Can the project be done without the collaboration?
Approach
Word count: 750
How are you going to deliver your proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
This section enables the CASE Panel to assess the scientific merit of the project; please write clearly with sufficient detail.
Give references to our strategic priorities and explain how the project is aligned to our core programme.
Provide a detailed and comprehensive project plan, describing the milestones, methodology, experimental approaches, study designs and techniques to be used. You may use a Gantt chart to detail the milestones. Highlight plans which are particularly original or unique.
Give comprehensive and technical details of the anticipated work the student will complete while at the non-academic partner – refer to timelines if appropriate. Is the project achievable for the student in the time frame and are the milestones realistic?
It is the nature of research that the outcomes of a project cannot be predicted. It is important that the key technical and other risks to the successful delivery of the project are identified in the proposal, and contingency plans are in place to ensure the project has successful outcomes.
Therefore, identify key risks and uncertainties of the project (technical, environmental), and provide a risk analysis for the project content and approach. Explain how the project would mitigate these key risks and alternative approaches that may be used in contingency. Give details of the arrangements that are in place for managing risks. You may provide this information as narrative or within a table (example below).
| Risk |
Unmitigated severity* |
Mitigation |
Mitigated Severity* |
|
|
|
|
*Numerical scale – 1=negligible to 5=severe
Management, training and supervision: academic partner
Word count: 500
Give details of the academic training and research environment and explain how this will benefit both the student and the project. Provide a clear project plan of how the project will be managed, including how the student’s time will be split between the academic research organisation (RO) and the non-academic partner research training environment and how these fit in with the aspects of the project.
Give details of how the training and research environment will enrich the student’s experience. You must provide details of the academic supervisor. In most cases this will be the main supervisor (please indicate if the non-academic supervisor is taking the lead supervisory role).
You may wish to include:
- integration with existing students
- interactions with other researchers and staff
- opportunities to participate in interdisciplinary teamwork
- current infrastructure, expertise, facilities and technologies available in the department or group and the organisation
- a timeline showing how the student’s time will be split between the academic RO and the non-academic partner.
Give details of how you will address the project-specific needs of the student, highlighting how this addresses strategic skills gaps (where relevant) and how the project will be managed so that the work at the academic RO can derive greatest benefit from the placement for the student.
You may wish to include:
- appropriate practical and technical research training
- specific training courses and seminars for example computing and statistical techniques
- wider skills training for example health and safety, business and finance related training and transferrable skills and employability
Clearly show the role that the academic department will play to ensure high quality supervision of the student and the proper monitoring of student progress throughout the duration of the award
You may wish to include:
- what is the overall quality of the academic research environment and training programme to be made available to the student?
- does the academic partner show a level of commitment to the studentship and provide interactions with other students and researchers?
- are there suitable arrangements in place for supervision of the student at both the academic and non-academic partners?
- are there provisions in place for monitoring progress?
- how will the collaboration benefit the training experience of the student?
Management, training and supervision: non- academic partner
Word count: 500
Give details of the non-academic training and research environment and explain how this will benefit the student and the project. Clearly state what facilities will be available and how the project will relate to them. You must provide details of the non-academic student supervisor connected with the project and the planned input with the student.
You may wish to include:
- integration with existing students, if applicable.
- interactions with other researchers and staff, such as technicians, health and safety, lab scientists, senior scientists, IP and legal reps, sales, managers, directors, CEO, CSO.
- opportunities to participate in interdisciplinary teamwork.
- current infrastructure, expertise, facilities, and technologies available in the organisation.
Give details of how you will address the project-specific and generic training needs of the student, highlighting how this addresses strategic skills gaps, where relevant, and how the project will be managed so that the work while at the non-academic partner will be carried out with greatest benefit to the student.
You may wish to include:
- appropriate practical and technical research training
- specific training courses and seminars
- internal arrangements for planning, managing and monitoring its provision of postgraduate research training
- computing
- statistical techniques
- wider skills training for example health and safety, presentation and communication skills, team working, time-management, business and finance related training
- intellectual property related training
Clearly show the role that the non-academic organisation will play to ensure high quality supervision of the student and the proper monitoring of student progress throughout the duration of the award including:
- what is the overall quality of the non-academic environment and the research training programme to be made available to the student by the non-academic partner?
- what facilities does the non-academic environment provide for research training and does the proposed project relate to the facilities available?
- what is the overall quality of the proposed management of the student with the non-academic partner?
- are there suitable arrangements in place for supervision of the student at both the academic and non-academic partners?
- are there provisions in place for monitoring progress?
- are there specific details on specific training that will be carried out when the student is on placement at the non-academic partner which could not be carried out at the academic partner?
- provide details of specific training that will only be carried out when the student is on placement at the non-academic partner which could not be carried out at the academic partner for example, Health & Safety, marketing & sales, production.
- how will the collaboration benefit the training experience of the student?
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
- are there suitable intellectual property arrangements (IPR) in place?
- how will the collaboration benefit both the academic and non-academic partner?
- environmental – If applicable, demonstrate how the project will benefit the natural environment
- where the academic partner is also involved with the non-academic partner, for example, spin-out companies, provide details of how both the academic and non-academic supervisor roles will be defined to give the student the best all round experience. You should declare any interests which anyone named on the application has with any individual, organisation, project partner or supplier involved in the research, or any interest that might be perceived to influence your objectivity in conducting the research. Guidance on providing declarations of interest can be found on the UK Research and Innovation website.
Industrial CASE Plus
Word count: 500
Please provide details of how the additional year will contribute to the project by addressing the following points:
- describe how the research programme in the additional year will relate to that undertaken in the 3.5 years leading to the PhD
- give details in terms of time, cost, quality and achievement of how the additional year will enhance the previous work
- explain what further technology training the student will receive to assist with promoting technology transfer
- describe how this extra year will help the student become more effective in promoting knowledge transfer should their chosen career path take them into either academic research or industry
- explain what the benefits will be to the student, the academic partner and the non-academic partner in the additional year
Project partners
Word count: 750
Provide details about any project partners’ contributions.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Download and complete the Project partner contributions template (DOCX, 52KB).
The UKRI Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply. If you do not have any project partners, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Ensure you have obtained prior agreement from project partners that, if you are offered funding, they will support your project as indicated in the contributions template.
For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.
