Proposal closing date: 16:00 on 20 October 2020
Notification of Intent closing date: 12:00 on 12 June 2020
UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) are inviting applications to address the objectives of the new Sustainable Management of UK Marine Resources (SMMR) research programme. The £12.4m SMMR programme will be jointly delivered by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) on behalf of UKRI, and in partnership with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and Marine Scotland.
This programme aims to improve understanding of sustainable societal, behavioural and economic benefits through better management of UK marine resources, and integrate this into systems-based approaches that support the development and analysis of interventions and inform effective decision-making for marine management and policy. At the same time, the programme will achieve an enduring step change in the capability of the marine transdisciplinary research community to work more closely with stakeholders, including policy makers, industry, and the public.
To help with partnership development, the SMMR programme has introduced a facilitation process that will be led by the SMMR Champions, to support interdisciplinary and stakeholder connections.
This call aims to fund up to six proposals at up to £1.5m per project (80% FEC). Projects must start no later than 10 August 2021.
Applicants must submit a Notification of Intent via the online registration form by midday on 12 June 2020. The Notification of Intent will not be assessed. The purpose of this stage is to help estimate the number of potential submissions, identify thematic areas being addressed and enable the Champions to facilitate interdisciplinary and stakeholder connections.
Read the Sustainable Management of UK Marine Resources application guidance for more details.
More details on the Strategic Priorities Fund can be found on the UKRI Strategic Priorities Fund web pages.
Update – 18 September 2020
1. The call closing date has been extended to the 20 October 2020. Proposals must be submitted by 16:00 on this date and no late applications will be accepted.
2. In anticipation of a large number of proposals being submitted to this Call, UKRI will now be introducing a pre-score for excellence stage to the Peer Review process in order that the business of the panel can be effectively managed.
3. The start date for successful proposals has changed from 15 May 2021 to 10 August 2021.
Notification of Intent
The purpose of the Notification of Intent stage is to help estimate the number of potential submissions, identify thematic areas being addressed, and enable the SMMR Champions to facilitate interdisciplinary and stakeholder connections.
Due to high interest in Policy engagement and to ensure fairness and consistency as proposals are developed, Policy stakeholder engagement is being coordinated by the SMMR Champions.
As part of this, those submitting NoIs now have the option to indicate if they would like to receive policy stakeholder feedback on their proposed project idea. The feedback process will be coordinated by the SMMR Champions. The NoIs of those seeking feedback, will be shared with individual Policy stakeholder representatives who have agreed to a confidentiality statement related to their access to the NoIs. The Policy stakeholder representatives will provide general comments on the NoIs seeking feedback and also separate specific comments where deemed useful. This feedback will be returned to applicants via the Champions. General feedback will be shared with all applicants who have submitted an NoI and on the SMMR website. Any project-specific feedback will be shared only with the relevant applicant.
If you would like to receive feedback from Policy stakeholders, you must clearly identify this in the ‘Any comments about the assistance you require’ box on the NoI form. By requesting feedback, you are agreeing to your NoI being shared with Policy stakeholder representatives.
In addition, please highlight if you would like support and feedback in building interdisciplinary connections across the environmental and social sciences.