We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service so ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.
The project lead (the digital research technical professional champion for the project) 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.
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
Allow at least 10 working days for your organisation to be added to the Funding Service.
- 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.
- Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.
- 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.
Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. You should:
- use images sparingly and only to convey important information that cannot easily be put into words
- insert each new image onto a new line
- provide a descriptive legend for each image immediately underneath it (this counts towards your word limit)
- ensure that files are smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format
Watch our research office webinars about the new Funding Service.
For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:
References
Applications should be self-contained, and hyperlinks should only be used to provide links directly to reference information. To ensure the information’s integrity is maintained, where possible, persistent identifiers such as digital object identifiers should be used. Assessors are not required to access links to carry out assessment or recommend a funding decision. You should use your discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to your application.
Reference should be included in the appropriate question section of the application and be easily identifiable by the assessors, for example (Smith, Research Paper, 2019).
You must not include links to web resources to extend your application.
Deadline
We must receive your application by 27 June 2024 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.
Following the submission of your application to the funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and applications will not be returned for amendment. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.
Personal data
NERC, as part of and on behalf 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 and on behalf 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 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(s) related to digital research technical professional skills and careers that the NetworkPlus will address
- 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))
- specialist
- grant manager
- professional enabling staff
- research and innovation associate
- technician
- visiting researcher
- researcher co-lead (RcL)
Only list one individual as project lead. The project lead is responsible for setting up and completing the application process on the Funding Service.
For this funding opportunity, ‘Digital Research Technical Professional Champions’ should be listed as the project lead and co-leads.
The project co-lead international may only be used for collaborators based at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and in Norway, where NERC has collaboration agreements in place. We do not otherwise accept project co-lead (international) applicants.
Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications.
Application questions
Vision
Word limit: 2,000
What are you hoping to achieve with 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, or generate 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
- will embed EDI considerations into, and how these will guide your aims, as well as other activities such as stakeholder engagement, events and networking
Within this section we also expect you to:
- align strategically to the funding opportunity aims and scope
- demonstrate a coherent strategic vision and establishes clear outcomes for the NetworkPlus
- clearly state the key challenges faced by digital RTPs in relation to skills, with evidence, that your NetworkPlus seeks to address and explain how you will identify and explore other key skills challenges faced by digital RTPs
- identify the potential direct or indirect benefits and who the beneficiaries might be
- identify key communities and future network members
- explain your vision for what changes your NetworkPlus seeks to affect during the award and beyond (noting that this will be further shaped by community engagement)
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the ‘How to apply’ section.
References may be included within this section.
Approach
Word limit: 1,500
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:
- 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, 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
- will build EDI considerations into the formation, operation and governance of the NetworkPlus, including how these will be operationalised
Within this section we also expect you to:
- deliver against the expectations outlined in the funding opportunity
- demonstrate access to the appropriate services, facilities, infrastructure, or equipment to deliver the application
- provide a detailed and comprehensive project plan with milestones and timelines, in which you:
- explain your approach to networking with relevant communities and stakeholders including how you will support and build equitable, diverse, inclusive and accessible communities
- explain how the NetworkPlus will be planned and managed, including building links between UKRI’s breadth of research communities, industry, government and policy stakeholders, supporting two-way communication and collaboration
- explain how the NetworkPlus activities will be prioritised and what decision making processes will be put in place
- outline future plans for sustaining the partnership beyond this application, or for funding research which may develop from the partnership
- explain how the partnership will enable stakeholders to work together, network and build capability
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the ‘How to apply’ section.
References may be included within this section.
Governance
Word limit: 500
How will you manage the award to successfully deliver its objectives?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Explain how the proposed award will be managed, demonstrating that it:
- will be effectively governed, including details about advisory structures
- will be effectively and inclusively managed, demonstrated by a clear management plan
- has clear leadership team roles and responsibilities
- will manage and encourage partnerships with non-HEI organisations across government, industry and civil society
- has plans for monitoring your progress as well as self-evaluation throughout the lifetime of your award
- will put in place appropriate governance and administration to deliver the range of devolved funding opportunities
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the ‘How to apply’ section.
Applicant and team capability to deliver
Word limit: 1,650
Why are you the right team to successfully deliver the proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Evidence of how you and 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
Guidance
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the ‘How to apply’ section.
The word count for this section is 1,650 words, 1,150 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 to 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 below. 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
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).
You should complete this section as a narrative. Do not format it like a CV.
UKRI has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the new Funding Service.
For full details, see Eligibility as an individual.
Digital RTP champions
Word limit: 1,000
What skills and abilities do you have that will enable you to play a championing role for the Digital RTP skills NetworkPlus and its members?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
- a track record of experience in complex interdisciplinary research, working inclusively across a broad range of disciplines to bring together varied approaches and interests and deliver demonstrable impact
- knowledge of the current UK DRI landscape and emerging issues related to skills and careers for digital RTPs, and an ability to take an all-inclusive, overarching view of the UK DRI landscape
- 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
For this funding opportunity, project leads are also termed the ‘digital research technical professional champions’.
The assessors are looking for evidence of the right skills and expertise to enable you to convene a cross-discipline and cross-domain NetworkPlus and communities of digital research technical professionals. You should identify any gaps and explain how you will fulfil these aspects. You should give relevant examples where possible.
Person specification
Thought leadership
You must demonstrate:
- an ability to assemble key information across disciplines and domains to build a compelling narrative and communicate this, effectively, to the right stakeholders at the right time
- lived experience of the skills related challenges faced by digital RTPs and in developing a skilled digital RTP workforce
Inspirational team leader
You must demonstrate:
- an ability to guide and inspire others and to identify and maximise potential in others
- experience of leading and managing successful cross-discipline and cross-domain programmes or networks that resulted in delivering impact at a national or international level
Strategic thinker
You should:
- be a strategic thinker who is focused on ensuring the cross-discipline and cross-domain engagement achieves maximum impact, and has considered the pathways to achieve this impact
- demonstrate an aptitude for identifying, exploring and developing opportunities
- demonstrate where you have positioned yourself to take-up opportunities and have the ability to make decisions to deliver your vision
Communication and engagement skills
You must demonstrate:
- excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- an ability to implement comprehensive stakeholder mapping to identify key audiences and develop strategies for inclusive engagement
- skills for effective knowledge exchange, or the ability to facilitate others to carry out these tasks across the interdisciplinary community and private sector
Partnership management skills
You must demonstrate:
- you are able to foster effective, long-term partnerships with key stakeholders across the landscape, including but not limited to universities, research organisations, higher education, apprenticeship providers, and industry private sector, government and digital research infrastucture (DRI) users, including establishing and maintain relationships with relevant private sector colleagues and policy makers. You should demonstrate you are able to develop and take forwards a shared vision, determine clear roles and responsibilities and maintain partnerships in the long-term
Provide evidence that you have:
- a track record of leading and managing complex cross-discipline and cross-domain research and delivering demonstrable impact
- a track record of working inclusively across a broad range of disciplines and domains, bringing together varied approaches and interest
- knowledge of the current DRI landscape and issues related to skills and careers in digital research technical professional communities, and an ability to take an all-inclusive, overarching view of the UK DRI landscape
- a profile within the research community for research excellence and the ability to act as a champion for the digital research technical professional community
Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)
Word limit: 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
Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated:
If you are collecting or using data, identify:
- any legal and ethical considerations of collecting, releasing or 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 with which your study will comply
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the ‘How to apply’ section.
Your organisation’s support
Word limit: 1,000
Provide details of support from your research organisation.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Provide a Statement of Support from your research organisation detailing why the proposed work is needed. This should include details of any matched funding that will be provided to support the activity and any additional support that might add value to the work.
The assessors will be looking for a strong statement of commitment from your research organisation.
We recognise that in some instances, this information may be provided by the Research Office, the Technology Transfer Office (TTO) or equivalent, or a combination of both.
You must also include the following details:
- a significant person’s name and their position, from the TTO or Research Office, or both
- office address or web link
Upload details are provided within the Funding Service on the actual application.
Project partners
Provide details about any project partners’ contributions.
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 (cash) or indirect (in-kind) contributions such as expertise, staff time or use of facilities.
Add the following project partner details:
- organisation name and address (searchable via a drop-down list or enter the organisation’s details manually, as applicable)
- project partner contact name and email address
- type of contribution (direct or in-direct) 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 of support
Word limit: 10
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.
The page limit is one side of A4 per partner.
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
Save letters or emails of support from each partner in a single PDF no bigger than 8MB.
For the file name, use the unique Funding Service number the system gives you when you create an application, followed by the words ‘Project partner’.
If the attachment does not meet these requirements, the application will be rejected.
The 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 prior agreement from project partners so 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.
Do not provide letters of support from host and project co-leads’ research organisations.
Data management and sharing
Word limit: 500
How will you manage and share data collected or acquired through the proposed research?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Provide a data management plan that clearly details how you will comply with UKRI’s published UKRI open research policy, which includes detailed guidance notes.
Indicate:
- which UKRI data centre is required to archive the data
- whether the total volume of data is likely to be larger than 1TB
- any other detail on how you will comply with UKRI data policy
- how data accessibility for both private and public end users will be enhanced
Resources and cost justification
Word limit: 1,000
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
- significant travel for field work or collaboration (but not regular travel between collaborating organisations or to conferences)
- any equipment that will cost more than £10,000
- any consumables beyond typical requirements, or that are required in exceptional quantities
- all facilities and infrastructure costs
- all resources that have been costed as ‘Exceptions’
- flexible fund
We expect the flexible fund to be approximately 50% of the NetworkPlus budget.
Assessors are not looking for detailed costs or a line-by-line breakdown of all project resources. Overall, they want to be assured that:
- all resources are comprehensive, appropriate, and justified
- the project will make optimal use of resources to achieve the intended outcomes
- maximise potential outcomes and impacts
Flexible fund
Word limit: 1,000
How will you use and manage the NetworkPlus’ flexible fund?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Explain how you will use and manage the flexible fund so that it:
- supports the NetworkPlus’ objectives
- distributes funding appropriately across a diverse range of activities
- where appropriate, distributes funding through clear, transparent competitive processes
- builds capacity in key fields and career stages
- ensures appropriate processes for monitoring, reporting and governance of funded activities
