The Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) is a flexible narrative CV template. It’s designed to help you, or your team, show evidence of a wider range of skills and experience than a traditional academic CV when applying for UKRI funding opportunities.
R4RI is halfway between a CV and cover letter, and provides the space to explain the context of your achievements.
It is now in use in all funding opportunities on the UKRI Funding Service that require track record information.
The guidance to support you in completing your R4RI may differ slightly between funding opportunities and research councils. However, the headings are used by UKRI consistently. You should consider the information on this page as general guidance.
R4RI is based on the Royal Society’s Résumé for Researchers (R4R) and adapted to be more inclusive of UKRI’s research and innovation communities.
If you are an applicant or assessor who has used R4RI before, we invite you to provide feedback on R4RI through this survey.
When to use R4RI
In the Funding Service use R4RI, if applicable, in the section: ‘Applicant and team capability to deliver’.
In the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system, the funding opportunity you are applying for will include information on whether you must submit an R4RI or a traditional CV.
You must refer to the specific guidance for the funding opportunity for information on which CV format to use.
You must not use R4RI unless you are asked to do so.
Download the R4RI template for applications through Je-S
The R4RI template is available as a DOCX file.
Only use this template if you need to upload an R4RI to an opportunity on Je-S.
You do not need to use this template if you are applying on the UKRI Funding Service, as R4RI information is captured through the digital application.
How to fill in your R4RI
The Résumé for Research and Innovation is designed to be flexible. Your R4RI should be unique to you and to the funding opportunity.
R4RI replaces the track record section of the case for support.
Filling in the four modules
The four modules are designed to make you think about the breadth of your experience in the context of your application.
You can include as much information as you like in each module (or leave modules blank), as long as you follow:
- the format requirements below
- specific funding opportunity guidance
The modules are focused on:
- 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
You should use the module headings as a guide. Information on what to include is available in the ‘What you should include’ section.
Format requirements in the UKRI Funding Service
In the UKRI Funding Service there is a single box to complete using the four R4RI module headings. Fonts and word count checking are automated. Refer to the funding opportunity for specific guidance on word count.
How much or how little you write under each heading is flexible, but we recommend that you carefully consider the breadth of your or your team’s experience.
You must not attach a separate publications list.
Format requirements in Je-S
In Je-S you must fill in the R4RI template using a single-spaced font in Arial 11 or another sans serif font of equivalent size.
You should write the content as an evidenced narrative, including both qualitative and quantitative evidence. Avoid using lists where possible.
We usually limit the R4RI page length to two sides of A4 (not including the introduction and team composition table) for individual applicants.
The margins in the template are standard margins. Do not change them.
Refer to the funding opportunity for specific guidance on page limits for teams. You can delete any embedded help text. It does not count towards the page limit.
You must not add additional modules or tables to the template, unless you have been told you can do so. Do not use footnotes.
You must not attach a separate publications list.
What you should include
Refer to the specific funding opportunity guidance for information on what and who you should include.
Traditional CVs tend to focus on a narrow range of outputs, such as publications and successful funding. In your R4RI we encourage you to share a wider range of skills and experience.
Primarily, your R4RI should focus on evidencing your ability and potential to carry out the proposal. This could mean using examples of previous outputs to demonstrate:
- how you have been successful before
- that you have expertise in a critical methodology
- why you are the right individual or team to deliver the proposed work successfully
When referring to outputs such as publications, provide these as a digital object identifier (DOI) which can be hyperlinked to the publication where possible. This will also help you to save space in the ‘capability to deliver’ section of the template.
You should also describe other relevant skills, such as experience of managing collaborations or teams.
Additionally, R4RI gives you the opportunity to include evidence of other activities. These may be less relevant to the proposal itself, but demonstrate your experience of delivering UKRI’s broader aims (for example, in UKRI’s strategy ‘transforming tomorrow together’). These could include activities such as public engagement, your contributions to peer review and research assessment, and data curation.
Other information to include if applying as a team
Teams should submit a single R4RI (not individual R4RIs for each team member) when applying to a funding opportunity. Only submit one R4RI even for large teams across multiple organisations.
Specific funding opportunities may change page limits for team R4RIs.
The team’s R4RI should describe only a selection of its past contributions that best evidence its ability to carry out the proposed project.
You can highlight an individual’s specific achievements where appropriate, but the contributions described across the modules should demonstrate the appropriateness of the overall team. Different team members may be able to demonstrate complementary skills.
As a general rule, we expect that anyone who would have previously needed to submit a traditional CV should be included in the team R4RI. You should refer to funding opportunity-specific guidance for who you must include.
A table is included at the beginning of the template to allow you to refer to team members by their initials throughout the document.
Providing additional information
There’s also space to provide additional information to describe any factors which may provide context for the rest of your R4RI (for example, details of career breaks if you wish to disclose them). However, you are not required to provide this information.
If you choose to provide additional information, this will be seen by the panel and reviewers even if it references a sensitive issue. We encourage you to focus on how the issue has affected your career, rather than expanding on the issue itself.
Do not use this section to describe additional skills, experiences or outputs, as this information will not be assessed.
In the UKRI Funding Service you have an extra 500 words to provide additional information.
When using R4RI in Je-S, additional information does not count towards the page limit.
How to submit your R4RI
Submitting your R4RI via the UKRI Funding Service
In the UKRI Funding Service your R4RI will be included under the section where you describe the team’s capability to deliver.
We will ask you for this information via a digital textbox, rather than asking you to upload a copy of the template.
Submitting your R4RI via Je-S
Upload your R4RI in the Joint Electronic Submission (Je-S) system under the CV attachment, unless the funding opportunity guidance tells you otherwise. Do not upload a traditional CV when submitting a R4RI.
Assessment process
Assessors use R4RI to inform the assessment of the proposal overall. They will not view it in isolation. They will never be asked to score individual modules.
Your R4RI will form part of the proposal documentation and will support your application in showing how your skills and experience make you the best person (or team) to carry out the proposed project. It is not an assessment of your writing or language skills.
As part of our commitment to support the recommendations and principles set out by the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), we advise UKRI reviewers and panel members not to use metrics such as journal impact factors:
- as a surrogate measure of the quality of individual outputs
- to assess an applicant’s contributions
- to make funding decisions
Sharing of information
Your completed R4RI will be seen by both reviewers and panel members and won’t be anonymised. It will be treated in the same way as traditional CVs and shared with UKRI colleagues for evaluation purposes.
All personal data provided to UKRI in connection to funding applications will be processed in accordance with current UK data protection legislation and the EU General Data Protection Regulations 2016/679 (GDPR) where appropriate.
Find out more about how we use information provided in research funding applications in our ‘Use of grant proposal and training grant information addendum’.
Further information on how we use personal data, and how you can exercise your rights as a data subject, is available in the UKRI privacy notice.
Supporting the research and innovation community adoption of R4RI-like narrative CVs
To support the sector-wide adoption of R4RI-like narrative CVs, we have created communities of practice.
The Joint Funders Group explores shared approaches towards adoption of R4R-like CVs in funding decisions. Members are co-developing a range of resources that support its use, including training and evaluation.
Browse the Funding uses Résumé Resources Library.
The Alternative Uses Group, co-developed in partnership with Universities UK, complements the efforts of the Joint Funders Group. Members explore the alternative applications of R4RI-like CVs in a range of processes, from recruitment and promotion, to personal and professional development.
Browse the Alternative uses Résumé Resources Library.
Contact us
For queries on how to use R4RI, use the contact details on the funding opportunity you are applying for.
If you are an applicant or assessor who has used R4RI before, we invite you to provide feedback on R4RI through this survey.
Last updated: 16 December 2024