Collaborations – BBSRC

Joint research projects

Joint research projects provide researchers from two or more eligible institutions with an opportunity to apply for resources and funding for the same research project with a view to undertaking specific areas of the research project at each institution. Joint research projects must be submitted as a single application by the project lead institution on the UKRI Funding Service.

The project lead can give core team members access to the application. This is managed within the application on the Funding Service platform.

Collaborative research grants

Collaborative research grants provide researchers in eligible institutions with an opportunity to participate with other organisations on research projects. BBSRC funds part or all of the work carried out by the applicant, but does not fund the collaborating partner. Examples of collaborative research grants are Industrial Partnership Awards and LINK.

Applicants must ensure that they have obtained the permission of anyone named on the application for:

their personal information to be shared with UKRI
UKRI to process their data for the purpose of assessing the application and management of any funding awarded

Collaborations with institutes

These are intended to encourage, for mutual benefit, the use and development of complementary experience and skills and experimental facilities between university researchers and researchers from BBSRC strategically supported institutes. Applicants must:

demonstrate that the proposed research will provide added value over and above what would have been achieved from two separate contributions
clearly show a commitment to joint working from both the university and institute researchers
identify a programme coordinator, but overall the research should be managed together

Applications must contain a supportive statement from the institute director within the ‘Approach’ section.

Where the work is in collaboration with an institute or unit of another research council or with an organisation that is not a UK university, BBSRC supported institute or main research providers (MRP), the extent and reasons for the collaboration must be explained.

Details of the staff expertise and facilities that will be provided by the collaborator or collaborators must be included within the application.

For collaborations with MRPs, the director must confirm that the necessary funding for the MRP part of the collaboration will be available from the Scottish Government.

Project partners

Applicants may name formal project partners. 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
a third party individual who is not employed on the grant

Project partners may be in industry, academia, third sector or government organisations in the UK or overseas, including partners based in the EU.

Intellectual property

Entitlement to the outputs of the project or intellectual property (IP) will be determined between the parties involved. However, any access to project outputs and IP must be in line with any relevant subsidy control regulation.

Project partner contributions

Project partners are expected to provide contributions to the delivery of the project and should not therefore be seeking to claim funds from UKRI. However, where there are specific circumstances where project partners do require funding for minor costs such as travel and subsistence, this will usually be paid at 80% full economic costing (FEC) unless otherwise stated by us.

Any applicable subsidy control regulation and HMRC guidance will also be taken into account which may affect the percentage of these costs that we will fund. These costs should be outlined and fully justified in the application and will be subject to peer review.

Who is not eligible to be a project partner

Those not eligible to be project partners are:

UKRI head office staff acting in their capacity as a UKRI employee
an organisation within the core team, or an individual based at a research organisation within the core team in the application

Terms and conditions

It is the responsibility of named project partners to read and comply with the terms and conditions relating to applications for research grants.

Project partner information in the application

Each project partner must be listed on the application in the ‘Project partners’ section, including the type of contribution and monetary value if applicable.

Project partner agreement

Applicants must ensure prior agreement is sought from project partners so that if funding is offered, the project partner will support the project as defined in the application.

A statement is required to be provided from each partner named in the ‘Project partners’ section of an application. Each statement 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

Project partner contribution

The partnering organisation’s involvement in the project, including their contributions to it (whether in cash or in kind), should be explained in detail in the ‘Approach’ and ‘Applicant and team capability to deliver’ sections. This should include the equivalent value of any in-kind contributions. In-kind contributions can include but are not limited to:

staff time
access to equipment
sites or facilities
the provision of data
software or materials

The cash or in-kind values must not be included in the costs claimed on the application form. Project partner contributions in cash or in kind are not considered part of the FEC of the project.

Other collaborations

In instances where a collaboration is restricted to intellectual input into a project or the provision of materials (for example, cell lines) by a researcher or their organisation at no cost, a statement of support from the researcher or organisation confirming the extent of the collaboration is not required. Instead, contributions should be outlined in the ‘Applicant’ and ‘Team capability to deliver’ sections.

Applicants who wish to collaborate with international researchers must check the eligibility requirements of the funding opportunity before applying.

The extent and reasons for any collaboration must be described fully in the ‘Applicant’ and ‘Team capability to deliver’ sections.

In all instances of collaborative activity, both applicants and collaborators or project partners must be aware that any related costs incurred (direct or otherwise) by either collaborators or collaborators’ institutions (project partners) cannot be met by BBSRC.

Subcontracting

BBSRC considers eligible institutions to be best placed to determine how their work is undertaken. A subcontractor can be either a:

third-party individual not employed as staff on the grant
third-party organisation, who is subcontracted by the host organisation to deliver a specific piece of work (this will be subject to the procurement rules of the host organisation)

All costs that support the delivery of the subcontract are eligible and will be paid at 80% FEC unless otherwise stated. These costs should be outlined and fully justified in the application and will be subject to peer review. Entitlement to the outputs of the project and IP will be determined between the parties involved, however any access to project outputs and IP must be in line with any relevant subsidy control regulation.

Except in instances where the service provider is from the public sector, the conferring of any IP, author or other rights to it by the contractor in relation to the research grant application for which it was contracted to provide a service is not permissible. The inclusion of an acknowledgement in any resulting material of the sub-contracted organisation’s contribution to the research is acceptable. Should there be an intimation or desire on the part of the contractor or subcontractor not within the public sector for other than such an acknowledgement (for example, co-author status on resulting publications), then the interaction between the parties concerned would be deemed to equate to a collaboration.

Dual roles

An organisation or individual can act as both a project partner and subcontractor. However, this must be fully justified and will be subject to peer review.

This enables the organisation or individual to receive recognition as a project partner for the elements of their contribution to the project that is in an integral or meaningful capacity, which they wouldn’t get if they were needing to be included only as a subcontractor. We would expect project partner related costs to be minor.

Where the project needs work to be undertaken that is more significant and includes costs other than travel and subsistence, then the organisation or individual to be contracted may need to be included as both a project partner and a subcontractor. An example of where dual roles might be required is when an organisation or individual is giving to the project in kind but are also selected to deliver other work to the project involving non-minor costs to be covered via a subcontract.

Collaborations - BBSRC