Papers distributed via Joint Electronic Submission (Je-S) system, the Peer Review extranet or encrypted data sticks sent by STFC to reviewers and panel members are marked “In Confidence”. The In Confidence marking is intended to ensure that the contents of the proposal are not made known more widely than is necessary for proper consideration. Any such documents that are downloaded or printed must be deleted/shredded once they have served their purpose.
Reviewers and panel members are required to disclose conflicts of interest, personal or institutional, where this arises in relation to a proposal they have been asked to assess.
Names of reviewers are not disclosed to applicants and neither are those of the lead introducer on the grant. There are exceptions to the latter for those grant rounds which operate clarification meetings which are led by the lead introducer or where the lead introducer also acts as a mentor to the applicant.
Applicants who lobby or canvass members of the peer review panels or their officers about their research proposal will be disqualified.