The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) has a range of Support and Facilities (S&F) available to support grants by the provision of specialised equipment and analytical facilities alongside expert advice.
All proposed use of NERC S&F must be included in your NERC grant application.
At least two months prior to submission of the grant proposal, the applicant(s) is required to discuss the work with the facility who will then provide a technical assessment based on these discussions, to be submitted as part of the Je-S form.
The technical assessment will be in the form of a quote and is likely to include:
- the number and type of samples
- type of analysis required or the type of equipment loaned and number of days etc. (whatever is applicable to the S&F)
- an estimate of costs.
Obtaining the technical assessment is necessary for all NERC S&F, including those facilities that are notionally awarded.
When adding facility usage in Je-S the NERC facility box should be ticked and the relevant NERC facility selected from the drop-down list.
The facility costs must also be included under ‘Directly Incurred Other’ costs and within any specified financial limits for proposals to that call.
If, as a result of adding the facility costs, the proposal exceeds these financial limits, please contact the Research Grants team at least two months prior to submission to discuss.
For full details on this policy, please refer to the NERC Research Grants and Fellowships Handbook specifically:
- Facility costs exceeding financial limits to call: paragraphs 16 and 17
- Proposals requiring use of NERC S&F: paragraph 236
Alternatively, please visit NERC webpage applying to use facilities.
If you are a current NERC grant holder requiring use of a NERC S&F and have not included the costs for the facility in your grant proposal, then please contact NERC’s Scientific Support & Facilities Team at the earliest opportunity.
Further information
Please note: the above is not applicable to grant holders looking to access High Performance Computing (HPC), Ship-Time or Marine Equipment (SME) or the large research facilities at Harwell. These services have their own policies for access and costing.
Please visit the relevant links for information on how to apply to these services including whether to add costings to your application, or refer to the NERC Research Grants and Fellowships Handbook (paragraphs 245, 237 and 246 respectively.)