Data Access, accreditation, and approval
ADR UK partners have rigorous safeguards in place to ensure the data cannot be accessed by any unauthorised persons, or for any reason other than research that passes the public benefit test. These safeguards are defined by the ‘Five Safes’ developed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and include accreditation of the researcher and approval of the research project.
For data being access via the ONS Secure Research Service
Successful applicants will need to become an accredited researcher of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Secure Research Service and have their project approved under the data owners’ information governance review process.
Successful applications will be invited to submit an application through the Research Accreditation Service to get their project approved after the funding panel decisions. Project approval is not required at this stage although researcher accreditation can take place in advance of a funding decision.
For any questions regarding the ONS accreditation and approval process, please contact srs.customer.support@ons.gov.uk . If you have a query about a specific dataset please contact adrcuration@ons.gov.uk
For data being accessed via SAIL databank (for example, Family court-Cafcass-Census 2021 linkage):
You must complete stage one of the two-stage process by clicking on the ‘Discuss your research question with us today’ box. This will take you to the scoping form where you can submit information about your proposed research. A SAIL Databank analyst will then be in touch to discuss your project. This is to ensure that you can build data access costs associated with SAIL into your research funding application and receive advice on project feasibility.
Expression of Interest (strongly encouraged)
In order to understand demand, help with planning an appropriate review panel and support the development of feasible applications, this funding opportunity will have an Expression of Interest (EoI) stage.
You should submit a brief email to ADRFellowships@esrc.ukri.org with the subject line “EoI: ADR Fellowship 2023” by 4:00 pm 15 August. Your email should summarise your research aims, questions and objectives, the data you anticipate using (include dataset, years, any specific variables you think you need or want to check, geography etc), and an indication of your methodological approach. This should be brief and concise (max 500 words) and is only intended to give us an indication at this stage. We understand your full proposal may differ from the EoI you submit.
The deadline for the EoI is 15 August and your summary will be shared with ONS, SAIL and our data leads as appropriate. Where possible, our partners may be in touch to discuss your EoI with you to clarify important feasibility aspects well ahead of the 10 October 2023 final submission deadline for this funding opportunity.
It is unlikely that our funding panel will discuss proposals which aren’t feasible. It is your responsibility to ensure that your project is feasible using the dataset you have requested. If you have specific questions or concerns about your project, please include these in your email and we will ensure they are addressed.
Submitting your application
We are running this funding opportunity on the new UKRI Funding Service. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.
The fellow is responsible for completing the application process on the UKRI Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.
For job share applications where the fellows are from different organisations, the team should choose one of the fellows organisations to be responsible for submitting the grant application and administering the grant should the application be successful. The fellow of the organisation chosen to be the administrative lead should start the application in the UKRI funding service. Please note that only the fellow that starts the application can edit it and send it to their research office to be submitted to UKRI.
Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI.
To apply:
- Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this page.
- Confirm you are the fellow. If you are applying as part of a job share, please ensure the fellow of the organisation chosen to be the administrative lead starts the application.
- Sign in or create a UKRI 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
- Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to them, or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the ‘How to apply’ section on this Funding finder page.
- 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.
Watch our research office webinars about the new UKRI Funding Service.
Deadline
ESRC must receive your application by 10 October 2023 at 4:00pm UK time.
You will not be able to apply after this time.
You should ensure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines that may be in place.
Personal data
Processing personal data
We 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.
We will need to share the application and any personal information that it contains with ONS, SAIL, and key academic partners so that they can participate in the assessment process. Find out more on how ONS uses personal information
Publication of outcomes
ESRC, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at What ESRC has funded.
If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research and on ADR UK’s website
UKRI Funding Service: section guidance
Section: Vision and Approach
Provide a single seven-page PDF attachment covering the ‘Vision’ and ‘Approach’ sections of the application and enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box below. The document must have single line spacing, margins of at least two cm and be typed using Arial 11pt, or another ‘sans serif’ font with an equivalent size to Arial 11pt.
Question: What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work and how will you deliver it?
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 fields or areas
- has the potential to advance current understanding, generates 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
- Contributes to the four key ADR UK fellowship objectives
Within the Vision section we also expect you to:
- identify the potential direct or indirect benefits and who the beneficiaries might be
- Identify how the research is being undertaken for public good
- Identify datasets geography and years of data required
For the approach, 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, uses a clear and transparent methodology
- 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, its location, and relevance to the project) will contribute to the success of the work
Within the Approach section we also expect you to:
- demonstrate access to the appropriate services, facilities, infrastructure, or equipment to deliver the proposal
- provide a detailed and comprehensive one page A4 project plan including milestones and timelines in the form of a Gantt chart or similar
- demonstrate you have good understanding of the datasets you are applying for, confirm that you have reviewed the relevant data documentation associated with the dataset(s) you plan to utilise within this study and confirm your project is feasible with the data you have requested
- List your specific research questions and hypotheses and provide detail on how they will be addressed using the dataset. For example, variables that will be used and geographic level.
- Detail expected outcomes and planned publications
Section: Your mentor support
Question: upload a single PDF containing a statement from your primary mentor detailing why they (and any additional mentors) are the most appropriate person or people to support you.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Provide a statement from your mentor that demonstrates how they will support your career trajectory and how the support offered forms a cohesive career development package tailored to your aims and aspirations. Upload the statement and write ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box.
Your mentor support statement should articulate the following:
- how they have tailored their programme of support to your individual needs
- how they will ensure you are kept active and focused throughout the award
- how they will keep your long-term career prospects clearly in mind
- how they have the relevant skills and experience to be your mentor
The statement should be completed by the primary mentor but must detail the relevant skills and expertise of all mentors and their approach to mentoring. The statement should not exceed two sides of A4.
Unless specifically requested, please do not include any personal data within the attachment.
Upload details are provided within the service on the actual application.
Word count: 5
Section: Career progression
Question: Why is the proposed work, the environment it will be conducted in and the support provided by the host organisation the right way to develop your career?
What the assessor are looking for in your response
That you have identified:
- career progression goals appropriate to the fellowship opportunity
- necessary support to enable you to transition, change and grow as an independent leader or research and achieve your stated career progression goals
- how the proposed work will provide a feasible and appropriate trajectory for you to acquire additional skills, like leadership, communication and management skills
Word count: 1,000
Section: Project partners
Provide details of any project partners’ contributions, and letters or emails of support from each named partner.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If you do not have any project partners, simply add ‘N/A’ into the text box, mark this section as complete and move to the next section.
Download and complete the project partner contributions template (DOCX, 52KB). Then copy and paste the table within it to the text box below.
Include letters or emails of support from each partner in a single PDF.
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
The UKRI 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 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.
Word count:1,000
Section: Applicant and team capability to deliver
Question: Why are you the right individual or team to successfully deliver the proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Evidence of how you, and if relevant 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 the positive research environment and wider community
The word count for this section is 1,500 words, 1,000 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 (investigators, researchers, other (technical) staff for example research software engineers, data scientists and so on, and partners), 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. You should 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 as a narrative and you should avoid CV type format.
Word count: 1,500
Section: Ethics and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI)
Question: 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
Using the text box, demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated the relevant ethical or responsible research and innovation considerations, and how you will manage them.
We also expect you to:
- Identify risks to public good requirements and how they will be mitigated.
- confirm plan to carry out ethics self-assessment
If you are collecting or using data you should 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 taken to not preclude further reuse of data
- formal information standards with which study will be compliant
Word count 500
Section: References
Question: List the references you’ve used to support your application.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Ensure your application is a self-contained description. You can provide hyperlinks to relevant publications or online resources. However, assessors are not obliged to access the information they lead to or consider it in their assessment of your application. You must not include links to web resources in order to extend your application. If linking to web resources, to ensure the information’s integrity is maintained include, where possible, persistent identifiers such as digital object identifiers.
Word count 1000
Section: Facilities
Question: Does your proposed research require the support and use of a facility?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If not, enter N/A into the text box, mark this section as complete and move on to the next section.
If you will need to use a facility, you should follow your proposed facility’s normal access request procedures. Where prior agreement is required, ensure you obtain their agreement that, should you be offered funding, they will support the use of their facility on your project.
In the text box below, for each requested facility you should provide:
- the name of facility, copied and pasted from this list
- the proposed usage or costs, or costs per unit where indicted on that list
- confirmation you have their agreement where required
Do not put the facility contact details in your response.
Word count 500
Section: Resources and cost justification
Question: What will you need to deliver your proposed work and how much will it cost?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Use the resources and cost summary table to enter the full costs. Include high-level costs only, not a breakdown of individual items. Use the Justification text box to demonstrate how the resources you anticipate needing for your proposed work:
- are comprehensive, appropriate, and justified
- represent the optimal use of resources to achieve the intended outcomes
- maximise potential outcomes and impacts
This section should not simply be a list of the resources requested, as this will already be given in the detailed ‘costs’ table. Costings should be justified on the basis of full economic costs (FEC) of the project, not just on the costs expected from UKRI. For some items we do not expect you to justify the monetary value, rather the type of resource, such as amount of time or type of staff requested.
Where you do not provide adequate justification for a resource, we may deduct it from any funding awarded.
You should identify:
- support for activities to either increase impact, for public engagement, knowledge exchange or to support responsible innovation
- support for access to facilities, infrastructure or procurement of equipment
- support for preserving, long-term storage, or sharing of data
- support from your organisation or partner organisations and how that enhances value for money
Word count: 1000
