Funding opportunity

Funding opportunity: Business and academia prosperity partnership: round 2

Apply for funding to support emerging or established research-based partnerships between business and academic institutions.

Bids must be led by the business lead at the outline stage. Business leads must be:

  • UK-based or have UK-based research activity
  • in the private sector driven by profit, or from an organisation with a commercial arm which generates independent revenue
  • able to contribute to the UK national prosperity through increasing their investment in research and development activities and subsequent product, service, or technology development

We will fund 80% of the full economic cost (100% for skills and talent training costs).

Your project can be up to five years.

Who can apply

Business organisations

At the ‘outline stage’, bids must be led by the business lead (the primary business partner in the partnership). However, the submission of the documentation will be undertaken through the UKRI Funding Service by the academic ‘project lead’ (PL). The academic ‘project’ lead is one of UKRI’s new grant roles.

Businesses can act as the business lead if they are:

  • a UK-based business or have UK-based research activity
  • a business in the private sector driven by profit, or from an organisation with a commercial arm which generates independent revenue
  • able to contribute to the UK national prosperity through increasing their investment in research and development activities and subsequent product, service, or technology development in the UK

Businesses may be a contributor to other bids as a project partner. Other businesses can collaborate in the partnership as project partners, but the majority of the matched contribution is expected from the business lead.

Academic organisations

Research organisations can act as ‘project lead’ (the primary academic partner in the partnership) if they are eligible to receive research council funding. The following organisations are eligible:

  • UK higher education institutions
  • research council institutes
  • UKRI-approved independent research organisations
  • public sector research establishments
  • NHS bodies with research capacity

Check if your institution is eligible for research and innovation funding.

If your bid is successful, the grant will be awarded to the academic project lead, and they will manage the funding and project on behalf of all project co-leads. A research organisation may lead or partner on more than one bid and bids may comprise more than one research organisation.

At the ‘full proposal stage’, bids will be submitted by the academic project lead via the UKRI Funding Service.

Primary business and academic project leads

This programme has a business lead and an academic ‘project lead’. In the UKRI Funding Service, the project lead will be notified as the academic one, but all assessment stages will consider both the business and project lead.

Check if you’re eligible for BBSRC funding as a project lead.

The suitability of both the business and project leads to lead the prosperity partnership will be assessed during the outline stage.

Any proposal related to a previously unsuccessful grant application to any UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) research council must comply with Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)’s resubmission policy (see Unsuccessful applicants and resubmissions). You are advised to contact us at BBSRC prior to submitting an application if you are concerned that your project may be considered a resubmission. Applications that are deemed to constitute uninvited resubmissions will be rejected prior to assessment. BBSRC’s research grants guide). You are advised to contact us at BBSRC prior to submitting an application if you are concerned that your project may be considered a resubmission. Applications that are deemed to constitute uninvited resubmissions will be rejected prior to assessment.

Resubmissions will only be considered where they have been explicitly invited by a committee or panel for resubmission, or if the application has changed substantially in terms of objectives or work to be carried out. In which case, permission from BBSRC must be obtained prior to submission and a covering letter declaring it as a resubmission and detailing the modifications which merit its reconsideration is required to be sent to the Funding Service helpdesk: support@funding-service.ukri.org

If your proposal is based on a prior EPSRC Prosperity Partnership submission in any way,  please contact the Funding Service helpdesk before progressing an application.

UKRI has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the new Funding Service.

For full details, visit Eligibility as an individual.

Equality, diversity, and inclusion

We recognise that excellence in science requires diversity and equality to promote innovation and creativity. To do so effectively, all available talent must be harnessed. We expect equality and diversity to be an integral part, at all levels of research practices as a part of our funding portfolio.

We seek to ensure that equality principles are applied to all funding activities and consider that no one should be excluded or hindered from a career in science because of their sex, ethnic background, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy or maternity, marriage, or civil partnership (protected characteristics as defined in the Equality Act 2010).

We are committed to supporting the research community, offering a range of flexible options which allow you to design a package that fits your research goals, career, and personal circumstances, for example career breaks, caring responsibilities, flexible working, and alternative working patterns. Therefore, these aspects should be strongly ingrained into the projects proposed for this opportunity. One common approach is to reference institutional strategies and policies related to equality, diversity and inclusion and indicate that the prosperity partnership would be delivered in alignment with these activities.

Learn more about our equality, diversity, and inclusion strategy.

What we're looking for

Business-led, co-created and co-delivered

The prosperity partnership funding opportunity aims to fund business-led research that arises from an industrial need, with the work being co-delivered between the business and project leads.

The opportunity is aimed at supporting excellent, world-leading discovery research and innovation, which has clear benefit to the businesses involved, resulting in accelerated impact arising from the new knowledge, innovations, or technologies.

Co-creation of the research programme is essential. We expect programmes funded through this opportunity to:

  • drive forward shared research challenges
  • demonstrate impact beyond the partners
  • provide benefits to the businesses involved

The programme should contribute positively to the overall strategic partnership framework which exists between the parties.

It should be clear that both the business and academic researchers are making distinct intellectual contributions to the partnership.

Where an individual is discharging responsibilities within both a business and a research organisation, for example, as a consequence of being involved in university spin-outs, clarity on separation of duties and managing conflicts of interest is essential.

If the proposal is deemed appropriate for our support, a collaboration agreement will be requested before the grant is authorised.

Strategic considerations

The research challenges to be addressed in the prosperity partnership should:

  • be relevant to stimulating innovation aimed at tackling major problems faced by the UK and the world
  • drive capability in key technologies and scientific advancements

We recognise that the specific outcomes will be unique to each project, but you should consider how you might:

  • deliver new or improved products or services
  • drive efficiencies or cost reductions
  • enable expansion to new sectors or markets while also jointly authoring high-impact publications

Ultimately, the project should seek to provide economic impact and prosperity that wouldn’t exist without the partnership.

Place

We seek to foster greater collaboration and networking between researchers, business, and civic bodies to deliver research, skills, and innovation vital to the long-term prosperity of communities and regions of the UK.

While not an assessment criterion, we encourage you to consider and articulate how your partnership potentially aligns and supports both industrial and civic ambitions or priorities for regional economies.

Where applicable, you are also asked to demonstrate what place-based outcomes might be expected to arise from your projects, both in the short and longer term. These may include (but are not restricted to):

  • local and regional economic growth, skills development, job creation or retention
  • critical mass activities leading to increased private investment, including foreign direct investment, in a specific place
  • contributions to cluster development through, for example, knowledge diffusion, supply chain development, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) growth, generation, or growth of spin outs

Responsible innovation

You are expected to work within the UKRI framework for responsible innovation.

You should consider and implement plans for responsible innovation throughout the research project, and include details of these plans in the application, including specific actions that will be taken.

International collaboration

Applicants planning to include international collaborators on their proposal should view our trusted research guidance on getting the most out of international collaboration while protecting intellectual property, sensitive research, and personal information.

Scope

The primary balance of research and innovation should be focused on bioscience and biotechnology which covers BBSRC’s remit (at least 50%). Other research and innovation areas supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) may be included if they clearly strengthen the research, innovation, or partnership.

We encourage multidisciplinary research and recognises that many prosperity partnerships will involve multidisciplinary research and innovation.

Business and academic project leads should ensure that:

  • the business and academic partners have a demonstrable emerging or established research-based relationship
  • there are clear plans to evolve this relationship via user-inspired shared research challenges and the prosperity partnership is a key component of the plans to evolve and strengthen this relationship
  • both partners are committed to the co-creation of a jointly delivered large scale research programme at technology readiness levels (TRL) one to four
  • the business and academic partners can commit to matching funding for the prosperity partnership with at least a matched contribution in cash (in-kind contributions are permitted but cannot form part of the matched component)
  • a definitive list of eligible cash contributions is set out in the ‘Definitive list of eligible cash contributions for business leads and partners’ section
  • no UKRI, public, or government funding will be used as co-investment, and the partners are able to clearly demonstrate an auditable transfer during the grant duration

The business lead must be:

  • from a business in the private sector driven by profit or from an organisation with a commercial arm which generates independent revenue
  • in a position to contribute to the nation’s prosperity through increasing their investment in UK based research and development activities and subsequent product development in the UK

The topic of the research and innovation programme is primarily focused on bioscience and biotechnology within BBSRC’s remit. Multidisciplinary projects are welcomed and funding from other UKRI councils may be sought as long as more than 50% of the topics or work lies within BBSRC’s remit. This will be built into the assessment process, and we will provide indications to relevant councils immediately after the ‘outline stage’.

Matched cash contribution

Our funding is at 80% of the full economic cost with exceptions for skills and talent training costs (100% full economic cost).

The funding we provide must be (as a minimum) matched with commercially generated revenue in cash by the business lead (in single lead bids). In multi-partner bids, this contribution can be collectively provided, but the majority has to come from a single business lead.

Cash contributions will count against the matched contribution.

A definitive list of cash contributions can be found in the ‘Definitive list of eligible cash contributions for business leads and partners’ section. Any contribution from business or other project partners not included in the cash contribution list will count as ‘in-kind’.

We are happy to discuss contribution details prior to submission.

Where a prosperity partnership has a single business lead

The full matched cash contribution (as a minimum) should be provided by the business lead.

Where a prosperity partnership has multiple business partners

The combined cash contributions from the business partners must, at a minimum, match the BBSRC funding. The majority of this matched funding is required to be provided by the business lead for the partnership.

It is permissible for the lead business to provide the entirety of the matched cash contribution and also have additional project partner contributions. Once the matched cash contribution has been reached, additional contributions can be in cash or in-kind.

For both single and multiple partner prosperity partnerships, there can be complex arrangements and objectives. Where appropriate and necessary, we would be happy to consider and potentially discuss any necessary elements of proposals prior to submission.

All bids

Cash contributions from all partners can exceed the matched cash contribution project requirement.

In-kind contributions are any non-cash contribution from business, academic, or other project partners not included in the definitive list of eligible match contributions. In-kind contributions such as data, software, management time, and facilities access are strongly encouraged and can help show additional and varied business commitments to ensure the success of the project however, they will not count towards the matched cash contributions.

Any academic partner cash contributions (including those of the academic project lead) will not contribute to the matched cash funding project requirement.

No UKRI or other UK government money, as part of baseline funding or otherwise, may be used or included to form part of the matched cash contribution requirement.

We will not mandate a specific audit format for the business contributions to a project. However, a formal record must be produced upon request. This must be able to demonstrate a continuous auditable cash transfer, or staff time-record, by the business partner per year in each year of the programme.

As an exception, requests for skills and talent training are covered at 100% full economic cost so these need to be costed appropriately and considered for total matching of grant funding by the business partner(s).

Definitive list of eligible cash contributions for business leads and partners

The following is the definitive list of eligible cash contributions.

We expect the time of researchers, postdoctoral research associates, technicians, business-funded doctoral students, and the grant manager to be fully costed onto projects depending on how much time a person would spend on it.

In the application, it is expected that the role and responsibilities of costed persons are detailed, and it is demonstrated clearly how their experience and skills are linked to work packages and outcomes. The appropriateness of the time devoted to the project will be assessed in the panel interview and peer review (at the full proposal stage).

Gross salary can be claimed as matched funding (that is, including indirect costs such as pension, National Insurance, and taxes) but not business overheads or profits. The salary of a single member of staff (researcher, postdoctoral research associates or grant manager) can be covered in partnership by the business lead and BBSRC funds in a ratio that best suits the project.

Below we state the eligible cash contributions for business leads and partners.

Researcher salaries

All or part of the pro rata, gross salary cost associated with researchers employed by universities (including co-investigators).

Postdoctoral research associates’ salaries

All or part of the gross salary cost associated with research associates employed by research organisations to work exclusively on the prosperity partnership.

Research associates can also be employed directly by the businesses in the partnership and the appropriately costed gross salary can be claimed as a cash contribution depending on how much time the person spends on the prosperity partnership.

Professional grant manager salaries

Pro rata gross salary cost of a professional grant manager.

Technician salaries

Pro rata gross salary cost of technicians.

Software licences

New software licences needed for the project and their maintenance cost for the duration of the grant. Software licences or intellectual property (IP) owned by the business which are already accessible by the partners will apply at marginal cost, not at market rate.

New equipment

Equipment may be sought as part of the prosperity partnership and the equipment requested must be necessary to the successful delivery of the proposed research.

Items of multiple-use equipment (where the equipment is necessary for the pursuit of the proposed research but will not be fully occupied on it) may also be sought.

The application must set out the other proposed uses and explain the overall benefit to BBSRC science of the equipment investment being sought. Find out more in the BBSRC research grants guide.

Equipment produced by the business

Equipment produced by the business is only claimable at the cost of manufacture (not market) rate.

Access to equipment and facilities

Access to specific equipment and facilities critical to achieve the outcomes of the project. If the facility is based at the academic project or business lead’s facility, the cash contribution will be valued at cost.

Facilities development

Facilities development can be an eligible business cash contribution if the upgrade will increase the capability of the facilities with specific benefit to the proposed work. This contribution must be justified in addition to any estate costs already factored in. Any facilities development contributions require discussion with us prior to submission.

Business cash donation

Business cash donations which will be provided to the partner universities, for the universities to manage in line with the project objectives.

Skills and talent training

Extra skills and talent training to support doctoral and research master’s studentships, higher apprenticeships, continuing professional development of the project’s research and innovation team, exchanges, and secondments. Skills and talent training may be up to a maximum of 20% of the matching contribution.

Skills and talent training

Workforce development plan

The workforce development plan will set out your aims, objectives, future actions, and anticipated outcomes for developing an excellent, inclusive, and supported team with the right people and the right skills to deliver the strategic objectives of the proposed prosperity partnership.

It will describe any other added value actions the partnership will take to develop skills in the wider research and innovation community. The plan will set out what resources will be required and deployed to meet these goals.

It will consider:

  • the team of people needed to lead, implement, and support the prosperity partnership’s work streams
  • the depth and breadth of skills in the current team and how skills gaps will be addressed through continuing professional development or new recruitment
  • the diversity profile of the team and measures to address any identified social and demographic imbalances
  • opportunities for added value activities to train the next generation of researchers, technical specialists, entrepreneurs, and innovators

To meet the ambitions of the workforce plan, skills and talent training activities should be costed into the main grant. Examples of these activities include doctoral and research master’s studentships, higher apprenticeships, continuing professional development of the project’s research and innovation team, exchanges and secondments, and the development of training resources.

These activities may be targeted to the core team assembled to deliver the prosperity partnership, or for the purpose of developing new talent for the sector at all levels and in all roles needed.

Note that any requests for doctoral or research master’s studentships or higher apprenticeships based in academia must ensure that the projects allocated to these trainees will not be critical to the successful delivery of the prosperity partnership’s strategic objectives.

For any doctoral studentships requested, we expect that they receive cohort-based training by either aligning them with existing doctoral investments within the research organisation (for example, a Doctoral Training Partnership or Collaborative Training Partnership) or through new plans in this prosperity partnership for cohort-based training. Details of these approaches will be required.

We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.

Funding available and timeframe

The full funding amount of at least £15 million will be delivered in a single round with projects being up to five years in length.

BBSRC funding is at 80% full economic costs with exceptions for skills and talent training costs (100% full economic cost).

Requested funds may include:

  • staff costs
  • equipment and other items required to carry out the project
  • costs related to impact
  • travel and subsistence
  • skills and talent training costs

Please see the BBSRC research grants guide for guidance on equipment funding.

How to apply

Submitting an outline application

BBSRC is running this funding opportunity on the new UKRI Funding Service. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.

The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.

Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

To apply

Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page.

  1. Confirm you are the project lead.
  2. Sign in or create a 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
  3. Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All application questions are listed along with prompts to help you fill in your answers.
  4. Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.
  5. Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI.

Watch our research office webinars about the new UKRI Funding Service for further guidance on the application process.

We recommend you start your application early. You can save completed details in the Funding Service at any time and return to continue your application later.

Your host organisation will also be able to provide advice and guidance on completing your application.

Deadline

We must receive your outline application by 4.00pm UK time on 20 December 2023.

You will not be able to apply after this time.

Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.

Guidance on the types of support that may be sought, and advice on the completion of the research proposal forms, are given in the BBSRC research grants guide. This should be consulted when preparing all proposals.

Personal data

Processing personal data

BBSRC, as part of UKRI, 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.

Publication of outcomes

BBSRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity on our website.

If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research.

Summary

Word limit: 550

In plain English, provide a summary of your project which we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.

We may make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, so make it suitable for a variety of readers, for example:

  • opinion-formers
  • policymakers
  • the public
  • the wider research community

Guidance for writing a summary

Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of:

  • scientific context
  • the scientific and industrial challenge the project addresses
  • aims and objectives
  • potential applications and benefits

Core team

List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following:

  • project lead (PL)
  • project co-lead
  • researcher co-lead (RcL)
  • specialist
  • grant manager
  • professional enabling staff
  • doctoral student
  • research and innovation associate
  • technician
  • visiting researcher

Only list one individual as project lead.

The project lead and project co-lead have replaced the principal investigator and co-investigator roles, respectively. Please see the full descriptions of these new harmonised set of role types being used in the Funding Service.

The researcher co-lead role has replaced the research co-investigator role previously used in Je-S grant applications. They will be an individual who merits appropriate recognition for making a substantial contribution to the formulation and development of the application and will be closely involved with the project. They will be employed on the project by and based at the institutions of the project lead or any project co-leads.

It is mandatory for this funding opportunity to have a business lead. The business must be based in the UK or have UK-based research activity. See ‘Scope’ in the funding opportunity text to find out more about what constitutes as a business lead.

Find out more about UKRI’s new grant roles.

Core questions

Existing relationship

Word limit: 500

What is the existing relationship between the project partners?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

The panel will consider the extent to which the proposed work demonstrates:

  • clear evidence of an emerging or established research-based relationship between business and academic lead partners with demonstrable benefits achieved to date
  • well considered plans for growing the relationship within and beyond the prosperity partnership and a description on where the relationship is going long term. The existing relationship will be assessed relative to the business lead organisation
  • ‘substantial’ or ‘long-term’ collaborations and partnerships may look different for an or spin-out company than they do for a large multinational

Vision

Word limit: 2,000

What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

The panel will consider the extent to which the proposed work:

  • is of excellent quality and importance within or beyond the field(s) or area(s)
  • has the potential to advance current understanding, or generate new knowledge, thinking or discovery within or beyond the field or area
  • is timely given current trends, context, and needs
  • could impact world-leading research, society, the economy, or the environment

Within this section, we expect you to address the following:

  • a clear and appropriate business-led vision and ambition for the prosperity partnership describing why the partnership is essential for success and specifically addressing why the objectives cannot be achieved by any single partner alone
  • evidence that the proposed business-led research programme is positioned at technology readiness levels (TRL) one to four with a programme of work that has been developed in partnership and in a co-created manner with the short-term and medium-term benefits clearly described
  • coherence and relevance of the work packages in line with the vision
  • clear evidence of how this vision will be achieved and how the prosperity partnership will bring benefits to the UK economy and the research base, address regional, national, and international strategies, including those of the business or businesses involved

Within this section you can demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further instructions are provided within the Funding Service.

Number your references in this section using a superscript citation style. Then include the details of these references in a corresponding list, in the ‘References’ section of this application.

Please note, external weblinks are not permitted in this section.

Additionality and added value

Word limit: 300

What is the additionality and added value?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

The panel will consider the extent to which the proposed work demonstrates:

  • evidence of the additionality and added value of a prosperity partnership in comparison to other funding opportunities
  • clear evidence of the buy-in from business partners and co-creation of the proposed business-inspired fundamental research programme

Within this section, we expect you to consider:

  • the aspects where this type of funding provides added value that no other scheme does

Applicants’ leadership and appropriateness of the team

Word limit: 300

What are your leadership and team track records?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

The panel will consider the extent to which the proposed work demonstrates:

  • the appropriateness of the leadership team with evidence of joint working between business and the academic project lead
  • clear plans for joint leadership conveying the ability to lead a programme of this size and number of stakeholders
  • how you approached the design and makeup of the team’s skills and competencies in order to address the vision and ambition of the programme

Within this section, we expect you to consider:

  • your track record in successfully leading large multifaceted teams that involve cross organisational complexity
  • explain why you think you have the most appropriate balance of expertise
  • your ability to lead a programme of this size and number of stakeholders

Management and governance

Word limit: 300

What are your plans for management and governance?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

The panel will consider the extent to which the proposed work demonstrates:

  • the appropriateness of the management and governance arrangements, commensurate with the scale of the programme
  • how you will monitor milestones and ensure they are achieved
  • your plans regarding equality, diversity and inclusion that go beyond following university procedures

Impact

Word limit: 300

How will you deliver impact and ensure benefits are realised?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

The panel will consider the extent to which the proposed work demonstrates:

  • how the prosperity partnership will deliver the benefits identified
  • clear plans to maximise translation and impact arising from the partnership

Within this section, we expect you to consider:

  • the potential direct or indirect benefits and who the beneficiaries might be

Skills and talent training

Word limit: 300

What are your plans and requirements for workforce training and development in support of the strategic objectives of the proposed prosperity partnership?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

The panel will consider the extent to which the proposed work demonstrates:

  • that an excellent and inclusive training environment will be provided which is appropriate for alignment with the prosperity partnership
  • how the skills being developed will enable the delivery of the prosperity partnership’s goals and that the delivery of the plan is feasible
  • how the plan will offer career development opportunities for the people in receipt of this training

Within this section, we expect you to consider:

  • how the whole project team, from both the research organisation and the business, will receive appropriate training and research experience

Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)

Word limit: 300

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

The panel will consider the extent to which the proposed work demonstrates that you have identified and evaluated:

  • the relevant ethical or responsible research and innovation considerations you will manage these considerations

Resources

Word limit: 400

In this section we will ask for the following:

  • what is the full economic cost of your project?
  • what is the total value of funding being requested from BBSRC?
  • what is the total value of the business lead’s cash contribution?
  • what is or are the individual cash contributions of additional project partners?
  • what is the total value of the project lead’s organisation’s cash contribution?
  • what is the total project value?
  • what is the total value of the business lead’s in-kind contributions?
  • what is the total value of the project lead’s organisation’s in-kind contributions?
  • what is the total value of the additional project partners (academic and business) in-kind contributions?
  • what is the overall project value?

In the Funding Service a table will be provided that can be used to complete your response.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

We are looking for a resources budget which sets out the request for BBSRC funding and the appropriate business and academic cash and in-kind contributions to the programme.

Specific details of the matched contributions may not be available at this stage. Therefore, a 10% variation, in addition to a shift in the breakdown across headings is accepted in the total of the project value from the outline stage and the full proposal stage. All contributions will be validated again at full proposal stage.

Your organisation’s support

Word limit: 5

Provide details of support from your research organisation.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Provide a Statement of Support from your research organisation detailing why the proposed work is needed. This should include details of any funding that will be provided to support the activity and any additional support that might add value to the work.

The committee will be looking for a strong statement of commitment from your research organisation.

We recognise that in some instances, this information may be provided by your Head of Department of School, the Research Office, the Technology Transfer Office (TTO) or equivalent, or a combination.

You must also include the following details:

  • a significant person’s name and their position, from your organisation’s Head of Department or School, the TTO or Research Office, or a combination
  • office address or web link

Upload details are provided within the service on the actual application.

Project partners

Word limit: 5

Provide details of any project partners’ contributions, and letters or emails of support from the business(es) involved.

Each letter or email you provide should:

  • the name and the company number of the business
  • details of the cash and in-kind contributions from the business
  • have a confirmation statement from the business lead that they will be leading the project, dated, and signed by a relevant representative from the business
  • highlight conflicts or information we should be aware of despite us not expecting confidential information at this stage

Save letters or emails of support from each partner in a single PDF no bigger than 8MB. Unless specially requested, please do not include any personal data within the attachment.

The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.

References

Word limit: 1,000

List the references you have used to support your application.

What the assessors are looking for in your response
  • include all references in this section, not in the rest of the application questions
  • you should not include any other information in this section
  • we advise you not to include hyperlinks, as assessors are not obliged to access the information they lead to or consider it in their assessment of your application
  • if linking to web resources, to maintain the information’s integrity, include persistent identifiers (such as digital object identifiers) where possible
  • you must not include links to web resources to extend your application

How we will assess your application

Assessment process

We will assess your application using the following process:

  • outline stage consisting of:
    • a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) strategic appraisal panel
    • an external independent panel
  • full proposal stage consisting of:
    • an interview with an external panel
    • an external strategic prioritisation panel

Outline stage

Outline applications will first be strategically appraised by BBSRC, and shortlisted applications will be assessed by an external independent panel for ranking and assessment.

Full proposal stage

Successful proposals from the outline stage will be invited to the full proposal stage. Proposals will be assessed by postal peer review, be invited to interview, and will be ranked via a prioritisation panel.

Assessment criteria for the outline stage: internal BBSRC panel

The purpose of the internal panel is to strategically appraise proposals based upon their strategic relevance to bioscience and biotechnology, and more broadly to relevant aspects of UKRI-BBSRC and UK government strategies.

The panel members will appraise your application against the following:

Existing relationship

What the assessors are looking for in your response

The panel will consider the extent to which the proposed work demonstrates:

  • clear evidence of an emerging or established research-based relationship between business and academic lead partners with demonstrable benefits achieved to date
  • well considered plans for growing the relationship within and beyond the prosperity partnership and a description on where the relationship is going long term. The existing relationship will be assessed relative to the business lead organisation
  • ‘substantial’ or ‘long-term’ collaborations and partnerships may look different for a SME or spin-out company than they do for a large multinational

Vision

What the assessors are looking for in your response

The panel will consider the extent to which the proposed work:

  • is of excellent quality and importance within or beyond the field(s) or area(s)
  • has the potential to advance current understanding, or generate new knowledge, thinking or discovery within or beyond the field or area
  • is timely given current trends, context, and needs
  • could impact world-leading research, society, the economy, or the environment

You must address the following:

  • a clear and appropriate business-led vision and ambition for the prosperity partnership describing why the partnership is essential for success and specifically addressing why the objectives cannot be achieved by any single partner alone
  • evidence that the proposed business-led research programme is positioned at technology readiness levels (TRL) one to four with a programme of work that has been developed in partnership and in a co-created manner with the short-term and medium-term benefits clearly described
  • coherence and relevance of the work packages in line with the vision
  • clear evidence of how this vision will be achieved and how the prosperity partnership will bring benefits to the UK economy and the research base, address regional, national, and international strategies, including those of the business or businesses involved

Resources

We are looking for a resources budget which sets out the request for BBSRC funding and the appropriate business and academic cash and in-kind contributions to the programme.

Skills and talent training

What the assessors are looking for in your

The panel will consider the extent to which the proposed work demonstrates:

  • that an excellent and inclusive training environment will be provided which is appropriate for alignment with the prosperity partnership
  • how the skills being developed will enable the delivery of the prosperity partnership’s goals and that the delivery of the plan is feasible
  • how the plan will offer career development opportunities for the people in receipt of this training

Assessment criteria for the outline stage: external independent panel

The purpose of the external independent panel is to provide a recommendation to BBSRC on which proposals should be invited to the full proposal stage.

They will rank proposals based on the assessment criteria set out below. In particular, they will evaluate the:

  • robustness of the plans
  • shared vision and ambition
  • genuine and credible partnership between business and academic leads

The panel will be composed of business and academic members across the broad remit of relevant sectors, or who have significant experience of delivering successful business-academia partnerships.

Assessment criteria

Vision

What the assessors are looking for in your response

The panel will consider the extent to which the proposed work:

  • is of excellent quality and importance within or beyond the field(s) or area(s)
  • has the potential to advance current understanding, or generate 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

You must address the following:

  • a clear and appropriate business-led vision and ambition for the prosperity partnership describing why the partnership is essential for success and specifically addressing why the objectives cannot be achieved by any single partner alone
  • evidence that the proposed business-led research programme is positioned at TRL one to four with a programme of work that has been developed in partnership and in a co-created manner with the short-term and medium-term benefits clearly described
  • coherence and relevance of the work packages in line with the vision
  • clear evidence of how this vision will be achieved and how the prosperity partnership will bring benefits to the UK economy and the research base, address regional, national, and international strategies, including those of the business or businesses involved

Additionality and added value

What the assessors are looking for in your response

The panel will consider the extent to which the proposed work demonstrates:

  • evidence of the additionality and added value of a prosperity partnership in comparison to other funding opportunities
  • clear evidence of the buy-in from business partners and co-creation of the proposed business-inspired fundamental research programme

Applicants’ leadership and appropriateness of the team

What the assessors are looking for in your response

The panel will consider the extent to which the proposed work demonstrates:

  • the appropriateness of the leadership team with evidence of joint working between business and the academic project lead
  • clear plans for joint leadership conveying the ability to lead a programme of this size and number of stakeholders
  • how you approached the design and makeup of the team’s skills and competencies in order to address the vision and ambition of the programme

Management and governance (secondary)

What the assessors are looking for in your response

The panel will consider the extent to which the proposed work demonstrates:

  • the appropriateness of the management and governance arrangements, commensurate with the scale of the programme
  • how you will monitor milestones and ensure they are achieved
  • your plans regarding equality diversity and inclusion that go beyond following university procedures

Impact (secondary)

What the assessors are looking for in your response

The panel will consider the extent to which the proposed work demonstrates:

  • how the prosperity partnership will deliver the benefits identified
  • clear plans to maximise translation and impact arising from the partnership

Skills and talent training

What the assessors are looking for in your response

The panel will consider the extent to which the proposed work demonstrates:

  • that an excellent and inclusive training environment will be provided which is appropriate for alignment with the prosperity partnership
  • how the skills being developed will enable the delivery of the prosperity partnership’s goals and that the delivery of the plan is feasible
  • how the plan will offer career development opportunities for the people in receipt of this training

Moving forward after the outline stage

The panel will provide a recommendation to BBSRC based on a rank ordered list in quality priority order. We will make a decision on which proposals to invite to the full proposal based on panel outcome.

If necessary, demand will be managed accordingly at this stage, with invites to submit a full proposal potentially balanced against the available budget to attempt to avoid nugatory effort.

Full proposals will be submitted by the lead academic research organisation via the UKRI Funding Service.

Detailed guidance on preparing and submitting full proposals will be provided to those applicants invited to submit. At the full stage we will require the applicants to attend an interview.

Given that strategic partnership arrangements should already exist between partners, we expect that collaboration agreements and arrangements for the management of intellectual property (IP) will be in place ahead of the submission of a full proposal.

We will not specify terms for collaboration agreements or IP arrangements but expect any agreements to recognise the significant amount of public funding being invested in the programme.

You may wish to consult the Lambert Toolkit guidance published by the Intellectual Property Office (GOV.UK).

Guidance for reviewers

The panels will be run in accordance with BBSRC peer review policy and principles.

Panel members will be asked to refer to the assessment criteria as described.

Guidance on journal-based metrics

As part of our commitment to support the recommendations and principles set out by the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), UKRI reviewers and panel members are advised not to use journal-based metrics, such as journal impact factors, as a surrogate measure of the quality of individual research articles, to assess an investigator’s contributions, or to make funding decisions.

The content of a paper is more important than publication metrics, or the identity of the journal, in which it was published, especially for early-stage researchers. Reviewers and panel members are encouraged to consider the value and impact of all research outputs (including datasets, software, inventions, patents, preprints, and other commercial activities) in addition to research publications.

We advise our peer reviewers and panel members to consider a broad range of impact measures, including qualitative indicators of research impact, such as influence on policy and practice.

Find out about the UKRI principles of assessment and decision making.

Panel

We will invite experts across academia and industry to assess the quality of your application and rank it alongside other applications after which the panel will make a funding recommendation to BBSRC.

Feedback

We will give feedback with the outcome of your application.

Contact details

Get help with your application

If you have a question and the answers aren’t provided on this page

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Helpdesk is committed to helping users of the UKRI Funding Service as effectively and as quickly as possible. In order to manage cases at peak volume times, the Helpdesk will triage and prioritise those queries with an imminent opportunity deadline or a technical issue. Enquiries raised where information is available on the Funding Finder opportunity page and should be understood early in the application process (for example, regarding eligibility or content/remit of an opportunity) will not constitute a priority case and will be addressed as soon as possible.

Contact details

For help and advice on costings and writing your proposal please contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process.

For questions related to this specific funding opportunity please contact business.unit@bbsrc.ukri.org

Any queries regarding the system or the submission of applications through the UKRI Funding Service should be directed to the helpdesk.

Email: support@funding-service.ukri.org
Phone: 01793 547490

Our phone lines are open:
Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 5:00pm
Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm

To help us process queries quicker, we request that users highlight the council and opportunity name in the subject title of their email query, include the application reference number, and refrain from contacting more than one mailbox at a time.

You can also find information on submitting an application on Improving your funding experience.

Sensitive information

If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email the UKRI Funding Service helpdesk on support@funding-service.ukri.org

Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your UKRI Funding Service application number].

Typical examples of confidential information include:

  • individual is unavailable until a certain date (for example due to parental leave)
  • declaration of interest
  • additional information about eligibility to apply that would not be appropriately shared in the ‘Applicant and team capability’ section
  • conflict of interest for UKRI to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection
  • the application is an invited resubmission

For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read UKRI’s privacy notice.

Additional info

Webinar for potential applicants

We held a webinar on 5 September 2023. This provided more information about the funding opportunity.

Watch the webinar on Youtube.

Research disruption due to COVID-19

We recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused major interruptions and disruptions across our communities. We are committed to ensuring that individual applicants and their wider team, including partners and networks, are not penalised for any disruption to their career, such as:

  • breaks and delays
  • disruptive working patterns and conditions
  • the loss of ongoing work
  • role changes that may have been caused by the pandemic

Reviewers and panel members will be advised to consider the unequal impacts that COVID-19 related disruption might have had on the capability to deliver and career development of those individuals included in the application. They will be asked to consider the capability of the applicant and their wider team to deliver the research they are proposing.

Where disruptions have occurred, you can highlight this within your application if you wish, but there is no requirement to detail the specific circumstances that caused the disruption.

Supporting documents

Frequently asked questions (PDF, 122KB)

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