Funding opportunity

Funding opportunity: Collaborative Computational Communities: towards new CCPs

Opportunity status:: Closed
Funders:: Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Funding type:: Grant
Total fund:: £1,320,000
Award range:: £100,000 - £264,000
Publication date:: 2 September 2024
Opening date:: 2 September 2024 9:00am UK time
Closing date:: 24 October 2024 4:00pm UK time

Last updated: 18 October 2024 - see all updates

Apply for funding to create a new collaborative community, leading to a viable plan for a new Collaborative Computational Project (CCP) in the future.

You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for STFC funding.

This funding enables the creation of a published roadmap and follow-on technical scoping activities and a final report. Technical and operational support from the Computational Science Centre for Research Communities (CoSeC) is available at no additional cost.

The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £264,000. STFC will fund 80% of the FEC.

Projects can be up to 24 months in length and be finished by January 2027.

There was an error in the ‘Data management and sharing’ section. The word limit for the question ‘How will you manage and share data…’ has been increased from 100 words to 1,000 words. New content has also been added to the ‘Project partners’ section about non partner letters of support.

Who can apply

This funding opportunity is being administered by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) on behalf of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Before applying for funding, check the following:

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

For full details, visit eligibility as an individual.

Who is eligible to apply

Standard UKRI eligibility rules apply. Your application should be led by an eligible project lead based at eligible UK based organisations in accordance with standard UKRI practice. This funding opportunity is open to eligible individuals at:

eligible research institutes
NHS bodies
approved public sector research establishments (PSREs)
approved independent research organisations (IROs)
approved research technology organisations (including Catapults)

Applications that support cross discipline and cross domain communities, as well as collaborations with other research organisations within the UK and internationally are encouraged.

International applicants

We do not fund overseas organisations.

You should include all international collaborators (or UK partners not based at approved organisations) as project partners. This includes organisations from the business or financial sectors.

If your application includes international applicants, project partners or collaborators, visit UKRI’s trusted research and innovation for more information on effective international collaboration.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.

We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes:

career breaks
support for people with caring responsibilities
flexible working
alternative working patterns

Find out more about equality, diversity and inclusion at UKRI.

What we're looking for

Aim

This funding is to develop and proliferate the Collaborative Computational Project (CCP) model across research communities within UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), creating a strong and stable landscape of communities to support the concept of research computing software as an infrastructure.

This funding comes via STFC from UKRI’s Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI) programme and is curated by CoSeC. The expectation is that CoSeC will be a part of the plans and activities within each community, providing a collaborative relationship between them.

The purpose of this funding is to enable community scoping to identify and define viable new CCPs that can be incorporated into the existing and rich community landscape, expanding its overall research remit and the reach of the collaborations it can provide.

For more information on the background of this funding opportunity, including detail about the work undertaken by CoSeC, go to the Additional information section.

Scope

The CCP concept of networks of researchers collaborating around software is one that has been demonstrably powerful within the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Medical Research Council (MRC) communities over the past five decades. Through this funding we are now looking to show that it can be as equally powerful across all of UKRI by scoping and developing new viable CCPs that cross boundaries and identify common working themes around computational research and innovation.

This funding is designed to crystalise existing or grow new networks of researchers into a structure that allows them to utilise the CCP model (see the General objectives for Collaborative Computational Projects section in Additional information for the fundamentals of a CCP) to create a new sustainable and organised approach for the future. At its core, a CCP is a community of researchers that are driven collectively by an area of research and joined together through the research software or associated data used for that. The model provides a stable and sustained approach to ensuring that the research software is treated as an infrastructure upon which research outputs are driven.

This funding will lead to the following key outputs:

a published roadmap and detailed workplan for the newly proposed community
a final report presenting an updated roadmap based on outcomes from the workplan for use as the design for a new CCP in the future

Further details around these requirements can be found under the Required outputs heading in Objectives and outcomes.

CoSeC supports a team of research technical professionals (RTPs) within STFC’s National Laboratories, with skills available across many of UKRI’s research remits. Communities successful through this funding are expected to engage directly with CoSeC to establish a collaborative working relationship with the centre. This will provide event organisation and coordination, the ability to curate technical training events and a direct working relationship around the development and maintenance of key research software at the heart of community activities. Effort from within CoSeC will be provided to a community at no additional cost, further details can be found in the CoSeC support section.

Objectives and outcomes

A community funded through this funding opportunity should consider and incorporate the following objectives and outcomes:

Community

roadmap and scope a community, ultimately leading to a new and viable plan for a CCP that is able to contribute to a coherent overall landscape (for a list of currently funded CCPs refer to the Currently funded Collaborative Computational Projects link in Additional information) and that embeds the concept of cross-disciplinary collaboration, where useful, and enables knowledge exchange amongst computational researchers across UKRI
wherever useful, exploit synergies with other relevant investments and initiatives, thus contributing to the goal of creating a coordinated, expanded and sustainable landscape for the benefit of UKRI
create collaborative working relationships that cross the boundaries of research domains, identifying areas of commonality and where underlying research software or related data is a connecting factor

Research software and data management

explore and integrate heterogenous accelerator-based approaches for research software to enable use across the UKRI DRI infrastructure landscape, ensuring the UK’s key research software can make effective use of as much of the current and upcoming computing platform landscape as possible
use and application of AI across computational research where advantageous, sharing outputs with other AI investments, such as institutes, centres and hubs
systemic, sustainable and practical solutions for reducing the energy used within computational research
progress towards ensuring data related to computational research adheres to FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) principles, exploring topics like Metadata and Research Object Cataloguing
identify, explore and apply other key cross-cutting technical topics across computational research for example, quantum computing

Training and skills

training in environmentally sustainable computational research
training around topics relating to both domain-specific and cross-cutting computational research, with an emphasis on providing this in accordance with FAIR principles and making it widely available beyond a single community
contribute to and aid CoSeC with its goals to develop cross-cutting computational research capability that benefits research domains across UKRI

Management and governance

Provide a clear management and governance structure that supports:

an inclusive approach to developing and serving the community, embedding UKRI’s principles for equality, diversity and inclusivity (EDI). This must include transparent policies for expanding community membership and open fora for community engagement
an effective collaborative relationship between the community and CoSeC

CoSeC support

The CoSeC is an integral part of the CCP approach, providing coordination and guidance, technical support around software for research and innovation and wide-ranging technical training.

Proposals can request both operational and technical support from CoSeC. During the first six to twelve months when community roadmaps are being developed then support will be available with a point of contact allocated within the centre who will act as a point of coordination for the collaboration between the centre and the community. Direct support will be available as required around aspects like large event organisation. It is encouraged that communities identify this person within CoSeC ahead of submission but where this is not the case the centre will facilitate a working relationship for successful proposals.

During the final 12 months of the project up to one FTE of CoSeC staff effort will be made available to help coordinate and deliver technical scoping exercises. The nature of this will be defined as part of the creation of a workplan and associated roadmap scoping exercises released within the report due during months six to twelve but the expectation is that CoSeC staff will be integral within these.

For more details about CoSeC, including the centre’s operating model, examples of its impact and contact details refer to Additional information.

Required outputs

In addition to any other regular reporting required by UKRI, this funding opportunity also requires two additional reports to be submitted to CoSeC between months six to 12 and months 18 to 24. Proposals that request less than 24 months of funding may be required to only submit the first of these, this will be determined at the point of funding. Reports will be created according to a template supplied by CoSeC and will be succinct.

The first report will detail a high-level community roadmap that:

outlines specific short-term activities to explore over the 12 to 18 months following the report, including a plan of work that defines costed researcher tasks and integrates CoSeC technical support directly
creates a five year vision for the community, providing both a medium and long-term view

The second report will provide an overview of the achievements of the community towards its five year vision and will:

define outcomes from the activities proposed in the first report
update and refine the communities five year vision based on the outcomes of the activities undertaken

Duration

The duration of this award is 24 months with a minimum of 12 months.

Projects must start by 1 January 2025.

Please note that due to the nature of this funding, grant extensions will only be considered under exceptional circumstances (in line with the Equality Act 2010) and will require UKRI agreement on a case-by-case basis.

The research organisation remains responsible for compliance with the terms of the Equality Act 2010, including any subsequent amendments introduced while work is in progress, and for ensuring that the expectations set out in the UKRI statement of expectations for equality and diversity are met.

Funding available

Subject to quality, funding of up to £1.3 million is available through this funding opportunity and the FEC of each funded project can be up to £264,000.

STFC will fund 80% of the FEC.

This funding is allocated from a fixed central UKRI budget with no possibility for move in between financial years compared to the initial proposed resource allocation, therefore it is required that a per financial year forecast is provided within the submitted proposal.

Alongside providing costs relating to networking activities, this funding provides the opportunity to resource technical research and innovation support within a community. It also provides direct operational and technical support from CoSeC at no extra cost, with one FTE of effort available for the final 12 months of the project.

While flexibility around the allocation of funding between salary and networking costs is provided within this opportunity, it is key to ensure that the networking element of this grant plays a crucial role to align with the CCP principle, therefore the salary costs cannot exceed 70% of the overall requested funding.

What we will fund

Costs relating to the salary of specific UKRI role types (please note specifics around each role, including time-sensitive limits on when some can be costed):

Project lead and co-lead

Project leads, and co-leads can request funds to cover their salary costs for the time spent setting up, managing and coordinating the community and for leadership of required outputs such as a roadmap and final report. Where requests are made for co-lead time, this should be restricted to individuals that have significant responsibility for management and coordination within the community. Time spent by the leads on coordination is not expected to form a significant amount of the overall cost of the proposal based on the assumption that a collaborative community acts as a high-level coordinating activity for communities.

Researcher co-lead

Researcher co-leads can request funds to cover their salary costs for the time spent setting up, managing and coordinating the community as well as for their direct involvement in technical activities that interface with, or directly relate to, activities undertaken within the community by CoSeC. Time spent by researcher co-leads on the coordination should be proportionate to that of other lead roles, time spent on research or innovation activities should be justified in the supplied workplan and only be requested within the 24/25 and 25/26 financial years.

Research and Innovation associate or specialist

Funds can be requested for salary costs for carrying out research or innovation works that are designed to interface with work planned for, or coordinated by, your CoSeC support. These roles should have no specific coordination element (please refer to the research co-lead role type where this is required within the same role) and should only be requested within the 24/25 and 25/26 financial years.

Professional enabling staff

Funding for support with aspects such as finance, accounting and marketing can be requested to help in the coordination of the community. Costs should be reasonable and normally form a small part of the request and should consider that coordination and organisation of activities is part of the remit of the support provided by CoSeC.

Networking and other direct costs relating to:

travel and subsistence: Including support of international activities and exchanges
directly incurred costs: Including reasonable expenses related to the procurement of equipment, software licenses or supporting services that fall under the UKRI small purchase limit of £10,000. In all cases these expenses should be justified upfront
workshop and meeting costs: Including funding for workshops and events, community training, working group meetings and cross-community activities
dissemination and communication activities: Including web-based dissemination and impact activities such as collecting and publishing case studies. Costs relating to these aspects should consider that collation and generation of community impact is also part of the remit of CoSeC and aiding communities with these activities is a reasonable expectation of the support you receive from the centre

What we will not fund

We will not fund:

purchase of equipment, software licenses or supporting services over the UKRI small purchase £10,000 limit and any purchases not predefined as a justified resource
any costs directly or indirectly assigned to an STFC employee working within CoSeC or STFC’s Scientific Computing department
any other UKRI role type not listed in the What we will fund section

Supporting skills and talent

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

As a key purpose for this funding is the development of career paths for research technical professionals (RTP) we encourage you to consider how your proposed community can help provide opportunities and a platform for those who are following the RTP route.

Data management

You must adhere to the UKRI open research policy and complete the Data management and sharing question in your application.

Our guidance on best practice in the management of research data, also provides general guidance about sharing and managing your research data in line with our common principles.

Environmental sustainability

UKRI’s environmental sustainability strategy lays out our ambition to actively lead environmental sustainability across our sectors. This includes a vision to ensure that all major investment and funding decisions we make are directly informed by environmental sustainability, recognising environmental benefits as well as potential for environmental harm.

Environmental sustainability is a broad term but may include consideration of such areas as:

reducing carbon emissions
protecting and enhancing the natural environment and biodiversity
waste or pollution elimination
resource efficiency and a circular economy

We expect you to embed careful consideration of environmental sustainability at all stages of the research and innovation process and throughout the lifetime of your community.

Cybersecurity

We expect that all projects will embed cybersecurity within their day-to-day operations and to collaborate substantively with other infrastructures on this topic.

Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)

UKRI is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.

As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.

Further guidance and information about TR&I, including where you can find additional support.

How to apply

We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service so please ensure that your organisation is registered. 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 UKRI.

To apply

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

Confirm you are the project lead.
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
Please allow at least 10 working days for your organisation to be added to the Funding Service. We strongly suggest that if you are asking UKRI to add your organisation to the Funding Service to enable you to apply to this opportunity, you also create an organisation administration account. This will be needed to allow the acceptance and management of any grant that might be offered to you.
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 questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page.
Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.
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.

Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. You should:

use images sparingly and only to convey important information that cannot easily be put into words
insert each new image onto a new line
provide a descriptive legend for each image immediately underneath it (this counts towards your word limit)
ensure files are smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format

Watch our research office webinars about the new Funding Service.

For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:

References

Applications should be self-contained, and hyperlinks should only be used to provide links directly to reference information. To ensure the information’s integrity is maintained, where possible, persistent identifiers such as digital object identifiers should be used. Assessors are not required to access links to carry out assessment or recommend a funding decision. You should use your discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to the application.

References should be included in the appropriate question section of the application and be easily identifiable by the assessors for example (Smith, Research Paper, 2019)

You must not include links to web resources to extend your application.

Deadline

STFC must receive your application by 24 October 2024 at 4:00pm UK time.

You will not be able to apply after this time.

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

Following the submission of your application to the funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and applications will not be returned for amendment. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.

Personal data

Processing personal data

STFC, 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

STFC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at Board and panel outcomes.

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 we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.

We usually make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, therefore do not include any confidential or sensitive information. 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:

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 (UK) (PcL)
specialist
professional enabling staff
research and innovation associate
researcher co-lead (RcL)

Only list one individual as project lead.

Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications.

Application questions

Vision

Word limit: 500

What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how your proposed work:

is of excellent quality and importance within or beyond the field(s) or area(s)
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
will embed EDI considerations into, and how these will guide your aims, as well as other activities such as stakeholder engagement, events and networking

Within the Vision section we also expect you to:

describe the concept and context of your community, including its coordination function relating to research software and applications relevant to its domain
demonstrate the alignment of the application to the funding opportunity objectives and outcomes
explain how you will embed environmental sustainability within your activities

References may be included within this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

Approach

Word limit: 2,500

How are you going to deliver your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

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 clearly written 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 and relevance to the project) will contribute to the success of the work
will build EDI considerations into the formation, operation and governance of the hub, including how these will be operationalised

Within the Approach section we also expect you to:

clearly state the research challenges that you will address and how they are derived from the funding opportunity objectives and outcomes
define a strategy that highlights how the community will consider engagement across research domains
provide plans around engagement and collaboration with CoSeC
outline how the community will support research technical professional (for example, research software engineering) career paths
outline how you will meet any computational infrastructure requirements your workplans demand

References may be included within this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

Governance

Word limit: 500

How will you manage the award to successfully deliver its objectives?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how the proposed award will be managed, demonstrating that it:

will be effectively governed, including details about advisory structures
will be effectively and inclusively managed, demonstrated by a clear management plan including specific details of when and how deliverables required by this funding opportunity will be met
has clear leadership team roles and responsibilities
has a structure that supports an inclusive approach to developing and serving the community, embedding UKRI’s principles for equality, diversity and inclusivity (EDI). This must include transparent policies for expanding community membership and open fora for community engagement
has a structure that supports an effective collaborative relationship between the community and CoSeC
will manage and encourage partnerships with non-HEI organisations across government, industry and civil society
has plans for monitoring your progress as well as self-evaluation throughout the lifetime of your award
will put in place appropriate governance and administration to deliver the range of devolved funding opportunities

Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. You should:

use images sparingly and only to convey important information that cannot easily be put into words
insert each new image onto a new line
provide a descriptive legend for each image immediately underneath it (this counts towards your word limit)
ensure files are smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format

Applicant and team capability to deliver

Word limit: 1,650

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 a positive research environment and wider community

The word count for this section is 1,650 words, 1,150 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 (project and project co-leads, researchers, technicians, specialists, partners and so on) 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. 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 section as a narrative. Do not format it like a CV.

References may be included within this section.

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

For full details, see Eligibility as an individual.

Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)

Word limit: 500

What are the ethical and 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

Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated:

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

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

If you are collecting or using data you should identify:

any legal and ethical considerations of collecting, releasing and storing the data (including consent, confidentiality, anonymisation, security and other ethical considerations and, in particular, strategies to not preclude further reuse of data)
formal information standards that your proposed work will comply with

Additional sub-questions (to be answered only if appropriate) relating to research involving:

animals
human participants
genetically modified organisms

Research involving the use of animals

Does your proposed research involve the use of vertebrate animals or other organisms covered by the Animals Scientific Procedures Act?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

If you are proposing research that requires using animals, download and complete the Animals Scientific Procedures Act template (DOCX, 74KB), which contains all the questions relating to research using vertebrate animals or other Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 regulated organisms.

Save it as a PDF. The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply. If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.

Conducting research with animals overseas

Word limit: 700

Will any of the proposed animal research be conducted overseas?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

If you are proposing to conduct overseas research, it must be conducted in accordance with welfare standards consistent with those in the UK, as in Responsibility in the use of animals in bioscience research, page 14. Ensure all named applicants in the UK and overseas are aware of this requirement.

If your application proposes animal research to be conducted overseas, you must provide a statement in the text box. Depending on the species involved, you may also need to upload a completed template for each species listed.

Statement

Provide a statement to confirm that:

all named applicants are aware of the requirements and have agreed to abide by them
this overseas research will be conducted in accordance with welfare standards consistent with the principles of UK legislation
the expectation set out in Responsibility in the use of animals in bioscience research will be applied and maintained
appropriate national and institutional approvals are in place

Templates

Overseas studies proposing to use non-human primates, cats, dogs, equines or pigs will be assessed during NC3Rs review of research applications. Provide the required information by completing the template from the question ‘Research involving the use of animals’.

For studies involving other species, select, download, and complete the relevant Word checklist or checklists from this list:

Save your completed template as a PDF and upload to the Funding Service. If you use more than one checklist template, save it as a single PDF.

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

If conducting research with animals overseas does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.

Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)

Word limit:100

Does the proposed work involve international collaboration in a sensitive research or technology area?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Demonstrate how your proposed international collaboration relates to Trusted Research and Innovation, including:

list the countries your international project co-leads, project partners and visiting researchers, or other collaborators are based in
if international collaboration is involved, explain whether this project is relevant to one or more of the 17 areas of the UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act
if one or more of the 17 areas of the UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act are involved list the areas
Is this application part of an experiment at an international facility? If yes, please indicate which facility.

If your proposed work does not involve international collaboration, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.

We may contact you following submission of your application to provide additional information about how your proposed project will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help manage these risks.

Resources and cost justification

Word limit: 1,000

What will you need to deliver your proposed work and how much will it cost?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Justify the application’s more costly resources, in particular:

project staff
significant travel for field work or collaboration (but not regular travel between collaborating organisations or to conferences)
any consumables beyond typical requirements, or that are required in exceptional quantities
all facilities and infrastructure costs
all resources that have been costed as ‘Exceptions’
International collaboration costs

Assessors are not looking for detailed costs or a line-by-line breakdown of all project resources. Overall, they want you 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
highlight the costs per each financial year of the overall timeline

Project partners

Non partner letters of support are permissible within this funding opportunity and should be submitted as part of the single PDF but be clearly marked within. Supporting letters that do not outline a direct partner will be included as part of the review process as evidence but not included directly in the overall scoring. It is therefore highly recommended that the nature and context of any support they outline is made clear in the main text of the proposal.

Add details about any project partners’ contributions. If there are no project partners, you can indicate this on the Funding Service.

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.

Add the following project partner details:

the organisation name and address (searchable via a drop-down list or enter the organisation’s details manually, as applicable)
the project partner contact name and email address
the type of contribution (direct or in-direct) and its monetary value

If a detail is entered incorrectly and you have saved the entry, remove the specific project partner record and re-add it with the correct information.

For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.

Project partners: letters (or emails) of support

Upload a single PDF containing the letters or emails of support from each partner you named in the Project partner section. These should be uploaded in English or Welsh only.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box, or if you do not have any project partners enter N/A. 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 page limit is 2 sides A4 per partner

The 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 Project partners’ section.

For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.

Data management and sharing

Word limit: 1,000

How will you manage and share data collected or acquired through the proposed research?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Provide a data management plan that clearly details how you will comply with UKRI’s published data sharing policy, which includes detailed guidance notes.

How we will assess your application

Assessment process

We will assess your application using the following process.

Panel

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

Timescale

We aim to complete the assessment process within two months of receiving your application.

Feedback

We will give feedback with the outcome of your application.

Principles of assessment

We support the San Francisco declaration on research assessment and recognise the relationship between research assessment and research integrity.

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

We reserve the right to modify the assessment process as needed.