Funding opportunity

Data sandpit for metascience

• Opportunity status: Open
• Funders: UK Research and Innovation, Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Innovate UK, Medical Research Council (MRC), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Research England, Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
• Co-funders: Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
• Funding type: Grant
• Total fund: £1,000,000
• Publication date: 17 October 2024
• Opening date: 17 October 2024 9:00am UK time
• Closing date: 21 November 2024 4:00pm UK time

Last updated: 30 October 2024 - see all updates

Apply to attend a four-day interactive sandpit to develop novel projects that can address multi-faceted metascience questions related to research and development (R&D) funding and inform R&D policymaking.

You will be asked to complete an expression of interest form to apply for the sandpit.

The sandpit will take place over four days. Attendance for the full four days will be mandatory for selected participants. The sandpit will take place over two weeks on the 5, 6, 11 and 13 February 2025. The first two days will be in-person at the UKRI offices in Swindon, while the other two days of the sandpit will be held remotely.

We expect to fund up to £1 million at 80% full economic cost (FEC) for all research projects arising from the sandpit.

Who can apply

Standard ESRC eligibility rules apply but participants from the full breadth of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) remit are welcome to apply.

You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UKRI funding to lead a project.

Eligible organisations are:

• 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 UKRI funding.

Business, third sector or government body project co-leads

This funding opportunity is also open to applicants from business, third sector or government organisations based in the UK. In this case, ESRC’s rules on inclusion of project co-leads from business, third sector and government will apply.

It should be noted that successful participants from business, third sector and government will not be eligible to take over the leadership of a project as the organisation would not meet UKRI organisational eligibility criteria for a project lead, but they could be included in successful projects as project co-leads or project partners. Moreover, projects co-leads from UK business, third sector or government organisations will only be able to claim certain costs depending on their organisation type.

For this funding opportunity, no more than 20% of the participants will be allowed from business, third sector or government organisations.

International applicants

International collaboration is not allowed under this funding opportunity.

What we're looking for

Aim

The overall aim of this sandpit is to commission novel research projects that use UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) administrative data to answer metascience research questions and provide actionable insights and evidence to decision makers in the R&D system.

More widely, the sandpit will also act as thought leadership and community building for metascience in the UK. We need to build new evidence and draw together existing evidence from other disciplines, to develop solutions to optimise research process and practices.

Sandpit process

The sandpit will be an intensive, interactive workshop bringing together a diverse group of participants from a range of disciplines and backgrounds to work together over four days.

The sandpit will be led by the UK Metascience unit, who will be supported by a team of mentors. The mentors and a small number of stakeholders will attend the sandpit but will not be eligible to receive research funding. Instead, their role will be to assist participants in defining and exploring challenges in this area. The mentors will act as independent reviewers, making a funding recommendation on the emergent projects.

The sandpit process can be broken down into several stages:

• defining the scope of the metascience challenges in the R&D system
• evolving common languages and terminologies amongst participants from a diverse range of backgrounds and disciplines
• drawing upon perspectives from relevant stakeholders and the expertise brought by the participants to share understandings of the challenges
• taking part in sessions focused on the challenges and using creative thinking techniques to identify approaches to help tackle these challenges
• capturing the outputs of the process in the form of highly innovative research project proposals
• reaching a funding decision on projects developed at the sandpit using ‘real-time’ peer review

We do not require participants to develop specific plans for research activities prior to the sandpit. Ideas for activities will be developed collaboratively during the process.

Projects developed through the process will pitch for funding on the final sandpit day.
Attendance at the sandpit does not guarantee UKRI funding. It is our intention that this sandpit will be a valuable experience for all attendees irrespective of whether funding is secured.

Data access

UKRI is the national funding agency investing in science and research in the UK.

UKRI provides a funding service which manages and processes the end-to-end journey of research and innovation funding across the seven research councils, Innovate UK and Research England.

UKRI collects information in relation to funding applications, the review and decision process, and the outcomes of funded research. With appropriate safeguards in place, participants at the sandpit will have the opportunity to access and explore many aspects of the information which UKRI collects.

How to apply

Applicants are asked to complete an expression of interest online survey to be considered for the sandpit. The closing date is 21 November 2024 at 4:00pm UK time.

Your expression of interest will be used to assess the suitability of your expertise, skills and attitude to participate in the sandpit. No further documentation will be accepted. Incomplete surveys will be rejected.

Please be advised that attendance for the full sandpit is mandatory. The expression of interest survey will require applicants to confirm their commitment to attend the entire sandpit, if selected.

The expression of interest survey will require applicants to confirm their commitment to attend the entire sandpit if selected.

We welcome applications and enquiries from individuals with additional needs for whom specific provisions may need to be made, for example, caring responsibilities and people with disabilities. We are committed to creating a more inclusive research base in line with our equality, diversity and inclusion action plan and encourage applications from underrepresented groups.

To support participation in the sandpit, UKRI will cover the costs of accommodation, subsistence, and UK-based travel to the in-person days in line with UKRI policy. Please note that travel from international locations will not be covered.

Applicants are required to inform their university research office, in advance of submitting the expression of interest form, that they are going to apply to attend the sandpit. If participants are part of a successful project, their institutions will be required to fund 20% of the full economic project costs (as standard).

How we will assess your application

Assessment of applications to attend the sandpit

We will use the following selection criteria to assess applications:

• suitability and fit to the sandpit process
• relevant research expertise and experience
• the ability to communicate and engage persuasively with others
• the ability to work collaboratively

Participant selection will be based solely on the information provided in the expression of interest survey.

Within the pool of applicants selected based on these assessment criteria, we will look to ensure a balance of different disciplines, career paths and backgrounds, career stages, geographic distribution and landscape diversity, such as the balance of organisations.

Achieving the sandpit aims will require participants from an appropriate mix of diverse backgrounds and relevant disciplines. Participants from a diverse range of disciplines from across the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) remit are therefore encouraged to apply to attend this sandpit.

Although we are not limiting the range of disciplines that should be represented, we ask you to indicate how your expertise can use UKRI data to generate evidence that informs science policy, R&D funding practices, or practice within research-performing organisations.

You need not have conducted metascience research before. Emphasis will be placed on working across disciplines and sectors to foster new collaborations and bring new thinking to metascience research.

In the event of this funding opportunity being substantially oversubscribed as to be unmanageable, UKRI reserves the right to modify the assessment process, including using partial randomisation.

Because of the large number of applications expected, we will not be able to give individual feedback to unsuccessful applicants.

Post-sandpit process

At the sandpit, projects will be assessed by expert review and recommended for funding. Following the sandpit, participants will be invited to write a full project proposal document detailing their intended activities as identified at the sandpit.

It is planned that participants involved in projects identified for funding will be informed within two weeks of the sandpit. Funding will be conditional on receipt of a full proposal.

The submissions should accurately represent projects or teams assembled at the sandpit. Researchers or other parties not involved in the sandpit cannot receive funding through the successful projects. Non-academic project partners can be added to successful projects after the sandpit process.

The deadline for submission of full proposals is expected to be 30 April 2025.

The start date for the projects should be no later than 30 June 2025.

Projects must be completed by 30 June 2026.

Proposals will be submitted through the UKRI Funding Service. Further guidance on this part of the process will be available to the successful project teams.

Contact details

For questions related to this specific funding opportunity please contact metascience@ukri.org

Additional info

Supporting documents

Equality Impact Assessment (DOCX, 104KB)

Updates

• 30 October 2024
  In the top key information, the 'funders' have been updated to include all councils including Research England and Innovate UK.
• 17 October 2024
  Updated equality impact assessment document added in 'Additional info'.