We are 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 UKRI 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 page.
- Confirm you are the project lead.
- Sign in or create a UKRI Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a password. If your organisation is not listed, email support@funding-service.ukri.org
- Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to them, or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the ‘How to apply’ section on this Funding finder page.
- Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.
- Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI.
Watch our research office webinars about the new UKRI Funding Service. About Simpler and Better Funding.
As citations can be integral to the application, you should balance their inclusion and the benefit they provide against the inclusion of other parts of your answer to each question. Bear in mind that citations, associated reference lists or bibliographies, or both, contribute to, and are included in, the word count of the relevant section.
Deadline
We must receive your application by 17 October 2023 at 4:00pm UK time.
You will not be able to apply after this time.
You should ensure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines that may be in place.
Processing personal data
AHRC, 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.
Outcomes publication
AHRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity via the UKRI website and social media channels in August 2024. Additionally, all funding outcomes are published on the UKRI website, with further details on funded projects available at the Gateway to Research website.
If your application is successful, some personal information will be published via the UKRI Gateway to Research.
UKRI Funding Service: section guidance
Summary
In plain English, provide a summary that can be sent to potential reviewers to determine if your proposal is within their field of expertise.
This summary may be made publicly available on external facing websites, so please ensure it can be understood by a variety of readers, for example:
- opinion-formers
- policymakers
- the general public
- the wider research community
Guidance for writing a summary
Succinctly describe your proposed work in terms of:
- its context
- the challenge the project addresses and how it will be applied to this
- its aims and objectives
- its potential applications and benefits
Word count: 550
Applicants
List the key members of your team and assign them roles, for example:
- project lead (PL)
- project co-lead (UK)
- specialist
- professional enabling staff
- technician
You should only list 1 individual as project lead.
Section: Vision
Question: What are you hoping to achieve with the proposed infrastructure?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Explain how the proposed infrastructure will:
- enable high quality and important research
- meet the strategic aims of the Research for Infrastructure and Heritage Science) (RICHeS programme
- enable FAIR data practices
- enhance and complement the existing landscape
Word count: 500
Section: Approach
Question: What are your plans to manage the proposed infrastructure?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
We expect you to show how your approach includes:
- a credible management plan including strategic and operational matters (proportionate to the scale and complexity of the activity)
- details of governance (how the management and advisory bodies of the grant will interface with the wider infrastructure programme)
- feasibility of the project plan including a work plan (Gantt chart), milestones and deliverables
- identification of risks and appropriate mitigation
- plans for support and maintenance of the proposed infrastructure
- details of access and usage
- training and development of staff involved in delivering the service
- a description of the working environment
- plans for sustainability and legacy during the operational phase of delivery funding – these could include cost recovery models, securing additional funding, development or expansion after the initial period of funding
Word count: 2,500
Section: Applicant and team capability to deliver
Question: Why are you the right individual or team to procure and manage the proposed infrastructure?
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 deliver the proposed work
- the appropriate leadership and management skills and your approach to develop others
- contributed to developing the positive research environment and wider community
The word count for this section is 1,500 words, 1,000 words to be used for R4RI modules and, if necessary, a further 500 words for Additions.
Use the Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) format to showcase the range of relevant skills you, and if relevant, your team (investigators, researchers, other (technical) staff for example research software engineers, data scientists and so on, and partners), have and how this will help to deliver the proposed work. You can include individuals’ specific achievements but only choose past contributions that best evidence their ability to deliver this work.
Complete this section using the R4RI module headings listed below. You should use each heading once and include a response for the whole team, see the UKRI guidance on R4RI. You should consider how to balance your answer, and emphasise where appropriate the key skills each team member brings:
- contributions to the generation of new ideas, tools, methodologies, or knowledge
- the development of others and maintenance of effective working relationships
- contributions to the wider research and innovation community
- contributions to broader research or innovation users and audiences and towards wider societal benefit
Additions: Provide any further details relevant to your application. This section is optional and can be up to 500 words. You should not use it to describe additional skills, experiences or outputs, but you can use it to describe any factors that provide context for the rest of your R4RI (for example, details of career breaks if you wish to disclose them).
You should complete this section as a narrative. Do not format it like a CV.
Word count: 1,500
Section: Resources and cost justification
Question: What will you need to procure and manage the proposed infrastructure 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 equipment that will cost more than £10,000
- 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’
Assessors are not looking for detailed costs or a line-by-line breakdown of all project resources. Overall, they want to be assured that:
- all resources are appropriate
- the project will make optimal use of resources to achieve its outcomes
Word count 1,000
Section: Project partners
Provide details of any project partners’ contributions, and letters or emails of support from each named partner.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If you do not have any project partners, simply add ‘N/A’ into the text box, mark this section as complete and move to the next section.
Download and complete the project partner contributions template (DOCX, 52KB). Then copy and paste the table within it to the text box below.
Include letters or emails of support from each partner in a single PDF.
Each letter or email you provide should:
- confirm the partner’s commitment to the project
- clearly explain the value, relevance, and possible benefits of the work to them
- describe any additional value that they bring to the project
The UKRI Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply. If you do not have any project partners, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Ensure you have prior agreement from project partners so that if you are offered funding, they will support your project as indicated in the template.
For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.
Do not provide letters of support from host and project co-leads’ research organisations.
Word count: 1,500
Section: Ethics and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI)
Question: What are the ethical or RRI implications and issues relating to the proposed work? If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical or RRI issues, explain why.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated:
- the relevant ethical or responsible research and innovation considerations
- how you will manage these considerations
If you are collecting or using data, identify:
- any legal and ethical considerations of collecting, releasing or storing the data including consent, confidentiality, anonymisation, security and other ethical considerations and, in particular, strategies to not preclude further reuse of data
- formal information standards with which your study will comply
Word count: 1,000
