Funding opportunity

Funding opportunity: MRC Centre of Research Excellence: round two: invited full application

Apply for Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence (MRC CoRE) funding to tackle complex and interdisciplinary health challenges.

You must be invited to apply for this stage of the funding opportunity.

You must:

  • be a researcher employed by an eligible research organisation
  • meet individual eligibility requirements
  • have submitted an MRC CoRE round two outline application and, after successful assessment, have been invited to submit a full application

MRC CoREs will be funded for up to 14 years. Your award will initially last for seven years, with a further seven years based on successful review.

The maximum MRC contribution will be £21,000,000.

Who can apply

You can only apply for this funding opportunity if we have invited you to do so following a successful outline application.

Before applying for funding, check the Eligibility of your organisation.

UK Research and Innovation (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

To be eligible to apply for this opportunity you must:

  • be a researcher or technologist employed by an eligible research organisation
  • show that you will direct the project or be actively engaged in the work
  • have the relevant expertise and experience to lead or contribute to an MRC CoRE and its research culture
  • be part of a team that submitted an MRC CoRE round two outline application and, after successful assessment, have been invited to submit a full application to the second stage of this opportunity. Additional team applicants can be included that were not in the outline application
  • applicants can be from a single eligible organisation or a partnership of eligible organisations
  • because of the long duration of MRC CoREs applicants do not require a contract for the full duration of the award. By submitting the application, the research organisation is confirming support for the named applicants, that they are capable of taking part in the MRC CoRE and will accept its relevant terms and conditions

Applicants and other members of the team

International applicants

While international organisations cannot lead an application, you can include international co-leads and it is possible for an international researcher to apply as part of the leadership team. We expect international co-leads to offer expertise or facilities not available in the UK and to provide clear indicators of commitment to the MRC CoRE.

Researcher co-lead role

Find out more information about the role of researcher co-lead.

Established researchers should use the project co-lead role for this application.

In this opportunity you do not need to provide additional supporting information for any researcher co-leads involved.

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)

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

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.

Diversity is one of the core MRC values and we are committed to creating inclusive environments that encourage excellence in research through good equalities practice. We strongly encourage applications from currently underrepresented groups including female and ethnic minority researchers, and researchers with disabilities or long-term conditions.

We expect MRC CoREs and their leadership to be diverse. We encourage the leadership model to be inclusive, diverse, and creative, with rotation or succession of positions as appropriate.

What we're looking for

Scope

MRC CoRE funding aims to tackle complex and interdisciplinary health challenges. MRC CoREs will support bold and ambitious research focused on a defined challenge. Tackling such challenges will be transformative to biomedical research, health research or both within 14 years, and will enhance approaches to the prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, improving health and wellbeing for all. MRC CoREs will be beacons of excellence in research culture, equality, diversity and inclusion, leadership models and innovation.

An MRC CoRE should be distinct in the context of other national and international activities and its research positioned in the context of ongoing investments across MRC and the broader landscape, synergising with or capitalising upon existing knowledge and investments where relevant. These major investments should be outward facing, harnessing the best talent in the UK to deliver upon their proposed vision and providing a stimulating environment to train the next generation of researchers and technologists.

Applications can be from a single research organisation or in partnership across multiple organisations. Applications may include project partners.

What types of challenges should MRC CoREs tackle?

MRC CoRE challenges will:

  • be bold, ambitious, and innovative, and address a gap or opportunity which is not being adequately addressed elsewhere
  • address substantial unmet needs in understanding or modifying human health and disease
  • be specific, with definable major strategic objectives achievable within the 14-year timeframe which, if achieved, will transform the research field or area of health research
  • be aligned to the MRC mission
  • be best pursued through coordinated and flexible, major long-term funding

MRC CoRE challenges will be achieved through:

  • fostering innovation and engagement to establish the capability and capacity to place the UK at the international forefront of impactful health research
  • an outward facing position, harnessing and networking the best expertise in the UK, to bring together creative and diverse approaches for cross-sectoral and multi or interdisciplinary, and novel ways of working
  • distinct and disruptive research that drives breakthrough advances and addresses specific bottlenecks through knowledge generation, technological or methodological innovation, with clear translational relevance
  • pursuing a compelling vision around specific questions of importance or critical knowledge gaps, not through open ended discovery research programmes
  • developing a stimulating and supportive research environment

For round two, applications are addressing challenges under the following themes, and may address all or part of MRC remit, including discovery, understanding mechanism, and development of concepts or interventions for prevention or treatment:

  • enhancing healthspan
  • immune regulation
  • molecular mechanisms to inform cancer intervention

The full scope of each theme can be found in the ‘Additional information’ section below

It is not our expectation that any single MRC CoRE will fully address the overarching challenge of the relevant field within a 14-year period. You should instead identify a compelling gap or opportunity, or the major barrier or bottleneck that needs to be surmounted, or the breakthrough advance that is pivotal for our understanding and ability to prevent, diagnose and treat disease, and build a specific and defined challenge around this.

Your challenge may focus on a single theme or be relevant to more than one theme.

You should consider what you would need to put in place to promote or achieve equity of access to resulting knowledge, technologies, interventions and therapies.

Applicants invited to apply to the second stage of this opportunity must continue to develop their MRC CoRE application within the theme and the challenge described in their outline application and in response to any outline stage feedback provided.

MRC CoRE research environment

MRC CoREs provide an opportunity for a different approach to research, creating collaborative and stimulating multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary research environments. MRC CoREs are expected to adopt and maintain the highest standards in the way research is conducted and openly communicated; support creative leadership approaches and a team science ethos, develop and nurture career paths and a training environment which supports a positive research culture.

Host research organisations

Applications can be from a single eligible organisation or a partnership of organisations.

When there are two or more eligible organisations involved, for administrative purposes it is necessary to identify a single project lead who must be affiliated with the lead research organisation.

However, the balance of activity and leadership across the partner organisations can be equally shared if desirable. What is critical is for the approach to leadership and decision making across multiple organisations to be clearly specified.

Support from research organisations

Considerable, sustained and clearly defined support from the research organisation is essential to a successful application and will be an equal part of the assessment of applications for MRC CoREs. We expect research organisations to provide:

  • laboratory space
  • access to facilities and equipment
  • access to necessary digital support infrastructure
  • support to manage estates
  • human resources services
  • finance services
  • underpinning of key staff positions
  • access to additional sources of funding and support available to other researchers across the research organisations

MRC CoRE governance, monitoring and review

All MRC CoREs must establish an independent Strategic Advisory Board (ISAB) as part of governance structure to provide critical advice and support to the director and leadership team. This board must hold a meeting in year one of the award and at least annually thereafter.

You may wish to describe the areas of input you will seek through your ISAB, but do not include proposed members of the MRC CoRE’s International Strategic Advisory Board as applicants or project partners.

In your application you will be asked to confirm key objectives for the MRC CoRE and propose a performance monitoring framework. Progress against this framework should be considered annually by your ISAB and this framework will form a crucial component of the mid-term review of your MRC CoRE investment, alongside other information to be confirmed closer to the review point.

Duration

The initial duration of this award is seven years which is 84 months.

We will support MRC CoREs for up to 14 years. The initial award will be for seven years with a review point in year six to approve release of the second period of funding.

The earliest start date is 1 May 2025

Funding available

The full economic cost (FEC) of your project for years one to seven can be up to £26,250,000.

We will fund 80% of the FEC. Any identified exceptions will be funded at 100%. The maximum MRC contribution, including any identified exceptions funded at 100%, is £21,000,000.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) indexation will be applied at the time of award. We will not supplement awards for inflation after they have started.

We will provide all the awarded funding to the lead organisation, to manage and distribute accordingly. Awards spanning multiple organisations will require a clear plan addressing award governance and management to ensure funds can be used flexibly to support changes in research delivery and opportunity across the course of the award.

We will support a limited number of interlinked research activities or themes, with funding focused on key strategic objectives, achievable during the 14-year lifespan.

The MRC CoRE award should be founded upon existing grants at the point of establishment and provide a platform to win additional grant support from all available funders. A minimum expectation is for doubling of the MRC CoRE associated budget through external funding by the mid-term point (year seven).

What we will fund

You can request funding for costs such as:

  • directly allocated contributions to salaries of the leadership team and other established researchers, usually between 15 to 30% of their time, in line with their research contribution
  • directly incurred salaries of research staff, technician, and support staff, where there is a clear justification for their critical role in delivering the MRC CoRE
  • recruitment of new researchers critical to addressing the research challenge, for example those switching disciplines or sectors, or from overseas, where 100% salary may be requested for up to three years, before other grant support is established
  • research consumables
  • up to £500,000 start-up costs for routine equipment (items over £10,000 that constitute normal elements of a well-founded laboratory), if required. All items will have to be fully justified and may not include generic departmental equipment. Routine equipment will be funded at 80% FEC
  • mid-range or large equipment critical to establish platforms or facilities, funded at 100% of the requested costs, if requested and accepted at the outline application stage. For other mid-range equipment MRC CoREs must apply to the MRC annual mid-range equipment opportunity in competition with the wider community
  • travel costs
  • data preservation, data sharing and dissemination costs
  • costs for innovative training and capacity building required to address the research challenge, when not available elsewhere
  • studentships (an exception funded at 100%), support may typically be requested for up to two studentships each year across the duration of the award. Numbers should not exceed the supervisory capacity of the MRC CoRE. See UKRI stipend and fees
  • technology and data platforms to provide accessible facilities and capability essential to the mission and to promote open-science, when not available elsewhere
  • experimental medicine studies
  • initiatives to underpin or strengthen a positive research culture
  • knowledge transfer and exchange activities, including translational research and commercialisation
  • external stakeholder activities including public engagement and involvement
  • initiatives to improve environmental sustainability
  • estates and indirect costs
  • directly incurred costs for international partners (an exception funded at 100%) may be requested, although we expect most costs to be incurred by UK organisations

Mid-range or large equipment is a single item costing over £138,000 (£115,000 excluding VAT). Research organisations are expected to contribute to such equipment in most cases, and to justify their level of contribution. Quotes for equipment exceeding £10,000 and business cases for equipment exceeding £138,000 are not necessary, however, successful applicants must be able to show UKRI evidence of adherence to procurement rules, such as quotes, if audited.

The leadership team will have flexibility over use of the directly incurred funding within the total awarded, especially considering the award duration. There are constraints on the use of directly allocated and capital equipment funding.

Flexible directly incurred or exceptions funds can be requested and used to develop activities and support new opportunities but must be appropriately justified with clear plans for financial management.

The funding request can differ from the outline application within the overall funding available. Respond directly to any outline stage feedback on the funding request.

What we will not fund

We will not fund:

  • open access costs: these must be covered by the UKRI open access grant
  • training and capacity building that can be accessed through existing funding routes, such as existing doctoral training programmes, MRC or UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) fellowships
  • mid-range equipment other than agreed and assessed as necessary as part of the start-up requirements. All other mid-range equipment must be requested through the annual MRC equipment funding opportunity or other funding routes
  • routine equipment (that constitutes normal elements of a well-founded laboratory) over and above the start-up fund of up to £500,000. MRC has other arrangements to modestly support ongoing routine equipment needs of its major investments
  • additional or duplicative equipment that is already part of the existing research environment of the applicants
  • generic computing platforms for data analysis or data storage, which should be part of wider research organisation data management activities
  • buildings and other types of infrastructures
  • clinical trials or longitudinal population studies, which have specific governance requirements and for which alternative funding routes are available. MRC CoREs may utilise existing cohorts or clinical trials funded through other routes. If such activities are relevant applicants should make clear in the application how these would be supported

Team project partner

You may include team project partners that will support your research project through cash or in-kind contributions, such as:

  • staff time
  • access to equipment
  • sites or facilities
  • the provision of data
  • software or materials
  • recruitment of people as research participants
  • providing samples, such as human tissue, for the project

Each project partner must provide a statement of support. If your application involves industry partners, they must provide additional information if the team project partner falls within the industry collaboration framework.

Find out more about subcontractors and dual roles.

Who cannot be included as a team project partner

Any individual included in your application with a core team role cannot also be a project partner.

Any organisation that employs a member of the application core team cannot be a project partner organisation, this includes other departments within the same organisation.

If you are collaborating with someone in your organisation, consider including them as project co-lead, or specialist. They cannot be a project partner.

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.

International collaboration

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 applicants can find additional support, can be found on UKRI’s website.

Find out about getting funding for international collaboration.

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.

If the lead research organisation is an NHS organisation, check it is available in the Funding Service. You are encouraged to check this early as there may be additional steps for the organisation to be set up before you can apply.

Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI.

To apply

You can only apply for this funding opportunity if we have invited you to do so following a successful stage one application. The start application link will be provided via email.

  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
    Please allow at least 10 working days for your organisation to be added to the Funding Service.
  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 questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page.
  4. Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.
  5. Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.
  6. 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:

  • 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)
  • files must be 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. Applicants should use their 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

We must receive your application by 12 September 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

MRC, as part of UKRI, will need to collect some personal information to manage your UKRI 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.

Sharing data with co-funders

MRC, as part of UKRI, may need to share the application and any personal information that it contains with potential co-funders so that they can participate in the assessment process. Further information on co-funders will be available in due course.

Publication of outcomes

MRC, 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:

  • context
  • the challenge the MRC CoRE will address
  • 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 (UK) (PcL)
  • project co-lead (international) (PcL (I))
  • specialist
  • grant manager
  • professional enabling staff
  • research and innovation associate
  • technician
  • visiting researcher
  • researcher co-lead (RcL)

Only list one individual as project lead.

This should be the person who will act as the grant holder with responsibilities to MRC at the start of the MRC CoRE award, this is for administrative purposes. Other leadership team members should be the project co-leads. The leadership team members’ application roles should not imply relative status or influence the leadership model which is for the applicants to propose.

When there are two or more host organisations involved, the project lead must be affiliated with the lead research organisation. All host organisations must be represented by an eligible project co-lead.

Do not include proposed members of the MRC CoRE’s International Strategic Advisory Board as applicants or project partners.

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

Application questions

Vision

Word limit: 750

What is the research challenge, why is it important, and why do you need MRC CoRE funding?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain:

  • the distinctive research challenge you will address over 14 years, this should include a clear challenge statement that articulates your challenge in no more than 50 to 100 words
  • how it will make a difference and lead to transformative impact in biomedical or health research and place the UK in an internationally leading position
  • how your proposed MRC CoRE it is positioned in relation to other research efforts in the field, nationally and internationally
  • the bold, distinctive, disruptive, and innovative approaches you will use to achieve your ambitions
  • why these ambitions are best achieved through MRC CoRE funding

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

References may be included within this section.

Approach

Word limit: 7500

How will you approach the research challenge?

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
  • uses a clearly written and transparent methodology (if applicable)
  • summarises the previous work and describes how this will be built upon and progressed (if applicable)

Within the Approach section we also expect you to:

  • explain and justify how you will approach diversity and inclusion in the study population and follow the MRC embedding diversity in research design policy (if applicable)
  • show how you will use both sexes in research involving animals and tissues and cells (if applicable). If you are not proposing to do this, justify why

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

References may be included within this section.

Your approach should provide a compelling description of your proposed MRC CoRE research and how this will address the challenge.

You should describe your research ambitions for the full 14 years, including:

  • what is original, innovative, bold or disruptive
  • how is your approach will address your challenge and deliver transformative research and outputs
  • the structure of your research activity, which could be research themes or work packages, which will operate below the challenge level

You should provide detailed research plans for the first four years to provide confidence that you have the tools, expertise, and methods to start undertaking this long-term challenge, including:

  • where known, the general experimental approaches, study designs, and techniques that will be used, highlight approaches which are particularly original or unique
  • describing all foreseeable studies with human participants or animal experiments in as much detail as possible at this stage

You should discuss how the research plans might evolve over the funding period what alternative approaches might be deployed should any new techniques, difficult or risky approaches fail.

In describing your plans for your approach to the research challenge you may need to refer to details in the vision, approach to leadership, operations and decision-making, or partnerships and collaborations sections but you should not duplicate information provided in these sections.

Monitoring progress and measuring success

Word limit: 1,000

How will you monitor your progress and measure your success?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain your approach to monitoring the progress and measuring the success of your MRC CoRE over the first seven years.

To explain your approach, you should:

  • define your key challenge objectives for the MRC CoRE over the first seven years. These should reflect your most important activities and targets and may be drawn from any area of the proposed MRC CoRE work. Objectives for the first four years should be more detailed, in line with the detailed research plans for the first four years requested in the Approach section.
  • describe a clear and robust framework that you will use to monitor progress against your key objectives, including defining milestones for each key objective, and the expected outcomes and success measures. Include what you will do if progress is not as planned
Project plan

Use an embedded image to provide a plan such as a Gantt chart to support your application, spanning the first seven years. This should show the major groupings of activity, with their key objectives and associated milestones and timeframes. Do not use the plan to include information which should be detailed in the other sections of your application.

Your response will be assessed for its feasibility and suitability as a performance framework.

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

Approach to translational research

Word limit: 1,000

How will you approach translational research?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how you intend to translate the research undertaken in the MRC CoRE to maximise the potential benefit to the research community, wider society and economy, including:

  • how the translation research approach will be developed in the MRC CoRE or with partners
  • how opportunities for translation will be identified and pursued
  • plans for translational work on the research challenge
  • plans for translation to clinical testing, uptake or product development
  • approaches to and support arrangements for exploitation and commercialisation of results
  • management of intellectual property, either through protection or through planned release into the public domain

Approach to knowledge transfer and exchange

Word limit: 1,000

How will you approach knowledge transfer and exchange?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how you plan to maximise engagement with relevant stakeholders (academia, industry, charities) to ensure the appropriate sharing of knowledge and expertise, including:

  • identification and engagement with key stakeholders at the appropriate time
  • your approach to collaborative working with stakeholders to enable porous cross sector working
  • how knowledge exchange will be enabled in practice, such as the connections and methods you will use

Approach to environmental sustainability

Word limit: 1,000

How will you approach environmentally sustainability?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how you have considered environmental impact of the MRC CoRE and relate to this your environmental sustainability strategy and action plan, including:

  • general environmental impacts relevant to the MRC CoRE and potential mitigations
  • your environmental sustainability strategy and how this aligns with the host research organisations sustainability plan and policies
  • actions you will take, such as:
    • how you will consider and promote environmental sustainability and appropriately reflect it in your research design and operations
    • what sustainability standards you will adopt
    • your targets, aligned with the greening government commitments 2021 to 2025
    • the reporting systems you will use

The MRC CoRE must have an environmental sustainability strategy. This may be the host Research Organisation(s) strategy, if so, you must be explicit that you are fully adopting and complying with it.

Data management and sharing

Word limit: 1,500

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 which should clearly detail how you will comply with MRC’s published data management and sharing policies, which includes detailed guidance notes.

Provide your response in the text box following the headings in the MRC data management plan template. You are not required to upload the document to your application.

The length of your plan will vary depending on the type of study being undertaken:

  • population cohorts; longitudinal studies; genetic, omics and imaging data; biobanks, and other collections that are potentially a rich resource for the wider research community: maximum of 1,500 words
  • all other research, less complex, the plan may be as short as 500 words

Leadership, operations and decision-making

Word limit: 2,000

How will you approach running the MRC CoRE?

MRC CoRE is flexible long-term funding to address a defined challenge, and it is recognised that it’s not possible to set out detailed research plans for the full 14 years at the outset, and that the research landscape will evolve over the lifetime of the MRC CoRE. In this section the assessors are looking for information on how you will lead and operate an agile and responsive MRC CoRE.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how the proposed MRC CoRE:

  • will be effectively and inclusively managed, including describing the leadership team and how leadership will be drawn from participating organisations (if applicable) has clear leadership team roles and responsibilities and defined succession plans to enable development of future leaders over the lifetime of the award
  • has clear plans for communication across the MRC CoRE to ensure the leadership team benefit from the breadth of thought and ideas available
  • will approach decision-making and agility in response to new scientific developments, and the processes and criteria to take decisions on future research directions including:
    • decisions to discontinue activity, if required
    • management of conflicts or disagreements
  • has clear governance plans to successfully function as a research entity, and coordinate activities across multiple sites (if applicable)

How the MRC CoRE will access the appropriate services, facilities, infrastructure, or equipment to deliver the proposed research should be described in the ‘Your host research organisation support’ section.

MRC CoRE management structure

Include an organisational chart or other visual plan of your ‘MRC CoRE management structure’.

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

Research culture

Word limit: 2,000

How will you achieve and continually strengthen a positive research culture?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Using the text box, describe your research culture action plan, including:

  • building and sustaining positive research culture, including:
    • committed leadership
    • support for career development paths
    • leadership training
    • mentoring, supervision and pastoral care
  • developing creative approaches to leadership
  • embracing and realising the benefits of team science, including:
    • building and strengthening effective collaboration across multidisciplinary teams, wider stakeholders and public contributors, drawing on the whole talent pool
    • establishing common understanding and effective communication plans for collaborations beyond the MRC CoRE and across sectors
  • physical environment and infrastructure to enhance research culture, including:
    • the use of space and support staff to create opportunities for interaction and outreach
    • sharing of facilities and specialist equipment
    • relevant tools, such as electronic lab books and platforms to facilitate collaboration
  • promoting good practice and open research, including:
    • demonstrating best research practice
    • adoption of open research practices as the default way of working
    • alignment with the FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) data principles
    • diversity and inclusion in experimental design, and across all research activities
  • integrating meaningful public involvement and engagement (PIE) into your research strategy and delivery, and its purpose in relation to the challenge-led research agenda
  • reward and incentives including:
    • fair and transparent methods to assess performance and support career progression
    • practices for acknowledgement of contribution in research outputs
    • incentives for continuous improvement
    • upskilling of everyone involved to enable a positive research culture
  • integrating Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) considerations:
    • into all aspects of the MRC CoRE’s activities
    • and ensuring that the policies and practices of the MRC CoRE and host organisation(s) are aligned with UKRI and MRC EDI strategy and policies

Within the research culture section, we also expect you to describe the activities you will undertake to build on and enhance your host organisations’ research culture plan or strategy, to support these principles which underpin a positive research culture:

  • research is conducted with integrity, centred on reproducibility, responsible innovation, collaboration, interdisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity
  • research is communicated to maximise impact, built on transparency and openness, and partnership with the public
  • career paths and training environment, are provided to recognise a diversity of talents, skills and outputs, and embrace team science as the way of working

It is not sufficient to simply describe your host organisations’ plans in this section. We are looking for clear and specific plans for how you will underpin a positive research culture within your MRC CoRE. You should identify your intended research culture outcomes, actions to achieve these, and the relevant timescales, success criteria and evidence for each outcome.

In describing your plans for research culture across the MRC CoRE you may need to refer to details in the Leadership, operations and decision-making section, and the Training and career section, you should not duplicate information provided in these sections.

Data sharing logistics should be included in your response on data management. Operational leadership plans, including leadership roles and responsibilities should be included in your response on MRC CoRE leadership, operations and decision making.

Research culture maturity model

In addition to explaining your research culture action plan, the assessors are also looking for you to complete the ‘research culture maturity model template’ (DOCX, 30KB) which is a self-assessment of your initial level of research culture maturity.

The ‘maturity model template’ asks you to benchmark your initial research culture status and evidence how your planned activities will enable you to progress through maturity levels to your stated future outcomes.

You should use the maturity model to challenge assumptions and set priorities, and it will enable you in future to map progress and celebrate successes.

You should download the research culture maturity model template, complete and upload using guidance provided.

Training, careers and capacity building

Word limit: 2,000

What is your approach to training and capacity building in the MRC CoRE and how does this help to address the challenge?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain your approach to and plans for training, careers and capacity building, of all types from undergraduates to senior leaders, including how you will:

  • support training, careers and capacity building, in line with the overall strategy of the MRC CoRE
  • provide the innovative training and capacity building needed to deliver on the research challenge
  • through training, enhance equality, diversity and inclusion of the MRC CoRE’s people across career stages and job roles
  • through training, support interdisciplinary research
  • recognise the range of people, skills and career pathways required to deliver innovative training
  • ensure an inclusive and progressive research training environment free from unnecessary barriers to entry and progression
  • support all career stages, pathways and types
  • add value by convening and aligning existing training activity across the UK
  • share good practice in training and careers
  • prepare trainees for the challenges and opportunities available to them after their time at the MRC CoRE

Justify the training and capacity building proposed, in context of activities already on offer either within participating research organisations or nationally and explain the rationale and evidence for strategic training needs in the challenge area.

You should identify your intended training, careers and capacity building outcomes, actions to achieve these, and the relevant timescales, success criteria and evidence for each outcome. You may include a small number of key indicators that will showcase the success of your plans.

Managing doctoral training

Word limit: 500

What is the relationship with existing doctoral training programmes?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

If you are requesting funding for PhD students, explain the relationship with the relevant MRC Doctoral Training Programme (DTP):

  • confirm that the MRC CoRE students will be managed as part of an existing MRC DTP
  • include a statement of support from the relevant MRC DTP lead
  • explain how the existing MRC DTP will accommodate these additional studentships and continue to deliver high quality training experience for all students

Applicant and team capability to deliver

Word limit: 3,250

Why are you the team to successfully deliver the proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Evidence of how 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, including details on the tools and methods that different individuals will contribute
  • how the skills of the team will be effectively used and integrated
  • 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

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

The word count for this section is 3,250 words: 2,750 words to be used for R4RI modules (including references) and, if necessary, a further 500 words for Additions.

Use the Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) format to explain with precision the range of relevant skills your team have and how this will help deliver the proposed MRC CoRE. The team described should include all leadership team members and any other applicants with relevant experience, skills and expertise you wish to highlight, this could include technical or facility staff and professional services. 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. Use each heading once and include a response for the whole team, see the UKRI guidance on R4RI. You should provide an integrated view of the skills and collective value of the team as a whole as they relate to the proposed challenge. You should consider how to balance your answer, and emphasise where appropriate the key skills each team member brings in relation to your proposed MRC CoRE, rather than listing the skills of each individual:

  • 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).

Complete this as a narrative. Do not format it like a CV.

References may be included within this section.

ORCID iD

Within the R4RI format, team members should include their ORCID iD as part of the ‘short role descriptor’.

You may reuse information from your outline application. You can refine your team membership and update information from your outline application as needed.

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

For full details, see Eligibility as an individual.

Your host research organisation(s)

Word limit: 2,500

How will your research organisation(s) support the MRC CoRE?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain this using the text box, to include all participating host research organisations. You may reuse information from your outline application and add and update information as needed. Respond directly to any outline stage feedback.

Explain how the MRC CoRE will be positioned within the host research organisation(s) and how it will be will supported, including:

  • how the strategies of the organisation(s) and the MRC CoRE research challenge align
  • evidence of sustained commitment to the MRC CoRE, from the outset and for the duration of the 14-year funding period including enabling access to the appropriate services, facilities, infrastructure, or equipment to deliver the proposed MRC CoRE
  • how the organisation(s) will help the MRC CoRE meet funder expectations and tackle its research challenge, including through cooperation and the agile use of resources. This is particularly important for partnerships of more than one organisation
  • the necessary support and facilities for the MRC CoRE that the organisation(s) will provide, such as:
    • laboratory space
    • access to facilities and equipment
    • access to necessary digital support infrastructure
    • support to manage estates
    • human resources services
    • finance services
    • underpinning of key staff positions
    • access to additional sources of funding and support available to other researchers across the research organisations

If the MRC CoRE is to be hosted by a single research organisation you may only need 1,000 words.

Your partnerships and collaborations

Word limit: 1,000

How will your partnerships and collaborations enhance the MRC CoRE and help to address the challenge?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how your project partners and collaborators will:

  • provide distinct and beneficial support to the MRC CoRE
  • how this specialist input aligns with the MRC CoRE team in addressing the research challenge and achieving objectives
  • add value in allowing research to be undertaken, or undertaken to a quality level or timescale not otherwise possible
  • promote translational objectives
  • how relationships with partners and collaborators and risks relating to partnerships will be managed
  • how partners and collaborators will contribute to a stimulating multi or interdisciplinary research environment

We are looking for an integrated overview of how the MRC CoRE will approach and benefit from partnerships and collaborations, beyond the MRC CoRE host research organisations. Individual project partner details, including industry collaboration framework information, project partner financial contributions and project partner statements of support are not required here and should be provided in the relevant sections.

In the response you should also explain your approach to developing new opportunities and establishing additional partnerships and collaborations arising during the life of the MRC CoRE.

Project partners

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 third party 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.

Important note: If your application includes industry project partners, you will also need to complete the Industry Collaboration Framework (ICF) section. Find out more about ICF.

You must ensure that any third-party individual or organisation you include within the Funding Service as a project partner, also provides you with a supporting email or letter of support (see next section ‘Project partners: letters or emails of support’).

The individual named as the project partner contact, cannot be included in your application as a member of the core team, in any core team role.

The project partner organisation cannot be an applicant organisation, where any member of the core team is based.  If you are collaborating with someone in your organisation, consider including them as project co-lead, or specialist. They cannot be a project partner.

If an individual or organisation outside the core team is responsible for recruitment of people as research participants or providing human tissue for this project, list them as a project partner.

Add the following project partner details:

  • the organisation name (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 there are specific circumstances where project partners do require funding for minor costs such as travel and subsistence, these project partner costs should be claimed and justified within the resources and cost justification section of your application.

Important information when completing the project partners section within the UKRI Funding Service

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

Word limit: 10

Upload a single PDF containing the letters or emails of support from each partner you named in the ‘Project partners’ 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’.

What supporting statements we are looking for

Important note: We are only looking for you to provide project partner letters or emails of support from the following:

  • a third-party individual
  • a third-party organisation

Third party means the individual and organisation must not be involved in the application core team. You must ensure that any project partners providing a supporting document, are also added to the ‘Project partners’ section within 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.

What supporting statements we are not looking for

We are not looking for you to provide any letters or emails of support from individuals or organisations included in your application core team (this includes other departments within the same organisation). Any individual or organisation included in your application with a core team role cannot also be a project partner.

Do not include any other statements or any other type of information we have not requested, including letter or emails of support from colleagues simply expressing supportive opinions. We only expect letters or emails of support from your third-party project partners uploaded to this section.

If you include any information not requested by MRC, your application will be rejected.

Supporting document guidance for third party project partners

Each project partner supporting letter or email you provide, should:

  • be no more than two A4 pages
  • 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
  • include the name of the project partner organisation and contact information (this should match the partner contact and organisation name details you must add to the ‘Project partners’ section)

Project partners letters and emails of support are not required to be on headed paper or include handwritten signatures (electronic signatures are acceptable from the nominated partner contact).

When you have uploaded your ‘Project partners’ PDF, enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ within the text box.

Project partner responsibility for the recruitment of people

If the project partner is responsible for the recruitment of people as research participants or providing human tissue their letter or email of support should include:

  • agreement that the project partner will recruit the participants or provide tissue
  • confirmation that what is being supplied is suitable for the proposed work
  • confirmation that the quantity of tissue being supplied is suitable, but not excessive for achieving meaningful results (if applicable)
Multiple project partners

If you have multiple project partners, you should:

  • ensure each separate letter or email of support, does not exceed two pages of A4
  • consolidate all the supporting documents provided by each project partner into a single PDF file before uploading
  • ensure the PDF does not exceed the maximum file size of 8MB

For the file name, use the unique UKRI Funding Service number the system gives you when you create an application, followed by the words ‘Project partner’.

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

Industry Collaboration Framework (ICF)

Word limit: 4,000

Does your application include industry project partners?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

If industry collaboration does not apply to any of your project partners, or you do not have any project partners, simply add ‘N/A’ into the text box.

If your research project involves collaboration between an academic organisation and an industry or company, you are likely to need to follow the industry collaboration framework and answer this question, check using the ICF decision tree.

By ‘industry or company’ we mean an enterprise that puts goods or services on a market and whose commercial activities are greater than 20% of their overall annual capacity.

The assessors are looking for information relating to the nature, goals and conditions of the collaboration and any restrictions or rights to the project results that could be claimed by the project partner.

Find out more about ICF, including:

  • collaboration agreements
  • definitions of basic or applied research
  • internationally based companies
  • subsidy control
  • Intellectual property (IP) arrangements
  • fully flexible and gated contributions
  • the ICF assessment criteria

In addition to the project partner information completed in the previous section, confirm your answers to the ICF questions in the text box, repeat this process for each ICF project partner. You do not need to replicate the questions in your response:

  1. Name the industry or company project partner considered under ICF.
  2. Indicate whether your application is either basic research or applied research.
  3. Explain why, in the absence of the requested UKRI funding, the collaboration and the planned research could not be undertaken.
  4. State whether your application is under the category of either fully flexible contribution or gated contribution (based on the IP sharing arrangements with the ICF partner).
  5. Outline the pre-existing IP (‘background IP’) that each project partner, including the academic partner, will bring to the collaborative research project and the terms under which project partners may access these assets.
  6. Outline the IP that is expected to be developed during the collaborative research project (‘foreground IP’) and briefly outline how it will be managed, including:
    • which project partners will own this IP
    • what rights project partners will have to use academically-generated foreground IP during and after the research project, for internal research and development or for commercial purposes
    • any rights of the academic partner to commercialise the foreground IP (including foreground IP generated by project partners)
  7. Outline any restrictions to dissemination of the project results, including the rights of the project partner to:
    • review, approve or delay publications (including the time period associated with such rights)
    • request or require the removal of any information
  8. Declare any conflicts of interest held by the applicants in relation to the project partners and describe how they will be managed.
  9. If applicable, justify collaborating with an overseas industry or company under ICF.

Failure to provide the information requested for industry partners under ICF could result in your application being rejected.

You are recommended to discuss the goals and conditions of any collaboration with an industry or company project partner with your university technology transfer or contracts office before applying.

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 TR&I , 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

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

We may ask you 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.

Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)

Word limit: 500

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

Consider the MRC guidance on ethics and approvals.

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

Genetic and biological risk

Word limit: 700

Does your proposed research involve any genetic or biological risk?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

In respect of animals, plants or microbes, are you proposing to:

  • use genetic modification as an experimental tool, like studying gene function in a genetically modified organism
  • release genetically modified organisms
  • ultimately develop commercial and industrial genetically modified outcomes

If yes, provide the name of any required approving body and state if approval is already in place. If it is not, provide an indicative timeframe for obtaining the required approval.

Identify the organism or organisms as a plant, animal or microbe and specify the species and which of the three categories the research relates to.

Identify the genetic and biological risks resulting from the proposed research, their implications, and any mitigation you plan on taking. Assessors will want to know you have considered the risks and their implications to justify that any identified risks do not outweigh any benefits of the proposed research.

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

Research involving the use of animals

Word limit: 10

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.

Research involving human participation

Word limit: 700

Will the project involve the use of human subjects or their personal information?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

If you are proposing research that requires the involvement of human subjects, provide the name of any required approving body and whether approval is already in place.

Justify the number and the diversity of the participants involved, as well as any procedures.

Provide details of any areas of substantial or moderate severity of impact.

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

Research involving human tissues or biological samples

Word limit: 700

Does your proposed research involve the use of human tissues, or biological samples?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

If you are proposing work that involves human tissues or biological samples, provide the name of any required approving body and whether approval is already in place.

Justify the use of human tissue or biological samples specifying the nature and quantity of the material to be used and its source.

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

Resources and cost justification

Word limit: 2,000

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, for the first seven years, in particular:

  • MRC CoRE staff
  • any equipment that will cost more than £10,000, including routine equipment and mid-range or large equipment considered at outline stage
  • any consumables beyond typical requirements, or that are required in exceptional quantities
  • resources for translational research and commercialisation
  • activities to increase impact, for public and patient involvement and engagement, knowledge transfer and exchange or to support responsible innovation
  • training, careers and capacity building, justifying why this cannot be addressed through existing funding routes
  • resources developing or enhancing research culture
  • initiatives to improve environmental sustainability
  • all facilities and infrastructure costs
  • animal costs, such as numbers that need to be bred or maintained and to maintain high welfare standards
  • preserving, long term storage, or sharing of data, including open science
  • any significant requests for flexible funds, including how these will be managed
  • all resources that have been costed as ‘Exceptions’
  • support for international co-leads, demonstrating this is within the 30% costs cap for co-leads from developed countries, India and China, although we expect most costs to be incurred by UK organisations

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
  • support the MRC CoRE as a whole or are allocated to areas of research activity

Provide a preliminary breakdown of costs for each research area, work-package or equivalent, described in the approach to research

Explain your oversight and planning for long-term allocation of resources to activities

Costings should be justified on the basis of the FEC of the project, not just on the costs expected from UKRI. Include resource from host organisations and how that enhances value for money.

Equipment

Word limit: 500

Do you want to request any mid-range or large equipment?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

If you want to request mid-range or large equipment critical to establish platforms or facilities at the MRC CoRE:

  • justify why the equipment is needed to address the research challenge
  • why existing or shared equipment cannot be used or accessed through collaboration,
  • how the equipment will be managed and potentially shared,
  • discounts, organisational contribution or other factors that make this good value for money

If you do not want to request any mid-range or large equipment you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.

How we will assess your application

Assessment process

We will assess your application using the following process.

Examination of applications

All applications will be examined to ensure they meet the eligibility criteria and scope of the opportunity. If your application is deemed to be outside the scope of the opportunity you will be advised by email, and your application will be rejected. We aim to notify you of a rejection around four weeks after the closing date of the opportunity.

You will be informed in October 2024 about your invitation to attend an interview.

All applications within scope of the opportunity will be reviewed against the specified assessment criteria using the following assessment process.

Peer review

We will invite experts to review your application independently, against the specified criteria for this funding opportunity.

You will not be able to nominate reviewers for applications on the new UKRI Funding Service. Research councils will continue to select expert reviewers.

We are monitoring the requirement for applicant-nominated reviewers as we review policies and processes as part of the continued development of the new Funding Service.

Peer reviewers will be drawn from a group of appointed international experts representing the themes of interest.

Interview

Applicant interviews will take place on 22 and 23 January 2025 with a sub-committee of MRC major investments board supplemented with additional expertise from panellists from across MRC boards and panels and internationally as appropriate, including representation from any co-funding partner.

The panel will collectively assess and score your application against the specified criteria, from one to 10. The panel will produce a ranked list of applications and make a funding recommendation.

MRC will make the final funding decision.

Timescale

Outcomes of the full stage are expected to be in March 2025.

Feedback

We will give feedback with the outcome of your application. We aim to provide this within two months of the panel meeting.

Unsuccessful MRC CoRE applications may not be resubmitted unless exceptionally invited in writing to resubmit by MRC.

Assessment areas

The assessment areas we will use are:

  • vision, including:
    • MRC CoRE challenge and its impact
  • approach to the challenge, including:
    • approach
    • monitoring progress and measuring success
    • translational research
    • knowledge transfer and exchange
    • environmental sustainability
    • data management and sharing
  • approach to MRC CoRE environment, including:
    • leadership, operations and decision-making;
    • research culture;
    • training, careers and capacity building
    • management of doctoral training
  • capability to deliver the MRC CoRE, including:
    • applicant and team capability to deliver
    • your host research organisation(s)
    • your partnerships and collaborations
    • project partners
    • project partners: letters or emails of support
    • industry collaboration framework (ICF)
  • ethical and responsible research and innovation considerations, including
    • trusted research and innovation (TR&I)
    • ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)
  • resources and cost justification

The detailed criteria we will assess your application against can be found in the ‘How to apply’ section and are listed under the ‘What the assessors are looking for in your response’ headings.

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.

Sharing data with co-funders

MRC, as part of UKRI, may need to share the application and any personal information that it contains with potential co-funders so that they can participate in the assessment process. Further information on co-funders will be available in due course.

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 CoRE@mrc.ukri.org

For general questions related to MRC funding including our funding opportunities and policy please contact rfpd@mrc.ukri.org

Any queries regarding the system or the submission of applications through the 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.

Find information on submitting an application.

Sensitive information

If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email core@mrc.ukri.org

Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your 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

Background

MRC CoRE funding is awarded based on the MRC CoRE additional terms and conditions of funding. These include the responsibilities of the director and leadership team.

How MRC will assess research culture is further explained in the research culture guidance for reviewers.

MRC, as part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will need to collect some personal information to manage your UKRI 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.

Webinar for potential applicants

We will hold a webinar on 18th June 2024. This will provide more information about the funding opportunity and a chance to ask questions. Invited round 2 full stage applicants will be contacted about the webinar directly.

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

Research culture guidance for reviewers (PDF, 64KB)

Round two outline stage guidance (PDF, 466KB)

MRC CoRE research culture maturity model template (DOCX, 30KB)

Updates

  • 31 May 2024
    The start application link has been removed as this opportunity is invite only. Also, in the 'how to apply' section, have removed the sentence 'Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page' and replaced it with 'You can only apply for this funding opportunity if we have invited you to do so following a successful stage one application...'.

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