Your proposal must be submitted by the seconding organisation (the normal employer of the secondee) through the Joint Electronic Submission (Je-S) system.
When applying, select:
- council: AHRC
- document type: standard proposal
- scheme: development grants
- call/type/mode: Innovation Scholars secondments 26 May 2022.
Due to the nature of the secondment activities, it is expected that the seconding and hosting organisations and the proposed secondee will collaborate closely:
- on the preparation of the proposal prior to its submission
- throughout the lifetime of each secondment.
You must include details of both organisations’ contributions in your application, including any direct financial support and in-kind support to the project.
At least 1 individual from each organisation involved must be named on the Je-S form, with the hosting organisation and contact listed as a project partner (see the ‘Je-S form: applicants’ section below).
If you work in a business or other organisation needing support in registering on the Je-S system, contact the Je-S help desk (see the ‘contact details’ section).
What you must submit
The application is split into 5 sections:
- Je-S form
- case for support
- CV for the secondee
- project partner (hosting organisation).
Je-S form
Applicants
In the application documents, the secondee must be named as the principal investigator or as named research staff.
If the lead applicant or principal investigator is the secondee, they should be the only person listed on the proposal under the ‘staff’ heading.
If the lead applicant or principal investigator is not the secondee, then the secondee should be listed as ‘research staff’.
Only the secondee’s salary can be claimed.
Further information on how to do this is available in our Je-S guidance (PDF, 730KB).
Summary
Describe your proposed activity in simple terms in a way that could be publicised to a general audience.
If awarded, this content will be made publicly available, and applicants are responsible for ensuring that the content is suitable for publication.
Financial resources
The only costs that should be included are:
- the replacement salary costs of the secondee incurred by the secondment activities
- the travel and subsistence that they will incur by undertaking the secondment.
These costs will be received by the seconding organisation, which must be the normal employer of the secondee.
If the seconding organisation is registered on Je-S (independent research organisations and universities), they should put their costs into the Je-S form.
If the seconding organisation is not registered on Je-S (businesses and other non-independent research organisations), they should:
- fill in the finance spreadsheet provided, instead of the finance section of the Je-S form
- upload this spreadsheet with their application using the ‘other’ attachment type on Je-S.
Further information regarding this is in our Je-S guidance (PDF, 730KB).
Project partner (hosting organisation)
The hosting organisations (places where the secondee will be seconded) should be listed as a project partner. They should be the only project partners listed.
If the secondment involves the secondee moving between 2 or more hosting organisations, please list all of these organisations on Je-S.
The organisation and contact name of the partner must be provided.
You must provide a letter of support from your project partners and upload it on Je-S as part of the application process. The letter should be a maximum of 2 A4 pages, in a sans serif font with a size equal to or greater than 11pt.
If you are successful and you are awarded an Innovation Scholars grant, you must also have a collaboration agreement between the parties.
Other questions
The questions relating to ethics and the use of tissue and animals at the end of the Je-S form must be answered.
Case for support
Your case for support document must be prepared in a sans serif font with a size equal to or greater than 11pt. The margins should be no less than 2cm all around the page.
You have up to 4 pages of A4 to provide information under the following 5 headings.
The focus of the secondees’ research and innovation activity
Outline the proposed work and how it will contribute to the funding opportunity objectives:
- describe the vision and aims of the proposed work (what research questions you will address during the secondment)
- explain the disciplinary focus of the secondment, including any real-life challenges that the project will aim to solve (this should be explained in the context of the secondee’s expertise, and the organisations involved or the broader sector or community)
- clearly state how you will meet the 4 objectives.
Secondee
This is where you should highlight your suitability, including evidence of the following:
- capability of the secondee to effectively undertake and deliver against the vision and aims of the activity and realise the desired outcomes and impacts
- knowledge, skills and expertise that will be gained by the secondee and how their participation in the secondment will aid them in their career.
Environment
Highlight the suitability of the environment of the hosting organisation, including evidence of the following:
- suitability of the hosting organisation environment for the undertaking of the proposed activity
- appropriate support for the secondee in the hosting environment with respect to delivery of the vision and outcome of the activity.
This should be written with reference to the equality impact assessment (DOCX, 58KB) for the funding opportunity.
Impact
Highlight the benefits the project will have to participants and the broader impact:
- demonstrate impact in terms of the benefit to the secondee and organisations involved in the secondment (as a minimum, there must be a benefit to both the secondee and hosting organisation)
- articulate wider benefits that might be realised, these should be specific, realistic and discussed in the context of the hosting organisation and its strategy.
Activity
Highlight the resources, plan, timeline, costs, risks and mitigation:
- the appropriateness (justification) of the resources requested (in-kind or direct support from participating organisations will only be taken into consideration if they are clearly articulated in the letter of support)
- the plan for achieving the vision and objectives of the activity, including the work that will be undertaken, approach and methodology, and the timeline (or milestones) for completion of tasks or work packages
- management and monitoring arrangements
- an outline of any risks and a plan for how they will be managed.
CV for secondee
A CV of a maximum of 3 A4 pages must be submitted for the secondee only. You must use the narrative CV template (DOCX, 101KB), which includes guidance.
This template is a change from the standard AHRC CV format in line with our efforts to make the research and development ecosystem more inclusive by using a narrative CV format.
A CV which simply lists past positions, publications and funding will not adequately support an application.
Project partner (hosting organisation)
The organisation receiving the secondee will not receive funding and must be listed on Je-S as a project partner.
A letter of support of a maximum of 2 A4 pages, in font size 11, from your project partners must be uploaded with your application.
In your project partner letter of support, you must:
- confirm the organisation’s commitment to the proposed project
- articulate the benefits of the collaboration, its relevance and potential impact
- identify the value, relevance and possible benefits of the proposed work to the partner
- specify the period of support, the full nature of the collaboration and support and how the partner will provide added value
- where relevant to the project, details should be provided of the projected market size, customers and sales and how the organisation will commercialise the technology beyond the project
- list all project partner contributions, whether in cash or in kind (these should be entered on the Je-S form).
Applications will be rejected if project partner letters of support merely indicate that an organisation is interested in the research and do not indicate a firm commitment to hosting the secondment.
See the AHRC research funding guide (pages 61-62) for more information about letters of support.
Finances
Organisations registered on Je-S (independent research organisations and universities) should put their costs into the Je-S form as follows:
- salary costs: replacement salary costs to cover the time the secondee spends in the hosting organisation or undertaking activities required within the secondment (salary, national insurance, tax and any pension costs)
- travel and subsistence: travel and subsistence costs relating directly to the secondee’s travel to the hosting location will be claimable at 100%.
Salary and travel and subsistence costs should be entered as an exception cost in the ‘other directly incurred costs’ section of the form. Salary costs will be paid at 100%.
All other organisations (businesses and other non-independent research organisations) should fill in the finance spreadsheet template (XLSX, 42KB) provided and upload it to Je-S as a PDF file.
These organisations should not put their finances on the Je-S form as they may be calculated at the incorrect rate.
You can find detailed information on how to enter costs into Je-S in our Je-S guidance (PDF, 730KB).
Costs that cannot be claimed
The only costs that can be claimed are the replacement salary costs for the secondee and travel and subsistence associated with the project.
Any other costs must be met as cash or in-kind contributions from the seconding or hosting organisations.
These include:
- the costs incurred by the hosting organisation in hosting the secondee, including any workplace training which may be required
- any project and activity costs including equipment and consumables
- any other costs to the seconding organisation including indirect and overhead costs
- any costs associated with the seconding organisation’s commitment to the secondee as an employee.
Recording of in-kind and cash contributions
Contributions to your project should be recorded as accurately as possible in the following ways:
- the hosting organisation (project partner) should record their contributions in the ‘project partner’ section of the Je-S form (it’s important that these contributions are clearly detailed in your letter of support)
- the seconding organisation should detail any cash or in-kind contributions it makes under the ‘activity’ section of the case for support document.
