STFC provides research grant funding opportunities that are reviewed through frequent Projects Peer Review Panel (PPRP) rounds. You must have already discussed your ideas with one of our programme managers and have been invited to submit a full proposal.
We support large or complex projects that have significant scientific priority within STFC’s Scientific Remit.
You can only apply for this funding opportunity if we have invited you to do so following a successful Statement of Interest.
You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding. Before applying for funding, check the Eligibility of your organisation.
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.
Speak to your programme manager (see the ‘Contact details’ section) for advice on:
Academic applicants must meet the normal eligibility requirements for STFC research grant funding.
We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.
We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes:
Find out more about equality, diversity and inclusion at UKRI.
We provide research grant funding opportunities that are reviewed through frequent Projects Peer Review Panel (PPRP) rounds.
We support large or complex projects that have significant scientific priority in one of the following:
Large projects could involve:
Please contact relevant programme manager as listed under the ‘Contact details’ section.
For more information on the background of this funding opportunity, go to the ‘Additional information’ section.
The duration of this award is as required to deliver the project.
The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to the budget envelope advised and agreed by the STFC programme manager.
STFC will fund 80% of the FEC.
We will not fund project studentships.
We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.
If your application includes international applicants, project partners or collaborators, visit UKRI’s trusted research and innovation for more information on effective international collaboration.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.
As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.
Further guidance and information about TR&I, including where you can find additional support.
Find out about getting funding for international collaboration.
We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (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 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.
Follow the link to the Funding Service provided in your invitation email to start your application.
Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. You must:
Watch our research office webinars about the new Funding Service.
For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:
Applications should be self-contained, and hyperlinks should only be used to provide links directly to reference information. To ensure the information’s integrity is maintained, where possible, persistent identifiers such as digital object identifiers should be used. Assessors are not required to access links to carry out assessment or recommend a funding decision. You should use your discretion when including reference and prioritise those most pertinent to the application.
Reference 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.
Specific to the Projects Peer Review Panel, you will also be required to email us with completed financial spreadsheets broken down by work package. Links to the template for this are included under the ‘Additional information’ section below and should be emailed to the relevant programme manager listed under the ‘Contact details’ section.
STFC must receive your application by the deadline advised to you by the STFC office.
Applications to be submitted on or before the date (specifically advised to applicants) by 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.
STFC, as part of UKRI, will need to collect some personal information to manage your Funding Service account and the registration of your funding applications.
We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our privacy notice.
Application outcome is intimated to the applicants, not publicly listed. There is no competitive process and no rank order. Projects are assessed on their own merit on the published criteria and not tensioned against other projects.
If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research.
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:
Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of:
List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following:
Only list one individual as project lead.
Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications.
Word limit: 5 (70 page for Vision and Approach)
Create a document that includes your responses to all criteria. The document should not be more than 70 sides of A4 (including Letters of Support and Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs)), single spaced in paper in 11-point Arial (or equivalent sans serif font) with margins of at least 2cm. You may include images, graphs, tables.
For the file name, use the unique Funding Service number the system gives you when you create an application, followed by the words ‘Vision and Approach’.
Save this document as a single PDF file, no bigger than 8MB. Unless specifically requested, please do not include any sensitive personal data within the attachment.
If the attachment does not meet these requirements, the application will be rejected.
The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.
What are you hoping to achieve with and how will you deliver your proposed work?
For the Vision, explain how your proposed work:
Within the Vision section we also expect you to:
For the Approach, explain how you have designed your work so that it:
Within the Approach section we also expect you to:
Word limit: 2,500
How will you manage the award to successfully deliver its objectives?
Explain how the proposed award will be managed, demonstrating that it:
Within this section you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. You must:
Word limit: 1,500
Why are you the right individual or team to successfully deliver the proposed work?
Evidence of how you, and if relevant your team, have:
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 (project and project co-leads, researchers, technicians, specialists, partners and so on) have and how this will help to deliver the proposed work. You can include individuals’ specific achievements but only choose past contributions that best evidence their ability to deliver this work.
Complete this section using the R4RI module headings listed below. Use each heading once and include a response for the whole team, see the UKRI guidance on R4RI. You should consider how to balance your answer, and emphasise where appropriate the key skills each team member brings:
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.
UKRI has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the new Funding Service. For full details, see Eligibility as an individual.
Word limit: 1,000
What are the ethical and RRI implications and issues relating to the proposed work? If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical or RRI issues, explain why.
Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated:
If you are collecting or using data you should identify:
Additional sub-questions (to be answered only if appropriate) relating to research involving:
Word limit: 400
Does the proposed work involve international collaboration in a sensitive research or technology area?
Demonstrate how your proposed international collaboration relates to Trusted Research and Innovation, including:
If your proposed work does not involve international collaboration, answer ‘n/a’ here.
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 proportionately reduce these risks.
Word limit: 1,500
What will you need to deliver your proposed work and how much will it cost?
Justify the application’s more costly resources, in particular:
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:
This is used to cope with the uncertainties that occur in all projects, such as increased cost of materials, complexity of design and manufacture of components. There should be a reasonable chance (greater than 75%) that the project can be completed within the budget of the base cost plus the working allowance. The working allowance is awarded as part of the grant at announcement (at 100%).
This should not be requested on the application form. It is for the unknown and unexpected things that can occur within a project and which could not reasonably be predicted. It should be calculated on the basis of an understanding of the risks of the project.
Costs for STFC laboratories must be shown as 100% in the finance tables and must include staff costs and overheads. These always count as ‘new’ costs.
Please ensure that all information provided here is included in the ‘Vision and Approach’ section.
Add details about any project partners’ contributions. If there are no project partners, you can indicate this on the Funding Service.
A project partner is a collaborating organisation who will have an integral role in the proposed research. This may include direct (cash) or indirect (in-kind) contributions such as expertise, staff time or use of facilities.
Add the following project partner details:
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.
Upload a single PDF containing the letters or emails of support from each partner you named in the ‘Project partner’ section. These should be uploaded in English or Welsh only.
Enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box, or if you do not have any project partners enter N/A. Each letter or email you provide should:
The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply. If you do not have any project partners, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Ensure you have prior agreement from project partners so that, if you are offered funding, they will support your project as indicated in the ‘Project partners’ section.
For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.
Word limit: 1,500
How will you manage and share data collected or acquired through the proposed research?
Provide a data management plan that clearly details how you will comply with UKRI’s published data sharing policy, which includes detailed guidance notes.
Please use the Data management plan guidance provided by STFC.
Word limit: 1,500
Does your proposed research require the support and use of a facility?
If you will need to use a facility, follow your proposed facility’s normal access request procedures. Ensure you have prior agreement so that if you are offered funding, they will support the use of their facility on your project.
For each requested facility you will need to provide the:
If you will not need to use a facility, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
We will assess your application using the following process.
The appropriate programme manager will review your SoI to ensure that the data required for its consideration is complete. They will then pass your SoI to the STFC Science Board for review.
You will receive feedback on your SoI from the office of the Executive Director of Programmes (on behalf of STFC). STFC aims to provide feedback within 20 working days.
Any STFC Science Board member with a personal conflict of interest will withdraw from the review process for the duration of the consideration of your proposal.
We will invite peers 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 UK Research and Innovation (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.
Following peer review,we will invite experts to use the evidence provided by reviewers and your applicant response to assess the quality of your application and make a funding recommendation.
Each proposal is also subject to a project management and delivery review. This is undertaken by a relevant project management expert, who will be given access to the proposal through the peer review extranet.
The default approach is for this review to be undertaken by an appropriate member of PPRP. Where this is not possible, alternative reviewers will be sourced who will conduct the review under the same protocols as PPRP members (agreement to these protocols will be sought prior to the review being conducted).
The review will be sent to applicants through Office Message Encryption (OME) by the PPRP secretariat around two weeks before the panel for the applicants to provide a response.
This response should be returned by OME within five working days of receipt.
In order to assist PPRP with its deliberations, the project management reviewer (whether or not a PPRP member) will attend the meeting to raise questions on the project management aspects of the proposal.
You are asked to engage positively with these questions, which form a key part of PPRP’s consideration of proposals.
Preliminary assessment of the proposal and resource work packages will be made by STFC staff. You will be contacted directly if there are any areas of the proposal that require more detail or rework in advance of the PPRP meeting.
The PPRP meeting takes place to assess the proposal and question the applicant. The meeting consists of open sessions (where you will give a presentation and members of the public can attend) and closed sessions.
In its assessment of proposals, the panel will look at each category referred within the ‘Vision and Approach’ document as well as the sections on ‘Governance’, ‘Applicant and team capability to deliver’, ‘Resources and cost justification’ and ‘Ethics’ to ensure all requirements are met. The panel also assess the reviews from external reviewers, the project management and delivery review along with the applicants response to them. Applicants are given the opportunity to present during the PPRP meeting, followed by question and answer sessions.
If undergoing the non-light touch process (see the ‘Light touch process’ section below), feedback questions from the meeting are sent to the applicants to respond to ahead of the visiting panel. This includes requests for descopes (see the ‘Descopes’ section below).
These responses are assessed at the visiting panel meeting.
The visiting panel meeting carries out a detailed assessment of the proposal. The meeting consists of panel experts and members of PPRP (a subset of those who attended the full meeting).
The final recommendation usually takes place at the end of this meeting during a closed session.
A report from the visiting panel is written by the PPRP secretary in conjunction with the STFC programmes directorate and agreed and finalised by the visiting panel chair.
The report presents the visiting panel’s findings and is submitted to the next STFC Science Board meeting.
At the STFC Science Board meeting, the meeting chair presents PPRP’s recommendations. The Science Board provides strategic advice and recommendations on the proposal, which are shared with the executive board and council.
Following the Science Board’s recommendations, the STFC executive will make a funding decision on the proposal and will inform the applicant and research organisation of STFC’s decision.
This will include any relevant information from the Science Board’s consideration of the proposal. On average, a successful proposal will take six to nine months to go through the process (excluding the grant being awarded).
PPRP will be informed of the recommendations made by the Science Board (and the actual funding decisions made by the STFC executive) at the next PPRP meeting.
PPRP has a light touch process which skips the visiting panel, with all recommendations reached within the PPRP meeting.
Where this process is utilised, you will be asked by the PPRP secretariat to respond to clarification questions generated by the PPRP assessor and panel experts ahead of the meeting. You may also be asked about additional descope scenarios.
Questions will be sent by and should be responded to through OME. This is in addition to the postal peer review comments and project management and delivery review in the full process.
Applicants who are subject to this process will be informed by the relevant programme manager.
As an essential test of value for money, it is a key part of the PPRP process to request ‘descope’ (reduction) scenarios for all proposals.
Such scenarios are requested whether or not there is sufficient budget to fund the proposal in full and are in addition to any reductions in scope made prior to PPRP (such as in the consideration of the statement of interest).
You are requested to fully engage with this process in preparing credible scenarios for the cuts requested. Artificially inflating the grant or not engaging with these requests seriously runs the risk of the panel recommending cuts not in your control.
STFC will make the final funding decision.
We aim to complete the assessment process within nine months of receiving your application.
If your application was discussed by a panel, we will give feedback with the outcome of your application.
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.
The assessment areas we will use are:
Find details of assessment questions and criteria under the ‘Application questions’ heading in the ‘How to apply’ section.
Learn more about the UKRI assessment criteria.
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 UK Research and Innovation (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, content or remit of a funding opportunity) will not constitute a priority case and will be addressed as soon as possible.
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 Malcolm Booy malcolm.booy@stfc.ukri.org or Roy Stephen roy.stephen@stfc.ukri.org
Astronomy: Chris Woolford
Email: chris.woolford@stfc.ukri.org
Accelerators and digital research infrastructure: David Brown
Email: david.brown@stfc.ukri.org
Nuclear physics: Jenny Hiscock
Email: jenny.hiscock@stfc.ukri.org
Particle physics: Karen Clifford
Email: karen.clifford@stfc.ukri.org
STFC Science Board: Rachel Leader
Email: rachel.leader@stfc.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:
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 out more information on submitting an application.
If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email grantspolicy@stfc.ac.uk
Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number].
Typical examples of confidential information include:
For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read UKRI’s privacy notice.
Equality Impact Assessment (PDF, 243KB)
Work package cost tables (these are to be completed and emailed to the relevant programme manager listed under the ‘Contact details’ section)
Project risk management guidance
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:
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.
