Funding opportunity

Provide a national material science beamline research facility

• Opportunity status: Closed
• Funders: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
• Funding type: Grant
• Total fund: £7,000,000
• Maximum award: £7,000,000
• Publication date: 1 June 2023
• Opening date: 1 June 2023 9:00am UK time
• Closing date: 1 August 2023 4:00pm UK time

Apply for support to provide a national material science synchrotron beamline research facility. The facility can be based outside of the UK for national use.

You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for EPSRC funding.

The facility will give researchers access to:

• a range of cutting edge instruments
• expertise in using a material science beamline

EPSRC will support the facility with a five year grant which will undergo a mid-term review.

Up to £7 million of funding is available. You will need to demonstrate in your application that the facility will be cost-effective with a longer term financial stability plan.

Who can apply

Standard EPSRC eligibility rules apply. Research grants are open to:

• UK higher education institutions
• research council institutes
• UKRI approved independent research organisations
• eligible public sector research establishments
• eligible research and technology organisations
• NHS bodies with research capacity

Check if your institution is eligible for funding.

You can apply if you are a resident in the UK and meet at least one of the following conditions:

• are employed at the submitting research organisation at a level equivalent to lecturer or above
• hold a fixed-term contract that extends beyond the duration of the proposed project, and the host research organisation is prepared to give you all the support normal for a permanent employee
• hold an EPSRC, Royal Society or Royal Academy of Engineering fellowship aimed at later career stages
• hold fellowships under other schemes (please contact EPSRC to check eligibility, which is considered on a case-by-case basis)

Holders of postdoctoral level fellowships are not eligible to apply for an EPSRC grant.

Submissions to this funding opportunity will not count towards the EPSRC repeatedly unsuccessful applicants policy.

Equality and diversity

In line with the UKRI diversity principles, equality and diversity must be embedded at all levels and in all aspects of research practice. We are committed to supporting the research community in the diverse ways a research career can be built with our investments. This includes:

• career breaks
• support for people with caring responsibilities
• flexible working
• alternative working patterns

With this in mind, we welcome applications from academics who:

• job share
• have a part-time contract
• need flexible working arrangements
• are currently committed to other longer, large existing grants

Learn more about equality, diversity and inclusion support.

What we're looking for

Following a successful statement of community need bid, EPSRC wishes to support a national material science synchrotron beamline research facility. The facility can be based outside of the UK for national use.

EPSRC will support the facility with a five year grant which will undergo a mid-term review at the two and a half to three year stage.

You should aim to begin the project on 15 November 2023.

Key requirements for the proposed facility

EPSRC convened an expert specification panel to develop the following facility requirements. The statement of community need was considered during the specification panel. Applicants are expected to meet the following facility requirements.

Purpose of the facility

The facility will need to be capable of providing:

• easy access to the experimental infrastructure
• access to support individuals
• follow-up support with data analysis and interpretation
• adequate training, where applicable

It should also:

• complement wider UK capabilities
• minimise individual cost per project
• use the best suited technology for projects, along with best practice
• have procedures in place to maintain the confidentiality of all parties involved

Instrumentation and technical capability

The service will provide researchers with access to a national material science beamline research facility and associated expertise to support novel and exciting research in engineering, biological and physical sciences. The service must therefore meet the following technical requirements:

• provide a flexible system covering a wide energy range that allows multi-modal measurements
• offer a range of techniques, including: spectroscopy, diffraction, reflectivity, and small-angle scattering
• offer a range of sample environments in terms of temperature, atmosphere, and pressure
• offer spatial resolution, time resolution (seconds to minutes), and a sample size range (down to micron scale)
• offer appropriate support for sample preparation and the ability to transfer samples in an inert atmosphere

You should explain how the facility will complement existing UK capacity and fits into the wider research infrastructure landscape for material science.

You should provide details of data processing tools and software that will be available to users and plans for offline tools and data analysis.

Equipment location

You should justify the proposed location or locations of the facility.

You should provide detail on policies and procedures for secure and safe access for external users. You should ensure sites are accessible and reasonable costings are considered for handling samples. You should ensure there are harmonised and robust safety provisions established including provisions for handling hazardous samples and an appropriate mechanism to keep track of samples.

Technical, scientific and training support for users

It is expected by EPSRC that all users will have access to expert advice including but not limited to:

• training provision in equipment use in accordance with their needs, including face-to-face training and support by email
• a process via which users can raise a request, complaint or issue about any aspect of the service, and a procedure for resolution
• site safety training at levels relevant to the users
• experimental design and feasibility
• sample preparation and storage
• data interpretation and advice regarding results
• advice on maximising use of time on equipment including appropriate out of hours support

You should provide detail on training provisions for advanced computational techniques, this may include artificial intelligence (AI), that are appropriate for the range of experimental techniques offered at the facility. You are expected to provide details of user training provision, including the expertise and experience of those involved in training for the different levels of users. You should consider the needs of different user groups, such as:

• students
• academic researchers
• private sector customers
• researchers in or outside the host organisation
• new and experienced users

You should describe the user journey for novice users, experienced users, and expert users.

You should include how the facility will engage with future generations of researchers, including Centres for Doctoral Training and other relevant and complementary research facilities.

The facility should have expert staff across a broad range of application areas with evidence of mitigation against any staff single point failures.

Operational considerations

Facility capacity and user access

It is essential to EPSRC that the proposed facility can be accessed for the full period of the contract by students, postdoctoral researchers and academic researchers in the physical sciences, biological and engineering communities in the UK.

You should provide detail on and justify the expected balance of the type of users, the type of experiments, the type of access, and the proportion of time that will be dedicated to experiments, technique development maintenance and calibration.

You should describe mechanisms for prioritisation of applications and how considerations, such as but not limited to scientific quality, diversifying the user base and training new users, will be encompassed in this process. You should refer to the technical requirements for this facility.

It is important to EPSRC that access to the proposed facility is fair and transparent for all potential users. EPSRC needs to understand how access to the proposed facility is and will be managed by the applicants. You should describe the formal procedure for accepting and prioritising applications providing details of the quality assessment of the applications through all access routes. Peer review processes should be in line with EPSRC peer review guidelines.

You should specify the eligibility requirement for access to the beamline facility and consider the EPSRC standard eligibility criteria for a principal investigator on a proposal.

You should give details of any options for a percentage of the facility to be open to researchers in research areas beyond EPSRC’s remit, for example interdisciplinary researchers and business customers.

Capability

EPSRC expects that the proposed facility will be sustainable. You should provide details on how the capability of the facility and the related storage, preparatory and ancillary equipment would be maintained. This should include details of agreements with the appropriate equipment manufacturer for upgrading and developing the equipment and facility, and basic details for routine service and preventative maintenance.

You are expected to give a profile for capital investments over the length of the grant to keep the facility at the cutting edge. Any capital investment on this grant is expected to enhance not replicate recent UKRI investments in the area.

It should be specified whether any experiments will be carried out to meet relevant (ISO) standards.

Remote access and web interface

The facility should provide a website fitting for a national research facility and that meets accessibility requirements. This should include:

• information on how experiments can be performed for remote users (desirable)
• promoting the facility and demonstrating the capability it provides
• maintaining data security on the remote platform
• provide information on how to gain remote access to recorded data
• describe details on how to access the software tools for analysing and processing
• showcase world leading outputs, including case studies and research findings
• provide information on the management team

Engagement, publicity, and diversifying the user base

You should provide information on how you will implement a user survey to allow users to feed back their user experience, input on future facility developments and to host two-way user dialogue on facility capability.

You should provide detail on how you will publicise the facility and any planned outreach activities.

The facility is expected to actively grow and diversify the user base, reaching new user communities. You should provide details on how you will engage with the current user base, detail the growth you expect to achieve in the user base, and how you will achieve it. You should provide detail on how the facility will sit within the national and international research landscape and the material science research community.

Usage statistics

The facility must collect usage statistics in line with relevant regulations and grant conditions. The facility must be able to report on individual users and record the number and type of experiments carried out, and whether they obtained the data they sought. The facility will be asked to provide an annual report to EPSRC with the usage data. The usage data should inform decision making regarding user engagement, service improvements and future provision.

Data management

EPSRC expects the facility to have appropriate and robust systems and procedures in place to ensure data protection during collection, storage and processing.

You should provide detail on how you will ensure appropriate data security measures are in place for proprietary projects. The facility should have a policy with clear and robust intellectual property procedures in place to manage intellectual property for proprietary projects.

The application must include a data management policy that is compliant with the UKRI open data policy and any relevant third party providers and extends beyond the duration of the grant.

You should provide a data management plan that is compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation and describe how you will record and manage data on users and review this to inform your communications plan.

Contribution to the research community

You should consider how the short and long term impact of the facility is measured and used to demonstrate the added value of the facility over the duration of the grant.

You should demonstrate at least yearly that the facility has met the community need and communicated with the diverse needs of the user base. This could be via case studies published on the facility website.

Risk management and contingency planning

EPSRC expects the facility to provide a risk register with appropriate risk mitigations annually.

You should provide details of your risk management strategy. It should focus on achieving the highest productivity and provide appropriate risk mitigations, for example how you will address risks such as staff shortages and equipment failure.

People and management arrangements

The service must meet the following management requirements:

The team

The facility must be led by an excellent team which are capable of:

• community building
• assessing community scientific needs
• managing the operational aspects of a facility to meet user and staff requirements
• working constructively with multiple stakeholders and funders.

For grant purposes the application will have a named eligible principal investigator with other team members listed as co-investigators.

Directors

The facility shall be led by an eligible academic who will be the nominated director and will be ultimately responsible for the execution of any grant. EPSRC expects this named person to have an international reputation in material science beamlines and the ability to work constructively with multiple stakeholders and funders. This may or may not be the same person as the nominated principal investigator.

In addition, you may also wish to include a nominated co-director or technical director, with a distinct role. The inclusion and role should be fully justified.

The facility director and senior management will be expected to show evidence of appropriate experience of leading facilities comparable to the existing National Research Facilities. Continuity of management plans must be in place in the event of the proposed director leaving and other senior staff changes.

Governance

The governance structure should include a management board and an independent steering committee. You should provide a clear governance structure or chart.

The independent steering committee should be composed of external advisors, including a member of EPSRC, and international and industry representation to monitor the actions of the proposed facility.

The panel will discuss any specific governance requirements for this service that should be included in the funding opportunity and monitored for the subsequent grant.

Leadership

EPSRC expects the service to take a leadership role in the engineering, biological and physical sciences communities. Leadership in this context might involve:

• uniqueness of the facility, where there is no equivalent elsewhere internationally
• outreach
• demonstrate value of service to community in terms of meeting user needs and high usage
• owned by the users
• provide mentoring and career development for facility staff

Support and development of professionals

The facility is expected to provide ongoing support and development for research technical professionals and postdoctoral research associates involved in the running of the facility. UKRI recognise this as being core to the successful running of the facility.

Key performance indicators and service level agreements

The expectation of EPSRC is that as a result of this funding opportunity any grant awarded will include key performance indicators and service level agreements that the facility will aspire to meet. These may include but are not limited to those given as standard.

The key performance indicators and service level agreements could be based on:

• the total number of all users broken down to the number of new and returning users
• the number of research groups that have used the facility
• percentage of access requests accepted
• percentage of user enquiries responded to within a stated window
• user satisfaction rating
• the number and percentage of user complaints
• the number of publications
• the number of publicity activities per year
• the uptime of the facility and major equipment

Feedback and complaints

EPSRC expects that a proposed facility will have a process in place for complaints and monitoring of user satisfaction. You should provide details of the proposed feedback processes and describe how feedback will be used to implement improvements.

Cost effectiveness

EPSRC is committed to providing cost effective services.

You should develop a charging model for proprietary research, where any income received should be invested into the facility.

You should describe models for user access to the facility including how travel and subsistence costs will be managed.

Your proposal should present a vision for the long term future sustainability of the service. You should describe how continuous provision would be achieved if future funding were not available.

If, following peer review, EPSRC considers that insufficient effort has been made to detail a cost effective facility, it may, in discussion with the principal investigator, alter the profile of a successful grant to return maximum value to UK research users.

EPSRC approach to equipment funding

Where possible, researchers are asked to make use of existing facilities and equipment, including those hosted at other universities. If equipment is needed as part of the proposal, you must follow EPSRC’s rules for requesting equipment over £10,000 in value.

Individual items of equipment between £10,000 and £400,000 can be included on proposals if the equipment is essential to the proposed activity and if no appropriate alternative provision can be accessed. Where equipment is requested, we expect to see a robust strategic case for how equipment will maximise the impact from research, enable collaboration with business and ultimately drive benefits within the cluster and society in general.

The purchase of equipment to undertake non-impact focused research is out of scope for this funding opportunity. EPSRC will contribute 80% of the final purchase price and will expect the research organisation or project partner to contribute the remainder (20%) from non EPSRC funding.

You must attach a letter of support from the research organisation or project partner detailing the proposed contribution to the cost of the equipment. All requested equipment funding must be identified at the point of application.

More information is available on our guidance for equipment on research grants.

Smaller items of equipment (individually under £10,000) should be in the ‘directly incurred – other costs’ heading.

See EPSRC approach to equipment funding

How to apply

Applying through Je-S

You must apply using the Joint Electronic Submission (Je-S) system.

You can find advice on completing your application in the Je-S handbook.

We recommend you start your application early.

Your host organisation will also be able to provide advice and guidance.

Submitting your application

Before starting an application, you will need to log in or create an account in Je-S. All investigators involved in the project need to be registered on Je-S. Any investigators who do not have a Je-S account must register for one at least 7 working days before the opportunity deadline.

When applying:

• Select ‘documents’, then ‘new document’.
• Select ‘call search’.
• To find the opportunity, search for: National material science beamline research facility

This will populate:

• council: EPSRC
• document type: standard proposal
• scheme: standard
• call/type/mode: National material science beamline research facility

Once you have completed your application, make sure you ‘submit document’.

You can save completed details in Je-S at any time and return to continue your application later.

Deadline

EPSRC must receive your application by 1 August 2023 at 4:00pm.

You will not be able to apply after this time. Please leave enough time for your proposal to pass through your organisation’s Je-S submission route before this date.

You should ensure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines that may be in place.

What you must submit

Your application must also include the following attachments.

In addition to the Je-S application form, you should also upload the following documents to the system:

• case for support (up to 20 pages)
• justification of resources (up to 4 pages)
• work plan (1 page)
• grant payment profile
• CVs
• equipment business case
• letters of support from all project partners included in the Je-S form (no page limit), EPSRC guidance on project partners letter of support
• cover letter (optional attachment, no page limit, not seen by peer review)

You should attach your documents as PDFs to avoid errors. They should be completed in single-spaced Arial 11 font or similar-sized sans serif typeface. EPSRC will not accept any other attachment types under this funding opportunity.

Read our advice on writing proposals for EPSRC funding.

Case for support

This is a mandatory document. The primary supporting document will be of a longer format than those submitted for standard proposals.

The overall page length will be up to 20 pages. You should use single-spaced Arial 11 font or a similar sized sans serif typeface.

Your ‘case for support’ document must include the following sections:

• track record of applicants
• service description
• operational details
• people and management
• governance plan

The following should be included in each section.

Track record of applicants

This section should be no more than 2 pages.

For grant purposes, your application will have a named eligible principal investigator, with other team members listed as co-investigators.

You need to identify who will take the director post and provide evidence of their ability to accomplish their role.

Track records are needed for:

• the principal investigator
• the director (if they are not the same person as the nominated principal investigator)
• all co-investigators

Service description

You should use this section to:

• describe and detail the service you propose to provide, covering the elements detailed in the key purpose of the facility and the technical requirements
• describe how the facility will complement existing UK capabilities and capacity, and meet national strategic needs
• demonstrate that the facility and site are easily accessed and clarify how you would support user needs in an equitable manner to provide a positive user experience
• include details of your long term vision for the facility and describe how it fits within the national and international material science beamline infrastructure landscape

Operational details

You should use this section to:

• detail how you will meet the operational considerations
• justify the proposed location or locations of the facility
• provide detail on how you will ensure sites are accessible with appropriate policies and procedures in place
• provide detail on harmonised and robust safety provisions that will be established including provisions for handling hazardous samples, reasonable costings for handling samples, and an appropriate mechanism to keep track of samples
• provide detail on sample preparation procedures that will be available
• specify whether any experiments will be carried out to meet relevant (ISO) standards
• detail how you will meet the key requirements for remote access and an effective web-interface that meets the accessibility requirements
• provide details of data processing tools and software that will be available to users and how you will provide support with data analysis and interpretation
• give details about how the facility will be positioned on the national and international research landscape, and how it would engage with the rest of the research community
• provide a clear communication and engagement strategy with sufficient detail for assessors to understand how:
  • information about the available capabilities and access to the service will be disseminated and publicised using the website, user meetings, outreach events and other dissemination materials
  • you will reach new user communities
• provide the following information about growing and diversifying the user base to:
  • explain how the facility would assess the current and future size of the user base
  • detail the growth you expect to achieve in the user base and how you will achieve it
• provide equipment, maintenance and servicing information including:
  • a table detailing the equipment you are providing with a lifecycle analysis of existing instrumentation
  • information about planned renewals, new developments, or extensions of experimental infrastructure including any details of agreements with the appropriate equipment manufacturer
  • new equipment required to deliver your vision (if applicable)
  • specifics about the maintenance and enhancements to existing equipment including related storage, preparatory and ancillary equipment
  • estimates of down-time and up-time in planned service routines
• describe the formal procedure for accepting and prioritising applications from those wanting to use the facilities, with details of the eligibility and quality assessment of the applications for all access routes
• describe the user journey for novice uses, experienced users, and expert users
• provide details of any options for a percentage of the facility to be open to researchers in areas beyond EPSRC’s remit, for example interdisciplinary researchers and business customers
• give details and justification for expected facility usage with reference to your cost effectiveness strategy where applicable for:
  • the expected proportion of facility use by user type for:
    • novice, experienced, and expert
    • those from your organisation and those outside it
    • industrial users
    • those from application areas, for example EPSRC or other UKRI council remit
  • the expected balance of the type of experiments and the type of access
  • the overall facility and for each component organisation, if your facility will be a multi-site facility
• detail and justify with reference to your cost effectiveness strategy where applicable:
  • the range of time durations for experiments on specific instruments, including:
    • a target for percentage utilisation in working hours and 24/7 use, as appropriate
    • time required for instrument maintenance and calibration
  • a target for time, from request for access to carrying out an experiment
  • the capacity allocated to the national research facility (NRF)
  • the capacity of the whole facility
• detail a charging model for proprietary research and confirm that any income received should be invested into the facility
• describe models for user access to the facility including how travel and subsistence costs will be managed
• describe a vision for the long term future sustainability of the service including how continuous provision would be achieved if future funding were not available
• present a data management policy that is compliant with the UKRI open data policy and extends beyond the duration of the grant
• provide a plan to describe how you will record and manage data on users and review this to inform your communications plan and is compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation
• provide detail of the systems and procedures that will ensure data protection during collection, storage, and processing including appropriate data security measures for proprietary projects and clear procedures to manage intellectual property

People and management

You should use this section to:

• detail how you will meet the people and management arrangements
• detail how you will provide the key requirements for technical, scientific and training support for users
• provide an organogram of the proposed organisational structure for the facility showing lines of authority, responsibility of key posts, and details of any identified deputies
• justification for the number and allocation of staff
• outline the recruitment policy and procedures
• provide plans for staff development and training
• provide information about how changes in key service staff will be handled, for example, continuity plans, short term cover and contingency plans for unexpected loss of key staff
• provide details of the risk management strategy which you will have in place
• provide details of your proposed user training provision, including the expertise and experience of those involved in training different user groups. You should take into account the needs of different user groups such as:
  • new and experienced users
  • postgraduate or doctoral researchers
  • academic researchers
  • industrial users
• describe how the service will engage with future generations of researchers, including the Centres for Doctoral Training, and other relevant and complementary research facilities
• identify the processes in place for complaints and monitoring of user satisfaction, provide details of the proposed feedback processes and how feedback will be used to implement improvements and future facility developments

Governance Plan

You should use this section to:

• provide a clear governance structure for the facility
• provide details of this structure, which should include an independent steering or advisory committee, composed of independent or external representatives from relevant communities to review and advise on provision, performance, and strategy for the service
• provide a clear transition plan to cover the period between the end date of the current UK national X-ray material science national research facility (NRF), and the transition to a new facilities provider enabling a smooth transition and continuity of service (if applicable)
• identify a comprehensive set of key performance indicators (KPIs) that the service will aspire to meet

Justification of resources

This is a mandatory document, with a longer format of up to 4 pages.

The justification of resources should explain the necessity of your requested resources for service provision, including implementing the communication and engagement activities. This helps reviewers make informed judgements about whether the resources requested are appropriate and justified.

EPSRC recommends that you follow the ‘cost to the proposal’ headings used in the application form.

For more information on what to do, see how to write a justification of resources. You are expected to have considered cost savings where possible to bring down the total costs. You may wish to provide cost recovery options which could request different amounts of funding from EPSRC, up to £7 million in total. More space in the justification of resources can be provided to accommodate these alternative options.

Work plan

This is a mandatory 1 page document.

The work plan should be illustrated with a simple diagrammatic work plan, such as a programme evaluation and review technique or Gantt chart.

Grant payment profile

This is a mandatory 1 page document. You should submit the grant payment profile using attachment type ‘Other Attachment’ in Je-S.

You must provide a grant payment profile that details your planned expenditure against each recurrent or resource and capital cost heading over the lifetime of the five year grant.

The panel will favour realistic plans to maximise the cost effectiveness of the facility.

The final payment profiles and percentages awarded are subject to negotiation with EPSRC.

CVs

CV should be included where appropriate. Each CV can be up to 2 pages long.

CVs are required for key named personnel, for example:

• director
• co-director (if applicable)
• technical director (if applicable)
• facility or service manager (if applicable)

You should submit CVs as separate attachments using attachment type ‘CV’ in Je-S.

Equipment business case

This is only required if your application includes items or combined assets with a value above the Official Journal of the European Union limit.

Proposal cover letter

Including a cover letter is optional.

You can use the proposal cover letter to set out any other information you feel is relevant to your application. You are applying for a grant which has an interview assessment stage, so you should use this letter to inform EPSRC of any personal circumstances for EPSRC to consider.

This letter will only be seen by EPSRC and will not be sent to peer review. For sensitive information, the applicant should state clearly whether the information is confidential.

The proposal cover letter should also be used to highlight anything that has been discussed and agreed with EPSRC staff beforehand, for example:

• a declaration of interest
• additional information about eligibility to apply that would not be appropriately shared in the track record
• conflicts of interest for EPSRC to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection

Other documents

If you wish to attach any other document that does not fit any of these types, please submit it under ‘other attachment’. This will not be seen by reviewers or panel members. You should attach your documents as PDFs to avoid errors.

On submission to EPSRC, all non PDF documents uploaded onto Je-S are converted to PDF. The use of non standard fonts may result in errors or font conversion, which could affect the overall length of the document.

Ethical information

EPSRC will not fund a project if it believes that there are ethical concerns that have been overlooked or not appropriately accounted for. All relevant parts of the ‘ethical information’ section must be completed.

Guidance on completing ethical information on the Je-S form

How we will assess your application

Assessment process

This opportunity will go through a one stage assessment process. There will be no postal peer review stage for proposals submitted to this call. An expert panel will assess all proposals submitted to this call.

The expert panel may comprise a membership of academics, industrial representatives and international expertise.

You will be provided with comments from the expert panel providing you with a right to reply. The right to reply will be included in the panel documentation.

Following this, an expert panel will interview applicants. You will then be scored against assessment criteria, using the:

• proposal
• principal investigator response
• responses at interview

The interview panel will make the final recommendations to the EPSRC theme lead. EPSRC will aim to inform applicants on the decision outcome within eight weeks of the interview panel.

Assessment criteria

You should note that the assessment criteria differ slightly to the standard EPSRC criteria due to the nature of the programmes of work to be funded.

We also wish to highlight that due to the increased importance of appropriate management and governance procedures for a national research facility, the secondary major criterion is resources and management not national importance.

Standard criteria

Quality (primary)

Assessors will be asked to comment on the excellence of the application making reference to:

• the ambition, long term vision, and transformative aspects identified
• the appropriateness of the proposed approach or approaches and fit to the key facility requirements and operational requirements sections
• the quality of the science enabled
• engaging and adapting to the needs of a diverse user community

Resources and management (secondary major)

Assessors will be asked to comment on:

• the effectiveness of the proposed planning, management and governance and the fit to the people and management arrangements section
• whether the requested resources are appropriate and have been fully justified, and plans for a cost effective facility are maximised and realistic
• an unsatisfactory governance (including key performance indicators) plan will result in a delayed start for a successful proposal until the plan has been updated
• any resources requested for activities to either increase impact, for public engagement or to support responsible innovation

National importance (secondary)

Drawing upon what you have said, assessors will be asked to comment on:

• how the proposed facility contributes to, or helps maintain the health of other research disciplines, contributes to addressing key UK societal challenges, contributes to current or future UK economic success or enables future development of key emerging industries
• the extent to which the facility proposed has the potential to meet national strategic needs by establishing or maintaining unique world leading research activity (including areas of niche capability)
• how the facility fits with and complements other UK research funded in the area or related areas, including any relationship to the EPSRC portfolio and our stated strategy

Applicant and partnerships (secondary)

Assessors will be asked to comment on the:

• appropriateness of the track record of the applicants to deliver the facility
• balance of skills of the project team, including collaborations

Funding opportunity specific criteria

Advocacy for engineering and the physical sciences (secondary)

Your proposal must demonstrate how the group will be advocates for engineering and physical sciences. You should specifically address how they will influence its policymakers on the importance of engineering and physical sciences.

Advocacy through public engagement activities can also be considered, as long as these activities are directly related to the programme of research applied for. This criterion will be solely assessed at the interview stage.

Guidance for reviewers

For more information about the EPSRC peer review process, read our guidance for reviewers.

A standard reviewer form will be used for this funding opportunity, however reviewers should note the nature of a NRF when considering quality.

As such, reviewers are requested to comment on the quality of the potential research enabled by having such a facility in the UK. Within the quality field, reviewers should comment on how the proposed facility meets the key requirements of the facility including technical, operational and management aspects.

Read our guidance for reviewing standard grants.

Contact details

Get help with developing your proposal

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.

Ask about this funding opportunity

Kay Yeung, Senior Portfolio Manager, Research Infrastructure

Email: kay.yeung@epsrc.ukri.org

Leila Behrooz, Senior Portfolio Manager, Physical Sciences

Email: leila.behrooz@epsrc.ukri.org

Get help with applying through Je-S

Email

jeshelp@je-s.ukri.org

Telephone

01793 444164

Opening times

Je-S helpdesk opening times.

Additional info

Background

EPSRC NRFs are defined as research facilities that provide resources that are of limited availability to UK researchers. The facility can be based outside of the UK for national use.

The NRFs are beneficial because:

• of the high cost of the equipment and the supporting infrastructure required
• dedicated equipment and supporting infrastructure is not required in every university
• they provide the particular expertise needed to operate the equipment or interpret the results
• progress is enhanced by sharing information or software

This grant will be funded under the NRF scheme and forms part of a portfolio of facilities. In line with the purpose of EPSRC’s national importance criteria, investigators and researchers associated with this grant are expected to promote the aims of the associated research programme and be advocates for EPSRC.

Grant additional conditions (GACs)

Grants are awarded under the standard UKRI grant terms and conditions. The following additional grant conditions will also apply.

GAC 1: purpose of grant funding

This grant has been funded under the NRF scheme and forms part of a portfolio of facilities. In line with the purpose of our national importance criteria, investigators and researchers associated with this grant are expected to promote the aims of the associated research programme and be advocates for us.

GAC 2: monitoring

We will nominate a member or members of UKRI staff (the project officers) who will be your primary point of contact with us. The project officers will ensure that the project is being run in accordance with the terms and conditions and in line with financial due diligence.

The project officers should have access to all documentation of governance and reporting bodies, in so far as it relates to the administration and application of the grant. As funding administrators, all UKRI staff have agreed to maintain the confidentiality required by all parties involved in research council funded research.

GAC 3: research governance

This grant must establish and run an independent advisory board, or equivalent body, to oversee the day to day running of the project and provide advice on the strategic direction and activities of the project.

The terms of reference of this group should be agreed with us and it should have at least 50% independent membership and an independent chair.

The project officers will also be expected to attend and participate in advisory board and other appropriate meetings for the duration of the grant.

GAC 4: accountability

You should establish an appropriate management structure, which must incorporate independent membership and clear lines of responsibility and authority. This should be in place within 6 months of the start date of the grant.

The terms of reference and membership of any committees established must be agreed in advance with us.

The project officers will be our main contact with the project and must receive all meeting minutes of the committees. We reserve the right to attend any meetings.

GAC 5: project review

You must agree to comply with requests for additional financial or non-financial information outside of the stated reporting cycle. Regular monitoring will be conducted through the project officer, who will act on behalf of UKRI.

In addition to the requirements set out in standard UKRI grant conditions RGC 7.5 Disclosure and Inspection, RGC 2.4 Reporting on the Conduct and Results of Research, EPSRC and UKRI reserve the right to instigate a review of all or part of the grant at any stage during the lifetime of the award as well as after the grant has finished.

A mid term (year 3) review of this grant will take place to assess the performance of the grant in line with the peer reviewed body of work, published scheme assessment criteria and key performance indicators.

We will give you due notice of the date of any review and will provide details of the terms of reference and documentation required. Any review will be conducted by an expert panel, which will make recommendations to us for the grant’s future.

GAC 6: progress reports

In addition to the requirements set out in the standard UKRI grant condition RGC 7.4 Research Monitoring and Evaluation, you are responsible for providing 6 month progress reports against non-financial performance metrics.

A detailed list of performance metrics and instructions for reporting will be agreed with you upon commencement of the grant.

GAC 7: sanctions

In accordance with RGC 11 Sanctions, we reserve the right to suspend the grant and withhold further payments if the performance output metrics requested are not provided by the stated deadlines or determined to be of an unacceptable standard by our project officers.

You will be formally notified in writing if a suspension occurs. Any costs incurred during this period, irrespective of source, will be incurred at risk with our subsequent payments being withheld should any discrepancies remain unresolved.

GAC 8: grant expenditure

At the start of the grant the financial spend profile will be agreed by UKRI.

In addition to any reporting requirements set out in GAC 5 you must immediately notify our project officers of any accumulation, slippage or variation in expenditure greater than 5% of the annual profiled funding. We reserve the right to re-profile the grant if required.

Any deviation from the agreed allocation of funding and profiled costs must be negotiated and approved through written consent by us, acting on behalf of UKRI. The approval of profile changes should not be assumed and will be dependent on spend across all associated grants.

Supporting documents

Equality impact assessment (PDF, 211KB)