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. We will publish full details on how to apply when the funding opportunity opens.
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.
To apply
Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page.
- Confirm you are the project lead.
- 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.
- 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.
- Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.
- Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.
- Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI.
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:
If this is the first time that your organisation has applied to UKRI, or you are unsure whether it is, then you will need to contact the Funding Service helpdesk support@funding-service.ukri.org who will require your organisation name, city and country. Please note that you should allow 10 working days for this to be actioned.
If your organisation has applied previously via Je-S but not on the Funding Service then you will also need to contact the Funding Service helpdesk. This will ensure that it is added to the list of research organisations (ROs) for selection when setting up an applicant account.
You must not include links to web resources to extend your application.
Deadline
STFC must receive your application by 27th June 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
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.
Publication of outcomes
STFC, 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: 400
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 project addresses
- 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)
- specialist
- grant manager
- professional enabling staff
- research and innovation associate
- technician
- visiting researcher
Only list one individual as project lead.
Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications.
Application questions
Vision
Word limit: 500
What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Explain how your proposed work:
- is of high quality and importance
- is timely given current trends, context, and needs
We expect you to demonstrate:
- a clearly defined rationale for the proposed programme and evidence to support this, including how this links to the aims of the STFC Public Engagement Strategy
- a programme of high-quality public engagement
- that the programme inspires and involves target audiences with stories of STFC science, people, technology or facilities
- that the engagement activities clearly focus on the STFC science programme remit or align with the work of the STFC national and international laboratories and facilities
Approach
Word limit: 750
How are you going to deliver your proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Explain how you have designed your approach so that it:
- clearly describes the different engagement, networking, or capacity building activities planned as part of the project
- clearly identifies target audiences and the appropriateness of the methodology proposed to reach and retain these groups
- provides evidence of audience demand
- demonstrates and builds upon learning from previous activities and wider sector good practice
Applicants are expected to upload a single PDF document to provide evidence of audience demand, if applicable. 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.
Applicant and team capability to deliver
Word limit: 750
Why are you the right individual or team to successfully deliver the proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Evidence of how you, and if relevant your team, have:
- the relevant experience to deliver the proposed work
- the right balance of skills and expertise to cover the proposed work
- the appropriate leadership and management skills to deliver the work and your approach to develop others
Complete this 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.
Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)
Word limit: 250
What are the ethical or RRI implications and issues relating to the proposed work? If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical or RRI issues, explain why.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated:
- the relevant ethical or responsible research and innovation considerations
- how you will manage these considerations
If you are collecting or using data you should identify:
- any legal and ethical considerations of collecting, releasing or storing the data including consent, confidentiality, anonymisation, security and other ethical considerations and, in particular, strategies taken to not preclude further reuse of data
- formal information standards with which study will be compliant
Resources and cost justification
Word limit: 600
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 requested resources including:
- project staff
- travel and subsistence
- any consumables beyond typical requirements, or that are required in exceptional quantities
- all resources that have been costed as ‘Exceptions’ – applicants from non-TRAC organisations must apply for all requested costs under the Exceptions heading
- evidence of the matched funding arrangements that will be in place, either from your host organisation or projects partners
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
Any costs eligible to be funded at 100% FEC should be listed under the ‘Exceptions’ heading to ensure that they are funded at the appropriate level.
Evaluation plan
Word limit: 600
How will the outputs, outcomes and impacts of the project be captured, evaluated and shared?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
You will need to supply clear evidence of the following:
- evidence of learning from the original funded project evaluation
- a detailed evaluation plan including methodology
- how the evaluation is linked to the STFC PE evaluation framework
- how learning from the proposed activity will be captured and shared
Dissemination plan
Word limit: 400
How will you publicise the resources, outcomes and outputs of the project?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
You will need to supply clear evidence of the following:
- planning for dissemination of the resources, outcomes, outputs, and so on, to relevant audiences
- how wider audiences could benefit through activities such as sharing good practice or sharing learning
Target audience
Word limit: 100
We expect that projects will focus primarily on audiences based in the UK.
Please show the total number estimated number of people who will be reached within each audience group shown below and express this as a percentage (which must total 100%):
- primary school children
- secondary school children (up to 16 years old)
- 16-19 year-olds
- teachers
- general public
- families
- other
If you are targeting a specific subset of the general public not mentioned above, please use the entry for ‘general public’ and specify here (for example gender specific or SEN audiences).
Wonder Initiative
Word limit: 300
If appropriate, how will your project engage with the Wonder Initiative audience and what is the anticipated impact?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Please provide details of the following:
- evidence of demand
- evidence of how the audience would be reached
- the appropriateness of the activities to the audience
- the potential impact on the audience
The Wonder Initiative aims to connect people from all backgrounds with our science and technology. Wonder is about giving under-served communities an equal voice by listening, understanding and responding to what people want to know about science and technology.
The Wonder Initiative focuses on working with participants from the 40% most socio-economically deprived areas of the UK, in particular eight to 14-year-olds and their families and carers.
STFC programme area
Word limit: 50
Which of the STFC programme areas are relevant to your project?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Please show the percentage of relevant programme areas and approximate percentages (which must total 100%):
- astronomy, solar and planetary science
- particle physics
- particle astrophysics
- nuclear physics
- accelerator science
- computational science
- STFC facilities
- Other
Your organisation’s support
Word limit: 250
Provide details of support from your organisation.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Provide a Statement of Support from your organisation detailing why the proposed work is needed. This should include details of any matched funding that will be provided to support the activity and any additional support that might add value to the work.
The assessors will be looking for a strong statement of commitment from your organisation.
Upload details are provided within the Funding Service on the actual application.
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 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:
- the organisation name and address (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 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, no bigger than 5Mb 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.
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. Each letter or email you provide should:
- confirm the partner’s commitment to the project
- clearly explain the value, relevance, and possible benefits of the work to them
- describe any additional value that they bring to the project
- the page limit is 1 side A4 per partner
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.
For the file name, use the unique Funding Service number the system gives you when you create an application, followed by the words ‘Project partner’.
If the attachment does not meet these requirements, the application will be rejected.
Do not provide letters of support from host and project co-leads’ research organisations.
