We are running this funding opportunity on the new 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.
If the lead research organisation is an NHS organisation, check it is available in the Funding Service. You are encouraged to check this early as there may be additional steps for the organisation to be set up before you can apply.
To apply
You can only apply for this funding opportunity if we have invited you to do so following a successful stage one application. The start application link will be provided via email.
- 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. If using visual elements, you must:
- 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:
Deadline
We must receive your application by 17 April 2024 at 4:00pm UK time.
You will not be able to apply after this time.
Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.
Following the submission of your application to the funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and applications will not be returned for amendment. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.
Personal data
Processing personal data
MRC, as part of UKRI, will need to collect some personal information to manage your Funding Service account and the registration of your funding applications. MRC will need to share the application and any personal information that it contains with NIHR so that they can participate in the assessment process. For more information on how NIHR uses personal information, see the NIHR privacy policy.
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
If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research.
Summary
Word limit: 550
In plain English, provide a summary we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.
We may make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, so 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)
- project co-lead (international) (PcL (I))
- researcher co-lead (RcL)
- 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 new grant roles.
Application questions
Vision
Word limit: 1,500
What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Explain how your proposed work:
- meets and prioritises one of the outlined challenge areas that is critical to achieving net zero
- is of excellent quality and importance within or beyond the fields or areas
- has the potential to advance current understanding and generate new knowledge, thinking or discovery within or beyond the field or area
- is timely given current trends, context, and needs
- impacts world-leading research, society, the economy, or the environment
Within the ‘Vision’ section we also expect you to:
- identify the potential direct or indirect benefits and who the beneficiaries might be
- identify potential improvements in human or population health and reducing health inequalities as a co-benefit of the UK transition to net zero
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.
Approach
Word limit: 5,500
How are you going to deliver your proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Explain how you have designed your work so that it:
- brings together the right disciplines and stakeholders to respond to your proposed challenge(s) with the hub undertaking transdisciplinary research with evidence of user engagement and co-design
- is feasible, and comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how they will be managed
- provides a description and rationale of the study designs and methods for analysis
- highlight any innovation in methods or highlight their intention to develop new methods and make clear the likely wider applicability of what is developed
- if applicable, summarises the previous work and describes how this will be built upon and progressed and not duplicated. This includes making use of existing data where relevant and justifies the collection of any new data in line with the challenge area
- will maximise translation of outputs into outcomes and impacts, including policy-relevant evidence
- describes how your, and if applicable your team’s, research environment (in terms of the place, and relevance to the project) will contribute to the success of the work
Within the ‘Approach’ section we also expect you to:
- demonstrate access to the appropriate services, facilities, infrastructure, or equipment to deliver the project
- demonstrate that environmental sustainability has been considered
- provide a project plan including milestones and timelines, in the form of an embedded Gantt chart or similar
- explain and justify how you will approach diversity and inclusion in the study population and follow the MRC embedding diversity in research design policy (if applicable)
- show how you will use both sexes in research involving animals and tissues and cells (if applicable). If you are not proposing to do this justify why
- evaluate the potential health impacts from existing climate change adaptations and mitigations with a view to improving them and realise any potential benefit to human health including reducing health disparities
- develop and evaluate new adaptations and mitigations to support the UK to reach net zero that protect and promote the health of the UK population. Attention will be paid to the distribution of health impacts across different socio-economic groups
- develop a standardised way to measure the trade-offs and unintended consequences as part of net zero measures, to optimise interventions and understand the most effective interventions to implement
- understand how impacts and interventions might vary in the home, workplace or in a variety of healthcare settings where applicable
You have the option to use 500 words to provide additional information about reproducibility and how you will ensure reliability and robustness of your work, such as further details of statistical analyses, methodology and experimental design. If this information is not applicable, then you should not use this space to expand on other areas of your approach and your response to this section should be around 5,000 words.
The reproducibility information should be clearly identified using the heading ‘Reproducibility and statistical design’. We expect you to seek professional statistical or other relevant advice in preparing your response, which may include:
- experimental approach to address objectives
- sample and effect sizes
- planned statistical analyses
- models chosen (for example animal model, cell line)
Refer to the MRC guidance for applicants, section 2.2.3.5 ‘Reproducibility and statistical design’, or further information, examples and online tools.
If your proposed work involves animals, and you provide information on animal sample sizes and statistical analyses in the ‘Vision and approach’ document, you should not duplicate it in the ‘Research involving the use of animals’ section. Use the ‘Research involving the use of animals’ section to provide information on the rationale for using animals, choice of species, welfare and procedure severity.
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.
Governance
Word limit: 1,000
How will you manage the hub to successfully deliver its objectives?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Explain how the proposed hub will be managed, demonstrating that your hub:
- will be effectively governed, including details about advisory groups
- will be effectively and inclusively managed, demonstrated by a clear management plan
- has clear leadership team roles and responsibilities
- will manage and encourage partnerships with non-higher education institution organisations across government, industry and civil society
- has plans for monitoring your progress as well as self-evaluation throughout the lifetime of your award
- has considered how it may form lasting impact beyond the lifetime of the award
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.
Applicant and team capability to deliver
Word limit: 3,000
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 (appropriate to career stage) 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
- contributed to developing a positive research environment and wider community
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.
The word count for this section is 3,000 words: 2,500 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 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. 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:
- contributions to the generation of new ideas, tools, methodologies, or knowledge
- the development of others and maintenance of effective working relationships
- contributions to the wider research and innovation community
- contributions to broader research or innovation users and audiences and towards wider societal benefit
Additions
Provide any further details relevant to your application. This section is optional and can be up to 500 words. You should not use it to describe additional skills, experiences, or outputs, but you can use it to describe any factors that provide context for the rest of your R4RI (for example, details of career breaks if you wish to disclose them).
Complete this as a narrative. Do not format it like a CV.
UKRI has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the new Funding Service.
The applicant research team can be amended from the expression of interest stage.
For full details, see Eligibility as an individual.
References
Word limit: 1,000
List the references you have used to support your application.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Include all references in this section, not in the rest of the application questions.
You should not include any other information in this section.
We advise you not to include hyperlinks, as assessors are not obliged to access the information they lead to or consider it in their assessment of your application.
If linking to web resources, to maintain the information’s integrity, include persistent identifiers (such as digital object identifiers) where possible.
You must not include links to web resources to extend your application.
Your organisation’s support
Word limit: 1,000
Provide details of support from your research organisation
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Provide a statement of support, from your research 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.
You must also include the following details:
- a significant person’s name and their position, such as a Head of Department or School
- office address or web link
Project partners
Add details about any project partners’ contributions.
If there are no project partners, you can indicate this on the Funding Service.
A project partner is a collaborating third party organisation who will have an integral role in the proposed research. This may include direct (cash) or indirect (in-kind) contributions such as expertise, staff time or use of facilities.
Important note: If your application includes industry project partners, you will also need to complete the Industry Collaboration Framework (ICF) section. Find out more about ICF.
You must ensure that any third party individual or organisation you include within the Funding Service as a project partner, also provides you with a supporting email or letter of support (see next section ‘Project partners: letters or emails of support’).
The individual (including their organisation) named as the project partner contact, cannot also be included within your application as an applicant, such as project lead or any other core team role.
You cannot include a different department based within the same organisation as a member of your core team, as a project partner.
Add the following project partner details:
- the organisation name (searchable via a drop-down list or enter the organisation’s details manually, as applicable)
- the project partner contact name and email address
- the type of contribution (direct or in-direct) and its monetary value
If there are specific circumstances where project partners do require funding for minor costs such as travel and subsistence, these project partner costs should be claimed and justified within the resources and costs section of your application.
For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.
If an individual or organisation outside the core team is responsible for recruitment of people as research participants or providing human tissue for this project, list them as a project partner.
Important information when completing the project partners section within the Funding Service
When completing your application in the Funding Service, if you discover that you have entered project partner information incorrectly and you have saved the entry, you should remove the specific project partner record and re-add it with the correct information.
Project partners: letters or emails of support
Word limit: 10
Upload a single PDF containing the letters or emails of support from each partner you named in the Project Partner section.
If you do not have any project partners, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
What supporting statements we are looking for
Important note: MRC is only looking for you to provide letters or emails of support from the following:
- a third party individual
- a third party organisation
You must ensure that any third party project partners providing a supporting document, are also added to the ‘project partners’ section within the Funding Service.
For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.
What supporting statements we are not looking for
MRC is not looking for you to provide any supporting emails or letters related to any individual or organisation already included within your application (this includes other departments within the same organisation). Any individual or organisation included in your application with a core team role cannot be a project partner.
Check the opportunity specific roles available in the core team section for the definitive list.
Do not include any additional documents, email communications or any other type of information we have not requested, including supporting statements (letters or emails), simply expressing supportive opinions (we only expect to see emails or letters of support from third party project partners uploaded to this section).
If you include any information not requested by MRC your application will be rejected.
Supporting document guidance for third party project partners
Each third party supporting letter or email you provide, should:
- be no more than two A4 pages
- confirm the partner’s commitment to the project
- clearly explain the value, relevance, and possible benefits of the work to them
- describe any additional value that they bring to the project
- include the name of the project partner organisation and contact information (this should match the partner contact and organisation name details you must add to the separate ‘Project partners’ application section)
Project partners letters and emails of support are not required to be on headed paper or include handwritten signatures (electronic signatures are acceptable from the nominated partner contact).
Project partner responsibility for the recruitment of people
If the project partner is responsible for the recruitment of people as research participants or providing human tissue their email or letter of support should include:
- agreement that the project partner will recruit the participants or provide tissue
- confirmation that what is being supplied is suitable for the proposed work
- confirmation that the quantity of tissue being supplied is suitable, but not excessive for achieving meaningful results (if applicable)
Multiple project partners
If you have multiple project partners, you should:
- ensure each separate email or letter of support, does not exceed two pages of A4
- consolidate all the supporting documents provided by each project partner into a single PDF file before uploading
- ensure the PDF does not exceed the maximum file size of 8MB
For the file name, use the unique Funding Service number the system gives you when you create an application, followed by the words ‘Project partner’.
The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.
Industry Collaboration Framework (ICF)
Word count: 1,500
Does your application include industry project partners?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If industry collaboration does not apply to any of your project partners, or you do not have any project partners, simply add ‘N/A’ into the text box.
If your research project involves collaboration between an academic organisation and an industry or company you are likely to need to follow the industry collaboration framework and answer this question, check using the ICF decision tree.
By ‘industry or company’ we mean an enterprise that puts goods or services on a market and whose commercial activities are greater than 20% of their overall annual capacity.
The assessors are looking for information relating to the nature, goals and conditions of the collaboration and any restrictions or rights to the project results that could be claimed by the project partner.
Find out more about ICF, including:
- collaboration agreements
- definitions of basic or applied research
- internationally based companies
- subsidy control
- Intellectual property (IP) arrangements
- fully flexible and gated contributions
- the ICF assessment criteria
In addition to the project partner information completed in the previous section, confirm your answers to the ICF questions in the text box, repeat this process for each ICF project partner:
- Name the industry or company project partner considered under ICF.
- Indicate whether your application is either basic research or applied research.
- Explain why, in the absence of the requested UKRI funding, the collaboration and the planned research could not be undertaken.
- State whether your application is under the category of either fully flexible contribution or gated contribution (based on the IP sharing arrangements with the ICF partner).
- Outline the pre-existing IP (‘background IP’) that each project partner (including the academic partner) will bring to the collaborative research project and the terms under which project partners may access these assets.
- Outline the IP that is expected to be developed during the collaborative research project (‘foreground IP’) and briefly outline how it will be managed, including:
- which project partners will own this IP
- what rights project partners will have to use academically-generated foreground IP during and after the research project, for internal research and development or for commercial purposes
- any rights of the academic partner to commercialise the foreground IP (including foreground IP generated by project partners).
- Outline any restrictions to dissemination of the project results, including the rights of the project partner to:
- review, approve or delay publications (including the time period associated with such rights)
- request or require the removal of any information.
- Declare any conflicts of interest held by the applicants in relation to the project partners and describe how they will be managed.
- If applicable, justify collaborating with an overseas industry or company under ICF.
Failure to provide the information requested for industry partners under ICF could result in your application being rejected.
You are recommended to discuss the goals and conditions of any collaboration with an industry or company project partner with your university technology transfer or contracts office before applying.
Facilities
Word limit: 250
Does your proposed research require the support and use of a facility?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
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:
- name of facility, copied and pasted from the facility information list (DOCX, 35KB)
- proposed usage or costs, or costs per unit where indicated on the facility information list
- confirmation you have their agreement where required
If you will not need to use a facility, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Data management and sharing
Word count: 1,500
How will you manage and share data collected or acquired through the proposed research?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Provide a data management plan which should clearly detail how you will comply with MRC’s published data management and sharing policies, which includes detailed guidance notes.
Provide your response following the MRC data management plan template.
The length of your plan will vary depending on the type of study being undertaken:
- population cohorts; longitudinal studies; genetic, omics and imaging data; biobanks, and other collections that are potentially a rich resource for the wider research community: maximum of 1,500 words
- all other research, less complex, the plan may be as short as 500 words
Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)
Word limit: 500
What are the ethical or RRI implications and issues relating to the proposed work? If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical or RRI issues, explain why.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated:
- the relevant ethical or responsible research and innovation considerations
- how you will manage these considerations
Consider the MRC guidance on ethics and approvals.
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.
Genetic and biological risk
Word limit: 700
Does your proposed research involve any genetic or biological risk?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
In respect of animals, plants or microbes, are you proposing to:
- use genetic modification as an experimental tool, like studying gene function in a genetically modified organism
- release genetically modified organisms
- ultimately develop commercial and industrial genetically modified outcomes
If yes, provide the name of any required approving body and state if approval is already in place. If it is not, provide an indicative timeframe for obtaining the required approval.
Identify the organism or organisms as a plant, animal or microbe and specify the species and which of the three categories the research relates to.
Identify the genetic and biological risks resulting from the proposed research, their implications, and any mitigation you plan on taking. Assessors will want to know you have considered the risks and their implications to justify that any identified risks do not outweigh any benefits of the proposed research.
If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Research involving the use of animals
Word limit: 10
Does your proposed research involve the use of vertebrate animals or other organisms covered by the Animals Scientific Procedures Act?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If you are proposing research that requires using animals, download and complete the Animals Scientific Procedures Act template (DOCX, 74KB), which contains all the questions relating to research using vertebrate animals or other Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 regulated organisms.
Save it as a PDF. The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply. If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Conducting research with animals overseas
Word limit: 700
Will any of the proposed animal research be conducted overseas?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If you are proposing to conduct overseas research, it must be conducted in accordance with welfare standards consistent with those in the UK, as in Responsibility in the use of animals in bioscience research, page 14. Ensure all named applicants in the UK and overseas are aware of this requirement.
If your application proposes animal research to be conducted overseas, you must provide a statement in the text box. Depending on the species involved, you may also need to upload a completed template for each species listed.
Statement
Provide a statement to confirm that:
- all named applicants are aware of the requirements and have agreed to abide by them
- this overseas research will be conducted in accordance with welfare standards consistent with the principles of UK legislation
- the expectation set out in ‘Responsibility in the use of animals in bioscience research’ will be applied and maintained
- appropriate national and institutional approvals are in place
Template(s)
Overseas studies proposing to use non-human primates, cats, dogs, equines or pigs will be assessed during NC3Rs review of research applications. Provide the required information by completing the template from the question ‘Research involving the use of animals’.
For studies involving other species, select, download, and complete the relevant Word checklist or checklists from this list:
Save your completed template as a PDF and upload to the Funding Service. If you use more than one checklist template, save it as a single PDF.
The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.
If conducting research with animals overseas does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Research involving human participation
Word limit: 700
Will the project involve the use of human subjects or their personal information?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If you are proposing research that requires the involvement of human subjects, provide the name of any required approving body and whether approval is already in place.
Justify the number and the diversity of the participants involved, as well as any procedures.
Provide details of any areas of substantial or moderate severity of impact.
If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Research involving human tissues or biological samples
Word limit: 700
Does your proposed research involve the use of human tissues, or biological samples?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If you are proposing work that involves human tissues or biological samples, provide the name of any required approving body and whether approval is already in place.
Justify the use of human tissue or biological samples specifying the nature and quantity of the material to be used and its source.
If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Resources and cost justification
Word limit: 1,500
What will you need to deliver your proposed work and how much will it cost?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Justify the application’s more costly resources, in particular:
- project staff
- significant travel for field work or collaboration (but not regular travel between collaborating organisations or to conferences)
- any equipment that will cost more than £10,000
- any consumables beyond typical requirements, or that are required in exceptional quantities
- all facilities and infrastructure costs
- all resources that have been costed as ‘Exceptions’
- support for:
- public involvement and engagement
- preserving, long-term storage, or sharing of data
- international co-leads and public and third sector co-leads demonstrating this is within the 30% combined costs cap. This cap can only be exceed for costs related to international co-leads from DAC countries excluding India and China
- NHS research costs, when they are associated with NHS studies
- animal costs, such as numbers that need to be bred or maintained and to maintain high welfare standards
- any work to be outsourced
- evidence that environmental sustainability has been considered and reflected in your proposed resource and justified appropriately
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
Clinical research using NHS resources
Word limit: 250
Will your research involve participants from the NHS or Health and Social Care duty of care?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If not, enter ‘N/A’ into the text box.
Researchers applying for clinical research in the NHS, public health or social care need to complete a Schedule of Events Cost Attribution Tool (SoECAT) to be eligible for the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network (CRN) portfolio. This is the route through which support and excess treatment costs are provided in England.
You must answer ‘Yes’ and complete and upload a SoECAT if you are applying for clinical research funding, and:
- you will carry out your research in the UK
- it is intended for the NIHR CRN portfolio; this may include studies in a social care or public health setting
- the research requires approval by Health Research Authority (England) or its equivalents in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales
- your research will use NHS resources
You must complete a SoECAT even if you do not think your clinical research will involve excess treatment costs (ETCs).
See MRC guidance 3.5.1 on who needs to complete a SoECAT.
If you are applying for clinical research in the NHS, public health or social care and do not think you need to complete a SoECAT, answer ‘Yes’ and explain why a SoECAT is not necessary.
We want to know that you have taken the appropriate steps for the full costs of your research to be attributed, calculated and paid.
We want to see the expected total resources required for your project, such as ETCs, to consider if these are appropriate.
How to complete a SoECAT
SoECAT guidance can be found on the NIHR website.
These are the steps you need to take:
- Contact an Attributing the costs of health and social care Research and Development (AcoRD) specialist as early as possible in the application process.
- Complete an online SoECAT. Excel versions of the form have been discontinued. If you do not have an account for NIHR’s Central Portfolio Management System (CPMS) you will need create and activate one. See the user guide for instructions.
- Request authorisation of your SoECAT.
- Once authorised extract the ‘study information’ and ‘summary’ page from the ‘Funder Export’, combine them as a single PDF and upload it to your application.
Applications that require a SoECAT but have not attached the SoECAT funder export study information and summary may be rejected.
Contact netzerohealth@ukri.org if you have questions about the UKRI aspects of this process or have concerns that your SoECAT may not be authorised in time for the application deadline.
