Scope
We are commissioning a new infrastructure investment to support research skills development in the social sciences. This new investment will take the form of a strategic leadership hub and will involve leading change in the UK research sector to implement our new approach to supporting research skills development.
We seek to be relevant to social scientists working across academia, government, business, third sector and beyond. The hub will provide leadership across the social science community in these sectors, innovating the way in which research skills training and capacity building (TCB) is both conceived and delivered. It will create a connected community of research skills TCB providers that work collaboratively, and at scale, to simplify how researchers navigate the provision they need.
This investment will deliver part of our commitment to sustain a world-class, diverse and inclusive research base that supports talent across the entire research career and powers the best research across the breadth of our disciplines. Our new approach to supporting research skills TCB in the social sciences seeks to co-ordinate strategically our research skills TCB provision and innovate to enable effective learning and a culture of continuing skills development.
We expect this investment to be responsive to changes in our policy and strategy.
Our new approach has four core components:
- a focus on the breadth of research skills needed throughout the chronology of a typical research project, from research design to engagement with users of research and impact
- a federated structure of research skills TCB led by a new leadership hub
- enabling a culture of lifelong learning with targeted support for researchers at all career stages
- creation of a single, streamlined ‘shop window’ of TCB resources
Details of our ambition, new approach, and what we mean by ‘research skills’ (for example research methods, evidence synthesis, evaluation, policy engagement) can be found in the ‘Additional information’ section. You must read this before applying.
The new strategic leadership hub will:
- lead on the strategic development and delivery of research skills TCB opportunities, ensuring they reflect needs across career stages and remain relevant and future-proofed, through collaboration with TCB providers
- create the mechanisms, partnerships and networks to co-ordinate research skills TCB delivered by our existing and new investments (including specialist investments already funded to deliver a programme of TCB), and identify and address any gaps in TCB provision. This will need to include providers external to the hub.
- design and build an accessible and inclusive IT infrastructure to co-ordinate and make available TCB provision
- work with the social science community to understand needs, promote the importance of research skills development, and to improve provision, access and uptake
- phase activity to expand delivery and impact beyond the academic social science community to other disciplines and sectors
Our goals are ambitious and to effect real change this will need to be a long-term venture with a phased approach to delivering activity. We will initially fund the strategic leadership hub for five years (funding period one); the hub will then be invited to apply for a further five years of funding (funding period two), subject to positive stage gate reviews.
Further information can be found in the ‘Duration’ section below. You are expected to have a clear vision for the hub and be able to articulate how activity will be phased over the two funding periods to achieve its aims and objectives.
You are invited to submit a full application for the research skills strategic leadership hub through this funding opportunity. In addition to further developing your vision, you are expected to demonstrate the deliverability of your proposed approach.
Your application should clearly set out how you will achieve the aims and objectives of the hub and be specific about what success will look like. Our requirements are set out in this funding opportunity. Please read it carefully. Whilst much of the content will be familiar to you, some text has been updated following the expressions of interest stage.
Responsibilities and requirements of the new strategic leadership hub
The hub will have three key areas of responsibility:
- strategic development of research skills TCB opportunities
- strategic leadership, partnerships and collaboration
- innovation and culture change
The detailed requirements for each area are set out below:
Strategic development of research skills TCB opportunities
- identify research skills training and development needs across the social sciences and put in place mechanisms to prioritise and address gaps in TCB provision, including in relation to cutting edge approaches as well as established techniques
- promote a life course approach to researcher development, ensuring that targeted TCB opportunities are available for researchers at all career stages
- create an integrated and inclusive programme of TCB activities and resources, working with appropriate providers
- put in place a technical infrastructure to provide an accessible and inclusive user-driven portal that provides researchers with a single point of access to relevant TCB provision and resources, and maximises the user experience
- develop and implement a strategy to expand delivery and impact beyond the academic social science community to other disciplines and sectors
Strategic leadership, partnerships and collaboration
- engage with and promote collaboration between TCB providers by creating appropriate structures, networks, partnerships and fora to deliver research skills TCB effectively and efficiently. This should also enable providers to identify common challenges and develop opportunities to work together to add value for researchers
- co-ordinate and streamline existing TCB activities
- understand and engage with key stakeholders, including within academia, government, business and the third sector, to understand current and future TCB needs within the social sciences
Innovation and culture change
- think innovatively about pedagogical practice, drawing on the latest research and evidence of good practice. This philosophy will drive the hub’s approach.
- strongly promote the development of research skills capability throughout a researcher’s career by facilitating access to TCB provision
- actively encourage the removal of any barriers to social scientists developing their research skills at different career stages (which may be non-linear)
- champion the trialling of new mechanisms that encourage take up of TCB at different career stages, or that incentivise and reward researchers who contribute to TCB activities
- encourage the sharing good practice in this area from both within the UK and internationally
In developing its provision, the hub will need to respond to the skills needs across the breadth of the social science community, tailored for the community. Activities will support the uptake of cutting-edge approaches as well as established techniques.
Applications must set out how skills needs will be identified and addressed as well as indicate the volume and nature of new TCB activities that will be delivered by the hub and/or its partners in a typical year.
We are committed to knowledge exchange and encouraging collaboration between
researchers and the private, public and civil society sectors. These sectors employ social scientists and can offer valuable insights about current and future skills needs in the social sciences. Knowledge exchange and collaboration should not be treated as an ‘add-on’ at the end of a grant but considered before the start and embedded in activity.
Your application must include an engagement strategy that identifies key stakeholders, their needs, how the hub will engage with them and how this will support the successful delivery of the hub.
If successful, you will then be required to submit plans for communication, engagement and impact activity within six months of the start of your grant. These documents can be kept separate or combined. You will undertake a detailed stakeholder mapping exercise to inform the development of these plans.
Effective delivery of the strategic leadership hub will require:
A clear vision:
You will have a long-term vision for the role of the hub and an understanding of how it will grow and evolve over time. Early decisions made setting up the hub should not restrict the hub’s ability to respond to opportunities later.
Effective leadership:
You must be able to articulate the leadership approach that will be adopted by the hub.
Effective partnerships and collaborations:
Applications will detail how the hub will work with our wider portfolio to deliver its goals. This includes the hub’s approach to:
- building and developing meaningful partnerships that deliver relevant outputs or outcomes
- collective leadership, including how decision making will be inclusive and representative where appropriate
Knowledge of the skills landscape in the social sciences, including academia and beyond:
You must demonstrate an appreciation of the expertise within our existing portfolio as well as the wider TCB landscape. The hub will need to have strong sector engagement to ensure its knowledge of the landscape is maintained and it is able to identify opportunities to enhance access for social scientists to TCB provision outside the social sciences and beyond academia.
Agility:
The hub will need to be structured in a way that enables it to adapt and respond effectively to an evolving research landscape that is increasingly interdisciplinary, reaches across sectors, and facilitates a diversity of research careers, including those that are non-linear.
Feedback on performance:
The hub will need to have mechanisms in place to monitor and evaluate progress, and ensure it remains at the cutting edge of TCB. Feedback from stakeholders will be a critical evidence source that will need to inform future activity.
Appropriate balance of resourcing:
The hub will not be able to deliver everything possible with the budget it has and so activity will need to be prioritised. The allocation of resourcing will need to be fully justified, and sufficient time must be committed by key members of the team.
The development of a skills taxonomy:
The hub will need to organise its training portfolio in a way that can be easily communicated to and understood by all stakeholders including both users of the hub and TCB providers. A skills taxonomy could be an effective tool, acting as a building block for the hub’s wider work. You should explain how the skills taxonomy will be used to inform TCB activities.
Professional support:
The hub will be a complex grant to manage and will require a mix of both academic and professional expertise. You should consider how expertise in project management, business development, organisational learning and development, and stakeholder management and engagement will ensure and enhance the hub’s ability to deliver its goals (see ‘Team composition and leadership’ section below for more information)
Funding can be used to:
- enable skills needs analysis and the identification of TCB gaps
- commission training and capacity building activities: this can include a breadth of activities beyond traditional training courses and online reference materials and should include consideration of innovations in research methodologies, pedagogical practice and training and development
- co-create new TCB activities or provision
- experiment with innovative pedagogy
- pilot initiatives to increase uptake of training opportunities at mid and senior career stages
- pilot approaches to incentivise and reward researchers who contribute to TCB delivery and sharing of good practice
- enable the discovery and navigation of and access to TCB provision
- enable networks that support the delivery of the hub’s responsibilities
- develop and maintain the IT infrastructure required to support the hub
- support the hub’s governance, including external advisory functions
We will not fund research or PhD studentships.
The strategic leadership hub could be based at a single organisation or comprise a consortium of organisations eligible for ESRC funding. Funding can be used to deliver the aims and objectives of the grant through the hub and/or by making awards externally to other providers.
Policies and processes for allocating funding across the hub’s partners must be detailed at the full proposal stage and fully comply with our funding rules, including compliance with the UK Subsidy Control Act 2022. The lead research organisation (RO)’s processes must be followed when contracting externally and professionally qualified procurement staff consulted, where appropriate.
It is expected that resources and other outputs developed will use software with high interoperability and that they will be designed in such a way that they can be transferred to another RO should the need arise.
Robust system design methodology should be used to ensure best practice is followed across the entire delivery system. For example, high quality documentation and guidance should be maintained to support this process. To ensure resources continue to be made available for use by the community, all training outputs, tools and resources created by the hub are expected to be made available under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence.
The opportunities and benefits of using new technologies and techniques such as artificial intelligence (AI) is recognised. Applications utilising such approaches must state clearly how they will be used; why they are appropriate and how they will add value. Associated risks must also have been considered and addressed.
Flexible funds
The award will allow the use of flexible funds; a mechanism used by networks, hubs and other similar types of investments to contract further projects or activities, including the delivery of new training. Where utilised:
- applications should explain why this mechanism has been chosen. You are expected to have considered all options for delivering new training
- clear and transparent processes will need to be put in place for awarding funding and you must set out what these are in your application. This must include processes for dealing with conflicts of interest
Flexible funds are typically used to commission or procure new research and activities external to the main grant. To avoid conflicts of interest, it is advised that the project leads and any staff employed to work in the hub should not be eligible to apply to the commissioning fund.
The hub must follow ESRC rules for funding, including funding rules for flexible funds:
- flexible funds must be funded as ‘Directly incurred (DI) other costs’. While the flexible fund is awarded to the hub as a DI Other cost, these funds do not have to remain as DI costs when awarded to the subsequent small grants; they can be awarded as directly allocated (DA), DI and indirect as appropriate
- flexible funds will be ring-fenced and any specific spend requirements added as a grant condition. Funding allocated to the flexible pot will not be eligible to be vired to cover other costs related to the core funding of the hub without prior approval from ESRC
- as with the main grant, costs associated with academic staff will be funded in the usual way with ESRC contributing 80% of these costs and the remaining balance being guaranteed by the RO. All other costs are eligible to be claimed under ‘Exceptions’.
- where activity should be funded at 80% full economic cost (FEC) funding, the remaining 20% will be met by the recipient grant ROs. The RO hosting the hub will not need to bear the cost of the 20% matched funding
- sub-contracted work must follow our requirements as set out in our ESRC research funding guide and our terms and conditions for research grants. You must also comply with the procurement policies of your research organisation and are advised to seek advice from relevant colleagues when preparing your bid.
Expected outcomes
We seek to be relevant to social scientists working across academia, government, business, third sector and beyond. Investing in a new strategic leadership hub will enable us to improve access and navigation for researchers by:
- simplifying how researchers navigate the provision they need
- offering tailored support for researchers at different career stages and across the talent pipeline
- enabling the development of research skills across the full chronology of a typical research project; from design to impact
- enabling researchers to benefit from TCB opportunities within and beyond the social sciences
The new strategic leadership hub will also enable us to achieve the goals set out in strategic delivery plan by:
- systematically identifying TCB needs and addressing gaps in provision
- maximising the effectiveness and efficiency of our TCB portfolio
- supporting our response to the data-driven research skills steering group report
- supporting interdisciplinary research by enabling social scientists to access training delivered in other research council domains and opening up social science TCB provision to researchers outside the social sciences
- improving inclusion within the TCB provision we support by embedding EDI good practice
As noted previously, our goals are ambitious and to effect real change this will need to be a long-term venture with a phased approach to delivering activity. By the end of the initial five-year funding period the hub is expected to have achieved all of its aims and responsibilities.
The hub should have moved from an initiation or start-up phase through to a steady state of ‘business as usual’ (BAU). You must clearly identify key outputs and outcomes that will be delivered during the funding period as well as articulate what BAU will look like. You must also briefly outline what the hub’s priorities will be in the second period of funding. The prioritisation of activities must be fully justified.
Our priorities
The strategic leadership hub will have a critical role to play in helping us meet our emerging strategic skills needs. We have already identified the following areas that need to be addressed as a priority. These are:
- research methods
- data-driven research skills
- achieving impact through research
Additionally, responses from our engagement survey undertaken in spring 2024 highlighted a strong demand for support in interdisciplinary working. You should consider how this will be incorporated into your vision for the hub.
Support for research methods training should take into account the full breadth of methods used within the social sciences including qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches. Provision will also need to be responsive to new methodological developments in the social sciences.
More broadly, the hub is expected to engage with relevant ESRC strategic activities and be responsive to new needs identified through these activities. The hub should benefit from a delivery model that allows it to adapt its provision accordingly.
Applications must detail how the strategic leadership hub will support skills development in these areas as part of its broader programme of work. Activity should be embedded rather than addressed in isolation.
Team composition and leadership
We are looking for a team with an ambitious and innovative vision to realise our goals as well as the expertise, networks and collaborations required to deliver it. Collectively, the team composition must demonstrate the hub has the skills and expertise necessary to deliver the work set out in your application.
The team should have a diverse range of skills and experience including the professional skills needed to deliver the following responsibilities:
- leadership, management and organisation of the hub
- learning and development and research skills pedagogy
- administration of TCB activities
- stakeholder management and engagement
- sustainable development and growth
- development and maintenance of the IT infrastructure
The hub must be resourced adequately and the time committed by core staff to their hub responsibilities will need to be fully justified. The director must commit at least 40% of their time to the hub.
Applications must explicitly articulate how the expertise of the proposed team will enable the hub to deliver its responsibilities.
You should ensure that the grant roles allocated to individuals on the UKRI Funding Service are eligible; appropriate; and correctly costed. Read Roles in funding applications: eligibility, responsibilities and costings guidance; Including project co-leads from business, third sector or government bodies and the ESRC research funding guide for details of eligible organisations and costs. Further information on project partners can be found in the ‘Additional information’ section.
Career and skills development
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is a signatory to the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, and the Technician Commitment, through which UKRI commits to support the professional and career development of researchers and technicians through its funding opportunities. We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment and you will need to articulate your plans for the professional development of staff in your team at this full application stage.
You are encouraged to consider both leadership development and capacity building in your plans.
Structure, leadership, management and governance
The hub should be structured in a way that enables it to successfully deliver the objectives of the funding opportunity, whether through a consortium approach or single institution.
The hub will be expected to have appropriate and effective governance and mechanisms in place to provide it with strategic oversight and advice that meets the full spectrum of the hub’s responsibilities. These structures should include:
- an advisory committee with a strategic and scientific focus. It will include a diversity of stakeholders, members at different career stages and will have a strong role in the development of the hub. Non-academic and international representation is expected in order for the hub to gain insight into activity taking place outside of UK academia, enabling cross-fertilisation of ideas and opportunities
- a decision-making group with responsibility for allocating funding, including funds awarded through flexible funds (if required)
- clear mechanisms for capturing and responding to stakeholder feedback
A full leadership and management plan must be provided, demonstrating how you will provide leadership across collaborators, and how the management of the hub and its activities will be carried out, including details of project management and administrative resource. You are also expected to indicate your plans for monitoring progress against the hub’s goals as well as any plans for self-evaluation throughout the lifetime of the hub.
The hub is a brand new investment for us and it is important you understand the risks associated with establishing and delivering the hub and manage these effectively.
Applications must identify key risks and explain what action will be taken to mitigate them and whose responsibility this will be. If successful, you will then be expected to submit a full risk management strategy to us within three months of the start of your grant.
Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)
The strategic leadership hub is expected to improve inclusion within the TCB provision. We support by delivering an inclusive programme of TCB activities and resources and embedding EDI good practice throughout its activities. You are expected to:
- detail how the team intends to develop and implement good practice for inclusive TCB at all stages of activity, for example planning, delivery, outputs and so on
- demonstrate and evidence the team’s commitment to embedding EDI in TCB practice
- explain what policies and systems will be necessary to achieve these commitments
- detail how the hub will ensure inclusive ways of working as a team and throughout the collaboration (if relevant)
- reflect EDI considerations in any proposed cost recovery models
The hub is expected to have a clear EDI policy and will be expected to evaluate its inclusive practice throughout its funding period, responding to conclusions and recommendations as they arise.
Monitoring, evaluation and investment management
The hub will be subject to two stage gate reviews, at the end of year one and at the end of year three. Monitoring metrics will also be agreed with the successful applicant. Further detail can be found in the ‘Additional Information’ section below. Stage gate guidance will be updated to reflect the proposed plans of the successful applicant.
The hub will be required to participate in:
- regular progress meetings with ESRC. These meetings will take place quarterly in the first year. Progress reports will need to be submitted for discussion at these meetings. The frequency of meetings will be reviewed after the first stage gate.
- two facilitated workshops with the National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) between October and December 2025. The centre has significant experience delivering high quality, impactful TCB activities and these workshops will offer a valuable opportunity to share learning.
Additionally, the hub will be expected to put in place its own monitoring and evaluation arrangements. Applications should provide an overview of these arrangements, if successful, a full monitoring and evaluation plan will then need to be submitted to us within six months of the start of your grant.
Applications must include critical success indicators and explain how they will be used by the hub to monitor progress.
Impact
We expect you to consider the potential academic, societal and economic impacts of your activity. Outputs, dissemination and impact will be a key component used to assess applications.
The hub will need to be able to demonstrate the outcomes and impacts of its work, putting in place a strategy to develop and communicate an impact narrative. You are expected to detail your approach in your application.
Organisational support and co-funding
We encourage significant institutional commitment from the host organisation and where appropriate, partner organisations. This is to both show support of the application and also commitment to the enduring sustainability of the infrastructure.
This will need to be in the form of long term strategic and financial institutional commitment and should be through the provision of grant associated activities. Examples include but are not limited to, summer schools, refurbishment of facilities for the hub, provision of equipment, administration and new lectureships. Institutional commitments should be fully justified.
The hub will be expected to grow its user base during the course of the grant in a sustainable way. We are not able to increase our contribution to support this growth in users and the hub will be expected to explore opportunities to attract additional external funding.
By the end of the first funding period, the hub should have developed a plan for how it will broaden its funding base and will have trialled approaches to generate revenue.
Continuity of online training provision
ESRC funding for the National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) will end in December 2025. We havefunded NCRM since 2004 and during this period a rich database of training resources has been compiled (see the current NCRM website).
Currently, the successful applicants will be expected to adopt these resources and continue to make them available, updating them where appropriate. You will need to set out how this will be achieved and commit to working with us, the current NCRM team and the University of Southampton on the development and implementation of a transition plan for online resources. Costs for the hub’s IT infrastructure should be included in applications. The transfer of resources from NCRM to the new hub will be funded separately.
We are currently in discussion with NCRM to commission an NCRM Resource Repository with the expectation that this would maintain access to these resources during the first phase of the hub’s funding. If funded, you will be expected to adapt your plans accordingly. This funding opportunity will be updated with further information in February 2025 and applicants notified.
Duration
The duration of this grant is five years and it must start by 1 October 2025.
The successful applicants will be invited to apply for a further five years of funding, subject to positive stage gate reviews. Funding is expected to be at a similar level and the proposal will be peer-reviewed by a commissioning panel. The budget for this second phase of funding, as well as the commissioning process and timeline, will be confirmed after the second stage-gate review.
Funding available
We will fund one grant through this funding opportunity and will contribute a maximum of £5 million over five years.
All proposals will be subject to ESRC’s funding rules as outlined in our research funding guide.
Costs associated with academic staff will be funded in the usual way with ESRC contributing 80% of these costs and the remaining balance being guaranteed by the research organisation. All other costs are eligible to be claimed under ‘Exceptions’. Please note that indirect and estate costs cannot be claimed for staff costs listed under ‘Exceptions’.
All salary costs, expenses, equipment costs and exceptions must all be clearly and adequately justified. Costings must be correct and provided as instructed on the Funding Service. If successful, applicants and the host RO will be expected to respond promptly to requests for information to support subsidy control checks.
The overall total budget of the hub may be higher than the budget requested in the application. Additional funding leveraged by the investment, either through its participating research organisations, other funders or external co-funding partners, should be noted in the application but not included in the budget requested.
Expectations of applications
You should build on your Expression of Interest, providing more detailed information on your:
- vision for meeting the overarching objectives of the strategic leadership hub and the expected outcomes
- approach to delivering their vision and ESRC’s priorities
- applicant and team capability to successfully deliver the goals of the hub
Additionally, you will need to describe in detail the hub’s approach to:
- improving inclusion, including embedding EDI
- flexible funds (if appropriate)
- structure, leadership, management and governance
- impact
- organisational support and co-funding
- continuity of online training provision
The questions you need to respond to can be found in the ‘How to apply’ section of this funding opportunity and are available on the Funding Service. Where the use of images is permitted in responses, these must not be used to circumvent the word count limits stated for the relevant section. Please consider carefully the text included in images and where it can best be included to maximise the clarity of your application. Further guidance on the use of images can be found on the Funding Service.
Applications must provide assurance that the proposed vision and approach are deliverable and that there has been due consideration of key risks and how they will be mitigated. As part of your application, you are required to submit:
- a stakeholder engagement strategy
- critical success indicators
- a risk management approach
- an overview of IT infrastructure
Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)
UKRI is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.
As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.
See further guidance and information about TR&I, including where applicants can find additional support.
