Attachments to Proposals

All attachments must be printed in single-spaced typescript of minimum font size 11 point (Arial font or equivalent), with margins of at least 2cm

References must also be minimum font size 11 point. Any proposal in which the attachments do not comply with these specifications will be rejected.

Please see here for cross council guidance on attachments.

For all Funding Opportunities please refer to Funding Finder for the most up to date requirements. Where the ‘Standard Requirements’ are mentioned this will be a 2 part Case for Support comprising the Previous Track Record up to 2 sides of A4 and Description of Proposed Research (up to 8 sides A4).

1. The Case for Support

The Case for Support should be clear, concise and free from technical jargon. Lists of references should be included in the page limit and not submitted as additional documents or as an annex. All illustrations must be included in the page limit.

The Case for Support has a number of parts depending on the scheme.

Scheme

Requirements

Pushing the Frontiers 2 Parts: A Description of the Proposed research (up to 5 sides of A4) and  Description of the Applicants Skills and Capability to Deliver (up to 2 sides of A4)

Large Grant outline proposal

1 Part: case for support (up to 4 sides of A4)

Large Grant full proposal

3 Parts: a common Previous Track Record incorporating all Research Organisations involved (up to 3 sides of A4), a common Description of the Proposed Research (up to 16 sides of A4 including all necessary tables, references and figures) and a Description of the Proposed Management Structure and plans, participant responsibilities, and scheduling chart. (up to 2 sides A4).

Urgency proposal

2 Parts: the Previous Track Record (up to 2 sides A4), the Description of Proposed Research (up to 4 sides A4)

Fellowship proposal

1 Part: the Previous Track Record, Description of Proposed Research and Research Vision (up to 10 sides A4)

For joint proposals, the Case for Support should be common to all component Research Organisations and submitted only with the lead Research Organisation proposal.

Guidance on what should be included in each part of the Case for Support for the different schemes is in Section F of the NERC Research Grants and Fellowships Handbook: http://www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/application/howtoapply/forms/grantshandbook/

2. Outline Data Management Plan (ODMP)

Where a mandatory outline Data Management Plan (ODMP) is required this must not exceed 1 page of A4.

3. Justification of Resources

The Research Councils have agreed revised guidance notes for the completion of the Justification of Resources attachment in Je-S. Details are available here

The standard requirement for the Justification of Resources is 2 sides, but as an exception for Large Grants only, up to 4 sides of A4 may be used.

4. CVs for Staff

CV's should be submitted for named research staff (including Researcher Co-Investigators) or visiting researchers. CV's are also required for Principal or Co-Investigators. CV's should be up to 2 sides of A4. For fellowship schemes, only the CV of the fellowship applicant should be submitted.

5. Equipment Quotations

For items costing more than the £115k threshold value a minimum of 3 quotations must be submitted.  Quotes are optional for equipment items over £25k (including VAT) and the £115k threshold. (see section on Equipment for further details).

6. Project Partner Letters of Support

For Research Grant Schemes (Large and Urgency), letters of support are only required from Project Partners (unless otherwise specified for a particular call). The letter of support should not exceed 2 sides of A4 and should be on headed paper and signed and dated. NERC reserves the right to remove all other letters from proposals.

Letters of Support from named Project Partners in grant proposals must describe:

7. Letters of Support

For Fellowship Schemes, Any significant collaborators (from outside the host Research Organisation) should be named in the Partnership Details section of the form and a letter of support (up to 2 sides A4 on headed paper) should be attached from each person named in that section. Collaborators from the host Research Organisation submitting the proposal should not be named in this section and should not provide a letter of support. Internal collaborators can be mentioned in the section on “Choice of Host Institution”. Personal References should not be included with the proposal.

8. Head of Department Statement

This is mandatory for Fellowship schemes only and should demonstrate:

This attachment is added at the submitter/approver stage of the JeS submission.

9. Facility Form

This attachment type should be used only for application forms for Ship-time/Marine Equipment (SME), Antarctic Logistics Support and for High Performance Computing (HPC) when use of ARCHER exceeds 100MAU (in any one year).

Antarctic Logistics Support Questionnaire

Applicants who have submitted the Preliminary Request for Antarctic Logistic Support form and have been given approval to submit a full application to NERC by the logistics panel must complete and attach the Antarctic Logistics Support Questionnaire to their full proposal.

The Antarctic Logistics Support Questionnaire can be found at: https://www.ukri.org/innovation/ . The reference number and approval date of the Preliminary Request for Antarctic Logistic Support should be clearly stated on the form in the relevant sections. Please note that the Antarctic Logistics Support Questionnaire does not get sent out to Peer Review.

The approved Preliminary Requests for Antarctic Logistic Support will be valid for a 12 months period from the date of application. Any proposals that request Antarctic Logistic Support and attach the Antarctic Logistics Support Questionnaire without having received prior approval will not be accepted by NERC.

10. NERC Facility Technical Assessment

Where use of a NERC Facility is being requested, on the JeS proposal proforma, the facilities box should be ticked and the relevant facility(s) selected from the drop-down box. A mandatory “technical assessment” must then be submitted with the grant proposal for each NERC Facility selected (except those at 9 above), which for NERC will be a quote for the work which the facility will provide.

11. Other Attachment

This attachment does not go out to reviewers and should not be used, except where a Head of Department is required to confirm the eligibility of one or more of the Investigators (this will be an internal document for NERC). If the document does not fit within any of the attachment types above, it probably should not be submitted. Contact researchgrants@nerc.ac.uk if unsure.

12. Proposal Cover Letter

This attachment does not go out to reviewers, so should not be used except to flag up a significant issue to the NERC Office (e.g. a request not to use a certain reviewer).

For specific requirements for attachments to joint proposals, see Section F of the Research Grants and Fellowship Handbook.

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