Attachments - MRC Specific Guidance
The following Helptext is applicable for Fellowship Proposals. If you are applying against a particular Call for Proposals you should check the Call Guidance documentation to determine whether there are specific Research Council requirements which would override the information below.
Research Councils operate a 'page' restriction policy on attachment length. To ensure no one is disadvantaged by this restriction, the margin size of submitted document attachments should not be reduced from a standard margin (i.e. top/bottom and left/right - 2cm). Unless specified otherwise in Council-specific guidance, a standard 'Arial' or 'other San Serif' font is used, restricted to size 11 or higher.
You may scroll down this page or use the quick links below to take you to appropriate Helptext section:
Head of Department supporting statement
Industry Collaboration Framework (ICF)
Uploading Attachments to your Je-S Proposal
In addition to grant proposal requirements, Fellowship proposals require supplementary information to be added to specific attachments (see below). We strongly advise you read the MRC Fellowship Handbook for Applicants: https://www.ukri.org/councils/mrc/fellowships/guidance-for-fellowship-applicants/ for more detailed information on the following attachments.
CV (Fellowship proposal format)
The CVs must be a maximum of 2 pages (A4 minimum font Ariel 11pt).
Only the applicant and any named researchers should submit a CV. Applicants should use the CV template available here: https://www.ukri.org/publications/mrc-fellowships-cv-template-2021/ . CVs may be a maximum of two sides of A4 Details of sponsors or supervisors should be included in the Sponsors section of the form and they should not submit a CV except in exceptional cases where salary support is requested. In this case they should complete the Sponsors section of the form and attach a CV.
The following should be included in the CV:
Employment History
It should state the applicant's current research organisation and salary and include details of any career breaks, specifying the duration of any breaks in months.
A summary should be given of formal training and qualifications, including any training and qualification being undertaken at the time of submission,please provide details.
If you have obtained any prizes please list them, including the year of the award.
Please list any Professional Body Membership (e.g. Royal Colleges, scientific societies, professional organisations).
Please list any Formal Research Training Courses completed to Date, including the location taken, the duration and the method of assessment.
In addition, list any proposed Formal Training in the same manner, also indicating the areas where you think you would benefit most and why.
Please detail any career breaks.
Applicants for pre-doctoral fellowships who are registered for a higher degree must provide a letter from their postgraduate office confirming their registration date and the percentage of time for which they are registered.
Applicants for post-doctoral fellowships must clearly state the date they were notified of the award of their PhD (normally the viva date or a short period afterwards) as research experience is calculated from this point where eligibility criteria apply. See section 4.6 for further details on how the period of research experience should be calculated.
The publications list should highlight relevant and recent publications, which should fit on one page of A4, Ariel 11-point font (equivalent).
The Case for Support should summarise:
Importance: Explain the need for research in this area, and the rationale for the particular lines of research planned.
Research Plan: Please describe the aims and objectives of the proposed research. Give details of the general experimental approaches, study designs, and techniques you will use. It is not necessary to describe each experiment, but you must give enough detail to show why your research is likely to be competitive in its field.
Highlight plans which are particularly original or unique.
Describe all human studies and animal experiments.
Explain how new techniques, or particularly difficult or risky studies, will be tackled and alternative approaches should these fail.
Identify facilities or resources you will need access to.
Give sufficient detail to justify the resources requested.
Under a separate heading of "Research Environment and Development Opportunities", please detail the specific training and scientific considerations which led you to choose your proposed host department (up to 1 page). Describe the special features/facilities of the research training environment in the host institution/s. If this is a department where you have been based for a year or more, include details of your reasons for remaining. If your proposal involves a clinical trial please refer specifically to the training arrangements and benefits available/in place in the proposed department.
Please include any details of work that will take place as part of the proposed fellowship at a second UK or overseas centre.
Key references must be included in the case for support in 11 point Ariel font. These may not be uploaded as a separate attachment.
For details of the maximum page limits for the case for support, please see the MRC Fellowship Application Guidance: https://www.ukri.org/councils/mrc/fellowships/guidance-for-fellowship-applicants/
Case for support – Reproducibility and Statistical design annex (maximum of one additional page)
The purpose of this annex is to provide important additional information on reproducibility, and to explain the steps taken to ensure the reliability and robustness of the chosen methodology and experimental design. Please note in this context, methodology refers to the rationale for choosing which method to use and not the provision of detailed descriptions of the methods to be used.
It is strongly advised that a one-page annex to the case for support is included, in addition to the page limits in Section 2 to provide additional information specifically relating to the statistical analyses, methodology and experimental design aspects of the proposal (beyond that contained in the main case for support). Please note that you should not duplicate information presented elsewhere in the proposal.
This information must be provided as a clearly marked annex at the end of the main case for support, entitled ‘Reproducibility and statistical design annex’ and should not be added as a separate attachment. Standard formatting guidance applies. Proposals not adhering to these conditions will be returned unprocessed.
Proposals that do not provide sufficient detail to convince peer reviewers and Research Boards and Panels that the proposed experiments will be carried out appropriately to produce robust and reproducible research will be rejected for funding on these grounds and subject to the usual limits on resubmission.
The NC3Rs have developed a free online tool to guide researchers through the design of their experiments, helping to ensure that they use the minimum number of animals consistent with their scientific objectives, methods to reduce subjective bias, and appropriate statistical analysis. The NC3Rs Experimental Design Assistant can be found on the NC3R’s website: http://www.nc3rs.org.uk/experimental-design-assistant-eda
For details of the maximum page limits for the case for support, please see MRC’s guidance for applicants: https://www.ukri.org/councils/mrc/fellowships/guidance-for-fellowship-applicants/
Cross Council guidance on how to write a Justification of Resources (JoR) document is available here.
The role of the JoR is to aid reviewers when assessing proposals so that they can make an informed judgement on whether the resources requested are appropriate for the research proposed. All items requested in the proposal need to be justified in the JoR. The JoR is a mandatory attachment and may be no more than two sides of A4 in 11 point Aiel typeface.
The Data Management Plan (DMP) is a mandatory attachment and should be submitted on the DMP template available https://www.ukri.org/publications/data-management-plan-template/
The DMP should demonstrate how the applicant will meet, or already meets their responsibilities for research data quality. It should refer to any institutional and study data policies, systems and procedures and be regularly reviewed throughout the research cycle. The maximum length is three sides of A4, though for less complex research the DMP may be as little as a quarter of a page of A4. If any section is not relevant to the proposal ‘not applicable’ should be entered.
Head of Department supporting statement
This is a mandatory attachment and must be from the Head of the Department which will host the fellow. In this statement the Head of Department should summarise:
How long they have known the applicant
The applicant’s suitability for an MRC fellowship
The suitability of the project for the research training and career development of the candidate
Why the centre is appropriate for the work proposed, including the commitments the department will make to mentor and support the fellow
The Mentor Statement attachment should a maximum of two pages of A4.
If a mentor is included on your proposal a letter of Support from the mentor must be attached detailing the mentoring arrangements.
The MRC requires all host institutions to ensure that all intermediate and senior MRC fellows are given access to mentoring for the duration of the fellowship.
Success in academic disciplines depends not only on a strong research track record but also on making the right career choices. Having made the right choice, moving upward through the profession often involves career ‘step changes’. In addition to scientific expertise, these often require new personal skills in order to cope effectively with greater professional autonomy and responsibility.
Mentoring is an established way of helping academic and clinical researchers to establish their careers. The purpose is to provide informed advice and counsel to enable individual researchers to realise their full potential and thus to make a valuable contribution to quality research in the UK. A mentor is not a supervisor/sponsor, but a “wise and trusted professional friend” - typically a senior figure from outside the host department with whom to discuss career aims, problems and development.
All letters of support should be dated, signed and on headed note paper and a maximum of 2 sides of A4. The following types of Letters of Support may be submitted.
Previous Head of Department’s supporting statement: If you have recently moved department or plan to undertake your fellowship at a different department to your current affiliation, an additional supporting statement should be uploaded from your previous/current Head of Department.
Second centre’s supporting statement: A supporting statement from the industrial partner or second research organisation Head of Department should be included if a second centre is involved in the fellowship.
Project partners and collaborators’ supporting statements: Project partners should provide a letter of support.
Collaborators may provide letters of support to indicate the time and resources they are prepared to commit where these are critical to the project. If a partner or collaborator will be providing clinical samples for the project the letter should confirm their willingness to provide the samples and that they have the appropriate ethical approval to cover the proposed research (see section 5.1.13).
Degree registration: Applicants for pre-doctoral fellowships who are registered for a higher degree must provide a letter from their postgraduate office confirming their registration date and the percentage of time for which they are registered.
Support for NHS costs: Projects which will incur NHS costs should attach a letter of support from the relevant Health Trust and also attach a NHS Costs Proforma.
Overseas animals use: If your proposal involves the use of animals overseas, please refer to the UKRI guidance https://www.ukri.org/funding/how-to-apply/ and submit a signed statement from both UK and overseas Principal Investigators as a Letter of Support attachment. For overseas research involving rodents, rabbits, sheep, goats or pigs, the 'Additional Questions' must also be attached as a Letter of Support.
A covering letter may be included as part of a proposal. It should be no more than two A4 pages using sans-serif typeface (Arial or equivalent) and minimum font size of 11pt.
The covering letter can be used to cover details such as conflicts of interest and names of conflicted experts that you request not to be used as reviewers. If detailing conflicted experts, the following information must be provided in the covering letter:
1. The name of the person not to approach
2. The RO(s) they are based at
3. A clear reason why the person would not be able to provide an unbiased and evidence-based review
The decision on whether or not to honour a request to exclude a reviewer lies with the MRC following consideration of the justification provided. Requests submitted without a justification will not be considered.
If the proposal is a re-submission it should also include details of how this proposal differs from that submitted previously. It must not be used to cover anything which should be included in the proposal for, case for support or other required attachments.
Industrial Collaboration Framework (ICF)
If the proposal is to include industry collaboration the proposal will need to include a Industry Collaboration Framework (ICF) form which can be downloaded the ICF web page: https://www.ukri.org/councils/mrc/guidance-for-applicants/types-of-funding-we-offer/mrc-industry-collaboration-framework/
Applicants should note that the ICF form should be uploaded to the Je-S attachments section using the 'MICA form' document type. Please indicate within the description box Industry Collaboration Framework form.
The MRC will also require a Heads of Terms signed by each collaborator showing that they are willing to collaborate for the duration of the study. If the Heads of Terms option is not available under attachments, please upload under the ‘MICA’ heading and specify ‘Heads of Terms’ in the description field.
Applicant’s should indicate in their project title that the proposal is a “ICF” Failure to do so may lead to the proposal not being correctly processed.
For guidance on Uploading Attachments to your Je-S Proposal please select here