The following Helptext is applicable for UKRI 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:
CV and Outputs List (max 3 pages A4)
Justification of Resources (max 2 pages of A4)
Head of Department supporting statement
Letters of Support (max 2 pages A4)
Cover Letter (max 2 pages A4)
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 UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships – Guidance for applicants available from the UK Research and Innovation website https://www.ukri.org/flf, for more detailed information on the following attachments.
The applicant, Co-Investigator (if applicable) and any named researchers/innovators and visiting researchers/innovators must submit a CV. All CVs submitted should use the available FLF CV and Outputs List template: https://www.ukri.org/files/funding/flf-cv-template/. No other CVs should be submitted, and photographs are not permitted.
The CV should outline employment history. It should state the applicant’s current 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, and any prizes and memberships of professional bodies should be noted.
The CV may also include an Outputs List. This can include sector relevant outputs, so may be more focused on patents/new products/processes/trade publications etc.
UKRI welcomes the inclusion of preprints in the Outputs list.
The total combined length of the CV and Outputs list must not exceed three sides of A4.
The List of Publications has been replaced by the CV and Outputs template. A separate List of publications should not be uploaded in addition to the CV and Outputs list.
The Case for Support should summarise the plans for the full seven years of the fellowship, providing more detail about the first four years of the award:
Research and Innovation Excellence
Applicant and Development
Career Intentions
Impact and Strategic Relevance
Research and Innovation Environment
Co-Investigators (Co-Investigators are only permitted where they clearly bring complementary and different skills to the project. For each investigator included, clearly define and justify their role in the project)
Intellectual Property
Key references
For further guidance regarding the Case for Support requirements, please visit the UK Research and Innovation website https://www.ukri.org/flf, for more detailed information.
Guidance 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 and whether the proposal demonstrates value for money. All items requested in the proposal need to be justified in the JoR. The JoR must be no more than two sides of A4.
The JoR is a free text document. We recommend that you match the costs to the proposal headings below (where appropriate) so that you do not miss any costings from the Je-S form or any justifications for the items requested. Items not appropriately justified will not be funded and will be removed by UKRI prior to awards being made.
For further guidance regarding the Case for Support requirements, please visit the UK Research and Innovation website https://www.ukri.org/flf, for more detailed information.
The Data Management Plan (DMP) is a mandatory attachment and should be completed using the DMP template available at https://www.ukri.org/flf.
The DMP should demonstrate how the applicant will meet, or already meets their responsibilities for research data quality, sharing and security. It should refer to any institutional and study data policies, systems and procedures and be regularly reviewed throughout the research cycle.
Head of Department supporting statement
This is a mandatory attachment and must be from the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Head of the Department or Senior Business Representative who will host the Fellow. The statement should summarise:
· The applicant’s suitability for a FLF fellowship
· The suitability of the project for the training and career development of the candidate
· Why the department is appropriate for the work proposed, including the long-term commitments the department will make to mentor and support the Fellow
· Confirmation of the commitment to the salary of the Fellow and, for academic applicants, to the individual securing a permanent position at the end of their fellowship.
All letters of support should be a maximum of two sides of A4.The following types of letters of support may be submitted:
Mentor’s supporting statement: If a mentor is included on your application form, a letter of support from the mentor must be attached detailing the mentoring arrangements.
Additional organisation’s supporting statement: A supporting statement from the business partner or additional organisation’s Head of Department should be included if an additional organisation is involved in the fellowship.
Note: Due to the current circumstances surrounding Covid-19, applicants may complete a FLF Missing Letter of Support Form template where a Letter of Support cannot be obtained. Further details can be found within our Call guidance here: https://www.ukri.org/funding/funding-opportunities/future-leaders-fellowships/how-to-apply/
Support for NHS costs: Projects which will incur NHS costs should attach a letter of support from the relevant Health Trust and also attach an 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.
Finance Form for Business Costs (applicants from large business or SMEs): All business based applicants should complete the template entitled ‘Finance Form for Business Costs’ as directed in the guidance here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/innovate-uk-completing-your-application-project-costs-guidance/partner-finance-form-guidance
A covering letter may be included as part of a proposal. It should be no more than two A4 pages.
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.
Should they be required as part of the research / innovation project,applicants should list national research council facilities and describe how they will be utilised as part of the proposal.
If you are planning to use one of the facilities listed below (Technical Assessment), applicants must provide a technical assessment from the service provider. You are required to contact the facility before applying to UKRI to check if your proposed research / innovation is feasible and obtain a technical assessment which needs to be attached to the application.
The technical assessment is required to detail the outline discussions that have taken place with the research facility, to ensure the facility will be available to you at the required time. Please also confirm the start and end date of use of the facility, support requirements and a brief summary of the facilities use and importance of their use for the project. Please include any other information you consider relevant.
The technical assessment attachment must not exceed two pages.
List of facilities for which a technical assessment is mandatory
Airborne GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh
ARCHER
Atmospheric Measurement Facility (AMF)
British Isles GNSS archive Facility (BIGF)
British Ocean Sediment Core Research Facility (BOSCORF)
Combined MSTRF and CFARR Facility
Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa (CCAP)
Earlham Institute
EPSRC National Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Facility and Service
EPSRC National Epitaxy Facility
EPSRC National Wave Testing Service
EPSRC UK National Crystallography Service (NCS)
EPSRC UK National Facility for Advanced Electron Microscopy (SuperSTEM)
European Incoherent Scatter Radar Facility (EISCAT)
Experimental Geoscience Facility
Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM)
Field Spectroscopy Facility
Geophysical Equipment Facility (GEF) - (Ocean Bottom Instruments) Durham/Soton
Geophysical Equipment Facility (GEF) - Edinburgh
Geophysical Equipment Facility (GEF) - Leicester
HarwellXPS
ICP-MS Facility, Kingston University
Ion Microprobe Facility (IMF)
Luminescence Laboratory, Aberystwyth
Molecular Spectroscopy Facility (MSF)
National Environmental Isotope Facility (NEIF)
National Wind Tunnel Facility
NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility (NBAF)
NERC Earth Observation Data Acquisition and Analysis Service, Plymouth (NEODAAS)
North East Amino Acid Racemization (NEAAR)
Open University U-Series Facility (OUUSF)
Research Complex at Harwell (RCAH)
Research Data Facility (RDF)
Sorby Environmental Fluid Dynamics Laboratory
Space Geodesy Facility
The UK 850MHz Solid State NMR Facility
UK Arctic Research Station
UK Geoenergy Observatories (UKGEOS)
UK National Ion Beam Centre
NERC shiptime and aircraft requests
If you are intending to request access to NERC ships or aircraft, then you should contact NERC Head Office immediately. Contact: fellowships@nerc.ac.uk.
For guidance on Uploading Attachments to your Je-S Proposal please select here