NERC Introducer Assessment Guidance
All proposals submitted to the Standard and New Investigator schemes will proceed to PI response and be assessed by at least two moderating panel members who have been nominated as introducers. Based on the reviewer scores and comments and the PI response to those comments, introducers are asked to assign a pre-score of between 0-10 to a proposal for Research Excellence using the definitions provided below.
Score |
Usual Indicators |
Excellent quality proposal |
|
10 |
The proposed work is outstanding and represents world-leading standards in terms of quality, significance and scientific impact. Highest priority for funding. |
9 |
The proposed work is excellent and represents world-class standards in terms of quality, significance and scientific impact. Very high priority for funding. |
8 |
The proposed work is very good, contains aspects of excellence, and represents high standards in terms of quality, significance and scientific impact. High priority for funding. |
Good quality proposal |
|
7 |
The proposed work is of a good quality, internationally competitive, at the forefront of UK work and has a high level of scientific impact. Should be funded if possible. |
6 |
The proposed work is of a good quality, on the borderline between nationally and internationally competitive, and has a good level of scientific impact. Potentially fundable. |
5 |
The proposed work is of a good quality, has some scientific merit and addresses useful questions, but is not at the leading edge. It is suitable for funding in principle but in a competitive context is not a priority. |
Potentially useful proposal |
|
4 |
The proposed work is of a good quality, has some scientific merit, but has a number of weaknesses. Not recommended for funding. |
3 |
The proposed work is of a satisfactory quality. It would provide some new knowledge, but fails to provide reasonable evidence and justification for the proposal. Not recommended for funding. |
Unacceptable proposal |
|
2 |
The proposed work is weak in terms of quality, significance and scientific impact, and has only a few strengths. Not suitable for funding. |
1
|
The proposed work is of an unsatisfactory quality and is unlikely to advance the field. Not suitable for funding. |
0 |
For special cases, e.g. flawed in scientific approach, subject to serious technical difficulties, does not address operational risks, sufficiently unclearly written that it cannot be properly assessed, success depends on the project student, is duplicative of other research, or not suitable for the scheme. |
How to complete the Introducer Assessment in Je-S.
When you are required to provide pre-scores through Je-S you will receive an email notification that you have assessments pending.
The Introducer forms are found in the document menu, under Other. Clicking on the Introducer Assessment link will take you through to the Introducer Form. You will be sent one, combined document in which you will be able to record your scores for all of the proposals that you are introducing at a particular meeting. Exceptionally, you may receive a second document but this would only happen if you were asked to introduce a further proposal after the initial document has been issued.
The Introducer Details section will contain details of the introducer and the meeting, specifically the meeting name, meeting date and the assessment due date.
The Research Grants section will contain details of all of the proposals that require scoring. Each proposal assessment can be accessed by selecting the Edit link. You should then add an appropriate score and any brief comments on the scores provided.
Each proposal assessment must be saved separately, using the Save function on the top tool bar. There is a limit of 4000 characters for the free-text box but we are at most expecting a few sentences. If you do not wish to add a comment, then you will need to add ‘n/a’ in the free-text box in order for the form to validate. Please note that any text comments provided will not be fed back to the applicants. They will only be used by NERC and the meeting Chairs as context for the scores given.
Once all of your proposal assessments have been completed and saved, you will be able to submit your Introducer form to NERC by selecting the Submit Document button. This button will appear in the top tool bar but will not be visible until all of your proposal assessments have been entered and saved successfully. Once this button has been pressed your pre-scores and comments will be returned to NERC via Je-S. Your submitted pre-scores will then be sent to the Chair and Deputy Chair before the meeting.
If you have any comments or concerns on a specific proposal then please contact NERC directly, at college@nerc.ukri.org