Qualifier descriptions

Approach

This Qualifier provides more detailed information on the methodology to be adopted for a research project, or methodological approaches in which an individual’s expertise lies.

Collaboration location

This Qualifier provides more detailed information on the location of research partners outside the UK. It should be used only when classifying research projects, not to indicate peer reviewer expertise.

Geographic area

This Qualifier provides more detailed information on the geographical focus of a research proposal or an individual’s research expertise.

Health Categories

This Qualifier provides more detailed information on the area of health or disease of interest. For example, it may be used to indicate the application area of a particular medical technology; a human organ which is to be the subject of a modelling study; or medical issues immediately relevant to underlying biological research. Its definitions match those in the UKCRC Health research Classification System (HRCS).   

Materials

This Qualifier provides more detailed information on the nature of the material or materials studied in a project or by a researcher. The categories may well overlap and more than one selection may be necessary to fully describe a research proposal or the specific expertise of a researcher.

Project Engagement by Sector

This Qualifier provides more detailed information on potential partners or user groups for a project, or those of particular interest to an individual researcher. It does not relate to industrial sectors.

Public Engagement Audience

This Qualifier provides more detailed information on the particular audience which is targeted by a public engagement activity, or which is of particular interest to someone active in public engagement. It does not relate to underlying research into public engagement issues. The categories may well overlap and more than one selection may be necessary to fully describe a project or the specific interests of a researcher.

Public Engagement Methodology

This Qualifier provides more detailed information on the methods used to deliver public engagement activities. It does not relate to underlying research into public engagement issues. The categories may well overlap and more than one selection may be necessary to fully describe a project or the specific interests of a researcher.

Theoretical Methods

This Qualifier provides more detailed information on non-experimental methods which will be used in a particular research project, or which are commonly used by a particular researcher. These methods relate primarily to work in BBSRC and EPSRC remit but they may also be relevant to NERC or STFC areas. This classification is complementary to the ‘Approach’ Qualifier, which is generally more suitable for use in classifying AHRC- or ESRC-related proposals or expertise.

Time Period

This Qualifier provides allows for specification of the time period relevant to a proposal or the expertise of an individual.

Use of Facilities

This Qualifier should be used to indicate that a particular project will make use of one or more of the named facilities to carry out the research, or that a researcher has expertise related to, or experience in using, one or more of them. Projects which have as their primary aim the direct support of these facilities, or development of them as an end in itself, should be classified using the relevant Research Area (e.g. ‘Diamond Light Source’.)