Eligibility
Summary of eligibility conditions for:
Principal Investigator
The Principal Investigator on the application must be resident in the UK and be employed by an eligible UK Research Organisation (Higher Education Institution, research council institute or a recognised independent research organisation). Employment should be at lecturer (or equivalent) level or above.
NERC staff at Band 6 level and above are eligible to apply as Principal Investigators. NERC staff at Band 6 must have at least three years' postdoctoral or equivalent research experience and have been employed by NERC for at least one year. Staff at BBSRC research organisations, at Band E level or above, are also eligible to apply as a Principal Investigator.
Holders of research fellowships from the research councils and university research fellowships from the Royal Society are eligible (subject to other rules in the NERC Research Grants Handbook).
Other fellowships awarded by the Royal Society, as well as those from the Wellcome Trust, Marie Curie fellowships, Leverhulme Early Careers Fellows and holders of fellowships awarded by eligible UK Higher Education Institutions, are also eligible to apply as Principal Investigators, as long as the fellowship has a status equating to that of at least lecturer level and has been secured in open competition. A statement from departmental heads confirming that these conditions are met should accompany any application submitted.
At the time of application the Principal Investigators must:
Be employed by the Research Organisation submitting the proposal or, if not employed, have an existing formal arrangement with the organisation that enables him or her to carry out research there and receive all necessary management and infrastructure support from the organisation.
Or be scheduled to move to the submitting organisation before the proposed start date of the grant in such a way that would ensure that the criterion stated above is met by the time the grant starts. Applications should include a confirming statement from the employing Research Organisation where the grant is to be held.
In addition, the Principal Investigator must have an assurance from the submitting organisation that, if the proposal is successful, the contract of employment, or formal commitment to provide support if not employed, will extend beyond the end date of the grant. Confirmation of this assurance from departmental heads should accompany any grant application.
The exception to this is research council fellows whose award does not extend beyond the proposed end date of the grant. Research council fellows may apply for the cost of their salary to the end of the proposal if their fellowship does not extend beyond the proposed end date of the grant.
The following are not eligible to apply as Principal Investigators: research assistants, technicians, other researchers who are employed on short-term projects or research council grants, holders of fellowships that were not awarded following open competition.
Please note: It is incumbent upon individuals to check their own eligibility prior to submission of any application to NERC.
Where the Principal or Co-Investigator is retired (or will retire before the end of the grant), or holds a senior non-stipendiary post, the expectation is that their involvement in a project would be covered by a contract with the Research Organisation, as detailed above. Such costs are likely to be a Directly Incurred cost.
Recipients of Research Council Academic Fellowships who are initially supported as Post Doctoral Research Assistants (PDRA) on research grants are eligible to apply for new research grants in their own right. However, they cannot start any successful award until they have completed their PDRA duties on the original research grant.
Co-Investigator
Co-Investigators are normally expected to meet the eligibility criteria for a Principal Investigator and should be able to take over from the Principal Investigator if required.
Researcher Co-Investigator
A Post Doctoral Research Assistant (PDRA) who is not eligible to be a Principal or Co-Investigator, but has made a substantial contribution to the formulation and development of the application and will be closely involved with the project (if funded) may be identified as a Researcher Co-Investigator.
A Researcher Co-Investigator must be:
- the named researcher on the project and seek his/her salary as a Directly Incurred cost.
- employed by the same Research Organisation as either the Principal or one of the Co-Investigators.
- employed at Band 6 or (NERC) or Band D (BBSRC) or higher if applying from a NERC or BBSRC Research Organisation.
A Researcher Co-Investigator may not take over from the Principal Investigator.
Full details of the eligibility criteria for both individual applicants and research organisations, can be found in the NERC Research Grants & Fellowships Handbook.