Consortium grants
Final closing date: 1 December 2011
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Rationale
Consortium grants are intended to support focused, co-ordinated and collaborative research into issues that cannot be addressed through other NERC funding mechanisms. Whilst the consortium rounds are supported through responsive mode funding, the size and nature of these awards mean that they will often incidentally have a strong strategic element.
Key points
- A concept note must be submitted and approved before a full proposal will be accepted.
- Consortium grants can address any area of science within the NERC remit, including NERC strategic priorities or new curiosity-driven research challenges.
Consortium grants differ from Research Programme in defining at the outset the detailed scientific objectives and the recipients of funds.
- Consortium grants provide funding for up to five years.
- The maximum budget is £3·7m. This limit is on the total cost (100% full economic cost, including any project studentships and major facility costs such as ship time, air time).
- Proposals with a more modest budget are also encouraged.
- Full proposals must be submitted using the Joint electronic-Submissions system, clearly marking the relevant "consortium grant" box on the front of the form. Each institution must submit a separate form.
- NERC will award funds separately to each eligible institution. The consortium will retain ownership and management of the science programme, and NERC will expect a lead institution to act as co-ordinator.
- As consortium grants are intended to promote inter-institutional collaboration, they are also expected to enhance opportunities for inter-disciplinary collaboration.
- Each consortium must contain at least three eligible institutions (see Research Grants Handbook or RCUK website for details).
- Other organisations, for example industrial or non-UK institutions, may participate as project partners without being eligible for direct funding from NERC.
- NERC will carry out an assessment of consortium proposals according to the pre-award assessment criteria.
- NERC retains a ring-fenced budget for consortium grants. This is in addition to the funding available for other responsive mode research grant schemes.
Management
For the consortium a lead Principal Investigator (PI) or co-ordinator will be responsible for the overall science and management plans and will act as focal point for contact with the NERC Swindon Office.
For NERC, a designated Science Programmes Officer will act as the focal point in Swindon Office for science matters.
Co-ordination costs will be allowable within the grant to cover expenses such as travel and consortium meetings and project management costs. These costs must be fully articulated and justified in the proposal.
Application process
NERC requires notification of intention to submit a proposal. Applicants must contact the appropriate Science & Innovation Manager (SIM) in the first instance. Initial contact can be made at any time. The SIM will provide advice on the most appropriate route for funding. If the work is likely to be appropriate to the consortium scheme, the applicant must send a 'concept note' to the SIM. The SIM must provide approval before a full proposal can be submitted. The purpose of this procedure is to allow the SIM to provide guidance to the applicant on remit, eligibility, suitability for the scheme, format and presentation. By agreement, this process may be iterative.
Concept notes can be received at anytime in the year. Concept notes received less than three months before a closing date will normally be held over to the following round.
The concept note should clearly justify why a consortium bid is more appropriate than a number of separate standard grants. A maximum of two pages (A4, minimum 10 point text size) is allowed.
SIMs are listed under their respective science areas.
The concept note should specify:
Type of proposal (consortium grant)
Title of proposal
List of participants including, as appropriate: lead institution, eligible partners*, other partners, actual and expected
- Scientific objectives and deliverables
- Other objectives and deliverables if relevant, for example: training, capability development, facilities, products, exploitation, dissemination, user uptake
- Outline of research proposed
- Justification for a consortium approach
Funding sought from NERC
- Co-funding (proposed and secured).
* Lead institutions should check eligibility criteria before submitting proposals; NERC will not automatically check eligibility until the full proposal is received, though advice can be provided upon request.
Once the concept note has been approved, full proposals may be submitted to either the July or December grant rounds for assessment. NERC will only accept proposals that have been through the notification and concept approval procedure.
A maximum of 16 pages is allowed for the description of the research project. Up to an additional 2 sides of A4 may be used for management structures and plans (including data), participant responsibilities, and scheduling chart. In addition to the normal requirements for a research grant, the case for support should include:
- The overarching scientific question, issue or theme that justifies a consortium approach.
- Associated collaborations and co-funding (proposed and secured).
Consortium research proposals submitted to NERC should provide details of their anticipated economic and societal impact in the Impact Summary and the Pathways to Impact document:
Impact summary:
- those who may benefit from or make use of the research;
Pathways to Impact:
- how they might benefit and/or make use of the research;
- methods for disseminating data/knowledge/skills in the most effective and appropriate manner.
Pathways to Impact should be a maximum of 2 pages of A4 (minimum font 11 point Arial), submitted as an attachment to the Je-S application form. More information on Pathways to Impact is available.
Assessment of proposals
In the majority of cases, full proposals will follow the pre-award assessment process and go straight to external review; however if a proposal has received consistently low referee grades the office reserves the right to reject the proposal before the PI feedback stage. Unless this is the case applicants will have the opportunity to respond to referee comments before consideration by the Consortium Grants Moderating Panel who will grade and rank proposals. The moderating panel will be comprised of Peer Review College and Affiliate College members, augmented if necessary by relevant experts from outside the College.
We may invite applicants to make a presentation and answer questions at the Consortium Panel meeting to assist the assessment process. This meeting will grade the proposal, and will judge the appropriateness of the scientific question for a consortium approach and the strength of the consortium management arrangements.
NERC will try to provide early notice of an invitation to attend, but applicants should note that the consortium panel meeting is usually December / January for the July closing date and May / June for the December closing date.
Evaluation
- Annual return of Output & Performance Measures (OPMs) to be collated by the lead PI and returned to NERC. In some cases an interim report may be required together with closer monitoring by relevant NERC staff.
- Final report to be collated by the lead PI for submission to NERC.
Related links
External links
Joint electronic-Submission (Je-S)