UKRI is launching the second round of its cross-research council responsive mode funding opportunity.

This opportunity will run in two stages, with applicants required to submit an outline before being invited to full application stage. UKRI opens the funding opportunity on 2 September, with a closing date for submission of outline applications on 19 November. Due to very high demand in the first round, UKRI has imposed institutional caps for round two. Bath is capped at seven applications.

RIS is running an internal process to select a maximum of seven outline applications for submission to UKRI. This will involve completing an expression of interest (EoI) form. The deadline for submission of EoIs to RIS is 17 September.

This will involve completion of an expression of interest (EoI) with a deadline for submission of 17 September.

Webinar

On 15 August, RIS will be holding a webinar for potential Bath applicants which will cover:

• what we know, so far, about the second round of this call
• feedback from UKRI about the features of good and poor proposals submitted to round one
• details about the demand management of this call

Register to attend the webinar. We intend to record the webinar for anyone unable to attend on the day.

Timeline

The internal demand management/EoI application process and timeline is as follows:

• ASAP and no later than 10 September: Prospective applicants to complete the initial details form (Please note that this form asks for name and department details only. It is not part of the assessment process, but will help us to assess likely demand)
• 15 August, 10-10.45: RIS webinar (Register to attend)
• 17 September: Deadline for submission of internal EoI (email completed EoIs to resdev@bath.ac.uk)
• 4 October: Outcomes communicated to applicants (feedback to successful applicants for further development of outline bids)

Resubmissions

We are not accepting EoIs for project outline ideas submitted to round one that were judged by UKRI as being either ineligible or were graded in bands C or D.

We are accepting EoIs for round one project outline ideas that were graded within band B. If you wish to submit an EoI for a project outline idea in this category, please read and incorporate advice from UKRI.

UKRI will not accept the resubmission of any round one ideas that were successful at the outline stage, but which were not funded at full stage. Therefore we are unable to consider EoIs for these projects in round two.

Learnings from round one

• Bath submitted 32 outline applications to round one of this funding opportunity, but only two of these progressed to full stage
• More than 50% of eligible outlines received by UKRI failed to meet the criterion relating to integrated interdisciplinarity
• General round one feedback from UKRI, along with recommendations for round two outlines is available

As above, in round one, UKRI judged a significant number of eligible outlines not to be truly interdisciplinary. To be competitive for this call, applications must demonstrate genuine and integrated interdisciplinarity, understood as:

• significant interaction between disciplines and/or moves beyond established disciplinary foundations in applying or integrating approaches from other disciplines
• integration of disciplines across and within work packages
• reciprocal research benefits for all disciplines involved
• co-creation of project framework

Multidisciplinary proposals – featuring researchers working independently within their disciplines with little or no integration, and projects clearly led/designed from a single discipline – are not in scope.

Proposals must demonstrate cross-council interdisciplinarity. This means that applications must integrate disciplines from the remits of at least two separate research councils and must demonstrate how/why the project could not be funded by a single research council. For example, a proposal integrating approaches from economics and human geography could be classified as interdisciplinary, but it would not be eligible for the call because it integrates two disciplines that sit within the remit of a single research council (ESRC). Details of each council’s disciplinary remit can be found on its website.

Assessment of EoIs

EoIs will be assessed by an internal panel comprised of individuals with interdisciplinary expertise. Membership is drawn from Bath representatives of UKRI’s Interdisciplinary Assessment College, and individuals from the university with involvement in successful round one bids. Provisional panel membership:

• Professor Julie Barnett (chair)
• Professor David Ellis
• Dr Nazia Mehrban
• Professor Adele Murrell
• Dr Esther Walton
• Professor Antony Darby

The internal EoI assessment will consider what you hope to achieve with the proposed work, and how your project aligns to the scheme objectives. Further details about the assessment criteria are given on the EoI form.

About the funding opportunity

This is the second round of a pilot scheme, designed to support interdisciplinary ideas emerging from the research community outside current disciplinary boundaries. UKRI will support projects that transcend, combine or significantly span disciplines, involving different knowledge and methodological spheres. Awards will be potentially transformative for the participating disciplines or lead to the creation of new disciplines.

Award range: £200k to £1.2 million (total fund: £32.5 million) Project duration: up to two years

We are seeking:

• high quality, and creative ideas that transcend, combine or significantly span research council remits
• new, unexpected and novel projects that have the potential to lead to breakthrough ideas and collaborations
• research that can only be addressed through interdisciplinary collaboration
• projects combining disciplines to create new approaches to a research question, new methodologies or new ways of working
• reciprocity across the disciplines, with the disciplines involved being changed or transformed by working together
  
• projects that catalyse new interdisciplinary research through co-creation and design
  
• ideas with no clear ‘lead’ UKRI research council for responsive mode funding, including applications that significantly span two or more research council remits
  

We are not seeking:

• applications where there is a clear alternative research council responsive mode scheme including interdisciplinary research that fits within a single research council remit
• projects where the programme of work appears siloed and where interdisciplinary research outcomes are limited, for example where work packages are discreet and discipline specific rather than integrating disciplinary knowledge
• projects where there is an imbalance of the intellectual content, and some disciplines appear ‘bolted’ on

Applicants who are successful at the EoI stage should note that although the UKRI deadline is 19 November 2024, you will be expected to have finalised your outline applications by 12 November 2024 to allow for the necessary pre-award checks and timely submission to the funder. Applicants who are successful at the EoI stage will be able to access support from colleagues in RIS for the development of outline bids (details TBC).