Sustainable Industrial Futures (Grant)

Before applying for funding, check the Eligibility of your organisation.

EPSRC and NERC standard eligibility rules apply. For full details, visit EPSRC’s eligibility page and NERC’S eligibility page.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the new UKRI Funding Service.

For full details, visit Eligibility as an individual.

International applicants

Under the UKRI and Research Council of Norway Money Follows Cooperation agreement a project co-lead (international) (previously co-investigator) can be based in a Norwegian institution.

Who is not eligible to apply

Businesses are not eligible applicant organisations as part of this funding opportunity, they are expected to be listed as project partners.

Restrictions

We are expecting a high level of interest in this funding opportunity. Therefore, applicants can be named investigators on a maximum of two applications but named as project lead on only one application.

This funding opportunity will fund only the highest quality application.

UKRI reserve the right to reject applications which do not meet the requirements of the funding opportunity.

We encourage you to focus your efforts on an application that most closely mirrors the needs of the funding opportunity and the strengths of the proposed team.

You should seek to demonstrate a strong industrial co-creation and thought leadership approach.

Applications which do not represent a large cross section of the current ecosystem driving the sustainability of industry, either directly or through partnerships, will not be competitive for funding.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.

We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes:

• career breaks

• support for people with caring responsibilities

• flexible working

• alternative working patterns

Find out more about equality, diversity and inclusion at UKRI.

Aim

Major progress is still required to make sufficient advances in industrial emissions in the UK as identified by the Climate Change Committee (CCC). Through this funding opportunity we aim to drive a sustainable industrial future, shifting the UK away from environmentally detrimental industries and processes to more sustainable and circular alternatives that will enable wider environmental and socio-economic benefits.

This funding opportunity will focus on an existing critical mass of research to deliver a cross-sectoral systems approach, working closely with industry and policymakers to scale up, drive impact and translation and ensure the entire system delivers enhanced outcomes for society and the environment.The objectives of this funding opportunity are to:

• support one virtual centre of excellence that enables greenhouse gas (GHG) -emitting UK incumbent manufacturing industries to shift towards sustainable operations with net zero/negative GHG emissions, enabling environmental net gain, economic and societal resilience, employment growth and resource & energy security

• advance the UK’s transition to net zero by building on the legacy of previous UKRI investments (such as the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge and Transforming Foundation Industries Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund programmes, as well as programmes such as National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research (NICER) Programme)

• deliver excellent, leading-edge engineering, physical and environmental sciences and transdisciplinary research

Scope

This funding opportunity will focus on enabling industry to deliver directly against the Sixth Carbon Budget by 2030. This centre’s research focus should be on reducing the whole lifecycle costs of the industrial-scale manufacturing processes. This will grow the UK research capability in how to achieve the following:

1. scale up environmentally sustainable solutions and technologies (including the development and deployment of environmental monitoring, reporting and validation technologies) and ‘learn by doing’ through partnering with active demonstration and deployment programmes

2. do this with a true ‘systems approach’ to the industrial scale manufacturing processes, where the interdependencies between decarbonisation, circular economy, resource & energy efficiency and environmental net gain are truly understood and optimised for the most sustainable and inclusive outcome possible

The outcomes of this investment will enable:

• manufacturing industries to shift their products, systems and services to clean alternatives, that benefit the wider environment, which in turn will lead to sustainable jobs and wealth creation in the industrial heartlands of our nations and regions

• security of UK supply of feedstocks, materials, fuels, and the creation of value from waste through greater circularity of resource streams in the UK (approaches for which could include industrial symbiosis and consideration of natural capital and ecosystem service provision)

• creation of new jobs, businesses, supply chains and industries that exploit (or leverage or build upon) UK research strengths and explicitly promote the responsible and sustainable use of (natural) resources

• influence on emission reductions and other environmental benefits including improved water and air quality; reduced pollution and enhanced natural capital

• ability to supply both UK needs and export sustainable solutions and products to the rest of the world

The virtual centre of excellence will:

• build a transdisciplinary, inclusive team covering the essential engineering, physical and environmental sciences, as well as other requisite areas, focused on a clear strategic vision

• create a critical mass centre to act as a focal point for industry, policymakers and the research community to share common challenges

• explore the interdisciplinary research questions which the UK engineering and physical sciences and environmental science communities can address in partnership

• deliver a co-created programme of research that directly advances the UK’s net zero transition and explicitly considers environmental net gain in partnership with industry

• include research and innovation Work Streams, examples of these could include but are not limited to partnering with demonstrator projects to extract learning from real-world demonstrations and pilots (industrial symbiosis etc) in an industrial cluster or exploration of value from waste in industrial setting, integration of CCS and Negative Emission Technologies (NETs) at a local or regional scale. Workstreams should cross at least two industries

• include Function Streams to integrate learning across the work streams, designed to deliver a specific function for the centre. This shall include the development of environmental, social and governance standards for decarbonisation of industrial-scale manufacturing processes, other examples of these could include, but are not limited to: policy, standards, cross cutting technologies, international, digital and data

• ensure connectivity and sharing of information between function streams and workstreams, with functions drawing on what is coming out of workstreams

• look at all aspects of sustainability rather than individual challenges such as decarbonisation and circularity in isolation

• represent and act as advocates for EPSRC/NERC where appropriate

• embed equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) within hub operations and activities by developing and delivering an EDI action plan, led by the hub EDI lead, which takes into account the specific EDI context and challenges within the hub’s research area and community

• deliver outputs such as:

  • technologies, products, and processes to reduce our demand on fossil fuels, including resource & energy efficiency improvements, diversification and security of energy supply and defossilisation of feedstocks and sustainable use of natural resources (for example, available natural feedstocks)

  • new, scalable, and commercially viable low and zero emission alternative technologies and (where appropriate) processes, as well as the deployment of existing technologies in novel ways

  • solutions for the breadth of our energy intensive industries which are cross-industry with cross-sector impact that consider environmental benefits beyond decarbonisation

  • synthesis and consolidation of current research to inform industry and policy in the near term including understanding of the wider environmental and socio-economic co-benefits, trade-offs and unintended consequences

  • facilitation of ‘learning by doing’ by partnering with industry demonstrators, deployments and lessons learned cycles

In terms of GHG emissions and this funding opportunity, the main research and innovation focus should be on reduction of scope 1 and 2 emissions from industrial manufacturing processes, rather than scope 3, although subsequent reduction in the latter is of course welcome.

Sectors

For the purposes of this funding opportunity, ‘Industry’ refers to those UK incumbent manufacturing industries (as defined by the UK Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy (PDF, 7.4MB) which are:

• metals and minerals

• chemicals

• food and drink

• paper and pulp

• ceramics

• glass

• oil refineries

• less energy intensive manufacturing including the manufacturing of vehicles, wood products, pharmaceuticals and electronics, among other industries

Any research area or technology is in scope as long as it can be justified in how it will facilitate the outcomes articulated in this funding opportunity.This investment should not solely focus on the discovery and development of individual technologies but on the integration and application of these technologies as a system to support the transition to more sustainable industrial processes and operations.It is expected that this investment should collaborate with other major programmes that are focussed on technology discovery, development and environmental whole system understanding where appropriate (for example, hydrogen, nuclear fission, advanced manufacturing, sustainable resource use, climate & climate change, environmental economics).

Sustainability

Sustainability must be at the forefront of this programme. The United Nations Brundtland Commission (PDF, 4MB) defined sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The UKRI Sustainability Strategy states that Sustainability is the term used to bring together three broad areas: social (people), economic (prosperity) and environment (planet).This funding opportunity aims to use a whole system approach to sustainability that will simultaneously provide co-benefits to people, planet and prosperity Potential co-benefits could include:

• better for people:

  • more sustainable, meaningful job creation

  • better, safer working conditions across the supply chain

  • greater community inclusion, engagement and buy-in

• better for planet:

  • improved air, land and water quality

  • biodiversity restoration and enhanced ecosystem resilience

  • responsible use of natural resources (for example, land, water, energy)

  • reduced waste, enhanced recycling and valorisation of waste to reduce demand on natural resources

  • environmental net gain

• better for prosperity:

  • economic resilience and growth

  • increased exports

  • materials and supply chain security

  • policies that provide business certainty within the market

  • incentives for businesses to engage and transition to most sustainable outcomes possible

  • regulatory framework for safer development of new solutions

  • regional development

Systems approach

Systems approaches are frameworks or methodologies focused on understanding the whole system and exploring the interconnections within and between systems. This programme needs a systems approach where all solutions need to consider the full life cycle cost of the manufacturing process, impacts and unintended consequences of the change including how we maximise the in-service lifetime of current assets and infrastructure as well as considering wider system dependencies and limitations.There are major benefits to taking a cross-industry systems approach enabling exploration of approaches such as industrial symbiosis and value creation that also consider wider impacts on the interlinked environmental system. A systems approach will facilitate co-benefits beyond GHG emission reductions to include enabling environmental net gain, social cohesion, economic growth and resource and energy security.

Interdisciplinarity

Although this programme must have the engineering, physical and environmental sciences research challenges of environmentally, socially and economically sustainable industrial futures as a core focus, we recognise that the scale of this challenge is complex and high-risk, requiring the integration of multiple stakeholders and broad interdisciplinary teams across and beyond the remit of EPSRC/NERC.

Industry engagement and co-creation

A key aspect required of the centre is true co-creation with industry from the outset, where stakeholders collaborate around emerging opportunities and quick wins in order to meet the needs of industry now as well as in the future.To ensure that research outcomes can be exploited by industry, we are looking for clear evidence of genuine, substantive partnerships, with co-creation and co-delivery of projects and activities, as well as financial contributions. As well as this expectation for co-creation from the outset, the Centre should welcome new and additional industry engagement at any time throughout the lifetime of the investment and have a clear strategy and framework to support this.The investment should explore ‘learning by doing’ as far as possible by collaborating with industry to see what works through partnering with demonstration and deployment programmes as far as possible.There is no minimum leverage or number of partners required, but you must go beyond the standard letters of support to evidence true co-creation and engagement. This could include but is not limited to industry member time, expertise, data, use cases, secondments.Letters of support will only be required for the full application stage.In addition to industrial clusters and other industrial settings that provide a natural collaboration space, there will be investments in the landscape sitting alongside this that will complement the centre that we expect it to interact with. In addition to UKRI investments, the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) have programmes such as the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund.

Management and governance

The successful programme will be led by a director or co-directors with a strong track record of effectively leading large, complex investments and collaborating with users. It is essential that the centre has, at its heart, an interdisciplinary thought leadership team, that includes representatives of the research communities of both funders. This will provide oversight and leadership of the centre, as well as driving integration, engagement, horizon scanning, knowledge exchange and analysis to provide a ‘front door’ for engagement with industry and policymakers and drive thought leadership across the landscape.The programme should implement a governance structure for decision making on flexible funding. Advice from UKRI should be sought post award to ensure good practice is followed in the assessment and allocation of flexible funds. Projects are expected to engage with the wider programme of activity and to report their progress and outcomes to the grant holder.There will be a sufficiently resourced management unit to provide rigorous programme management for an impactful centre that can respond to the needs of a changing landscape.In the governance procedures, advice from users must be appropriately used in the centre decision-making strategy to grow user engagement in terms of funding, numbers of users and to facilitate routes to impact.The successful programme will have an independent steering committee which supports the centre in ascertaining the direction of travel that will provide maximum impact.EPSRC and NERC representatives, who will be appointed by EPSRC and NERC, will sit on this steering committee. Equality, diversity and inclusion should be considered when setting up the governance structure of the research programme.

Reporting, monitoring and evaluation

You should ensure that monitoring and evaluation is well-considered from the outset to effectively track the centre’s contribution and impacts, including the ongoing engagement with industrial partners.The successful programme will be required to report on the progress of the research programme to UKRI annually through ResearchFish in line with standard UKRI grant terms and conditions. The programme will report into EPSRC and NERC directly via annual reports.The programme will undergo a mid-term review and a final evaluation, in years three and seven respectively. The centre will be assigned a UKRI-appointed project officer who will actively manage the successful centre investment.Due to the collaborative nature of this award, we are looking for a few high-quality bids for funding. Therefore, applicants can be named investigators in a maximum of two applications but named as project lead on only one application. UKRI reserve the right to reject applications which do not meet the requirements of the funding opportunity.

Duration

The duration of this award is seven years.The programme should start on 1 July 2025.

Funding available

This funding opportunity will provide up to £18 million over seven years for ‘core’ funding and for the first wave of specific research activity (in years one to three). These are the UKRI contributions which are funded at 80% FEC.

You are expected to request the funding required to achieve the objectives and outcomes you have proposed, for example:

• salaries of core team including your time to lead the centre and co-investigators to provide the required interdisciplinary inclusive approach, the thought leadership team, post-doctoral research assistants, management team and staff

• resources for integrating lessons learned and horizon scanning (workshops etc)

• resources to support the integration, coordination, knowledge exchange and publication activities of the centre

• governance, monitoring and evaluation activities

• impact activities (including stakeholder and user engagement, policy engagement and public engagement)

• networking and community building activities, to enable engagement and collaboration across key disciplines, sectors and investments, and with policy officials

• a flexible fund to support secondments or agile research on emerging topics and to support the involvement of discrete parts of the community, outside of the centre, that would bring significant benefit to the programme but have not otherwise been engaged (see below)

• travel, subsistence and consumables

Additionally, there will be at least one wave of funding available to be used for specific research activities. Funding for this first wave (£3.5 million in years one to three provided by us, 80% FEC including indexation) will be included for the successful application and should therefore be accounted for and justified in the full application.

Funding for wave two (in years four to five) and wave three (in years six to seven) is subject to UKRI securing future funding and the identified programme requirements. These waves will be conceived based on findings from the centre’s initial work and will become available in future years following assessment and approval.

Funding will be released for these subsequent waves through an assessment process, which will be defined by us and we will retain responsibility for funding decisions throughout. These waves provide a further opportunity to, for example, bring on new partners and funders and respond to new and emerging opportunities.

Flexible fund

The centre is expected to provide a flexible funding mechanism which contributes to its aims and objectives. The flexible fund could be used for:

• supporting agile research on emerging topics

• supporting the involvement of the wider community, beyond the core academic members, that would bring significant benefit to the programme but have not otherwise been engaged

• bringing individuals and organisations together and growing connections, particularly with new researchers

• feasibility studies or similar small level projects, and activities

• scoping new collaborative research partnerships and projects

• proof of concept original research or technique development

The size of the flexible fund should be clearly identified in the application costings and listed under the ‘directly incurred’ headings on the application.Please note that flexible funds may only be used for activities that may be funded through a standard research grant (for example, not studentships or the kind of student costs that would be funded through a training grant).These opportunities can run at any time, but their timing should be considered and justified, for example; there could be several funding opportunities over the lifespan of the awardThe centre should implement a proportionate governance structure for decision making on flexible funding.You will need to think carefully about how the flexible fund budget will be commissioned via an appropriate peer review process, which can be allocated to researchers at other universities, and ensure that the allocation of funds must be fair and transparent and within the framework of the UKRI principles of assessment, decision making and of managing public money.Advice from EPSRC and NERC should be sought post award to ensure good practice is followed in the assessment and allocation of flexible funds.Projects funded through the flexible fund are expected to engage with the wider programme of activity and to report their progress and outcomes to the grant holder. Please note that the flexible fund will be restricted to EPSRC and NERC current research organisation eligibility, but will not be bound by standard EPSRC and NERC investigator eligibility criterion.

Equipment

Although this is not intended as a funding opportunity for significant capital expenditure, equipment over £10,000 in value (including VAT) and up to £400,000 is available through this funding opportunity. All equipment should be fully justified and essential to the aims and objectives of the investment. Single items of capital infrastructure over £400,000 are not eligible in this funding opportunity.Smaller items of equipment (individually under £10,000) should be in the ‘Directly Incurred – Other Costs’ heading.Quotes for equipment do not need to be included in your application, but please retain quotes for equipment costing more than £138,000 as we may ask for these at post-panel stage before releasing funds.Given the nature of the funding opportunity, you should explain how you will ensure optimal utilisation and most sustainable life cycle of the equipment. We wish to maximise use of equipment therefore the centre must have in place a clearly articulated mechanism to share the equipment across the hub or nationally as appropriate.Read more information on our approach to equipment funding.

What we will not fund

• NERC aircraft, ship time or use of NERC marine equipment

NERC Services and facilities

You can apply to use a facility or resource in your funding application.You should discuss your application with the facility or service at least two months before the funding opportunity’s closing date to:

• discuss the proposed work in detail

• receive confirmation that they can provide the services required within the timeframe of the funding

The facility will provide a technical assessment that includes the calculated cost of providing the service. NERC services and facilities must be costed within the limits of the funding.You should not submit the technical assessment with the application, but you must confirm you have received it.For more information, see the NERC research grants and fellowships handbook.Read the full list of NERC facilities that require a technical assessment.High Performance Computing (HPC) and the large research facilities at Harwell have their own policies for access and costing.

Supporting skills and talent

We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.

International collaboration

If your application includes international applicants, project partners or collaborators, visit UKRI’s trusted research and innovation for more information on effective international collaboration.Find out about getting funding for international collaboration.For more information on the background of this funding opportunity, go to the Additional information section.

Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)

UKRI is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.See further guidance and information about TR&I, including where applicants can find additional support.

Assessment process

In the event of this funding opportunity being substantially oversubscribed as to be unmanageable, we reserve the right to modify the assessment process, for example by adding a panel sift process. We reserve the right to follow any panel feedback and request amendments to the successful application.

We will assess your application using the following process.

Expression of Interest stage

The expression of Interest stage will not be peer reviewed or assessed. The aim of this stage is to gauge volume of applications, to look for areas of complementarity across the applications and to help broker relationships between applicants to encourage collaboration rather than competition by enabling applications to come together where appropriate.

We will ask for confirmation from all project leads that they are happy to share their contact details in order to, where appropriate, progress discussions to identify any similarities between the applications and encourage collaboration.

You should be available to attend a workshop hosted by us following the expression of interest and prior to the submission of the full application. This will be on 18 September 2024.

Full application stage

Expert panel

We will invite experts to review your application independently, against the specified criteria for this funding opportunity.

You will not be able to nominate reviewers for applications on the new UKRI Funding Service. Research councils will continue to select expert reviewers.

We are monitoring the requirement for applicant-nominated reviewers as we review policies and processes as part of the continued development of the new Funding Service.

Interview

An expert interview panel will conduct interviews with applicants after which the panel will make a funding recommendation.

The interview should be attended by the project lead and up to four other key members of the team, including at least one industrial collaborator. In the event that the project lead is unable to attend a suitable deputy from the proposed team should be identified.

We expect interviews to be held in April 2025.

EPSRC and NERC will make the final funding decision.

Feedback

We will give feedback with the outcome of your application.

Principles of assessment

We support the San Francisco declaration on research assessment and recognise the relationship between research assessment and research integrity.

Find out about the UKRI principles of assessment and decision making.

We reserve the right to modify the assessment process as needed.

Assessment areas

The assessment areas we will use are:

• Vision and Approach

• Applicant and team capacity to deliver

• Co-creation and stakeholder engagement

• Resources and costs

• Ethics and responsible research and innovation

Find details of assessment questions and criteria under the ‘Application questions’ heading in the ‘How to apply’ section.

Click here to start full aaplication on the UKRI Funding Service,  opening 08/08/2024, following Expression of Interest stage https://funding-service.ukri.org/OPP636/apply/683This is a two stage application process with an Expression of Interest (EoI) followed by a peer reviewed full application stage. It is mandatory to submit an EoI if you wish to submit a full application.

Expression of Interest stage

This will be run on Citizen Space and will be open from 27 June 2024 to 7 August 2024.You will not be able to apply after this time. The EoI will request the following details:

• project lead name, institution and email address

• current co-leads

• working title

• please outline the vision and aims of your proposed programme? Please give an overview the sectors and disciplines covered (1/2 to 1 page)

• what complementarity/expertise would you seek from prospective partners and/or which sectors’ involvement would strengthen your bid?

• how would you like prospective collaborators to contact you?

See the Expression of Interest survey.

Facilitation and brokerage workshop

All the submitted EoIs will be published on the funding opportunity webpage. This will enable EPSRC, NERC and all applicants to facilitate and broker introductions and relationships to create more inclusive and robust full applications, as well as merge and come together where appropriate.In addition, we will facilitate an in person brokerage workshop on 18 September 2024 between all applicants. It is expected that all project leads will attend.

Full application stage

We are running this funding opportunity on the new UKRI Funding Service so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI.

To apply

Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page.

1. Confirm you are the project lead.

2. Sign in or create a Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a password. If your organisation is not listed, email support@funding-service.ukri.orgPlease allow at least 10 working days for your organisation to be added to the Funding Service.

3. Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page.

4. Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.

5. Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.

6. Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI.

Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. You should:

• use images sparingly and only to convey important information that cannot easily be put into words

• insert each new image onto a new line

• provide a descriptive legend for each image immediately underneath it (this counts towards your word limit)

• files must be smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format

Watch our research office webinars about the new Funding Service.For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:

• how applicants use the Funding Service

• how research offices use the Funding Service

• how reviewers use the Funding Service

References

Applications should be self-contained, and hyperlinks should only be used to provide links directly to reference information. To ensure the information’s integrity is maintained, where possible, persistent identifiers such as digital object identifiers should be used. Assessors are not required to access links to carry out assessment or recommend a funding decision. Applicants should use their discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to the application.References should be included in the appropriate question section of the application and be easily identifiable by the assessors e.g. (Smith, Research Paper, 2019).You must not include links to web resources to extend your application.

Deadline

EPSRC must receive your EOI by 4.00pm UK time on 7 August 2024.EPSRC must receive your full application by 4.00pm UK time on 11 December 2024.You will not be able to apply after this time. It is mandatory to submit an expression of Interest in order to submit a full application.Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.Following the submission of your application to the funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and applications will not be returned for amendment. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected. If an application is withdrawn prior to peer review or office rejected due to substantive errors in the application, it cannot be resubmitted to the opportunity.

Personal data

Processing personal data

EPSRC as part of UKRI, will need to collect some personal information to manage your funding service account and the registration of your funding applications.We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our privacy notice.

Publication of outcomes

EPSRC and NERC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at What EPSRC has funded and What NERC has funded.If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research.

Summary

Word limit: 550In plain English, provide a summary we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.We usually make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, therefore do not include any confidential or sensitive information. Make it suitable for a variety of readers, for example:

• opinion-formers

• policymakers

• the public

• the wider research community

Guidance for writing a summary

Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of:

• context

• the challenge the project addresses

• aims and objectives

• potential applications and benefits

Core team

List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following:

• project lead (PL)

• project co-lead (UK) (PcL)

• project co-lead (international) (PcL (I))

• specialist

• grant manager

• professional enabling staff

• research and innovation associate

• technician

• visiting researcher

• researcher co-lead (RcL)

Only list one individual as project leadFind out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications.

Vision and Approach

Create a document that includes your responses to all criteria. The document should not be more than 12 sides of A4 (including references), single spaced in paper in 11-point Arial (or equivalent sans serif font) with margins of at least 2cm. You may include images, graphs, tables. References may be included but should not exceed one page of your document. You can have an additional page for a diagrammatic workplan.For the file name, use the unique Funding Service number the system gives you when you create an application, followed by the words ‘Vision and Approach’.Save this document as a single PDF file, no bigger than 8MB. Unless specifically requested, do not include any sensitive data within the attachment.If the attachment does not meet these requirements, the application will be rejected.The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.What are you hoping to achieve with and how will you deliver your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

For the Vision, explain how your proposed work:

• is of excellent quality and importance within or beyond the field(s) or area(s)

• has the potential to advance current understanding, generates new knowledge, thinking or discovery within or beyond the field or area

• is timely given current trends, context and needs

• impacts world-leading research, society, the economy or the environment

• explain the expected outcomes of the programme and describe how your proposed programme will enable a more sustainable industrial future that considers the wider environmental benefits or unintended consequences

For the Approach, explain how you have designed your work so that it:

• is effective and appropriate to achieve the objectives of the funding opportunity

• is feasible, and comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how they will be managed

• if applicable, uses a clear and transparent methodology

• summarises the previous work and describes how this will be built upon and progressed

• will maximise translation of outputs into outcomes and impacts

• describes how your, and if applicable your team’s, research environment (in terms of the place, and relevance to the project) will contribute to the success of the work

Within the Approach section we also expect you to:

• provide a project plan including milestones and timelines in the form of a Gantt chart or similar (additional one-page A4)

References may be included within this section.

Applicant and team capability to deliver

Word limit: 1,650Why are you the right individual or team to successfully deliver the proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Evidence of how you, and if relevant your team, have:

• the relevant experience (appropriate to career stage) to deliver the proposed work

• the right balance of skills and expertise to cover the proposed work

• the appropriate leadership and management skills to deliver the work and your approach to develop others

• contributed to developing a positive research environment and wider community

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.The word count for this section is 1,650 words; 1,150 words to be used for R4RI modules (including references) and, if necessary, a further 500 words for Additions.Use the Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) format to showcase the range of relevant skills you and, if relevant, your team (project and project co-leads, researchers, technicians, specialists, partners and so on) have and how this will help deliver the proposed work. You can include individuals’ specific achievements but only choose past contributions that best evidence their ability to deliver this work.Complete this section using the R4RI module headings listed. Use each heading once and include a response for the whole team, see the UKRI guidance on R4RI. You should consider how to balance your answer, and emphasise where appropriate the key skills each team member brings:

• contributions to the generation of new ideas, tools, methodologies, or knowledge

• the development of others and maintenance of effective working relationships

• contributions to the wider research and innovation community

• contributions to broader research or innovation users and audiences and towards wider societal benefit

Additions

Provide any further details relevant to your application. This section is optional and can be up to 500 words. You should not use it to describe additional skills, experiences, or outputs, but you can use it to describe any factors that provide context for the rest of your R4RI (for example, details of career breaks if you wish to disclose them). Complete this as a narrative. Do not format it like a CV.References may be included within this section.UKRI has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the new Funding Service. For full details, see Eligibility as an individual.

Project partners

Add details about any project partners’ contributions. If there are no project partners, you can indicate this on the Funding Service.A project partner is a collaborating organisation who will have an integral role in the proposed research. This may include direct (cash) or indirect (in-kind) contributions such as expertise, staff time or use of facilities.Add the following project partner details:

• the organisation name and address (searchable via a drop-down list or enter the organisation’s details manually, as applicable)

• the project partner contact name and email address

• the type of contribution (direct or in-direct) and its monetary value

If a detail is entered incorrectly and you have saved the entry, remove the specific project partner record and re-add it with the correct information.For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.

Project partners: letters (or emails) of support

Upload a single PDF containing the letters or emails of support from each partner you named in the Project Partner section. These should be uploaded in English or Welsh only.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box, or if you do not have any project partners enter N/A. Each letter or email you provide should:

• confirm the partner’s commitment to the project

• clearly explain the value, relevance, and possible benefits of the work to them

• describe any additional value that they bring to the project

• the page limit is 2 sides A4 per partner

The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply. If you do not have any project partners, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.Ensure you have prior agreement from project partners so that, if you are offered funding, they will support your project as indicated in the contributions template.For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.Do not provide letters of support from host and project co-leads’ research organisations.

Resources and cost justification

Word limit: 2,000What will you need to deliver your proposed work and how much will it cost?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Justify the application’s more costly resources, in particular:

• project staff

• significant travel for field work or collaboration (but not regular travel between collaborating organisations or to conferences)

• any equipment that will cost more than £10,000

• any consumables beyond typical requirements, or that are required in exceptional quantities

• all facilities and infrastructure costs

• all resources that have been costed as ‘Exceptions’

Assessors are not looking for detailed costs or a line-by-line breakdown of all project resources. Overall, they want you to demonstrate how the resources you anticipate needing for your proposed work:

• are comprehensive, appropriate, and justified

• represent the optimal use of resources to achieve the intended outcomes

• maximise potential outcomes and impacts

Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)

Word limit:500What are the ethical or RRI implications and issues relating to the proposed work? If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical or RRI issues, explain why.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated:

• the relevant ethical or responsible research and innovation considerations

• how you will manage these considerations

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.If you are collecting or using data, identify:

• any legal and ethical considerations of collecting, releasing or storing the data including consent, confidentiality, anonymisation, security and other ethical considerations and, in particular, strategies to not preclude further re-use of data

• formal information standards with which your study will comply

Additional sub-questions (to be answered only if appropriate) will be included in the Funding Service. These will ask about numbers, species/strain and justification about:

• genetic and biological risk

• research involving the use of animals

• conducting research with animal overseas

• research involving human participation

• research involving human tissues or biological samples

Co-creation and stakeholder engagement

Word limit:1,500

How will you embed co-creation with stakeholders throughout the programme to maximise the real-world impact on the UK’s transition to net zero?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Please describe:

• how your proposed team of researchers and stakeholders will be assembled to work collaboratively towards the joint vision

• how stakeholders and beneficiaries have been involved through collaboration and engagement in the creation of the programme and how they are expected to benefit from the research outputs. Including naming existing and potential partners in policy, industry and user organisations

• how you will engage new and existing stakeholders and further co-create the research challenges, planned test cases and impact and translation pathways throughout the life of the programme

Existing and potential partnerships should be described as part of the response to this section.

You can complete your response to this question within the Funding Service and do not need to upload a separate document as previously instructed.

Supporting documents

Expressions of interest (PDF, 490KB)

Background

This funding opportunity aligns to the net zero priorities of Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

EPSRC

The goal of EPSRC’s Engineering Net Zero strategy is to invest in research and innovation critical to the discovery, development and deployment of technologies and solutions to increase the speed of the deliverability of net zero and to shift us away from environmentally detrimental industries and processes to more sustainable and circular alternatives. This includes pioneering new technologies and the rapid scaling and evolution of current technologies.This funding opportunity delivers against the ‘tackling the biggest emitters’ strand of this strategy and will span Energy & Decarbonisation as well as Manufacturing and the Circular Economy and other theme interests.

NERC

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funds ambitious and adventurous research and innovation the UK needs to remain at the forefront of environmental science. The NERC strategic delivery plan sets out our ambitions to embed environmental science to support sustainable development and innovation (objective 2), and to pursue positive outcomes for business and the environment whilst minimising environmental impacts (objective 4).This includes working closely with key stakeholders, to deliver the outcomes needed to support both industrial decarbonisation and achieve UK environmental goals.This funding opportunity will support environmental science’s critical role in enabling the interdependencies between decarbonisation, circular economy, resource & energy efficiency and environmental net gain to be fully understood. It will embed environmental science within the solutions needed to transition to a more sustainable UK manufacturing sector. This means that decisions taken on decarbonisation fully consider the impact upon the natural environment, in the context of other challenges, such as reversing biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation.

UKRI

This funding opportunity delivers to UKRI’s Strategy 2022 to 2027: Transforming Tomorrow Together, to support world-class ideas, advancing the frontiers of human knowledge and innovation by enabling the UK to seize opportunities from emerging research trends, transdisciplinary approaches and new concepts and markets.

Additional disability and accessibility adjustments

UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process if required.

Research disruption due to COVID-19

We recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused major interruptions and disruptions across our communities. We are committed to ensuring that individual applicants and their wider team, including partners and networks, are not penalised for any disruption to their career, such as:

• breaks and delays

• disruptive working patterns and conditions

• the loss of ongoing work

• role changes that may have been caused by the pandemic

Reviewers and panel members will be advised to consider the unequal impacts that COVID-19 related disruption might have had on the capability to deliver and career development of those individuals included in the application. They will be asked to consider the capability of the applicant and their wider team to deliver the research they are proposing.Where disruptions have occurred, you can highlight this within your application if you wish, but there is no requirement to detail the specific circumstances that caused the disruption.

Grant additional conditions (GAC)

Grants are awarded under the standard UKRI grant terms and conditions. The following additional grant conditions will also apply.

GAC 1: fixed start date

Notwithstanding RGC 5.2 starting procedures, this grant has a fixed start date of 1 July 2025, no slippage of this date will be permitted. Expenditure may be incurred prior to the start of the grant and be subsequently charged to the grant, provided that it does not precede the date of the offer letter.

GAC 2: publicity and branding

In addition to RGC 12.4 publication and acknowledgement of support, you must make reference to EPSRC/NERC/UKRI funding and include the logo and relevant branding on all online or printed materials (including press releases, posters, exhibition materials and other publications) related to activities funded by this grant. You should make UKRI/EPSRC/NERC aware of upcoming press releases prior to release.

GAC 3: Equality, diversity, and inclusion

In addition to RGC 3.4, you are expected to prepare a full equality diversity and inclusion plan for the duration of this grant to demonstrate best practice in equality, diversity, and inclusion throughout the lifetime of this funding award. This must be recorded through the grant reporting process.

GAC 4: user engagement strategy

You must develop and execute a strategy for engaging with potential users of the research funded in the project. This strategy should be reviewed and updated regularly as part of the formal management and reporting process agreed for this grant.

GAC 5: project officer appointment

We will nominate a member of our staff (the project officer) who will be your primary point of contact. The project officer will ensure that the project is being run in accordance with the terms and conditions and in line with financial due diligence. The project officers should have access to all documentation of governance and reporting bodies, in so far as it relates to the administration and application of the grant.As funding administrators, all UKRI staff have agreed to maintain the confidentiality required by all parties involved in our funded research.

GAC 6: advisory board appointment

This grant must establish and run an independent advisory board, or equivalent body, to oversee the running of the project and provide advice on the strategic direction and activities of the project. The terms of reference and membership of this group (at least 50% independent membership and an independent chair) should be agreed with us.An EPSRC and NERC representative will also be expected to attend and participate in advisory board and other appropriate meetings for the duration of the grant.

GAC 7: management structure

You should have established an appropriate management structure with clear lines of responsibility and authority to oversee the day-to-day running of the project. This should be in place within 6 months of the start date of the grant.The terms of reference and management structure, including the director, co-director and senior investigators must be approved by us in advance. As must any changes to this structure. The project officer will be our main contact with the project and must receive all meeting minutes of the management committees. We reserve the right to attend any meetings.

GAC 8: project review

In addition to the requirements set out in standard UKRI grant conditions RGC 7.4 research monitoring and evaluation and 7.5 disclosure and inspection, we reserve the right to instigate a review of all or part of the grant at any stage during the lifetime of the award as well as after the grant has finished. A mid-term review of this grant will take place to assess the performance of the grant in line with the peer reviewed body of work, published scheme assessment criteria and key performance indicators or milestones and deliverables.We will give you due notice of the date of any review and will provide details of the terms of reference and documentation required. Any review will be conducted by an expert panel, which will make recommendations to us for the grant’s future.

GAC 9: progress reports

In addition to the requirements set out in RGC 7.4.3, you are responsible for providing annual progress reports against non-financial performance metrics. A detailed list of performance metrics and instructions for reporting will be agreed with the grant holder upon commencement of the grant.

GAC 10: flexible funds

Notwithstanding standard grant condition RGC 4.4 the sum awarded under the heading of ‘Flexible Funds’ can include both directly incurred and directly allocated expenditure. These funds must be reported on the final expenditure statement (FES) as awarded on the offer letter and a breakdown of the expenditure must be submitted along with the FES. If a breakdown of this expenditure is not received the FES will be returned. Standard grant conditions apply to all other funds awarded on this grant.

GAC 11: Devolved funding

In addition to RGC 2.6, where You are expected to hold a competition to distribute a proportion of funds awarded to a Third Party, this competition will be carried out in accordance with the principles of Peer Review upheld by us. Prior agreement on the process stages and assessment criteria must be sought from Us and agreed by the Advisory board in advance. You and any third party recipient must comply with expectations of the use of public money for the purpose of this grant. All expenditure incurred, irrespective of source, must comply with these expectations.

GAC 12: cost overrun

We will not be responsible for any cost overrun incurred during this grant. You will be required to make up any shortfall from alternative sources.

GAC 13: collaboration agreements

Where the grant is associated with more than one research organisation or other project partners, a formal collaboration agreement must be in place with the basis of collaboration between the organisations including the following:

• the process of the flexible allocation of resources throughout the project

• ownership of intellectual property

• rights to exploitation

It is your responsibility to put such an agreement in place by 1 October 2025. The terms of collaboration agreements must not conflict with the UKRI terms and conditions.We must be informed within 3 months of the start of the grant, that the collaboration agreement is in place and has been signed by all partners or the progress made (unless some alternative timeline has been agreed with us beforehand).If sufficient progress has not been made within 3 months of the start of the grant, we reserve the right the enact RGC 11.1.Arrangements for collaboration, exploitation or both must not prevent the future progression of research and the dissemination of research results in accordance with academic custom and practice.

GAC 14: change of project lead

In addition to RGC 7.3, this award is made on condition that any requests to change the grant holder, co-investigator or both will require prior approval from us.We must be contacted in writing and prior approval sought before this change can be made. To facilitate any changes of this nature the case must be made for why a new project lead is required.Requests for such a change are to be submitted via the grant maintenance facility in Joint Electronic System (Je-S). We will then consider and inform you of their decision.

GAC 15: Activities

UKRI may request the Hub to undertake bespoke activities on our behalf during the course of the project and the Hub will engage with these using the existing grant funding.

Responsible innovation

UKRI is fully committed to develop and promote responsible innovation. Research has the ability to not only produce understanding, knowledge and value, but also unintended consequences, questions, ethical dilemmas and, at times, unexpected social transformations.We recognise that we have a duty of care to promote approaches to responsible innovation that will initiate ongoing reflection about the potential ethical and societal implications of the research that we sponsor and to encourage our research community to do likewise. Therefore, applicants are expected to work within the EPSRC framework for responsible innovation.Applicants planning to include international collaborators on their application should visit Trusted Research for information and advice on how to get the most out of international collaboration while protecting intellectual property, sensitive research and personal information. Grant holders will be expected to engage with the relevant regulatory bodies where concerns may arise under the National Security and Investment Act. Aspects of bias, privacy, security, and ethics should be considered where appropriate.

Sustainability

UKRI’s environmental sustainability strategy lays out our ambition to actively lead environmental sustainability across our sectors. This includes a vision to ensure that all major investment and funding decisions we make are directly informed by environmental sustainability, recognising environmental benefits as well as potential for environmental harm.In alignment with this, UKRI is tackling the challenge of environmental sustainability through our ‘building a green future’ strategic theme, which aims to develop whole systems solutions to improve the health of our environment and deliver net zero, securing prosperity across the whole of the UK.Environmental sustainability is a broad term but may include consideration of such broad areas as:

• reducing carbon emissions

• protecting and enhancing the natural environment and biodiversity

• waste or pollution elimination

• resource efficiency and a circular economy

UKRI expects projects to embed careful consideration of environmental sustainability at all stages of the research and innovation process and throughout the lifetime of the project. Projects should ensure that environmental impact and mitigation of the proposed research approaches and hub operations, as well as the associated project outputs and outcomes is considered. Projects must also seek opportunities to influence others and leave a legacy of environmental sustainability within the broader operations of your academic and industry partners.

Related content

• UKRI policies and standards

• EPSRC policies and standards

• NERC policies and standards

  Timeline

  27 June 2024 9:00am Opening date

  7 August 2024 4:00pm Closing date for Expressions of Interest

  8 August 2024 9:00am opening date for full stage

  18 September 2024 Date for facilitated workshop

  11 December 2024 4:00pm Closing date for full proposals

  1 July 2025Grant start date

  Get help with your application

  Important note: The Helpdesk is committed to helping users of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service as effectively and as quickly as possible. In order to manage cases at peak volume times, the Helpdesk will triage and prioritise those queries with an imminent opportunity deadline or a technical issue. Enquiries raised where information is available on the Funding Finder opportunity page and should be understood early in the application process (for example, regarding eligibility or content/remit of an opportunity) will not constitute a priority case and will be addressed as soon as possible.

  Contact details

  For help and advice on costings and writing your proposal please contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process.For questions related to this specific funding opportunity please contact energyanddecarbonisation@epsrc.ukri.orgAny queries regarding the system or the submission of applications through the Funding Service should be directed to the helpdesk.Email: support@funding-service.ukri.orgPhone: 01793 547490Our phone lines are open:

  • Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 5:00pm

  • Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm

  To help us process queries quicker, we request that users highlight the council and opportunity name in the subject title of their email query, include the application reference number, and refrain from contacting more than one mailbox at a time.Find out more about submitting an application.

  Sensitive information

  If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, please contact tfschangeepsrc@epsrc.ukri.orgInclude in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number, if applicable].Typical examples of confidential information include:

  • individual is unavailable until a certain date (for example due to parental leave)

  • declaration of interest

  • additional information about eligibility to apply that would not be appropriately shared in the ‘Applicant and team capability’ section

  • conflict of interest for UKRI to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection

  • the application is an invited resubmission

  For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read UKRI’s privacy notice.

Updates

9 October 2024

For the question on Co-creation and stakeholder engagement, you can now create your response within the Funding Service and do not need to upload a separate document.