The Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) is a flexible narrative CV template. It’s designed to help you, or your team, evidence a wider range of skills and experience (than a traditional academic CV) when applying for UKRI funding opportunities.
R4RI is halfway between a CV and cover letter, and provides the space to explain the context of your achievements.
Throughout 2022 and 2023, UKRI are rolling out the format across all funding opportunities that require track record information.
The guidance to support you in completing your R4RI may differ slightly between funding opportunities and research councils. However, the headings are used by UKRI consistently. You should consider the information on this page as general guidance.
R4RI is based on the Royal Society’s Résumé for Researchers (R4R) but has been adapted to be more inclusive of UKRI’s research and innovation communities.
If you are an applicant or assessor who has used R4RI before, we invite you to provide feedback on R4RI through this survey.
When to use R4RI
The funding opportunity you are applying for will include information on whether you must submit an R4RI or a traditional CV.
Currently, we are only piloting R4RI for some of our funding opportunities. You must refer to the specific guidance for the funding opportunity for information on which CV format to use.
You must not use R4RI unless you are asked to do so.
Download the R4RI template for applications through Je-S
The Résumé for Research and Innovation template is available as a DOCX file.
Only use this template if you are required to upload an R4RI to an opportunity being run through the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.
You do not need to use this template if you are applying on the UKRI Funding Service as R4RI information is captured through the digital application.
How to fill out your R4RI
The Résumé for Research and Innovation is designed to be flexible. Your R4RI should be unique to you and to the funding opportunity.
R4RI replaces the track record section of the case for support.
Filling in the four modules
The four modules are designed to make you think about the breadth of your experience in the context of your application.
You can include as much information as you like within each module (or leave modules blank), so long as it follows the format requirements below and specific funding opportunity guidance. You should also look at the funding opportunity guidance for any specific instructions for your R4RI.
The modules are:
- 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
The module headings are to be used as a guide. Information on what to include can be found in the ‘What you should include’ section.
Format requirements in Je-S
In Je-S you must fill in the R4RI template using a single-spaced font in Arial 11 or another sans serif font of equivalent size.
The content should be written as an evidenced narrative, including both qualitative and quantitative evidence. You should avoid using lists where possible.
We usually limit the R4RI page length to two sides of A4 (not including the introduction and team composition table) for individual applicants. The margins used in the template are standard margins and should not be changed.
Please refer to the funding opportunity for specific guidance on page limits for teams. Any embedded help text may be deleted and does not count towards the page limit.
You must not add additional modules or tables to the template, unless you have been told you can do so. Footnotes should not be used.
You must not attach a separate publications list.
Format requirements in the UKRI Funding Service
In the UKRI Funding Service fonts and word count checking are automated. The standard word limit is 1000. Please refer to the funding opportunity for specific guidance on page limits.
You must not attach a separate publications list.
What you should include
R4RI is used across a diverse range of different funding opportunities. Therefore, you must refer to the specific funding opportunity guidance for information on what and who you should include.
Traditional CVs tend to focus on a narrow range of outputs, such as publications and successful funding. In your Résumé for Research and Innovation, we encourage you to share a wider range of skills and experience.
Primarily, your R4RI should focus on evidencing your ability and potential to carry out the proposal. This could mean using examples of previous outputs to demonstrate how you have been successful before or that you have expertise in a critical methodology.
When referring to outputs such as publications, please provide these as a digital object identifier (DOI) which can be hyperlinked to the publication where possible. This will also help you to save space in the R4RI template.
You should also describe other relevant skills, such as experience of managing collaborations or teams.
Additionally, R4RI gives you the opportunity to include evidence of other activities. These may be less relevant to the proposal itself, but demonstrate your experience of delivering UKRI’s broader aims (for example, in UKRI’s strategy, transforming tomorrow together). These could include activities such as public engagement, your contributions to peer review and research assessment, and data curation.
Other information to include if applying as a team
Teams should submit a single R4RI (not individual R4RIs for each team member) when applying to a funding opportunity. Only one R4RI should be submitted even for large teams across multiple organisations. Specific funding opportunities may change page limits for team R4RIs.
The team R4RI should describe only a selection of their past contributions that best evidence their ability to carry out the proposed project.
An individual’s specific achievements can be fore fronted where appropriate, but the contributions described across the modules should demonstrate the appropriateness of the overall team. Different team members may be able to demonstrate complementary skills.
As a general rule, we would expect that anyone who would have previously been required to submit a traditional CV should be included in the team R4RI. But please refer to funding opportunity-specific guidance for who you must include.
A table is included at the beginning of the template to allow you to refer to team members by their initials throughout the document.
Providing additional information
There’s also space to provide additional information to describe any factors which may provide context for the rest of your R4RI (for example, details of career breaks if you wish to disclose them). However, you are not required to provide this information.
If you choose to provide additional information, this will be seen by the panel and reviewers, even if it references a sensitive issue. We encourage you to focus on how the issue has affected your career, rather than expanding on the issue itself.
Do not use this section to describe additional skills, experiences or outputs, as this information will not be assessed.
When using R4RI in Je-S, additional information does not count towards the page limit.
In the UKRI Funding Service you will be given an extra 500 words to provide additional information.
How to submit your R4RI
Submitting your R4RI via Je-S
You should upload your R4RI in the Joint Electronic Submission (Je-S) system under the CV attachment, unless the funding opportunity guidance tells you otherwise. You should not upload a traditional CV when submitting a R4RI.
Submitting your R4RI via the UKRI Funding Service
In the UKRI Funding Service your R4RI will be included under the section where you describe the teams capability.
Typically we will ask you for this information via a digital textbox, rather than asking you to upload a copy of the template.
Assessment process
R4RI is used to inform the assessment of the proposal overall and will not be viewed in isolation. Assessors will never be asked to score individual modules.
Your R4RI will form part of the proposal documentation, and will be used to support your application in showing how your skills and experience make you the best person (or team) to carry out the proposed project. It is not an assessment of your writing or language skills.
As part of UKRI’s commitment to support the recommendations and principles set out by the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), UKRI reviewers and panel members are advised not to use metrics, such as journal impact factors:
- as a surrogate measure of the quality of individual outputs
- to assess an applicant’s contributions
- to make funding decisions
Sharing of information
Your completed R4RI will be seen by both reviewers and panel members and won’t be anonymised. It will be treated in the same way as traditional CVs and shared with UKRI colleagues for evaluation purposes.
All personal data provided to UKRI in connection to funding applications will be processed in accordance with current UK data protection legislation and the EU General Data Protection Regulations 2016/679 (GDPR) where appropriate.
Find out more about how we use information provided in research funding applications in our ‘Use of Grant Proposal and Training Grant information addendum’.
Further information on how we use personal data, and how you can exercise your rights as a data subject, can be found in the UKRI privacy notice.
Why we’ve introduced R4RI
UKRI committed to adopting a narrative CV based on the Royal Society’s Résumé for Researchers (R4R) for all funding opportunities requiring track record information in April 2021. We officially launched R4RI in December 2021, and will be rolling out the format across UKRI throughout 2022 and 2023.
R4RI is one part of a wider ambition to create a more inclusive and supportive research and innovation culture.
Traditional academic CVs are often narrowly focused and tend to include limited information beyond education history, publications and successful funding. R4RI gives applicants the opportunity to:
- showcase the many other contributions they make to the research and innovation community
- highlight essential skills, such as managing teams or collaborations, as well as outputs.
The format also allows better description of varied career paths, reduces focus on continuous productivity and enables a greater diversity of people to be recognised.
Applicants are able to put their skills and experience in context to aid reviewers or panel members who may be less familiar with the discipline or sector to understand the significance and impact.
R4RI also reduces focus on lists and quantity of outputs, and increases focus on quality of outputs, in line with UKRI’s commitment to DORA and to responsible research assessment.
Supporting the research and innovation community adoption of R4RI-like narrative CVs
To support the sector-wide adoption of R4RI-like narrative CVs, UKRI has created communities of practice.
The Joint Funders Group explores shared approaches towards adoption of R4R-like CVs in funding decisions. Members are co-developing a range of resources that support its use, including training and evaluation.
Browse the Funding uses Résumé Resources Library.
The Alternative Uses Group, co-developed in partnership with Universities UK, complements the efforts of the Joint Funders Group. Members explore the alternative applications of R4RI-like CVs in a range of processes, from recruitment and promotion, to personal and professional development.
Browse the Alternative uses Résumé Resources Library.
Contact us
For queries on how to use R4RI, please use the contact details on the funding opportunity you are applying for.
If you are an applicant or assessor who has used R4RI before, we invite you to provide feedback on R4RI through this survey.
Last updated: 6 July 2023