The assessment of research grant proposals is made by appropriate experts drawn from academia, government and industry. Proposals are usually assessed first by individual reviewers and then by peer review panels.
Normally at least two individual reviewers are used, one of whom may be nominated by the applicant, although the Science and Technology Facilities Council reserves the right not to use nominated reviewers. Nominated reviewers must not be collaborators; nor should they be from the applicant’s or collaborator’s organisation. Applicants are given an opportunity to respond to reviewer comments prior to assessment by the peer review panel.