Funding opportunity

Funding opportunity: ADR UK Research Fellowships 2023

ADR UK (Administrative Data Research UK) invites applications for Research Fellowships to conduct research and analysis demonstrating the policy-impact potential of ADR England flagship datasets. The eligible list of datasets is contained within our brochure (PDF, 5.7MB).

You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UKRI funding.

Researchers new to using administrative data are encouraged to apply.

Researchers can apply for a fellowship grant of 18 months in duration, up to a maximum of £175,000 at 100% full economic cost (FEC). ESRC will fund 80% of the full economic cost.

Who can apply

Before applying for funding, check the following:

UKRI has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on UKRI’s new Funding Service from 22 May 2023.

For full details, visit Eligibility as an individual.

Who is eligible to apply

This funding opportunity follows standard eligibility guidance. For more information, please check the links above.

Early career researchers can apply and must have a mentor. Please get in touch if you have any questions about this requirement or are struggling to find an appropriate mentor. ADR UK is running a pilot mentoring scheme If you are interested in participating, please contact us at adrfellowships@esrc.ukri.org

Researchers on fixed term contracts are eligible to apply if their institutions are willing to extend their contracts to cover the period of the fellowship. If your application is successful at an institution eligible to receive UKRI funding, you will need an agreement to be hosted for the duration of the fellowship.

For this funding opportunity, joint applications on a job-share basis are permitted. If your application is a proposed job share, please state this where relevant in your application and set out your proposed arrangements in the Applicant and Team Capability to Deliver section. Both applicants for any joint applications will be able to list themselves as the “fellow”. The team should choose one of the fellow’s organisations to be responsible for submitting the grant application and administering the grant should the application be successful.

We encourage a minimum time commitment of 0.6 full-time equivalent for the core research phase, although we do accept fellowship proposals below this suggested time commitment. We encourage applicants to make full use of the opportunity presented by the data and funding available.

Researchers new to administrative data are encouraged to apply. They should include strong mentoring and capacity building plans as part of their fellowship to support their research goals.

Who is not eligible to apply

Project Leads (international), Project Co-Leads (international), and international Fellows are not eligible to apply for funding for this funding opportunity.

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
  • flexible working
  • alternative working patterns
  • support for people with caring responsibilities
  • Joint applications on a job-share basis are permitted for this funding opportunity. See guidance in the Who is eligible to apply section.

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

What we're looking for

Scope

ADR UK (Administrative Data Research UK) invites applications for Research Fellowships to conduct research and analysis demonstrating the policy impact potential of ADR England flagship datasets held within the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Secure Research Service or other ADR UK Trusted Research Environments, for example, SAIL databank). The Objectives section gives more detail on the datasets in scope, including priority datasets for this funding.

Objectives

We are looking for fellowship proposals that meet the following four objectives:

  • useful research: to act as ‘pathfinders’ for conducting research and deriving insights from the dataset, and which showcase the potential for policy impact and public benefit
  • useful data: to develop the data as a useful research resource for future users
  • useful engagement: to foster opportunities between academia, government, the third sector and the public to allow fresh thinking to flourish and maintain public acceptance of the use of data for research purposes
  • community building: to contribute to the applicant’s development as a research leader using administrative data, and activities which contribute to creating and developing a growing, self-sustaining community of administrative data researchers

Eligible datasets

You must use ADR England flagship data for your fellowship. An overview of these datasets and links to publicly available data documentation can be found in the dataset brochure (PDF, 5.7MB). This funding opportunity includes ringfenced funding for one fellowship for each of the following two datasets.

Priority datasets

Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data (ECHILD) – England

The ECHILD research database includes linked health, education and social care data for around 20 million children. It can be used to better understand how education affects children’s health and how health affects children’s education.

This first release of the database includes the National Pupil Database linked to Hospital Episodes Statistics as well as community, maternal, and mental health services data. For details on coverage, linkage methodology and restrictions, please read the user guide carefully.

Read our research priorities for fellowships using ECHILD (PDF, 368KB).

Data First: Cross-justice system linked dataset

Data First is an ambitious data-linking programme led by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and funded by ADR UK. Data already shared under Data First has linked criminal justice administrative datasets held by MoJ, including datasets from its executive agencies such as HM Prison and Probation Service and HM Courts and Tribunals Service.

The latest release from Data First is the creation of a cross-justice system linked dataset. This new linked dataset brings together family and civil courts data for the first time, and links to datasets already available under Data First.

The dataset allows researchers a unique opportunity to study interactions across the justice system for the first time, and to deliver vital evidence on individual journeys across the justice system.

Read our research priorities for fellowships using the Data First cross-justice system linked dataset (PDF, 263KB).

Other new or updated flagship datasets in scope

We would also like to highlight the following updates to our flagship datasets.

Family court – Cafcass linked to Census 2021 (England and Wales – SAIL)

The Data First family court – Cafcass linked dataset will soon be available linked to Census 2021 in the SAIL Databank Cafcass stands for Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service.

The de-identified dataset contains information on marriage and divorce characteristics, adoption, public law and private law cases and their legal outcomes in England and Wales. The updated datasets bring the family court data up to March 2023 and the Cafcass data up to January 2023. The Census data has been provided in full for England and Wales to SAIL Databank with the exception of travel to work and sexual orientation information. Full census documentation is expected soon; please check the brochure for updates and ensure you access the latest version. In the meantime, we encourage applicants to discuss any planned use of Census 2021 with SAIL to confirm feasibility.

Read our research priorities for fellowships using Family court (PDF, 191KB) – Cafcass linked to Census 2021 (England and Wales – SAIL)

Longitudinal Educational Outcomes (England) – new additions

The Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) dataset provides unparalleled insights into educational experiences and labour market outcomes of the English public.

It combines the education, earnings and benefits data records of the whole population from 1985 onward. This enables rich longitudinal analysis of the outcome of peoples’ education and if relevant, their interaction with the care system as children. We can investigate the impact that these outcomes have had on peoples’ lives in relation to their later earnings, taxation, and receipt of benefits. The capacity to analyse these longer-term labour market outcomes together, at person level, enables assessment of education policy and provision with much greater detail and accuracy than ever before.

The vast range of valuable insights that can be drawn from this dataset remains largely untapped, and this is an exciting opportunity to facilitate more urgently needed research outcomes. The latest additions to LEO are to be made available imminently to accredited researchers via the ONS Secure Research Service. This includes the addition of industry data, UCAS data and Covid-19 data among other valuable updates. It is expected that a third iteration of the service will be made available to users during the length of the fellowship, and updated data would be available for researchers to access once available.

Read our research priorities for fellowships using the LEO linked dataset (PDF, 270KB).

MoJ – DfE linked dataset: refresh to include data up to 2021

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) – Department for Education (DfE) linked dataset provides de-identified data on childhood characteristics and education outcomes of young people linked to data on their interactions with the criminal justice system. The shared information consists of data on the educational characteristics of young people, from DfE, linked to data on their interactions with the criminal justice system, from MoJ.

The data includes those offenders with at least one record from 2000 or later, who were on the Police National Computer at the end of 2021 and were matched to individuals on the National Pupil Database. Only offenders who were born on, or after 31 August 1985 were matched, because earlier groups do not have a realistic chance of matching. The earliest year shared will cover those aged 16 during the 2001/02 academic year, the oldest group likely to be present in the National Pupil Database.

Read our research priorities for fellowships using the MoJ-DfE linked dataset (PDF, 357KB).

Other datasets in scope

Other datasets in the brochure include Growing Up in England, the Grading and Admissions Dataset for England (GRADE), the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings – 2011 Census linked dataset and the individual datasets made available through the MoJ Data First programme. These datasets are all in scope for this fellowship opportunity.

Fellowship structure and expectations

This ADR UK Research Fellowship is up to 18 months in total including a dedicated funded period of up to three months at the end of the research phase for the fellow to focus on impact and development opportunities.

Research phase (up to 15 months): Maximum one full time equivalent (FTE)

This should cover typical research project stages including project set up, analysis and delivery of the research aims of your project. Our target start date is when we expect you will have access to the data, however projects may start while data access and project space set up is being finalised. You should anticipate a project inception phase up to six weeks to accommodate this within your project plan.

In support of our efforts to build capacity to work with administrative data, we expect some training activities might be appropriate during this phase, especially if you are developing skills to use the data. Training and development are encouraged as part of our fellowship. Your application will not be penalised if you lack the required skills initially, so long as you have a strong plan and mentoring in place to develop those skills.

For those wanting access to the LEO dataset, we can accommodate requests for early training activities to build the required SQL skills. This should be factored into your project inception phase.

Key ADR UK outputs during this phase will include:

The ADR UK Communications and Engagement team will support fellows with these outputs as well as engagements with the ADR UK user representation groups. More details can be found in our General Research Specification (PDF, 338KB).

Impact and development phase (up to three months): Max 0.5 FTE

This phase should be dedicated toward building on the activities and momentum from your research phase and maximising opportunities for knowledge exchange, impact and development opportunities. Activities during this phase should enhance the research goals and policy impact of your work. Wider activities may also contribute to your own development and support the wider research community using administrative data.

It is expected that impact activities will need to start within the research phase to ensure success within this dedicated period. You should set out your plans to build on the support from ADR UK within the research phase and clarify pathways to achieving your impact goals.

We understand that new opportunities may arise during the research phase of your project and plans may need to change accordingly. Successful fellows will meet with ADR UK to review their impact and development phase plans during month 13 of their fellowship to discuss any required changes and adjustments. We will work flexibly throughout the fellowship to consider change requests and support emerging opportunities.

Fellows can include activities in this phase which cover:
Impact Enhancement

  • tailoring communication to a non-academic audience through the production of short documents or media products
  • organising an event which involves a wide range of stakeholders including policymakers and practitioners, and which supports public trust
  • coordinating activities to establish networks and relationships with research users
  • developing activities to influence policy

Research synthesis, cohort leadership and engagement:

  • time to collaborate with other fellows on co-authored journal articles and other research outputs (this funding cannot be used for Article Processing Charges)
  • liaising with other fellows to organise a research event focused on an area of shared interest aimed at building community and enhancing bodies of knowledge
  • activities which pass on your expertise and help build a wider cohort of researchers who are better able to carry out research using the data from your fellowship

Training and Development opportunities:

  • training offered by you to the wider research community in support of enhancing capability to conduct administrative data research
  • training for yourself to allow you to capitalise on opportunities or enhance your capability as an administrative data research leader, or both. We expect training in this phase of the project to focus on skills related to impact and knowledge exchange or skills relevant to leading and delivering future research projects.

This is not an exhaustive list. We encourage applicants to be ambitious and bring exciting, fresh and impactful ideas to ensure their research makes a difference for public good.

For more information on the background of this funding opportunity, go to the Additional information section. You should also read the research priorities for each linked dataset and General Research Specification (PDF, 383KB) for ADR UK’s Research Fellowships in conjunction with this funding announcement.

Duration

The duration of this award is 18 months

Projects should aim to start by April 2024.

The deadline to apply to this round is 10 October 2023 at 4:00pm UK time.

Funding available

The full economic cost of your project can be up to £175,000

ESRC – ADR UK will fund 80% of the full economic cost.

What we will fund

Prioritisation

We have ringfenced funding for one fellowship each for ECHILD and Data First: Cross Justice system. We anticipate awarding up to an additional eight fellowships. The allocation of remaining fellowships will be based on the quality of applications received.

Project partners: joint projects, placements and secondments

ADR UK recognises the value of close collaboration with research project stakeholders and encourages applicants to consider how they might embed partnership working into their fellowship. For example, this might include building relationships with key organisations that could derive public benefit from your research insights, in order to boost the potential and future impact of the data, research and your engagement. This could be facilitated through a formal secondment for part or all of the fellowship, or it could be a more informal collaborative arrangement through a project partnership.

This is not an essential part of this fellowship funding opportunity, but we would like to offer the flexibility to accommodate co-production and encourage co-design of research projects in order to maximise the public good from making these data available.

Capacity building

We will be looking for evidence of a strong commitment to building capacity for administrative data research and supporting the development of researchers at all stages of their career. We expect this to include a strong career development programme, shaped to suit the stage of the researchers’ career and providing increased opportunities for professional development. This should include, but not be limited to, the early career stage. We encourage you to consider how you can support the career development of all members of the research team.

Increasing capacity contributes to the quality and impact of the research. Examples of building capacity include:

  • support and mentoring
  • management and leadership

Impact, innovation and interdisciplinarity

We expect applicants to consider the potential scientific, societal and economic impacts of their research. Outputs, dissemination and impact are a key part of the criteria for most peer review and assessment processes. We also encourage applications that demonstrate innovation and interdisciplinarity (research combining approaches from more than one discipline).

How to apply

Data Access, accreditation, and approval

ADR UK partners have rigorous safeguards in place to ensure the data cannot be accessed by any unauthorised persons, or for any reason other than research that passes the public benefit test. These safeguards are defined by the ‘Five Safes’ developed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and include accreditation of the researcher and approval of the research project.

For data being access via the ONS Secure Research Service

Successful applicants will need to become an accredited researcher of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Secure Research Service and have their project approved under the data owners’ information governance review process.

Successful applications will be invited to submit an application through the Research Accreditation Service to get their project approved after the funding panel decisions. Project approval is not required at this stage although researcher accreditation can take place in advance of a funding decision.

For any questions regarding the ONS accreditation and approval process, please contact srs.customer.support@ons.gov.uk . If you have a query about a specific dataset please contact adrcuration@ons.gov.uk

For data being accessed via SAIL databank (for example, Family court-Cafcass-Census 2021 linkage):

You must complete stage one of the two-stage process by clicking on the ‘Discuss your research question with us today’ box. This will take you to the scoping form where you can submit information about your proposed research. A SAIL Databank analyst will then be in touch to discuss your project. This is to ensure that you can build data access costs associated with SAIL into your research funding application and receive advice on project feasibility.

Expression of Interest (strongly encouraged)

In order to understand demand, help with planning an appropriate review panel and support the development of feasible applications, this funding opportunity will have an Expression of Interest (EoI) stage.

You should submit a brief email to ADRFellowships@esrc.ukri.org with the subject line “EoI: ADR Fellowship 2023” by 4:00 pm 15 August. Your email should summarise your research aims, questions and objectives, the data you anticipate using (incl. dataset, years, any specific variables you think you need or want to check, geography etc), and an indication of your methodological approach. This should be brief and concise (max 500 words) and is only intended to give us an indication at this stage. We understand your full proposal may differ from the EoI you submit.

The deadline for the EoI is 15 August and your summary will be shared with ONS, SAIL and our data leads as appropriate. Where possible, our partners may be in touch to discuss your EoI with you to clarify important feasibility aspects well ahead of the 10 October 2023 final submission deadline for this funding opportunity.

It is unlikely that our funding panel will discuss proposals which aren’t feasible. It is your responsibility to ensure that your project is feasible using the dataset you have requested. If you have specific questions or concerns about your project, please include these in your email and we will ensure they are addressed.

Submitting your application

We are running this funding opportunity on the new UKRI Funding Service. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.

The fellow is responsible for completing the application process on the UKRI Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.

For job share applications where the fellows are from different organisations, the team should choose one of the fellows organisations to be responsible for submitting the grant application and administering the grant should the application be successful. The fellow of the organisation chosen to be the administrative lead should start the application in the UKRI funding service. Please note that only the fellow that starts the application can edit it and send it to their research office to be submitted to UKRI.

Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI.

To apply:

  1. Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this page.
  2. Confirm you are the fellow. If you are applying as part of a job share, please ensure the fellow of the organisation chosen to be the administrative lead starts the application.
  3. Sign in or create a UKRI 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.org
  4. Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to them, or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the ‘How to apply’ section on this Funding finder page.
  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.

Watch our research office webinars about the new UKRI Funding Service.

Deadline

ESRC must receive your application by 10 October 2023 at 4:00pm UK time.

You will not be able to apply after this time.

You should ensure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines that may be in place.

Personal data

Processing personal data

We 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.

We will need to share the application and any personal information that it contains with ONS, SAIL, and key academic partners so that they can participate in the assessment process. Find out more on how ONS uses personal information

Publication of outcomes

ESRC, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at What ESRC has funded.
If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research and on ADR UK’s website

UKRI Funding Service: section guidance

Section: Vision and Approach

Provide a single seven-page PDF attachment covering the ‘Vision’ and ‘Approach’ sections of the application and enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box below. The document must have single line spacing, margins of at least two cm and be typed using Arial 11pt, or another ‘sans serif’ font with an equivalent size to Arial 11pt.

Question: What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work and how will you deliver it?

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 fields or areas
  • 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
  • Contributes to the four key ADR UK fellowship objectives

Within the Vision section we also expect you to:

  • identify the potential direct or indirect benefits and who the beneficiaries might be
  • Identify how the research is being undertaken for public good
  • Identify datasets geography and years of data required

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

  • is effective and appropriate to achieve your objectives
  • is feasible, and comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how they will be managed
  • if applicable, uses a clear and transparent methodology
  • if applicable, 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, its location, and relevance to the project) will contribute to the success of the work

Within the Approach section we also expect you to:

  • demonstrate access to the appropriate services, facilities, infrastructure, or equipment to deliver the proposal
  • provide a detailed and comprehensive one page A4 project plan including milestones and timelines in the form of a Gantt chart or similar
  • demonstrate you have good understanding of the datasets you are applying for, confirm that you have reviewed the relevant data documentation associated with the dataset(s) you plan to utilise within this study and confirm your project is feasible with the data you have requested
  • List your specific research questions and hypotheses and provide detail on how they will be addressed using the dataset. For example, variables that will be used and geographic level.
  • Detail expected outcomes and planned publications

Section: Your mentor support

Question: upload a single PDF containing a statement from your primary mentor detailing why they (and any additional mentors) are the most appropriate person or people to support you.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Provide a statement from your mentor that demonstrates how they will support your career trajectory and how the support offered forms a cohesive career development package tailored to your aims and aspirations. Upload the statement and write ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box.

Your mentor support statement should articulate the following:

  • how they have tailored their programme of support to your individual needs
  • how they will ensure you are kept active and focused throughout the award
  • how they will keep your long-term career prospects clearly in mind
  • how they have the relevant skills and experience to be your mentor

The statement should be completed by the primary mentor but must detail the relevant skills and expertise of all mentors and their approach to mentoring. The statement should not exceed two sides of A4.

Unless specifically requested, please do not include any personal data within the attachment.

Upload details are provided within the service on the actual application.

Word count: 5

Section: Career progression

Question: Why is the proposed work, the environment it will be conducted in and the support provided by the host organisation the right way to develop your career?

What the assessor are looking for in your response

That you have identified:

  • career progression goals appropriate to the fellowship opportunity
  • necessary support to enable you to transition, change and grow as an independent leader or research and achieve your stated career progression goals
  • how the proposed work will provide a feasible and appropriate trajectory for you to acquire additional skills, like leadership, communication and management skills

Word count: 1,000

Section: Project partners

Provide details of any project partners’ contributions, and letters or emails of support from each named partner.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

If you do not have any project partners, simply add ‘N/A’ into the text box, mark this section as complete and move to the next section.

Download and complete the project partner contributions template (DOCX, 52KB). Then copy and paste the table within it to the text box below.

Include letters or emails of support from each partner in a single PDF.

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 UKRI 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 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.

Word count:1,000

Section: Applicant and team capability to deliver

Question: Why 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 the positive research environment and wider community

The word count for this section is 1,500 words, 1,000 words to be used for R4RI modules 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 (investigators, researchers, other (technical) staff for example research software engineers, data scientists and so on, and partners), have and how this will help to 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 below. You should 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).

You should complete this as a narrative and you should avoid CV type format.
Word count: 1,500

Section: Ethics and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI)

Question: What 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

Using the text box, demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated the relevant ethical or responsible research and innovation considerations, and how you will manage them.

We also expect you to:

  • Identify risks to public good requirements and how they will be mitigated.
  • confirm plan to carry out ethics self-assessment

If you are collecting or using data you should 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 taken to not preclude further reuse of data
  • formal information standards with which study will be compliant

Word count 500

Section: References

Question: List the references you’ve used to support your application.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Ensure your application is a self-contained description. You can provide hyperlinks to relevant publications or online resources. However, assessors are not obliged to access the information they lead to or consider it in their assessment of your application. You must not include links to web resources in order to extend your application. If linking to web resources, to ensure the information’s integrity is maintained include, where possible, persistent identifiers such as digital object identifiers.

Word count 1000

Section: Facilities

Question: Does your proposed research require the support and use of a facility?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

If not, enter N/A into the text box, mark this section as complete and move on to the next section.

If you will need to use a facility, you should follow your proposed facility’s normal access request procedures. Where prior agreement is required, ensure you obtain their agreement that, should you be offered funding, they will support the use of their facility on your project.

In the text box below, for each requested facility you should provide:

  • the name of facility, copied and pasted from this list
  • the proposed usage or costs, or costs per unit where indicted on that list
  • confirmation you have their agreement where required

Do not put the facility contact details in your response.

Word count 500

Section: Resources and cost justification

Question: What will you need to deliver your proposed work and how much will it cost?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Use the resources and cost summary table to enter the full costs. Include high-level costs only, not a breakdown of individual items. Use the Justification text box 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

This section should not simply be a list of the resources requested, as this will already be given in the detailed ‘costs’ table. Costings should be justified on the basis of full economic costs (FEC) of the project, not just on the costs expected from UKRI. For some items we do not expect you to justify the monetary value, rather the type of resource, such as amount of time or type of staff requested.

Where you do not provide adequate justification for a resource, we may deduct it from any funding awarded.

You should identify:

  • support for activities to either increase impact, for public engagement, knowledge exchange or to support responsible innovation
  • support for access to facilities, infrastructure or procurement of equipment
  • support for preserving, long-term storage, or sharing of data
  • support from your organisation or partner organisations and how that enhances value for money

Word count: 1000

How we will assess your application

Assessment process

We will assess your application using the following process.

Following basic office eligibility checks, research applications will be assessed by a funding panel made up of independent expert reviewers. Three individual members will review and score each proposal.

Final funding recommendations will be made at a panel meeting of all reviewers in December 2023. Full funding offers will be subject to final data owner approval.

We expect the outcomes of the funding panel to be communicated within two weeks of the meeting. Applications will then go through a formal data owner approval process.

We expect offer letters to be issued by March 2024 so that projects are ready to start from April 2024.

Principles of assessment

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

Find out more about ESRC’s assessment process.

We will assess your application against the following criteria, listed under the ‘Questions and criteria’ heading in the ‘How to apply’ section:

  • Vision
  • Approach
  • Your mentors support
  • Career progression
  • Applicant and team capability to deliver
  • Resource and cost justification
  • Ethics and responsible research and innovation

Find out about the UKRI Principles of Assessment and Decision Making.

Job share

The two individuals job-sharing a fellowship have very similar skills and experiences. Job- shares should not be used to upskill an applicant who requires complementary and different skills in order to complete the project. Noting that job-share fellowships are non-standard and that members of the research and innovation community may not have reviewed such proposals before, additional feedback is provided to those carrying out the external peer review of proposals and for those sitting on the Sift and Interview Assessment Panels. This guidance will indicate that consideration of the project vision and approach assessment criteria need to include assessment of how the proposed project forms a single coherent programme rather than separate activities.

Assessment criteria

What we are looking for

Section: Vision

Have the applicants demonstrated how the work they are proposing:

  • is of excellent quality and importance within or beyond the fields or areas
  • 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
  • will impact world-leading research, society, the economy or the environment
  • Contributes to the four key ADR UK fellowship objectives
Section: Approach

Have the applicants demonstrated that they have designed their approach so that it:

  • is effective and appropriate to achieve their objectives
  • is feasible, and comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how they will be managed
  • if applicable, uses a clear and transparent methodology
  • if applicable, 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 their, and if applicable their team’s, research environment (in terms of the place, its location and relevance to the project) will contribute to the success of the proposed work
Section: Your Mentor support

Have the applicants provided a statement from their mentor which shows:

  • how they have tailored their programme of support to the needs of the fellow
  • how they will ensure the fellow will be kept active and focused throughout the award
  • how they will keep the long-term career prospects of the fellow clearly in mind
  • how they have the relevant skills and experience to be a mentor to the fellow
Section: Career progression

Have the applicants demonstrated that the environment the research will be conducted in and the support provided by the host organisation the right way to develop their career, so that:

  • career progression goals are appropriate to the fellowship opportunity
  • there is necessary support to enable you to transition, change and grow as an independent leader or research and achieve your stated career progression goals
  • the proposed work will provide a feasible and appropriate trajectory for the applicant to acquire additional skills, like leadership, communication and management skills
Section: Applicant and team capability to deliver

Have the applicants provided evidence of how they, and if relevant their 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, and mentor support to deliver the work and their approach to develop others
Section: Resources and cost justification

Have the applicants demonstrated how the resources they anticipate needing for their proposed work:

  • are comprehensive, appropriate, and justified
  • represent the optimal use of resources to achieve the intended outcomes
  • maximise potential outcomes and impacts
Section: Ethics and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI)

Have the applicants identified and evaluated the relevant ethical or responsible research and innovation considerations, and how they will be managed.

Contact details

Get help with your application

For help on costings and writing your application, contact your research office. Allow enough time for your organisation’s submission process.

Sensitive information

If you, or a key team member, need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email support@funding-service.ukri.org. Include ‘Sensitive information: ADR UK Research Fellowships 2023 ’ in the subject line.

Typical examples of confidential information include:

  • applicant 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, see UKRI’s privacy notice.

Ask about this funding opportunity

Email: support@funding-service.ukri.org

Phone: 01793 547490

Our phone lines are open:

  • Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 5:00pm
  • Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm

Additional info

Webinars for potential applicants

We will hold webinars for specific datasets on the dates below to provide more information about the datasests and a chance to ask questions:

We will also hold two webinars on the fellowship application process and fellowship requirements:

Expression of Interest

This funding opportunity will have an Expression of Interest (EoI) stage. You should submit a brief email to ADRFellowships@esrc.ukri.org with the subject line “EoI:ADR Fellowship 2023” by 15 August. Your email should summarise your research aims, questions and objectives, the data you anticipate using (including dataset, years, any specific variables you think you need or want to check, geography etc), and an indication of your methodological approach. This should be brief and concise and is only intended to give us an indication at this stage

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.

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