Funding opportunity

Funding opportunity: strategic Longer and Larger (sLoLa) grants: frontier bioscience 2023 to 2024

Apply for funding to undertake large team-based fundamental bioscience research projects which push the frontiers of human knowledge.

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

Your project should:

  • have the potential to lead to major breakthroughs in our fundamental understanding of living systems
  • significantly enhance the capability and capacity of UK biosciences
  • demonstrate a fully integrated team science approach
  • demonstrate the need for longer and larger scale funding

The full economic cost of your project must be over £2,000,000. BBSRC will fund 80% of the full economic cost.

Projects can be up to five years in duration.

Who can apply

Before applying, check if you are eligible for BBSRC funding.

Please note: the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service will offer a simpler and better experience through a funding process which is supported by more consistent and robust policies and guidance.

UKRI is updating the individual eligibility policy to make the application process more inclusive and consistent across research council funding opportunities. Anyone previously eligible for funding will continue to be so. Further details of the new policy will be announced in due course.

Who is eligible to apply

This funding opportunity is open to teams of eligible researchers at:

  • higher education institutions
  • research council institutes
  • approved independent research organisations
  • public sector research establishments

A single principal investigator, who will be the main contact for BBSRC, must be designated as the project lead for administrative purposes.

The intellectual leadership and overall management of the project may be shared with any number of co-investigators at any number of eligible research organisations as part of a team science endeavour, with roles clearly specified in the application.

Who is not eligible to apply

Principal investigators and co-investigators who are not resident in the UK are not permitted.

Multiple applications with the same principal investigator are not permitted within the same funding round.

Principal investigators of currently active sLoLa awards may not apply as a principal investigator in this funding round, unless their grant is in its final year.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

BBSRC is 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

Consideration of equality, diversity and inclusion is important for all applications to BBSRC for funding. Particular care should be taken for projects taking a team science approach involving multiple co-applicants, such as those supported through the sLoLa scheme.

We expect sLoLa teams to be exemplars for best research practice by promoting a positive research culture and providing an inclusive environment which promotes the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion.

Find out more about equality, diversity and inclusion at UKRI and BBSRC’s equality, diversity and inclusion action policy.

What we're looking for

Scope

Frontier bioscience

Projects must be grounded in frontier bioscience: discovery research that pushes the limits of human knowledge, and which has the potential to lead to major breakthroughs in our fundamental understanding of living systems.

Projects are expected to generate new fundamental biological knowledge of broad and long-term significance, changing how we think about bioscience within and likely transcending their immediate fields. They should have the potential to make transformational, not incremental, contributions to our understanding of the principles which govern biological processes.

Projects can investigate ideas on any scale, or scales, of biological organisation in any study system, or systems, within BBSRC remit including but not limited to molecules, organisms, and populations. We particularly encourage applications which take a multiscale approach, integrating data-driven and experimental approaches from different bioscience disciplines.

Projects will typically be expected to utilise or, if needed, to develop the most cutting-edge transformative technologies, methods and approaches which you consider necessary to unlock and explore the frontiers of the bioscience area, or areas, under investigation.

We also welcome applications grounded in frontier bioscience but which are also potentially relevant to one or more of BBSRC’s world-class impact themes within our strategic delivery plan. However, applications that are not principally designed to deliver new fundamental bioscience knowledge, are unsuitable and likely to be excluded at the registration or outline stages.

Examples of unsuitable applications include those where the primary aim is to apply knowledge to tackle contemporary socio-economic challenges related to end-user driven objectives from within industry or sustainable development goals.

Other requirements

Longer and larger scale

Through an original and fully integrated research project, your idea must have the potential to lead to a major new contribution to biological knowledge, commensurate with the longer and larger scale of support provided.

Your application must provide a clear justification for the necessity of the longer and larger scale of funding through the sLoLa scheme, to the extent that the work could not be undertaken through several separate smaller awards, either in parallel or in series.

Your application must include a clear strategy for the integration of data and results generated such that the overall outcomes of the project are substantively different than the outcomes of individual work packages.

Your application must demonstrate overall coherence, connectivity, coordination and integration of the work to be carried out. This includes how the team will deliver substantively different and synergistic outcomes than could be achieved through the efforts of individual members or their research groups working in isolation.

Applications that lack a clear case for the need of longer and larger scale funding will be at a competitive disadvantage and may be excluded at the registration or outline stages.

Team science

Your application is expected to assemble a distinctive team of researchers drawn from the full breadth of expertise available across the UK with the collective capability of delivering the proposed work. Typically, this will span several research organisations or departments, or both.

Teams must collectively demonstrate that they have the appropriate depth and breadth of scientific, leadership, technical and management expertise to deliver the scale and complexity of the work proposed. This includes the ability to maintain the focus and momentum of longer and larger projects, as well as the skills to ensure the successful functioning of the wider team who may be distributed across multiple sites.

There is no requirement for principal investigators nor co-investigators to have held a similar sized award before. However, it should be clear how any individual holding significant scientific, leadership or management responsibilities will be mentored or otherwise supported by the wider team or institutional environment.

This is particularly important where an individual is stepping into a position with a greater degree of leadership or management responsibility than they have previously held. Dedicated project management support can also be incorporated into applications.

Your application should ensure the full complement of skills and expertise needed to achieve the expected outcomes are included and that the unique roles and responsibilities of each team member are clearly outlined and justified. Most sLoLa projects are expected to generate significant amounts of data, and therefore the key themes outlined in BBSRC’s recent review of data intensive biosciences (PDF, 4.2MB) should be carefully considered when assembling a research team.

Teams are encouraged to include researchers from the full depth and breadth of the UK’s diverse research and innovation talent pool, including different career pathways and stages. You should follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.

Strategic position

The proposed work should establish or significantly enhance an exceptional and unique bioscience research capability in the UK. Projects should lead to significant and distinctive improvements to health and vitality of the UK bioscience area, or areas, under investigation, raising its international profile to the point of being recognised as world-leading.

Your application should include consideration of how the proposed research fits with and complements other active UK and international research in the area, or areas, under investigation.

To facilitate the positioning of your application against the wider landscape of research investments, see the list of currently active BBSRC grants over £2 million. This is not an exhaustive account and you should consult other resources to build and demonstrate your own knowledge of the wider landscape.

BBSRC takes a strategic approach to investments, considering the overall balance of our portfolio in bioscience research. Applications in areas in which there is already substantial BBSRC or other UK Research and Innovation research council investment will be at a competitive disadvantage if significantly overlapping  these investments and may be excluded at the registration or outline stages. Particular attention should be paid to existing sLoLa-scale awards or research in areas covered by BBSRC institute strategic programme grants.

Remit

Work principally outside of BBSRC remit will be excluded. We encourage multidisciplinary applications, but we strongly advise potential applicants to contact us at support@funding-service.ukri.org before submission if you suspect substantial aspects of the application may be outside of BBSRC remit.

Duration

The duration of this award is up to five years.

It is anticipated that awarded grants will start in the latter half of the 2024 to 2025 financial year.

Funding available

The full economic cost of your project must be at least £2 million.

BBSRC will fund 80% of the full economic cost.

The indicative budget for this funding opportunity is up to £20 million, subject to the quality of applications received. We anticipate awarding between three and five grants in this funding round.

How to apply

Overview of the sLoLa application process

The sLoLa funding opportunity is comprised of three mandatory stages. The principal investigator (project lead) will be responsible for assembling all of the information required for each stage from the wider team and this will be submitted using the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service by their research organisation.

As each stage of the sLoLa funding opportunity opens, you will be able to access the corresponding UKRI Funding Service page to submit your application using the ‘start application’ button on this page.

Stage one: registration stage

Principal investigators must register their interest in the funding opportunity by completing a short registration on the UKRI Funding Service.

Stage two: outline stage

The outline stage is only open to applicants who have completed a registration in stage one.

Principal investigators will provide a more detailed summary application describing their proposed sLoLa project idea and team using the UKRI Funding Service.  No letters of support, management plans, or costings are required.

Stage three: full stage

The full stage is only open to applicants who have been invited to submit following the outline application stage.

Principal investigators will provide a full description of their sLoLa project idea, team, and other information including letters of support, management plans, and full justification of resources using the UKRI Funding Service.

UKRI Funding Service

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

If you do not already have an account with the UKRI Funding Service, you will be able to create one by selecting the ‘start application’ button at the start of this page. Creating an account is a two-minute process requiring you to verify your email address and set a password.

If you are a member of an organisation with a research office that we do not have contact details for, we will contact them to enable administrator access. This provides:

  • oversight of every UKRI Funding Service application opened on behalf of your organisation
  • the ability to review and submit applications

Research offices that have not already received an invitation to open an account should email support@funding-service.ukri.org

To find out more about the role of research office professionals in the application process, watch a recording of a recent research office webinar on YouTube.

Submitting your application

Your application should be prepared and submitted by the lead research organisation but should be co-created with input from all investigators, and project partners, and should represent the proposed work of the entire consortia.

To apply:

  1. Select the ‘Start application’ button at the start of this page.
  2. This will open the ‘Sign in’ page of UKRI’s Funding Service. If you do not already have an account, you’ll be able to create one. This is a two-minute process requiring you to verify your email address and set a password.
  3. Start answering the questions detailed in this section of ‘How to apply’. You can save your work and come back to it later. You can also work ‘offline’, copying and pasting into the text boxes provided for your answers.
  4. Once complete, use the service to send your application to your research office for review. They’ll check it and return it to you if it needs editing.
  5. Once happy, your research office will submit it to UKRI for assessment. Only they can do this.

As citations can be integral to a case for support, you should balance their inclusion and the benefit they provide against the inclusion of other parts of your answer to each question. Bear in mind that citations, associated reference lists or bibliographies, or both, contribute to, and are included in, the word count of the relevant section.

Deadlines

You should ensure you are aware of and follow any deadlines that may be in place within your research organisation.

Registration (stage one)

The registration stage is open now.

BBSRC must receive your registration by 24 May 2023 at 4:00pm UK time. You will not be able to register your interest in the sLoLa funding opportunity after this time.

Outline stage (stage two)

The outline stage will open to submissions one week following the close of the registration period, on 31 May 2023 at 9:00am UK time.

BBSRC must receive your outline by 26 July 2023 at 4:00pm UK time. You will not be able to submit an outline stage application to the sLoLa funding opportunity after this time.

Full stage (stage three)

Only applicants who are invited by BBSRC may submit a full stage submission.

The full stage is expected to open in autumn 2023. Further details will be available here in due course.

Personal data

Processing personal data

BBSRC, 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.

Outcomes publication

BBSRC funding outcomes are published on the BBSRC Portfolio Analyser. You can also search all competitive funding decisions made by UKRI’s councils.

If your application is successful, details of your awarded project will also be published via the UKRI Gateway to Research.

Registration (stage one): open now
UKRI Funding Service: section guidance

Summary

There is no need to provide a summary at the registration stage. Complete this field with ‘N/A’.

Word count: 2

Applicants

List the key members of your team and assign them roles, for example:

  • project lead (principal investigator)
  • project co-lead (co-investigator)
  • researcher co-lead (researcher co-investigator)

You should only list one individual as principal investigator. You may list as many co-investigators as required. There is no need to list project partners, collaborators, subcontractors or any other named contributors at this stage (such as research technical professionals, postdoctoral research associates, or project management professionals).

Keywords

What three keywords or phrases best describe the science area, or areas, covered in your proposed research project?

Word count: 10

Vision: frontier bioscience

What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work and how does this address the frontier bioscience scope of the funding opportunity.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Including:

  • are the high level aims of the proposed work clear?
  • is the application within BBSRC remit?
  • does the application clearly address the frontier bioscience scope of the funding opportunity, demonstrating potential to produce a step change in fundamental understanding of biology?

Word count: 250

Objectives

What are the specific objectives of your research project?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Are the objectives clearly articulated?

Word count: 100

Longer and large team science

Why is the longer and larger scale of funding of an sLoLa award necessary to deliver this project?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Is it clear that the proposed programme of work could not be delivered through a series of smaller research grants?

Word count: 150

Outline stage application (stage two): opening 31 May 2023
UKRI Funding Service: section guidance

Summary

There is no need to provide a summary at the outline stage. Complete this field with ‘N/A’.

Word count: 10

Applicants

List the key members of your team and assign them roles, for example:

  • principal investigator
  • co-investigator

You should only list one individual as principal investigator. You may list as many co-investigators as required. There is no need to list project partners, collaborators, subcontractors or any other named contributors at this stage (such as research technical professionals, postdoctoral research associates, or project management professionals).

Vision

What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how your proposed work:

  • is of excellent quality and importance within or beyond the field or fields
  • 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

Your project must be within the frontier bioscience scope of the funding opportunity. If a full stage proposal is invited, it is expected that the high-level objectives will appear unchanged unless feedback from the outline stage assessment process indicates otherwise.

Within your vision you should:

  • provide the overall aims and objectives of your research, typically as a small number of bullet points
  • describe your aims in the context of relevant prior work by your team and by the wider bioscience research landscape
  • highlight features that are particularly original or unique
  • describe how your application addresses the frontier bioscience scope of the funding opportunity, in particular its potential to lead to a major advancement in the fundamental understanding of living systems

Word count: 650

Approach

How are you going to deliver your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how your approach:

  • is effective and appropriate to achieve your objectives
  • meets the highest international standards of research excellence in the scientific area , or areas, covered
  • deploys or develops the most appropriate tools, methods and technologies according to the highest international standards and cutting-edge advances in the area, or areas, of research
  • leverages the team’s collective capabilities, noting the specific contributions of your team members to achieving each of your objectives
  • leverages the research environment, or environments, available facilities and other resources available to your team and how this will contribute to the success of the work

Outlines will not be subject to a detailed technical assessment by subject-area experts, but broad feasibility will be considered. The approach should be written with this in mind, so that the information is accessible to a broad panel of experts from a range of different fields.

Your approach should include an overview of how you will tackle the individual objectives, including reference to the experimental and analytical methods, tools, and technologies which will be employed or developed, and what model system, or systems, might be used. Key synergies or interdependencies between objectives which contribute to the delivery of outcomes greater than the sum of individual objectives should be highlighted.

Within the approach we also expect you to:

  • clearly outline the role and contribution of principal investigators and co-investigators to each objective
  • estimate the overall research effort needed to fulfil the programme of work and explain how this will be organised in relation to your objectives and the principal investigators and co-investigators leading them. You should note the expected full time equivalent of all research, technical, and analytical staff needed to deliver the project (for instance, postdoctoral research associates, research technical professionals, research software engineers and so on), highlighting the key skills or competencies they will need to have
  • attach a single PDF comprising a project summary diagram (up to one page A4) and an optional figure (up to one page A4)
Attachment guidance

You should attach a single PDF. This will comprise two elements: a mandatory project summary diagram (up to one page A4) and an optional figure (up to one page A4).

A project summary diagram (up to one page A4) is a visual representation of the approach. Show the key areas of work, their interrelationships the contributions of team members, and the expected outcomes. This is not a management plan and you do not need to provide detailed information such as key milestones. While this will not contribute to your word count, text should be kept to a minimum noting only key information necessary to refer to the appropriate sections within the approach (for example, names of investigators or objective numbers or titles. Ensure any text is legible and corresponds to Arial size 11 on an A4 page.

A figure corresponding to up to one A4 page can be included to support your application. More than one panel (such as figure 1A, 1B) can be included but you are advised to keep these to a minimum and only to illustrate essential points. You are responsible for ensuring it is clearly legible and interpretable by the assessors without magnification. Figure annotations and figure legends will not count towards the word count of the approach section but should be clear and concise, capturing only key information relevant to interpreting the figure and should not be used to expand on other elements of the approach. Ensure any text is legible and corresponds to Arial size 11 on an A4 page.

Word count: 1,350

Longer and larger scale team science

Why does your project require longer and larger scale funding through the sLoLa scheme?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

You should outline:

  • why your proposed programme of work requires longer and larger scale funding to achieve its aims
  • how your work will be fully integrated in order to deliver synergistic outcomes which could not be achieved through a series of smaller awards

Within this section, we also expect you to:

  • highlight key synergies and interdependencies between objectives or methods
  • describe the added value that the team science approach brings to your collective capability to deliver the aims and objectives

Word count: 350

Strategic case

What is the significance and added value of the proposed work in the context of the wider UK and international bioscience?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

You should outline how your proposed programme of work will:

  • create or enhance unique research capabilities or resources that will raise the international profile of UK bioscience
  • complement and not overlap existing longer and larger scale research endeavours in a national and international context
  • realise long-term transformational outcomes outside of the scientific area, or areas, under immediate investigation

Within the strategic case, where applicable we also expect you to:

  • highlight unique, in-demand, or emerging skills and competencies that will be developed or disseminated by your team
  • outline plans for ensuring long-term legacy and wider uptake of project outputs beyond the team (such as FAIR data, software, technologies or other resources generated through the project)
  • if applicable, identify potential routes towards socio-economic or other impact of interest to the general public, where these may already be evident

Word count: 350

Team capability to deliver

Why are you the right team to successfully deliver the proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Evidence of how 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 skills to deliver the work and your approach to develop others

Use the Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) format to showcase the range of relevant skills your leadership team 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. Read UKRI guidance on R4RI. You do not need to include a response for each team member under each heading, but the rationale for the inclusion of each team member in the project should be evident from this section.  You can enter N/A for any you think irrelevant, and will not be penalised for doing so, but it is recommended that you carefully consider the breadth of your experience.

The R4RI module headings are:

  • contributions to the generation of new ideas, tools, methodologies, or knowledge:
    • sLoLa awards are expected to use a variety of experimental techniques and generate a large amount of data so care should be taken to highlight both experimental and analytical experience directly relevant to the proposed research
  • the development of others and maintenance of effective working relationships:
    • where individuals are stepping into positions with greater degrees of scientific, leadership or management responsibilities than they have previously held it should be clear how they will be mentored or otherwise supported by the team, and previous experience should be highlighted
  • contributions to the wider research and innovation community
  • contributions to broader research or innovation users and audiences and towards wider societal benefit
  • additions (you can use this heading to provide any further information which evidences the team’s collective capability to deliver the proposed work, or which provides context to the wider application, such as detail of career breaks. It is not a requirement):
    • in this section you can reference anticipated contributions of any collaborators, project partners or sub-contractors

You should complete this as a narrative and you should avoid CV type format. You should maintain focus on only the most relevant exemplars within your team, and smaller teams may not require the full word count.

Word count: 1,500

References

List the references you’ve use to support your application.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Ensure your application is a self-contained description. You can provide links 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: 250

Full stage applications (stage three): opening autumn 2023 (to be announced)

Detailed guidance for the full stage will be made available in summer 2023 prior to the opening of the full stage to invited applicants. We anticipate that full stage applications will require:

  • a significantly expanded approach section
  • all letters of support
  • a detailed project and data management plan
  • ethical information
  • full costings information
  • a full justification of resources

How we will assess your application

Assessment process

The sLoLa funding opportunity is assessed in three distinct stages.

Stage one: the registration stage

BBSRC programme managers will review registrations and provide feedback based on remit, fit to scope, and other requirements of the funding opportunity. BBSRC may advise that your idea is not suitable for submission to the outline stage.

You can make changes to the team, individual objectives, and high-level aims in response to feedback prior to submission to the outline stage.

Stage two: the outline stage

A single multidisciplinary panel, the Strategic LoLa Committee (SLC), will assess outline applications. The purpose of the outline stage is not to conduct a detailed scientific evaluation but to assess the extent to which the application:

  • addresses the broad requirements of the sLoLa funding opportunity
  • has potential to be developed into a competitive full stage application

The SLC will provide feedback and a recommendation to BBSRC for applications to invite to submit a full stage application.

If you are invited to submit a full stage application, you can make changes to the proposed programme of work and team in response to feedback from stage two, but your high-level aims and objectives should remain the same.

If you intend to make substantive changes to your team or high-level aims and objectives such as adding or removing entire objectives or multiple co-investigators, contact us at support@funding-service.ukri.org

You must contact us at least four weeks prior to submitting your full stage application.

Stage three: the full stage

The full stage will only open to applicants who have been invited to submit following the assessment of their outline application in stage two.

The full stage is divided in two phases:

  1. Panel: full stage applications will be sent for external peer review. They will then be subject to assessment by a multidisciplinary panel comprised of outline stage SLC members and further subject matter experts co-opted from BBSRC’s responsive mode research committees and pool of experts. The panel will provide feedback and a recommendation to BBSRC for applications to invite for an interview.
  2. Interview: the most highly rated applications recommended by the panel will be interviewed by members of the SLC who will make a final funding recommendation to BBSRC.

All applications at both outlines and full stage are assessed against a set of assessment criteria. The outline and full stage panels will be scoring your applications against the set criteria using a set of scoring definitions based on a one to 10 scale. Further details on this will be provided at a later date.

At the full stage, applications will be sent out for full external peer review and you will have the opportunity to respond to reviewers’ comments.

Outline stage assessment criteria

At the outline stage the SLC will assess your application according to the following five overarching assessment criteria:

Research excellence

How well does the project meet the highest international standards of research in the scientific area, or areas, covered? This includes:

  • the project should have a coherent vision addressing a significant and worthwhile research challenge employing ambitious, creative and innovative approach
  • the tools, methods and technologies applied should be the most appropriate for the delivery of the objectives according to the cutting-edge of the field, or fields, under investigation
  • the approach should be ambitious and feasible
  • that the work will be carried out in an appropriate institutional environment

The panel will pay particular attention to the ‘Vision’ and ‘Approach’ sections to assess research excellence.

Fit to the frontier bioscience scope

To what degree does the project fit the frontier bioscience scope of the funding opportunity?

It should be clear:

  • that the principal aim of the project is the delivery of new fundamental bioscience knowledge
  • how the project will lead to a distinctive and significant advancement with regard to both current state of knowledge and ongoing research efforts both within and beyond the field, or fields, under immediate investigation
  • that the project has the potential to lead to a non-incremental step-change in our understanding of the scientific area, or areas, under investigation

The panel will pay particular attention to the ‘Vision’ and ‘Approach’ sections to assess fit to the frontier bioscience scope.

Longer and larger scale team science

To what degree does the project evidence the need for the longer and larger scale funding through the sLoLa programme? This includes:

  • the benefit and added value of supporting a coherent programme of inter-related objectives and other research activities rather than individual project grants should be clearly demonstrated
  • the strategy for the integration of individual work packages to deliver outcomes greater than the sum of parts should be clear and achievable
  • the synergistic benefits of the team science approach to deliver outcomes which could not be achieved by individual groups working in isolation should be substantial

The panel will pay particular attention to the ‘Longer and larger scale team science’ and ‘Team capability to deliver (team R4RI)’ sections to assess the longer and larger scale team science criterion.

Importance and transformative potential

To what extent will the proposed project establish or enhancing a unique, world leading research activity that will improve the international standing of UK bioscience?

It should be clear:

  • how the research programme will have significant impact on the broader health and vitality of UK bioscience and considers the potential for longer term legacy and sustainability
  • how the proposed research programme fits with and complements other active UK research in the area or related areas, including the relationship to the existing portfolio of BBSRC and wider UK Research and Innovation research councils’ portfolios of investment

The panel will pay particular attention to the ‘Vision’ and ‘Strategic case’ to assess importance and transformative potential.

Team capability to deliver

How well has the application evidenced that they have selected the most appropriate team to deliver the proposed programme of work from the UK’s full research and innovation talent pool?

It should be clear:

  • that the research will be carried out by a team with the full complement intellectual, technical, analytical and leadership skills and experience necessary to deliver the complexity and scale of work proposed
  • how the team will work together to mentor or otherwise support each other and particularly individuals stepping into roles with a greater degree of intellectual, leadership or management responsibilities than they have previously held

The panel will pay particular attention to the ‘Approach’ and ‘Team capability to deliver (R4RI)’ sections to assess team capability to deliver.

Full stage assessment criteria

In addition to the five outline stage criteria, at the full stage your application will also be assessed using the following two criteria:

Management strategy

Your application must demonstrate that a robust plan is in place to ensure effective working of the investigators and wider team. This strategy should ensure coordination of information and resources, integrated working across the team, management of diverse people and talent, the ability to address problems and to generally ensure the successful delivery of the planned outcomes. This should include information about governance and advisory structures, risk management, progress monitoring and project management.

Resources

The resources requested should be fully justified and appropriate relative to the anticipated project outcomes.

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.

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.

Ask about this funding opportunity

Email: support@funding-service.ukri.org

We aim to respond to emails within two working days.

Phone: 01793 547490

Our phone lines are open:

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

Additional info

Webinar for potential applicants

The launch of this funding opportunity was supported by two webinars that presented an overview of the sLoLa scheme, followed by a question and answer session. A copy of the material presented will be provided after the live sessions.

Watch webinar recording on Zoom (passcode: Qm!31Wp*)

Conditions of award

Awards will be made under standard UK Research and Innovation research grant terms and conditions to the lead organisation, which will be responsible for the management of the award.

Reporting and monitoring

As a condition of a sLoLa award, in addition to standard reporting requirements, the principal investigator must complete an interim report during the third year of the grant. A report template will be provided.

BBSRC will also allocate a project officer for the duration of all sLoLa awards. They will:

  • provide a primary point of BBSRC contact for the principal investigator
  • monitor progress and issues
  • attend advisory board meetings
  • provide guidance during the course of the grant

Supporting documents

sLoLa equality impact assessment (PDF, 94KB)

BBSRC portfolio of grants over £2 million (PDF, 71KB)

Webinar slides (to be provided after the webinars)

This is the website for UKRI: our seven research councils, Research England and Innovate UK. Let us know if you have feedback.