Industrial CASE – EPSRC

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Allocation, funding and additional partners

We allocate awards directly to businesses and related organisations using an algorithm based on cash and in-kind contributions to EPSRC-funded research.

It is therefore not possible to apply for ICASE awards. However, the Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) CASE conversion route is open to all. These are essentially the same as ICASE, but the funds are already in place with the universities which hold an EPSRC DTP grant.

ICASE supports four-year doctoral studentships. ICASE studentship funding is one-third greater than the UKRI estimated cost of a four-year studentship. This provides an opportunity to offer ICASE students an enhanced stipend. EPSRC funds the majority of each studentship, with an industrial partner covering the remainder.

It is a condition of the scheme that industrial partners must also offer a placement to each of their ICASE students, who may accept or refuse it. EPSRC has produced tips and considerations documents for industrial partners and for ICASE-hosting universities which discuss student recruitment and placements.

Once businesses have determined their academic partner, grants are issued to those UK universities in the form of Industrial CASE accounts. Further information on this can be found in the Industrial CASE terms and conditions.

Latest allocations to industrial partners.

ICASE voucher allocation process

Step 1

The annual £17 million ICASE budget is divided by the estimated cost of a four-year doctoral studentship, giving the total number of vouchers available for that year.

Step 2

EPSRC uses project partners’ approximated yearly cash and in-kind contributions to the EPSRC portfolio to determine how many ICASE vouchers each partner will receive. Each grant’s total contribution from a partner is divided by the grant’s duration in months and then multiplied by 12 to give an approximate annualised contribution value.

After discounting instances where a partner’s annual contribution to a grant is less than £100, we add together all of a partner’s annualised contributions to determine their investment over the previous year.

From spring 2022, only contributions to grants which are funded from EPSRC’s Core budget will be considered. In previous rounds, partner contributions to cross-council opportunities such as UKRI Challenge Fund and GCRF, were included, but are now omitted due to a change in grant data ownership.

Partners are then ranked by their algorithmic number. This number is obtained by first multiplying the number of grants to which an industrial partner contributes by 10,000 and then adding this to their total annualised contributions.

Step 3

The total number of ICASE vouchers is divided approximately equally across five bands:

  • 10 vouchers each for organisations in Band 1
  • eight vouchers each in Band 2
  • six vouchers each in Band 3
  • four vouchers each in Band 4
  • two vouchers each in Band 5

This determines how many organisations fall into each band.

Step 4

Organisations are then placed into the bands based on their ranking, starting with highest ranked going into Band 1.

Allocation example

If there were 200 vouchers in total, then 40 vouchers would be available in each Band (200 divided by five ). The 40 vouchers in Band 1 would be allocated to the four highest-ranked organisations, which would each receive 10 vouchers. The 40 vouchers in Band 2 would be allocated to the next five highest-ranked organisations, which would receive 8 vouchers each, and so on.

To avoid organisations’ ICASE allocations varying too much from year to year, we apply a movement rule which stipulates that an organisation’s initial allocation cannot increase or decrease by more than two vouchers per year.

Additional partners

An industrial partner in receipt of Industrial CASE vouchers may involve one additional UK-based industrial partner (such as an SME) on a project.

The industrial partner that was allocated the Industrial CASE vouchers becomes the lead industrial partner, and in line with the standard Industrial CASE requirements, remains responsible for ensuring the minimum cash contribution is delivered and student expenses are covered during visits. Student placements may be with either industrial partner, or both.

The Industrial CASE contact at the lead industrial partner will be the point of contact between the additional industrial partner and EPSRC.

The collaboration agreement between the lead industrial partner, the partnering university and the additional industrial partner should formalise exactly how any contributions from the additional industrial partner are delivered (for example, through the lead industrial partner, or directly to the university). The lead industrial partner and partnering university will be responsible for ensuring the quality and funding of the studentship.

Industrial CASE is not our only scheme where industry can get involved with doctoral projects. Companies can sponsor students and projects supported through DTP.

Last updated: 26 July 2023

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