Industrial Doctoral Landscape Award 2024/25 (Grant)

Before applying for funding, check the Eligibility of your organisation.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the new UKRI Funding Service.

For full details, visit Eligibility as an individual.

Project partner lead organisations

This funding opportunity should be strategically led by organisations that are not typically eligible for Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) research grant funding. This organisation will act as the lead project partner on the application, but they cannot submit the application or act as the training grant holder.

These organisations must:

• be registered in the UK

• intend to carry out project work or research in the UK, or both

This funding opportunity can also be led by organisations which are eligible for BBSRC funding but will not provide the principal base (host) for students during the award.

Again, this organisation will act as the lead project partner on the application, but they cannot submit the application or act as the training grant holder.

These organisations may include public sector research establishments (PSREs).

A PSRE is classified as an organisation that:

• is sponsored directly by a government department or UKRI

• has research and development capacity

• has met UKRI criteria for public sector research establishments and is registered as being eligible for funding

Please check if you are eligible for research and innovation funding, the list of public sector research establishments or apply to become an eligible organisation.

We welcome applications to be strategically led by a wide range of organisations contributing to biology and biotechnology research, including, but not limited to:

• industry

• business

• small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

• public organisations

• third sector organisations

• museums

Project lead organisations

Each project partner lead organisation must partner with an organisation which is eligible for UKRI research grant funding. The eligible organisations will act as the project lead and will hold the training grant. These organisations include:

• higher education institutions (HEIs)

• research council institutes

• eligible independent research organisations and catapult centres

• PSREs

PSREs wishing to be involved in an application are required to choose whether they wish to do so either as a project partner lead or as a project lead. An organisation cannot perform both roles within one application.

The project lead organisation will host at least one studentship per year of intake for the Industrial Doctoral Landscape Award training grant. Additional studentships may be hosted at project co-lead organisations, as detailed below.

Before applying for funding, check the Eligibility of your organisation to act as a project lead. The project lead does not have to be an award-making body, but an award-making body must be present in your application.

Project co-lead organisations

Prospective applicants are also welcome to include additional project co-lead organisations on their application which may host studentships which are not based at the project lead organisation. We would expect to see co-lead organisations which make strategic sense for your partnership and overall cohort of students throughout the lifetime of the award.

Additional project partners

Industrial doctoral landscape awards may be strategically led by a single project partner organisation but, where relevant, we encourage multiple-partner bids involving two or more organisations under the assumption that collaborative agreements are in place. Organisations applying as a consortium should ensure that there is a clear strategic rationale to share a single allocation of studentships.

Where additional project partners are named on an Industrial Doctoral Landscape Award application, the partnership must demonstrate that there is significant added value from their inclusion. This may include (although is not limited to):

• financial commitments to partially, or fully, fund additional studentships

• commitment to cover the costs of access to facilities or training that cannot otherwise be provided

• strategic links to an important stakeholder or user

Working in partnership

An organisation may only submit one application as a project partner lead. Whichever organisation is acting as your project partner lead must be stated on your application. Similarly, eligible organisations may only act as a project lead and subsequent training grant holder on one application. There is no limit on the number of applications organisations can act as a non-lead partners.

There is also no limit to the total number of organisations within a partnership, however each member of the partnership must make meaningful contributions to the delivery of the training grant, as outlined in your application.

Eligibility

In summary, each application must include:

• at least one project partner organisation, which will strategically lead the application, as defined under the Project partner lead organisations section

• one project lead organisation, which will submit the application, act as the training grant holder and host at least one student per year of intake

• at least one accredited higher education PhD awarding body. This may be the project lead, if eligible, or an additional project co-lead partner

Through this approach, we expect applicants to put forward proposals which contain integrated plans for research, innovation and training which meet BBSRC’s strategic priorities, address sector skills challenges and foster interdisciplinarity. To ensure delivery of a truly multidisciplinary training environment, applicants are encouraged to engage effectively with other departments across their partner organisations as appropriate.

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

• support for people with caring responsibilities

• flexible working

• alternative working patterns

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

Aim

Our aspiration is to support organisations which are outside of academia to deliver doctoral training in partnership with higher education institutes (HEIs) for the next generation of bioscience researchers. These training partnerships aim to identify and address short and long-term skills challenges faced by the bio-industry sector and foster interdisciplinarity between industry, academia and other employers.

The overall aims of the Industrial Doctoral Landscape Award scheme are to support a high standard of collaborative research training through:

• delivering world-class doctoral research, training and development within dynamic and supportive research and innovation environments

• advancing current understanding, generating new knowledge, and developing the breadth of bioscience expertise for future economic and societal impact

• supporting capacity building across sectors and industries of the bio-based economy by giving non-HEIs greater autonomy in the selection, development and implementation of studentship projects they would like to support and supervise

• preparing students to follow a diversity of career paths

• supporting a diverse doctoral community, which includes addressing areas of underrepresentation (for example protected characteristics, types of professions, career stage and porosity within the research and innovation system)

This funding opportunity replaces our collaborative training partnerships (CTP) awards.

Scope

In May 2022, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) announced its transition to collective talent funding across talent initiatives, with the UKRI Doctoral Investment Framework launching in November 2023. From January 2024, all UKRI doctoral support will be framed around two types of awards – doctoral landscape awards and doctoral focal awards.

Doctoral landscape awards provide:

• broad, flexible funding to support talented doctoral students to contribute to a vibrant, internationally attractive and world-leading research and innovation system

• breadth and diversity in the research supported and to ensure that as a community we are rapidly responsive to new and emerging research ideas and areas

• opportunities for a variety of engagement with non-academic partners

We are looking for innovative and inclusive doctoral programmes designed to train students to undertake research and gain the core skills needed for a variety of careers.

You will be expected to deliver leading edge, frontier research and innovation training across Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)’s remit and address strategic challenges faced by the bio-industry and bio-based economy. Your application must demonstrate that the Industrial Doctoral Landscape training programme offers a scientifically excellent training environment and sufficient, high quality research capacity to deliver that training.

We explicitly encourage applications describing innovative models of doctoral training to be led by partners outside of academia, including recruitment, the co-creation of projects and the delivery of training elements designed to meet the objectives of the programme.

Collaboration with an administrative lead

A key component of the Industrial Doctoral Landscape Award is the mandatory collaboration between the project partner lead organisation, which is not typically eligible for UKRI funding, and the project lead organisation, which is typically eligible for UKRI funding. The project lead organisation must submit the application and will act as the training grant holder for the award.

As directed by the lead project partner organisation, the project lead must host at least one studentship per year, provided they have the capacity. However, this does not imply that the administrative lead will be the dominant partner, or that they will host the majority of the allocated studentships.

While it is required that at least one student per year be based at the administrative lead, we strongly encourage that the student cohort should be distributed among additional Project co-lead (host) organisations and that the entire cohort is not concentrated solely at the administrative lead. Organisations who will host studentships should be named on your application as Project co-leads.

Any project co-leads which will host studentships will receive a relative proportion of the funding from the Industrial Doctoral Landscape Award via distribution from the project lead or grant holder. You should outline the strategy for how the studentships you have requested will be distributed within your consortia and where they will reside as part of your application.

The studentship projects should be truly collaborative in nature, meaning that they have been jointly conceived by the project partner lead and the additional partner(s) to address strategic skills challenges in the bio-based economy. The projects should also be governed and structured in such a way as to be delivered as a joint programme of work. The non-HEI project lead and any associated HEI partners should play an equal role in shaping, supervising and supporting any studentship project in which they are involved.

Training remit

Applications must outline a coherent training programme which demonstrates how students will both undertake individual research projects and receive cohort-level training.

Training delivered by these industrial doctoral landscape awards may build on existing infrastructure where applicable and we encourage engagement with other relevant centres for doctoral training, doctoral landscape award training partnerships and end-user networks.

These industrial doctoral landscape awards should provide PhD training in areas of research relevant to BBSRC’s remit and priority research areas. These are covered in BBSRC’s Strategic Delivery Plan and the Forward Look for UK Bioscience report. Please also see BBSRC’s research portfolio and priorities. We encourage interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary doctoral training programmes and advise against single discipline or narrowly focused applications. Applications may additionally include training at the interface between BBSRC’s remit and other disciplines, where major research challenges exist.

Industrial Doctoral Landscape Award applicants must demonstrate high quality provision across the breadth of BBSRC’s remit. However, there is no expectation that a single application will cover the entirety of BBSRC’s remit. Applicants are advised to identify where they have world-class expertise and infrastructures to develop their doctoral candidates. As with previous awards, BBSRC will reserve the right to manage the balance of the overall studentship portfolio to ensure broad coverage of all aspect of our remit.

Defining an excellent collaborative studentship

All industrial doctoral landscape studentship projects must be conducted in collaboration between a non-HEI project partner lead and a project lead, as defined above. Applications can also include additional project co-leads and project partners. These collaborative projects should be characterised by:

• excellent research: a challenging, feasible and realistically achievable doctoral project that stimulates excellent research, providing tangible benefits to all partners through a truly collaborative approach

• a high-quality training environment: access to distinctive but complementary high-quality training environments across the partnership stimulates collaboration and encourages students to acquire novel skills and expertise

• a focus on student experience: partners will enrich the integrated training experience through joint supervision of students, wherein the student gains a greater understanding their research impact and is supported throughout their research journey

Training requirements: project co-development and management

Industrial doctoral landscape award studentships and projects should be strategically led by the non-HEI project partner lead and delivered in collaboration between the project partner lead, project lead and additional co-lead and project partners, if applicable. The non-HEI project partner lead should:

• provide strategic oversight of the training programme and project development

• host students during placement, which can be between three and eighteen months during their PhD, unless the student has opted for a Professional Internships for PhD students (PIPS) type placement (see Placements for more information)

• provide co-supervision of the student for their PhD project

The non-HEI project partner lead is also encouraged to make a financial contribution to the project including:

• any costs incurred by the student when visiting and working within their establishment

• the costs of necessary material

• facilities not possessed by the student’s host research organisation that are integral to the studentship

Alignment with UKRI core offer

The UKRI core offer sets out the expectations for all UKRI studentships, including support and student experience, research skills and methods and professional and career development. This information has been used to define the assessment criteria for this funding opportunity. See the section ‘How we will assess your application’ for further details. All applications must clearly state how the requirements outlined within the UKRI core offer will be delivered as part of their application.

UKRI good practice principles in recruitment and training at a doctoral level

Applications should also demonstrate how they will deliver UKRI good practice principles in recruitment and training at a doctoral level. These principles aim to make the doctoral pathway accessible and attractive to a diversity of potential applicants and outline good practice principles in EDI across the following four key stages of the doctoral recruitment and training process:

• finding talent: to make the doctoral pathway accessible and attract potential applicants who may not currently view a PhD as accessible to them

• shortlisting and interviews: to ensure the applicant shortlisting and interview process is fair and transparent

• nurturing talent: to make the student training experience as inclusive as possible

• monitoring and reporting: to be used effectively to foster a diverse and inclusive environment

Management and governance

Partnerships will be expected to describe the governance arrangements that will enable effective decision-making and engagement with all relevant stakeholders to achieve the vision.

The applications must commit to providing sufficient support for appropriate administrative resources. Applications should explicitly outline how administrative structures will be managed and funded. Funds may be allocated for programme management including administration and placement support.

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)

EDI is a core feature of this funding opportunity. In line with UKRI’s principles on EDI, we want to work with our partners to shape a dynamic, diverse, and inclusive system of research and innovation that is an integral part of society.

Your industrial doctoral landscape programme should work to provide everyone involved with an opportunity to participate in, and benefit from, the award.

Applicants must demonstrate how their EDI strategy will embed the core principles of EDI at all levels and across all aspects of the doctoral programme, including:

• increasing PhD access, including recruitment

• working practices, including individualised student support

• wellbeing support, including mental health

• monitoring and evaluation, including a baseline and plans for improvement

We would expect your EDI strategy to describe how your doctoral programme is accessible to a diverse range of people and needs, and how you will be removing barriers to participation across your doctoral programme and associated processes. Your application should demonstrate how you will create and maintain a positive, inclusive, and supportive environment for all students and staff.

You should refer to equality, diversity and inclusion at UKRI and BBSRC’s equality, diversity and inclusion action plan. As a mandatory requirement, the EDI strategies, activities and commitments stated by successful applicants will be regularly reviewed by BBSRC, including but not limited to, information on characteristics of current and prospective student cohorts. These data will be collected on at least a yearly basis via annual reports, and we will reserve the right to access these data across the lifetime of the award. See the UKRI data collection policy for more information.

Partnerships

Applications are encouraged to represent a consortium of organisations, which might include industry, academia, charities, and public sector organisations. There is no stipulation regarding size or geographical spread of consortia.

All partners need to demonstrate that there is significant added value from their inclusion within the partnership. This may include, but is not limited to, financial commitments to underwrite a proportion of studentship placements, a commitment to provision of access to facilities, or training that cannot be otherwise provided by another organisation, or strategic links to an important stakeholder or user.

Partnerships must show a clear and joint strategy for delivering their vision and fostering the growth and maturation of collaborations over the funding period. Successful applications should demonstrate how students will benefit from engaging with various organisations, both individually and as part of a cohort, utilising diverse mechanisms. Applications must also justify their structure, providing a clear case for the partnership’s size.

Funding opportunity specific training requirements

In addition to the expectations set out within the UKRI core offer, there are specific training requirements for this funding opportunity:

• access for all students to placements, internships or other relevant work experience opportunities, including UKRI policy internships. See the section on Placements for more details

• support capacity building and development of digital and data skills in the biosciences, including artificial intelligence and machine learning

• develop commercialisation, enterprise and entrepreneurial skills across the student cohort

• contextual skills across the business sector, such as management and leadership, markets, supply chains, intellectual property, policy and regulation

Your application must clearly state how the funding opportunity specific requirements will be delivered as part of your application.

Cohort management

Training as part of a cohort is a highly effective way to ensure that doctoral candidates have opportunities to collaborate, exchange ideas and benefit from peer-to-peer support.

Applicants are expected to outline their strategy for developing a cohort identity across all partners.

For this award, we expect applicants to support a minimum of five studentships per year equating to 15 studentships total across the lifetime of the award.

We expect applicants to consider the cohort size they can accommodate in relation to the training and experiential needs of their students.

Placements

Placements are a key feature of the Industrial Doctoral Landscape Award and BBSRC expects all doctoral candidates to undertake a placement. The aim of the placement is to expose students to diverse work environments beyond their academic research. This cultivates transferable skills, enhances their understanding of a variety of career paths and contributes to their personal and professional development.

All students must undertake a placement which lasts a minimum of three-months. This placement does not need to occur in one single continuous period. Students have the option of undertaking:

• a Professional Internships for PhD students (PIPS) where they work outside of academia and conduct work outside of their research project for a minimum of three months. See evaluation of the PIPS programme

• an internship with their non-HEI project partner, where they work on their PhD project in a non-academic setting for between three and 18 months

• a combination approach, where the student spends part of their placement time on their research project or with their industry partner and also undertake a PIPS-type placement

If the student chooses a combination approach, the PIPS element of their placement should be a maximum of three months, whereas the time spent with the industry partner can be up to 18 months.

Alternative doctorate models such as professional doctorates, PhDs by Portfolio, and industrial doctorates in which students spend most of their time in the industrial setting, are permitted and will count as placement time.

Regardless of the type of placement, all students must be fully supported by the Industrial Doctoral Landscape Award partnership throughout the placement period. All placements should be developed in collaboration between the partners with input from the doctoral candidate. Placements can be based overseas. All costs (for example, travel, accommodation and lab costs) associated with the placement should be met by the placement host.

The placement host partner is required to make a financial contribution to the training of the student. This includes all additional expenses, such as the cost of travel and accommodation, incurred by the student as a direct result of attendance at the premises of the host during the student’s placement.

Collaborative agreements

At the time of application, collaborative agreements should be in place regarding management of the doctoral candidate’s work, and agreements concerning any intellectual property that may arise as a result. This collaboration should be effectively managed, to maximise the benefits for all parties concerned.

Legacy and impact

Landscape awards are supported with the intention of developing a legacy of training excellence. Applications must demonstrate consideration of the legacy and impacts of the doctoral training programme beyond the lifetime of UKRI investment.

Reporting requirements and monitoring

The monitoring and evidencing of progress towards the vision and objectives of these partnerships, as well as their impact, is an important component of this award. Information gathered from training grant holders will be used by BBSRC to review the success of our training investments, to provide assurance that the awards are being managed appropriately and are progressing in accordance with the original funding application. This will be conducted in various ways, including:

• mandatory annual reports

• hosting regular visits by BBSRC staff, in meetings or in person

Successful applicants will be expected to respond to other reporting requirements when requested.

BBSRC will request key information from Industrial Doctoral Landscape Award holders, such as diversity statistics for doctoral candidate recruitment, collaborative partner engagement, financial leveraging, training and development activities offered, and examples of doctoral candidate achievements.

Partnerships are expected to describe their approach to monitoring and evaluation, outlining their success measures and baselines and a continuous improvement process built in within their applications.

BBSRC will oversee and engage with successful applicants to support the delivery of excellent doctoral training.

Duration

This award will support three years’ worth of student intake, starting in October 2026. Each studentship will last for four years, meaning that the total duration of the training grant will be six years (72 months).

Funding available

BBSRC will invest in industrial doctoral landscape awards via this funding opportunity. Applicants will need to state how many students you wish to support via this award, where payment will be on a notional studentship basis. We reserve the right to adjust these numbers to meet the requirements of the funding opportunity and to balance our overall studentship portfolio.

BBSRC will support notional studentships for four years in length, during which each student will also undertake a placement which lasts a minimum of three months.BBSRC will award 185 students across three years. Each cohort intake will have a minimum of five, and no set maximum, of studentships each year per industrial landscape award.

A notional studentship consists of sufficient funds to meet the annual UKRI minimum stipend and fee levels, plus additional research, placement and management costs. Awards will be supplemented with London allowance, where eligible.

The student stipend and fees are indicative estimates only, based on the 2023 to 2024 UKRI minima multiplied by four, and excluding London allowance. At the time of award, stipend and fees will be indexed to accommodate rises in the minimum stipend and fees levels over the lifetime of the award. The indicative estimate funding per notional studentship is provided as:

Stipend: £74,488Fees: £18,848Research Training Support Grant (RTSG): £20,000Programme management: £2,000Total: £115,336

The programme management header can be used as a contribution towards placements, conferences, and administrative costs. A contribution towards operational management costs has been included within the indicative funding calculation in recognition of the need to manage the partnership. BBSRC acknowledges that this does not reflect the full cost of the industrial doctoral landscape training programme administrative structures. In line with the requirements in the management section, adequate funds must therefore be committed by you from either flexibility within the training grant, leveraged support, or a combination of sources.

If successful you will have flexibility in how you use the funding awarded and we encourage flexibility and virement between headings, subject to the standard UKRI terms and conditions of training grants. Be aware that the minimum numbers of students will still need to be supported each year.

Given the flexibility in use of funding, it will be possible for you to use the training grant to support more than the minimum number of students each year. For example, this could be achieved by having students undertake training over a variety of timeframes and by co-funding students from other sources.

To be classed as a BBSRC student, that student must be funded at least 50% by BBSRC. We support co-funding to be used from non-research council sources to part-fund additional industrial doctoral landscape students. The details of these students can be registered for reporting purposes.

You may use funding to leverage additional investment (either as cash or in-kind support) from multiple stakeholders, however, there is no formal requirement for match-funded studentships or cash leverage for this funding opportunity.

BBSRC will fund 100% of the FEC. However, we expect a minimum of an additional 20% of the total cost of delivering the Industrial Doctoral Landscape Award programme to be supplied by the non-HEI project partner lead organisation, if they are successful. These funds can be used to cover administrative resource, stipend top-ups, cohort training or any other costs of the training programme. These contributions may be a mix of cash and in-kind contributions.

Standard doctoral stipend levels and indicative fees are set annually by UKRI. Financial contributions to the academic partner, student or both, may vary and should be agreed in advance by all partners at the time of application.

BBSRC welcomes proposals which use this investment to leverage additional funding from other sources. The leverage of funding must be in line with the scope of the funding opportunity and under BBSRC’s remit.

Flexible fund

In addition to the funding for notional studentships awarded, the Industrial Doctoral Landscape Award will include a flexible fund. This fund is valued approximately at £110,000 per cohort intake equalling a total of approximately £330,000 for the three cohort intakes over the lifetime of this award. The flexible fund will be awarded to successful applicants on an annual basis as an additional funding stream. The exact proportion of this fund will be determined by the number of notional students supported per training programme per year.

The flexible fund can be used to support a range of activities, including support for skills development, network building, or addressing EDI challenges (see relevant EDI sections). Some examples of how these funds can be used is provided in the Flexible fund question section in How to apply.

Supporting skills and talent

If applicable to your application, we encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.

Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)

UKRI is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.

As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.

See further guidance and information about TR&I, including where applicants can find additional support.

Assessment process

We will assess your full application using the following process.

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) will provide feedback on the information provided in your notification of intent. The notification of intent stage will not be externally assessed by a panel of experts.

Expert review panel

We will invite a panel of experts to review your application independently, against the specified criteria for this funding opportunity. All applicants will be provided with an opportunity to respond to any reviewers’ comments.

Panel members will ask questions where they require clarity on your application and you will be able to respond to these questions, as well as provide the panel with any updates relating to your application. This will not be an opportunity for applicants to expand upon their original application in relation to the assessment criteria and applicants are encouraged to make their best case in the first instance.

Applicants will have 10 working days to respond to the panel’s questions via the UKRI Funding Service in May 2025 (date to be confirmed).

Panel meeting: late May or early June 2025 (to be confirmed)

Following the question and response stage, the panel of experts will use your initial application and your responses to assess the quality of your application and rank it alongside other applications. The panel will then make a funding recommendation to BBSRC.

BBSRC will make the final funding decision.

Timescale

We aim to complete the assessment process within six months of receiving your application.

Feedback

We will give feedback with the outcome of your application.

Portfolio balancing

The panel will provide a recommendation to the executive with a view to creating a balanced portfolio from the highest quality applications. In balancing, the panel and the executive will consider the following:

• diversity of higher education institution types and non-HEI partner organisations, to ensure all funded consortia are diverse and collaborate with a diverse group of partner organisations

• research focus, to ensure broad coverage of the BBSRC remit

• geographic coverage, to ensure the landscape awards are located across the UK

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.

Assessment criteria

The criteria against which your application will be assessed are:

• vision

• approach

• positive culture and environment

• capability to deliver

• partnerships and governance

Find details of assessment questions and criteria under the ‘Application questions’ heading in the ‘How to apply’ section.

The Flexible fund question will not be assessed by the panel but will be reviewed by BBSRC against the following criteria:

• whether the proposed activities meet the objectives of the funding opportunity

• whether the proposed mechanisms for delivery are appropriate

The award amount will be confirmed by BBSRC if successful.

Webinar for potential applicants

We will hold a webinar on 19 November 2024. This will provide more information about the funding opportunity and a chance to ask questions.

Register for the webinar: IDLA Webinar Registration – Zoom

Click here to start application on the UKRI Funding Service: 

https://funding-service.ukri.org/OPP799/apply/838

We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.

Although strategically lead by the non-HEI project partner lead, the project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service. We expect all team members and members of the partnership to contribute to the application.

Only the project lead organisation can submit an application for this funding opportunity.

Notification of intent

Mandatory: A notification of intent (NOI) to submit a full application must be submitted by the 17 December 2024 at 4:00pm UK time.

Submit an NOI

The NOI should include:

• the title of your training programme

• the organisations that are expected to be involved in delivering your training programme

• a brief summary of your planned work which should include your vision (what the training grant is going to achieve and why it is important for UKRI to support it) and your capability to deliver (who will lead and deliver the training grant) (approximately 1,000 words)

Your NOI will not be assessed, but we will use the information to plan the funding opportunity assessment. We will be giving feedback to applicants who submit a notification of intent, such as whether the proposed work is in scope and remit for this funding opportunity.

Full applications submitted without a prior notification of intent will be rejected.

To apply

Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page.

1. Confirm you are the project lead.

2. Sign in or create a 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.orgPlease allow at least 10 working days for your organisation to be added to the Funding Service. We strongly suggest that if you are asking UKRI to add your organisation to the Funding Service to enable you to apply to this Opportunity, you also create an organisation Administration Account. This will be needed to allow the acceptance and management of any grant that might be offered to you.

3. Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page.

4. Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.

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.

Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. You should:

• use images sparingly and only to convey important information that cannot easily be put into words

• insert each new image onto a new line

• provide a descriptive legend for each image immediately underneath it (this counts towards your word limit)

• ensure files are smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format

Watch our research office webinars about the Funding Service.

For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:

• how applicants use the Funding Service

• how research offices use the Funding Service

• how reviewers use the Funding Service

References

Applications should be self-contained, and hyperlinks should only be used to provide links directly to reference information. To ensure the information’s integrity is maintained, where possible, persistent identifiers such as digital object identifiers should be used. Assessors are not required to access links to carry out assessment or recommend a funding decision. Applicants should use their discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to the application.

References should be included in the appropriate question section of the application and be easily identifiable by the assessors, for example (Smith, Research Paper, 2019).

You must not include links to web resources to extend your application.

Deadline

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) must receive your application by 18 February 2025 at 4:00pm UK time.

You will not be able to apply after this time.

Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.

Following the submission of your application to the funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and applications will not be returned for amendment. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.

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.

Publication of outcomes

BBSRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at What BBSRC has funded.

If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research.

Summary

Word limit: 550

In plain English, provide a summary we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.

We usually make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, therefore do not include any confidential or sensitive information. Make it suitable for a variety of readers, for example:

• opinion-formers

• policymakers

• the public

• the wider research community

Guidance for writing a summary

Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of:

• context

• the challenge the project addresses

• aims and objectives

• potential applications and benefits

Core team

List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following:

• project lead (PL)

• project co-lead (UK) (PcL)

• specialist

• grant manager

• professional enabling staff

• research and innovation associate

• technician

• fellow

• researcher co-lead (RcL)

Only list one individual as the project lead. The project lead is responsible for setting up and completing the application process on the Funding Service.

You can list multiple project co-leads. Any organisation which will host students in addition to the project lead organisation should be listed a project co-lead on the application.

Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications.

Application questions

Vision

Word limit: 1,500

What is the training grant going to achieve? How will this support UK capability and capacity needs and why is it important that UKRI supports this activity?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how your training programme will:

• outline a clear vision and objectives that will make a positive contribution to the scope of this investment opportunity and deliver high quality doctoral education with tracking measures

• describe the positive outcomes and impact for society and the economy that the investment will deliver, outlining the strategies to achieve them which will be grounded in a model that results in highly skilled doctoral graduates, employable across a range of sectors and careers

• explain how your vision aligns and will positively contribute to relevant wider strategies and priorities, including national capability and capacity needs. If relevant, describe how it will provide additionality to your existing doctoral provision

Guidance for applicants

Please be aware that:

• the project partner lead organisation and project lead organisation need to demonstrate their research capability across the remit of BBSRC, as evidenced by their research and innovation strategy and proven track record

• the Vision section should demonstrate the investments made in both infrastructure and people across the assessment criteria for both the organisations and the partnership

• you should specify the number of studentships being requested in this section and where they should be hosted

References may be included within this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

Approach

Word limit: 1,500

How will the doctoral training programme that you fund through this grant support your vision and align with UKRI’s ambitions for its doctoral investments?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how your choice of training programme will:

• deliver the vision outlined for this doctoral training programme and any specific requirements set out in the opportunity documentation as well as why this approach is necessary to achieve your expected outcomes

In addition, explain how you will embed the delivery of UKRI’s Statement of Expectations for its students so that the programme:

• provides a holistic approach that delivers high quality doctoral research, integrating in-depth subject knowledge, research and methodological skills, and wider skills development opportunities

• supports students’ understanding of what conducting high quality research involves

• prepares globally competitive researchers, able to use their skills to thrive in a range of sectors and careers and operate across interdisciplinary, collaborative and challenge-led environments

Guidance for applicants

You should demonstrate how your student-centred training programme will:

• catalyse student research, and provide excellent, high-quality doctoral training and development across BBSRC’s remit

• deliver appropriate, tailored and innovative training, guidance and opportunities to enhance students’ wider research skills development

• enable routes for non-HEI partners to participate in the collaboration, co-creation and delivery of student training

• foster interdisciplinary collaboration and expand networks across the bioeconomy sector, both nationally and, if applicable, internationally

• provide high-quality professional development options and advice to students throughout their training which recognises and promotes a diversity of careers

• enable students to actively manage and direct their research and project training as well as their own professional and career development

• enable students to work with and beyond their supervisory team, leading to improved awareness of the skills and experiences that would benefit their careers in a range of working environments across different sectors

• maintain links with your doctoral graduates, utilising this network of alumni to track career pathways and to benefit current and future student cohorts

The training, guidance and opportunities offered to students should cover as a minimum:

• in-depth subject area training

• responsible research and innovation, ethics, reproducibility, research integrity and open research methodology

• data management and analytical skills

• communication and project management skills

• interdisciplinary working

• public engagement skills

• routes to impact including through knowledge exchange, commercialisation and entrepreneurship

References may be included within this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

Positive culture and environment

Word limit: 1,500

How will you create and maintain an inclusive and supportive culture and environment for all those involved?

This criterion will be assessed in the context of what is permissible for funding through this award.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how your choice of training programme will:

• create and maintain a positive, inclusive, and supportive environment for all students and staff involved, addressing a variety of needs and supporting good wellbeing, including relevant, specific support and training for supervisors where needed

• champion and embed equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) for students and staff, across all aspects of the training grant, including supervision, training design and approaches, and flexible student support

• achieve any specific EDI requirements detailed in the funding opportunity documentation or that you are proposing

You should provide evidence for the specific need and value of the proposed EDI activities to achieve its intended aim, including baseline information. Explain how you will undertake subsequent updates and reviews across the lifetime of the award.

Guidance for applicants

You should demonstrate how you will embed evidence-based EDI principles and practices at all levels and in all aspects of your research and training practice across the lifetime of the award, attending to the points described in this section.

Increasing PhD access

Detail how will you ensure that your programme will attract a wide range of applicants from underrepresented or different social, cultural and educational backgrounds, andhow will you make this process open and transparent.

Working practices

Discuss how you will support students and staff who require a flexible working pattern.

Supervision and supervisory teams

Detail how you will deliver comprehensive inductions for new supervisors and support development for supervisory teams in line with an inclusive culture of excellent research supervision.

Wellbeing support

Propose a strategy for the provision and support of good physical and mental health and wellbeing practices for students and staff. Detail how you will promote a positive culture of listening to staff and student feedback.

Monitoring and evaluation

Detail what progress indicators you will use to measure improvement in your EDI strategy and why these are the most appropriate.

Detail how you will provide evidence for your proposed EDI actions, including a baseline and subsequent updates throughout the lifetime of the grant.

References may be included within this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

Applicant and team capability to deliver

Word limit: 1,500

Who will lead and drive delivery of this training grant’s vision?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Provide evidence that those leading the delivery of this award:

• have appropriate research and pastoral capacity to support the number of studentships that you expect to deliver through this award

• have the experience and skills (for example, project management, leadership, stakeholder management, administration, and supervision) to deliver the proposed vision, training programme, and scale

• have a well-evidenced track record of contributing to a positive research culture and the wider community

• have a well-evidenced track record of supporting the training and development of others, particularly previous involvement in delivering doctoral training successfully

References may be included within this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

Partnerships and governance

Word limit: 1,500

How will the training grant be governed, and partnerships/relationships supported and managed to maximise benefit and minimise risk?

This criterion will be assessed in the context of the partnership(s) appropriate for this training grant and funding opportunity.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Provide evidence that:

• partners are committed to working together, with effective two-way engagement

• partners are positively and constructively contributing to the delivery of the doctoral training programme and the training experiences of the students with students clearly benefitting from these interactions

• there is an established, clear and effective governance and risk management structure for the award that is appropriate for the size and complexity of the doctoral programme

• the governance and risk management structure for the award supports your ability to undertake continuous improvement, monitoring and evaluation

• there is a suitable approach to managing both the doctoral training programme and the individual studentships

• the management of the award aligns with the principles of responsible innovation, trusted research, and environmental sustainability, to create value for society in an ethical and responsible way

Guidance for applicants

Each applicant must:

• set up a clear governance structure, including mechanisms to enable student engagement in the governance of the training grant

• present how they will use the resources and bring value for money to deliver the vision

• show evidence that organisations hosting students, for any period of time, have appropriate research environments in terms of location, facilities, equipment, supervisory expertise, partnerships, student services and work culture

• follow a robust approach to monitoring and evaluation, building in a set of defined success measures and baselines and a continuous improvement process

• consider the final stages of the training grant award, such as alumni involvement and securing a legacy

• show how the proposed partners are equitable and how they add value to the breadth and provision of high-quality doctoral training and development

Please ensure you have prior agreement from all partners included in your application so that, if you are offered funding, they will support your project as indicated in the Project partners section.

For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

Project partners

Add details about all project partners’ contributions. This should include the organisation acting as the project partner lead.

A project partner is a collaborating organisation who will have an integral role in the proposed research. This may include direct (cash) or indirect (in-kind) contributions such as expertise, staff time or use of facilities.

Add the following project partner details:

• the organisation name and address (searchable via a drop-down list or enter the organisation’s details manually, as applicable)

• the project partner contact name and email address

• the type of contribution (direct or in-direct) and its monetary value

If a detail is entered incorrectly and you have saved the entry, remove the specific project partner record and re-add it with the correct information.

Please ensure you have prior agreement from your project partners so that, if you are offered funding, they will support your project as indicated in this section.

For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.

Flexible fund

Word limit: 500

How will your use of flexible funding benefit the doctoral training programme and those it supports?

Explain:

• how the flexible fund will be used including information on the proposed beneficiaries

• the level of funding associated with this flexible fund and why this is necessary and appropriate for its intended use

• how flexible funding will complement and support the doctoral landscape award, for example plans for enhancing research training, student experiences, or supporting equality, diversity and inclusion

The flexible fund must be used to benefit those associated with the Industrial Doctoral Landscape Award, which could refer to students, associated staff or both. It can also be used to increase access to potential future students of the programme, for example, widening participation activities. We would expect you to use the flexible support fund to complement and support the proposed training and EDI plan you have provided within your application.

The flexible fund can be rolled over to subsequent years, for example, if there is a plan for an ongoing activity across multiple years of student intake. It will also be the award holder’s responsibility to keep and maintain records of flexible fund activity expenditure.

The following are some specific examples, but we encourage each applicant to think creatively about how they may use these funds:

• widening participation activities, for example improving recruitment of underrepresented groups to the doctoral programme or developing networks for students with protected characteristics

• undergraduate research experience placements (REPs). REPs can address demographic and diversity-related challenges as well as helping to address skills gaps in biological sciences

• cohort training and development of core or vulnerable skills

• EDI training for supervisors of funded students, for example mental health first aid or training in neurodiversity needs

• supporting student entrepreneurship in the biological sciences

• supplementary funds for student placements

• supporting the integration of data science, AI and machine learning approaches for the biological sciences

• cohort training in transferable skills, for example leadership and project management

• cross-doctoral training programme and network building, for example theme-specific symposia

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

Research and innovation impact

Impact can be defined as the long-term intended or unintended effect research and innovation has on society, economy and the environment; to individuals, organisations, and the wider global population.

Additional disability and accessibility adjustments

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process if required. 

Webinar for potential applicants

We held a webinar on 19 November 2024 to provide more information about the funding opportunity and a chance to ask questions. 

View the webinar recording via Zoom.   

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.

Supporting documents

Equality impact assessment (DOCX, 31KB)  

Frequently asked questions (PDF, 241KB)

Related content

• UKRI policies and standards

• BBSRC policies and standards

Get help with your application

If you have a question and the answers aren’t provided on this pageImportant note: The helpdesk is committed to helping users of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service as effectively and as quickly as possible. In order to manage cases at peak volume times, the helpdesk will triage and prioritise those queries with an imminent opportunity deadline or a technical issue. Enquiries raised where information is available on the Funding Finder opportunity page and should be understood early in the application process (for example, regarding eligibility or content/remit of an opportunity) will not constitute a priority case and will be addressed as soon as possible.

Contact details

For help and advice on costings and writing your proposal please contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process.For questions related to this specific funding opportunity please contact: idla@bbsrc.ukri.orgAny queries regarding the system or the submission of applications through the Funding Service should be directed to the helpdesk.Email: support@funding-service.ukri.orgPhone: 01793 547490Our phone lines are open:

• Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 5:00pm

• Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm

To help us process queries quicker, we request that users highlight the council and opportunity name in the subject title of their email query, include the application reference number, and refrain from contacting more than one mailbox at a time.See further information on submitting an application.

Sensitive information

If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email idla@bbsrc.ukri.orgInclude in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number].Typical examples of confidential information include:

• individual 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, read UKRI’s privacy notice.

Updates

10 December 2024  

In 'Additional info' under the 'Webinar for potential applicants' have replaced the content with the post webinar text and a link to the webinar recording. Under 'Supporting documents' have added the frequently asked questions document.