FAQ

This scheme aims to strengthen the links between industry and academia. The scheme supports exceptional academics at UK higher education institutions/universities to undertake use-inspired research that meets the needs of the industrial sponsors.

Research Chairs are professorial appointments, so applicants should already be a professor or equivalent.

Senior Research Fellowships are senior academic appointments, so applicants should already be a Reader or Lecturer level or equivalent.

The applicant must have a permanent academic position or an unconditional offer of such a position. The host institution's letter of support must make clear that they have offered a permanent position to the applicant stating the starting date. The permanent position must start before the award. 

The scheme provides funding for five years. Each application is capped at a maximum contribution from the Academy of £225,000 over the five-year period. 

In addition to the direct financial support, the scheme benefits include:

• mentoring support from an Academy Fellow to offer independent expert advice and guidance on research related matters throughout the duration of the award
• training, events and additional funding opportunities
• reduction of teaching and administrative duties to enable the awardees to focus on delivering use-inspired research, that creates impact for their industrial sponsors
• networking opportunities with other awardees and Academy Fellows.

The Academy will fund up to one-third (1/3) of 80% of the full economic costs (fEC) showed in Table A in the application form with a cap of £225,000 over the five-year period. The allowed costs are: Research Chair/Senior Research Fellow’s gross salary, indirect cost, estates cost and other cost. Please find more details in the guidance note.

The programme is designed to provide part of the funding for a collaboration between the applicant, their industrial sponsor, and their host institution. The Academy contribution's is towards the applicant’s salary,  indirect costs and estates. The host institution's contribution could, or perhaps should, involve new academic staff positions, investment in facilities as well as PhD studentship support. The industry funding can be used flexibly to support the collaborative research project.

Awardees are expected to:

• establish or enhance a world-leading engineering research group
• deliver ‘use-inspired’ research that meets the needs of their industrial sponsors
• disseminate the outcomes of their research for appropriate academic use
• become a self-sustaining research group by the end of the award (by securing substantial external grant income).

This award is not intended to support contract research or consultancy work.

The Academy is not able to cover the costs of the apprenticeship levy on research grants.

Please note that the Academy does not pay inflation and inflation should not be applied to the costs.

Frequency of award cycle

The award opens for applications twice a year, with deadlines in March and September. The current application round closes at 4:00pm on Thursday 12 September 2024.

The Academy aims to provide additional support to applicants from groups that are persistently underrepresented within UK engineering through the grant application process. 

For more information on Access Mentoring please see the guidance. Applications for Access Mentoring support close at 4.00pm on Thursday 22 August 2024.

Start date of award

All awards made in this round must start between 1 March 2025 - 30 April 2025. In general awards start six months after applications close.

Key dates

• Applications open: June 2024
• Applications for Access Mentoring support deadline (optional support ): 22 August 2024
• Application deadline: 12 September 2024
• Stage 1 - expert review. Applicants are informed of outcomes: November 2024 
• Stage 2 - interview (online): 2 and 6 December 2024
• Interviewed applicants are informed of the stage 2 outcomes: by early January 2025
• Awards start: 1 March 2025 - 30 April 2025

Duration of award

The duration of an award is five years. This applies to both full and part-time awards.  Applications for shorter time periods will not be accepted.

The Academy wants to support applicants to achieve a balance between their personal and work demands and will consider individual requirements and part-time and other flexible working arrangements.

Extensions to the appointment are permitted. For eligibility and further details please contact the Research team.

Stage 1: expert review

The full application will be assessed by a minimum of three expert reviews (usually Academy Fellows). Expert reviewers will provide comments and score against each of the following assessment criteria, the overall quality of the application and a recommendation on whether they should proceed to interview.

• Quality of the applicant
• Quality of the collaborative research programme
• Strength of the strategic partnership
• Beneficiaries and impact
• Financial costing of the proposal

Sift panel:

The Academy staff will collate all reviewers’ comments and scores into a summary table, and rank the applications by overall score and the Yes/No recommendations. These are presented to the sift panel for a final decision on which applications should proceed to interview stage. Those applicants not asked to attend an interview will be informed of this decision as soon as possible following the sift panel’s decision.

Stage 2: interview

The interview will be conducted by a generalist panel consisting of at least three Academy Fellows. Each interview will take about 45 minutes. Panellists will provide comments against the assessment criteria outlined above.

The ranking of candidates during the preceding sift panels will have no bearing at interview. All interview candidates are considered to have equal standing. Following the interviews, the panel will rank the applications and select the top ranked candidates for awards.

All applications must be submitted by the applicant themselves via the Academy’s online Grant Management System (GMS) available at https://grants.raeng.org.uk

All applicants must first register with the online system and provide some basic login details to create a profile.

No.

The Academy accepts resubmissions of Research Chair and Senior Research Fellowship proposals by invitation only.

The application will be considered as a new application and the ranking of applicants at the preceding round of applications will have no bearing. All applicants are considered to have equal standing.

Annual reports and expenditure statements are required.

At the annual review meeting, the awardee, the host institution’s head of department/school, a representative of the industrial sponsor, the mentor, and a member of Academy staff will discuss progress and agree future plans.

You can contact [email protected] for the Mentoring and Reporting Guidance.

The Research Team.

The industrial sponsor must make a (cash or in-kind) contribution towards the fellowship that is proportionate to the size of the organisation. It must cover the research project over the five-year period.  

This can be used flexibly to support the project, for example access to facilities, technical staff, equipment, data, consumables. 

The amount of funding the industrial sponsor is willing to contribute is an important assessment criterion, being an indicator of the level of commitment and the level of ambition for the group to be created.

The candidate does not hold a position eligible for funding. Applications will only be considered from candidates who hold a permanent academic post at an appropriate level.

Industry sponsor is not of a scale or capability to sustain research activity for the duration of the programme. In addition, the industrial sponsor does not articulate how the engagement with the academic will benefit the company and how they will seek to balance the long-term research with their needs.

Poor host institution support. The institution is expected to explain their investment in the individual and the group and how it fits into their wider long-term research and investment strategy. This investment could, or perhaps should, involve new academic staff positions, investment in facilities as well as PhD studentship support.

In addition we can mention:

• Unclear on collaborators, and potential collaborator plans including industrial/ clinical collaborations and clear routes to impact.
• Not knowing and acknowledging competitors.
• Vision and ambition not clearly explained.
• Proposal lacking novelty, or not articulating how the proposed work will address a novel research question.
• Unrealistic in terms of overstating potential impact. But also, milestones, resources, and the applicant’s ambition.
• Lacking strong letters of support from the host institution and industrial partner.
• Poor communication skills, both written and verbal. Inconsistent/unclear information provided in the application form.

Both situations are eligible. We would suggest that you are as transparent as possible and clear about the relationships and your interest within the application form.

This is acceptable as long as the ongoing funding will last the duration of the proposed Research Chair/Senior Research Fellowship, and the added benefits of this award to the project is clearly articulated.

Yes, you are eligible to apply provided that it is a new project with a new industrial partner.

The Research Chairs/Senior Research Fellowship cannot be jointly hosted by more than one higher education institution/university.

If you are successful, your funding will be awarded under the RD&I Terms and Conditions found on the Academy’s website.

This agreement has been developed to ensure funding aligns with our Academy values, is used for the purposes for which it was awarded and is managed in compliance with our own funders’ agreements, UK legislation and funding best practice.