Proposals invited for the Research Endowment Trust Fund Open Call

The University Committee for Research and Innovation (UCRI) invites proposals to the Research Endowment Trust Fund (RETF) Open Call for ambitious and strategic research projects led by academic staff. The call funds projects of up to a maximum of two years duration, with a range of funding for each project between £10,000 and £50,000. The deadline for applications is 17:00 on Friday 12 November 2021.

The purpose of the open call is to support ambitious projects that have the potential to lead to larger projects and associated funding bids. Given the impact of COVID, we are encouraging in particular proposals for projects where development and pilot work has been strongly affected by the pandemic.

Proposals must be made via the following pro forma and meet all of the core RETF criteria and at least one of the strategic criteria:

Core RETF criteria

• Support research excellence at any career stage;
• Deliver value for money with potential to leverage external funding;
• Align to strategic priorities of the University and/or Research Theme.

Strategic RETF criteria

• Demonstrate ambition to achieve growth measured in terms of, for example, research income, scale, methodologies, partnerships, reputation, audiences, etc.;
• Enable high-risk research, for example providing proof of concept to inform external grant applications;
• Support innovation and the translation of research into products and processes, for example through supporting pilot projects.

Eligible costs include salaries (and on-costs) for research, technical and professional staff, and/or teaching replacement as buy-out for academic staff to complete the project. For further information on costings, please contact James Church in Research Services.

Applicants should demonstrate that funding for the proposed project is not available from other sources, and/or they should specify match funding from internal or external sources. If match funding is not available, applicants should explain why. Proposals will be considered by UCRI in mid- December.

Any queries may be sent to Colin Bulpitt in Research Services.