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

UK Research and Innovaton (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.

Who is eligible to apply

In previous rounds of funding, this opportunity has not used traditional role names, such as ‘principal investigator’ or ‘co-investigator.’ Instead, these roles were referred to as ‘accelerator lead’ and ‘co-ordinator.’ An accelerator lead would provide intellectual input and oversee the proposed activities, whilst the co-ordinator would establish and co-ordinate the proposed activities. However, round three of this opportunity is being administered through the Funding Service, therefore, we will revert to using the roles of project lead (formerly accelerator lead) and project co-lead (formerly co-ordinator).

The project team should consist of individuals from the same (independent) research organisation. The team cannot spend more than 0.6 FTE in total on the project. You may choose to split this as 0.3 FTE between the project lead and co-lead or any combination as long as it does not exceed 0.6 FTE.

Job share candidates for the project lead will be considered, provided the following criteria for the role are met:

• at least one candidate can demonstrate a suitable arts and humanities-led design research background

• both candidates are based at the same (independent) research organisation

• both candidates participate to an equal extent in all aspects of the project

• clear and robust handover and communication arrangements are in place

Who is not eligible to apply

Research and innovation associates are not eligible to apply within this opportunity.

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

Design is a discipline that applies user, customer, citizen or community-centred approaches to creativity and invention to ensure more successful outcomes. These may include the built environment, physical products, digital or other services and systems that underpin how we live. Success in this context may mean economic, social, environmental, or a combination of all three.

In collaboration with Future Observatory, the programme’s engagement centre based at the Design Museum, funding will be provided to support engagement between design research and innovation projects, and diverse private, public, and third sector organisations, local communities, and the general public to:

• identify effective routes to commercialisation and adoption through targeted demonstration of high-quality design research and innovation

• promote green transition-supportive behaviour change, either through deliberative policymaking and (de)regulation or through ‘nudging’

• highlight the value of academic design research in addressing real-world, locally relevant challenges arising along the journey to net zero and a green economy

Scope

Design Accelerator awards are small scale, reactive projects that should intend to:

• demonstrate how the design research and innovation at universities throughout the country is vital for their local communities’ successful transition to net zero and a green economy

• speed up the implementation of outputs by developing them with key local stakeholders

• increase the diversity of voices and actors consulted in and contributing to addressing the climate crisis

For more information on the background of this funding opportunity, go to the ‘Additional information’ section below.

Duration

The duration of these awards is up to nine months.

Projects must start by 1 February 2025.

Funding available

The FEC of your project can be between £35,000 and £65,000.

AHRC will fund 80% of the FEC.

What we will fund

Design Accelerator awards may focus on supporting any engagement activity with local stakeholders that will support progress towards green transition goals, including but not limited to:

• a short-term series of workshops or seminars

• networking activities

• outreach activities that encourage and enable researchers to involve individuals or organisations outside of academic research in the discussion and development of ideas

• community-based product and systems testing

• community engagement coordinating role or activity

Please note that applications should be specific about the details of the proposed activities, be these coordinated programme activities or a standalone activity.

Projects should demonstrate clear pathways to measurable outcomes of benefit to local stakeholders both within the project lifetime and beyond.

Design Accelerator awards will meet both the salary costs for the project lead for the time spent overseeing and providing intellectual input to the activities, as well as the salary costs for the project co-lead for the time spent setting up and coordinating those activities, along with associated indirect and estates costs for both role types. We do not expect salary costs to form the majority of the cost of the application.

If your research organisation has received funding from a previous round of Design Accelerators, the proposed application must be substantively different in both scope and research area.

Please note that each (independent) research organisation can only submit one application to this round of funding. AHRC will not enter discussions with (independent) research organisations regarding demand management and how to prioritise their submissions to this round of funding.

What we will not fund

Applications that are not primarily rooted within the design discipline. Applications must comprise, and evidence at least 50% design discipline coverage.

The salary costs of participants cannot be included.

Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)

UK Research and Innovation (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 application using the following process, noting that all elements of your application form will be shared with the assessors.

AHRC eligibility criteria

At the point of application submission, each will be checked against the following criteria:

• all applicants and named staff must be eligible under the funding opportunity requirements

• the application must meet the aims and criteria of the funding opportunity

• applications which do not meet these criteria will be rejected with feedback on why it could not proceed

Panel

We will invite experts to assess the quality of the applications received against the criteria and rank them alongside other applications. After which, the panel will make a funding recommendation.

There is no written expert review or project lead response for this stage of this funding opportunity.

We reserve the right to use the panel recommendations to create a balanced portfolio of applications that encompass a range of geographies and research themes.

Timescale

We aim to communicate funding decisions in early December 2024, with project start dates no later than 1 February 2025.

Feedback

Written feedback will be provided to all applicants, and this will be shared alongside the outcome of your application.

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 areas

The assessment areas we will use are:

• vision

• approach

• applicant and team capability to deliver

• ethics and responsible research and innovation

• resources and cost justification

• travel

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

Click here to start application on the UKRI Funding Service: This Opportunity opens on Monday 1 July 2024 - UKRI Funding Service

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.

The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.

Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI.

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 funding 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.

• 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)

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

Watch our research office webinars about the new 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

AHRC must receive your application by 3 October 2024 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 this 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

AHRC, 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.

AHRC as part of UKRI, will need to share the application and any personal information that it contains with Future Observatory so that they can view the application documents and observe the assessment panel.

Publication of outcomes

AHRC as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at Design Accelerators | Future Observatory.

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

Summary

Word limit: 500

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)

In previous rounds of funding, this opportunity has not used traditional role names, such as ‘principal investigator’ or ‘co-investigator.’ Instead, these roles were referred to as ‘accelerator lead’ and ‘co-ordinator.’ An accelerator lead would provide intellectual input and oversee the proposed activities, whilst the co-ordinator would establish and co-ordinate the proposed activities. However, round three of this opportunity is being administered through the Funding Service, therefore, we will revert to using the roles of project lead (formerly accelerator lead) and project co-lead (formerly co-ordinator).

Only list one individual as project lead.

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

Application questions

Vision

Word limit: 550

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(s) or area(s)

• has the potential to advance current understanding, or generate new knowledge, thinking or discovery within or beyond the field or area

• is timely given current trends, context, and needs

• impacts world-leading research, society, the economy, or the environment

Within the Vision section we also expect you to:

• identify the potential direct or indirect benefits and who the beneficiaries might be

• detail the intended environmental, economic, and/or societal impacts as well as how these will be measured

• demonstrate clear relevance and fit to the aims and theme of the Design Accelerator opportunity

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

References may be included within this section.

Approach

Word limit: 1650

How are you going to deliver your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how you have designed your approach so that it:

• is effective and appropriate to achieve your objectives

• is feasible, and comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how they will be managed

• will maximise translation of outputs into outcomes and impacts

• describes how your, and if applicable your team’s, research environment (in terms of the place and relevance to the project) will contribute to the success of the work

Within the Approach section we also expect you to:

• detail your approach to community/stakeholder engagement and knowledge exchange

• provide either a one-page workplan (gantt chart or similar visualisation)

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

References may be included within this section.

Applicant and team capability to deliver

Word limit: 1,650

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

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Evidence of how you, and if relevant 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 and management skills to deliver the work and your approach to develop others

• contributed to developing a positive research environment and wider community

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

The word count for this section is 1,650 words: 1,150 words to be used for R4RI modules (including references) and, if necessary, a further 500 words for Additions.

Use the Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) format to showcase the range of relevant skills you and, if relevant, your team (project and project co-leads, researchers, technicians, specialists, partners and so on) have and how this will help 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 listed. Use each heading once and include a response for the whole team, see the UKRI guidance on R4RI. You should consider how to balance your answer, and emphasise where appropriate the key skills each team member brings:

• contributions to the generation of new ideas, tools, methodologies, or knowledge

• the development of others and maintenance of effective working relationships

• contributions to the wider research and innovation community

• contributions to broader research or innovation users and audiences and towards wider societal benefit

As a minimum, all named members of the leadership team should be discussed within this section of the form.

References may be included within this section, and if deemed appropriate, these should be included within the section’s word limit. We would advise you not to include hyperlinks, as assessors are not obliged to access the information they lead to or consider it in their assessment of your application. If you are linking to web resources, to maintain the information’s integrity, include persistent identifiers (such as digital object identifiers) where possible. You must not include links to web resources to extend your application.

Additions

Provide any further details relevant to your application. This section is optional and can be up to 500 words. You should not use it to describe additional skills, experiences, or outputs, but you can use it to describe any factors that provide context for the rest of your R4RI (for example, details of career breaks if you wish to disclose them).

Complete this as a narrative. Do not format it like a CV.

UKRI has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the new  Funding Service.

For full details, see Eligibility as an individual.

Project partners

Add details about any project partners’ contributions. If there are no project partners, you can indicate this on the Funding Service.

A project partner is a collaborating organisation or individual 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.

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

Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)

Word limit: 500

What are the ethical or RRI implications and issues relating to the proposed work? If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical or RRI issues, explain why.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated:

• the relevant ethical or responsible research and innovation considerations

• how you will manage these considerations

If you are collecting or using data, identify:

• any legal and ethical considerations of collecting, releasing or storing the data including consent, confidentiality, anonymisation, security and other ethical considerations and strategies to not preclude further reuse of data

• formal information standards with which your study will comply

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

Resources and cost justification

Word limit: 1,000

What will you need to deliver your proposed work and how much will it cost?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Justify the application’s more costly resources, in particular:

• project staff

• significant travel for field work or collaboration (but not regular travel between collaborating organisations or to conferences)

• any consumables beyond typical requirements, or that are required in exceptional quantities

• all facilities and infrastructure costs

• all resources that have been costed as ‘Exceptions’

Assessors are not looking for detailed costs or a line-by-line breakdown of all project resources. Overall, they want you to demonstrate how the resources you anticipate needing for your proposed work:

• are comprehensive, appropriate, and justified

• represent the optimal use of resources to achieve the intended outcomes

• maximise potential outcomes and impacts

Additionally, where relevant you should explain:

• support for any project partners organisations

We do not provide funding for individual items of equipment over £10,000. Please see the AHRC research funding guide for further information.

Travel: purpose

Word limit: 250

Why is the travel needed?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain why the proposed travel is necessary and where alternative approaches are not appropriate, including reference to:

• added value to existing or future research and innovation

• promotion of collaboration

• acquisition and development of skills

• benefit to the countries, organisations and regions involved where appropriate

• why you are the best person to carry out this visit

• why the place you are travelling to is the best place to go to, in terms of people and resources

• why travel needs to happen at this time

Background

It has been recognised that, however valuable a stock of knowledge a university might possess, this does not mean that local businesses and non-academic organisations are either aware, able to access, or utilise it effectively. Supported by data from Research England’s Knowledge Exchange Dashboard, more work is needed to exploit the high-quality outputs from the UK’s world-leading, multidisciplinary research and innovation community in bolstering local growth and regeneration, a challenge compounded by the urgency of the climate crisis. Greater connectivity between researchers and their co-located non-academic communities, and an enhanced ability to demonstrate the value of sustainable innovation to local communities, is key to achieving net zero and a green economy.

As part of AHRC’s new £25 million programme, Future Observatory: Design the Green Transition, the Design Accelerator awards are an opportunity to continue this work and to close the gap between climate-positive design research and its application in real-world scenarios. With multiple regions in all devolved nations of the UK represented, this will support AHRC’s developing commercialisation strategy and embed the UK Research and Development Roadmap’s objective to “ensure that more parts of the UK are attractive to private investment – including from overseas – to unlock their full potential for R&D growth.”

Future Observatory

Future Observatory is a national research, debate, and training programme to show how design research can drive Britain’s future prosperity.

Based at the Design Museum, Future Observatory acts as the engagement hub for the Design Accelerators, providing opportunities for showcasing research, running events for award holders as well as networking opportunities and the chance to help shape the conversation around the UK’s green transition.

Find out more about previously funded Design Accelerator awards.

Additional disability and accessibility adjustments

UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process if required.

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.

Related content

• UKRI policies and standards

• AHRC policies and standards

• AHRC research funding guide

Related opportunities

• Design Exchange Partnerships: design the green transition round three

Get help with your application

If you have a question and the answers aren’t provided on this page

Important 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 ai.design@ahrc.ukri.org

Any 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 547490

Our 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 ai.design@ahrc.ukri.org

Include 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.