Lifelong Health and Wellbeing Initiative - Phase 3 Frequently Asked Questions
Questions and answers on the lifelong health and wellbeing (phase 3) initiative regarding eligibility, funding, preparing an application, assessment, ethics and governance.
Last modified: 27 May 2010
- Scope of the call
- Eligibility
- Funding
- Preparing an application
- Assessment
- Ethics and governance
- Notification of outcome
- Other
Scope of the call
Q: What do you mean by multi-disciplinary?
A: The aim of the LLHW phase 3 call is to support high-quality innovative research proposals from research teams comprising experts from a range of disciplines that cover the remit of more than one Research Council. There is an expectation that proposals will include collaborators across disciplines that are not part of your usual research team that would apply to any of the existing schemes of individual LLHW funding partners.
Q: Will my application be rejected if it does not fit the remit of more than one LLHW funder?
A: Yes. Your application will be outside the scope of the call and will not be considered for review. LLHW is aimed at facilitating multidisciplinary proposals that would cross the remit of more than one research council.
Q: My research project deals with research into ageing. Will this be relevant to this call?
A: Yes. LLHW will support multi-disciplinary research addressing factors across the life course that influences healthy ageing and wellbeing in later life.
Eligibility
Q: Who is eligible?
A: The lead applicant must be a UK based researcher based at an eligible UK institution or at an overseas establishment supported by the MRC. However collaborators on the application can be international.
Q: Can MRC units and institutes apply under this call?
A: Yes. Where the MRC unit/institute is the lead applicant, any award will be made on the basis of 100 per cent directly incurred costs exclusive of MRC salary costs and will not include indirect or estates costs.
Q: Is my UK institution eligible?
A: Eligible organisations fall into the following categories:
- UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs);
- Research Council institutes;
- Independent Research Organisation (IROs).
- For this Initiative only, eligibility is extended to Government Departments and their agencies.
Please see eligibility for Research Council funding for further details.
Q: Is there a limit to the number of applications I can submit?
A: You can be a Principal Applicant on either one Research Grant or one Pilot Studies application. You cannot be the Principal Applicant on both Research Grant and Pilot Studies applications. However, Principal Investigators may also be a co-applicant (e.g. second or third named applicant) or collaborator on any number of additional applications in either scheme.
Q: Can my application include a funding partnership with charities or industry?
A: Yes. Please note that the MRC will only be administering the costs on behalf of LLHW funding partners only.
Q: Can the value of this partnership be counted in resources rather than £ sterling?
A: Yes. You will need to detail how the collaboration will work.
Q: Can this industry partnership be non-UK?
A: Yes. If the only/most appropriate industrial partner that could be justified scientifically was a non-UK industrial partner this would be acceptable.
Q: If the research is not UK-based, can I recruit/fund staff to carry out the research?
A: No. The MRC will only fund resources required to carry out the research outside the UK, but will not fund a non-UK employee.
Q: Is the MRC responsible for the Intellectual Property (IP) rights?
A: No. The MRC does not deal with IP rights to research funded on grants (for extramural research). The research organisation will have to handle this with any industrial collaborator (taking care to retain IP rights themselves). MRC needs agreement and confirmation that the data generated from this research can be placed in the public domain within a reasonable timeframe.
Q: Is there a limit to the number of applications a research organisation can submit?
A: No, there is no limit per research organisation, but we would strongly suggest that research organisations consider the funds available when approving applications for submission, and their capacity to deliver the full range of proposed studies.
Q: Can I submit an application which has previously been submitted to an MRC, or any of the LLHW funders, research board or panel, but was not funded?
A: In theory yes, if a year has passed since the original submission. However, it is expected that the proposal will have been revised to take into account feedback and reviewers comments. Proposals submitted will need to fit the remit of this call which is to fund high quality multi-disciplinary research that would not usually be supported through existing funding routes.
Q: If my application doesn’t fit the call remit, what options do I have?
A: If your application does not fit the remit of this call, then you may apply via the normal funding mechanisms to individual funders.
Funding
Q: Is this an MRC call for proposals?
A: No, LLHW is a cross-council initiative (AHRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC and MRC) in partnership with the four UK Health Departments. The MRC is administering and managing the competition on behalf of the other funders.
Q: Will the awards be made under MRC terms and conditions?
A: Yes, as the MRC is managing the LLHW initiative, the awards will be considered as MRC research projects. Refer to LLHW Research Grant Awards and Pilot Studies guidance and evaluation notes for more information.
Q: How much funding is available under this call?
A: Funds of up to £10 million (80 per cent FEC) will be available to support research grants ranging from £300K up to £2.5 million, over a two to five year period.
Funds of £2.5 million (80 per cent FEC) will be available to fund up to 10 pilot studies for a maximum of two years.
Q: Can my LLHW Pilot Study be for longer than two years?
A: No. All Pilot Studies will be for two years.
Q: Can my LLHW Research Grant be for less than two years or more than five years?
A: No. LLHW Research Grant Awards applications should be two to five years.
Q: When is the deadline for submission of the proposals?
A: 4pm, Wednesday 30 June 2010 LLHW Research Grant Awards Outlines. Only successful LLHW Research Grant Awards outlines will be invited for full applications.
4pm, 15 September 2010 for the LLHW Pilot Studies.
Q: When will the awards be announced?
A: Successful LLHW Research Grant Awards and Pilot Studies will be announced in April 2011.
Q: What start date/when will funds be available from?
A: We are keen for the both modes of funding to start as early as possible (within six months) after the awards are announced in April 2011. Early planning for regulatory submissions will help to prevent delays to initiating awarded projects.
Q: Will the application attract full economic costs (FEC)?
A: LLHW Research Grant Awards and Pilot Studies applications will need to be submitted on an FEC basis. (LLHW funders will pay 80 per cent of the full economic costs of the application).
Q: Will awards be pruned?
A: Only under exceptional circumstances will awards be pruned. Therefore, it is important that applications are appropriately costed and represent clear value for money. All the costing would need to be justified.
Preparing an application
Q: My organisation is not registered to use MRC’s EAA.
A: All eligible lead Research Organisations must be registered with MRC to apply for funding via the MRC EAA. It will be important to allow sufficient time for an organisation to pre-register with the MRC’s EAA, if necessary. Please contact the EAA helpdesk (admin.eaa@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk) as soon as possible with details of your organisation and the LLHW call you wish to apply for.
Q: How do I submit an application?
A: Applications will only be accepted using the MRC’s EAA (Electronic Application Assessment). Applicants should refer to the general guidance for applicants (in the applicant’s handbook) and MRC standard terms and conditions. Applicants must submit the specific proforma for LLHW Research Grant Awards Outline or the specific proforma for LLHW Pilot Studies as their Case for Support. Applicants should refer to the LLHW Research Grant Awards Outline guidance and evaluation notes or LLHW Pilot Studies guidance and evaluation notes for information.
Q: When assigning my application on EAA which scientific contact should I choose?
A: Dr Ghada Zoubiane.
Q: When preparing my application, what grant type do I select on EAA?
A: You should select strategic grant as the scheme type, and Managed mode for the type of grant.
Q: Is there a restriction on the typeface/pitch on the case for support?
A: Yes, applicants must use Verdana; pitch 10 for the content; which is the standard typeface on applications.
Q: What is the page limit for the case for support?
A: LLHW Research Grant Awards Outline and LLHW Pilot Studies Case for Support proforma can be up to four A4 pages in length including references.
All sections of the proforma must be completed. It is not necessary to include an abstract or the names of the applicants in the case for support as these are mandatory sections on the actual EAA application. Applications which exceed this limit will be automatically rejected.
Q: Can I create my own case for support document as I would for a normal research grant?
A: No, for the purposes of this call we have created specific Case for Support Proforma, which include all the areas that you must address. The information provided under these specific headings will be used to assess your application.
Q: Can I include annexes in my application?
A: No
Q: What happens if my application is received after the deadline?
A: Proposals are electronically submitted by the PI’s host institution to the MRC. Any proposals received after the deadline will not be considered. Please allow sufficient time for your HEI to approve your application and pre-register with the MRC, if necessary, before submitting it to the MRC.
Assessment
Q: Will the applicant be given the opportunity to respond to referee comments?
A: Yes, only in the case of the LLHW Research Grant Awards full applications.
There are no external referees involved in assessing the LLHW Research Grant Awards Outline applications. Assessment will be made by the Research Advisory Panel and only successful outlines will be invited to submit full proposals.
Ethics and governance
Q: Do I need full ethics permission and regulatory approvals for any human studies in the grant proposal? If so, when should I apply for this?
A: MRC does not require ethics permissions and regulatory approvals to be in place when you submit an application. However, given that research requiring the use of human tissue/organs may raise various ethical and regulatory issues, applicants will be required to demonstrate that they have adequately considered these. Early discussions with regulatory bodies may be required to ensure that all requirements can be met in a timely manner. It is the responsibility of your host institution to ensure that the appropriate ethics approval(s) have been obtained and that no research requiring such approval is initiated before it has been granted. Please read the MRC terms and conditions.
Notification of outcome
Q: How will you let me know if my application has been successful?
A: The MRC, who is administering the call on behalf of the funders, will notify the Principal Investigator of the decision by email communication.
Q: When can I expect to receive feedback on whether my application has been successful?
A: Notification of the outcome for the LLHW Research Grant Awards will be made by September 2010 for the outline stage and April 2011 for full applications.
Notification of LLHW Pilot Studies awards will be made in April 2011.
Q: What feedback will I receive once the award decision has been made?
A: Applicants should note that only brief feedback in the form of key bullets will be provided.
Q: Will you publish a list of the awards that are made?
A: Following the funding decisions a list of awards will be made available on the MRC website (the list will be inclusive of name, title of grant, host institution, department and value awarded).
Other
Q: If my query is not answered by the FAQ’s, or by the specific guidance in the LLHW notes or I have a research query regarding my application, how do I contact you?
A: To ensure that we respond to your query as efficiently as possible we have created a specific email address for this call:
Email: LLHWAdmin@ssc.rcuk.ac.uk
Q: I have a query concerning preparing my EAA application form, who should I contact?
A: Please contact the MRC EAA helpdesk:
EAA Helpdesk
Telephone: 020 7670 5207
Email: admin.eaa@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk
Web: www.eaa.mrc.ac.uk
Monday – Friday 9.00am – 5.00pm
Please note that voice mail will log calls at all other times and will take messages if the line is already in use.
