Guidance Notes for EPSRC Prosperity Partnership Reviewers Second Call 2018

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1 Guidance Notes for EPSRC Prosperity Partnership Reviewers Second Call 2018 Thank you for agreeing to review a Prosperity Partnership grant proposal. Please bear in mind that given the nature of this Call and the significant volume of proposal materials, you may need to allow up to five hours to make your assessment. If you have any questions about the process or your review, please do not hesitate to get in touch with your EPSRC contact or Zoe Brown (zoe.brown@epsrc.ac.uk). 1. Background Information on the Prosperity Partnerships (Second) Call Through the Prosperity Partnerships Call, EPSRC intends to support existing, strategic, researchbased partnerships between businesses and universities. We are doing this by offering opportunities for co- investment in large-scale collaborative research programmes. These programmes should involve a world- leading team of academic and business partners who have a strong track-record of working together, and should address EPSRC s Prosperity Outcomes Framework and the long-term strategies of the businesses and universities involved. The commitment to shared goals should be reflected by substantial cash contributions (with a requirement that applicants will match the funded value of the grant, 80% FEC). 20 million is available to support between four and eight programmes. A key aim of the Prosperity Partnerships Call is engaging business in the co-creation of longer, larger grants and in so doing, helping business unlock the transformative potential of investing in discovery science and engineering. This call forms one part of our suite of approaches to business engagement and we expect that the opportunity for securing significant EPSRC investment will drive increased business engagement in EPSRC s portfolio. We expect that these Partnerships will create enhanced and accelerated impact such as growth in business turnover, job creation, increased exports and environmental and social benefits, as well as leveraging EPSRC resources by attracting significant investment from business and universities. The lead business for each Prosperity Partnership bid first took part in a discussion (either face-toface or via a phone call) to explore the fit to the core criteria for the Call (see above). Following this discussion, the lead business was invited to submit a 4-page Expression of Interest created in collaboration with the university partner(s). An internal panel was held which produced a rank ordered list of all EOIs according to their fit to the scope of the call. 24 applications were successful at the EOI stage and invited to submit full proposals. 2. Points to consider As you are reviewing a proposal(s) submitted in response to a published Call, we ask you to read the Call Document and make your assessment of the proposal within the context of the aims, objectives and specific assessment criteria for the Call. There are a number of points we ask you to take into particular consideration as you make your assessment: 1. Applicants have been asked to explicitly demonstrate and quantify the benefits of the programme to the business. Whilst they must be able to clearly explain the need for public funding, please do not make an assumption that the importance of the programme to the business precludes a need for them to seek additional funding beyond their own. 1

2 2. As a key aim of these programmes is to drive the generation of enhanced impact to the businesses involved and they require considerable business investment, in some cases the work planned may extend into higher Technology Readiness Levels TRLs (4+). This is appropriate as long as the bulk of the work remains in the standard EPSRC remit space (TRL 1-3), focusing on discovery science in engineering or physical sciences. The delivery of demonstrable impact - to the research base and to business - is key to these programmes. Activities which are integral to achieving impact with the named partners may therefore be more readily situated in the Case for Support, with wider or more general impact sitting in the Pathways to Impact statement as normal. 3. It was specified in the Call Document that applicant businesses should have a UK research base and all proposals should highlight how the programme will benefit the UK. However, for applications where the business(es) involved include multinational corporations, we accept that some aspects of the research may also result in exploitation and benefits felt beyond the UK. 4. Whilst all bids must have a lead business and lead academic partner with an established strategic relationship, beyond this we have not stipulated the make-up of partnerships. There is likely to be a range of configurations, from a single business with a number of established university partners, to a single established relationship between the lead organisations with a variety of new partners brought it. Whatever the chosen structure, the proposal should demonstrate a clear plan for how the interactions will be managed. 5. Proposals will come from a broad range of disciplines and will reflect the perspective of the business sector(s) they represent. Inherent sector-specific traits, in particular in relation to their appetite for risk, should be taken into account when considering the level of ambition described in the programme. 6. A key new feature of this second call for Prosperity Partnerships is that funds for doctoral studentships may be applied for as part of the resources requested from EPSRC. Applicants must demonstrate how they will ensure that the doctoral students(s) will have a high quality training and academic research experience and can ensure that they can meet the descriptor for the award of a doctoral degree. Additionally, the applicants should clearly state how the doctoral studentships add value to the proposed research, whilst providing a clear opportunity for a distinct and independent course of enquiry for the student. The doctoral studentship must not be on the critical path for research grant delivery. With these points in mind, successful Prosperity Partnerships should show a number of key characteristics: - Clear evidence of having been co-created by both the lead academic and lead business partners. - Involve business and academic partners with a strong track record of working together strategically, and with teams demonstrating complementary business and academic 2

3 expertise. - Tackle shared challenges between the business and academic partners. - Explicitly address EPSRC s published Prosperity Outcomes Framework - we would encourage reviewers to familiarise themselves with this Framework which can be found here. The strongest proposals will clearly address one or more of the Ambitions within the Outcome(s). - Have a major impact on both the research base (in terms of significantly advancing the field of study) and the business, with benefits to the business including skills, business growth, improvements in efficiency, new processes or products, and cost savings. - Intend to use the long-term funding flexibly to ensure resources are deployed in a way that will effectively induce a step-change in the knowledge and capabilities of the businesses partners. - The funded value of the grant (80% of the full economic cost) is matched with a cash contribution by the partners. We have not stipulated the breakdown between the university and business in terms of the matched funding; however, the cash contribution may serve to reflect the commitment of the partners to the programme and strategic partnership. This contribution must be in the form of: o An auditable transfer of funds (i.e. clear financial records are available) from the business partners to the academic partners; o and/or salary costs of business partner employees working full time (for a reasonable period of the project) and making contributions to the research effort or project management; o and/or new activities funded by a partner university. Note that the university contribution of 20% FEC was taken into account in designing this funding mechanism, and any offer detailed must be in addition to this 20%. Similarly, allocation of EPSRC funds received through other sources (for example DTP studentships) to the proposed programme does not count towards the University Offer. 3. Reviewer Form Reviews are based around a series of assessment criteria. There are five core criteria: research quality; national importance; pathways to impact; applicant ability; and resources and management. In addition most funding schemes, including this Call, have additional scheme-specific criteria. Research quality remains the pre- eminent assessment criterion for all proposals, while national importance will also play a major role in the assessment process. You will be asked to complete a reviewer form for EPSRC standard calls, which contains sections for each of the criteria. A description of each criterion is provided below. Quality. The degree of research excellence of the proposal making reference to: - The novelty, relationship to the context, and timeliness - The ambition, adventure, and transformative aspects identified - The appropriateness of the proposed methodology National Importance. The national importance of the research, including how the research: - Contributes to, or helps maintain the health of other disciplines contributes to addressing 3

4 key UK societal challenges and/or contributes to future UK economic success and development of emerging industry(s) - Meets national needs by establishing/maintaining a unique world leading activity - Complements other UK research already funded in the area, including any relationship to the EPSRC portfolio Impact. The pathway to impact identified for this work particularly: - How complete and realistic are the impacts identified for this work - The effectiveness of the activities identified to help realise these impacts, including the resources requested for this purpose - The relevance and appropriateness of any beneficiaries or collaborators Applicant. The applicants ability to deliver the proposed project making reference to: - Appropriateness of the track record of the applicant(s) - Balance of skills of the project team, including academic partners Resources & Management. The effectiveness of the proposed planning and management and whether the requested resources are appropriate and have been fully justified. Please comment explicitly on the viability of the arrangements described to access equipment needed for this project, and particularly on any university or third party contribution. Proposal Assessment. The extent to which this proposal meets each of the criteria laid out in the call document not already covered by your previous answers. Please comment here on how well the proposal meets the specific aims of the Call, using the criteria covered in the following section. In some cases, aspects of an assessment criterion may already have been covered in other sections of the reviewer form and do not need to be replicated here. 4 Assessment Criteria The following assessment criteria were provided to applicants: Quality of proposed research. The proposal must demonstrate that research of the highest quality will be undertaken by a team of academics and UK business collaborators; where the lead business and academic partners can show a strong track record of working together strategically. The research programme should be ambitious, creative and innovative; addressing key shared challenge(s). It should be clearly stated why the challenges are ambitious and why academicbusiness collaboration is essential for success; applicants should set the proposed research in context in terms of the current state of knowledge and other work under way in the field. The research programme should also be sustainable beyond the lifetime of the grant and have demonstrable impact to both the businesses and the research base and beyond. The principal investigators (Business and Academic) should have brought together a team with complementary expertise so as to enhance the potential to achieve the vision. National Importance. EPSRC expects all research funded through this Call to explicitly address EPSRC s published Prosperity Outcomes Framework. The proposal should clearly identify how the research proposed: - Contributes to delivering one or more of the stated Ambitions within each of EPSRC s four key Prosperity Outcomes: Productive, Resilient, Connected and Healthy 4

5 - Contributes to, or helps maintain the health of other research disciplines, contributes to addressing key UK societal challenges, contributes to current or future UK economic success and / or enables future development of key emerging industry(s). - Meets national strategic needs by establishing or maintaining a unique, world leading research activity (including areas of niche capability). - Fits with and complements other UK research already funded in the area or related areas, including the relationship to the EPSRC portfolio, and our stated strategy set out in 'Our portfolio'. - The definition of National Importance and further details can be found at: Preparing new proposals to include National Importance. Added value. The proposal must demonstrate the need for EPSRC Prosperity Partnership investment. In other words the advantages and benefits of supporting a coherent programme of research activities, co-created by business and academia, must be clearly articulated. It must discuss the value of the longer term funding, what access to this funding will achieve that otherwise could not be achieved, and how the flexibility of both staff and other resources will be exploited to accelerate impact. This should include the assessment of the plans for the training of doctoral students aligned with this proposal. Overall Vision and Ambition. The proposal must articulate the overall research vision of the research programme, including the business vision and ambitions for the acceleration of impact from the research. It is expected that the research vision will be ambitious and would result in a significant step change in knowledge, understanding and technology that would have a major impact on the research base and the business. From a business perspective the partners should articulate the benefits to business in terms of skills, business growth, and improvement in efficiency, new processes or products and cost savings that the research programme will contribute to. Inasmuch as possible, the expected benefits to the business should be quantified. The importance of the research theme proposed to the strategy of the respective universities and businesses involved should also be articulated. Leadership quality. Effective leadership is essential to drive the programmes forward, and ensure all members of the team are focused on the overall vision. Strong leadership is required from both the Business and Academic partners and therefore an Academic and Business Principal Investigator must be named. Applicants must reference their leadership skills when setting out the proposal, but this criterion will primarily be assessed at the interview stage. Management Strategy. The proposal must demonstrate that there is a clear management plan, which will ensure that resources, including human resources, are deployed in the most effective way to deliver high quality research outcomes and impact that have the potential to induce a stepchange in the knowledge and capabilities of the business partners. It is expected that the deliverables and milestones will be routinely reviewed to ensure that the most exciting and promising lines of research are pursued and that sufficient resources are assigned to ensure the project is professionally managed. It is expected that project governance arrangements should sit within the wider governance framework for the strategic collaboration between the lead university and business partners so that separate, but aligned activities can be managed coherently delivering the best value for money. Where relevant, applications should explain how they will extend 5

6 partnership arrangements to include other companies and universities. Given the nature of these research programmes a work plan covering at least 50% of the requested programme time is required. Impact. The proposal must demonstrate that a strategy is in place to ensure maximum impact of the research is realised, this includes both the academic and business pathways. Details of this strategy should be contained in the Pathways to Impact document. For more information and advice please see the EPSRC guidance on impact. 6