Funding

Scientific and technological breakthroughs often rely on a mix of academic and industrial capabilities that can be hard to find in a single organisation, so our programmes will deliberately reach across disciplines, sectors and institutions.

We are keen to explore structures not typical in academic research, such as supporting early career researchers as project leads or funding large (>80%) proportions of senior academics’ time so that they can focus fully on their ARIA project. 

Applicants may submit multiple proposals to a funding call, provided each represents a distinct project, though they can be complementary. Each submission will be evaluated independently based on the call’s criteria, with no disadvantage to the applicant. 

Applying for an opportunity seed does not prevent you from applying to other ARIA funding calls or programmes.

There are some eligibility restrictions. All proposals pass through an initial screening and compliance review. At this stage we carry out some checks to verify your identity, review any national security risks and check for any conflicts of interest (ARIA staff and/or their family members are ineligible to apply for any ARIA funding. Any entity in which an ARIA staff member and/or their family member is a Board Director or a person of significant control (as defined by gov.uk website) is also ineligible to apply). Non-compliant or non-eligible proposals will be rejected at this stage.

If you are successfully selected for an award of funding we’ll then conduct some further due diligence, as part of this we may ask for some additional information. Other than the restrictions highlighted above we will not apply any specific constraints. Instead we’ll consider each potential recipient based on the complexity of the scope, value of the potential funding and any associated risks. 

Ideally you should have your organisation’s consent prior to submission of your proposal. We realise this isn’t always possible, so we don’t require it at concept paper stage. As part of the full proposal application, if you wish to conduct the research at your organisation we will require confirmation of your organisation’s consent. If your application is successful and you wish to conduct the research at your organisation, we will need their consent to formally agree the funding.

Unless otherwise stated in each funding call, our primary focus is on funding those who are based in the UK. For the vast majority of applicants, we therefore require the majority of the project work to be conducted in the UK (i.e. >50% of project costs and personnel time).

We can award funding to applicants whose projects will primarily take place outside of the UK if we believe it can boost the net impact of a programme. 
In these instances, you must outline in proposals any proposed plans or commitments in the UK that will contribute to the programme within the project's duration. If you are selected for an award subject to negotiation, these plans will form part of those negotiations and any resultant contract/grant. 

Where you intend to create a subsidiary in the UK, the subsidiary does not necessarily need to be in place prior to the commencement of any funding. You must however outline a credible plan for achieving this within the project’s duration. If you are successfully selected for an award, subject to negotiations, this plan will form part of those negotiations and any resultant contract/grant.

For joint applications, applicants should designate a lead applicant (and organisation, if applicable) to submit the application, listing all other collaborators (e.g. researchers outside your university or company) as proposed subcontractors or sub-grantees to the project. If successful, ARIA will fund the lead organisation, which will then be responsible for entering into agreements with third-party collaborators and distributing funds to them as needed.

You are encouraged to include the estimated costs for everything you require to deliver the proposed project, however there are some restrictions on what you can include, guidance on this can be found in our Eligible Expenditure Guidance.

Throughout the solicitation process we only ask for the level of information we need at each stage of the process. This means the amount of information required can range from a high level figure at the outset of a funding call, through to a full cost breakdown if you are shortlisted for the final stages.

At concept paper stage we will require you to estimate of the high level cost of the project (a short table included in the call documents). At the full proposal stage we will ask you to complete a detailed cost breakdown which can be found here. Upon agreement of the scope of work and before the contract is signed, the cost breakdown must be finalised and agreed with ARIA. Since we aim to attract applicants from diverse sectors, our cost sheets are designed to be generic and are not tailored to specific types of institutions such as universities or companies. 

When filling out the cost sheets, third-party collaborators should be identified as subcontractors or sub-grantees in the cost sheet, with only the lead applicant's indirect costs included under indirect costs. How you contract with these organisations is up to you, whether through collaboration agreements, service contracts, partnership agreements, or other arrangements. 

Subject to the conditions of each call, ARIA will treat your proposal confidentially.

You should provide enough information to allow us to evaluate your proposal, but you should not submit potentially patentable information before a patent application is filed or commercially sensitive information. If there is information that would support your application, but that you do not wish to disclose because you believe it may be patentable or commercially sensitive, please make this clear in your application.

We may enter into an NDA where you have been shortlisted and you want to discuss potentially patentable or commercially sensitive information.

Where the activity being funded is considered basic research (experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts, without any particular application or use in view/TRLs 1-3) and you are an Enterprise, ARIA will provide funding via a Basic Research Grant Agreement.

Where the activity being funded is considered to be more technologically mature but still research and development (TRLs 3-6) and you are an Enterprise, ARIA will provide funding via a Research Agreement.

Where the activity being funded is between TRLs 1-6 and you are not an Enterprise (e.g. a university or individual), ARIA will provide funding via a Standard Grant Agreement or Research Grant Agreement to an individual. 

This framework of agreements has been developed to ensure compliance with the Subsidy Control Act.

Standard Grant Agreement [PDF]
Research Agreement [PDF]
Basic Grant Agreement [PDF]
Individual Grant Agreement [PDF]