Research Council schemes / funding
Research Councils UK
Research Councils UK (RCUK) is a strategic partnership through which the UK’s eight Research Councils work together to champion the research, training and innovation they support.
The Research Councils are the main public investors in fundamental research in the UK with interests ranging from bio-medicine and particle physics to the environment, engineering and economic research. RCUK works alongside the Office of Science & Technology (OST) to support the UK’s finest academic researchers and to ensure the best investment of public money in research.
Schemes:
Managed Programmes
EPSRC
In some specific research areas EPSRC operates managed programmes with specific research aims, for example to encourage multidisciplinary research or to help develop and coordinate a new research community and activity.
Often these programmes will need the involvement of industrial collaborators and EPSRC would encourage companies to be involved in these projects by providing staff time, cash or support in kind as appropriate, and being actively involved in the research project. These programmes are announced as Calls for Proposals.
A detailed description of the aims and priorities for each Managed Programme can be found within the relevant Call for Proposals document.
http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/CallsForProposals/default.htm
Open LINK
Medical Research Council (MRC)
MRC's LINK franchise covering entire remit of MRC. Supports academic/industry collaborative projects.
The MRC encourages high-quality collaborative projects within its remit and which meet LINK criteria but which do not fit into any particular LINK Programme. Proposals for Open LINK projects are evaluated against the same criteria as those in formal Programmes.
Responsive Mode
EPSRC
Key features of Responsive Mode are: no closing dates; no constraints on the field of research (providing the majority of it falls within the EPSRC remit); research quality (as defined by independent peer review) is the key determinant of funding
EPSRC welcomes and actively encourages the involvement of industrial collaborators on responsive mode research proposals, particularly where the involvement can significantly help the progress of the research and the take-up of the research results. However, funding from a third-party is not mandatory.