UKCCSRC Flexible Funding 2024 Call – closed 1pm, 5th June 2024

1. Scope of Call

The UKCCSRC invites proposals for CCS research projects supporting the UK Government’s net-zero objectives that address but are not limited to the following:

• Supporting the Government’s net-zero objectives
• Research linked to the priorities identified in the UKCCSRC industry and policy led ‘what are our research needs’ workshops
• Research not already funded by the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre, IDRIC (see https://idric.org/research-programme/ for details of current IDRIC projects).
• Seed funding for a piece of work that could lead to responsive mode applications
• Work that can be used (e.g. a feasibility study) to establish a principle / understand the challenges for a larger bid to other sources of CCS funding later. [Noting that bid preparation itself can’t be funded]
• The following areas are considered out of scope for the UKCCSRC flexible funds: CCU projects that do not include mineralisation or equivalent in terms of storage longevity, and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) that does not include CCS

2. Call Process and Timeline

Key dates for the UKCCSRC Flexible Funding 2024 Call are:

• Open for submissions: 27th March 2024
• Closed to submissions: 1pm, 5th June 2024
• Decisions: August 2024 (or earlier)
• Start Dates (from): 1^st September 2024
• End Dates (no later than): 30^th June 2025 (due to the current end date of the UKCCSRC Network+, no extensions will be given beyond this date)

3. Funding

Up to £285K is available, but the UKCCSRC Board is not obliged to allocate all these funds during this call. Proposals are expected to be either:

• £10k (100% FEC) for small projects that could lead to bigger funding and/or collaborative work
• £30k (100% FEC) for proposals with no additional funding
• £50k (100% FEC) for proposals that can obtain 20% (£10k) additional (co-investment*) funding from industry or other research users such as government or regulators (i.e. not from other research funding bodies, research institutions etc.)
• It is envisaged that £50k-£100k will be awarded to £10k projects
• £100k is ringfenced for Early Career Researcher (ECR) applicants (those still eligible for the EPSRC New Investigators Award)

* The additional investment (in terms of eligible costs) the lead bidder and core partners intend to provide for the infrastructure and R&D activity. This pledged investment must be committed at the outset of the project.

Notes for Proposers:

• This call is for proposals to a fixed budget amount of either £10k, £30K or up to £50k (100% FEC)
• Costings should be submitted at 100% FEC using a SINGLE dummy JeS form and include only EPSRC-eligible costs
• Research organisations will be paid at 80% of FEC
• No equipment purchase expenditure will be covered but applicants can request funds at reasonable UK academic researcher rates for the use of established research facilities
• If you are successful with your application, you will be required to complete a project agreement with The University of Sheffield on the terms set out in one of the following two templates (one template is for projects where you are the sole project partner and the second, for where you are the lead partner in a consortium). The project details will be added into the final agreement, but no other amendments will be made to the templates. In submitting your application to us, you agree to these terms.
• If you are successful with your application, invoices will need to be accompanied by the UKCCSRC breakdown of expenditure form
• No extensions will be awarded beyond 30th June 2025 due to the funding end date of the UKCCSRC Network+

4. Eligibility

Members of all organisations eligible to receive EPSRC funding may participate in proposals, subject to them personally also meeting the EPSRC funding requirements. Note that the EPSRC’s Repeatedly Unsuccessful Applicants policy does not apply to this call. All proposals must have a UKCCSRC academic member as the Principal Investigator (see membership requirements) and individual UKCCSRC members can be PI in no more than one proposal.

UKCCSRC ECR members are also eligible to apply to this call. UKCCSRC ECR eligibility (see membership criteria) includes PhD students studying CCS and early career research staff based at UK universities that meet the (non-technical) conditions for eligibility for the EPSRC first grant scheme. See here for UKCCSRC ECR eligibility.

Application submission process and assessment criteria (on £10k and £30/50k pages)

5. Application submission process
6. Co-funding, industrial support and collaboration
7. Application assessment process

Proposals will need to be submitted via the UKCCSRC website with all relevant documentation attached (please click icons below for relevant call as these criteria are different for the £10k awards and the £30/£50k awards).

All applications must be approved at the applicants’ home institute before they are submitted to the UKCCSRC website.

8. Expected grant duration

Grants will be expected to run for a period from 3 months up to a maximum of 9 months.

All approved proposals should be able to start no later than 1^st September 2024.  Any grants that are not making progress as planned by this date, or at any time subsequently, will have their funding allocation reviewed and may be withdrawn.

All approved proposals must end by 30^th June 2025 in order to meet the objectives of the funding call. There will be no extensions past this point under any circumstances.

9. Additional documentation 

UKCCSRC Equality Impact Assessment Form

Contacts

If you have any questions about the UKCCSRC Flexible Funding 2024 Call please get in touch with the UKCCSRC Secretariat on info@ukccsrc.ac.uk or 0114 2157235.

The PI and Co-Is of the UKCCSRC grant are not acting as contact points for this call and will not be involved in the handling or review of received applications.