Notice

Announcement of Opportunity: Exploration Science working group support

Published 18 May 2023

Responsive mode call

Funding type: Travel and time support for academics

Who can apply: Academics selected for groups and/or science teams, campaign science groups and other definition work relating to named UK Space Agency Exploration Science missions.

Award range: Up to £40,000

Closing date: This call will remain open until further notice.

1. Scope of call

Exploration covers the regions where humans are currently able to live and work or may be able to in the near future, namely Low Earth Orbit, the Moon and Mars. The UK has made a major investment in ESA’s Exploration Programme. The UK Space Agency wishes to secure the benefits from this investment and to prepare for participation in exploration missions with partners beyond ESA.

Therefore, the UK Space Agency is making funding available to support academics who have been selected for groups and/or science teams, campaign science groups and other definition work relating to named Exploration missions.

This call is designed to provide support for researchers selected for mission definition phase working groups in exploration missions that the UK Space Agency are funding or have an active interest in, namely Mars Sample Return, ARTEMIS and ExoMars. If in doubt, please speak to us before applying.

This grant will fund travel and subsistence, as well as scientists’ time to participate in meetings up to a maximum of 0.1 FTE per year (exceptions may be considered on an individual basis)

This grant will not fund research costs (i.e., lab consumables, instrument time, PDRAs etc).

This funding is open to academics and individual scientists from the UK or overseas, working at UK Research Organisations.

This is an individual award and cannot be used to support multiple participants on one grant.

Prospective applicants may discuss with the Agency prior to submission if they are uncertain about whether their proposal fits this call.

Guidance on working with Russia

We will not fund any new collaborative projects with Russia.

This includes any project with a Russian dimension, e.g., projects building on existing work with Russian collaborators (as Co-Is, project partners, lab facilities, or co-authors) or which use Russian data sources (where the data cannot be sourced through other means). If you require any further clarity on this, please contact us at SpaceExploration@ukspaceagency.gov.uk

The UK Space Agency follow policy set by the department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS, now called the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology; DSIT) in accordance with guidance from the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO).

In March 2022, BEIS set a firm policy on Russian collaboration, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/research-and-innovation-sanctions-on-russia-and-support-for-ukraine

2. Award duration and value

Support will be granted to a maximum of £40,000 per proposal. The requested amount must be proportionate to the meeting demands.

The grant will fund up to 0.1 FTE per year. (exceptions may be considered on an individual basis)

Ordinarily, applications may propose activities up to a maximum of three years in duration.

The funding must be justified and of reasonable length in relation to the mission. Reasonable costs will be permitted, but it should be noted that all costs must be justified and that the appropriateness and justification of sums requested will form part of the assessment criteria.

If you require substantially more than this, please get in touch with the team at SpaceExploration@ukspaceagency.gov.uk to discuss your situation.

This is funding from the UK Space Agency, though it is administered through STFC on behalf of the UK Space Agency. Awards will be made in line with standard STFC criteria, in accordance with their financial rules (including the standard FEC application and for the length of the grant – please make sure you and your institution are fully aware of these before application - https://www.ukri.org/councils/stfc/guidance-for-applicants/

The UK Space Agency will require a summary report at the end of the completed activity. A report template will be sent alongside the confirmation of a successful bid so applicants know what data they will need to collect.

The call will remain open until further notice.

3. Grant terms and conditions

All awards will be subject to UKRI standard grant terms and conditions, with the addition of the following specific clauses from the UK Space Agency as grant funder:

• The UK Space Agency also reserves the right to cancel or reduce the award in the event of the project being cancelled or descoped.
• The UK Space Agency reserves the right to terminate the grant within a 6 month notice period should it be deemed programmatically or strategically advisable to do so.
• The Grant holder agrees that as a condition of receiving any Funds they shall provide the UK Space Agency with all information, reports, statistics, study results and data reasonably requested by the UK Space Agency to track and assess progress and performance of the Project.
• The Grant Recipient shall not publish any material referring to the Funds or this agreement without the prior written agreement of the UK Space Agency.
• The Grant Recipient shall acknowledge the role of the UK Space Agency as grant funder in any materials that refer to the Project and in any written or spoken public presentations about the Project as it relates to this agreement.  Such acknowledgements (where appropriate and with UK Space Agency’s written consent shall include the UK Space Agency’s name and logo (or any future name or logo adopted by the Grant Funder).
• In using the UK Space Agency’s name and logo, the Grant Recipient shall comply with all reasonable branding guidelines issued by the UK Space Agency from time to time.

4. How to apply

Please read all this call guidance carefully. Contact the UK Space Agency SpaceExploration@ukspaceagency.gov.uk if you have any questions.

NOTE: The UK Space Agency Grant funding will be administered through STFC.

You will need to create, but not submit, an application on the Je-S system through the following steps:

Please fill in a Je-S form via https://je-s.rcuk.ac.uk/ for a STFC:

• Standard Proposal as the document type

• Standard as the scheme

• Urgency Grants – Open Call as the Call/Type/Mode

and produce a .pdf of the completed form. To do this, follow document actions –> print document –> select print format as ‘pdf’ –> download the print.

Send this .pdf file, along with the relevant annexes listed below, to SpaceExploration@ukspaceagency.gov.uk with the subject line AO: Exploration Science Working Group Support to arrive before the closing date. A single PDF document with the collated annexes is preferred.

For full details in using the JeS application system, please refer to the JeS Handbook

All annexes MUST be:

• A4 paper size with minimum of 2cm margins
• Font size of no smaller than 11pt
• Saved and sent as PDF documents

Annexes should include:

1. A PDF of the unsubmitted JeS form. Please complete all standard sections.
2. A Case for Support that complements the JeS form, of no more than three sides of A4, to include the plan for the uses of the proposed funding and the justification of all resources requested, detailing:
   • a description of the working group
   • why your participation is required
   • the timeline of proposed working group activities
   • travel requirements (if applicable)
   • details of current funding
3. Academic CV of the applicant
4. Letters of support etc

Please note: it is the responsibility of the proposal Principal Investigator to clear their submission with the relevant finance and research offices of their institution. Such clearance must be obtained prior to submission. We welcome contact from Institutions research offices and are happy to discuss UKSA calls and funding at any time.

Your application will be acknowledged by return email within 5 working days. If you do not receive a reply, it is likely the application has not been received.

Applications may be submitted at any time.

5. Evaluation Criteria and Assessment of Applications

Review Process

Applications will be reviewed at least quarterly and may be reviewed sooner if resources and time allow. If successful, the exploration team will inform the applicant of the funding route that will be taken for the proposal.

We strongly recommend that proposals are submitted as early as possible and at least three months in advance of any proposed dates to allow for the review process and later funding route processes to take place.

Evaluation Criteria

All applications will be reviewed by the UK Space Agency Exploration team. In considering the proposal, the team will use the following criteria:

Relevance to, and priority within, the UK Space Agency Exploration programme (50%)

• Contributions of the project to the development of the community and it’s expected outcomes to UK science and exploration activities as related to the National Space Strategy and the global exploration endeavour outlined in the Global Exploration Roadmap.

Necessity, justification, and timeliness of requested resources (25%)

• Criticality of the proposal to the success of the project.
• Criticality and appropriateness of the length and timing of the grant as related to the expected timeline and planned execution date.

Value for Money (25%)

• Requested costs are appropriate and reasonable
• Value of any leveraged funding (including in-kind and financial)

6. Grant payment

Payments will be made to the research organisation quarterly and the first payment will be made once the formal offer letter has been accepted by the research organisation.

The final payment will be made after the submission of the final reconciliation report at the end of the grant. There processes are administered by STFC, but please note that the UK Space Agency remains the funder. More information on receiving your funding can be found here: https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/manage-your-funding-award/receiving-your-funding-award/

7. Monitoring, evaluation, and Reporting

Following an award and completion of grant agreement formalities, projects will be expected to start on the date noted in the grant agreement, or at sensible time thereafter if delayed for reasonable purposes. At the end of each project, grant recipients will provide a final report to the UK Space Agency. The template for this report will be sent by the UK Space Agency coordinator with confirmation of an award. The report must not contain any confidential information.

All grants awarded will require the awardee to report on impacts and outcomes annually through the ResearchFish process as per UKRI grant terms and conditions, both during the grant period and for 5 years afterwards.

The UK Space Agency Exploration Team remains available to support project teams at any point and expects the Grant Holder to make us aware of any delays, barriers, or issues as early as possible.

8. Confidentiality

The UK Space Agency is subject to the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. It may therefore become necessary for UK Space Agency to release information in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

For those bids not recommended for funding, documentation will be retained by the UK Space Agency for reference. The proposals will not be visible to any others, and the names of any unsuccessful applicants will not be published.

Information submitted for those projects selected for funding will be retained by UK Space Agency but remain confidential.

Summary information about the proposals selected for funding may be published on the UK Space Agency website and/or UK Space Agency social media accounts.

The contact details you provide will only be used for the purposes of this funding call. The UK Space Agency will not share your information with anyone else.

The UK Space Agency complies with the GDPR and its Privacy Notice can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-space-agency-gdpr-privacy-notice/uk-space-agency-uk-gdpr-privacy-notice.

9. Contact

Any questions concerning this call should be directed to:

The UK Space Agency Exploration Science Team at SpaceExploration@ukspaceagency.gov.uk