Notice

Announcement of Opportunity: 2025 SciSpacE support

Published 13 May 2025

1. Scope of call

The purpose of this call is to support UK based researchers who have already secured facility access to microgravity and space environments research platforms through the ESA SciSpacE Programmes Research Announcements.

The UK Space Agency is making funding available to support the preparation of experiments. This scheme is open to academics from the UK or overseas, working at UK Research Organisations, who have already been selected by ESA for access to microgravity or space environments facilities e.g., via their SciSpacE programme. If you have secured access to an ESA microgravity/space environment facility through any other ESA schemes, please get in touch before submitting an application.

The UK Space Agency only welcomes proposals for resources and related costs to support experiment preparation and implementation. This could take the form of (but are not limited to):

• support for academics including promising early career researchers, Post Doctorate Research Assistants, lead academics, and PhD students (where the grant does not provide core funding for a PhD project)
• travel costs to facilitate data collection or experiment implementation
• equipment costs (to support experiment preparation)
• data analysis required to prepare the experiment only

Exploitation of experiment data (analysis, write up, and dissemination) is not within the scope of this call and is generally within the remit of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). We are unable to provide support for PhD student projects (but PhD students may be included in staffing costs where appropriate as part of the experiment team).

2. Aims and objectives

The aim of the call is to continue to develop the UK’s microgravity community and their research outcomes, and to maximise the return on the UK’s investment in Microgravity Facilities, through the ESA Exploration programmes.

This call will fund UK based academic researchers who have already secured facility access to microgravity and space environments research platforms through the ESA SciSpace Programme, of which the UK is a member state.

This call aims to provide UK national support to selected experiments for preparation and execution.  Prioritisation will be given to experiments scheduled to be executed in 2025 - 2028 (with an understanding that delays can occur).

3. Award value

This funding is 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).

The award range of £80,000 specified above is at 80% FEC., i.e., £100,000 at 100% FEC, £80,000 funded. Given the award cap, please carefully consider the FTE you require for this project.

Award funding requests should be in line with PDRA/researcher salary costs for standard UKRI grants or justified grant related costs.

Reasonable costs will be permitted, but it should be noted that all costs must be justified and of a reasonable length related to the experiment. The appropriateness and justification of sums requested will form part of the assessment criteria, and the UK Space Agency reserves the right to reject any costs it deems ineligible.  When costing your proposal please note that you do not need to factor in price rises (inflation) into this. Please cost the application based on current prices, and if you are successful, ‘indexation’ will be applied to the grant to account for inflation.

The UK Space Agency acknowledges the breadth and scope of microgravity research and wishes to use this allocated funding in the most effective way possible. The UK Space Agency therefore reserves the right to negotiate changes to proposed funding requests on a case-by-case basis.

4. Subsidy Control

The UK Space Agency supports organisations to invest in research, development and innovation. The support we provide is consistent with the UK’s international obligations and commitments to Subsidy Control.

This scheme provides funding that is not classed by the UK Space Agency as a subsidy by not being deemed a subsidy in accordance with Section 2 of the Subsidy Control Act 2022 as this call supports fundamental research activity. Applicants should still seek independent legal advice on what this means before applying.

No subsidy status is only granted to organisations which declared that they will not use the funding to pursue economic activity (i.e. putting goods or services onto market), or in any way that would determine the funding as a subsidy as defined by the Subsidy Control Act 2022 or the EU-UK Trade Cooperation Agreement.

It is the responsibility of the lead organisation to make sure all collaborators on the project remain compliant with these requirements. It is important to note that it is the activity that an organisation is engaged in as part of the project and not its intentions that define whether any support provided could be considered a subsidy.

5. Award length

When preparing their application, applicants are expected to note that the UK Space Agency cannot commit spend beyond 31 March 2026 and awards must therefore end by this date. Start dates cannot be backdated. Applications are expected to justify the length of the grant against the experiment timeline and execution. As per the terms and conditions set out in section 6 below, applicants are advised to note that the UK Space Agency reserves the right to cancel, re-profile or reduce grant awards to manage budget constraints.

6. 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 reserves the right to cancel, re-profile or reduce the award subject to announcements from government Comprehensive Spending Reviews (CSR) or other financial constraints. The current CSR runs to the end of financial year 25/26 - this is 31st March 2026
• 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
• in conjunction with the UK Space Agency, the Grant Recipient shall monitor the delivery and success of work packages it has allocated Funds to throughout the Grant Period to ensure that the aims and objectives of the work package are being met, and that this agreement is being adhered to
• 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

Applicants should note that they will be expected to submit their outcomes and outputs through ResearchFish in line with UKRI guidance. Non-compliance will lead to sanctions which could include the immediate freezing of funding and/or non-selection for future funding calls.

If successful, the lead applicant will be asked to submit an application via STFC’s grant application portal for formal processing within 2 weeks of being notified of their success. Failure to do so will result in the withdrawal of the initial application and funding.

7. Grant payment

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

The UK Space Agency reserves the right to adjust the profile of the funding over the length of the grant at their discretion with the support of STFC.

The final payment will be made after the submission of the final reconciliation report at the end of the grant. These processes are administered by STFC, please note that the UK Space Agency remains the funder.

https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/manage-your-funding-award/receiving-your-funding-award/

8. Evaluation Criteria and Assessment of Applications

8.1 Assessment criteria

In considering the proposal, reviewers will use the following criteria and scoring mechanism (each criterion will be scored out of 10 by the panel and weighted to be worth the percentage shown in brackets, with a total 100% available):

Science excellence of the selected experiment (25%)

This score will be entirely calculated from the scores awarded by ESA through the call that has awarded the facility access. We will not be assessing the science as ESA will have already performed a peer review of the experiment.

Relevance to and priority within the UK Space Agency Exploration programme (10%)
Contributions of the selected experiment and it’s expected outcomes to UK science and exploration activities as related to the National Space Strategy, the Global Exploration Roadmap, and the UKRI Strategy and council delivery plans. Applicants will need to specify where they see their project linking to these documents.

A good proposal will clearly outline and evidence how the experiment aligns with and contributes to UK science and exploration activities referencing to which elements of the NSS, GER, and/or URKI strategy and delivery plans their work links.

A moderate proposal will demonstrate some consideration of the potential relevance to UK science and exploration activities.

A poor proposal will demonstrate little or no consideration of the potential relevance to UK science and exploration activities and information provided is irrelevant or incoherently presented.

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

Criticality of the proposal to the success of the selected experiment.              
Criticality and appropriateness of the length and timing of the grant as related to the expected experiment timeline and planned execution date (facility access date). Applicants should be aware that priority will be given to those whose projects have been selected by ESA for development and given a facility access date.

A good proposal will clearly outline why the funding requested is needed at this time in relation to the facility access date and preparation required, and why the work outlined is necessary to the success of the overall experiment.  

A moderate proposal will demonstrate some consideration of why the funding is required at this time and why the work is necessary. Proposals will receive lower scores where this information is not clearly presented or well justified.  

A poor proposal will demonstrate little or no consideration of the timeliness of the funding, or necessity of the work outlined in relation to the overall experiment.

Value for Money (25%)

Justification of the scale of resources requested in relation to the project, and the value of any leveraged funding (including in-kind and financial).

A good proposal will clearly outline and evidence how the requested costs are appropriate and reasonable and will present clearly the value of any leveraged funding (including in-kind and financial). An explanation of all costs requested in the resources table will be provided.

A moderate proposal will demonstrate some justification of the scale of resources and/or leveraged funding. Proposals will receive lower scores where this information is not clearly presented and explanations for the costs are not provided.

A poor proposal will demonstrate little or no justification of the scale of resources and/or information provided does not stand up to scrutiny.  

Team membership (10%)

Suitability of the proposed research team to successfully undertake the work covered by this proposal. Appropriateness of team membership and the lead applicants relevant research record. If not all team members are in post, an explanation of why and an overview of the job description for the role is required. Team members who will work on this proposal (preparation for the selected ESA experiment) but would be funded elsewhere must be noted and their role stated.   

A good proposal will list all team members funded under the grant and outline for each their relevant experience, why it is relevant to the project, and why the team as a whole is suitable for the project. CVs will also be supplied as annexes as outlined in Section 10 vii.

A moderate proposal will provide CVs but minimal explanation of how the research team proposed is suitable to undertake the work outlined.

A poor proposal will provide CVs only with no explanation of how the information in the CV demonstrates their suitability.

Impact and outreach plan (5%)

Use of the research and activities to inspire others (e.g., via social media, events, talks etc.) and plans to communicate the outcomes of the experiment.

A good proposal will provide information on activities for inspiration and outreach that are specific and planned, illustrating what the activities are, when they will be conducted, and how the activities described will inspire others.

A moderate proposal will demonstrate consideration of inspiration and outreach activities but with limited evidence of planned specifics.

A poor proposal will demonstrate limited consideration of inspiration and outreach activities.

8.2 Assessment

The grant scheme scope is limited to academics who have already secured facility access through a peer reviewed scheme (ESA research announcement calls). As such no peer review process for the overall experiment will be undertaken. Applications will be reviewed for remit and where appropriate discussed with UKRI to assess remit and priorities and ensure funding is appropriately allocated.

Reviewers will be programmatic and technical representatives from the UK Space Agency who will consider all proposals against the evaluation criteria outlined above.

9. Application Guidance

Applicants should note the following:

• within the full application, applicants should consider and remember that this application is to the UK Space Agency for funding to support experiment preparation and execution, and this should be focus of the submission
• applicants should ensure that their application makes it clear why the funding is required to prepare and execute the experiment, and why this funding is required at this time (as opposed to a later date)
• applicants should note that writing in a clear concise way aids the reviewers in assessing your applications, and that reviewers will not infer information from the application
• please note if your project requires data exploitation post facility access (analysis that is not required for the preparation of the experiment) you will need to specify where you will apply for funding for this analysis, making it clear you understand that it cannot be costed to this grant

Candidates are required to fill out the application form provided. This is made of five sections. Section 5 requests the information that successful applicants will be required to submit via the STFC portal. Full details on how to apply are in section 10 of this call guidance.

When completing the application form, please ensure all UK-based Co-Is who will work on the project and are part of this application for funding are listed. All people who will work on the project under the funding applied for must be detailed in the application.

Please note the Project Summary provided in the Application Form should be suitable for a lay audience and not contain any sensitive or confidential information as it may be used by the Agency in press releases or Agency news stories.

If you need to reference figures from your ESA application document in this application form, please refer to the page number it is in within your ESA application which will be included in your merged pdf.

Any additional documentation that are included in the pdf submission but are not requested in the ‘How to Apply’ section below, will not be considered. It will not be seen by reviewers and will not count towards the proposal. 

If any part of the proposal extends over the stated page or word limit, the additional pages/words will be removed and not considered as part of the proposal.  

If you have any questions about the application, please contact SpaceExploration@ukspaceagency.gov.uk as early in the application process as possible.

The UK Space Agency encourages the development of skills in public communication and will provide funding to support the training of members of the research team.  Provision for training in public communication should be included as other costs under the directly incurred heading.

10. How to Apply

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

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

You must send us a single merged pdf of your entire application. Please ensure documents in the merged pdf are in the order specified below and clearly legible.

Your full application should include:

• the completed Application Form from the call website (do not exceed the word and page limits specified in the application form, any additional information provided will not be considered)

• summary of costs requested (you Institution’s research office can help with this), clearly divided into full economic costing fund headings. Please note, a summary of this information is also requested in the application form

• current funding list of the PI (including title, funder, value, duration and level of applicant’s time spent on the project, and if the title is not self-explanatory include a sentence to explain what the project is about) and a list of all past grants with the UK Space Agency for the last five years (both active and complete)

• the letter from ESA confirming successful award of access to facilities

• the application submitted to ESA for facility access

• the ESA peer reviews and related review responses for the facility access application

• academic CVs of named staff in the proposal (1 side of A4 per named academic). [If research staff are yet to be employed, please include a short job specification instead.]

• Letters of support (if relevant to the success of the proposed experiment)

To apply:

1. Download and fill out the application form from the call website. Please refer to the assessment criteria and application guidance provided in this call text for further guidance.

2. Create a single merged PDF of your entire application (detailed above).

3. Send this single PDF document of your application to SpaceExploration@ukspaceagency.gov.uk, with the subject line ‘SciSpacE Support AO 2025 – [PI SURNAME] Application Submission’.

All information requested MUST be: 

• A4 paper size with minimum of 2cm margins
• font size of no smaller than 11pt
• saved and sent as a single merged PDF document

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 UK Space Agency calls and funding at any time.

11. Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting

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.

In addition, during the grant period, regular progress meetings will be held between the grant holder and the UK Space Agency to monitor and evaluate progress for the length of the grant. 

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.

12. Confidentiality

The information you supply on the application form will be treated in confidence and used by the UK Space Agency in accordance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules. All applications are made in confidence.

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 

13. Contact

Any questions concerning this call should have the subject line ‘SciSpacE Support AO 2025 – applicant query – [insert PI Surname]’ and be directed to:

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

Questions submitted without the subject line outlined above will not be seen.

Appendix 1: Eligible Costs Guidance

Grant funding is offered on a cost recovery basis only. This means grant funding can only be used to cover the cost of delivering the agreed activity or goal as set out in the project plan. Any surplus funds not spent will be lost to the project unless there are alternative arrangements agreed.

Applicants cannot receive any funding from other grants or contracts to undertake the same activities.

Funding cannot be rolled over between financial years without explicit consent from the UK Space Agency.

All partners must have a separate, project specific accounting code or bank account for project funds to enable a clear audit trail.

Invoices

The UK Space Agency will only pay on receipt of evidence of actual costs incurred and therefore we expect invoices may differ from forecasts. Should actual costs incurred be greater than the value of the milestone value, these costs will be borne by the Grant Recipient, unless the additional expenditure has been agreed with the UK Space Agency ahead of the costs being incurred and a Grant Change Note (GCN) has been executed.

Pay Costs

Staffing costs must be calculated on a cost recovery basis only and broken down by pay costs and overheads separately. Pay costs are calculated based on PAYE records. They should include gross salary, employer National Insurance (NI) contributions and employer pension contributions. Pay costs must not include:

• Any profit margins
• Commercial charge-out rates
• Allowances for bonuses and benefits-in-kind
• Business development
• Travel and subsistence (eligible project costs can be claimed outside of pay costs)
• Apprenticeship levy
• Dividends
• Time not spent working directly on the project (for example sick, non-productive time or training days and maternity pay)
• Use of blended labour rates inclusive of overheads

These pay rates will be subject to checks during the pre-award stage to ensure that day rates reflect actual costs. High payroll costs will be challenged and evidence (such as payslips) must be provided to justify the rate is on a cost recovery basis only.

When making grant claims against labour costs, actual costs claimed must be supported with timesheets of those individuals who have worked on the project.

In the budget breakdown provided, you are asked to provide a pay cost per day. Using actual gross monthly payroll costs, please assume 260 working days in the year, less annual leave and public holiday entitlements.

VAT Rules

Grants are not a payment for a service, they are provided without expectation of any return to the UK Space Agency. Grant funding is therefore outside the scope of VAT so you cannot charge output VAT on top of your submitted costs.

However, organisations that are not registered for VAT can include VAT incurred within their costs. Academic participants and industry partners can legitimately claim irrecoverable VAT incurred as part of their costs.

Ineligible expenditure

• Payment that supports for lobbying or activity intended to influence or attempt to influence Parliament, Government or political parties, or attempting to influence the awarding or renewal of contracts and grants, or attempting to influence legislative or regulatory action; 
• Using grant funding to petition for additional funding; 
• Input VAT reclaimable by the Grant Recipient from HMRC; 
• Payments for activities of a political or exclusively religious nature; 
• Goods or services that the Grant Recipient has a statutory duty to provide; 
• Payments reimbursed or to be reimbursed by other public or private sector grants 
• Contributions in kind (i.e. a contribution in goods or services, as opposed to money); 
• Depreciation, amortisation or impairment of fixed assets owned by the Grant Recipient; 
• The acquisition or improvement of fixed assets by the Grant Recipient (unless the grant is explicitly for capital use – this will be stipulated in the Grant Offer Letter); 
• Interest payments (including service charge payments for finance leases); 
• Gifts to individuals; 
• Entertaining (entertaining for this purpose means anything that would be a taxable benefit to the person being entertained, according to current UK tax regulations); 
• Statutory fines, criminal fines or penalties; or liabilities incurred before the issue of this funding agreement unless agreed in writing by UK Space Agency;
• Employee paid benefits and bonuses;
• Costs incurred in the preparation of the independent assurance report where required within the grant funding agreement (for grants above the value of £250,000)
• Alcohol.

Eligible expenditure

• Personnel costs; researchers, technicians and other supporting staff to the extent employed on the project.
• Costs of equipment and instruments, to the extent employed on the project.
• Costs of buildings and land, to the extent and for the duration period used for the project.
• Costs of conducting research and of external consultancy and contractual research or other knowledge assets, including patents bought or licensed from outside sources.
• Travel and subsistence, subject to the requirements set out in section 5.3 below
• Subcontractor costs, as set out in section 5.4
• Workshop or laboratory usage costs (including details of how cost rates have been calculated)
• Training costs, where these are specific to and necessary for the project
• Preparation of technical reports, where these go beyond the level expected for standard project management (for example, a detailed technical report outlining the development towards a key technical milestone rather than a brief summary that documents how much time was spent achieving this)
• Patent filing costs for new intellectual property for small and medium enterprises, who can claim a maximum of £7,500 per SME partner towards the filing costs of new IP (this does not include legal costs relating to the filing of trademarks or related expenditure, which is considered a marketing cost and therefore ineligible)
• Regulatory compliance costs where they can be justified and shown to be necessary to deliver the project
• Any other project operating costs and project overheads; including costs of materials, supplies and similar products, incurred directly as a result of the project

Travel and Subsistence

You can claim reasonable travel and subsistence costs for those individuals identified in the labour tab. Costs must be necessary incurred exclusively for the progression of your project. Travel costs must be at economy and best value for money rates. You should provide details and the purpose for the expenditure, including the number of staff involved.

If for any reason these limits below cannot be adhered to (e.g. to accommodate a reasonable adjustment), you must seek prior written approval from UK Space Agency. No claims for alcohol will be accepted.

UK Space Agency reserves the right to not settle claims which have breached these guidelines. All expenditure must be supported by actual, itemised receipts.

Limits:

• Accommodation (London and International Destinations): £166 per night
• Accommodation (UK destinations excepting London): £118 per night
• Breakfast (UK and destinations excluding Europe and North America): £6
• Breakfast (Europe and North America): £12
• Lunch (UK and destinations excluding Europe and North America): £6
• Lunch (Europe and North America): £18
• Dinner (UK and destinations excluding Europe and North America): £18
• Dinner (Europe and North America): £30

Tolls, Ferry Costs, Parking and congestion charge: Receipted costs for ferries, and tolls bridges and roads unavoidably incurred during your business journey may be claimed. Reasonable parking charges may be claimed. Receipted congestion charges unavoidably incurred on your business journey may be claimed.

These lists are not exhaustive. Applicants are advised that all budgets will be scrutinised at submission to ensure costs only include eligible expenditure, and the UK Space Agency may request updated budgets where these are necessary for an application to progress to the next stage. No application will be excluded solely on the basis of ineligible costs being included in an initial submission.