Call for proposals

UKRI IAA Overview

The fourth call for proposals to Imperial's UKRI Impact Acceleration Account (UKRI IAA) is now open.

Applications for translational activities are being accepted to our four, theme-based opportunities:

• Innovation for a Healthy Society
• Innovation for a Resilient Society
• Innovation for a Smart Society
• Innovation for a Sustainable Society

The UKRI IAA provides Imperial with funding to:

• Strengthen engagement with users in order to accelerate the translation of research outputs into impacts 
• Bridge the gap between discovery research and de-risked applications for translational funding schemes and other externally funded later stage translational activities, for example, industry funding, Research Council Follow On Funds, seed funding for spinouts and startups, InnovateUK, MRC Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS) or similar.  
• Support, develop and foster strategic partnerships for knowledge exchange and impact, including across disciplines and sectors 
• Build and maintain an environment and culture that enables effective and ambitious knowledge exchange and impact, including development of skills, capacity and capability within research organisations 
• Provide early-stage support for progressing research outputs towards the next stages in the impact pipeline, for example: 
  • proof of concept and prototype projects to raise Technology Readiness Level 
  • commercialisation 
  • market validation 
  • activities targeting policy, business and the third sectors 
• Drive continuous improvement in impact by supporting innovation, enabling ‘fast failure’, and capturing learning through appropriate mechanisms 
• Enable flexible and adaptive approaches to knowledge exchange and impact, including the ability to respond quickly to emerging opportunities. 

How to apply - applications close 24 April 2024, 17:00

Please refer to the UKRI IAA Call for Proposals guidance (pdf) prior to applying. This provides additional details about the call, eligibility requirements and funding rules. For round 5 we have received increased funding and are therefore able to offer projects up to 12 months in duration.

Applications must be submitted via the online Qualtrics form. There are two parts to the application:

• Part A is an online form to collect basic information for the project details
• Part B requires documentation to be uploaded 

Part A 

(complete online via Qualtrics) 

Applicants will be asked to complete summary information about the Project team, including collaborators, the project, and provide details around Responsible Innovation, data management, ethics and IP considerations. At the end of Part A, you will be asked to upload additional documents in Part B.   

Part B

At a minimum, all applicants must submit documents 1 and 2. If external collaborators have been named in Part A, document 3 is also required. Please include the PI’s surname at the beginning of all file names.

1. Completed UKRI IAA Project Form (doc). Please complete this form in full. Incomplete forms will not be considered.
2. An approved Worktribe generic submission report (see details below) 
3. Letters of support from all named external collaborators (if applicable). Please upload all letters of support as a single combined PDF file.
4. Completed UKRI IAA Applicant Characteristics Form

Worktribe instructions

The Worktribe generic submission report approved by your Department must be uploaded to the online portal as part of the application (and please state your Worktribe PA number on all correspondence):

• Full FEC costing must be prepared with the support of appropriate superusers (Faculty of Engineering: pre-award team, other Faculties: departmental superusers). Please ensure you contact your relevant costing support teams prior to the appropriate deadlines for your Faculty. Please also ensure that you have your costs finalised and the Worktribe completed at least 24 hours before application submission deadline so that P codes are generated and can be entered on the Qualtrics form.
• Superusers should complete a Worktribe project for all IAA applications
  • Project title should start “UKRI IAA -”
  • Select ‘Internal Scheme’ as the project type and ‘UKRI’ as the funder (Note: these MUST be selected so that after departmental approval the costings are not routed to Research Services/JRO for bid submission).
  • Select ‘100% DI costs’ as the Scheme and ‘Grant - FEC Award’ as the Activity Type
  • Guidance on costing an application on Worktribe can be found on the Worktribe guidance pages.
• Submit the Worktribe project for departmental approval. All applications require approval from the Head of Department or their delegate via Worktribe.
• Research Services and/or JRO secondary approval is not required for applications to the UKRI IAA - all IAA projects will divert to the Research Office if the correct categories above are used.
• The generic submission report should be exported for PIs to upload with their application
• Although indirect costs must be included in the budget, only directly incurred costs and directly allocated costs related to facilities will be supported (at 100%).

Review and assessment

Applications will be assessed by the panel conveners to ensure they are allocated to the most appropriate Theme Panel, based on the project description and the justification for panel selection provided by the applicant.

Applications will be reviewed by members of the appropriate theme selection panel, and applicants will be invited to respond to reviewers’ questions before the selection panel meeting as required. 

The theme selection panels comprise a theme chair, research community members, an IAA budget lead (Faculty Vice Dean for Research), and external panel members. 

Final outcomes based on the theme selection panel decisions, budget availability and allocation across theme panels will be made by the central Funding Panel (comprising the UKRI IAA Lead (Vice-Provost Research and Enterprise) and Individual IAA budget leads (Faculty Vice Deans for Research)).