UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has given additional funding to Universities to allocate to the most vulnerable UKRI funded grants, ie those whose deliverables were most affected by the COVID-19 closedown.
This may have been because some staff were disproportionately affected, or access to campuses, laboratories, national facilities or fieldwork was particularly critical at that time, and you have not been able to re-plan to enable the deliverables to reasonably be achieved.
UKRI has set out a number of conditions that must be met (see Terms and Conditions). We have been instructed that CoA funds (total available £2.5 million) must be prioritised to projects ending on or before 31 March 2021 (but can be allocated to projects with a later end date).
As the funds must be used to greatest effect, it is expected that only a relatively limited number of grants that are within the initial eligibility period will be recipients of an allocation. Cases will be considered against need.
There is, additionally, a change of use option for grants ending after 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 (up to £2.3 million). That will allow underspend on any UKRI grants to be moved internally to the UoS COVID-19 Grant Extension Allocation (CoA) budget code to then be redistributed based on need.
Eligibility and how to apply
If your UKRI grant is in the eligible period for prioritisation (end date between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021), you will be contacted by your Faculty, with a link to a brief application form and the quick research costing tool.
If your grant end date is between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, and you believe you have a strong case for an allocation of funds (rather than change of use, or other mitigation) then please contact your Associate Dean Research for an initial discussion.
The situation around no cost extensions is complicated, and there is further explanation in UKRI’s FAQ. Briefly:
- If your project ends before 30 September 2021 and you had a no-cost extension approved by UKRI before 31 July 2020, then you may apply for this CoA funding.
- If your project ends before 30 September 2021 and you have applied for a no-cost extension that is still pending then UKRI has requested that you make a decision to apply for CoA funding or the no cost extension – you cannot be awarded both. Your Faculty Finance teams will have already contacted you about this.
Forms must be emailed to [email protected] by Wednesday 9 September (5pm). Cases will be considered initially by Faculty panels that will make recommendations to a University level panel to be chaired by the VP Research and Enterprise. Final decisions will be made by 15 October.
