Submitting a proposal at York
There are various procedures that need to be followed when submitting a proposal for research funding, and submission tends to involve several people at the University.
Please bear in mind that there will be internal deadlines to meet before your application can be submitted. It's a good idea to get in touch with the team early so that they can help you to understand the process and advise on the time needed for these internal processes to take place. Here's a summary of what the team can offer to support your application.
- Provide access to previously successful grant applications
- Provide expert advice on funder regulations and processes (e.g. eligibility criteria, application and submission procedures etc)
- Produce staff employment costs in accordance with funder regulations and University of York's salary scales and policies
- Check project budgets to ensure they align with funder regulations as well as University of York policies regarding travel, inflation, full economic cost, VAT etc (please note that it's the PI's responsibility to determine all non-staff costs necessary to successfully implement the project)
- Enter all relevant costs and details in Worktribe
- Liaise with external collaborators to provide/receive budgets and letters of support
- Facilitate all relevant approvals
- Check all documentation and use funder online portals to submit applications
University policies affecting applications
- Eligibility of staff on Grade 6 research contracts and T&S contracts to act as PI
In line with the expectations of the role outlined within the job description, staff on Grade 6 research contracts and T&S contracts are not usually permitted to act as Principal Investigator (PI) on a grant. Please see the Policy on Staff Groups Seeking to Engage with Research Activities for further information and how to seek exception approval. - Working overseas
For the vast majority of job roles, there is an expectation that staff will live and work within the UK and be able to attend their place of work to carry out the duties required under their contract of employment. There may be exceptional circumstances which require an employee to be based overseas e.g. a research grant specifically requiring an employee to be based overseas. In such instances, please see the University's Guidance for Working Overseas for details of the approvals and considerations required before submitting your proposal.
Internal deadlines
Please note that all applications have to be submitted ahead of the funder’s deadline to ensure approval for the submission is obtained in time. This internal deadline varies, so please get in touch with the team who can advise.
Submissions cannot be guaranteed for applications which are submitted after the University’s internal deadlines. Any application submitted for Level 3 approval after the internal deadline will require the approval of the Associate Dean.
Contact us
Humanities Research Centre
hrc-research-support
Berrick Saul Building, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK
The pre-award team will need the basic details of your proposal to start the process, this should include as much of the following as possible:
- Details/URL of the funding call and deadline
- Your role in the proposal, i.e. whether you are the PI/Co-I etc
- The proposed title, a draft is fine and this can change later
- The proposed start date and duration, note that it’s usual to start on the 1st of the month regardless of whether this is a working day or not
- The amount of your time you will commit to the project (please note that this is always required in order to calculate the full economic cost of the project, even if your time is not an eligible cost in the scheme. Please ensure that your time commitment has been discussed and agreed by the HoD and the Chair of DRC. The team will require a copy of their confirmation in order to proceed with the application)
- Details of any internal/external project collaborators and their roles and contact details
- Details of any other budget items, e.g. consumables, travel, equipment access (it’s appreciated that you may not know all of this information at this stage)
The team will use this information to set up a record in Worktribe.
Worktribe
Worktribe is the system the University of York uses to determine the full economic cost (fEC) of a project.
The full economic cost is the full and complete cost to the institution of doing a research project. This includes salaries for the project team, travel expenses, dissemination costs etc. It also includes institutional overhead costs (estates and indirect costs), the running costs for the institution as a whole.
Even if the funder doesn’t require you to outline the full economic cost of the project, and even if they don’t require a budget from you (i.e. it’s a first stage application only) your budget still needs to be entered onto Worktribe. The pre-award team will usually do this for you.
Worktribe is more than just a costing tool. The system touches on all points of the research grant life cycle, including bid development and approval for submitting your application (at both the departmental and institutional levels). If the project is successful, you will also be able to use the system to see the expenditure on your live awards.
If you are not on campus you will need to access Worktribe via the VPN.
The pre-award team will advise on the eligibility and feasibility of your plans as well as setting out the internal deadlines that will apply and highlighting any additional approvals that may be required. They will provide salary costs for you and work with you to finalise your budget and the proposal but please note that it's the PI's responsibility to determine all non-staff costs necessary to successfully implement the project.
During the process you will be asked to complete questions about risk and ethics in Worktribe.
Depending on the scheme you’re applying for, the team may ask you to share them into the application in the funder’s portal. Where it’s possible to share access in this way the team is happy to help you to enter the budget information correctly or otherwise happy to review drafts of the budget sections and ensure everything is compliant.
The team can also help by liaising with partner organisations for budgets and/or letters of support, provision of internal letters of support and approvals, including PVC-R approval for applications with a cost to York of >£2m and match-funding approvals, as required.
Once your application is ready for broader input you should circulate it for peer-review. This is usually managed in departments and you should speak to your Chair of Research Committee for guidance. Alongside academic peer-review, where time permits, the team is happy to advise on individual sections of the proposal from the earliest stages throughout its development as well as complete drafts (either following on from or in conjunction with departmental review).
All applications must be approved by the University. This applies for outline applications and expressions of interest as well as full applications.
All applications for research funding require approval first and foremost from the Department. There are two stages to this: Level 1 budget approval by the Faculty Research Operations Team and Level 2 approval by the Head of Department. Both approvals are done in Worktribe and the team will coordinate this for you.
Following Head of Department approval, applications are automatically routed for Level 3 institutional approval. This is the final level of approval and by this stage you will usually be asked to provide either the final application or an almost final draft. Changes cannot usually be made after this point.
Remember that approval cannot be guaranteed for applications which are submitted after the University’s internal deadlines.
The process by which your final approved application arrives with the funder varies.
For the most common Arts and Humanities funders – AHRC, British Academy, Leverhulme Trust – applications are filled in by using an online form and the institutional approval happens via the same online system, after you have completed the form and hit the ‘submit’ button. These online application systems automatically route the application form to the institutional approver. Once approved, the application is forwarded to the funder.
In other cases, you may need to send the proposal to the funder directly. Even if the funder doesn't specifically require approval or signature from the institution, your application must still be approved before you submit.
Read the funder guidelines for the particular scheme you’re applying to and make sure you understand what they require. If you have any questions, please ask the team for advice.
Standalone budgets
When the Worktribe costing is set up it will generate a message to various contacts, including the pre-award team, your HoD and Chair of Research Committee. If you just want to explore tentative costings, please use Worktribe's Standalone Budget function.
Supporting external applicants
If the proposed PI is not currently a member of University of York staff on an ART contract the Department will be asked to identify a named member of ART staff who will be responsible for the submission in Worktribe. If the proposal is successful, Worktribe will be updated at the point of award.
Supporting research fellowships
Where the application is for a research fellowship, the team anticipates that mentors/supervisors will provide leadership and direction throughout the proposal development, including advising the fellow on York's submission policy as well as advice and guidance on costing and writing the proposal.
Contact us
Humanities Research Centre
hrc-research-support
Berrick Saul Building, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK