Centres and Large Grants competition

We are pleased to announce the second call for full proposals for our 2013/14 Centres and Large Grants competition. This competition is for those applications shortlisted from the first call outline proposals. The aim of this competition is for experienced researchers requiring longer term or extended support for research groups, inter-institutional research networks, project-linked research programmes, medium-to-large surveys, other infrastructure or methodological developments, or any related larger scale projects. The competition is for applications ranging from £2 million to a new higher upper funding limit of £10 million (at 100 per cent full economic cost).

We anticipate applications of excellent quality in any area of social science, including contributions which address recently identified gaps in the Council’s strategic priorities. However this year’s competition has one specific strategic steer, on Civil Society, which sits alongside the normal open element of the call.

The applications will in part be assessed in terms of how much they potentially add value to the ESRCs existing portfolio and proposals which heavily overlap with or duplicate the programmes of existing centres and large grants are unlikely to be successful.

It is expected that up to eight new Centres/Large Grants will be funded under the competition.

Given our ambitions to draw the very best researchers together through the competition we have encouraged applicants to think imaginatively about the structure and organisation of their Centre/Large Grant proposals. Whilst these may be based at a single institution we would equally welcome co-ordinated collaborations involving a number of organisations and setting out ambitious multi-stream research programmes.

The competition is run through a three-stage application process, the outline proposal stage has now been completed and a shortlist of the proposals submitted have been invited to apply to the full stage of the call. At this second stage full proposals should be submitted via the Research Council Joint Electronic Submission (Je-S) System, no later than 17 September 2013. Only those invited to do so from the outline stage can apply at the full stage. A shortlist of full proposals will then be invited for interviews in January 2014. Final funding decisions will be available in February 2014, and grants may start from April 2014.

Full proposal applications must be costed and approved by the relevant institutional authority before submission. Detailed guidance on the procedures for completing the full proposal form are available in the Je-S guidance notes for applicants (below).

If you have any questions or would like further information about the scheme contact:

Email: centreslargegrants@esrc.ac.ukAndrew Wells
Telephone: 01793 413036Eloise Stott
Telephone: 01793 413158Paul Sanderson
Telephone: 01793 413050Trudie Keene
Telephone: 01793 413066

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