ESRC Pilot Urgency Grants Mechanism

The Urgency Grants Mechanism is a pilot launched by ESRC, on behalf of RCUK, to enable us to respond to urgent or unforeseen events (for example the August 2011 UK riots), where there is a strong case for immediate research. Research to be covered will focus on essential initial analysis and urgent data collection only. A clear strategy for taking the work forward once the urgent phase is completed is required.

Submission of an urgent research grant proposal is only permitted if relying on other funding opportunities would clearly result in a missed opportunity to undertake economic or social research of high scientific importance or work of economic and societal impact that meet ESRC priorities.

This mechanism is intended to:

Provide an opportunity for researchers to put forward grant proposals to undertake economic and social science research in order to respond rapidly to unexpected and transient events (no later than four weeks from the first occurrence of the scientific opportunity)Provide an opportunity for researchers to put forward grant proposals to respond quickly when availability of, or access to, data or facilities is requiredProvide grants for up to 24 months of work, to a maximum amount of £200,000 (100 per cent fEC) of ESRC funding.
Note that no studentships or equipment can be funded via this mechanism

Applicants must submit a project outline, clearly stating the ESRC lead discipline area of the project. The outline should describe both the proposed work and the reasons for the urgency and should be submitted for approval by email to urgentinviteresearch@esrc.ac.uk. See the Urgency Grant Mechanism details below for details on the information required to be submitted in the project outline.

Following approval, urgency proposals must be submitted, within four weeks, to ESRC via the Je-S system. Please note the decision of Council is final. Project outline not invited by ESRC to submit a full proposal cannot be revised and resubmitted as a second project outline through the Urgency Grant Mechanism.

The reviewing and moderation process should be completed within one month from submission of the full Urgency proposal (submitted via Je-S) and it is expected that research will begin within one month of the offer acceptance being returned.

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