Maximising UK adaptation to climate change research projects

Funders: Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Medical Research Council (MRC), UK Research and Innovation

Co-funders: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

Funding type: Grant

Total fund: £12,000,000

Maximum award: £2,000,000

Publication date: 14 March 2024

Opening date: 14 March 2024 9:00am UK time

Closing date: 16 July 2024 4:00pm UK time

Apply for funding for transdisciplinary research projects under the UKRI-Defra co-funded Maximising UK Adaptation to Climate Change programme. This is the second phase of the programme, to fund world leading strategic research projects to help improve the UK’s resilience to climate change impacts.

You must be based at an eligible UK research organisation to apply.

You must work with the adaptation hub to ensure that findings from these research grants are aligned with policy needs.  The full economic cost (FEC) per project is £2 million for up to 30 months.

Who can apply

Before applying for funding, check the following:

• NERC eligibility guidance for applicants
• eligibility of your organisation

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the new UKRI Funding Service.

For full details, visit eligibility as an individual.

Who is eligible to apply

It is expected that project teams will incorporate researchers covering a broad range of disciplines across the remits of NERC, AHRC, EPSRC,  ESRC and MRC and beyond, as well as policymakers, practitioners, industry, public engagement professionals and wider civil society. All applications should include NERC remit researchers and must cover at least two UKRI council remits (NERC and one other) as a minimum, although you are encouraged where appropriate to utilise the breadth of expertise supported through the funding opportunity. New collaborations and partnerships are encouraged, especially across disciplines and sectors, as the research projects will be required to be transdisciplinary. 

You may be involved in no more than two applications submitted to this funding opportunity. Only one of these can be as project lead.

The project lead must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for NERC funding. This includes eligible Public Sector Research Establishments (PSREs) and Independent Research Organisations (IROs).

What the funder is looking for

Maximising UK adaptation to climate change: research projects- new transdisciplinary knowledge for UK climate adaptation

The aim of the Maximising UK Adaptation to Climate Change programme is to build capacity, knowledge, and skills that will offer practical and scalable solutions to meet the UK’s challenges in the face of a changing climate and put the UK at the forefront of climate adaptation strategies at both local and national scales.

The programme consists of two strands of commissioning activity:

• strand one: a climate change adaptation hub – coordination and translation
• strand two: a series of research projects – new transdisciplinary knowledge for UK climate adaptation

How to apply

There are two stages to apply for this UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding opportunity:

Notification of intent

There is a mandatory notification of intent (NoI) stage for this UKRI funding opportunity.To submit an NoI, fill in this form by 30 May 2024 at 4:00pm UK time. If a full application is submitted without a prior NoI by the stated deadline, it will be rejected.

Full application

We are running this funding opportunity on the new UKRI Funding Service. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system. The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application. Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI.

For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:

• how applicants use the Funding Service
• how research offices use the Funding Service
• how reviewers use the Funding Service

How the application will be assessed

The application will be assessed using the following process.

Notification of Intent

Each research project application must submit a Notification of Intent (NoI). There will be no assessment at this stage but submission of a NoI is mandatory to apply to the full application stage. Full details in ‘How to apply’.

Assessment panel

An assessment panel comprised of independent external panel members will review your application against the assessment criteria and rank it alongside other applications. Panel members will consist of experts spanning the breadth of the UKRI funding opportunity remit. After which the panel will make a funding recommendation.
UKRI and Defra will make the final funding decision based on panel recommendations.

Timescale

The aim is to complete the assessment process within four months of the funding opportunity deadline.

Feedback

Feedback will be given with the outcome of your application.

Principles of assessment

The funders support the San Francisco declaration on research assessment and recognise the relationship between research assessment and research integrity. Find out about the UKRI principles of assessment and decision making.
They reserve the right to modify the assessment process as needed.

Sharing data with co-funders

The funder  will need to share the application, including any personal information that it contains, with Defra so that they can participate in the assessment process. For more information on how Defra uses personal information, visit the Defra website.

Assessment criteria

The criteria against which your application will be assessed are:

• vision
• approach
• applicant and team capability to deliver
• ethics and responsible research and innovation

Find details of assessment questions and criteria under the ‘Application questions’ heading in the ‘How to apply’ section.

Additional Info

Background

This UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding opportunity is a component of the UKRI-Defra funded Maximising UK Adaptation to Climate Change programme.

Programme aims and scope

The aim of the Maximising UK Adaptation to Climate Change programme is to build capacity, knowledge, and skills that will offer practical and scalable solutions to meet the UK’s environmental commitments and put the UK at the forefront of climate adaptation strategies at both local and national scales.

The programme will address challenges identified in the latest Climate Change Committee National adaptation progress report around:

• driving reductions in exposure and vulnerability to climate risks
• increasing resilience of people, ecosystems and infrastructure to cascading climate impacts
• understanding risks to the UK economy from climate change outside of the UK

In addition, the programme will support the implementation of the third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) (PDF, 15.4MB) and development of the fourth Climate Change Risk Assessment through:

• dealing with climate risks in a systematic and human-centric way
• understanding the socio-economic landscape to contextualise physical hazard information and give a true picture of climate impact
• enabling adaptation through learning what works and what incentives are needed to enhance the adaptation landscape