The Supergen ORE Hub fourth Flexible Funding call is now open.
Summary of Call Details:
Maximum Value per Proposal | £100,000 at 80% FEC* |
Funding level available | 80% of FEC |
| Total resource available for this 3rd call | Up to £700,000 at 80% FEC** |
| Expression of Interest call opens | 1st August 2023 |
| Closing date for Expressions of Interest | 5pm (BST) 11th September 2023 |
| Call for Full Proposals opens | 29th September 2023 |
| Call for Full Proposals closes | 5pm (GMT) 3rd November 2023 |
| Peer reviews of full proposals | 3rd November 2023 to 1st December 2023 |
| Meeting of Review Panel | w/c 11th December 2023 |
| Notification of successful and unsuccessful Proposals | w/c 18th December 2023 |
| Period for exchange of Flexible Fund grant conditions | w/c 1st January 2024 to w/c 29th January 2024 |
| Anticipated start date of successful proposals - post award | c. early February 2024 |
*Please see section 5 - Scope of Flexible Funding Call for further details. **If all monies are not allocated in the round, the Supergen ORE Hub Board retains the right to re-allocate funds. ***TBC
About this call
This is the fourth call for proposals from the Supergen ORE Hub Flexible Fund. We are seeking research proposals from universities or other institutions eligible to hold UKRI awards to facilitate a programme of co-ordinated UK led ORE research projects aligned with, and in partnership with the Hub.
Key Research Challenge Themes
Many industry roadmaps have been developed for ORE. These roadmaps are generally on a sectoral basis (for offshore wind and marine, with wave and tidal often considered together). To develop the area strategy for the Supergen ORE Hub and its associated programme of Core and Flexible Fund supported research, research themes and challenges are summarised in the Supergen ORE Hub Research Landscape and accessible via the web tool. The challenges and themes have been synthesised from consultation across the sector and in collaboration with related roadmapping and prioritisation exercises:
Themes | Description |
| A | Resource and environment characterisation |
| B | Fluid structure seabed interaction |
| C | Materials and manufacturing |
| D | Sensing, control and electro-mechanics |
| E | Survivability, reliability and design |
| F | Operations, management, maintenance and safety |
| G | Environmental and ecosystem aspects |
| H | Marine socio-economics and governance |
This Flexible Fund call will seed areas that complement existing research, fill gaps or add cross cutting activities to explore the transfer of research findings between sectors within ORE. Proposals are invited across themes A to F that fit within the EPSRC remit, and where appropriate are encouraged to include elements of environment and socio-economics research themes G and H. A detailed list of research challenge titles under each of these themes for this call is provided in the call document. More detail regarding the Hub Core Research Work Packages can be found via our website HERE
Stage 1 - Submission of Expression of Interest 5pm (BST) – 11th September 2023
EOIs received will be shortlisted to proceed to the second stage, which will be an invitation to submit a full proposal.
Flexible Fund Call - Summary of Application Process
This Flexible Funding Call has three stages:
Stage 1 – Expressions of Interest (EOI)
- The first stage is a call for Expressions of Interest (deadline for submissions 11th September 2023 @ 1700 hrs BST). Expressions of Interest (EOI) are to be submitted electronically via completion of an online EOI form which can be accessed HERE.
- EOIs received will be shortlisted to proceed to the second stage, which will be an invitation to submit a full proposal.
Stage 2 – Full proposals
- Full proposals received (deadline for submissions 3rd November 2023 @ 1700 hrs GMT) will go through a double-blind peer review process
Stage 3 – Review Panel
- Peer reviewed proposals will then be submitted to a review panel, drawing on the Hub Co-Directors, Industry Advisory Board, EPSRC, FoW CoE and WES. Peer reviewed proposals at this stage will be shortlisted by the panel and ranked. Final award decisions will be made using the resulting panel ranked order by the Hub Director, Co-Directors and EPSRC.
Additional partner support:
In this call for Flexible Funding proposals we have additional contributions from the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence (FoW CoE) and Wave Energy Scotland (WES). We are asking applicants to the Flexible Fund to select only one option per project proposal from the list below, to indicate which form of proposal they wish to put forward to the Supergen ORE Hub. You will be able to select one of these three options at the Expression of Interest (EOI) stage of this call. Expressions of Interest (EOI) are to be submitted electronically via completion of an online EOI form. A hyperlink to the EOI form is provided within the full call document and in the previous section.
- Option 1 - EPSRC standard academic scheme (as per the scope in section 5 of the full call document): Up to £100k funded by EPSRC (at 80% FEC for HEI) with industry involvement and matching cash/in kind contributions expected
- Option 2 - EPSRC/FoW CoE scheme
For projects in FoW CoE priority areas. Proposals within this scheme can access up to £50k funded by EPSRC (at 80% FEC for HEI) and be supplemented by up to £50k of match funding by the FoW CoE for industrial partners in proposal consortiums, which must be matched on a one-to-one basis by industry partner funding. See full details in the call document. £50k is the maximum request for any one proposal. Further guidance regarding FoW CoE match funding can be found HERE and in the Call Document.
Option 3 - EPSRC/WES Scheme
Proposals within this scheme can access up to £50k funded by EPSRC (at 80% FEC for HEI) and be supplemented by up to £50k of match funding by WES. See full details in the call document. Further guidance can be found HERE in the Call Document.
Eligibility
For this call, full proposals are invited from eligible UK researchers, i.e. applicants based in UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), Research Council Institutes and Centres, and Independent Research Organisations (IROs) approved by UKRI. Potential applicants should contact Supergen ORE Hub in advance of the submission deadline if they have any queries concerning their eligibility. Sub-contracting is not permitted – please see our FAQ section of the Hub website for our definition of sub-contracting. Individuals may submit no more than one Proposal as Principal Investigator plus one as Co-investigator, or two as Co-Investigator, to this call. Principal and Co-Investigators within the Supergen ORE Hub may not apply.
Terms and conditions
- Terms and conditions of standard UKRI FEC grant awards apply.
- In addition, all successful projects must engage with the Supergen ORE Hub and should describe in their application how they plan to do this.
- All project outputs and engagement should be branded as Supergen ORE Hub. Brand materials and guidance will be provided to successful applicants.
- Where proposals are accessing additional partner schemes, project outputs and engagement should also be branded with the relevant partner logo, i.e. ORE Catapult/WES, as relevant. Brand materials and guidance will be provided to successful applicants.
Point of contact
General queries
Please note that all queries regarding the Supergen ORE Hub Flexible Fund must be directed via email in order to maintain a clear audit trail for reporting purposes where required, and will be answered publicly via the FAQ area on the Supergen ORE Hub website.
Please use the following information for queries:
- Email: SupergenORE.Flexi@plymouth.ac.uk
- Subject line: “Supergen ORE Hub Flexible Funding Call Round 4 – Queries”
Please check the FAQ section of the website in advance of sending any queries, as your question may have already been answered.
For specific queries regarding the FoW CoE or WES funding options, all questions received at SupergenORE.Flexi@plymouth.ac.uk will be forwarded to the relevant contact within ORE Catapult and WES. All queries will also be answered publicly via the FAQ area on the Supergen ORE Hub website.
