PROGRAMME SUMMARY
The FNR has an agreement in place to support bilateral projects between Luxembourg and UK-based scientists. The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is the lead agency in this agreement.
Applications under the FNR-UKRI agreement are welcomed in any single or cross-disciplinary area which fits within the remit of one or more of the UK Research Councils: Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Medical Research Council (MRC), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).
Find out about the remits of UKRI (external link)
APPLICATION INFORMATION
The project lead (PI in the UK) is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but UKRI expects all team members and project partners to contribute to the application. Only the lead research organisation in the UK can submit an application to UKRI.
1. WHERE TO APPLY: LEAD AGENCY
All proposals under the UKRI-FNR-agreement will need to be submitted to one of the UK Research Councils (AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC, EPSRC, MRC, NERC, STFC). Therefore UK and LU based researchers should identify the UKRI funding scheme which is most appropriate to support their common research project.
After the joint collaborative proposal has been submitted to an UKRI call for proposals, the Luxembourg PI is required to submit an INTER application to the FNR – including a pdf of the proposal along with the FNR INTER documents – no later than 7 days after the lead agency deadline. See FNR INTER guidelines.
Luxembourg applicants should note that proposals are not limited to the topics set of the Luxembourg National Research Priorities.
Since the Research Councils in the UK are always in lead of the evaluation, the project’s higher research effort (in terms of applicant team person-months) is expected to be in the UK.
2. WHEN TO APPLY
Schemes to which applicants can apply may be either responsive mode schemes (covering all areas of Research Council remit) or targeted calls.
Responsive mode schemes:
For responsive mode schemes, UK and LU teams are free to apply according to the specific application guidelines of the scheme.
Research Council
Scheme
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Council (BBSRC)
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
Standard research grant (Applicants are required to submit an Expression of Interest to EPSRC BEFORE submitting a joint UK-Luxembourg application (no INTER application of the EOI required). The Expression of Interest should include a short summary of the proposed research and indicative costs of both the EPSRC and FNR components.)
Medical Research Council (MRC)
Research Grants | Programme Grant | Partnership Grant
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Discovery science funding opportunities: Pushing the frontiers | Large grant
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC): STFC will consider applications under the terms of the UKRI-FNR Agreement for any of its funding opportunities. Information relevant to specific STFC funding opportunities is also available via UKRI’s website.
Targeted calls / schemes:
All other calls issued by one of the UK Research Councils fall under ‘targeted calls’.
For targeted calls, submitting a proposal is only allowed upon prior approval of the FNR. This is due to the fact that projects within these targeted calls may require budgets much larger than for standard research projects.
UK and LU teams must first inform the FNR about the topic, scope and requested budget. Based on the provided information, the FNR will decide whether to allow for an application based on the following criteria: Strategic importance for the LU research environment & Budget availability.
3. EVALUATION
Eligibility of the proposals will be checked by UKRI and FNR. In its role as lead agency, UKRI will proceed with the evaluation and selection of projects eligible, in compliance with international standards, and propose a funding decision on behalf of both the FNR and UKRI.
- General contact points
For further information regarding each of the participating UKRI Council’s implementation of the UKRI-FNR Agreement, please contact:
- AHRC: international@ahrc.ukri.org – please include AHRC/FNR in the subject line;
- BBSRC: iru@bbsrc.ukri.org.
- EPSRC: International@epsrc.ukri.uk
- ESRC: international@esrc.ukri.org.
- MRC: international@mrc.ukri.org
- NERC: leadagency@nerc.ukri.org.
- STFC: International@stfc.ukri.org