The second round of the DisCouRSE Network’s Flexible Funding scheme is about to open, and closes at 16:00 GMT on 11^th December 2026.

Key Dates

Summary

The DisCouRSE Network+ project aims to encourage and support the development of leaders of all kinds across all digital Research Technical Professional (dRTP) roles, primarily within the UK, resulting in an empowered and connected community equipped to shape the future of digital research. We have a twin focus on leadership training and dRTP career pathways – preparing the next generation of leaders and ensuring roles exist for them to lead within.

Our flexible fund supports community-led projects aligned with this goal, enabling aspiring leaders to trial approaches to enhancing skills and career opportunities within their local contexts, build new connections through joint initiatives, and strategically assess options for future investment and activity.

Funding calls will be released approximately every 6 months between autumn 2025 and autumn 2027. Later calls may be more targeted based on lessons learned from earlier projects and core DisCouRSE activities.

What we’re looking for

This third call has two strands:

1. Pilot projects in any area relevant to DisCouRSE’s aims. This category is focused on enabling and exploring new ideas, so we are particularly seeking applications from organisations that have not yet received DisCouRSE funding.
2. Growth projects building on previous DisCouRSE funding or existing community initiatives, particularly in one of the focus areas set out below.

With pilot projects we are looking for novel ideas from the community, and hence welcome a wide range of proposal topics or approaches, provided they are relevant to DisCouRSE’s overall aims. We especially want to expand the DisCouRSE network beyond our current contacts, so proposals from new individuals, organisations, or communities will be prioritised in our review process.

For growth projects we strongly encourage projects in one of the following areas, with such proposals prioritised for funding:

1. working to implement dRTP career pathways in groups or organisations where they are limited or non-existent (linking to the work of other DRI projects such as SCALE-UP or TSN in this area could be beneficial),
2. community building among leaders in under-represented (within the DisCouRSE Network) professions,
3. environmental dRTP leadership,
4. expanding the use and broader uptake of the DIRECT web app,
5. developing or delivering dRTP leadership training.

Any project proposing to create or deliver training must:

1. include a sustainability plan,
2. align to DIRECT in respect of learning outcomes, and
3. work with the dRTP Skills Landscape Coordination Group to ensure complementarity with existing initiatives. Contact Adrian Harwood to discuss your project before submission.

General principles

Proposals must demonstrate how the relevant dRTP community will be involved in their activities and a range of participation ensured, meeting EDI requirements. To meet our community building aims and avoid insularity, joint submissions are strongly encouraged. When building on or contributing to existing initiatives, prior engagement must be demonstrated. The involvement of expertise in co-production approaches is advised where appropriate.

You must adhere to UKRI open research policy and UKRI responsible innovation policies and guidance. Projects will be expected to commit to open-source, open-data and open-innovation guidelines, and make all project outputs available to the dRTP community. If you require any constraints on this, you must justify why these are appropriate and beneficial for the community.

UKRI’s environmental sustainability strategy underpins our ambition to actively lead environmental sustainability as part of leadership development in dRTP roles, and we expect you to embed careful consideration of environmental sustainability in your project as appropriate. Your work may be informed by the GreenDiSC, GreenAlgorithms, and NetDRIVE initiatives.

Funding and duration

• We anticipate funding:
  • up to 4 pilot projects, each with a budget of up to £15k at 100% full economic cost (fEC) level; and
  • at least 3 growth projects, each with a maximum budget of £50k at 100% fEC.
• Projects are encouraged to ask for less than the maximum budget if they do not need it to deliver their goals, so that we can fund more projects. We will ask for revised budgets if costs are not well justified.
• Except where noted below, applicants will be awarded 80% of the full cost, and the institution receiving the award is responsible for the remaining 20%.
  • Note that estates costs and indirects associated with staff posts are eligible and encouraged to include in the budget except as described below.
  • When invoices are submitted they should be for 80% of the full cost and a statement should also be submitted showing the full cost.
• Projects should start between 01/03/2027 and 01/05/2027.
• Pilot projects must be at most 1 year in duration.
• Growth projects can run until the end of September 2028

Longer projects and sustainability plans

Growth projects seeking to run for over 1 year, or projects developing or delivering leadership training, must include a long-term sustainability plan in their application. This does not need to be detailed, but it must give some indication of how the project’s activity could be continued beyond the end of DisCouRSE funding.

Where a project seeks DisCouRSE funding for more than 1 year, this is intended to be on a tapering basis, whereby DisCouRSE provides full funding for the first year of activity, but there is a plan to seek partial funding from other sources thereafter which can take over fully when DisCouRSE finishes (September 2028). The aim is to avoid a cliff edge scenario whereby funding and activity stop completely when DisCouRSE support is withdrawn.

Note that a guarantee of other funding is not required to receive funding from DisCouRSE in this round. However you must include a realistic plan for how you will seek funding within your proposal.

What costs are eligible

We will fund:

• staff time, including of the project lead and co-leads, specialists, administrative support, etc.
• networking activities
• workshops, conferences and other events
• travel and subsistence
• equipment specifically to support networking, events and communication, for example to support the software and licencing costs of digital platforms to host events. This must be fully justified. Such equipment will be funded at 50% FEC.
• associated estates and indirects

We will not fund:

• studentship costs
• facilities costs
• laptops and similar standard IT equipment

Who can apply

Standard UKRI eligibility rules apply, except that project leads and co-leads do not need to be academic members of staff. Your application must be led by an employed member of staff in a UK-based organisation. Eligible organisations include, but are not limited to:

1. UK higher education institutions;
2. research council institutes;
3. UKRI-approved independent research organisations;
4. public sector research establishments;
5. NHS bodies with research capacity.

In addition, projects must be dRTP-led. For a non-exhaustive list of dRTP roles, see https://discourse-network.github.io/who. Projects that cross profession or discipline, or are led by an aspiring leader with a more experienced mentor, are particularly welcomed.

You may not submit more than one application to this call as project lead.

Costing principles

UK research organisations will be funded at 80% of the full economic cost (fEC). This includes Directly Allocated and Indirect costs.

On a single application, the combined costs of all collaborating organisations from UK business, third sector, government organisations and any international partners must not exceed 50% of the total fEC of the grant application (at 100% fEC). In addition, no more than 75% of the number of leads and co-leads can be from such organisations.

It is the responsibility of the project lead to ensure that all collaborators are from an organisation eligible to receive, and with appropriate systems in place to manage, the funding provided.

Business, third sector or government body collaborations

Applicants based in UK business, third sector or government organisations will only be able to claim certain costs depending on their organisation type:

Applications which include (co-)leads from the UK business sector or from third sector organisations must ensure that the involvement of these organisations complies with the UK Subsidy Control Act 2022. This Act regulates how public funding is used to manage any advantage which threatens or actually distorts competition in the United Kingdom and/or any other country or countries (“UK Subsidy Control Regime”).

International collaborations

Joint applicants based in non-UK organisations can be included as project co-leads (International). They may not be project leads and are not eligible to take over leadership of the project. The total costs claimed for international collaborators must not exceed 30% of the total full economic costs of the project.

In general, we will fund 100% of eligible costs, where these have been sufficiently justified. For non-UK research organisation, overheads will be paid at 20% of the international research organisation’s directly incurred staff salary costs. Indirect costs may not be charged on non-staff related direct costs (for example, equipment, consultancies and conferences as well as travel and subsistence). For non-UK business or third sector organisations, the eligible costs follow the same criteria as for UK business or third sector guidance above.

How to apply

Applications must be made via the GoodGrants platform at https://discourse.grantplatform.com. You will be required to register on the platform to submit your application. You can download a full list of the application questions from the submission home page, without needing to register first.

You will need to seek institutional approval for your application, and this process often takes several weeks. Ensure you start early enough!

To apply:

1. Go to the DisCouRSE submission website: https://discourse.grantplatform.com/
2. Register for an account, if required
3. Choose the appropriate application form for your desired strand and click on “Begin application” or “Apply”
4. Fill out the information on the first “Start here” tab, including the project title and dates, and click “Save + next”. This will also save your draft application so you can return to it later.
5. Complete all the tabs before submitting the application. Using the “save + next” buttons will navigate one page at a time, or you can jump to a specific section using the tabs at the top of the panel.
6. Once you have completed all the mandatory application questions, you can submit your application. You will receive an email notification confirming receipt.
7. You can continue to edit your application after it has been submitted, up until the deadline, and the latest version saved will be the one reviewed.

The project lead is responsible for completing the application process but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application. Please note that some information that you provide in your application will be shared publicly as noted in the form, or with UKRI as stated in the call Terms and Conditions. Information you provide will also be used by the DisCouRSE project team and our external Advisory Board to evaluate the funding scheme and inform the design of future calls. We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. Except for published information, all data will be deleted by the end of the DisCouRSE project (30^th September 2028).

The submission platform also allows you to download a copy of your submitted application, or withdraw it by choosing the “Delete” action. More guidance on using the platform in general is available from GoodGrants.

Help in applying

Many dRTPs have not been accustomed to leading research grants, and their organisation’s processes may not be set up to make it easy for them. Part of the motivation for the DisCouRSE flexible fund is to change this situation! We have prepared some guidance for applicants on typical issues to watch out for, and what some of the terminology you may encounter means.

We are also launching a mentoring scheme with round 3 whereby the DisCouRSE management team or previous applicants can provide direct assistance. If this is of interest to you then get in touch.

How we will assess your application

We will operate a rapid three stage assessment process for pilot projects and growth projects. We reserve the right to modify this process if required.

Stage 1: DisCouRSE Management Board sift

The DisCouRSE Management Board will perform an initial review of the applications against the remit and scope of the call, and correct completion of the application form. Projects without a clear relevance to DisCouRSE’s aims and the call expectations, or with ineligible applicants, will be rejected at this stage.

Stage 2: Panel review of proposals

Applications that are within remit will then be reviewed by an expert review panel convened especially for the call, composed of a mix of members of the Network team and volunteers from a range of dRTP roles, to ensure fairness and balance. Panellists will be required to abide by the Nolan Principles. Conflicts of interest will be declared and managed to ensure reviewers are not involved in the scoring or discussion of proposals with which they have a conflict.

Each proposal will be independently scored by 3 members of the panel against the criteria given in the submission form (the bullet point lists labelled “What the assessors are looking for in your response”). The scores for each criterion are added to give an overall pre-score, with the Vision scores weighted double. Panel discussion will then determine a consensus score for each proposal and hence which are considered fundable, and produce brief feedback for applicants.

We strongly encourage particular kinds of proposal above. These focus areas are taken into account when scoring the Vision section of proposals. Submissions outside a focus area are still permitted, but will not score higher than ‘partially met’ for fit to the remit of the call, and will therefore be less competitive.

Any proposal which does not achieve at least an average score of ‘partially met’ on each criterion may be rejected as unfundable, regardless of its overall score.

Stage 3: Funding allocation by DisCouRSE Management Board

The DisCouRSE Management Board will then take a portfolio view of ‘fundable’ applications to decide on the final allocations of funds, to ensure fair distribution across types of activity, profession, geography, and discipline. Where a set of applications is considered too similar, higher scoring ones in the set will be preferred. Management board members will not discuss applications at this stage with which they have a conflict of interest. The process will be reviewed by our independent Advisory Board to ensure fairness.

Expectations for funded projects

Projects will be required to agree to standard Terms and Conditions based on UCL’s standard terms for grant sub-contracts, with modifications to ensure that intellectual property remains owned by the applicants. The template Grant Agreement is available here for you to review. This contract is the same as that used in round 2.

It is worth alerting your research contracts team to these terms when seeking approval to submit. If they have specific concerns you are advised to contact us well in advance of the submission deadline.

Summaries of funded projects will be published on our website once the awards are accepted.

Funded projects must provide short monthly reports to the DisCouRSE Management Board via a quick form. Financial invoices must be provided quarterly to UCL.

A named member of the DisCouRSE Management Board will be allocated to each project as the primary point of contact.

Project outputs must be disseminated through DisCouRSE’s channels, including our Zotero library.

Funded projects will need to submit a final report summarising their achievements and plans for follow-on work. They will also be interviewed by their DisCouRSE contact at appropriate intervals to assess the impact the work has had, and any support the network can offer going forward.

Call for reviewers

If you decide not to apply in this round, we need reviewers for applications, giving you an excellent insight into the process to inform a future application.

Volunteer to review

Reviewing is a chance to:

• Influence the direction of the Network by helping select impactful projects.
• Gain insight into the breadth of activities happening across the dRTP space.
• Develop your own leadership skills by contributing to community decision-making.
• Strengthen your CV with recognised service to a national UKRI-supported network.

We especially welcome reviewers from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, and those at different career stages. If you’ve never reviewed before, don’t worry: guidance will be provided.

There are also other networks and similar projects within the UK Digital Research Infrastructure landscape at present that will have funding calls during the next few years, and we are seeking to share reviewers. So, even if you can’t help us in this round, please share your details with us if you might be willing to review for another round or another project.

Reviewing for this round will take place between 15^th December 2026 and 8^th January 2027, with a panel meeting on Teams during the week commencing Monday 11^th January 2027.

We anticipate that reviewers would need to score up to 10 applications each against the criteria given in the call. The total time commitment is likely to be a couple of days at most. Each application will be scored by 3 reviewers, and the reviewer panel will then agree consensus scores collectively.

Contact us

For questions related to this funding opportunity please contact arc.discourse@ucl.ac.uk.

We also welcome feedback from all applicants on the funding process to inform our subsequent calls.