Are you a funder?

Funding organisations support and maintain excellent research projects in the UK. Making sure to support diverse and talented people to deliver ground-breaking research will always be a priority for the sector. To ensure that the funding culture and environment provides researchers from a wider range of backgrounds and experiences to access to all levels of funding, is paramount. These guiding principles will provide the support you need to progress.

  • Environment and Culture

    1. Include requirements which promote equitable, inclusive and positive research cultures and environments, in relevant funding calls, terms and conditions, grant reporting, and policies. 

    2. Consider how funding opportunities and policies can facilitate different patterns and ways of working and promote the wellbeing and mental health of researchers. 

    3. Ensure that funding call requirements and selection processes offer equality of opportunity between different groups of researchers, recognise personal contexts, and promote positive research cultures and working conditions.

  • Employment

    1. Include requirements which support the improvement of working conditions for researchers, in relevant funding calls, terms and conditions, grant reporting, and policies. 

    2. Review the impact of relevant funding call requirements on researchers’ employment, particularly in relation to career progression and lack of job security. 

    3. Support institutions to develop policies and frameworks to promote sustainable employment arrangements and enhance job security and provide opportunities for career progression. 

    4. Consider the balance of their relevant funding streams in providing access to research funding and its impact at all career levels.

  • Professional Development

    1. Incorporate specific professional development requirements in relevant funding calls, terms and conditions, grant reporting, and policies. This should include researchers’ engagement in a minimum of 10 days’ professional development pro rata per year, and evidence of effective career development planning. 

    2. Embed the Concordat Principles and researcher development into research assessment strategies and processes. 

    3. Acknowledge that a large proportion of the researchers they fund will move on to careers beyond academia and consider how they can encourage and support this within their remit.