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Working with business:

Industrial CASE awards

The call for applications is closed

Next proposal deadline: 2012 TBC

Important: applicants should ensure proposals are submitted to their institution's submitter/approval pool well in advance (a minimum of 5 working days) of the published deadline. This enables institution checks to be carried out before final submission to us.

Proposals can be submitted by either an industrial company (or an alternative eligible non-academic partner - see guidance below) or an individual academic supervisor. Please ensure that proposed projects are within our remit to avoid the proposal being rejected. Queries regarding remit should be sent to remit@bbsrc.ac.uk.

This allows flexibility for either:

1. Company-led proposal (citing an academic partner)
• Research project of value to the company
• Collaborating with academic research groups
• Contribute to development of key research skills needed by UK bio-industry
2. Academic-led proposal (citing an industrial partner)
• Establishes high quality collaborative training project
• Students experience different research environments
• Supports knowledge exchange with a commercial collaborator

Number of awards

Funding for up to ninety 4-year studentships is available. They will be awarded in the form of flexible Training Grants (TGs) commencing in the 2012-13 academic year.

Rather than funding individual studentships, TGs provide funding in the form of a single training grant to the academic partner. This gives the department considerable flexibility in how it chooses to use the funding, in discussion with the industrial partner, for example:

• Flexible start dates for students
• Ability to part-fund studentships with other sponsors
• Joint funding of studentships with another Research Council
• Offering 3-year studentships where appropriate with the flexibility to use funding across different headings

Financial and other contributions to be made by the company

All Industrial CASE research students are based at a university (or other eligible research organisation), but must spend part of their time with the company. It is expected that the company will provide a placement for a period of between 6 and 18 months. The company is required to ensure sufficient time is allocated during the placement to fulfil all aspects of the training being provided. This should include wider business-related training for the student in, for example:

• Project-management
• Business strategy
• Finance

The company must make financial contributions to the training of the student:

• An annual contribution to the academic institution towards the cost of the project. Minimum of £1,400 per annum on commencement of studentship and anniversary of start date
• All additional expenses, such as the cost of travel and accommodation, incurred by the student as a direct result of attendance at the premises of the company
• A mandatory cash payment, direct to the student, of at least £2,500 per annum. The company may increase the stipend above this minimum level

Eligibility

Proposals must include an academic supervisor at an eligible UK university or research institute and a supervisor at the industrial company. Either party can take the lead in submitting the proposal. Before preparing and submitting a proposal it is imperative that you ensure that the industrial company and academic institution are both eligible.

Note: where a company is less than five years old and is not currently in receipt of BBSRC funding you must contact us (contact below) for advice before completing a proposal.

UK-based organisations can be considered as the non-academic partner if they can provide students with distinctive research training and experience not available in an academic setting. Organisations eligible for Research Council funding cannot act as a non-academic partner. Where the non-academic partner is a company, it must have an established UK-based research and/or commercial production capability. In exceptional cases, organisations based overseas may be eligible, but only where they can provide the student with an opportunity to gain skills not currently available in the UK. If eligibility remains unclear, applicants should make contact before submitting a proposal.

The assessment criteria for the competition, including the BBSRC/EPSRC/MRC Vision for CASE are given in Annex 1 of the information pack, available in the downloads section.

How to apply

Proposals should be made through the Joint electronic Submission (Je-S) system.

Applicants should refer to the detailed Je-S help text for each section of the proposal form available in Annex 2 of the information pack.

Proposals also require a number of document attachments:

• Postgraduate performance indicators (exactly 1)
• Company details (exactly 1)
• A covering letter may also be submitted if desired

Attachment templates are available in the downloads section.

Queries

If you experience difficulties using Je-S or have questions regarding its use, the helpdesk can be contacted Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm UK time (excluding bank holidays and other holidays):

E-mail: JeSHelp@rcuk.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1793 444164 [out of hours please leave a voicemail message]

Please provide:

• Your name, organisation and user ID
• Date and time
• Which part of the form or system you were working on
• The nature of the problem

For queries about industrial company eligibility (including eligibility of other non-academic partners) only, please contact Adam Bowen.

For other queries about competition requirements, please contact Innnovation and Skills Group - Studentships.

Contact