Application guidance

The project must fall within the remit of ACORN. Projects must have potential for impact in Robotics and AI for Nuclear Decommissioning, and the potential to lead to economic and/or societal impact in Cumbria and/or Oxfordshire.

Projects should build upon underpinning research which falls within the EPSRC remit (but does not necessarily need to have been funded by EPSRC).

Because of EPSRC’s IAA rules, ACORN will not fund new fundamental research, but rather the translation of research towards impact. However, awards can add value to existing UKRI support and enable multidisciplinary working and collaboration with non-academic partners.

Applicants are requested to explain in their application how their project fits within the defined scope of ACORN. The PI on an ACORN project does not necessarily need to have been the PI or a collaborator on the underpinning research.

ACORN projects must specify a proposed start date and project duration. No-cost extensions are not possible for any project, without explicit approval of the ACORN Management Board.

Typically, eligible partners are ‘research users’, including companies, local or regional or national government bodies, public-sector organisations including charities, NGOs and other third-sector organisations.

A formal collaboration agreement will be required with external partners before commencing your project. It is recommended that you discuss this with your partner at an early stage of the proposal development.

Academic and technical specialist staff working in organisations with EPSRC, with contracts that exceed the duration of the requested grant, are eligible for ACORN funding. Award holders must comply with the standard EPSRC eligibility criteria.

ACORN calls for proposals are open to staff from all UK universities. Funding for ACORN’s partner research organisations (UK Atomic Energy Authority and the Universities of Cumbria, Manchester and Oxford) will be funded from the Consortium Fund, and all other awards will be made from the separate Collaboration Fund.

All staff wishing to receive ACORN funding must have completed all relevant mandatory institutional training required to hold funding, for example: in Equality, Diversity & Inclusion; Research Integrity; GDPR; Information Security; etc.

All staff must comply with visa and immigration requirements – please check with your institution’s HR team.

The level of funding available will be defined for each funding round – please see the specific call for details.

The value of the funding award sought should be proportionate to the scope, stage and scale of the project.

ACORN awards will fund 100% of Directly Incurred (DI) and Directly Allocated (DA) costs, including staff time, travel and subsistence. See below for more details on eligibility of costs.

ACORN funding is designed to be flexible and can cover items such as:

• Research organisation staff to undertake the project, including researchers and technicians.
• Consumables
• Travel, accommodation and subsistence costs (in line with your institutional policy)
• Costs associated with external partner engagement, such as travel to meet with or visit an industry partner or attend an industry event
• Public engagement where interaction is key to informing the research impact such as user or patient engagement as a critical pathway to achieving societal and/or economic impact
• Small capital equipment items. Any single item purchased using a ACORN award must be less than £10,000 in value (incl. VAT). ACORN funds cannot be used to make a contribution to the cost of an individual item of equipment which costs £10,000 or more (incl. VAT).
• Cost for the use of and access to specialist facilities
• Sub-contracting costs
• Training costs for training directly related to impact generation activities
• Commissioning expert consultants to undertake specialist tasks such as market research and analysis, product design and industry engagement

The following items are not eligible for ACORN funding:

• New, fundamental research
• Impact activities that should already have been anticipated and supported through standard routes, e.g. impact activities costed as part of basic research proposals or Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs)
• Indirect and estates costs
• Undergraduate activities, Master’s training
• Academic research or the development of tools exclusively for use in further research
• Academic publication costs
• Academic conference attendance
• Costs for the delivery of research conferences targeted solely at an academic audience
• Costs which solely benefit an external partner, including university spin out companies
• IP and patent costs – any costs relating to Intellectual Property protection including but not limited to registering, maintaining or supporting patents or property rights
• Projects designed to bridge a funding gap between research projects
• Projects with the sole aim of retaining a member of University staff such as a research associate
• PhDs and costs directly associated with studentships
• Standard desktop, laptop and tablet computers and associated IT equipment
• Single items of equipment, or contributions to the cost of them, with a value of £10,000 or more including VAT
• Contributions to Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs)

Many of the activities funded by ACORN are intended to stimulate the commercialisation of technologies emerging from research organisations. Collaborating organisations are therefore generally expected to benefit from exposure to this technology, and ACORN funding will be used to develop technologies to meet the needs of industry partners who would be able to exploit them commercially.

ACORN funding is only awarded to UK research organisations – generally universities. Non-academic organisations cannot be a recipient of ACORN funding, although they can be paid for services provided and goods supplied, in line with individual institutional procurement policies.

It is preferable that collaboration partners contribute cash to a project, although “tangible” material contributions are also welcome. Acceptable equivalent value partner in-kind contributions could be in the form of specific staff time undertaking part of the project, access to equipment, provision of materials, consumables, or other items. These commitments should be backed up by a letter of support which should be submitted along with your proposal.

Ownership and use of any new intellectual property developed during an ACORN project will be negotiated by your university in consultation with the award holders. If an external partner organisation is involved a signed Collaboration Agreement will need to be in place prior to the project starting – please contact your university contracts team for advice and assistance with this.

Model IP agreements for collaborative research projects between research organisations and companies are available at University and business collaboration agreements: Lambert Toolkit.

Where projects involve partnership-building or collaborative working that lies outside the scope of a formal collaboration agreement, the external collaborator should have sight of the application, workplan and budget in advance of submission.

All commercialisation projects should be developed in consultation with your institutional IP and Commercialisation team.

The success of an ACORN project will be determined by the quality, scale, and scope of the outcomes and impacts emerging from the activities funded. The ACORN Delivery Team will work closely with all projects to ensure objectives are achieved, helping to maximise opportunities as they emerge and monitoring progress against pre-defined milestones.

Upon finishing your project a completed Project Final Report Form, agreed and signed by all partners, will be required. In addition, you may also be asked to help develop a case study on your project in consultation with the ACORN Delivery Team which will focus on the outcomes and benefits of the work undertaken. Failure to submit a final project report means you will not be eligible for subsequent ACORN funding.

All publications relating to ACORN funded projects must cite the ACORN EPSRC grant reference number: EP/U537068/1