STAIRS: St Andrews Interdisciplinary Research Support

Nascent Partnerships

Arts and Humanities Impact Accelerator

For instances where working with partners outside the UK, please read our Toolkit for guidance.

• The Fund is open to University of St Andrews academic/techincal staff. They must have a contract of employment in place that covers the full duration of the project.
• A staff member can be principal investigator on just one application per round.
• Proposals must be based on research conducted (solely or jointly) at the University of St Andrews.
• Applicants are not limited in the number of times they can apply to the scheme, however its purpose will shift to align with Institutional priorities with each round.
• Upper limits are not guaranteed, and levels of funding are at the discretion of the peer review panel.
• External & internal matched funding, in cash or in-kind, should be sought where possible. This includes any funding from the School or Department. This is a desirable criterion only.
• When a School submits multiple applications, the School’s DoII is required to rank them in order of priority to the School. The DoII will submit this ranking to the panel in the week after the competition submission deadline has passed.
• Eligible applications are judged on quality. The full scoring criteria are given in the relevant guidance document

• Criteria for selection: Applications which are eligible will progress to a peer-review panel scoring and review process. The panel will score based on the essential/desirable criteria. Requests for clarification can also be made to applicants at any point in the process. If you have questions on the criteria, please contact the Research Impact team.
• Eligibility: Proposals must focus on building nascent partnerships between St Andrews staff and other institutions/sectors with a focussed outcome e.g. funding, knowledge exchange, network participation, translation of research to impact. Applicants should submit one application only in this call. This funding is not suitable for PhD students. All applicants must have a contract of employment until at least the end of the funding period. A Letter of Support from the applicant’s line manager will be required. Applicants will be asked to identify their career-stage, as proposals received by ECRs will be prioritised. For the purposes of STAIRS, and ECR is defined as ‘individuals employed to conduct research activities on precarious contracts (e.g. open-ended, fixed term or project-funded) and who have not previously led a project exceeding £100k ’. If this does not apply to you, but you still feel you are an ECR, please contact the RIT.
• Essential Quality Indicators:
  • Clear description of planned activity/visits
  • Clear articulation of the value of the partnership/network to ongoing or planned research
  • Inclusion of next steps/forward thinking following the funding period to develop the partnership
  • Clear project planning including costings, timescales.
• Desirable Quality Indicators:
  • External and/or internal matched funding, in cash or in-kind, including any funding from the School/Department.
  • Raises the reputation of University of St Andrews outside of the institution.
  • Contributes to strategic initiatives, e.g., University strategy, REF2029, etc.

Projects that do not meet the eligibility criteria will be rejected without going to the Panel.

• The aims of the Arts & Humanities Impact Accelerator are:
  • to strengthen engagement with users to accelerate the translation of research outputs into impacts;
  • to support, develop and foster strategic partnerships for knowledge exchange and impact, including across disciplines and sectors;
  • to build and maintain an environment and culture which enables effective and ambitious knowledge exchange and impact, including the development of skills, capacity, and capability within research organisations;
  • to provide early-stage support for progressing research outputs towards the next stages in the impact pipeline, for example, proof of concept projects, commercialisation, market validation, or activities targeting policy, business and the third sectors;
  • to drive continuous improvement in impact by supporting innovation, enabling “fast failure”, and capturing learning through appropriate mechanisms; and
  • to empower institutions with flexible and adaptive approaches to knowledge exchange and impact, including the ability to respond quickly to emerging opportunities.
• Criteria for selection: Applications which are eligible will progress to a peer-review panel scoring and review process. The panel will score based on the essential/desirable criteria. Requests for clarification can also be made to applicants at any point in the process. If you have questions on the criteria, please contact the Research Impact team.
• Eligibility:
  • Proposals must focus on impact (not basic research, not dissemination of basic research).
  • The impact stems from research outputs, wholly or in part, from the University of St Andrews. Upcoming publications/outputs also meet this criterion.
  • Projects must related to activity building a REF2029 ICS.
  • Proposals must provide letters of support for all external partnerships they name.
  • There are clear proposed timescales for completion of activities including milestones and designated ‘fast fail’ points. (‘Fast fail’ points are instances where the project is unable to succeed as first planned and will use its progress to agree an altered scope with the panel chair, through the Research Impact team, or will cease its work.)
  • Proposals must address the principles of responsible innovation and the AREA (Anticipate, Reflect, Engage, Act) framework. (Please consult this resource for more information).
• Quality Indicators – These indicators form the metrics used to assess applications. A sample scoresheet is available on request:
  • Essential:
  • High likelihood the project will generate impact via: Reach – the breadth of target beneficiaries has been maximised. Significance – the permeation of the impact has been maximised.
  • Evidence of engagement with appropriate external partners.
  • Appropriate mechanisms to capture evidence of impact.
  • Inclusion of next steps/forward thinking following the funding period
  • Clear project planning including costings, timescales.
  • Clear demonstration on enhanced on REF ICS development e.g. reach/significance/rigour beyond current trajectory
  • Desirable:
  • External and/or internal matched funding, in cash or in-kind, including any funding from the School/Department.
  • Involves a sustainable relationship with beneficiaries/users/industry.
  • Further opportunity to gain additional funding from external partners.
  • Raises the reputation of University of St Andrews outside of the institution.

• Nascent Partnerships: Up to £5k
• Arts and Humanities Impact Accelerator: Up to £40k

Trusted Research, the term used by the UK Government and other bodies to refer to national security issues in the planning and undertaking of research. The University is required to put in place, and enforce, relevant provisions to ensure that it attends to this agenda. The University has created guidance and a Trusted Research Tool to assist researchers and direct colleagues towards existing policy and process to ensure compliance where necessary. As part of this application, you confirm that you have (or will) review/ed relevant guidance and complete/d a Trusted Research Tool submission including any required outcomes. See the Trusted Research web pages for more information and access to the Tool.