Evaluation Criteria
All applications are submitted to a panel which will comprise of members of all three Institutions. This panel includes senior academics, RTPs and ECRs and applications will be reviewed by a member of each career type. To help you complete an application, we have detailed the evaluation criteria on this page. Some of the questions will be determined as “yes” or “no”, others will be scored from 1 to 5 depending on the application’s strength. This page details the criteria as written into our scoring process and gives additional detail where appropriate. We encourage you to read these criteria and address as many of the component questions as fully as you can.
Remit
Criteria: Relevance of secondment/activity to priority area “building a green future”
Evaluation Question: Does the activity/secondment train staff in research areas necessary for meeting our net zero targets, decarbonising BBSRC research methods, bioscience underpinning nature-based carbon sequestration and net zero agri-food systems? (Yes / No Question)
Note: at least 70% of funded proposals will lie within “building a green future”. Applications may sit outside this theme but must align with one or more of the following priority areas:
Data-intensive bioscience
Proposals focused on providing training in how to develop and use computational technologies and analytical approaches for large-scale bioscience data, for example, application of AI to bioimaging, -omics and multimodal data, complex systems modelling, training in emerging methods, software engineering or data stewardship including the FAIR data principles.
Engineering biology
Proposals focused on providing training for designing and fabricating biological components and systems that may be applied to a range of areas, including food systems, biomedicine, clean growth, and environmental solutions.
Securing better health, ageing, and wellbeing
Proposals focused on providing training to staff working on biosciences research areas related to ageing and health across the life course, health inequalities, and food and nutrition for health.
Tackling infections
Proposals focused on providing training to staff working on biosciences research areas related to infectious animal diseases and welfare, plant health, zoonosis and antimicrobial resistance including anthelmintic and fungal resistance.
Building a secure and resilient world
Proposals focused on providing training to staff working on biosciences research areas necessary for increasing the resilience of supply chains that are dependent on bio-based materials and reducing vulnerabilities. This includes increasing resilience of the food system, from production to consumption, with a focus on the bioscience underpinning resilient food production, food safety and food and nutrition security
Cross-sector
Criteria: Promotion of cross-sector mobility and partners involved in the activity/placement.
Evaluation Question: Does the proposal promote cross-sector porosity? If the proposal is not cross-sector, is there a strong justification and rationale for the activity/placement and the benefits this will bring? (Yes / No Question)
Benefit
Criteria: Benefit
Evaluation Question: To what extent does the activity/placement benefit the applicant and the host? Will there be lasting benefits beyond the duration of the placement? (Graded 1-5 Question)
Deliverables
Criteria: Deliverables
Evaluation Question: Are the placement objectives clear? Are the outcomes and targets realistic and achievable? (Graded 1-5 Question)
Resource Justification
Criteria: Resource Justification
Evaluation Question: The budget(s) requested are commensurate with the activities planned and represent value for money. (Graded 1-5 Question)
