Open Activities
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MRC ES Seminar Series: Sustainable Research Practices: (Innovative) Strategies for Waste Reduction (Registration)
MRC ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY SEMINAR SERIES As part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Medical Research Council (MRC) is committed to achieving a Net Zero position by 2040 and improving the environmental sustainability of its estate, research, and operations. To...
Closes today
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Quantum Technologies Early Career Forum Expression of Interest 2025
EPSRC is seeking applications from early career researchers (ECR’s) to join our Early Career Forum (ECF) for the Quantum Technologies Theme. The ECF will act as an informal advisory stream to EPSRC. Members will be advocates for EPSRC within the community and provide a broad perspective on the...
Closes today
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NQCC's Quantum Hackathon 2025: Attendance confirmation form
Congratulations on your successful application to take part in the NQCC's UK Quantum Hackathon 2025! Please confirm your attendance at the hackathon by completing this form. The hackathon will be held at the University of Edinburgh from 21 to 23 July 2025. Please note that you...
Closes 29 June 2025
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NQCC's Quantum Hackathon 2025: Provider Form
Thank you for your interest in participating in the NQCC’s annual UK Quantum Hackathon for 2025! The Hackathon will provide an exciting opportunity for developers to explore industry-provided use cases using Quantum Computing (QC) platform(s) provided by your organisation. ...
Closes 30 June 2025
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MRC Reviewer Selectors Areas of Expertise
Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey to better understand your areas of expertise as an MRC Expert Reviewer Selector. We anticipate the survey will take around 10 minutes to complete. Data Protection UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) will use the...
Closes 1 July 2025
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MRC Reviewer Selectors Recruitment
Thank you for taking the time to apply to be an MRC Expert Reviewer Selector In the survey we will ask you to provide information, as outlined in the person requirements for this role. Please check that you have this information to hand as you begin: Experience of...
Closes 1 July 2025
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EPSRC-Defra Circular Economy Workshops Evaluation Form
Thank you for attending our workshops on June 19 and 20 2025. We hope you had an enjoyable experience. Please let us know your thoughts and feedback about the workshop, so we are able to improve for future consultation events. If you have any further comments, please email us...
Closes 4 July 2025
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SharePoint Project Survey 2025 (TFS Opportunities > Onboarding Documents)
This proposal aims to introduce a unified file structure within SharePoint to improve governance and standardisation. Additionally, it will serve as a discussion framework to help define roles, responsibilities, and oversight mechanisms for the platform’s effective use. To ensure...
Closes 4 July 2025
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REF 2029 Codes of Practices Approvals Survey
This is a brief survey for completion by REF 2029 nominated or technical contacts. We require one response per institution participating in REF 2029. The responses you provide are not binding. The survey asks you about when you intend to submit your REF 2029 Code of Practice for approval by...
Closes 5 July 2025
Closed Activities
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Evaluation form for Public Partnerships in Research webinar, 5 June 2025
Thank you for attending the Medical Research Council’s Public Partnerships in Research webinar on 5 June 2025. We are really interested in your feedback on this webinar, and how to shape future webinars. Please complete our online survey to tell us your thoughts.
Closed 26 June 2025
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Summer Science Exhibition 2025: The Quantum Zone Volunteer Form
Thank you for volunteering to support "The Quantum Zone" at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition! The landing page for the exhibit can be found here: https://www.nqcc.ac.uk/summer-science-exhibition-2025-the-quantum-zone/ This form captures information for logistics and planning...
Closed 26 June 2025
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UKRI Technology Missions Fund (TMF) Engineering Biology Programme Convening Event
Registration for UKRI Technology Missions Fund (TMF) Engineering Biology Programme Convening Event.
Closed 20 June 2025
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Sci-Tech Daresbury Campus Survey 2025
This survey is for all staff working on the Sci-Tech Daresbury campus. As the campus expands and grows, we want to gauge demand for various potential improvements to on-site amenities, and understand how these might work best for our diverse workforce.
Closed 20 June 2025
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UK-Japan Engineering Biology Kick Off Workshop
UK-Japan Engineering Biology Kick Off Workshop Feedback Survey
Closed 16 June 2025
We Asked, You Said, We Did
See what we've consulted on. See all outcomes
We asked
In January 2024, we asked for feedback on the Medical Research Council’s (MRC's) draft public partnerships strategy. The strategy was drafted following a process of co-development and sets out MRC’s ambition and priorities for effective collaboration and genuine partnerships between the research community and wider society.
You said
We received 354 responses to the consultation. These responses came from a variety of individuals, groups, and organisations from the research community, the voluntary sector and wider society. The consultation responses were overwhelmingly positive. 87% agreed with the strategy overall, and 81% said that the strategy was written in clear language.
Respondents welcomed specific aspects of the strategy, including its inclusiveness, the focus on non-clinical research and the ambition to build long-term sustainable partnerships between the research community and wider society. Respondents highlighted specific initiatives which they considered vital to the success of the strategy such as, having a clear payment policy, appointing a new MRC programme director for public partnerships, and setting up a public advisory group at MRC.
Respondents recommended that MRC publish the new strategy in a variety of formats, alongside clear delivery (action) and evaluation plans.
We did
We used findings from the consultation to inform the final MRC public partnerships strategy. Key changes included:
- Clearly stating that this strategy is an initial three-year commitment to our long-term ambition
- Clarifying that the strategy has been co-developed
- Specifically mentioning the involvement of international researchers, public partners, and public involvement and engagement professionals
- Making clear that the consultation informed the final strategy
- Emphasising that this strategy is intended to be inclusive, and will be aligned with MRC’s Embedding Diversity in Research Design policy
- Acknowledging the importance of sharing power
- Making clear that we will implement our new payment policy for public partners, and that other rewards and recognition are additional to payment
- Emphasising that we will support public partners to take on leadership roles and responsibilities, such as chairing groups or co-leading projects
- Committing to publish our action and evaluation plans
The consultation findings have been summarised in an infographic and are detailed in full in our consultation report.
Next steps:
The final MRC public partnerships strategy will be published on the MRC website in summer 2024.
We asked
For opinions on the definition and scope of a categorisatino of UKRI funding as either 'Investigator-led' or 'Directed'.
You said
Only 8 responses were received, and there was no clear consensus on many questions. Most respondents were from universities.
We did
In the absence of opinion to the contrary we will continue to develop and apply the indicator to all UKRI funding. It will be applied as a binary indicator.
We asked
In April 2022, we asked for feedback on the new MRC expectations on the inclusion of sex in experimental design of studies involving animals, tissues, and cells. We also asked what MRC could do to aid researchers in implementing these requirements.
You said
We received 91 responses from researchers and research staff, with many constructive and detailed suggestions. We also received a written submission from the Academy of Medical Science, on behalf of their fellows.
We were pleased that many were already using both sexes in their experiments or were ready to begin doing so (32% and 5% of respondents, respectively). We recognise that many (57%), even though they were very often supportive in principle, felt barriers existed to implementing this in their research.
One of the most commonly mentioned concerns was a likely increase in grant costs. Respondents sought clarity from MRC as to how this would be handled. Ensuring animal welfare standards and the logistics of single housing male animals were also mentioned as barriers.
Roughly a third of respondents had questions about the changes, particularly around:
- When the new expectation would begin to apply and how compliance would be ensured
- How and when MRC would grant exceptions for single sex studies
- How MRC would handle grants where costs were significantly increased due to using both sexes of animal
The support from MRC that was identified as being most helpful was:
- Advice from MRC Head Office about applications
- Training in statistical design and analysis
- Written guidance
- Case studies or worked examples
We did
As a result of this feedback, we have been working to make more information available about the upcoming change and to ensure the research community receives the necessary support. We have:
- Updated our Guidance for Applicants with details about how to comply with these new expectations
- Made it clear that there is no retrospective application of this requirement for grants that have already been awarded
- Clarified that the requirement of including both sexes does not mean ‘balancing’ or using equal numbers of both sexes, as for many experiments this would result in unnecessary use of animals, but including both sexes as appropriate for the experimental design
- Made the cases where MRC will consider single sex studies clearer both on our website and in our Guidance for Applicants
- Planned a webinar for applicants together with NC3Rs to be held on 21 July 2022, in which animal handling and statistical design will be discussed, and applicants can ask questions
- Made it clearer on our website that there is no cap on MRC awards, and researchers should submit grant costings based on the cost of performing the work, and justified by the importance and potential of the work
In the coming months, we will:
- Update our guidance to Peer Reviewers to ensure proposals submitted to the deadlines starting from September 2022 are reviewed in accordance with the new requirements
- Develop case studies to show the level of information that would be required in applications, including examples of where single sex studies would be appropriate
- Ensure that MRC Programme Managers are available to support applicants that have further questions
- Look into what other support we can provide