Give your feedback on our ideas

Welcome to the UKRI Engagement Hub.

Open Activities

  • 23rd October - IAC/AGD Dinner Options

    Dear IAC/AGD Members, Please select menu options for the informal dinner - taking place at The Laureate Restaurant at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Manchester - on 23rd October 2024. Two courses are offered: Main & Dessert/Cheese Board. We are also having an informal dinner on Tuesday...

    Closes 16 October 2024

  • BBSRC Follow-on Fund Committee Chair: Expression of Interest

    BBSRC Follow-on Fund Committee Chair Thank you for your interest in applying to join BBSRC’s Follow-on Fund Committee as Chair. Please read the role profile and expertise requirements for this position and provide evidence of how your expertise and experience address the...

    Closes 17 October 2024

  • 24RM2 Feedback - Chairs and Panel Members

    This is a short survey following BBSRC’s Responsive Mode 24RM2 round to understand the experience of the panel and seek feedback regarding the current assessment process.

    Closes 18 October 2024

  • Opening ceremony of the NQCC's new facility

    The NQCC facility, whose ground breaking happened in September 2021 is now complete. The landmark building will provide a world-class research centre that attracts visitors and industry interest from across the UK and internationally. The vision for the facility is to provide a vibrant work...

    Closes 18 October 2024

  • Catapult-UKRI Forum Survey_July 2024

    Dear Catapult-UKRI Network Forum colleagues, please share your views via the survey below and help us shape the future of our Forum meetings.

    Closes 21 October 2024

  • Agrifood Team - Survey of Meetings

    A survey of meetings in the AgriFood Systems theme is being undertaken to better understand what is needed. Please could you complete the following short questionnaire which should take no more than 5 minutes, and follow the instructions to submit your return.

    Closes 21 October 2024

  • Call to STFC Science Board PPAN (Astronomy)

    Thank you for your interest to join the STFC Science Board (PPAN). Please read the role profile and expertise requirements for the position and provide evidence of how your expertise and experience address these criteria. Anyone who has applied before can apply this time provided they are (i)...

    Closes 23 October 2024

  • Highlight Topic evaluation

    The Highlight Topics (HT) fund was set up in 2013 by UKRI NERC as a rapid mechanism to identify and then fund strategically important gaps in the research portfolio. UKRI NERC is seeking to understand how well the HT mechanism has met its ambitions and would like to invite you to take part in a...

    Closes 24 October 2024

  • BBSRC Strategy Advisory Panel Member 2024

    BBSRC Strategy Advisory Panel Member 2024 Thank you for your interest in applying to join BBSRC’s Strategy Advisory Panels. Please read the role profiles and expertise requirements for the positions and provide evidence of how your expertise and experience address these criteria....

    Closes 24 October 2024

Forthcoming Consultations

Closed Activities

  • EPSRC Advisory Streams survey 2024

    We are undertaking a review of our advisory streams (SAT’s and their equivalents, SETB, Business Engagement Forum, and Research Office Workshops) with three objectives: To determine if our advisory streams are delivering the intended benefits and setting this against the...

    Closed 14 October 2024

  • AHRC World Class Labs success reporting

    As part of AHRC’s regular reporting requirements, we gather data quarterly on major programmes, including our portfolio of projects funded through World Class Labs (WCL). This feeds into our monitoring of Measuring AHRC’s Success (MAS). This survey will enable you to provide us...

    Closed 11 October 2024

  • Reasonable Adjustments Pilot

    As a pilot initiative, UKRI appointed a third-party supplier to provide tailored reasonable adjustment support (if requested) for people with a disability or long-term condition who might face barriers in applying to Round 9 of the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships. To help...

    Closed 10 October 2024

  • AgriFood Team F2F Meeting Survey - Wed 20 November 2024

    To inform the planning of the AgriFood Team F2F Meeting on Wednesday 20th November, we are seeking your opinion on the following criteria.

    Closed 7 October 2024

  • UKRO Subscriber Roundtables - Feedback Form

    Thank you for attending the UKRO Subscriber Roundtable on 16 September 2024. We would invite you to fill in this optional short survey to make any additional points you would like.

    Closed 4 October 2024

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