Panel Member decision making

Overview

Thank you for your interest in contributing to our review on how panel members make decisions about applications within UKRI. This survey is the first stage of our work and is designed to gather insights into how individuals assess and score applications. The information collected will help shape the themes and questions we will explore in the next stage: a series of focus groups with participants who indicate they are willing to take part. We hope the survey also provides an opportunity for those who may prefer not to share personal experiences in a group setting to still contribute meaningfully to the discussion.

Some questions include space for free-text responses, please feel free to expand on your answers or leave them blank as you prefer.

We encourage you to share your experiences as openly as you feel comfortable. For this reason, we will not collect any personal information in the survey. However, as per the UKRI Citizen Space Privacy Policy information such as your browser type and IP address will be collected for security and performance management of the Citizen Space platform. No efforts will be made to link these back to a person and data downloaded and shared within UKRI will have this information redacted.

Why your views matter

We're interested in how panels make their decisions, and how the materials we provide, including guidance and criteria, support panel members when assessing an application.

What do assessors focus on when making their decision? What parts of the guidance are most helpful? This will help inform how we design materials for future funding opportunities. For example, if we want the panel to place greater emphasis on particular aspects of the proposals, do we do this most effectively by changing the guidance, questions or assessment criteria? 

What happens next

Thank you for your interest in our survey! 

We have now closed the survey due to really excellent interest (thank you!) but are still looking for people who might be available to attend a focus group. The first is pencilled in for 11 Nov 2025.

If you are interested in taking part in a Focus group please click here: abigail.reynolds@ukri.org

Results from the survey will be used to inform discussions at these focus groups. We aim to publish a readout of the outcomes of the focus group in Summer 2026.