Checklist of documentation for a complete application
A complete application will consist of the following documentation. Note that the documents required vary between types of grant. Please assemble your application in the following order and submit as a single PDF to the Trust Administrator by the application deadline.
All text within your application should be no smaller than font size 11, Calibri, Aptos, or Arial. All A4 margins should be set at a minimum of 1 inch. Page limits should be strictly adhered to and we will ask you to reduce over-length applications.
| Grant Type | Strategic Preliminary | Strategic Final | Research Project |
Emergency Grants |
Fellowship Support |
| Coversheet | A+B | A+B | A+B | A+B+C | A+B+D |
|
Academic |
<3xA4 | <8xA4 | <3xA4 | <3xA4 | <3xA4 |
|
Relevant |
N/A | <4xA4 | 1xA4 | 1xA4 | 1xA4 |
|
Table |
Table +1A4 |
Table +1A4 |
Table +1A4 |
Table +1A4 |
|
| School/ PVC |
School/ PVC |
HoD | HoD | HoD | |
| CV(s) | N/A | <4xA4 each | <4xA4 each | <4xA4 each | <4xA4 each |
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Other | N/A | N/A | Equipment quote ** |
Equipment quote ** |
Fellowship T&C letter *** |
* Host Support: If the applicant is the HoD, this form will need to be completed by the Chair of the School.
** Equipment quote: attach a quote for any equipment required as part of your Research Project or Start Up application
*** Fellowship T&C letter: provide a copy in English of the terms of the Fellowship offered by the other institution, showing duration, net salary, and whether research funds, pension or insurance or any other benefits are paid.
There is a strict length limit: up to 3 sides of A4 (except for Strategic grant applications). The Trustees know this limitation means you cannot provide the detail expected in other funding applications. Referees sometimes comment on this, but we will explain the reasons for this.
Trustees appreciate a clear, strongly structured proposal. Use subheadings and bullet points as needed.
As a reminder: All text within your application should be no smaller than font size 11, Calibri, Aptos, or Arial. All A4 margins should be set at a minimum of 1 inch
There is no format to follow but you might find the following suggestions helpful for structuring your content:
- The intellectual significance of the proposal (introductory context setting).
- A clear statement of what you intend to achieve.
- A gantt chart showing the stages of the project and why it is feasible in the time available.
- The techniques to be employed.
- The names of personnel where these are already known. Appropriate summary information about their suitability for the role.
- For applications involving research staff, please include a statement regarding the support provided by the PI and Department for the individual's career development.
- An indication of the final output.
- Describe how the project might lead to future proposals and funding. This is important when making an application for pump-priming/bridging support.
- Any commercial aspects of the work, including those pertaining to intellectual property.
- Where appropriate, include any ethical approvals obtained or to be sought for the project. If necesary, also include details of Home Office Licences.
For Emergency Grants
Please include a clear statement of all or any of the following, as relevant:
- The importance to the project or group of retaining a particular Research Associate.
- The importance of continuity to the Research Associate’s career development and prospects.
- A clear plan and time-scale for obtaining further funding for the project / Research Associate.
- How will the project conclude if future funding has not yet been secured. Please include staff employment within this summary.
You must reference all research within your academic case. Failure to do so will negatively impact the chance of success of your application. We do not restrict the style of citation you adopt, but please remain consistent with your style throughout the reference list.
Please refer to the Research Funding Categories page for specific details relating to eligible costs. Additional information can also be found on our Research Grants Overview and Grant Management pages
All applicants are required to provide:
- A completed Financial Summary Table using the template provided. Please add or remove columns to this table if your project differs from 2 years in duration.
- Explanatory notes / Justification of resources providing a narrative of any details in the summary table that require further explanation. Including salary grades, other grants obtained, or equipment requests. These notes must be no more than 1 side of A4.
Financial Summary Table Guide
The Financial Summary Table must be completed in GBP / pounds sterling and can be broken down into 3 main sections:
- Total Cost of Research Project (in white)
- Amount sought from the Newton Trust (in orange)
- Awards sought from or secured from other sources (in green)
The figures inputted into this table must match the approved project X5 or Worktribe budget. Please speak with your Research Grant Administrator about the details of this budget. They will be able to provide salary costing with inflation factored in and apprenticeship levy removed. Your start date in Year 1 should always be set to the 1st of the month.
Salary notes:
- Contribution to salaries is set to a maximum of point 44 on the University's Single Salary Spine, across all years of an award.
- In the case of Fellowship Support, this salary contribution will start at point 41 at the time of appointment.
- If it is necessary to offer a higher salary to secure or retain the best candidate for the post, the Department or Faulty is expected to find the difference in costs between point 44 and the actual salary point. This also applies if the Research Associate is to be employed part-time.
- All Research Associates must be employed by the University or a College. The Trust will not support work done by employees of other institutions unless they also have official employment status in Cambridge. The Trust may, in special cases, fund local field assistants.
Formatting notes:
- Use a separate line for each post you seek support for.
- Each position should include either a named associate or job title. The role duration, the % FTE, and total yearly salary with on-costs (i.e. NI and Pension) should also be included. For example: PDRA, 12 months, 50% FTE.
- Other costs should use separate line for each major category of research costs, such as ‘Travel’.
Matching funding:
The INT expects that, in almost all cases, the applicant will have obtained, applied for, or be applying for, funding to meet some of the costs of the project or employment. In most cases, it is hoped that these other sources will provide at least half of the cost. INT particularly welcomes:
- External funding that provides the majority of the cost of the project
- Any contributions that can be made by the host PI or department
For Emergency Grants, Trustees are willing to relax the ‘matched-funding’ expectation and may agree to provide up to the full cost, within the stated INT funding limit, in exceptional cases.
Divide the total costs between the INT, bearing in mind the maximum available, and other funders from which you have sought or have obtained funding. Name these funding bodies and explain further in the notes, giving the dates when these grants are available.
Justification of Resources / Budget Narrative:
Following your financial table, you should aim to include a short text summary of the costs you have requested from the INT and fully justify these costs to the Trustees. It should explain why the resources are appropriate for the proposed research, taking into account the nature and complexity of the research. However, this should not be a list of the requested costs.
Your summary should be approximately 500 words and must follow the formatting guidance for the other sections of your application.
INT Grants are made to Departments, Faculties and other institutions of the collegiate University, not to individuals. Applicants must seek the support of their institution, which will be responsible for administering any grant obtained, before applying to the INT.
Applicants should first consult the Departmental/Faculty Research Grants Administrator, before the departmental application deadline. Seek assistance with an X5 or Worktribe budget that can be used to provide costings for the INT Financial Table.
The completed draft application should then be submitted to the Head of the Department or Faculty by the application deadline (about one week before the INT draft application deadline). If the applicant is the Head of the Department or Faculty, this form will need to be completed by the Chair of the School.
Research Project, Emergency, Fellowship Support applications
The Head of Department or Faculty is asked to complete the INT's Departmental Support Form in which they are asked to:
- Assess the importance of the application
- Rank it against any others they may have submitted to the Trust in the last two years
- Provide the names and contact details of four referees who may be approached. The Head of Department/Chair of School's Office must ensure that the referees are available and able to write a reference in advance of INT receiving the application with their information. INT will then contact the referees that have agreed to write a reference direct.
Strategic Grants
There is no form for institutional support for Strategic Grants. The application should be submitted to either the Chair of the School (if the application is from a Department) or to a Pro-Vice-Chancellor (if the application is from a School or is interdisciplinary) at least a week before the INT deadline for draft applications in Lent Term.
No references are required at the preliminary stage. The INT Director will discuss the requirements for final applications with successful applicants.
Format of CVs
CVs should be included for both the PI and any Research Associates named within the application. CVs should be limited to no more than four sides of A4, tailored for the specific purpose of this application, to include:
- A selection only of your most recent publications relevant to the project for which you are seeking funding
- Only those activities that are relevant to this particular application (ie do not include conferences, teaching or administrative experience unless strictly relevant)
Personal data contained in the CV
The INT seeks to collect the bare minimum of personal information required to process your application. You should ensure:
- that the personal information on any CV submitted is limited to the core set of:
- name
- department/faculty and/or College as appropriate
- contact email addresses the Trust should use
- professional record as it applies to this application
- that you, and any other person (e.g. a co-applicant or a named postdoctoral worker who may benefit from the grant) for whom a cv is submitted to the Trust give your consent to the collection and use of the data as set out in the Trust's policy on a Personal Data Consent Form. This should be signed by everyone whose cv is submitted as part of the application.
The Trust's policy on the collection and use of personal data during the application process and any subsequent grant administration can be found here.
Data retention
References are removed from applications and destroyed after the meeting at which the decision has been made.
For successful applications, only those documents required for the management of the grant are retained after the grant has been confirmed; this will include the academic case and financial table. Invoices and correspondence will be held on file for up to five years after the end of the grant. After five years, the academic case and decision letter are archived.
Unsuccessful applications are destroyed after the decision has been confirmed, other than the material required for archival purposes (see below).
Archival policy
An archival copy of the meeting Agenda and Papers will contain an outline of all the grants considered at the meeting; including the academic case and financial table, but other documentation will not be retained in these records.
Please do not send any references with your application or ask referees to write to the INT unsolicited.
The INT obtains the names and contact details of potential referees from the Head of the host institution via the Head of Department’s support form. The Head of Department/Chair of School's Office must ensure that the referees are available and able to write a reference before submitting the application to INT. We will then contact the referees who have agreed to write a reference and ask them to send their comments directly to us.
How many references are required?
- INT Research Grants (including Emergency Grants): these require three independent peer reviewers, none of whom should be from the applicant's department. However, where reviews are available for the same project from an application to a UKRI funding council, you may submit up to two such reviews in the place of two references. These reviews should be provided with your application at the time of submission.
- Strategic Grants: no references are required for the preliminary round (Lent Term), but you should provide copies of letters of support from any internal collaborators named in the application (especially where the project is interdisciplinary). Applicants selected for the final round (Easter Term) will be asked to provide the names of four external independent referees.
- Applications for small grants: the Trustees have agreed that applications for small sums (less than £10k) will not be required to provide details of referees.
Independent Peer Reviewers Criteria
- Three experts in the field of the project
- None of whom is in the same Department/Faculty as the applicant(s)
- At least two of whom should be from outside the University
- None of whom has been a supervisor for the PhD of the applicant(s) or of the PDRA likely to benefit from the grant
- None of whom has, in the past 5 years, been a co-author of papers, co-editor of projects, or co-applicant for grants with the applicant(s).
Reference Confidentiality
References remain confidential to the Trustees and will be destroyed after the decision has been made whether or not to fund the application. Feedback from the references will not normally be given. However, in some cases, the Director may offer a successful candidate brief anonymised feedback based on references where the Trustees consider that this information will enhance the project’s chances of delivering its aims.