Flexible Mobility Award – Placement (FMA-Placement) Funding
These awards, offering up to £40,000, aim to promote and support mobility between academia and industry within the INFORM framework. FMAs are designed for early career researchers, technicians, and industry professionals looking to enhance their skill sets through placements of up to six months.
The new skills acquired should be relevant to developing professional profiles, fostering research growth in the field, expanding collaborations, and strengthening industrial-academic relationships. Additionally, these placements should aim to gather evidence on how functional foods can support health in practice.
Priority will be given to Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and technical staff from academia, as well as technicians, specialists, engineers, and researchers from industry. While FMAs will primarily focus on UK-based organisations, placements at the overseas partners of UK companies will also be considered.
We encourage applications for smaller awards to increase the number of FMA placements funded.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Next application review deadline 30th December 2024
Who can apply?
Funding is available to staff and researchers from any public or private UK organisation with an activity in the areas of functional foods, gut health and recovery. Priority will be given to Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and technical staff from academia and technicians, specialists, engineers, and researchers from industry. FMAs will prioritise UK-based organisations (academic or industry) but will also consider placements at overseas partners of a UK-based company.
The successful academic and industrial partner will agree on a start date and need to have a signed Collaboration Agreement and, when applicable, a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) in place before the project commences. The Hub Manager will require evidence that these are in place before releasing funds.
You do not need to be a member of the INFORM ORIC to apply, but we would recommend it, and if you are successful, you would need to join. It’s simple to join and lets you hear about our funding calls and events before anyone else. You can be a member of other ORIC hubs, too. If you haven’t already, please sign up here.
Duration FMA Placements:
FMA Placement funding will support placement opportunities for up to six months. Applications for shorter durations are encouraged to enable multiple awards to be made.
Costs the funding will cover
Funds for the Flexible Mobility Awards can be used for Directly Incurred costs, including salary, reasonable travel, and subsistence. The award can also be used to support consumables and expenses of the host institute.
Researcher time can be bought out and funds can be used to support a researcher to work on an industry-relevant project.
If further financial support is needed, the industrial partner would be expected to support these costs.
Costs that cannot be claimed
Please note funding will not cover:
- indirect or estate costs at the research organisation
- any costs relating to intellectual property protection, including but not limited to registering, maintaining, or supporting patents or property rights
- equipment with a value of £10,000 or more
- undergraduate or postgraduate activities, training, or core PhD training, including tuition or bench fees.
Funding – payment arrangements
Payment of the award is in arrears, as detailed below.
The Award Holder shall invoice The University of Reading quarterly in arrears based on actual expenditure. The University Reading shall pay the Award Holder within thirty (30) days of a valid invoice, subject always to receipt of funds from the Funder and subject to the satisfactory completion by the Award Holder of any due diligence checks as may be reasonably required by the Awarding Institution or by BBSRC.
The final invoice should be sent to Reading within one month of the end of the Placement. The cost statement should include the breakdown of the indexed FEC figures and the actual sums claimed.
Review and assessment
When we receive your application, our Hub Manager will make sure the eligibility criteria are met, the application has been completed, and full financial information is included.
FMA Placement applications will be peer-reviewed by four members of our panel.
The placement should be within the scope, and support INFORMs aims. On passing these requirements applications will be assessed across the following areas.
- Eligibility
- Status of candidates
- Project in scope
- Quality of project
- Potential outcomes (benefit to ECR, long-term collaboration, advancing research in the field)
The Hub Management Committee will further assess the applications for the awards.
Reviewers will be expected to adhere to the highest standards of scientific integrity. In the event of a conflict of interest, this must be declared to the hub manager, who will reassign the proposal to an alternative reviewer.
Before a placement commences, a start date must be agreed upon with the Hub manager. Applications close at 5 pm, 30th September 2024. However, applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until this point and reviewed/assessed every two months from January 2024.
A blank copy of the FMA Placement application form, financial template and a guidance document can be downloaded below to assist with the application process.
FMA Placement Financial Breakdown Template
Click HERE to apply for FMA Placement Funding