UKRI CE-Hub: First Feasibility Studies Call.pdf

The CE-Hub is a £30M UKRI investment to accelerate and upscale research and innovation towards a UK Circular Economy. The CE-Hub is looking to fund its first round of Feasibility Studies to accelerate Circular Economy research, innovation, and implementation with a specific focus on the five resource flows connected with the UKRI funded National Circular Economy Centres. Research into specific enablers or barriers that are common to multiple centres, resource flows, and/or sectors are also encouraged. The total funding available for this call is £200,000 and we want to fund as many high-quality applications as possible. Feasibility Studies will be funded to a maximum of £50,000 at full Economic Cost (fEC). Funding will be awarded at 80% fEC (total project value cannot exceed £50,000). Projects can be between 6 and 12 months in length and must be completed before the end of November 2022. Applications where a portion of the project costs are met by industry funding are also welcomed. Proposals should address challenges at low Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs 1-3) and be aligned with at least one of the five Circular Economy Centres. The aim of the funding is to provide the wider Circular Economy community with the opportunity to undertake interdisciplinary, cross-value chain, foresight, speculative, and potentially high-impact research to accelerate innovative solutions in collaboration with the NICER Programme. Funded projects will be expected to deliver a tangible piece of work that would achieve a specific output such as early stage concept development, decision-making tools and methods, or demonstrator projects focussing on evidencing the transferability of Circular Economy principles across scales, disciplines, and industrial sectors. The CE-Hub is committed to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion and particularly welcome applications from teams which are diverse in terms of protected characteristics and disciplinary areas. Upon receipt of a proposal, the PI will be asked to complete an anonymous EDI monitoring form for their team. The application process will be in two parts: Part 1 will contain contact details, project team, and track record information, and Part 2 will be the outline Case for Support, which will be considered anonymously by a shortlisting panel.