Industrial CASE Competition 2014
Industrial CASE Scheme
Awards to start in October 2015
Guidance Notes
Please read before completing the Je-S form, Case for Support and Company
Details form.
Section 1 – Competition Overview …………………………………………………………………………………2
Section 2 – Research Areas………………………………………………………………………………………………5
Section 3 – Criteria for Assessment……………………………………………………………………………….6
Section 4 – Submitting your Application……………………………………………………………………….8
Section 5 - Guidance for Completion of the Je-S Application Form…………………………9
Section 6 – Guidance for the Completion of the Case for Support Form. ..…………..10
Section 7 –Feedback………………………………………………………………………………………………….…..…14
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Industrial CASE Competition 2014
Section 1
Competition Overview
Closing Date: 10 July 2014
The Medical Research Council is committed to developing and sustaining a close and
productive alignment with industry in the UK. As part of that commitment the MRC will
be funding about 30-35 individual Industry CASE PhD studentships this year, to be taken
up in 2015.
1.1 RCUK Vision For Collaborative Training
Research Councils have agreed a shared vision for Collaborative Training:
Objectives:
Research Council Collaborative Training will provide doctoral students with a first-rate,
challenging research training experience, within the context of a mutually beneficial
research collaboration between academic and partner organisations in the private, public
and civil society sectors.
Benefits to the student – Collaborative Training provides outstanding students with
access to training, facilities and expertise not available in an academic setting alone.
Students benefit from a diversity of approaches with an applied/translational dimension.
Students have an opportunity to develop a range of valuable skills and significantly
enhance their future employability; the expectation is that many will become research
leaders of the future.
Benefits to the academic / partner organisations – Collaborative Training
studentships encourage productive engagement between partners who benefit from a
motivated, high-quality doctoral student undertaking cutting-edge research relevant to
the organisation’s priorities and objectives. Collaborative Training provides opportunities
to explore novel research collaborations and strengthen current partnerships.
Defining an excellent Collaborative Training Studentship:
High-quality project – A challenging, feasible and realistically achievable doctoral
project which stimulates excellent research. Through a truly collaborative approach, it
provides tangible benefits to all partners.
High-quality training environment – Through access to distinctive but
complementary environments, partners provide a stimulating framework for research
training in the proposed field. Joint supervision gives a unique and broadening
perspective on the impact of collaborative research.
High-quality student experience – An enriched integrated training experience allows
the student to acquire novel skills and expertise. The student gains a wider
understanding of how their research may have an impact in wider context that will
enhance their future career prospects.
1.2 WHO CAN APPLY
Proposals must include an academic supervisor at a UK Higher Education Institution,
Research Council Institute or Independent Research Organisation and a supervisor at
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non-academic partner organisation. UK-based organisations can be considered as the
non-academic partner if they can provide students with distinctive research training and
experience not available in an academic setting. Organisations eligible for Research
Council funding cannot act as a non-academic partner. Where the non-academic partner is
a company, it must have an established UK based research and/or commercial production
capability. In exceptional cases, organisations based overseas may be eligible, but
only where they can provide the student with an opportunity to gain skills not currently
available in the UK.
Please note we now only accept applications on Je-S direct from academia.
Proposals can be led by either the academic supervisor at an eligible UK university or
research institute or supervisor/supervisors at the non-academic partner organisation,
but the Je-S application process must be completed by the academic partner, who will
then be the recipient of the award.
Small and medium sized enterprises [fewer than 250 employees and either an annual
turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million, and/or a balance-sheet total not exceeding EUR
43 million] may apply.
Whilst the MRC appreciates that it may sometimes be difficult to ensure the financial
stability of a company three or four years hence, at the time of applying, companies
should have strong regulatory, supervisory and other policies in place to ensure the
continuity of the studentship. Changes during the studentship should be notified to the
MRC immediately.
1.3 NON-ACADEMIC PARTNER/COMPANY RESPONSIBILITIES
As a measure of its interest and commitment, the non-academic/company partner on
CASE awards must make a specific, identifiable contribution to the research
training of the student. An undertaking in this respect is required on the studentship
application form.
In addition to the contribution to the research training of the student, the company’s
contribution must include:
1. An annual cash contribution to the academic partner towards the cost of the project of
at least £1400 per annum, for the period during which research data are being collected
and analysed – a minimum of 80% of the approved length of the studentship;
2. A mandatory cash payment of at least £2500 per annum as a supplement to the
stipend awarded by MRC for the entire length of the studentship award. This requirement
may be increased by MRC during the course of the project;
3. A cumulative period of no less than three months spent working in the facilities of the
industrial collaborator. This 3 month period can be at any point during the studentship
and may consist of a number of shorter visits if appropriate.
4. The company’s costs while the student is working at the premises of the company.
5. All additional expenses, such as the cost of travel and accommodation incurred by the
student as a direct result of attendance at the premises of the cooperating body.
MRC may agree to vary any of the above stipulations provided that the case is made in
the application.
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1.4 MODIFIED REQUIREMENTS FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED ENTERPRISES
SMEs are NOT required to make the contributions under section 1.3 bullet 1 and
2 above as these will be met by the MRC via increased levels of stipend and
Research Training Support Grant payments to the academic partner.
Awards to SMEs will be conditional upon confirmation that the company meets the
definition included in Recommendation 1996/280/EC of a small to medium size
enterprise (SME) i.e.
− The enterprise must have a staff headcount of <250
− The enterprise must have a turnover not exceeding €50m AND/OR a balance
sheet total not exceeding €43m
1.5 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND PUBLICATION
The host research organisation will need to agree Intellectual Property arrangements
with the industrial collaborator (taking care to retain IP rights themselves). The agreed
distribution of project generated IP must be consistent with the requirements of the EC
approved “Grant for Collaborative R&D” scheme.
Any MRC establishments or directly employed MRC staff will need to discuss IP with MRC
Technology.
PhD students must be able to publish their project outcomes without restriction in
accordance with good research practice. Consequently Industry CASE studentships are
expected to be pre competitive. The MRC will need agreement and confirmation that the
data generated from this research can be placed in the public domain within a
reasonable timeframe.
1.6 ETHICS AND GOOD PRACTICE
MRC does not require ethics permissions and other regulatory approvals to be in place
when you submit an application. However, applicants must identify those aspects of their
research that require approval(s) by regulatory authorities and to demonstrate that they
have adequately considered how they will comply with statutory and good practice
requirements. Early discussions with regulatory authorities may be required to ensure
that all requirements can be met in a timely manner. It is the responsibility of your host
institution to ensure that the appropriate ethics approval(s) have been obtained and that
no activity requiring a regulatory approval is initiated before it has been granted.
Please refer to the MRC terms and conditions
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Section 2
Research Areas
APPLICATIONS MUST DEMONSTRATE A RELEVANCE TO MRC’S HEALTH MISSION
Applicants are reminded that their project must be within the remit of the Council to
which they are applying. Applicants may not have the same application under
consideration by more than one Research Council at any time.
If in doubt, applicants should consult the relevant Council’s Programme Manager well
before the submission deadline to confirm which Research Council is best placed to
consider their proposal.
MRC, STFC, NERC, AHRC and BBSRC have aligned their annual call dates to allow
applicants time to re-submit their proposal to the current round and to the specified
Research Council should their proposal be considered to be out of remit.
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Section 3
Criteria for Assessment
The aim of the MRC Industrial CASE awards is to provide PhD students with a first rate,
challenging research training experience within the context of a mutually
beneficial research collaboration between academic and partner organisations.
The key assessment criteria will be:
Relevance and Fit
Is the proposed project relevant to the remit of the MRC and the strategic objectives of the
scheme?
The Quality and Suitability of the Project
Is the project sufficiently challenging and feasible in the timeframe proposed and does it
have the potential to lead to a good PhD?
Does the science otherwise meet MRC’s quality criteria: original, potential to make a valueadded contribution to science, well designed hypothesis driven research?
Is the project feasible in terms of the expertise, technologies and methods, materials and
infrastructure that will be available to the student?
Are ethical issues properly addressed, particularly the case for animals and research
involving human participants?
Breadth of Perspective
Has the student through this project the potential to experience two stimulating research
cultures that will be of value to them during and beyond the project?
Advanced Research and Transferrable Skills
Has the student the potential through this project to develop advanced research and
transferable skills?
Have the partners the required specialist capabilities and capacity to support that training?
Do arrangements for generic skills training accord with prevailing standards?
The Added Value of the Collaboration
Could the project be done without the collaboration?
Is there an existing, robust partnership?
Will both partners make an important contribution to the training of the student?
Does the non-academic partner provide specific training or access to capabilities not
available at the academic partner?
Is there potential for the student to enhance the collaboration beyond producing a set of
results?
The Quality of the Research and Training Environments
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Do the two research leads have strong track records in the field of the research?
Is the broader intellectual environment appropriate for a PhD student?
Will they have exposure to a broader range of excellent research than that of their project
alone?
Will the student have access to taughtSupervision
courses relevant to their research?
Are there clear day-to-day arrangements for supervision in both the academic and industry
settings? Have the supervisors a good track record in supervising PhD students?
Are there robust mentoring and feedback arrangements for the students?
Industry Contribution
Is the scale and kind of the industry contribution clear and is it appropriate to the balance
of benefits arising from the project?
Are the arrangements for safeguarding the student’s PhD progress should the company’s
circumstances change clear and acceptable?
Selection and Recruitment
Is the advertising and selection plan likely to lead to the recruitment of an outstanding
student best able to benefit from the award?
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Section 4
Submitting Your Application
A SEPARATE PROPOSAL SHOULD BE SUBMITTED FOR EACH STUDENTSHIP
REQUESTED. PROPOSALS REQUESTING MORE THAN 1 STUDENTSHIP WILL
NOT BE ACCEPTED
Applicants must ensure they have read the assessment criteria before completing
their application.
Funding Available
An application may seek funding for a studentship of 3 or 4 year’s duration. MRC’s
expectation is that the majority of awards will be 4 year studentships. However where
a project requires a studentship of less than 4 years (for example where the student
recruited will be required to have prior research experience, perhaps as part of
a research masters) applicants must present clear justification for a 3 year award
within the Training Details/Proposed Training and Support section of the Case for
Support Form
– see Section 6 below.
Je-S electronic Submission
Proposals should be submitted through the Joint electronic Submission (Je-S)
system. The following attachments are required for each proposal:


Company details: exactly 1 – please ensure to use the template provided on the
MRC website
Case for Support Form – please ensure to use the template provided on the MRC
An optional one page covering letter may also be submitted
website
Proposals must be received by 4pm, 10 July 2014. Late proposals will not be
accepted.
Queries
If you experience difficulties using Je-S or have questions regarding its use, the helpdesk
can be contacted Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm UK time (excluding Bank holidays and
other holidays).
Email: JeSHelp@rcuk.ac.uk
Tel.:+44 (0)1793 444164 [out of hours please leave a voicemail message]
Please provide your name, organisation and User Id; date and time; which part of the
form or system you were working on; and the nature of the problem.
MRC CONTACT: For other queries relating to the requirements of the competition
please email fellows@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk
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Section 5
Guidance for Completion of the Je-S Application Form
On the JeS homepage, please select ‘Documents’, followed by ‘Create New Documents’.
From the drop down list select:

Council - MRC

Document type - Studentship Proposal

Scheme - MRC Industrial Case

Call/Type/mode Industrial CASE July 2014
Applications must use the following information to fill in each section of the JeS form,
and adhere to the character limits where specified.
Your Reference Number
Assign a reference to this proposal so that it is easily identifiable to you in the
“Studentship Proposal – Current Documents” menu within Je-S.
Project Details:
Title
Please give the project title for your proposal
Research Organisation
The lead organisation is the academic institution, and is responsible for the submission of
the proposal. We no longer accept applications for Industrial CASE Studentships
submitted by the non-academic partner (although MRC encourages the non-academic
partner to lead development of the proposal if appropriate).
Please enter the department within which the project will be based
Grant Holder
The lead supervisor of the project at the academic institution. Give details of the
person to whom all MRC correspondence should be sent to regarding the processing and
outcome of the proposal and to whom any related queries should be directed.
Project Summary (Up to 4000 characters)
This summary should be considered as the ‘abstract’ for your proposal. The
experimental and methodological detail should be provided in the case for
support form under ‘Proposed Project Details’.
Provide a description of the proposed project and the relevance of the project to MRC’s
remit in a manner suitable for a non-specialist reader. Please also include details of your
collaborating partner. This summary will be made publicly available if the proposal is
funded. Please ensure that your proposed project is within remit prior to submission.
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Section 6
Guidance for Completion of the Case for Support Form
Applications must follow the MRC specified character limits.
6.1 Proposed Project Details (Up to 3000 characters)
Following the brief summary of the project provided in the Je-S form, please provide a
detailed description of the methodology, experimental approaches, study designs and
techniques to be used. This section should provide sufficient detail of the planned
project to allow referees to robustly assess the scientific rationale. Highlight
plans which are particularly original or unique. Explain how new techniques or
particularly difficult or risky studies will be tackled and alternative approaches should
these fail.
6.2 Impact Summary (Up to 1500 characters)
Use the guidance to demonstrate succinctly, addressing the following two questions:
(a) Who will benefit from this research?
List any beneficiaries from the research, for example those who are likely to be
interested in or to benefit from the proposed research- directly or indirectly. It may be
useful to think of beneficiaries as ‘users’ of the research outputs, both immediately, and
in the longer term.
Beneficiaries must consist of a wider group than that of the investigator’s immediate
professional circle carrying out similar research.
(b) How will they benefit from this research?
Describe the relevance of the research to these beneficiaries, identifying the potential for
impacts arising from the proposed work.
Please explain how the research has the
potential to contribute to the nation’s health, wealth or culture, when framing your
response.
Provide details of how you will ensure that knowledge generated from the proposed
research is effectively transferred. State what plans, if any, you have for communicating
information about your work to the lay public. Explain how these plans will be supported
byby the partners’ own policies and facilities for communication with and education of
the public.
6.3 Supervisors
You must provide details of all the supervisors, both academic (3a) and nonacademic (3b), who are connected to the project. There should be a minimum of two
entries, i.e. at least one from each of the collaborators. You can nominate a maximum of
4 supervisors (2 academic and 2 non-academic).
Note: one supervisor must be identified as the main supervisor overall. Each supervisor
is required to complete the following information.


Relevant research experience to the proposed project.
Number of current students and the associated project titles.
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Submission rates for all completed studentships in the past five years. I.e.
o Within 4 years (for full time or pro-rata equivalent for part time)
o Greater than 4 years
o Not submitted.
Give details of your three most significant refereed publications; give author(s),
title, journal and name and date of the publication.
In section 3c, please outline the critical features of the partner’s policy on selecting
supervisors. Briefly describe details of the arrangements for training of both the
academic and non academic/company supervisors and for evaluating the performance of
supervisors. Less experienced supervisors from both academic and non-academic
partners should detail any support provided for them, such as being mentored (up to
2000 characters).
6.4 Management and Monitoring Arrangements (up to 2000 characters)
Clearly show the roles that the academic partner and the collaborating
organisation will play to ensure high quality supervision of the student and the
proper monitoring of student progress throughout the duration of the award.
Provide details of how you will monitor the student and their training needs during the
course of the studentship, including:
 supervision arrangements, supervisor responsibilities, assessment arrangements,
frequency of supervisor/student contact and the involvement of staff other than
the principal academic and industry non-academic supervisor in the supervisory
process (if appropriate)
 How you will manage the partnership to ensure high quality supervision of the
student and the proper monitoring of student progress.
 The support systems in place for ensuring quality of supervision for less
experienced supervisors
6.5 Proposed Training and Support (Up to 4000 characters)
One of the key assessment criteria will be the overall quality of training offered by the
partner organisation and the proposed academic institution.
Applicants must ensure that they address all of the points detailed in this guidance and
relate them to the research training programme which will be provided by the academic
department and the partner organisation. The application should be completed by
both partners and detail comprehensively the following:





Highlight specific infrastructure and capabilities that enable both partners to
provide in-depth specialist training in advanced skills and methodologies
Summarise the specific advanced research skills, methodologies and
technologies in which training will be provided to the student. Highlight how
they address strategic UK skills gaps.
Clearly state the duration of the proposed project and explain why this
duration is the most appropriate for the project. Provide a clear project plan of
how the project will be managed, including how the student’s time will be split
between the academic and non-academic partner’s research training
environment.
Summarise the key features of generic and transferrable skills training in line
with the “Researcher Development Statement” developed by Vitae (i.e.
providing students with the skills needed for the transition to employment
whether in academia, industry or other sectors) to be provided while the
student is based at the both partners.
Give details of the procedures and criteria used in the selection, recruitment
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and retention of an exceptional student to undertake the project.
6.6 Research Environment (Up to 2000 characters)
Give details of the academic and non-academic research environments, including




Integration of existing cohorts of students
Interactions with other researchers
Opportunities to participate in interdisciplinary team work
Current infrastructure, expertise, facilities and technologies available in the
department/group to provide in-depth specialist training in advanced skills and
methodologies.
Explain how these will be of benefit to the student and their research training, and the
collaboration.
6.7 The Collaboration (up to 4000 characters)
Applicants must ensure that they address all of the points detailed in this section and
relate them to the specific contribution provided by the academic department and the
non-academic partner. The application should be completed by both partners and
explain how the collaboration will provide the student with a challenging research
training experience, within a context of a mutually beneficial research collaboration
between the academic and non-academic/industry partner. This section should:

Provide the unique selling points of the collaboration. How will the
collaboration benefit the proposed project? Could the project be done without
the collaboration?

How will the collaboration benefit the training experience of the student?

How will the collaboration benefit both the academic and industry/nonacademic partner?
Give details of any previous collaboration between the academic and industry
partners.
Provide details of the success of any previous Industrial CASE awards that the
collaboration has received. What did the student(s) do after completing their
PhD? How did the awarding of a studentship benefit the academic and industry
partners?


6.8 Ethical Information
Each section must be completed. If the proposed research will involve the use of animals
covered by the Act, indicate the severity of the procedure. Provide details of any areas of
substantial or moderate severity. Applicants should consider the ethical and societal
context of the proposed research and indicate any issues that might arouse specific
public interest or concern about the motivation for the research, its conduct or potential
outcomes. Please elaborate on any other details of which MRC should be aware.
a) Human Participation
b) Animal Research
c) Genetic and Biological Risk
d) Approvals
e) Other Ethical Implications
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6.9 Data sharing statement (Up to 2000 characters)
Please consult MRC guidance on dataset discovery, governing access and use, data
sharing agreements, data from research involving people, research proposals and
funding access.
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Section 7
Feedback
Due to the large number of applications, MRC will only provide generic feedback,
highlighting the features of successful applications and the weaknesses more commonly
found in unsuccessful applications.
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