Bidding for ESSEXLab funding: rules and criteria
2015
1. Rules for bids
There is a small fund available for running experiments at ESSEXLab. Postgraduate students or staff may apply for
funding. Applications may be received from any faculty; however, there is an expectation that departments with other
sources of funding for running experiments should use those sources first.
Funding is typically not awarded above £1500 per project. This limit will be waived only in exceptional cases. Bids for
funding will be considered on a termly basis, by a panel including ESSEXLab committee members and at least one
outside academic from the university. If panel members are applying for funding, they must recuse themselves from
decisions for that round. Also, panel members should not comment on the applications of their previous co-authors. The
form for applications is at the end of this document.
Funding applications must involve an experiment run in the Laboratory, or using the mobile laboratory, or using the
Laboratory’s subject pool for an online experiment. The research may involve components that do not use the
Laboratory or mobile lab, but funding will only be provided for the Lab/mobile lab components. Funding may be given
for any elements of the experiment, including programming, payments to subjects, purchase of necessary software or
equipment, et cetera.
Experiments must be designed and carried out in accordance with the lab rules (available on the ESSEXLab website or
from the Lab Manager). In particular, all experiments will need to receive ethical approval (see
http://www.essex.ac.uk/reo/governance/human.aspx). In addition, experiments in the Laboratory must not involve
deception of participants. Experiments using the mobile lab should not involve deception of participants unless (a) it is
strictly necessary for the goals of the research, and (b) participants are unlikely to take part in experiments in future.
Deception of university staff or students is specifically excluded. Lastly, note that Lab rules require minimum payment
levels for participants.
Funds spent must be properly accounted for. In particular, if funds are used for participant payments, signed receipts
must be kept. At the end of the project, a short report must be submitted detailing outcomes of the research. If the
project timeline is going to be substantially delayed, the ESSEXLab Director must be informed of this in advance and a
revised timeline agreed.
These rules will be reviewed annually by the ESSEXLab advisory group.
2. Criteria for evaluating bids
Bids will be evaluated on the following criteria.

Academic merit
The primary criterion for funding is academic merit. Specifically, proposals will be favoured if they:

address an important and interesting research question;

are at or near the frontier of existing research on the topic;

demonstrate sound experimental design;

demonstrate potential to attract external funding on the basis of a successful bid. In particular, we will
favour bids where applicants have a clear plan for an external grant application arising from seedcornfunded research.
These criteria will be applied with due regard to the academic seniority of the applicant. NB: while bids from
Master’s students are encouraged, they will be evaluated to the same standards as bids from PhD students.

Feasibility and realism of the project
Proposals will also be evaluated based on the feasibility of the research plan, including:

an appropriate amount requested for the project, demonstrating value for money;

evidence of careful budgeting and a realistic timeline;

a PI with appropriate skills and training to undertake the project;

a research design that has already received ethical approval, or demonstrates potential to do so.
PhD and Master’s students are required to include a statement of support from their supervisor or Head of
Department.

Availability of alternative funding sources. Subject to the previous criteria, bids will be viewed favourably if
they:

are by researchers at a level where they may find external funding hard to attract, such as PhD students
and early career researchers.

come from departments where other sources of funding for experimental work are not available.
However, bids with co-funding, or a good prospect of co-funding, from academic departments or other bodies
are positively encouraged.
ESSEXLab seedcorn funding application form
2015
Project title:
Principal investigator
Name:
Position:
Department/centre:
Email address:
Coauthors (name, position, institution):
Project details
Abstract (max 100 words):
Summary (maximum 2 pages including research background, experimental design, key milestones):
Amount requested:
Unless exceptional circumstances apply, no more than £1500 will be awarded in any one grant.
Budget:
Include details of any matching funds offered by your department or other funds within or beyond the University
Timeline:
Include expected start date, target dates for key milestones, and target end date. At the end of the project, a short report
must be submitted detailing outcomes of the research. If the project timeline is going to be substantially delayed, the
ESSEXLab Director must be informed of this in advance and a revised timeline agreed.
Outputs (working papers/presentations/datasets/other):
Planned grant applications:
One purpose of seedcorn funding is to provide a springboard for larger grant applications to external organizations.
Please give details of any plans for external grant applications arising from this research, including e.g. funding
organization, deadline, approximate amount, and approximate amount earmarked for research in the laboratory.
Ethical issues:
Describe plans for obtaining ethical approval, as well as any issues raised by the research. See
http://www.essex.ac.uk/reo/research_community/research_governance/ethics_in_research/making_an_application_for_
ethical_approval/ for details of the Essex ethical approval process.
Statement of support from
[ ] PhD supervisor
[ ] head of department
[ ] other (please specify _______________________________)
This section is compulsory for PhD or Master’s students, optional for others
Please comment on the quality of the proposal and the realism of the plan, and confirm any departmental or other cofunding.