The REF ICS Fund supports the School’s preparation of excellent impact case studies to be submitted to REF 2029. It can be used to support one or more case studies, at any stage of the process. This may include new, unexpected, but high-potential opportunities or maximising and/or accelerating impacts of projects already in train to raise the quality and likely score of an existing draft. 

Funding is limited and so the approval of your department’s REF Impact Coordinator and/or the unit of assessment (UoA) coordinator is required prior to submission of your application. 

Scope

Funding may be used to: 

• Support engagement and collaboration/partnership activities (including travel and subsistence) believed to be highly likely to generate demonstrable impacts for submission to REF 2029. 

• Pay for support for travel and subsistence to collect and/or corroborate impact evidence from research users. 

• Provide research or other administrative assistance, including occasional research assistants, to collect impact evidence. 

• Support the costs of undertaking impact evaluation where this can help to demonstrate the reach and significance of the potential ICS. 

• Support the production of associated research needed to underpin the ICS and/or co-produced research which can be used by stakeholders before academic publication. In both cases, support is tied specifically to the delivery or maximisation of impact(s) in the ICS, and cannot solely be to support publication of outputs. 

All of the above must be genuinely expected to lead to the production of high-quality ICSs for REF 2029, which would otherwise be difficult for the individual(s) to produce and which are not already supported by other forms of funding. Projects not fitting these criteria are welcome to apply to the School’s regular engagement, impact, and innovation funding opportunities. 

Funding available 

Applications may request up to £25,000 and will be considered by the Associate Vice President (Impact).  

Timetable

The fund operates an open call for proposals, with applicants able to submit at any time. The supporting team will aim to respond within three weeks of receipt of the application.   

Eligibility to apply

• Applicants must be able to demonstrate the existence of high-quality research, conducted (not just published) at LSE and underpinning current or potential non-academic impacts suitable for inclusion in a REF ICS.  

• Where a potential case study relies on research by those who are not current, permanent members of LSE faculty, or research staff on the New Research Staff Career, applications must be made by a permanent member of LSE faculty or NRSC researcher on behalf of the original researcher.  

• All applications must be supported by the departmental REF Impact Coordinator and/or the UoA coordinator. 

Academic Units

• Applicants must confirm that they have the full support of their host academic unit as part of their application. An award letter co-signed by the hosting unit lead will be required at award stage.

Application process

Applicants are strongly advised to request the advice of their Research Impact Manager prior to submitting an application. 

All applications are submitted through the Internal Funding Application Form.

You can find the guidance for the application form here. (LINK)

Costing your application

If you are including any LSE staff costs in the budget it is mandatory to contact the research.engagement@lse.ac.uk team as soon as possible and no later than 2 weeks before the assessment deadline.

The following costs are eligible for this scheme:

• Directly incurred salaried research and policy staff costs within the project and contract periods.

• Directly incurred non-staff costs such as travel, fieldwork, consumables, goods, equipment, services, and consultants (including associated fees and taxes).

• Hourly paid staff costs for occasional research assistance and clerical support.

Specialist costs to make project activities more accessible are also eligible, such as:

• Cost of child, parent or other caring responsibilities may be considered if the carer is conducting research or engagement and impact activities away from home and it is not possible to make alternative arrangements.

• Costs to make adjustments within travel and accommodation bookings for staff who need them.

• Cost to make sure outputs are accessible (both for researchers and stakeholders, such as braille printed books or pamphlets). 

• Costs of specialist contractors that are working on EDI supporting activities, such as audio transcription for events, etc. 

• Costs to make events more accessible including specialist venues and supporting staff.

The following costs are not eligible under this scheme:

• Directly allocated (LSE NAC Staff) salaried staff costs.

• Collaborator or partner staff costs. 

• Indirect (overheads) and estates (space) charges of LSE or any Partner or Collaborator.

• Open Access fees and article processing charges covered by the Open Access Fund

• DI teaching contract or hourly paid teaching costs are not eligible.

If you are unsure of the kinds of non-staff costs you can include in your project, please explore the list below:

• Meetings, events, workshops or exhibitions to engage specific non-academic groups and communities with research.

• Creation of outputs including policy briefs, accessible reports, toolkits, films, podcasts, interactive databases, social media campaigns where the audience and pathways to impact are clearly identified.

• Research or project assistance to support the organisation of events or activities, the development of outputs and/or the evaluation of activities and outputs and their outcomes and longer term impacts.

• Collecting and evaluating evidence to support case studies, including for the REF. 

• Collaborations with non-academic partners.

Review and selection 

Applications will be sent for review and selection by the Associate Vice President (Impact). 

Assessment criteria

Applications will be assessed according to the following criteria (in order of priority):  

• The importance of the application to the relevant UoA’s REF submission. 

• The likelihood of the application contributing to an ICS for the named individual(s). Note that any proposed case study must meet the REF eligibility criteria (below) to be considered for support. 

• Anticipated impacts must meet the REF definition of impact 

• Impacts must have occurred during the eligibility period, i.e. 1 August 2020 to 31 July 2028 

• Impacts must be underpinned by research undertaken at LSE between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2028. 

Outcomes

All applications will receive feedback from the selection process within three weeks of the submission date.  

Projects are awarded based on the information received during the application process and subject to any scheme conditions. 

Managing your award

Principal Investigators must comply with the following rules:

• Confirm that they have the full support of their host academic unit. An award letter co-signed by the hosting unit will be required.

• Manage the project funds in line with LSE financial regulations.

• Contact the R&I Funds Manager to request virements and extensions to awards.

• Comply with LSE polices for research governance, ethics, data management, intellectual policy and other policies relevant to their research.

• Engage with in-flight monitoring meetings including information requests for research communications and publicity.

• Ensure that processes and projects are compliant with good research practices, ensuring transparency and accountability.

• Project changes in duration, team, costs and objectives will only be permitted in exceptional circumstances and always subject to further review by the R&I Funds Manager.

Support

Please contact your Research Impact Manager for guidance on your application.

General queries, feedback and comments on this scheme can be sent to ri.internalschemes@lse.ac.uk