This scheme aims to fund world-class research projects undertaken to acquire new knowledge which may include early-stage impact activity. 

Scheme priorities

The scheme has two goals:

• Contribution to LSE research excellence; and/or

• Potential to lead to future external funding.

It is intended to fund projects from discrete pilot research with a single PI or larger team to interdisciplinary research with external collaborators in the UK or overseas. We welcome new studies that evaluate the societal, economic, and environmental impacts of existing policies or proposed interventions as well as the expansion of existing LSE research to provide further comparative analysis or greater impact with academic audiences.

Funding available 

The total available funding for the scheme in 2024/25 is £300,000.

Annual funding is distributed equally throughout the year.

Projects can request up to £20,000 for up to 12 months and must be ready to start within a month of award. 

Timetable 

Deadlines for 2024/25 are as follows:

Eligibility to apply 

Principal Investigators

• You must be a member of Faculty, Research and Policy Staff, Teaching Staff* and LSE Fellows as listed in LSE HR Role Profiles, including in practice roles.  

*Teaching Staff must demonstrate the proposed project is in line with their teaching field. 

• You must have a contract of employment with their Academic Unit at LSE in place for the entire project duration and be able to demonstrate continued links with LSE into the future. Projects cannot be used to extend LSE contracts of employment.

• Current Students, Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA), Emeritus, and Guest Teacher role holders may not apply. 

• You may only apply once per round across all schemes.

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.

Current Project Holders

• Previous awardees of internal funding must confirm the submission of the final report of closed projects.

• You may not hold more than one project on the same scheme at any one time (either as PI or Co-I). 

Application process

If you are considering making an application, we strongly encourage you to contact your department’s Research Development support contact as soon as possible and no later than 2 weeks before the application deadline.

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 your Research Development support contact 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:

• Costs for care of dependents where it is unavoidable.

• 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 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:

• Data collection and fieldwork in the UK and overseas, including travel, expenses, and outsourced service provision.

• Travel, accommodation, and subsistence costs for project-related activities.

• Participant payments and incentives for formal surveys, community groups, and research beneficiaries.

• Consultancy services in the UK and overseas, including applicable taxes and fees.

• Goods and services from suppliers, including surveys, transcription, and translation, with applicable taxes and fees.

• Attendance at conferences, symposia, and other networking and dissemination events.

• Costs associated with hosting project-related events and dissemination activities.

• Software and licences required for research, development, or collaboration.

• Small project-related consumables.

• Equipment costs where directly linked to delivering project objectives.

• Proofreading and copy-editing of research manuscripts.

• Publishing costs for monographs or experimental publishing outputs.

Review and selection

Applications will be sent for peer review and selection by the Research Development Panel.

Assessment criteria

Applications will be assessed against the following criteria. In the event of highlight topics, agreed at the first Panel meeting of the year, special additional criteria on the theme will be incorporated into this selection criteria. 

Peer review process

• Every application will be reviewed by two Peer-Reviewers who are members of the Research Development Panel.
• Peer-Reviewers must score and add a comment for each of the criteria above.
• Peer-Reviewers are asked to score 1-4, using half marks as needed.

The scores for criteria 1 to 4 will be used to rank applications and the Panel will discuss applications to reach consensus on the final decisions to award projects.

Outcomes

All applications will receive feedback from the selection process within the timelines stated above. Projects are awarded based on the information received during the application process and subject to any Panel conditions.

Unsuccessful applicants may apply again provided the project is new or is developed in line with feedback.

Successful awardees may be contacted with requests to peer review similar applications.

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.

Project closure and reporting

Principal Investigators must complete a final financial report within 3 months of project end date.

Principal Investigators will be required to report on the activities, outputs, and outcomes of their research project in a final report, not more than 12 months after the end date of the project.

Full details of the reporting templates will be provided at the point of award. 

Support

Please contact your Research Development support contact for guidance on your application.

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