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Net zero living: pioneer places – UKRI

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UK registered businesses and local authorities can apply for a share of up to £2 million to plan for a place based demonstration of ways to accelerate progress towards net zero.

Eligibility summary

This competition is open to collaborations only.

To lead a project your organisation must be a UK registered:

You must have at least 2 grant claiming partners in your collaboration, with a minimum of 1 local authority and 1 UK registered business.

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UK registered businesses and local authorities can apply for a share of up to £2 million to plan for a place based demonstration of ways to accelerate progress towards net zero. This competition is open to collaborations only.

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A summary of funding ideas from the last workshop

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A summary of funding ideas from the last workshop

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Here's just one relevant funding call....

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Here's just one relevant funding call....

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Are you aware of others we could consider?

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Local Policy Innovation Partnership Programme

The programme will fund a network of Local Policy Innovation Partnerships (LPIPs) to address social, community, economic and environmental priorities that contribute towards inclusive sustainable economic growth.

LPIPs will connect local policy and research partners, providing research, evidence, data and expertise to take advantage of opportunities and find place-based solutions to challenges that matter to local people and communities. Partnerships will be equitable and sustainable with co-creation and co-delivery at their heart.

Applications should focus on creating a single LPIP in a defined geographical area. Each LPIP will develop and implement a programme of activity to support inclusive and sustainable local growth, and improve the quality of life in local communities across the UK. Each LPIP will have a regional footprint with capability to conduct local work within that region (see the 'geographical coverage' section for more information).

Applications should consider approaches to operating flexibly in a changing policy environment ensuring priorities and the proposed LPIP model can respond to stakeholder need.

Interactions between the LPIP network, national stakeholders and wider initiatives will be coordinated and led by a strategic coordination hub (SCH) (to be awarded via a separate application process).

In support of UK Research and Innovation's (UKRI) strategic priority to strengthen clusters and partnerships as part of its world-class places objective, LPIPs will deliver the following programme objectives:

Phases

To support the delivery of these objectives and ensure the strongest applications are funded, the LPIPs will be commissioned through a 2-phased competitive process.

The phase 1 opportunity offers initial seed-corn funding so that applicants may dedicate time to developing partnerships. The funding is intended to resource the development of high-quality proposals to the phase 2 opportunity, by ensuring that partnership building is resourced, reflecting the essential role of partners in the public, third and private sectors.

During phase 2, each successful LPIP will deliver a co-designed programme of activity that reflects the opportunity aims and objectives. For a detailed overview, see 'phase 1 activity' and 'phase 2 activity' below.

Phase 1 activity

The purpose of phase 1 is to provide resource and support capacity across stakeholders to undertake partnership development and landscape evidence analysis required to design the phase 2 work programme.

Applicants will be expected to deliver the following activities and outputs during phase 1:

Applicants are encouraged to consider examples of existing good practice in community and stakeholder engagement and partnership development, drawing on a diverse evidence base including but not limited to:

Phase 2 activity

The purpose of phase 2 is to select the strongest partnerships with potential to deliver insights and solutions tailored to local policy agendas.

Successful phase 2 applicants will deliver an iterative programme of activity to maintain stakeholder relationships and partnerships, and commission new activity to inform actionable solutions.

Each partnership will bid for resource to staff the LPIP, an initial work programme and a commissioning fund through the second phase application process. Each LPIP will manage its commissioning fund independently to fund projects.

There will be a wide variety of projects given the range of types and scale of challenges they could be supporting. Every project should be working to common and clearly identified goals aligned with the priority areas of focus set out below. Project development and delivery must be underpinned by community participation.

Examples of potential activities and outputs for delivery during phase 2:

demonstrator and consultancy type projects for local policy development and implementation

landscape and evidence analysis including secondary data analysis

designing and evaluating evidence informed interventions

community engagement to develop and deliver projects, including establishing local 'citizen science' and other community-led initiatives

developing regional data resources

local reports, policy briefings and resources (for example, think-kits and toolkits)

workshops and training programmes

building local evidence bases to support policy development and applications for locally focused funding, including commissioning new activity to address gaps in evidence base

Applicants to phase 2 will be required to build in sufficient capacity to undertake and engage with LPIP monitoring and evaluation.

LPIP must also build-in the ability to scale its capacity to respond to future opportunities to manage additional funds (for example, ringfenced pots or fellowships).

The SCH will provide support to LPIP proposal development during phase 1. Applicants to phase 1 should therefore demonstrate a willingness to engage with the SCH and build capacity into the grant application appropriately.

Stakeholder agendas

Each partnership will bring together local stakeholders from a range of sectors and disciplines to address a selection of key local agendas which contribute to inclusive and sustainable local growth, including:

local economic performance

living and working sustainably in a greener economy

innovation

skills

communities in their places

felt experiences

cultural recovery

A partnership's priorities should be defined through high quality, meaningful stakeholder and community engagement. They will consider how these agendas intersect, bringing a holistic approach to the challenges faced. This will involve 3 major components:

identifying and prioritising challenges at the local level that are good candidates for support from research and innovation stakeholders and experts

supporting the application of knowledge and evidence through connections with experts, review and synthesis work, developing relevant evaluative frameworks, improved access to and use of available data, and funding research or testing solutions to help address the challenges

application of diverse data usage and collection methodologies to connect with knowledge embedded in local communities to deepen understanding of challenges

Outcomes

Together, the LPIPs and the SCH will support the following outcomes:

LPIPs will undertake an appropriate mix of evidence synthesis and translation, knowledge exchange, public and community engagement, skills and capabilities development, data analysis and, where appropriate, novel primary research, depending on the needs of the area.

Each LPIP will design its own work programme and devise an appropriate approach and methods, including novel approaches to public and community engagement.

LPIPs should include the capability for responding to urgent challenges including conducting 'rapid response' type work.

Engagement with the UK LPIP strategic coordination hub

The UK LPIP strategic coordination hub (SCH) is being commissioned through a separate opportunity. It will act as an intermediary, learning about the local context and challenges faced in each partnership's area and:

The SCH will play a crucial role in connecting LPIPs to the research, learning, expertise and evidence needed to inform effective responses to local priorities. With the support of the SCH, LPIPs will be expected to engage with a range of organisations and investments to support their work programme to source the data, insights and expertise they require at local level, for example (this is not an exhaustive or prescriptive list):

See the full strategic coordination hub opportunity.

Funding available

The full economic cost of your phase 1 project can be up to £50,000. ESRC will fund 80% of the full economic cost. ESRC will fund up to 10 phase 1 awards for 5 months.

The full LPIP programme will make up to £20 million available over 4 years, including the Strategic Coordination Hub.

All applicants successful at phase 1 will be invited to submit a proposal for phase 2. Phase 2 applications will be subject to a separate assessment process. We anticipate awarding a minimum of 3 grants of a minimum value of £4.3 million (at 100% full economic cost) per award, with a duration of 36 months.

Awards at phase 1 and phase 2 will be made at 80% full economic cost, and the research organisation must agree to find the balance of full economic cost from other resources.

Applicants will be expected to bid for a level of funding that is commensurate to the maturity of the existing partnership and degree to which shared priorities are established.

It is expected that partnerships at an earlier stage of development will require a higher level of resource to develop shared agendas, and identify opportunities for wider collaboration and extending their reach to a diverse set of stakeholders.

Application requirements

At phase 1, applicants are required to demonstrate a clear pathway to expanding and diversifying partnerships. Teams must also demonstrate potential to make a significant contribution to developing insight in the selected thematic areas.

You must set out an approach to each of the following.

Partnership building, stakeholder and community engagement

You must demonstrate how existing relationships and networks will be developed and expanded during the phase 1 award. You should specify the types of activity they plan to undertake and show how the proposed new activity will add value to the existing partnership. You should include an approach to involving partners and communities in proposal development throughout phase 1.

You are expected to build on existing partnerships by engaging beyond usual stakeholders, ensuring equitable partnerships and supporting interdisciplinary approaches to deliver policy and practice impact. This may require new groupings of researchers and stakeholders, drawing on strong, existing leadership across related areas.

Capacity for people exchange across the partnership should be built in to the LPIP model. Consideration should be given to embedding stakeholders that are often excluded from the research and innovation ecosystem.

The balance of stakeholder expertise in the partnership, including new and existing relationships, should be clearly aligned to the priority areas of focus. LPIPs are not required to have the full range of partners in place for the phase 1 application. There is flexibility to expand partnerships as challenges are further defined during the phase 1 award.

At phase 2, applicants will be required to demonstrate a level of in-kind support appropriate to the nature and scale of the work. We strongly encourage cash co-investment but it is not a requirement.

Geographic coverage

At phase 1, you must provide an indication of the geographical area that the partnership will cover and its relevance to the challenges referenced in the proposal. Each LPIP will serve an applicant-defined geographical area that aligns with the challenges identified. The choice of geography will be underpinned by relationships and partnerships that also support the choice of priority areas of focus.

Each LPIP should have the capacity and capability to conduct work such as deep-dive analysis at a smaller local geography within its defined geography.

Traditional national, regional and local authority boundaries do not always reflect the social or economic geography most relevant to the challenge being addressed. You may therefore choose to use existing definable geographies, for example using electoral, administrative, health or other boundaries see UK geographies (Office for National Statistics) but are not restricted by them.

You must provide a clear approach to defining the geography, and reflect the geographic coverage requirements at phase 2:

LPIP applicants should consider the International Territory Level (ITL) 1 of their lead applicant institution as an indicator of scale, but not a determinant of the boundary (for example an LPIP may cross ITL 1 boundaries). This is not a rigid requirement, but seeks to encourage a regional equivalent approach - see the International Territorial Levels 1 and 2 (January 2021) Map in United Kingdom

applicants in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should reflect the geographies that are most contextually relevant to them as an indicator of scale but not a determinant of the boundary. They may choose to draw on for example, the scale of Regional Economic Partnerships in Scotland, the 4 regional strategic geographies in Wales or combinations of the 11 local authority areas in Northern Ireland. Geographies proposed in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland must be reasonably interpretable as areas and regions, and broadly equivalent in scale to the requirements placed on applicants in England

the geographic requirements are not rigid. Applicants should ensure that the core partnership on which the LPIP is based reflects the local context. The core LPIP partnerships at the start of the programme do not need to extend across the whole geographical area, but the LPIP needs to demonstrate capability to engage credibly within the regional equivalent area identified. The LPIP may increase its reach and partnerships within the geography identified over the lifetime of the programme, or in response to local or national priorities or challenges shifting. It is not expected that all the necessary relationships will be fully established or at full maturity at application stage

Partnerships may bring together communities with shared characteristics from different areas or regions, for example coastal areas. Multiregional partnerships will be considered, however applicants must demonstrate:

You may partner with institutions beyond their area if there is a strong justification that the partnerships are required to address the challenges referenced in the proposal.

Priority areas of focus

Each LPIP will be required to deliver a programme of activity that supports inclusive and sustainable local growth:

The broad research areas defined by UKRI for this initiative are described in more detail under 'additional info'.

Economy

This includes:

Community

This includes:

Environment

This includes living and working sustainably in a greener economy.

Open local priority

This is optional, and is to be decided by applicants.

We recognise that these broad research agendas and priorities identified within them may be highly interconnected. You should highlight connectivity and overlaps between chosen priority areas in the proposal.

You are free to use the options as cross-cutting themes. For example, environment and greener economy could be used as a perspective from which to view local economic performance or innovation. The themes do not have to be considered separately.

You are expected to establish priorities in consultation with local stakeholders and this process should be evidenced in phase 1 applications. You should also detail how they will work with stakeholders throughout phase 1 to co-create and further refine priority areas to reflect challenges that are of high priority to local communities.

It is recognised that the priorities indicated at phase 1 may adjust in further consultation with stakeholders and communities during the phase 1 award. You will be required to demonstrate at phase 2 the evidence including stakeholder and community consultation that has informed the phase 2 priorities.

Leadership and interdisciplinary expertise

Proposals must identify a principal investigator who will act as director. Each proposal must also identify a co-director from an appropriate non-academic partner (government, public sector, third sector or locally-focused policy body). There can be more than 1 co-director.

Proposals must identify a leadership team to lead on proposal development during phase 1, with clearly defined roles. A core team must be in place at the time of application with flexibility to expand this team as required during phase 1.

The mix of disciplinary expertise within the team will reflect the expertise required to address the priority areas of focus identified in the proposal. It is expected that expertise across economics and social sciences, arts and humanities, and environmental sciences will be required. This may be drawn from academic, practitioner or policy partners.

In addition to relevant domain expertise, the leadership team will demonstrate significant expertise in knowledge exchange and knowledge mobilisation. They will be able to demonstrate understanding of existing policy challenges in the geography of interest and how the research relevant to these challenges can be utilised for local benefit. The leadership team will also have demonstrable experience of working with a range of partners, including novel approaches to public and community engagement.

The principal investigator must contribute a significant proportion of their time to the overall leadership and coordination of the grant.

Responsible innovation

Responsible innovation is an integral part of our vision and we expect applicants to consider the benefits, but also the potential negative impacts from their activities.

Find out more about responsible innovation.

Additional funding conditions

The proposed governance for this programme will consist of 2 groups bringing together select priority expertise from the policy and research communities. A funders and policy advisory group will advise on strategic opportunities for external collaboration. The performance and evaluation of the network will be overseen by a funders management group. UKRI will convene and sit on both groups.

LPIPs will be required to engage with these structures and must build in sufficient resource and capacity to attend meetings (up to 3 per year) and undertake required reporting.

Eligible costs

For a full account of eligible grant costs, please see the Je-S guidance for applicants for this opportunity.

Co-investigators from business, third sector or government bodies will be funded at 100% of eligible costs. The combined costs for non-academic co-investigators must not exceed 30% of the total 100% full economic cost of the grant application.

Refer to ESRC guidance for full details of costs that can be claimed for UK business, third sector or government body co-investigators.

Duration

ESRC will fund up to 10 phase 1 awards for 5 months. Phase 1 awards will be expected to start by 21 April 2023.

Phase 2 LPIP awards will be expected to start in November 2023.

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Developing Local Policy Innovation Partnerships

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Apply for funding to develop Local Policy Innovation Partnerships (LPIP). The LPIPs will be commissioned through a 2-phase competitive process. The full programme will make up to £20 million available over 4 years. This is the LPIP phase 1 opportunity.

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Padlet notes from our last workshop on 28 Sept 2022

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Padlet notes from our last workshop on 28 Sept 2022

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A voice note to explain the focus of your discussion

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CO-CREATION AND INCLUSION ARE IMPORTANT TO US!

Please include everyone equally in your discussion.

Anyone can add to the padlet at any time.

1. Please introduce yourselves to each other first (name, role, a sentence on your interest in living labs)

2. Please take it in turns to share funding opportunities that we haven't thought of yet.

You may like to refer to the notes from our last workshop on 28 September, and to the ESRC bid (both posted on this padlet).