糖心原创

The UNICAS committee is made up of representatives from technica, research, academic and support staff from across all faculties. You can find out who is included in our membership by visiting the about us section of our website.

The UNICAS committee is made up of representatives from technica, research, academic and support staff from across all faculties. You can find out who is included in our membership by visiting the about us section of our website.

Applicants to the UNICAS scheme can apply for upto £15,000 and applicants to the UNICAS @ Grad School scheme can apply for up to £5,000. 

Details can be found on the Case 糖心原创 section of our website.

UNICAS has supported a number of facility events such as the Raman Spectroscopy facility and the High Performance Computer facility. If you would like to promote your facility to the wider University please get in touch with the UNICAS project manager. 

UNICAS sandpits are informal networking events, open to all academic, research and facilities staff and 2^nd year and above PhD students (there are two schemes more details on these are below). The sandpits begin with a networking lunch followed by informative presentations from central research support areas, the UNICAS Project Manager and 1-slide-in-1-minute presentations from all delegates.

There are 2 UNICAS schemes, each with a differing funding amounts available, eligibility criteria and application forms. Whilst attendance at either sandpit is open to all as an opportunity to network and present a 1-slide-in-1-minute presentation, there are application restrictions based on job role/student status for both schemes. See details below:

UNICAS (£15,000)	UNICAS @ Graduate School (£5,00)
Lead applicant must be a member of research, academic or technical staff who is in a position to apply for external grants.	Lead applicant  must be a member of research staff (R&T 4A-R/4-R/5-R) or a doctoral student (2nd year+).
Collaborators can include doctoral students (2nd year+).	Collaborators can include academic, research or technical staff.

There is a link to registration on the sandpits section of our website.

Unfortunately, no. The format of the sandpit includes networking and requires all presenters to be there. If someone else from your group attends in your place, only they will be able to apply as lead applicant and you will be able to be included on the application as a collaborator, but you will not be able to lead an application.

Attendance to both sandpits is open to all, and each delegate will deliver a 1-slide-in-1-minute presentation, but there are restrictions on who can apply to each scheme based on job role/student status. See guidance in the answers above or on the about section of our website.

Unless we have not been given permission to share these details, the names and email addresses of all attendees will be circulated to you by email after the sandpits.

Yes, as long as you have not already received funding for the project and the application meets the eligibility criteria (interdisciplinary and involving analytical science)

No, simply pick the date which suits you best. You are also welcome to attend multiple sandpits to increase your networking opportunities. However, please do check the eligibility criteria for both schemes (given above and on the about section of our website) as you can only lead on an application for the scheme which corresponds to the sandpit you attended. 

Yes, all attendees must give a 1-slide-in-1-minute presentation.

Your slide should be an introduction to you, your research and your expertise/offering or research gap/question. You can see examples of slides from past events on the sandpit section of our website.

Yes absolutely, you can do this through your one slide in one minute.

No, only the lead applicant needs to have attended, however we do hope to fund new projects where researchers have met at sandpits.

Yes, but if you want to lead on both applications you will need to have attended both types of sandpit events.

In order to apply for UNICAS funding you need to meet the following criteria:

• You must have attended the sandpit corresponding to the scheme for which are applying to in order to be the lead applicant on a project*
• You must be collaborating with someone from another school or department (Engineering).

* If you haven't attended a sandpit you can still be involved in a project as a collaborator, however the lead applicant of the project will need to have attended.

Yes, provided you have written permission from your supervisor and will still be within your contract with the University by the end of the funding period (31^st July).  You will also need written permission from your school for any lab work that you intend to do to confirm you are covered by University insurance. This will all need to be evidenced at the time of sending your application.

No, all applicants named on the application form must have a contract with the University in place past 31 July in the year of funding. 

Yes, please see the application form for guidance on word limit and font size.

The applications are scored by the committee individually (by at least 4 different members).  There are 5 assessment criteria which are weighted. Each area is scored and the cumulative scores are used to create a ranking overall.  The committee meet to discuss any borderline cases and the decision is made at a special committee meeting.

Assessment criteria

Scoring criteria	Weighting
Scientific excellent & originality	30/100
Effective interdisciplinary collaboration	25/100
Novelty of analytical approach	20/100
Value for money	15/100
Routes to external funding & impact	10/100

 

No, we do not provide anonymised applications. Guidance on what to cover is noted in the application form and hints and tips are discussed during the sandpits.

Novel, interesting projects which use internal equipment or analytical expertise and show evidence of interdisciplinary collaboration outside of your current School or Department.

Our budget allows us to fund at least 6 UNICAS applications and at least 3 UNICAS @ Grad School applications each year (assuming each application applies for the maximum funding available). However, many projects do not cost the full amount offered so we are often able to fund more projects than this. 

No, in order to be lead applicant on a project you need to have attended a sandpit.

Yes, however, if you are applying with the same application to both schemes this will be noted by the committee and is not always viewed positively! You can apply more than once with a different project idea and different collaborators.

Yes, each of the committee members marking your application are asked to provide specific feedback and this will be forwarded on to you.  We will also send you your ranking and scores on an anonymised spreadsheet.

Yes, in fact many applicants have been successful on the second time of applying after using feedback to improve their case.

This will be sent to you via email following the sandpit.  You can also download it from the applications section of our website.

The funding can be used for consumables, travel & subsistence, facilities costs, research/technical staff costs (for staff already under contract at UoN) and temporary staff costs through Unitemps.*

*Please note that staff costs cannot be used to employ someone involving raising an ATF, creating a new contract or extending an existing contract.

Yes, provided that person is currently employed by the 糖心原创 as a member of research/technical staff. Academic staff time is ineligible and funds cannot be used to pay PhD students/stipends PhD stipends. 

Only on a temporary contract through Unitemps. However, when using any outside resource, the application needs to be clear about the reasons for this, proving that this work cannot be done by someone internally. Evidence also must be given in the application form that recruitment of temporary staff is realistic in the 4 month timeframe.

The funds can be used to buy new items of equipment under the value of £10,000. Funds can also be used to buy parts or to upgrade current pieces of equipment. However, the purpose of the scheme is to make use of analytical equipment and expertise already present at the University and any purchases made must be justified as essential for the project and not possible to be obtained in other ways. It would also need to be clear in the application that there is sufficient fund to be able to not only fund the equipment but also complete the project.

You can start spending as soon as you receive your project code from the UNICAS Project Manager.

Your project code will be sent to you by 1 April.

Yes, all funds must be spent by 31 July. 

In the first instance you should contact your school/department finance contact. You can also contact the UNICAS Project Manager however, specific finance queries or transaction queries should be managed through your school.

The funding ends in line with the University financial year.

All money should be spent by 31 July, the project can continue past this date but you will not be able to spend beyond this point. You will be contacted by the UNICAS Project Manager for updates on outputs at regular intervals and will be asked to contribute to future sandpits by presenting a case study.

UNICAS is an internally focused scheme, promoting the use of University facilities and analytical expertise.  You should find a collaborator from a different school or department, internal to the University as a priority. It should also be clear that all named applicants are contributing to the project.

UNICAS @ Grad School applicants should note that the lead applicant must be a member of research staff (R&T 4A-R/4-R/5-R) or a doctoral student (2 year or above). Professors, Associate Professors, Assistant Professors and technical staff can be included as collaborators but it must be clear that the primary applicant is leading the delivery of the project (this will be assessed as part of the effective collaboration scoring criteria).

Yes, but the collaboration must be between different Schools or Departments (Engineering). For instance, applications between the Schools of Biosciences and Pharmacy (both in the Faculty of Science), or the Departments of Architecture and the Built Environment and Chemical and Environmental Engineering (both in the Faculty of Engineering) or School of Chemistry and Architecture and the Built Environment would all be accepted. If you are unsure and it can be demonstrated on your application that you do not currently work together or your disciplines are suitably different, this will be assessed by the UNICAS Project Manager if necessary with discussion with your Faculty.

Only if you can show that the service offered/needed by your project cannot be provided by someone internally. There would also need to be at least one other University collaborator, from a different school/department working on the project with you.   

No, UNICAS encourages researchers to make a decision on the project lead as would be the case on any applications to most external funding bodies.

Yes, UNICAS supports analytical science, so as long as your project uses analytical expertise this is fine. If you’re not sure, please get in touch with the UNICAS Project Manager. 

Projects need to be ready to start on 1 April of each year.  Funding for the projects will be available to spend between 1 April and 31 July.  After 31 July projects can continue however, funds will no longer be available to spend against the project code.

Yes, although there will no longer be funds available for you to spend.

We expect you to spend the money and on time!  We will also be in touch every 6 months to see what you have been doing after the funding has finished. It would be very much appreciated if you could let the UNICAS Project Manager have any publication, presentation, and funding updates. We also encourage UNICAS award holders to present a case study at a sandpit or write a piece for our website.