UKIERI 4: Call for evaluation reviewers

About UKIERI

UKIERI is a bilateral legacy programme funded by the Government of India and the UK. UKIERI Phase 4 is aimed to catalyse high-quality, international collaborative research, bringing together wide-ranging disciplines such as 1) Semi-Conductors  2) Artificial Intelligence 3) Advanced computing 4) Next Gen Communication 5) Energy 6) Sustainability 7) Climate Change to take a well-rounded approach to solving the global challenges outlined in the UK and India’s strategies. The programme will respond to the demand for enhanced research and innovation in both countries by supporting the mutual exchange of knowledge and ideas at the level of policymakers and system leaders, academics, and researchers. Moreover, UKIERI 4 will contribute to building a high-quality pipeline of talented researchers in both countries by focusing on the development of research careers of undergraduate and postgraduate students.

UKIERI 4 has three main outcomes

• Enhanced UK-India research to develop sustainable solutions to global challenges, through increased institutional research and mobility partnerships.
• Women empowerment through Leadership Development programme for women in science and research
• Development of a broader base of early career researchers, through innovative new approaches to talent development, with a focus on inclusivity and multidisciplinary exchange.

More details on UKIERI can be viewed on the link www.ukieri.org   

Purpose

The purpose of this call is to onboard reviewers under UKIERI-4 for strands 1 and 3. British Council is rolling out these terms of reference to onboard the reviewers for the thematic areas-

1)Semi-Conductors 

2) Artificial Intelligence

3) Advanced computing

4) Next Gen Communication

5) Energy

6) Sustainability

7) Climate Change.

These are broad thematic areas and experts/consultants/freelancers having knowledge and skills in these themes/subthemes are eligible to apply.

The joint call for proposals under UKIERI 4 has been announced with the last date of 30 January 2024. All proposals received under the call will be evaluated and as per the merit and availability of funds, grants will be awarded.

Two separate evaluation committees are being set up in India and the UK. Scores received by the Indian and UK evaluation committees will be averaged out for each proposal to get the final scores.

These terms of reference are being published to onboard members for the UK evaluation committee comprising of reviewers from each thematic area. Each application will be reviewed by at least 2 reviewers from each thematic area. Evaluation of all the proposals will be done based on the pre-agreed parameters.

Term

This Term of Reference is effective from 15 February 2024 and will be ongoing until March 2025. Any extension beyond this date will be notified in advance. One of the mandatory requirements is for each reviewer is to allocate up to 15 days of their time from 15 February to 10 March 2024. Engagement of members other than this duration will be notified one month in advance.

There is also a possibility to engage with the reviewers beyond the duration of UKIERI and for other related work. This would be discussed and agreed.

Membership

Each reviewers will provide a detailed assessment of the of the assigned application/s including written feedback for each proposal stating its strengths and weaknesses, and giving reasons for selection or rejection.

The reviewers will include a diversity of expertise, gender, geographic location, and institute affiliation to ensure a balanced representation. If required, a chair/co-chair will be appointed for the complete evaluation process who will be responsible to guide, support and resolve issues, if any. The Chair/co-chair will be appointed/decided by the UKIERI Secretariat

Roles and Responsibilities

The reviewer is accountable for

• Reviewing grant applications against set criteria
• Providing constructive feedback for the proposals and citing reasons for selection/rejection
• Making recommendations for fundable projects, with conditions, where applicable
• Ranking fundable grant applications by score in order of quality based on the scoring matrix
• Recommending grant applications for funding to the UKIERI secretariat and/or the Project Board.
• Assessing the proposals on the scientific merit of an application and not on any ethical grounds.
• All scores are to be submitted to the UKIERI secretariat.

The reviewers will commit to

• Attending scheduled meetings
• Communicating and informing the UKIERI secretariat of anything relevant to the successful grant administration process
• Making timely decisions and taking action to expedite any processes
• Notifying UKIERI secretariat as soon as practical of any matter that may be deemed to affect the work of  the evaluation committee
• Allocate the required time to assess and score the applications and give feedback within the given time frame.
• Declare conflict of interest, if any, at any stage of the application evaluation process

Members of the evaluation committee may expect:

• To be given clear reviewer guidelines to follow
• That each member will be provided with the assigned grant applications and supporting documentation in a timely manner
• To be alerted to potential risks and issues that could impact the evaluation member responsibilities both before and as they arise
• Open and honest discussions

Meetings

• All meetings will be chaired by the UKIERI SRO
• Meeting agenda and minutes will be managed by UKIERI secretariat, this includes:
• Preparing agendas and supporting papers
• Preparing meeting notes and information
• Providing feedback to applicants, where applicable
• Meetings will be convened for each grant round at a venue to be advised. Reviewers will be encouraged to attend in person or participate via video or teleconference.

Deliverables

The reviewers will provide recommendations for grant application outcomes based on agreed criteria to the UKIERI secretariat. If the number of fundable applications exceeds the allocated grant budget then the joint evaluation committee comprising of members nominated by the Ministry of Education, India and the UKIERI secretariat will make the final decision based on scores given by the evaluation committee.

Operations of the Evaluation Committee

Members of the evaluation committee may communicate by phone, meetings, email, mailing lists etc. If a member wishes to add an item to the agenda of the meeting, the member must contact UKIERI secretariat at least five (5) working days before a scheduled evaluation committee meeting.

Decisions on merit for funding are made by the majority. Scores will then be used to rank the applicants that are deemed worthy of funding in order of quality of applications based on the scoring matrix.

Disclosure of personal details

The personal details of any member will not be disclosed to anyone, however, will be held in our database for any future reference. A copy of each member’s CV will be made available to the UKIERI funding agencies upon request.

Confidentiality

Each reviewers is required to sign the British Council confidentiality undertaking and must agree not to disclose confidential information acquired in the course of their activity as a member of the evaluation committee. The reviewers must not use such confidential information other than for the purpose of undertaking their role as a member of the evaluation committee. The reviewers agree to take all reasonable steps necessary to ensure the confidentiality of all information, including storage and management of confidential information and maintaining database security when accessing British Council grant management platform.

Reviewers must agree to keep all details of applications and the review process and content confidential. The outcomes of applications may only be discussed with a named investigator or parties related to that investigator or UKIERI secretariat. Funding outcomes must remain confidential until approved by the UKIERI secretariat and applicants are notified. While the membership of the reviewer in the evaluation committee may be publicly disclosed, the identity of any assessor providing an external assessment to the reviewer must not be disclosed.

Conflict of Interest

‘Conflict of interest’ is inevitable, particularly in a focused area of research. The key principle of Conflict of Interest is that any potential Conflict of Interest at any level (direct or indirect) or perceived must be disclosed and the ensuing action to address that (agreed upon by the evaluation committee) will also be documented and kept on file.

Conflict of Interest for reviewers will generally fall into the following categories:

• Close family/friend
• Members who have published or obtained grants together with an applicant or grant recipient in the previous three (3) years
• Members who are from the same grouping or department

A reviewer who is directly or indirectly conflicted in the consideration of an application should not score or rank that application and should be absent from any discussion or decision regarding that application.

Payment terms

Reviewers will be paid an honorarium of £80 for assessing 10 applications. This honorarium will be for performance of evaluation duties; however, pre-agreed reasonable travel expenses may be reimbursed upon submission of receipts to the UKIERI secretariat.