Is it an opportunity to receive funding?

It sounds obvious, but the key’s in the name: a funding opportunity must be an opportunity for funding. We do not list prizes, medals or other awards if they don’t include a financial element for at least some of the recipients, and we do not list loans or funding which must be repaid to the funder. Some recipients may participate without receiving financial support from the funder as long as others will receive funding in the form of money or a monetary equivalent.

This can include:

• money in the form of a lump sum or installments to be paid to a recipient individual, group or institution;
• payment of a researcher’s salary or tuition;
• travel/living expenses for a researcher, either up front or reimbursed;
• equipment provided or paid for;
• waived fees to attend conferences or access facilities;
• vouchers with a cash equivalent.

Is the funding for research?

Each funding opportunity must offer support for academic research that is being proposed or is already in progress, or must reward completed research (or both).

We do not include awards that are purely:

• support for educational/training programmes that don't include research;
• funding for undergraduates, unless exceptional high-level independent research is being proposed;
• community outreach programmes;
• journalism awards;
• administration/IT services that indirectly ‘support’ research activities but do not involve participation in the research itself.

NOTE: We do list funding opportunities to build research centres or develop facilities where research takes place, since researchers or research departments within institutions would be involved in these applications, whereas this would not be the case for other services above.

Is it for researchers above graduate level?

We only add awards for applicants who are past the undergraduate level in their education. An occasional exception is made on a case-by-case basis for opportunities for late-stage undergraduate students participating in advanced, postgraduate-level research.

Is the opportunity being offered in open competition?

Each funding opportunity must have an application/nomination process that is open to any eligible researcher at an eligible institution. Information about the opportunity and the application process must be publicly available so that clients will be able to access all relevant information about the opportunity and take the steps necessary to apply.

We do not list:

• awards for which the recipients are selected or appointed with no application process at all;
• awards for which the eligible pool of candidates is restricted to a small number of people who are invited to take part;

We do list awards for which individuals from eligible institutions can nominate researchers within their institutions.

Each funding opportunity must have eligibility that includes several higher education institutions, businesses conducting research or other research-intensive institutes. Similarly, the opportunity must not require researchers to leave those institutions to take up employment or a course of study at the institution offering the funding.

Does the opportunity allow applicants to remain affiliated with their current institutions?
Each funding opportunity must not be a job or a position that takes a researcher away from their current institution and requires them to enrol on a course in or join the faculty of the awarding institution.

We do not list:

• awards for researchers already based at a single institution: “The University of Super Learning’s postdoctoral research fellowships are offered to super researchers to conduct full-time research at junior faculty level in any of the university’s departments.”
• awards that require applicants to be accepted into a degree/postdoc programme at the awarding institution in order to be eligible for the award.

Remit regarding Tenders

Tenders are subject to the same criteria as all other funding opportunities we list. Tenders included on RP must have a significant independent academic-level research component.

Other remit details to note

• we try to include a broader range of opportunities in the arts to take into consideration the full spectrum of artistic activities and practices. This can vary by funding market.

• we add all opportunities from major funders, including those without a monetary value. We realise that these funders are of strategic importance and that academic institutions need visibility of all their awards.