CoSeC is offering financial support for community collaboration visits. The funding is available on a rolling basis – applications will be accepted throughout the year as required or until overall budget is allocated. 

This is available to encourage and promote collaborative visits with colleagues and project partners from CoSeC funded communities to enable knowledge exchange and accelerate community-driven development of research software related to CoSeC and the collaborative computational communities.  

The funding can be used to cover costs such as travel, accommodation and living costs encountered during the visit. This will not be delivered as a grant, instead the CoSeC Programme Office will help by making travel arrangements or by reimbursing expenses up to the award limit. 

The goals of this funding are to: 

1. Enable visits to collaborate directly with CoSeC staff at UKRI STFC’s National Laboratory locations. 

2. Enabling intercommunity knowledge exchange within the UK. 

3. Provide support for UK researchers within the collaborative computational communities to engage in international knowledge exchange. 

We welcome applications for funding up to a total value of £5000. Applications that provide an element of matched funding are encouraged. 

Application Process 

1. An application form is submitted. These are accepted on behalf of somebody else, but we strongly encourage that the person who will ultimately benefit from this funding is also the person that submits the application. In the case of the former it is a requirement of the submission process that the funding recipient acknowledges and approves. 

2. The application will be assessed internally by CoSeC. Each application will be reviewed by at least 3 people who are independent of activities related to the submitting community. All applications will be scored against the following criteria: 

1. Is the application relevant to CoSeC and the collaborative computational communities it is associated with?  

2. Is the requested funding sensible and within relevant UKRI guidelines around travel and subsistence? 

3. Will the proposed visit achieve the proposed outcomes and are they useful? 

3. Once assessment is complete, the CoSeC Programme Office will make a final decision on funding based on the recommendations and inform the applicant of the outcome. This process will take no more than 3 weeks to complete from the date of submission. 

Once funding is awarded any spend must be agreed with the Programme Office before being made. Requests for spend should be sent to CoSeC@stfc.ac.uk. No spend should be completed until approval is received and all travel expenses must adhere to UKRI guidelines. Once approved there are two options: 

1. Expenditure is undertaken by the visitor, and they claim back from CoSeC using an expense claims form that the Programme Office will provide.  

2. The CoSeC Programme Office makes any required bookings on behalf of the visitor.   

Upon completion of the visit the visitor will be required to work with the CoSeC Community Research Manager to complete reporting that highlights CoSeC’s involvement in the work. Examples include case studies, news stories, social media posts, press releases or blog posts. 

If you have any questions, please contact CoSeC@stfc.ac.uk.