Internal Application Review

As part of its commitment to increasing research income, the University has in place a minimum standard for the internal review of research proposals that fall within certain criteria, to ensure that we take a consistent approach at an institutional level and provide appropriate support to strengthen the quality of our funding applications.

Process

The internal review process requires applicants to seek feedback from at least two academic colleagues on both outline/EoI and full proposals where the University of Essex is the lead institution for the application and the value of the application is above £50k, where any of the following criteria apply:

1. Any application to:
   • UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Research Councils 
   • Nuffield Foundation
   • Leverhulme Trust
   • Wellcome Trust;
2. Applications to schemes identified to be strategically important by the PVC (Research)
3. Schemes where the funder has a cap on institutional application numbers - institutional sifting and selection is required
4. Applications where there is a substantial resource implication for the University (e.g. Host Institution Commitment (HIC))

Applications to these funders will not normally be submitted until internal review has been carried out and recorded on RCP. You can read the full Internal Review Process Guidance for more detail. 

Important documents

Internal Review Process Guidance (.pdf) - Full guidance that sets out the process. 

Review Template (.docx) - A template for capturing reviewer comments on draft proposals