Healthy Soils and Water for a Sustainable Environment

Official Guidance

Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign the right experts to assess your application.

Official Guidance

Describe your project in detail and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description. This can happen before you start your project.

Official Guidance

Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition. If your project is not in scope, it will not be sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why.

Official Guidance

You must state the name and full registered address of your organisation and any partners or subcontractors working on your project. We are collecting this information to understand more about the geographical location of all applicants.

Official Guidance

Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing? You must select one option: - Yes - No We will only support innovation projects conducted to the highest standards of animal welfare. Further information for proposals involving animal testing is available at the UKRI Good Research Hub and NC3R’s animal welfare guidance.

Official Guidance

Will you have the correct permits and licences in place to carry out your project? We are unable to fund projects which do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date. You must select one option: - Yes - No - In the process of being applied for - Not applicable

Official Guidance

Provide a list of the addresses of any farmers, growers or foresters claiming or receiving grant funding in the project. This is required for Subsidy Control. If no farmers, growers or foresters are requesting grant funding write ‘not applicable’. If your project has farmers, growers or foresters requesting grant funding, a minimum of 50% of the amount requested by those organisations, must come from farmers, growers or foresters geographically based in England.

Official Guidance

Does your proposed work involve any international collaboration or engagement? You must provide details of any expected international collaboration or engagement. You must include a list of the names and the countries, any international project co-leads, project partners, visiting researchers, or other collaborators are based in. You must also include details of any subcontractors or service providers. If your proposed work does not involve international collaboration or engagement, your answer must confirm this.

Official Guidance

You must indicate whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance. You must select one option: - Yes - No

Official Guidance

You must explain if your proposed project work relates to UKRI’s Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) Principles, including: - a list of any dual use (both military and non-military) applications to your research - a list of the areas where your project is relevant to one or more of the 17 areas of the UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act - whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance and the status of any applications - a list of any items or substances on the UK Strategic Export Control List If your proposed work does not relate to UKRI’s TR&I Principles, your answer must confirm this. We may ask you to provide additional TR&I information at a later date, in line with UKRI TR&I Principles and funding terms and conditions.

Official Guidance

You must list the headline scope areas that your project application focuses on. If your project addresses multiple areas, and list them in order of priority, starting with the area that represents the largest focus of the project and ending with the smallest. - Soil, Water and Land Resource Management - Fertilisers, Nutrient Management, Circular Bioeconomy and Pollution Reduction - Climate Resilience and Natural Resource Adaptation - Crosscutting Decision Support Tools (improving or low cost scaling) - not listed

Official Guidance

What is the business need, technological challenge, or market opportunity behind your innovation? Explain: - the main motivation for the project and what aspects of soil, water or environmental management problem you are planning to address - the farming or agricultural problem need, technological challenge or market opportunity - whether you have identified any similar innovation and its current limitations, including those close to market or in development - any work you have already done to respond to this need, for example, if the project focuses on developing an existing capability or building a new one - how your solution could be integrated into existing systems, and any specific features that allow its use by non-experts - the wider economic, social, environmental, cultural or political challenges which are influential in creating the opportunity, such as incoming regulations

Official Guidance

What approach will you take and where will the focus of the innovation be? Explain: - the approach or innovation and how will it address the identified problem, need or challenge - how your solution would deliver significant improvements on existing innovations and solutions - whether the innovation will focus on existing technologies in new areas, the development of new technologies for existing areas, or a totally disruptive approach - the technological maturity of your solution at the start and expected at the end of the project - the freedom you have to operate - how this project fits with your current product, service lines or offerings - how it will make you more competitive - the nature of the outputs you expect from the project, for example, reports, demonstrator, know how, new process, product or service design, and how these will help you to target the need, challenge or opportunity identified - where necessary, include the environmental sustainability of the proposed solution, including a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), to demonstrate the likely environmental impacts, resource efficiency, carbon footprint, and potential trade offs across the solution's lifecycle from production and deployment through to end of life You can submit one appendix to support your answer. It can include diagrams and charts. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

Who is in the project team and what are their roles? Explain: - the roles, skills and experience of all members of the project team that are relevant to the approach you will be taking - the resources, equipment and facilities needed for the project and how you will access them - the details of any vital external parties, including subcontractors, who you will need to work with to successfully carry out the project - how you will work with farmers, growers and foresters throughout the project to ensure outputs remain focused on end user needs - the current relationships between project partners and how these will change as a result of the project - any roles you will need to recruit for You can submit one appendix, with a short summary of the main people working on the project to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

What does the market or markets you are targeting look like? Describe: - the target markets for the project outcomes and any other potential markets, either domestic, international or both - the size of the target markets for the project outcomes, backed up by references where available - the structure and dynamics of the target markets, including customer segmentation, together with predicted growth rates within clear timeframes - the target markets’ main supply or value chains and business models, and any barriers to entry that exist - the current UK position in targeting these markets - the size and main features of any other markets not already listed If your project is highly innovative, where the market may be unexplored, describe or explain: - what the market’s size might be - how your project will try to explore the market’s potential

Official Guidance

How are you going to grow your business and increase long term productivity as a result of the project? Explain: - your current position in the markets and supply or value chains outlined, and whether you will be extending or establishing your market position - your target customers or end users, and the value to them, for example, why they would use or buy your product - your route to market - what will drive farmers, growers and foresters to adopt your technology and how can they be demonstrated - how you are going to profit from the innovation, including increased revenues or cost reduction - how the innovation will affect your productivity and growth, in both the short and the long term - how you will protect and exploit the outputs of the project, for example, through know how, patenting, designs or changes to your business model - your strategy for targeting the other markets you have identified during or after the project If there is any research organisation activity in the project, describe: - your plans to spread the project’s research outputs over a reasonable timescale - how you expect to use the results generated from the project in further research activities

Official Guidance

What impact might this project have outside the project team? Describe and, where possible, measure the economic benefits from the project such as productivity increases and import substitution, to: - external parties - customers - others in the supply chain - broader industry - the UK economy Describe and, where possible, measure: - any expected impact on government priorities - any expected environmental impacts, either positive or negative - any expected regional impacts of the project Describe any expected social impacts, either positive or negative, on, for example: - quality of life - social inclusion or exclusion - jobs, such as safeguarding, creating, changing or displacing them - education - public empowerment - health and safety - regulations - diversity

Official Guidance

How will you manage your project effectively? Explain: - the main work packages of your project, indicating the lead partner assigned to each and the total cost of each one - your approach to project management, identifying any major tools and mechanisms you will use to get a successful and innovative project outcome - the management reporting lines - your project plan in enough detail to identify any links or dependencies between work packages or milestones You must submit a project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

What are the main risks for this project? Explain: - the main risks and uncertainties of the project, including the technical, commercial, managerial and environmental risks - how you will mitigate these risks - any project inputs that are critical to completion, such as resources, expertise, and data sets - any output likely to be subject to regulatory requirements, certification, ethical issues and other requirements identified, and how you will manage this You must submit a risk register as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

How will this public funding help you to accelerate or enhance your approach to developing your project towards commercialisation? What impact would this award have on the organisations involved? Explain: - what advantages public funding would offer your project, for example: appeal to investors, more partners, reduced risk or a faster route to market - the likely impact of the project outcomes on the organisations involved - what other routes of investment or means of support you have already engaged with and why they were not suitable - how any existing or potential investment or support will be used in conjunction with the grant funding - what your project would look like without public funding - how this project would change the R&D activities of all the organisations involved

Official Guidance

How much will the project cost and how does it represent value for money for the team and the taxpayer? In terms of your project goals, explain: - your total eligible project costs - the grant you are requesting - how each partner will finance their contributions to your project - how this project represents value for money for you and the taxpayer - how it compares to what you would spend your money on otherwise - the balance of costs and grant across the project partners - any subcontractor costs and why they are critical to your project