General Enquiries
Where can I find the terms and conditions?
You can find them here: https://crestresearch.ac.uk/nabs/commissioning. Applicants should ensure that they and their organisation are able to meet the conditions of this agreement prior to applying for funding.
What format should my application be in?
Details about submission format can be found in Section 4.3 and details about content can be found in Appendix A and B of the Call Specification document.
When is the deadline for applications?
17:00 on Monday 8th September is the deadline for applications.
I have a question that is not covered here, who do I ask?
Please contact Susanna Yates, Project Manager at nabscommissioning@lancaster.ac.uk
The deadline for questions and queries is 17:00 on the 31st August 2025.
Collaborators
Multiple Bids
Is it possible to go as a Co-I on one application to NABS+ but a PI on another?
Eligible applicants may submit more than one proposal.
Are we able to name more than one Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator? If yes to the question above, can one PI or Co-I be based abroad if the others are in the UK?
Yes, you are able to name more than one Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator. However, for contracting purposes, we will only contract with one lead institution. There are no restrictions for any of the investigators to be based at a UK institution. Further details can be found in Section 4.2 about eligibility.
Collaborator Eligibility
We have a couple of collaborators for our proposal idea in mind but not all of them (including ourselves) are based at UK universities. Is it a requirement to have a UK institution involved?
No, it is not necessary to have a UK Institution involved. The Call is open to Higher Education Institutions, research organisations, charities, commercial companies, and individuals from the UK and overseas who can demonstrate a capability to deliver a high-quality programme of research.
Principal Investigators
Are there specific requirements for the eligibility of Principle Investigators? Would they need to be current PIs or could it be someone at the post-doctoral level?
There are no specific requirements for Principal Investigators.
Reviewers
Can I name a member of the NABS+ management team as a reviewer?
Yes.
Who should these reviewers be?
Your reviewer should be a researcher or user with a strong understanding of the topic area and no conflicts of interest (e.g., not a regular co-author, departmental colleague, etc). Reviewers will be asked to consider the application against the assessment criteria outlined in Section 4.5 of the call specification. Applicants should ensure they seek the reviewer's permission before nominating them.
Dissemination
I am costing for a dissemination workshop which would be hosted by NABS+ for 25 people, in our central London venue, which would be free but I need an estimate from you for how much I can cost. Do I need to cost for administrative time for NABS+ to organise it e.g., prepare the invitation list, perhaps organise catering, etc.?
Although NABS+ does have centralised support for workshops, any commissioned proposal for a workshop would be expected to cost into their bid appropriate support from a local supplier. If, at the time, it turned out that NABS+ could directly deliver a better service to you, we’d discuss this with you then.
How many NABS+-organised events with stakeholders (in particular law enforcement) have already been planned, or are likely to be planned, that we could use to disseminate the findings of our proposed project, if funded?
We anticipate projects costing for the dissemination of their project findings within the bid. NABS+ will work with you to ensure that the most appropriate audience are aware of your event. If we identified synergy with another event or project, we would discuss this with you during the course of your project.
Follow on question, Does NABS+ expect that we include NABS+ costs for supporting/working with our project team on dissemination events into the bid? Or does NABS+ expect that we only include our own costs?
In terms of the support, identified above for us publicising your event and potentially having NABS+ representatives attend, we would not anticipate you needing to include NABS+ costs, only your own. You may wish to include costs to attend NABS+ events.
If we produce NABS+ guides as one of our deliverables, are there existing NABS+ templates that we can use for this, or will we be expected to fund the production of these?
NABS+ guides are produced in conjunction with the NABS+ Communications Team who would discuss the headings and template with you. We would only anticipate costs associated with a requirement to print a specific number of guides for an event, or if you had a specific element that would take a considerable amount of design work.
Eligibility
We are interested in putting in a bid proposal to NABS+, however we need to establish whether, being a public body, we would be eligible for funding? If it is the case that we are not eligible, and we partner with a university, would our bid then be acceptable?
Public bodies are eligible to apply providing they can meet the criteria laid out in the specification and subaward. The Call is open to Higher Education Institutions, research organisations, charities, commercial companies, and individuals from the UK and overseas who can demonstrate a capability to deliver a high-quality programme of research. Interested partners without such experience should consider partnering with established research institutes. We strongly encourage applications from researchers in all disciplines of the economic and social sciences, conceived broadly.
Finance
General Finance Questions
Are there any costs we should anticipate and include?
You should anticipate engaging with stakeholders in preparation of final deliverable(s). This may involve undertaking meetings in London or similar. Projects may be invited to participate in events and conversations with NABS+ colleagues, other projects and stakeholders, and we would anticipate costs being built into the bid.
Can the requested funds be used to buy out our time, and also to hire an RA, if it is within the available budget?
HEI researchers should cost their projects using the same process as they would cost an ESRC grant. We would anticipate that your research support office will be able to advise on this.
Foreign exchange fluctuation. We are an overseas based organisation. If there is a significant fluctuation in the exchange rate, this would affect the scope of the project and what could be achieved - we would either have to reduce the output, or seek additional funding from NABS+ to cover the fluctuation. Is there any advice/requirements around FX for call specifications? Should we be including a line item in our grant costing that allows for a 10% FX movement?
Unfortunately, as an ESRC Network plus, our awards are for a fixed price and we are unable to adjust deliverables or provide additional funding to compensate for exchange rate fluctuations. We recommend using an exchange rate in calculating your GBP costings that manages the risk effectively. Outside of this formal practice, informally NABS+ will work closely and in good faith with PIs if there is a large-scale shift in exchange rate that puts project progress at risk.
Is it enough to send a final invoice including a table with budget vs actual? Or do we have to send more documents?
We will require a breakdown of costs per budget heading including the 100% actual cost and the 80% claimed for. You will also be required to submit information regarding the deliverables of the project as outlined in Section 5.3 of the call specification.
Full Economic Costing questions
The Call states that "All other applicants must recognise that an application to NABS+’s commissioning programme requires a commitment to provide the remaining 20% of full Economic Cost from their own resources." Which kind of resources may be used to provide the remaining 20% besides cash money?
Most research council grants, including NABS+ are funded 80% of the full costs of the grant (including overheads and directly incurred costs such as salary and travel) the remaining 20% of the costs are covered by the applicant’s institution. When it comes to claiming the funds, the applicant’s institution incurs the full costs and then invoices us for 80% of those costs. The remaining 20% has to be covered by a cash contribution from the applicant’s institution.
Could you please confirm if the sentence "...the remaining 20% has to be covered by a cash contribution from the applicant’s institution" means that the remaining 20% cannot be covered by working hours of internal staff?
80% of the total costs of the project will be covered, the remaining 20% is covered by the applicant’s organisation, meaning that the applicant cannot claim for 100% of the costs and offset that against working hours of internal staff.
Are overheads—specifically Directly Allocated Estate Costs and Indirect Costs—considered eligible costs if they have been calculated using the TRAC methodology, as validated by UKRI for Higher Education Institutions? Can overheads be included in the project budget, for 80% of their costs to be covered by NABS+ funding?
Indirect and Estate costs are eligible under our call. Indirect and Estate costs should be costed at 100% (as per all costs), of which we pay 80%. Further details about costing (including Indirect costs) are available at page 18 of our Call Specification Document under the heading ‘Summary of Resources Required’.
Partner organisations questions
Will a university based in a country outside of the UK be funded at 100 % or 80 % rate?
All projects will be funded at the 80% rate.
Format of submissions
Appendix A, Capabilities and Relevant Expertise (1 page maximum) - If there is one PI and several Co-Is can we provide 1 page per PI and Co-I or does the 1 page maximum have to include all PIs and Co-Is ?
No, it is a 1 page maximum for all PIs and Co-Is.
Suitability
Can you comment on the suitability of my project/research for funding?
Unfortunately, we are unable to comment on individual projects. However, we strongly encourage applications from researchers in all disciplines of the economic and social sciences, conceived broadly. We also encourage proposals that are interdisciplinary and that involve collaborations between stakeholders and researchers.
We have recently been turned down for a 3 year ESRC grant application – can we apply to NABS+ for a pilot of the same study?
Yes, however, applicants should propose a programme of work that addresses one of the Requirements identified in Section 2.2 of the funding specification.
At the concept level the project will be somewhat related to several of the topics but does not necessarily fall squarely under one topic. Can you provide feedback? Especially whether any proposal should strictly be aligned with a topic focus or if there is a certain flexibility?
Unfortunately, we are unable to comment on individual projects and their suitability. However, please note the guidance in Section 2.1 "Applicants should propose a programme of work that addresses one of the Requirements identified in Section 2.2. It is anticipated that applications which simultaneously address multiple requirements will be too broad in scope to be effective." Hopefully this will assist in the assessment of your project's suitability.
Terms and Conditions
I read in the terms and conditions that all data would be made available via the UK data archive unless an exception was granted. As I work with police data and other sensitive information, I would not be in a position to publish my raw data (even though I can publish findings from it). I thus wanted to ask what the procedure might be to apply for an exemption from this rule?
We would anticipate this being flagged within your proposal. Following on from this we would expect you to provide reason for the exemption within your ethics applications to the Security Research Ethics Committee (SREC).
There are a number of documents (attached) with this call, do they need to be approved and signed by our Legal Office or are these for information and submitted if awarded?
These documents are for information and would be submitted if awarded. We have provided them as they are the contracts involved, and we feel it is important for transparency for them to be available.
Would you consider an alternative subaward agreement?
Our position is that these terms and conditions are not negotiable and hence, why we ensure they are available for viewing prior to application and encourage applicants to share with the appropriate internal department. We are not able to enter into negotiations on an individual basis.
Miscellaneous
Do we have to fill in timesheets?
There is no requirement to complete timesheets.