Royal Society APEX award (Academies Partnership in Supporting Excellence in Cross-disciplinary research award)

In partnership with the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society (‘the Academies’) and with generous support from the Leverhulme Trust, the APEX award (Academies Partnership in Supporting Excellence in Cross-disciplinary research award) scheme offers established independent researchers, with a strong track record in their respective area, an exciting opportunity to pursue genuine interdisciplinary and curiosity-driven research to benefit wider society.  The scheme first opened in 2016 and was previously run through the British Academy, this year applications should be made to the Royal Society.

This scheme provides an award of up to £100,000 to fund staff costs (in the form of teaching replacement costs). Up to 25% of the award total may be used for associated research costs. These can include consumables, equipment, collaborative travel expenses. Grants can be held for up to 24 months.

Note, requests for any other salary costs e.g. for research assistants, post-docs or studentships etc. cannot be included in the application and awards under this scheme will not pay indirect and estate costs.

The objectives of this scheme are to:

• support outstanding interdisciplinary research which is unlikely to be supported through conventional funding programmes
• promote collaboration across disciplines, with a particular emphasis on the boundary between science and engineering and the social sciences and humanities
• support researchers with an outstanding track record, in developing their research in a new direction through collaboration with partners from other disciplines
• enable outstanding researchers to focus on advancing their innovative research through seed funding

Applicants will be expected to collaborate with a research partner from a different discipline from their own or a different university in the UK.

This scheme is currently open to applications and closes at 3pm on Thursday 14 December 2017.

Further details about the award, including information on eligibility, how to apply and the assessment criteria, can be found in the scheme notes and on the Royal Society website. There is an article on the Royal Society website announcing the first recipients of APEX awards, which might be helpful to those interested in the scheme.