Latest Updates

16th November 2023

EPSRC have provided an update on the submissions of EPSRC Responsive Mode applications. There will be no deadlines for Responsive Mode applications from November 2023 and applicants are encouraged to apply when their application is ready to submit. The Funding Service system will show a closing date as per system requirements but EPSRC will process Responsive Mode applications on an ongoing basis in batches.

6th November 2023

UKRI announced on Thursday 2nd November that co-editing functionality will be released to TFS admin accounts. Initially admin accounts will be able to edit applications once the applicant has submitted for approval. This functionality will be released week c/o Monday 6th November.

In December 2023 (release date TBC), the edit functionality will be expanded so that admins can edit applications at any time. There will be no requirement for applicants to “share” applications with admins; admins will automatically have edit access. An audit trail of changes made to any application will be visible as well.

27th September 2023

TFS experienced another outage on the day of major EPSRC and ESRC deadlines.  Thankfully many applications were still submitted in time, though there were those who were unable to submit within the original timeframes.  UKRI has stated on their TFS updates webpage that the EPSRC deadline has been extended to 2nd October (and the ESRC deadline has been extended to 29th September).  If any application misses a deadline because of a technical issue, please contact support@funding-service.ukri.org with the opportunity title; council name; and ideally evidence of the reason for late submission and the application reference number. They note "Any delay in submission as a result of a technical issue will not impact the processing or assessment of the application."

22nd September 2023

In the build-up to the deadline for several funding calls on 19/09/2023, TFS was unavailable and several applications across the sector could not be submitted.  Thankfully Research Services and JRO managed to submit all Imperial applications prior to the deadline despite this incident.  Serious concerns were raised with UKRI, who responded positively, publishing information on their TFS updates webpage confirming that the deadlines had been extended for a week and that any delay in submission as a result of a technical issue will not impact the processing or assessment of an application.  The Research Office also requested that:

  1. UKRI investigate what immediate improvements can be made to the system to improve its speed and reliability, e.g. additional processing power; and
  2. Functionality to allocate applications to groups and to allow administrators to edit applications on behalf of academics is delivered ASAP and at a minimum before any other major deadlines.

This has been acknowledged and we are awaiting a formal response on these points.