How to write a GCRF bid: insider information from a panellist

Bids to the Global Challenges Research Fund need to have strong impact at their heart and a robust plan for monitoring it, writes panellist Mark Reed.

Don’t be fooled by the large sums of money available from the Global Challenges Research Fund: competition is fierce and many researchers are leaving empty-handed because they failed to understand that this is a novel type of funding in which impact takes centre stage.

Standard UK Research and Innovation calls only require an acceptable pathway to impact and will let you revise your pathway if it isn’t acceptable and they like the research enough. In GCRF applications, there are no second chances for a poor impact summary or pathway to impact.