Funding
Research funding services support academics and researchers to identify, secure, and manage funding for their research and innovation activity. This includes help with finding appropriate funding opportunities, developing and costing bids, and ensuring proposals align with funder, University, and regulatory requirements, as well as support once funding is awarded.
People use research funding services to navigate an increasingly competitive and complex funding landscape – whether they are developing early ideas, building partnerships, or preparing formal applications. Accessing coordinated funding support can improve the quality and success of bids, reduce administrative burden, and help ensure that projects are financially sustainable and deliver maximum impact for the University.
Our Services
Select the tabs below to learn more about the services we can support you with.
Description and Features
Embedding appropriate digital research infrastructure into a funding proposal at an early stage significantly strengthens applications and helps avoid costly surprises during project delivery. Research IT offers early-engagement consultancy to support researchers in developing technically credible and well-costed proposals.
The service includes:
- Expert input on the digital infrastructure, compute, storage, and software components required for proposed research activities.
- Help articulating the value and impact of digital methods and infrastructure within proposal narratives.
- Realistic assessment of capability and capacity to ensure commitments made in proposals are deliverable.
- Guidance on appropriate costing of IT resources, including advice on what can be included in full economic cost (fEC) calculations.
Research IT staff maintain dedicated capacity to support proposal development alongside their core service delivery responsibilities.
Support and availability
Research IT staff maintain a standing capacity to support proposal development. Contact the team as early as possible in the proposal process — ideally before the outline or expression of interest stage. For specific guidance please contact Martin Bennie m.g.bennie@exeter.ac.uk
Who we work with
Research & Impact Management Enviroment
Description and Features
When research projects require specialist IT equipment or services beyond the University's standard allocations, Research IT can provide expert support throughout the procurement process — from requirements gathering through to deployment and ongoing support planning.
The service covers:
- Requirements gathering and specification development tailored to your research workflow and budget.
- Advice on procurement routes and compliance with University purchasing policies.
- Deployment of equipment into specialist research environments.
- Guidance on maintenance, warranty, and end-of-life requirements.
Typical procurement scenarios include:
- Edge HPC systems with high-performance GPU, CPU, or memory requirements.
- Laboratory instrument control hardware (e.g., PCIe cards, Thunderbolt interfaces, additional network interface cards).
- Shared-use platforms such as bespoke servers, VM hosting infrastructure, and Windows Remote Desktop licensing.
- High-capacity or high-performance storage systems.
Support and availability
Please contact Research IT to begin a procurement consultation. Early engagement — ideally before finalising grant budgets — is recommended to ensure getting good estimates of costs. To raise this type of request please use the following category: I need something IT Equipiment Request Something Else - put in the description "Please pass to Research IT"
Requesting the service
Please note that there is vary around times for these types of requesting depending on deployment or quote deadlines. This can be dependant on response times of suppliers.
Description and Features
All digital research infrastructure has a finite operational lifespan, and planning for end-of-life (EOL) scenarios is an important — but often overlooked — aspect of responsible research infrastructure management. Research IT can help projects plan for the eventual retirement, replacement, or archiving of digital systems in a structured and compliant way.
The service covers:
- Planning for the transition of research systems from active use to retirement or replacement.
- Guidance on data migration, archiving, and disposal of associated datasets when systems are decommissioned.
- Advice on transitioning experimental or project-specific infrastructure into longer-term operational arrangements.
- Support for documenting systems and processes to support knowledge transfer and continuity.
EOL planning is most effective when considered early in a project and incorporated into data management plans and funding applications.
Support and availability
- When planning a new project it is important to consider the life span of the equipment you are obtaining.
- If you intend to keep infrastructure running after a grant has expired then it is essential to consider how repairs or upgrades are going to be paid for.
-
As equipment gets older new versions or operating Systems may no long support it.
-
To contact Research IT to discuss end-of-life planning for your research infrastructure via the IT helpdesk. I need something IT Equipiment Request Something Else - put in the description "Please pass to Research IT".
Description and Features
Minimising the environmental impact of digital research infrastructure is increasingly important for demonstrating the broader societal value of research and for meeting the expectations of funders and institutions. Research IT can advise projects on designing and delivering infrastructure that balances environmental sustainability with performance and cost-effectiveness.
The service includes:
- Guidance on leveraging shared infrastructure to reduce unnecessary duplication of compute and storage resources.
- Advice on energy-efficient system design and selection of hardware and cloud services with strong sustainability credentials.
- Consultancy on monitoring and analytics to measure and report on the environmental footprint of research computing.
- Support for articulating sustainability considerations in funding applications and impact statements.
Sustainable DRI design not only reduces environmental impact but can also reduce costs and improve the long-term viability of research infrastructure.
Support and availability
Please contact Research IT to discuss sustainable infrastructure design for your project. To raise this type of request please use the following category: I need something IT Equipiment Request Something Else - put in the description "Please pass to Research IT"