Partnership acceleration and commercial engagement (PACE) fund

We encourage you to discuss any general ideas for PACE funding or questions about additional staff resourcing with the relevant faculty representative.

Arts and Humanities:

• Craig Robertson (craig.m.robertson@york.ac.uk)

Sciences:

• Sarah Thompson (sarah.thompson@york.ac.uk)
• Jenny Spear (jenny.spear@york.ac.uk)

Social Sciences:

• Chris Hewson (chris.hewson@york.ac.uk)
• Nina Caspersen (nina.caspersen@york.ac.uk)

Staff from any academic, research, or Professional Services departments can apply. Applications are encouraged from all subject disciplines and interdisciplinary collaborations.

Eligible activities include:

• testing new ways of working (new roles, new approaches, practice-based staff)
• supporting license transactions and spin-out companies
• developing new commercial products and services, including consultancy, CPD, licensing
• large-scale market research
• testing, de-risking or proving novel ideas, concepts and propositions
• collaborative and contract research partnerships
• partnership development
• commissioning external consultants, advisors and service providers
• paying for design, prototype development and manufacturing as appropriate
• sourcing temporary staff or interns to support knowledge exchange activities

Any directly incurred costs for eligible activities can be covered.

The following costs and activities are not eligible:

• studentships or fee waivers for students
• indirect and estate costs
• capital expenditure (buildings or equipment)
• projects not generating income for the University. 

Before submitting your application

We encourage you to undertake a detailed review of the assessment criteria before making your application and to discuss your initial ideas with your Head of Department or relevant manager.

Once you have an idea please first discuss your proposal with your relevant faculty advisor (see Faculty Advisors tab). Sarah Thompson or Amanda Selvaratnam are also happy to provide additional guidance as to whether your proposal is suitable for the PACE funding.

Once it has been agreed that your project idea is suitable for PACE funding, you'll be allocated a member of the relevant Professional Services team, who will work closely with you to draft your application and provide expert guidance. At this point, your departmental Research Facilitator will be able to support the development of the financial costings.

Professional Services and staff include:

• Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Corporate and Consultancy training, Anna Hastie (anna.hastie@york.ac.uk)
• Commercialisation, James Kitson (james.kitson@york.ac.uk)
• Collaborative or contract research, David Diston (david.diston@york.ac.uk)
• Commercial facilities, Peter O'Toole (peter.otoole@york.ac.uk)

After submitting your application

Proposals will be scored on a scale of zero-five on the following four criteria:

• Ambition - the project has the potential to drive change or income, and future benefits are clear (30 per cent)
• Approach - methodologies, resources, applicants and/or partners (30 per cent)
• Value for money and sustainability (20 per cent)
• Risk management (20 per cent)

The panel will meet to agree a final decision, subject to approval by the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research). The panel will include:

• Sarah Thompson (sarah.thompson@york.ac.uk)
• Amanda Selvaratnam (amanda.selvaratnam@york.ac.uk)
• a finance representative from the BIEI programme
• at least two academic reviewers, one of whom may be from the BIEI steering group
• an external representative (as appropriate)
• a Professional Services project support representative (eg relevant growth lead(s)).

Faculty Deans will also be consulted as part of the process.

Funding may be contingent on further work regarding any issues identified by the reviewers.

PACE funding can be used to pay for additional staffing costs, such as using temporary staff or interns to support knowledge exchange activities.

Alongside requesting additional staff from PACE funding, you can request additional staff via BIEI funding, who are allocated directly to faculties and Professional Services.

Key faculty contacts can advise you on how to apply for BIEI funded staff. You should record any proposed BIEI funded staff on question 2.9 of your application form.

Milestone payments

• You'll need to provide a detailed spend forecast over the duration of your project.
• For multi-year projects, funding will be released in parts as milestones are achieved.
• If successful, you'll have a discussion with the panel to develop and agree appropriate stage-gate decisions and milestone payments.
• You'll be supported by a relevant member of Professional Services, who can assist with the development of milestone or stage-gate reports. They can also bring recommendations to the panel for milestone payments.
• You must adhere to the monitoring and reporting processes associated with funding, including:
  • providing milestone or annual reports
  • providing a post-funding report within eight weeks after the project has ended.

Unspent funds

Funds will be dispensed via the University’s financial regulations and systems. Any unspent funds at the end of the project will be reclaimed. Overspends and any expenditure outside the remit of the funding will be the responsibility of the department. 

Engagement with relevant Professional Services teams

• Where appropriate, you should engage with the relevant Professional Services team before the start of and during your project. Professional Services staff will be able to support you when drafting your application, and provide additional project management support if funding is granted.
• For intellectual property and contracting, applicants are requested to engage with the Commercialisation and Research and Knowledge Exchange Contract teams, to ensure that any intellectual property is protected and its value is maximised.
• Applicants who receive funding for short course and professional development projects, or consultancy projects, must follow a best practice development model and engage with the CPD team.
• Applicants who receive funding for collaborative research and contract research should contact the Research and Innovation Development team.

• Whether the panel awards funding is conditional on a kick-off meeting, involving all parties in the project.
  • This is to ensure all parties understand the full terms of the grant, how to manage the project and funding, and their responsibilities.
  • This may also include a discussion between the panel and successful applicants to develop and agree appropriate stage-gate decisions and milestone payments. These stage-gate decisions will be developed in partnership with the academic principle investigator (Sarah Thompson) and be specific to each project.
    
• Successful applicants will be asked to report on milestones and progress towards spending the grant at agreed points during the project. Formal reports will detail the amount of money spent to date, and any unexpected obstacles or changes of plan. Depending on the outcome of the report, a meeting may then be held to discuss managing the remainder of the project.
• You'll be asked to complete and submit a report, to an agreed template, at the end of the funded period.
• In addition, all grant-holders should immediately raise any concerns, obstacles, problems or changes of plan that arise at any point during their project with their Professional Services contact.
• Documentation to audit your spend should be kept by you or your department, according to your normal procedures. These do not need to be routinely sent as attachments to any interim or final reports, but may be required in the event of an audit.

• Using the PACE Financial Table
• Worktribe Costing for PACE Application (PDF , 335kb)

PACE FUND FAQ updated (PDF , 80kb)