Clarification questions
Ahead of submitting your application, we encourage you to read our funding FAQs.
If you still have questions related to Safeguarded AI, please reach out to clarifications@aria.org.uk.
We’ll update this page twice a week with answers.
Nb: clarification questions should be submitted no later than 4 days prior to the relevant deadline date. Clarification questions received after this date will not be reviewed.
What is the threshold for funding?
There is no upper budget limit however when estimating your proposed project you should consider that we are looking to fund this Technical Area 1.1 with up to £3.5M in total (including VAT where applicable) for the first year and we expect to make 10 to 16 awards.
What is the expected duration for projects?
We expect to commit funding for TA1.1 projects until September 2025, as such applicant proposals should not exceed this timeframe. Based upon the outputs of the initial funding we intend to make decisions in March 2025 about a second phase of funding, to be delivered from September 2025 until September 2026 (Phase 2).
Where we decide to release funding for Phase 2, existing Creators will be required to submit proposals for Phase 2 funding. At the same time we will release a solicitation for TA1.1 Phase 2 inviting new applicants to submit new proposals.
Are we permitted to budget for staff (e.g., postdocs) who are not nominated?
Yes, you should include the costs required to deliver the proposed project. If you know who the postdoc is at the time of submission you should include their details. You should also indicate what proportion of their time will be dedicated to the project (this includes the time a PI will dedicate to the project).
Would you organise an event to meet other individuals or would you know individuals who are looking to partner with others for this call?
We are not planning to hold an event for the TA1.1 solicitation but where you believe your proposal would benefit from collaboration with another organisation but you are yet to connect with potential partners you should identify any gaps or potential areas where you may need a partner in your proposal.
Where you identify potential gaps or areas you may need to partner on, we may offer an introduction to any suitable matches we identify (there will be no obligation to meet with these matches).
That said, we do not encourage joint proposals across more than one recipient institution, and/or across groups that are not likely to actually work together on a regular (~weekly) basis.
Before preparing a full proposal, we wanted to inquire about the requirement and timeline for submitting a concept paper. The general ARIA project review and selection process (ARIA-project-review-and-selection-process.pdf) outlines a concept paper stage, but the TA1.1 Theory call document does not explicitly mention this requirement or provide a deadline.
Could you please clarify whether a concept paper is expected for this specific call, and if so, what the submission deadline would be? We want to ensure we follow the correct process and timeline.
The review process you refer to outlines the entire process where we release a two stage call (concept papers and full proposals). However, for TA1.1 of the safeguarded AI programme in order to optimise the process for the programme we have chosen to only have a one stage process with a longer submission timeline.
As such we have removed the concept paper stage and only request full proposals, award decisions will therefore be made based on the full proposal you submit.
Can the costs for Research Associate work on the projects be included?
Yes you can include research associate costs within your cost estimates for a proposal.