In the latest issue of Connect EPSRC have published a handy one page guide on how to write a good Justification of Resources (JoR). The JoR is an often overlooked but very important part of most Research Council bids (not just EPSRC), and the principles in the guide can be applied broadly to other non-RC funding applications.

EPSRC JoR Guide

What the JoR is not

Crucially, it’s not just a list of what you’re asking for: this is already provided in the costing table on Je-S. If you simply use the JoR to list the items without any explanation you can expect the bid to be returned by the Research Council before it reaches the assessment stage.

What the JoR is for

The key idea behind the JoR is to explain why you are requesting the resources in the proposal. A good tip is to refer to the costings in Je-S and methodically go through each item and outline why you need it.

For example, if you’re asking for an RA ask yourself why an RA is needed to carry out the work. If you’re asking for a higher grade RA, then tell the Research Council why. It may be because the work to be carried out is highly technical, requiring specific skills not widely available.

Justify everything

Make sure you’ve covered everything you’ve asked for. Don’t assume that an assessor will know why you’ve asked for a laptop rather than a desktop, for example. Don’t just give a round figure for travel costs – explain why you need to go to conference X or workshop Y; what will it add to your project? Importantly, you also need to justify the amount of your own time you’ve requested: what will your role be on the project and have you allocated enough time for it?

Exceptions

A few costs don’t need to be justified. These are the indirect and estates costs, which are a set rate for the institution based on the amount of researcher time spent on the project. Similarly, infrastructure technicians don’t require justification in the JoR.