As announced previously, the EPSRC‘s “cooling-off” period comes into force on 1st April 2010. This is intended to alleviate pressure on the peer review process and will apply to repeatedly unsuccessful applicants. If you are affected, you will only be able to submit one application (as either principal or co-investigator) between 1st April 2010 and 31st March 2011. The full details are available on the EPSRC’s website:

EPSRC: 12-month cooling-off period

We will select applicants (listed as the principal investigator on a proposal) who have:

• Three or more proposals within a two-year period ranked in the bottom half of a funding prioritisation list or rejected before panel (including administrative rejects), AND
• An overall personal success rate of less than 25% over the same two years.

Applicants meeting the criteria will be allowed to submit only one application during the next 12 month period and asked to review their submission behaviour. The policy comes into effect from April 2010 – nobody will be constrained from applying to EPSRC until then.

Note that you will be contacted directly if the “cooling-off” period applies to you. This only affects EPSRC proposals – the other Research Councils have not adopted these measures.