From 1 December 2012 the AHRC will be changing one of its requirements for Grant and Fellowship applications (Research Networking applications will remain unaffected).  This change relates to the way applicants provide information about the digital technologies or outputs associated with their proposals. This change will affect all applications including those without a digital element.

The AHRC s ICT strategic programme identified issues regarding the sustainability and accessibility of electronic outputs funded by the AHRC.  We have also had feedback from the AHRC s moderating panels regarding the assessments of technical aspects of proposals which has prompted a review of the way AHRC captures and assesses information about the digital aspects of projects.  This has included a review of the technical appendix with the aim of revising the requirements for the application form and updating the guidance for applicants.  The purpose of these changes is to provide clearer guidance as to when and how detailed technical information needs to be provided, thereby reducing the number of applications which require expert technical review.  For the more routine technical aspects of proposals, e.g. websites, these will be an integral part of the proposal which all reviewers will be expected to assess.

Applications submitted on or after 1st December 2012 will need to take account of the new guidance and application form requirements.

The key changes are that:

All proposals will be required to contain additional information in the Case for Support, under a new  Technical Summary  Heading. Note that the maximum length of the case for support has been increased to support this.

• Applicants who identify within the Technical Summary that their proposal has digital outputs or digital technologies that are essential to their planned research outcomes will be expected to submit a Technical Plan attachment.
• The Technical Summary should either provide an outline of the technical aspects of the project OR indicate why the project has no need to complete a Technical Plan
• The current technical appendix section of the Je-S form will be removed, as will the attachment type

Je-S has been updated to allow applications using the new Technical Plan attachment to be created, but please note that these cannot be submitted until 1 December 2012. Applications using the current rules and Technical Appendix section and attachment can be created and submitted until 30 November 2012 Further guidance on the technical attachment and how to complete it are now available in the Application guidance section of the AHRC Funding Guide and Je-S helptext.