The University supports non-grant-funded computational research activities on the Nimbus cloud supercomputer.

This includes:

• initial proof-of-concept studies
  
• feasibility tests and seed corn projects
  
• short research projects, including PhD student projects

Departmental Research Computing budgets
Small and medium-sized research projects are funded by your department's research computing budget. If funds are available, your local HPC budget should be used as the first point of call to cover the cost of your research.

If your department can't cover your computational costs, you can apply for a University Research Computing Accelerator Award.

Speak to your Research Computing Champion to discuss your computational needs and funding opportunities.

University Accelerator Awards
If your department can't cover the cost of your research, you can apply for a University Research Computing Accelerator Award.

Extensive use of computing resources
The costs of extensive use of computational resources should be covered by external grant funding. The RIS Research Development team and the Research Computing group can help you secure the funding you need for your research.

The University Research Computing Accelerator Award is a central funding mechanism that covers the cost of important, non-grant-funded computational research that departmental budgets can't fund.

Academic staff and PhD students from all disciplines can apply for an Accelerator Award.

The Research Computing Resource Allocation Committee manages the award and application process.

Eligibility criteria

Your research is eligible for funding if it meets one of these criteria:

• initial proof-of-concept study, feasibility test, or seed corn project
• short project critical for a grant preparation or fellowship application
  
• project linking consecutive grant applications or which have bridging requirements, e.g. between submitted and awarded grants (max three months)
  
• short PhD student project where the student has computational research experience and will be supported by their supervisor
  

You can submit multiple Accelerator Award applications in any given funding round.

If you are not on a permanent contract, your employment must not end earlier than the expected end date of your proposed research project.

Deadline

Currently we are accepting applications for the Accelerator Award on a rolling basis, if demand is high we may impose a deadline, or close the form to review applications.

One funding round per semester

You can apply for a Research Computing Accelerator Award once per academic semester.

The Research Computing Resource Allocation Committee will review all applications and decide which projects to fund.

The committee consists of representatives from the University Faculties, the School of Management and Digital Data and Technology.

Assessment criteria

Applications eligible for support will be assessed against four criteria:

• Achievability of research goals
• Significance of research problem and expected outcomes
• Value for money
• Applicant's research track record from previous award applications

Funding outcome

We will email all applicants to let them know the outcome of their application once this has been decided.