Justification of resources

Justification of Resources (JoR)

Research funders will typically expect grant applicants, within their application, to provide justification for different elements of the budget requested. The purpose of the Justification of Resources (JoR) is to help reviewers make an informed decision as to whether the resources requested are appropriate for the proposed research. The JoR should be used to justify the resources required, i.e. it should explain why the resources are appropriate for the proposed research, taking into account the nature and complexity of the research. The JoR should not be simply a list of the resources required. All resources requested in an application must be justified in the JoR (with the exception, usually, of indirect and estates costs, including budget for 鈥榠nfrastructure technicians鈥�, which do not normally need to be justified).

The table below provides more information about how to justify resources. For UKRI and other research council proposals, applicants may find it helpful to use the sub-headings provided in the table, within their JoR text. Other funders and funding schemes may only require written justification for certain elements of the budget. For all funders and funding schemes, applicants should refer to the call guidelines and speak to their Research Development Manager in REIO, who should be able to provide advice on what constitutes eligible costs for different funding opportunities, and on which elements of the budget require justification and to what extent.

Resource	Justification needed	Questions to consider
Directly incurred costs
Staff - directly incurred Researcher (Research and Innovation Associate), Technician, Researcher Co-lead	Justify why a researcher/technician is needed for the proposed work and why the proposed time input is appropriate.	Is the work of appropriate scientific content or technical difficulty to warrant employing a Research Assistant (RA)? Why has the salary level for the RA been requested?
Travel and Subsistence	It may be helpful to provide a breakdown of T&S calculations, particularly for large or unusual budget requests. For example, number of people travelling, duration of visit, where they are going and why, cost of return flight and accommodation rate per day. Call guidance should inform the level of detail to provide here.	If planning to visit people, explain why those are the right people to talk to and how they can contribute to the research. If planning to attend conferences, comment on the advantages of conference attendance and give an indication of the number of conferences to be attended during the grant, who will attend, and the type of conference, i.e. national/ international/general/subject specific etc. Travel costs incurred when using facilities should be included where necessary.
Other Directly Incurred Costs	Describe what has been requested and why. Every item requested must be justified. When considering larger items of equipment, PIs must contact their Research Development Manager (Contact REIO) to discuss requirements at an early stage of planning their proposal.	Provide a breakdown of any costs which are included for bulk items. If requesting a desktop and a laptop, explain why both are needed. For specialised/dedicated computers explain why the computer is needed and justify the cost.
Directly allocated costs
Staff - directly allocated Principal Investigator (PI) (鈥楶roject Lead鈥�) Co-Investigator (Co-I) (鈥楶roject Co-lead鈥�)	Justify the time that the PI/Co-I will spend on the grant. Salary costs themselves (i.e., the level of someone鈥檚 salary) do not need to be justified, rather, the time that they are to dedicate to the research. Note: For UKRI and other research council funders, typically, a PI or Co-I cannot request time for supervising postgraduate research students, writing publications after the end of the project, writing grant applications or peer review.	How much time will the PI/Co-I dedicate to the project? Will the PI/Co-I be doing all the research themselves or will they only be managing the staff on the project? What work packages are the PI/Co-I involved with and why? Has enough time been factored in to work with project partners, visiting researchers and other collaborators?
Other Directly Allocated Costs Pool staff costs Infrastructure technicians Other DA costs	Justify any resources requested. In some cases, such as pool staff costs (e.g. workshop or laboratory technicians based at the University - usually not named), the basis of the costing doesn't need to be justified, but the need for the resources does. Infrastructure technicians' cost does not need to be justified.	Explain what these are and why you need to use them. Justify the amount of time requested for pooled staff.
Research Facilities/Existing Equipment Charge out costs for use of major or small internal research facilities	The need for the requested amount of access to the facility/must be justified, but you do not need to justify the charge out rates.	Explain why you need to use a particular facility and why you need the requested amount of time.
Research Facilities Charge out costs for use of Research Council facilities	Only time needs to be justified, not charge out rates.	Explain why you need to use a particular facility and why you need the requested amount of time.
Animal costs Usually, maintenance costs are directly allocated, and purchase costs are directly incurred	The need for animal costs must be justified.	Explain the choice of species and numbers of all animals required, and why you need animals for the research. Have the appropriate permits and approvals been obtained if animals are to be used?
Estates and indirect costs	Indirect and estates (including infrastructure technician) costs are calculated using the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) methodology and typically do not need to be justified.
Exceptions (in UKRI and other research council proposals, Exceptions refer to budget items that are to be paid at 100%, instead of the usual 80%. Call guidance should make it clear if Exceptions apply)
Exceptions: PhD student	Justify why a PhD student is included (if this is an eligible cost)	Will a student be skilled enough to tackle the research problems and will they, in all likelihood, get a thesis out of it?
Exceptions: Equipment	All equipment must be justified. When considering larger items of equipment, PIs must contact their Research Development Manager (Contact REIO) to discuss requirements at an early stage of planning their proposal.	Justify the need for any equipment requested. Why do you need this equipment for this proposed research? What will it be used for and who will be using it?
Impact	Justify any resources requested to support impact plans and activities. For example, if appropriate, this could include staff time, travel and subsistence, consultancy fees, publication costs, and public communication training.	Full justification (what it is and why it is needed) for each item requested. Note: Patent costs and other IP costs are typically not eligible for inclusion in the budget; Universities already receive funding for these from HEIF. Estates and indirect costs should not be requested for Technology Transfer Officers (TTOs). These are project specific resources.

The main issues that a reviewer may raise when considering the justification of resources include:

Costs stated in the proposal are not fully justified in the JoR e.g. the investigator time that has been asked for has not been justified.

Costs/descriptions stated in the proposal do not match those in the JoR and vice versa.

Justifications of why an item is needed are not clear or are poor e.g. listing the items in the JoR without any explanation of why they are needed.

Investigator time is requested to undertake activities that are outside those eligible for funding, e.g., for supervising PhD students, which would typically not be an eligible cost on UKRI or other research council proposals.

An example of a justification of resources can be found here: Example of a JoR.

Further examples of JoR can be found in the Library of Successful Proposals:

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Justification of Resources (JoR)

The main issues that a reviewer may raise when considering the justification of resources include: