Frequently Asked Questions
Delivering a battery revolution - reducing the drivers of climate change in Indonesia
12th – 14th July 2021

Abstracts and projects will be assessed on:

• Potential impact (during the length of the project and on a 10 year horizon)
• Research quality
• Activities balance
• Track record
• Interdisciplinarity
• Gender, social, economic, sectoral impact
• ODA eligibility (see below for more details)
• Relevance for climate change
• An existing problem caused by climate change
• Collaboration between Indonesia and the UK

Further details will be provided in due course.

Projects and abstracts/talks must be ODA compliant, but there is no single answer (it is complex). When considering ODA compliance, try to answer the following questions:

• Is the project addressing the economic development and welfare of the country in question?
• Are the countries involved on the DAC List of ODA Recipients (the Development Assistant Committee of the OECD)
• Is there a development need that my project or activity is addressing?
• Is this credible or is there evidence of the need?
• How would this project or activity be applied in the country?
• What would the impact of my project or activity be, and who would benefit?
• How does my project or activity contribute to sustainable development?
• Would this lead to a reduction in poverty in a developing country?
• What would success for this activity look like?
• How would success or impact be measured?

ECRs are defined as:

• PhD students and research staff with up to 5 years of experience post PhD
• Staff, qualified to Masters level or equivalent, with up to 8 years of experience.

We are targeting both UK and Indonesian based ECRs in order to foster future links between researchers in the two countries. Those bidding for funding must therefore be a resident of the United Kingdom or Indonesia. The background of the participants will be in energy generation and storage and how this impacts on electrification of transport, as well as climate change specific to the region. This includes those in the social and economic sciences, policy work and the broader climate change area, as we aim to operate a balanced programme. We will target those with a research background (in universities, research facilities and industry), and those working in industry, government and NGOs.

The total prize is GBP 30,000 which will be distributed to all the awards/prizes. We expect roughly the split to be 1/3 Dissemination Awards and 2/3 Research Prizes, but there is some degree of flexibility. We expect to fund around 5 Dissemination Awards each with a maximum value £2,000, but we note this is cap and not a target. We also expect to fund 4 Research Prizes with a maximum value £8,000, but it is likely that only one prize will be awarded at this level.

12th – 14th July 2021, at a time suitable for both time zones (i.e morning -> mid-afternoon UK; mid-afternoon -> evening Indonesia). The precise programme will be announced in due course.

The money must be spent on activities that address development challenges and therefore be ODA-eligible. The following costs are eligible:

• Costs for research and development.
• Operational costs: Travel costs for visiting and post-workshop activities, Visa fees, vaccinations, and medical insurance for travel essential to collaboration, to the UK and partner countries.
• Publication costs directly related to the project and the workshop (we particularly encourage open access publishing).
• Use of telecommunications such as video / audio / web conferencing.
• New equipment: The purchase of equipment must be subsidiary to the aims of the follow on work, any equipment above the value of £5,000 will need to be signed off by the British Council before any award can be made. Criteria are normally:
• Equipment is essential to delivery of the project and cannot be expected to be provided by institutions.
• Equipment will be used in the partner country and will remain there on project completion.
• Additional consumables for the research.

The British Council does not wish to place any other criteria on eligible costs. Applicants should be clear about what exactly they intend to spend the prize money on; this will be taken into account when reviewing applications.
If in doubt, please check before spending or committing to spend money.

They are:

• Costs of staff based in commercial or for-profit organisations.
• Costs of permanent staff in any organisation.
• Purchase or rental of standard office equipment (except specialist equipment essential to the research). This includes IT hardware – laptops, personal computers, tablets, smart phones, Mac workstations, computer parts and peripherals, etc. Any standard hardware which would routinely be used by researchers and academics will not be funded.
• Standard office software.
• Mobile phone rental or purchase / roaming charges.
• Tuition Fees.
• Bench Fees (for example PhD, Masters or Undergraduate study).
• Attendance at conferences or other events unless this is to present outputs and outcomes of the project (note: Dissemination Awards are eligible).
• Patents costs.
• Costs relating to the construction, procurement, or rental of physical infrastructure, (e.g. office buildings, laboratory facilities).
• Entertainment costs such as gifts or alcohol, excessive restaurant costs, excessive taxi fares
• Institutional overhead costs
• Activities which may lead to civil unrest.
• Activities which discriminate against any group on the basis of age, gender reassignment, disability, race, colour, ethnicity, sex and sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief.
• Interest payments or service charge payments for finance leases
• Statutory fines, criminal fines or penalties.
• Bad debts to related parties.
• Payments for unfair dismissal or other compensation.
• To replace or refund any funds lost to fraud, corruption, bribery, theft, terrorist financing or other misuse of funds.