Résumé for Research and Innovation

The Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) is a flexible template that allows you to showcase your relevant skills and experience.

General guidance on completing your R4RI can be found on the UKRI website, but this page offers you further food for thought.

Download the R4RI template

Why has the UKRI introduced R4RI?

UKRI committed to adopting a narrative CV based on the Royal Society’s Résumé for Researchers (R4R) for all funding opportunities.

R4RI is one part of a wider ambition to create a more inclusive and supportive research and innovation culture.

Traditional academic CVs are often narrowly focused and tend to include limited information beyond education history, publications and successful funding. R4RI gives applicants the opportunity to:

  • showcase the many other contributions they make to the research and innovation community
  • highlight essential skills, such as managing teams or collaborations, as well as outputs

The format also allows better description of varied career paths, reduces focus on continuous productivity and enables a greater diversity of people to be recognised.

Applicants are able to put their skills and experience in context to aid reviewers or panel members who may be less familiar with the discipline or sector to understand the significance and impact.

R4RI also reduces focus on lists and quantity of outputs, and increases focus on quality of outputs, in line with UKRI’s commitment to DORA and to responsible research assessment.

Some general points

Remember that each application is different and the R4RI template can be used by assessors in multiple ways. Please refer to your specific funding call's guidance for details on how it will be assessed.

Word count limits may vary between different funding opportunities. The standard limit for most applications is currently 1,000 words - split however you choose - between the four modules, but do check your specific application guidance. Your response should be balanced as you feel most appropriate to best showcase your team's strengths and what is needed to deliver your project. Note that the word count excludes the Additions section.

Complete the R4RI in a narrative style. The finished version should not feel like a standard CV, simply listing achievements. The R4RI approach is meant to be broader, allowing you to draw on relevant experience from across your life.

It is split into four main areas - referred to in calls as either Prompts, Modules or Sections:

  • Contributions to the generation of new ideas, tools, methodologies or knowledge
  • The development of others and maintenance of effective working relationships
  • Contributions to the wider research and innovation community
  • Contributions to broader research/innovation-users and audiences and towards wider societal benefit

Reviewers will look at the document as a whole. So, don’t worry too much about whether information is in the right section - and don’t waste words repeating information between sections.

Section by section guidance

The table provided in the template applies only to submissions made through JeS. Applications made directly through the new Funding Service have a separate section for this information - usually Section 2: Core Team.

The table does not count towards any page or character limits - you may add rows as necessary, and delete them, if applying as an individual.

If you are not completing the R4RI as a team - for example, if you're writing a New Investigator application - write in the first person. If writing as a team, use team member initials to clearly indicate who had an active role in each achievement.

The purpose of the R4RI is to evidence your team’s ability and potential. It is important to give clear examples that are relevant to the current application. Good examples will answer the following questions in the narrative:

  • Who from the team was involved?
  • What was their role?
  • What did they achieve?
  • What was the impact?
  • Why is this relevant?

As a rule of thumb, for each statement - ask yourself: “So what? Why does the reviewer need to know this - and what would strengthen the case?"

Assessors are looking for evidence of:

  • the relevant experience - appropriate to career stage - to deliver the proposed work
  • the right balance of skills and expertise to cover the proposed work
  • the appropriate leadership and management skills to deliver the work
  • your approach to developing others and contributions to creating a positive research environment and wider community

Remember – write your response as a narrative, not a list. Don’t just say what you have done – talk about how and why. There is a separate section on the application to collate all of your references.

Examples of detail you could include in the narrative:

  • Skills acquired from past research projects
  • Key skills you have used to develop ideas and test hypotheses
  • New methods that you have pioneered
  • Innovative adaptation and application to new areas of existing tools or methods 
  • Key outputs such as open data sets, software, creative works and research and policy publications - do not to refer to h-indices or journal impact rankings
  • Other ways you have communicated your ideas and research results
  • Successful proof of concept demonstrators
  • New or improved industry products or processes based on your work
  • Research that has informed changes to industry, educational, Government or clinical practice
  • Awards that you have won for contributions to knowledge

Where you and your team contributed only part of a collaborative output, be specific about that contribution. Elsevier CRediT provides further guidance on shared credit.

Read the Elsevier CRediT guidance

Examples of activity you could describe here include:

  • Management, supervision or mentoring critical to the success of a team or its members, including peer-to-peer support, and be in any context - for example, academic, industry, voluntary sector, etc
  • Strategic leadership in shaping the direction of a team, organisation, company or institution
  • Experience of training others - formal or informal - including courses for industry
  • Experience of building and maintaining networks
  • Involvement in collegiate activities to support staff across your institution or beyond - for example, EDI groups or networks
  • Relevant experience of coaching via sport or through programmes led by Organisational Development
  • Teaching, workshops, summer schools, PhD supervision and pastoral care
  • Supporting international visits and involvement with the IAS
  • Leadership or coaching qualifications, where appropriate

Try to expand on what difference you and your team have made through the examples you give - and highlight relevant transferable skills.

Examples of activity you could describe here include:

  • Working collaboratively across disciplines, institutions or countries
  • Commitments such as editing, reviewing and committee work
  • Positions of internal or external responsibility - for example, leadership of themes, research groups, working groups, institutes etc within the University
  • Evaluation of researchers or research projects
  • Aiding improvement of research integrity or culture - for example, progress on EDI, reward and recognition of researchers, mobility of researchers
  • Strategic leadership in influencing a research agenda
  • Organising conferences or conference tracks, seminars or summits
  • Organising other events that have benefited your research community
  • Recognition by invitation - for example, keynotes or international engagements
  • Developing community standards
  • Active involvement in leading or significantly contributing to academic networks
  • Projects supporting research development in ODA countries

Try to evidence the impact of these contributions wherever possible - and highlight relevant transferable skills.

Examples of activity you could describe here include:

  • Engagement across the public and private sectors or with the wider public
  • Efforts to collaborate with particular societal or patient groups
  • Work which has contributed to public understanding or patient advocacy
  • Inclusion of patients in processes and clinical trials
  • Impacts on policy development and practice – including work with the Loughborough University Policy Unit and efforts to advise policy makers
  • Impacts across research including other disciplines and research areas – including efforts you have made to transfer knowledge across disciplines to broaden the impact
  • Involvement in industrial partnerships and the direct benefits delivered
  • Knowledge or technology transfer – translation of research into real world applications
  • Impacts on education or vocational training
  • Launching spin-out companies and patenting research
  • Provision of information through the press and social media

Your impact could be local, national or international - and your evidence may include stakeholder feedback, media reports, TEDTalks, etc.

The Additions section is not mandatory, but you can use it to provide any further details relevant to your application.

It doesn't count towards the overall page limit. However, the standard word count seems to be about 500 words – but do check your specific application guidance.

You should not use this section to describe additional skills, experiences or outputs. However, you can disclose information that will provide important context to the R4RI responses for yourself or any team member - including career breaks due to pregnancy, caring responsibilities, disability, health issues snd so on. Of course, please secure the individual's consent to include personal information of this nature.