The Funding Service (TFS) - UKRI
In 2023, all research councils will transition from the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system to the Funding Service for submission of research applications. The pilot of TFS began in summer 2020 and the number of UKRI calls using TFS will be increased over time. Full details of the transition from JeS to The funding Service can be found here.
The aim of TFS is to make applying for and managing research simpler and more streamlined. Further information on TFS can be found here.
Researchers can create their own accounts on TFS by clicking on a call and pressing the start application button. All current UKRI calls can be found on the funding finder here.
TFS for Research Services
Research Services staff who approve and submit applicaitons to the Research Councils will need an administrator account on TFS. RS collaegues should contact The Funding Service for an administrator account and also copy in researchoperations@manchester.ac.uk when they make their account request. This will allow the central Research Services Team to approve the request on behalf of the University.
UKRI has launched a dedicated webpage detailing how research offices use the UKRI Funding Service. This reseource covers how to request an admin account, what features are currently available on TFS and also what functionalities are currently in development.
The UKRI Research Office Administrator webinar from 8th December 2021 that illustrates what The Funding System can and can't do at the moment and answer some of the common questions can be accessed here.
Training and updates on exisitng and new functionality on TFS can be found on the UKRI youtube channel here.
Groups Functionality on TFS
The Funding Service (TFS), the application portal for UKRI applications, has now launched groups functionality. This functionality is similar to the submitter pools system which is used in JeS.
Groups functionality for researchers
When you start a new application, you will be given the option to choose an organisational group to assign your application to. The University of Manchester has 5 groups to choose from in TFS:
- Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health
- Faculty of Humanities
- Faculty of Science and Engineering
- President’s Office
- University of Manchester Cultural Assets
Choosing the group for your faculty will ensure that notifications relating to your application will be sent to the correct Research Services team. However, if you are unsure which group you should choose, you can select 'I cannot choose a suitable group'. Notifications for those applications will go to all Research Services staff within the institution.
Groups functionality for Research Services
The majority of Research Services staff will have already received an email notifying them that they have been added to an organisational group in TFS. If you have not received a notification this may be because you don’t have an administration account on TFS. Contact researchoperations@manchester.ac.uk to request that an admin account be set up for you.
The aim of organisational groups is to limit the number of notifications research offices receive as an application progresses through the funding journey. When you are allocated to an organisational group you will only receive notifications for applications that have been assigned to that group. However, you will still be able to see all applications for the University of Manchester when you log into TFS. You can be assigned to more than one organisational group in should you wish. If you would like to be assigned to more than one organisational group or wish to change which group you are assigned to please contact researchoperations@manchester.ac.uk