Using narrative CVs helps us ensure that diverse backgrounds, perspectives and experiences are considered in our funding decisions. This also helps our assessors make informed adjustments when evaluating your track record, research outputs and career progression.
If you’re the lead applicant or joint lead applicant, you’ll each be asked to complete and upload a narrative CV as part of your application.
You have up to two pages to address the three questions in the template. Be specific in the examples you provide, clearly detailing your contributions, impact and influence in your field.
We encourage you to:
highlight essential skills, such as managing teams or collaborations as well as outputs
provide context to your skills and experience
focus on the quality and impact of your contributions
describe any varied career paths you may have taken
demonstrate the holistic contributions you've made to the research and innovation community
make the content engaging but try not to overcomplicate it
wherever possible, link the evidence you provide to the aims outlined in your research proposal, showing how it equips you to address them
The template outlines the types of activities expected for each question, but the lists are not exhaustive, so you can include other examples relevant to your application.
We continue to use our skills and experience form in some circumstances:
if you are an early career researcher
if you are a lead applicant, joint lead applicant or co-investigator eligible to request your salary
The skills and experience form includes more detailed questions relevant to early career researchers and fellowships that are aligned with the structure of our competency framework.
Our framework provides more extensive guidance on the skills and experiences expected and considered at each different career stage.
Explore the competency frameworkWe provide our reviewers with guidance on how to assess grant applications which includes guidance on assessing narrative CVs.
Reviewers will be asked to consider the narrative CV sections holistically, not in isolation, when making assessments on your skills and experience.
By providing better context in a narrative CV, we believe reviewers will be able to assess applications more effectively as there is a consistent approach to qualitative assessment.
We continue to review and evolve our approach based on your feedback.
We surveyed users of the narrative CV, including applicants and reviewers in our autumn 2023 funding call, and analysed their views on the value, feasibility and future of narrative CVs in research assessment.
Based on this feedback, we’ve updated our prompts and example in the narrative CV template. We will also be exploring options for providing example CV elements, such as how to link your skills and experience in the narrative CV section with the research proposal in your application.
Read the survey’s findings(PDF, 1.07 MB)
We’ve joined other research funders to form the UK Research and Innovation Joint Funders Group and explore a shared approach towards narrative CVs. This group will align approaches, share learnings and best practices, support others in engaging and adopting narrative CVs and discuss potential challenges.
Mathew Tata, Research Programme Manager for EDI in research, talks about how narrative CVs recognise diverse skills and experience in research.
A free online course run by the University of Glasgow provides practical advice on writing a narrative CV for a grant, including examples of real narrative CVs.
The University of Oxford offers guidance and support to help you get started with writing your narrative CVs.
The Luxembourg National Research Fund provides workshop slides and resources to support you with writing a narrative CV.
A report shares the outputs and learnings from a workshop hosted by the Declaration on Research Assessment and Funding Organisations for Gender Equality Community of Practice on the adoption of narrative CVs for funding organisations.
We develop outstanding cancer researchers through funding, mentoring and coaching, training and networking opportunities.
We're offering early- to mid-career researchers the opportunity to observe our panel and committee meetings across our funding remit.
We're committed to creating equal, diverse and inclusive research environments that enable all brilliant minds to come together, thrive and progress.
If you have any questions about our narrative CVs or have any feedback, please get in touch.
