Confidentiality & prior disclosure

Potential Patent Rights

In the UK, potential patent rights will be prejudiced by publication, public announcement or non-confidential disclosure of a discovery before filing a patent application. Publication is interpreted broadly and covers anything made available publicly in writing, orally, by use or demonstration, or in any other way before protection is sought. Confidential disclosure to an individual is possible, but must be accompanied by a clear statement that disclosure is on a privileged and confidential basis – confidentiality must be agreed otherwise it cannot be enforced.

Confidential Disclosure Agreements

When you are discussing a potential project with a company or university, you may want to sign a confidential disclosure of information agreement so that all partners can talk freely about the proposed research. These agreements are generally short and straight-forward.

Confidentiality of our Assessment Process

We assess all the grant applications we receive through our peer review process. In general, proposals are sent to referees for comment then considered for funding in competition with other proposals at a prioritisation panel.

We treat proposals ‘in confidence’. This means that we will not distribute a proposal to third parties other than to reach a decision on whether or not to fund it, but it does not carry the same weight as a signed confidentiality agreement. We ask referees and panel members to treat the proposal in the same way.

If a referee wishes to consult a colleague about the proposal because they might be able to provide a useful insight to help with the assessment, they must contact us and get written permission first.

After a project has ended, final reports are assessed in a similar way to applications, and are sent to reviewers for comment then graded by a panel.

What to Include in a Proposal

You will need to describe the proposed research project in enough detail for reviewers to be able to assess the application. However, we recommend that potentially patentable results are not included in applications or final reports until after a patent application has been filed.

EPSRC Grants on the Web

Information about all the grants we have made is publicly available on our website. For each funded grant, we publish the project title and abstract, who is involved, and the length and value of the grant.

Freedom of Information

EPSRC, as a public body, is governed by the Freedom of Information Act. We will only disclose information that is:

• Already in the public domain or that gets into the public domain through no fault of ours.
• Provided to us from any third party who had a lawful right to disclose it to us and who did not require us to hold it in confidence.
• Already rightfully in our possession and not confidential at the time of its receipt or that is made publicly available under the terms and conditions of submitting proposals to us.