FAQs for students

Please note that it is non-mandatory for students holding UKRI grants to complete a Researchfish submission in 2024

Should PhD students submit outcomes for their studentships?

Only students in the third or later year of their studies will be asked to submit their outcomes. 

Please note Research Councils may publish details of the outcomes that students enter through various channels including http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/

What if I’m funded by more than one Research Council?

Students who are co-funded by more than one Research Council will only need to provide details for one Research Council. The name of the lead Research Council can be seen after logging in.

What if I’m part funded by Industry, as well as a Research Council?

Add as much information as possible, omitting any information that may be covered by a confidentiality agreement.

Do I have to submit outcomes to Researchfish? 

The short answer is Yes!  RCUK  and Cancer Research UK funded students are expected to use the system but no sanctions are to be applied. Whilst the sanctions policy does not apply to students, overall institutional compliance may be considered in making future doctoral training awards and you are encouraged to submit within the submission period.

Other funders may also have requirements for submission, make sure you are up to date with your funders expectations for reporting research outcomes through Researchfish. 

Find out more at: https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/planning/rpt/ResearchFish

Email: researchfishsupport@contacts.bham.ac.uk

How do I get started on Researchfish? 

Your funder will email you directly about joining Researchfish with a link to create your account and associate an award with it. 

I haven’t received an email, what should I do? 

Check to see if the email is in your spam folder. If not, contact your funder to ensure that they have the correct email address for you. Researchfish also have a support email address and should be able to help. Please contact support@Researchfish.com.  

Where do I log on? 

Go to https://www.Researchfish.com/ and use your log in details at the top of the page. Check that all your awards are linked to you and ensure your main supervisor is added as Team Member on your award. You may also add any other supervisors as required.

When do I have to complete my work on Researchfish? 

You can log into Researchfish and record outcomes at any time throughout the year but the submission period is a fixed time each year. Within this period each PI has to log in to Researchfish and when all information is complete press the Submit button. Until you have done this you have not complied with the funder requirements. 

What if I have nothing to report? 

Researchfish is about more than just reporting outcomes and publications; the Research Councils want to know about a variety of different activities you have undertaken as part of your research project. Therefore it is likely that, even if you are at the beginning of your project, you’ll have something to report. However, if you are not returning anything make sure you: 

1. Add “not applicable this year” for all the mandatory questions required by their funders on each grant 

2. Press Submit within the submission period 

What do I do and what does my supervisor do?

RCUK has had supervisors added to studentships as Team Members so they have the ability to help you add attributions if they wish. Please note that the supervisors will not be able to submit the return, this is your responsibility. Additional supervisors can be added to your studentship details as ‘team members’.

However, the SUBMIT button is only available when the submission period is open. Only you can see and click on the SUBMIT button. 

Do I need to submit outcomes for a grant that ended several years ago?

For RCUK, Students are asked to provide updates annually during the period of the awards and usually for 3 years after their awards have finished. Other funders may have different policies.

Where there are no new outcomes to submit, you can indicate this using the process noted above.

Researchers also have the opportunity to discuss with UKRI when they feel that no further outcomes will arise from an award and request that the award is ‘closed’ in Researchfish. If you think this is the case, please let us know.

Can I use my Pure entries to copy and paste information into Researchfish?

Although there is no link between the systems, you can copy and paste any information you have in Pure by extracting the data as a Word document.

1. Select, e.g. ‘Research outputs’ from the left-hand navigation menu;

2. Select ‘Word’ from the download list options at the bottom of the screen;

3. Select render style ‘Long’;

4. Copy and paste any information from the Word document in to your Researchfish entry.

Can I get help filling in Researchfish? 

You are able to set up delegates on your account in Researchfish so that others can help to add information to your records. However, as PI the submission is your responsibility so you need to make sure that the details that others have added are correct before submitting your return. Delegates are not able to submit your report once completed, this can only be done by the PI on the grant. 

When logged into Researchfish you’ll find a link to create delegates on the home page. 

Where can I go to get advice about completing Researchfish? 

Drop in sessions will run throughout the submission period. You can come along to the session to complete your submission in a supported environment, with people on hand to answer any questions you have.

Where can I find further information?

Further information can be found on our Guidance and FAQs page.

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