81 March 2011
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Delivery Plan 2011-2015 Chief executive David Delpy describes the thinking behind EPSRC’s new Delivery Plan, and sets out the Council’s goals as it embarks on an ambitious four-year transformative agenda. “Our 2010 Strategic Plan set out how we will accelerate the pace of change, keep the UK at the heart of global research and innovation, and deliver greater impact than ever before. Our Delivery Plan for 2011-15 builds on this, and shows how we will be more active in partnering with the research community to generate the fundamental knowledge and develop the skilled people essential to business, other research organisations and government. In essence, our Delivery Plan is about getting the most out of the resources we have been given; the research we support; the facilities we use; the leaders who inspire us. It has three core goals, first set out in our Strategic Plan: Delivering Impact, Shaping Capability and Developing Leaders. We will achieve these objectives through stronger, more active partnerships with the research community as part of a transformative agenda built around a ‘sponsor’ model of research management, in which funding is a strategic investment and not a transfer of funds without obligation. From funder to sponsor Our sponsor approach represents a significant change to our relationship with those researchers we support, and we will work more proactively with them to provide direction using strategic advice; obtain regular feedback to inform future funding; and secure commitment and engagement from them in meeting our goals. Focus on PhD quality Support for studentships remains a priority for EPSRC, and we are committed to honouring all training support for existing PhD students. However, one important
We will create an environment that promotes excellence and encourages adventurous research strategic decision we have made is to stop supporting project studentships on new research grants. We remain committed to training students in cohorts, through Centres for Doctoral Training, and within the flexibility provided to universities through Doctoral Training Grants. Our decision to stop awarding project studentships has been taken to afford some protection to these other priority routes for supporting studentships. Impact through excellence Long-term science and engineering research is at the heart of discovery and innovation. We will create an environment that promotes excellence, encourages adventurous and creative research, stimulates creativity and drives cultural, commercial and technological advances. For an example of research excellence, we need look no further than EPSRC-supported Professor Andre Geim and Dr Konstanin Novoselov, of the University of Manchester, who were awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize for Physics for their work with graphene. Their success would not have been possible without long-term and strategic EPSRC funding, which began almost a decade ago. Our Delivery Plan is ambitious and cannot be achieved without working more closely than ever with our university and business partners, and with other stakeholders and sectors, as we join together to help rebuild the UK economy, and keep Britain at the forefront of global research and innovation.”
CORE GOALS Delivering Impact: We will embed impact throughout our portfolio by creating an environment in which impact arises naturally, in whatever form, from the knowledge base. We will ask researchers to consider Pathways to Impact at the outset of a project; and to apply for the appropriate resources needed to achieve the impact they identify. Shaping Capability: We will ensure we have the right people, with the right resources, in the right places to deliver the highest quality long-term research in areas where the UK leads internationally and where there is current or future national need. Developing Leaders: We will nurture the visionary leaders who set research agendas and the inspirational team leaders who act as role models.
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delivery plan − continued
NMr facility opening
mid-range facilities refresh
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