82 June 2011
www.epsrc.ac.uk
In touch with opportunities from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Implementing the Delivery Plan Chief executive David Delpy outlines the major features of the updated EPSRC Delivery Plan and explains the significance of sponsorship across the entire research and training portfolio.
we can to front-line activities, as we work towards ever-more efficient working patterns during a time of budgetary constraint.
EPSRC portfolio and requires a deeper, more dynamic partnership with the people and organisations we invest in.
At the heart of the new arrangements is a desire to:
“As we enter the new financial year we have published an online update of how we will be implementing our Delivery Plan for 20112015.
• build a complete and holistic view of both socio-economic challenges and research capabilities;
Sponsorship does not mean starting from scratch. We are not proposing the introduction of additional bureaucracy, an increase in regulations or micromanagement of all sponsored activities; neither are we changing the way we finance research projects and training.
The updated Plan, available exclusively online, expands on our three Strategic Plan goals: Delivering impact, Shaping capability and Developing leaders, and provides further details on some of the major themes we are funding, including Manufacturing the future, Healthcare technologies, Physical sciences, and Information and Communications Technologies (ICT). The plan outlines the approaches we are using and clarifies the priorities we have identified with the help of the key members of the research community, strategic partners, government and others. It also includes information on engagement, our approach to transformational change and summary pages for universities and businesses, highlighting key points of interest for these communities. The plan update includes our revised organisational structure, which will be fully operational by October 2011. In order to continue funding research and training, we are working to an interim commitment budget for the first half of this year. Alongside this, we have also published our forecast spend on resource for this year. While the direction and ambitions we have embarked upon will remain for the entire spending review period, our priorities and portfolio will be dynamic. To this end, we are directing as much of our staff resource as
• focus our plans more on outcomes than inputs – whether considering research proposals or the shape of the landscape; • embed public engagement, crossdisciplinary interfaces and much of our work on impact into normal business, rather than manage them in separate organisational units; • maximise deployment of resources in research delivery within a context of constrained costs.
EPSRC Delivery Plan explains the significance of sponsorship across the entire research and training portfolio Sponsorship One of the core themes within this Delivery Plan is a move towards sponsorship. Sponsorship is not a new concept for the research councils, which have always made strategic decisions about the research and training they support, either in identified priority areas or through new initiatives, particularly those requiring interdisciplinary research and training.
The way we make payments to universities also stays the same, although we may wish to evolve more appropriate funding models for longer-term projects requiring critical mass and continuity of expertise. We also remain committed to peer review, which is central to our evaluation process and fundamental to EPSRC’s guiding principles. Continued on page 2.
inside 2 3 4
delivery plan continued
ICT Research: the next decade
innovative manufacturing centres launched
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equal but different
However, our new sponsorship approach applies for the first time across the whole 1