Fu IN ll A Lis SI D w E ar t o ds f R : — e P ce 23 nt
Research Active The Newsletter of University of Kent Research Services, Vol 6, Issue 3, April 2012
THINK BIG
It’s clear that the funding landscape is changing. Inside this edition of Research Active we report on the visit by the Chief Executive of the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Prof Rick Rylance (p4).
Rylance talked about the AHRC’s intention to ‘concentrate’ funding on fewer recipients, and that smaller institutions will need to think about forming partnerships, collaborations and consortia. He is not alone in this. The ESRC Delivery Plan talks about ‘focusing our resources on longer, larger grants that deliver ambitious social science’, and EPSRC has stated that ‘the funding of longer, larger research grants is key to achieving
EPSRC’s strategy to deliver greater impact than ever before.’ Elsewhere Wellcome has restructured its grants programme so that it provides substantial, long term funding through its ‘Investigator Awards’. Hand in hand with this is an increasing move by funders to be directive in what they prioritise. This can take the form of specific, interdisciplinary calls, or for certain areas to be highlighted as priorities, which (as BBSRC suggested) ‘have some advantage in competition.’
The latest award figures (p2-3) suggest that Kent has the potential to benefit from this, but has not yet grasped the nettle of longer, larger, targeted funding. It received awards from four of the seven Research Councils, but the largest number of awards given by any one funder came from the British Academy. However, the BA’s nine awards accounted for only 2% of the funding. These awards provide important
6 Months of Kent Peer Review The Kent Peer Review (KPR) system was introduced on 1 Oct 2011. Since then, approximately 94 applications have been eligible for KPR, of which almost two thirds have gone through the system (65%). Most of the applications have been to six funders: the EC/FP7, EPSRC, Leverhulme, BBSRC, AHRC and ESRC. The overwhelming majority of users have been very appreciative of the reviews, and have found the feedback helpful. All have found it less bureaucratic and more flexible than they had feared. Response times have been much quicker than anticipated: most have been within a week, and some have been received overnight. Over the next six months Research Services will continue to monitor and amend the system so that it fulfils its aim of encouraging applicants to share their proposals with those who understand both the subject and the funder. For more information, contact Phil Ward (p.ward@kent.ac.uk).
seedcorn or small scale funding, but we need to raise our sights. To prepare larger applications does require considerably more work, but the research that is made possible with this increased funding easily justifies the extra time and effort. Over the next few months we will be targeting individuals whom we consider to have the potential to take advantage of the funders’ priorities, who have the leadership, the knowledge and the links to bring together successful consortia. They will be provided with the institutional support to achieve this. However, I would encourage you all to be ambitious, to talk to your Funding Officer about external priorities, the internal funding available to support large and complex grants, and how you can achieve a step change in your research through a large grant. PVC Research
INSIDE THIS EDITION Overview of Funding New Awards
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Research Council News
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Inside the Smoke-Filled Rooms 5 REF Update
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Welcome to New Staff
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Upcoming Events
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Choice Cuts from the Blog
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ResearchActive is edited by Phil Ward. Contact him for more information or clarification on any of the items in this edition. In addition, 1 for the latest from the world of research funding, go to fundermental.blogspot.com, or Twitter @unikentresearch & @frootle