Research Active The Newsletter of University of Kent Research Services, Vol 10, Issue 2, Feb 2016
SHIFTING GEAR
Drafting the Research & Innovation Strategy On the eve of the publication of the University’s new Research and Innovation Strategy, the PVC Research & Innovation, Prof Philippe De Wilde, talked to Phil Ward about how he drafted it, what he hoped to achieve by it, and the external challenges the University faces. The Strategy is based on the University Plan, published at the end of last year. Were you involved in drafting this? Yes: I was heavily involved in the research elements of it. There was a desire this time that any vague or aspirational statement should be backed up with a performance indicator or target. How were these identified? There is a ‘community of discourse’ around indicators, and university rankings are constantly revising these to better reflect performance. When I was first asked to suggest possible indicators, I suggested a wide spectrum, thinking three or four might be selected, and that I would have to fight for them. Instead they were all accepted, and I think that was very positive, and demonstrates the University’s clear view on the need for targets. Whilst you supplied the indicators, were you happy with the Plan’s overall vision? Yes. The overall aspiration is to build on past achievements. We have seen a steady progress through RAE 2008 and REF 2014. QR (the income generated by RAE and REF) has doubled. This is a good base to build on.
Some of the indicators are very ambitious, such as doubling research income. Is it achievable? Yes, I believe so, for two reasons. Firstly, I achieved such an increase at my last institution. It is achievable. It means a 15% increase year on year. Secondly, our competitors are achieving such changes. We’re no different; we have the same quality of staff, leaders in their respective fields, so why shouldn’t we achieve it? You made clear in your presentations of the Strategy that Kent is underperforming against its competitors. We have the aspiration to position ourselves further up our self-defined competitor group of ex-1994 group campus universities outside of London. We can do this in part but forming a variety of partnerships such as those within our doctoral training partnerships and through our research links with Essex and East Anglia. Why do you think Kent has fallen behind? We have not fallen behind in research intensity. We have the highest research intensity of any of the campus universities around London. Our success rate with the Research Councils is similar to that of our peers. However, we achieve lower levels of research grant per member of staff. We need to submit more grant proposals and we need all academic staff on teaching and research contracts to recognise that they need to apply for grant funding for their research. (continued on p2)
ResearchActive is edited by Phil Ward. Contact him for more information or clarification on any of the items in this edition. For the latest from the world of research funding, go to fundermental.blogspot.com, or Twitter @unikentresearch. 1
Continued from the front page So progress is down to a culture of acquiring external funding? Yes, but also investment in key areas, and good mentoring and leadership. I think Kent has found a certain speed. It’s undeniable that we are making progress, but we can improve the speed of the progress. But is it possible for a university to make the jump between ‘speeds’? It is possible, but it needs time. That’s why the expression ‘changing gear’ is perhaps a little misleading: it suggests that change is immediate. Perhaps ‘pressing on the accelerator’ is more accurate. I’m convinced that we can move up, and a number of institutions have already done so. You mentioned investment, and in both the Plan and Strategy there is talk about investing in ‘pinnacles of excellence’ and ‘super centres’. Can you tell me more about these? I see these super centres as symbolic. The investment in them is to create an atmosphere of growth, and to mark out our ambition externally. They advertise a growth dynamic. However, fundamental change will only take place through the work of the vast majority of academics, most of whom won’t be affected by such super centres. So have you given any thought as to how these areas would be identified? I’ve seen how those centres were created at other universities. Whilst there needs to be a central commitment to their development, the vision is in the hands of the academics themselves. They need to be both enthusiastic and realistic, and willing to take responsibility for financial control. They need to set out a business plan to create income and grow. If you have that, and you have funds available, it will work. Apart from the super centres,
will there be any additional investment to ensure the success of the Strategy? Don’t forget that the University makes an enormous investment daily to make success happen: in our academics, in our support staff, and in the infrastructure. The university invests QR in the Schools on a continuing basis. We make a massive investment in buildings. We fund a good number of PhD studentships, and will continue to do so. We will make further strategic investments in the run-up to the next REF.
that monitoring is as uniform as possible across the University.
I wanted to ask about that. Since you first drafted the Strategy, the Green Paper has been published. How do you see the balance between teaching and research following this? Is there a danger that there will be increasing demands on academics to perform for the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) that will take them away from research? We will keep an appropriate balance between teaching and research, as we have always done, so that we are strong for the TEF as well as the REF.
You’ve been consulting widely on the Strategy. Is it now in its final form? Yes, but you need to distinguish between the Plan and the Strategy. The Plan is the formal set of intentions for the University and won’t change. The Strategy is an interpretation of this. It will continue to be discussed at fora such as the Research and Innovation Board and the Directors of Research Network.
However, academics already say that they don’t have time to do research. Will there be any initiative centrally to help manage this? I recognise the need for all academic schools to have a fair and transparent work allocation model (WAM) that recognises the range of contributions that our academic staff make whether in teaching or research or more broadly. We all need to take responsibility for being effective in what we do, recognising how hard many staff are working. How will you monitor the achievement of the targets? I want to monitor the indicators as centrally as possible. I don’t want to impose an extra burden on Schools, but I also want to ensure 2
And if Schools fall behind, or are seen to not be performing, what will be done? The practical measures are the remit of the Faculties and Schools. There shouldn’t be central intervention, except if a School has failed in something major, when there would be a review, as there has been in the past. My role is to ensure that action happens, that the situation is not ‘frozen’ or blocked.
So it can change and adapt over the five years? I don’t see any major adaptation, but we will need to continue to ‘interpret’ as the external context changes, such as the demands of the REF, or a more difficult funding environment. However, I think the indicators will remain valid. ‘Interpreting’ is a large part of my role: I need to ensure that Kent is attuned to the wider higher education environment, to ensure that all the academics at the University can operate as successfully as possible within this environment. The Research and Innovation Strategy 2015-20 will be presented to Senate for approval on 23 March 2016.
New Impact & Engagement Officer Appointed At the end of December Maddy Bell was appointed as a new Impact & Public Engagement Officer. Here she introduces herself and says a little more about her role. I am delighted to join Research Services as Impact & Engagement Officer. Before coming to the University, I worked with clinicians at the Royal College of Anaesthetists for 6 years, latterly on a programme of work to improve the care of surgical patients, and sup-
porting discrete research projects. This gave me an insight into the scope for research to benefit society, and some of the challenges in implementing change in the health sector. From my first few weeks in post, it is clear to me that there is a great volume and variety of work already in progress across Kent in the embedding of impact in research activity, and public engagement activity. By developing these further and sharing collective expertise across the institution, the sky is the limit! I am here to offer support to you
all in ensuring the impact of your research and developing accessible and informative public engagement. I would love to hear from you if you’re planning public engagement activity, or can share your experiences in maximising research impact or developing public engagement activities that could inspire and inform others. Please get in touch if you have any questions or would like to discuss either of these areas.
Lord Stern of Brentford to lead REF review
SUPPORT FOR EUROPEAN APPLICATIONS
Initially announced last year in the Spending Review, Jo Johnson, Universities and Science Minister, has launched a UK-wide review of university research funding, including the Research Excellence Framework. The intention is to ensure that ‘future university research funding is allocated more efficiently, offers greater rewards for excellent research and reduces the administrative burden on institutions’. Lord Nicholas Stern, President of the British Academy and former World Bank Chief Economist is to chair the review panel, assisted by a steering group of high-level academic experts from mainly Russell Group institutions. ‘Excellent research drives productivity and is vital for delivering a better quality of life for everyone,’ said Johnson. ’The government has committed to protect science and research in real terms to the end of the decade, and now we need to make sure we’re getting the most from this investment.
‘I’m delighted that Lord Stern has agreed to lead this review of the Research Excellence Framework and I look forward to working with the panel to carry out this work. As a renowned academic with experience of working at the highest levels of government, he and the members of the steering group will bring valuable expertise to the review.’ The outcome of the review is expected in summer 2016. Further reading THE—Lord Stern review: no ‘foregone conclusions’ about future of REF: http://bit.ly/1Zil4xw THE – REF sceptic to lead review into research assessment: http://bit.ly/22aBQD5 Russell Group – Stern review of r e s e a r c h f u n d i n g : http://bit.ly/1mSOLJa Times – Prove research is useful or lose funds, universities are told: http://thetim.es/1Rk2aab University Alliance responds to the announcement of Stern Review of university research funding: http://bit.ly/1Uzsrjg 3
Want to know more? Contact Maddy Bell (m.r.bell@kent.ac.uk, xtn 6595)
Conny Jumel, the European Research Officer, has moved on to work as the Project Officer on Prof Nathan Gomes’ (EDA) iCirrus project. Her expertise will be sorely missed, but a considerable fund of knowledge has built up in both the pre– and post-award areas within Research Services. If you are planning to apply for European Funding talk to your Faculty Funding Officer, who can either support you themselves or, if appropriate, pass you on to the experts in the Contracts and Accounts Teams. These are: Jane Benstead, Research Contracts Officer (j.benstead@kent.ac.uk, xtn 4203) Jody Turner, Senior Acc o u n t s C l e r k (j.e.m.turner@kent.ac.uk, xtn 3882)
More publishers pledge ORCID requirement An open letter published in November 2015 has resulted (at the time of writing) in 12 additional publishers committing to a requirement for all authors to be identified by an ORCID. The Royal Society, PLOS and eLife approached ORCID for help in communicating their plans to require authors to use an ORCID ID. An open letter explaining their rationale and approach to developing best practices for using IDs in publishing is hosted on the ORCID site, with a list of the current signatories (see box, below) . Laure Haak, writing on 7 January, believes that the identifier is now at “tipping point”, with in addition to the 12 publishers, approximately two million registered researchers and 200 systems with integrated ORCID IDs. The Royal Society PLOS eLife EMBO Press American Geophysical Union IEEE
What’s the rationale?
ORCID provides a digital name – or iD – that uniquely and persistently identifies researchers and contributors. By connecting this iD to different research activities and affiliations across multiple research information platforms, ORCID helps enable recognition and reduce reporting burdens for researchers. It also enhances the discovery process and lays the foundation for trust in a digital research environment. Crossref’s recently launched Auto-Update functionality – which (with researcher permission) updates an author’s ORCID record when the author uses their iD during the publishing process – further benefits researchers by alleviating the need to re-enter publication data in multiple systems. Importantly, it also provides an independent assertion of the connection Hindawi between the author and their work. Science journals With more than ScienceOpen 3,000 journals already collecting ORCID iDs Frontiers from corresponding JMIR Publications authors, through all major manuscript Grupo Comunicar submission systems, Ediciones
RESEARCH IMPACT AND PARLIAMENT
A recent event hosted by the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology (POST) gave academic researchers an insight into how they can best contribute to the parliamentary process. Jacqueline Aldridge, Research And Enterprise Associate in Psychology, summarised the five main insights: The job of parliament is to scrutinise. Parliament’s job is to scrutinise planned legislation and hold govern4
publishers are in a unique position to facilitate widespread adoption of ORCID. Indeed, researchers are most likely to encounter ORCID in publishing systems: about 75% of registrations occur because journals are asking authors to include their ORCID in new submissions. Researchers are also increasingly encountering ORCID in their university systems, and funders including the Wellcome Trust and EMBO have begun to require the use of ORCID in grant application systems. In a recent survey of ~6,000 people (mostly researchers) carried out by ORCID, more than 70% said they would welcome compulsory use of ORCID iDs in publishing workflows. From January 2016, several publishers will be requiring the use of ORCID iDs by corresponding authors during the publication process and are inviting other publishers to do the same. This initiative will further speed the implementation of ORCID, support its use by researchers, and illustrate to the research community the benefits of a coordinated identifier-based approach to research information management.” Want to know more? More information from http:// www.kent.ac.uk/library/research/ orcid/ Alternatively sign up for an ORCID at https://orcid.org/register, or contact Clair Thrower on c.thrower@kent.ac.uk xtn 7350.
ment to account. Academic research can help parliament cast the necessary critical eye over government proposals. If you can evidence that your research helped parliament scrutinise, that’s impact. Apparently, many REF impact case studies based on parliamentary activity were very over stated and lost credibility. Continued opposite
Research Impact and Parliament, continued from p4 MPs occupy a ‘different epistemological universe’. Research evidence is just one source parliamentarians may (or may not) use in their decision making. They also rely on other forms of knowledge, such as the lived experience of constituents. To this end, initial policy ideas are often formulated on the basis of hunches and ideology. By the time research gets to play its part, plans may be fixed and your evidence regarding their wisdom may be less relevant. MPs need research that they can understand and use MPs may not be familiar with statistics or academic research methodology. Even those with research training have no time to read aca-
demic journal articles. Generally, they want a synthesis of the entire evidence base rather than details of one researcher’s incremental contribution. It will also help if you can provide a unique perspective on a problem that helps the specific user of your research impress parliamentary colleagues. Show that you are trustworthy source MPs automatically query the motives of those who contact them with information or ideas. This means that they need reassurance about your personal agenda. This is why POST, parliamentary clerks or either the Commons or Lords libraries can be a useful conduit for your findings. Think tanks can also
have a place in brokering knowledge between academics and parliament. Establish your knowledge brand You will be competing with lots of other sources of information and evidence. It is useful if you can establish a ‘brand’ for the knowledge you produce with colleagues, your department or across your institution. Social media are a good way to raise your profile. Want to know more? More information from http:// www.parliament.uk/post In addition, we have notes from the Grants Factory event focusing on 'engaging with politicians and policymakers': http://bit.ly/1UUORLp
IS IT RESEARCH OR INNOVATION? The dividing line between research and innovation has never been clear cut, and has become even more hazy as funders encourage applicants to engage more with external stakeholders and commercial organisations. Research Services and Kent Innovation and Enterprise (KIE) work together to cover the area between the two ends of the continuum and work in partnership with a key aim to support the funding application and ensure it gets submitted on behalf of the academic and University. So for those borderline cases, how do they decide which of the services should support your application? Essentially, it’s not which funder you’re applying to, but the nature of the project. If your work fits the Frascati Definition of research (see box below), it should go via Research Services; if it doesn’t, it should go to KIE. For more information or advice, contact: Research Services: Phil Ward, p.ward@kent.ac.uk, xtn 7748 KIE: Lucy Druesne, l.druesne@kent.ac.uk, xtn 3217
THE FRASCATI DEFINITION OF RESEARCH Research and experimental development (R&D) comprise creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications. R&D is a term covering three activities: basic research, applied research, and experimental development. Basic research is experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundation of phenomena and observable facts, without any particular application or use in view. Applied research is also original investigation undertaken to acquire new knowledge. It is, however, directed primarily towards a specific practical aim or objective. Experimental development is systematic work, drawing on existing knowledge gained from research and/or practical experience, that is directed to producing new materials, products or devices, to installing new processes, systems and services, or to improving substantially those already produced or installed.
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Building Links with the Cathedral
This year the University will be developing public engagement links with Canterbury Cathedral
In 2014 the University signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Cathedral and this year sees a range of initiatives building on this.
AHRC Cultural Engagement Fund The Faculty of Humanities received £50k AHRC Cultural Engagement Funding at the end of last year, and has awarded it to two early career researchers to work with the Cathedral on two projects. ‘Illuminating the Past’, overseen by Dr Emily Guerry in the School of History, will organise an educational workshop and light projection spectacle to recreate the vivid Gothic colours of the Cathedral. ‘Sensory Navigation in the Canterbury Journey,’ overseen by Professor Marialena Nikolopoulou and managed by Dr Carolina Vasilikou an Early Career Researcher in the School of Architecture, will consist of a series of sensory walks to provide a novel way of experiencing the Cathedral precincts and its connection to the city. Both projects will run for 3 months from midFebruary 2016. Want to know more? C ont a ct L yn ne Be nn et t (l.bennett-282@kent.ac.uk, xtn 4799)
Questions of Space: A Festival of Ideas Between June 20-22 Canterbury Cathedral will be hosting a public engagement with research event involving academics from the Faculty of Humanities. The long evenings of this coming summer will see humanities staff leading a series of public events at Canterbury Cathedral. Questions of Space is a festival which builds on the university’s relationship with Canterbury Cathedral in a collaborative and equal partnership. Faculty of Humanities research staff and PhD students were invited to respond to the topic of space, be it architectural space, private space, sacred space, public space, acoustic space, communal space or dramatic space, and to dig into any aspect of this broad theme as it relates to their research. Over 37 applicants took up our challenge and eleven events were selected from right across the faculty’s schools. The festival of ideas will draw on hundreds of years of history to ask what this space means for us today, what it might be, what it teaches us and what we can learn within it. This new collaboration will allow Kent researchers to discover the secret spaces of Canterbury Ca6
thedral guided by people who inhabit this extraordinary place as clergy, craftspeople or conservators, or indeed as guides and educators. Three days of events will involve song, walks, interactive talks and exhibitions. It will invite audiences from diverse communities to respond to the building afresh, and in some cases for the first time. The festival also feeds into the Cathedral’s own Heritage Lottery-funded Canterbury Journey, whose mission is to safeguard an iconic building which embodies England’s story, increase the number and broaden the range of those who journey to it, and enrich their experience. Questions of Space is run by a small committee of Kent and Cathedral staff led by Professor Paul Allain (Associate Dean of Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Humanities). We hope that the festival will become an annual event in the calendars of the Cathedral, the University and Canterbury itself.
An Overview of Research Funding, Aug-Dec 2015 Largest Individual Awards (titles of projects listed overleaf) Humanities: Prof Karla Pollmann (SECL) £368,038 from the European Commission
The Autumn was a strong term for funding from the European Commission, which was responsible for a third of the University’s total. A key part of this was the Marie Curie Networks secured by Eerke Boiten (Computing) and Prof Pollmann and the ERC Starting Grant by Dr Ferguson (see left). Elsewhere, Matthias Frey (Arts)
won a prestigious Philip Leverhulme Prize, and Rob Fish in SAC brought in two NERC awards, a funder which, in the past, has given relatively few awards to Kent. Congratulations to all of the winners, and thanks to all who have made the effort to apply for funding.
Humanities 9%
Sciences: Prof Mark Burchell (SPS) £841,344 from the STFC
Sciences 39%
Social Sciences 52%
Total Award Value by Faculty 35 30
Social Sciences: Dr Heather Ferguson (Psychology) £1,059,378 from the European Research Council
What’s It All About? An insight into one of the projects funded this term, taken from the application summary.
This term: Dr Wei Yang (Centre for Health Service Studies) received an ESRC Future Leaders Award of
£296,148 for ‘Who Will Care for the Old?’
Percentage of Total Award Value by Funder
25 20 15
10 5
0
The proposed study seeks to address key questions concerning the health and long term care systems among rural elderly in China, bridging the research gap in this area, and offering policy suggestions. People above the age of 60 account for more than 15% of the Chinese rural population. This percentage is expected to in7
crease in the next few decades. Traditionally, family members cared for the elderly, but younger relatives are increasingly migrating to the cities for work. This study seeks to simulate the long term effect on state funded care of this demographic change, with the hope of encouraging policy makers to reexamine existing arrangements.
FULL LIST OF AWARDS: 1 Aug—31 Dec 2015* Faculty of Humanities School of Arts McGown
Grete Marks exhibition
Association of Art Historians £1,083
Maes
Carnal aesthetics: a symposium on cinema and embodiment
British Society of Aesthetics £1,475
Frey
Visual and performing arts
Leverhulme Trust
£100,000
Allain
Kantorbury Kantorbury
Polish Cultural Institute
£2,000
School of European Culture and Languages Pollman
The History of Human Freedom and Dignity in Western Civilization
European Commission
£368,038
Schaffner
On Human Energy: A History
Wellcome Trust
£34,400
Weller
Leverhulme Visiting Professorship - Van Hulle, Dirk
Leverhulme Trust
£17,208
Carrette
William James on Love: Literature, Biography and the DiBritish Academy vine-Human Relation
£2,584
Radoilska
Reassessing Responsibility: Why knowing what one is doBritish Academy ing matters
£10,000
Faculty of Sciences Centre for Molecular Processing Robinson
Engineering of supramolecular assemblies for high-value compound synthesis in the Chlamydomonas...
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council £38,408 (BBSRC)
Fili, Natali
Dissect the interaction of the fission yeast class I myosin with the plasma membrane and its role on enodcytosis
Royal Society
Smales
Development of predictive tools and formulations for imMedImmune proved stability and delivery of novel peptid
£20,000
Smales
Single Cell Molecular and Cellular Characterisation of CHO Cells
£63,600
MedImmune
£99,000
Medway School of Pharmacy Corlett
Identifying Stroke/TIA survivors needs and preferences for Stroke Association short and long term Medicines Support...
£101,238
School of Biosciences Mulvihill
Fine Tuning the actin cytoskeleton for function
Royal Society
£5,000
Tsaousis
Screening & developing genetic tools for Naegleria to be used as a model for elucidating the adaptations of marine microbial eukaryotes
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
£96,574
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School of Computing Boiten
NeCS - Boiten,MSCA-ITN
European Commission
£388,645
Batty
CGrail: unified, optimisable and formallyspecified C concurrency
Royal Academy of Engineering
£421,317
School of Engineering and Digital Arts Gomes Ahmed Lu
RFID moisture sensor network for landslide Royal Academy of Engineering monitoring Development of sustainable energy harvested and energy aware wireless personal area net- Royal Society work Advanced Flame Monitoring and Emission Biomass and Fossil Fuel Research Prediction through Digital Imaging and SpecAlliance (BF2RA) trometry Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
£18,000 £10,951 £40,000
Marcelli
Red Cell Physical Properties in Health and Disease
Zhang
Development of Intelligent Predictive Models for Crowding on Trains using Data-driven Rail Safety and Standards Board Ltd £42,017 Methodologies
Yan
Condition Monitoring of Rotating Machinery IEEE using Strip Electrostatic Sensor Arrays
£202,815
£9,611
School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science Wood
Visiting Professor: Professor Sergey Naboko London Mathematical Society
£1,500
Dunning
South East Mathematical Physics seminars
£1,129
Leisen Wood
London Mathematical Society
Empirical and bootstrap likelihood procedures for approximate Bayesian and opera- Royal Society tional research Mathematical and Computational Aspects of London Mathematical Society Maxwell's Equations
£11,840 £1,000
School of Physical Sciences Burchell
Con Proj – STFC Planetary consolidated 2015
Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
£841,344
School of Sports and Exercise Sciences Pappous
Kent FA project
Kent FA
£9,770
Faculty of Social Sciences Kent Business School Mingers Gupta
Executive decision-making in complex and Defence Science and Technology dynamic environments Laboratory (dstl) MNEmerge - A Framework Model on MNE's impact on global development challenges in European Commission emerging markets. 9
£12,000 £128,754
Continued over
Kent Law School Ring Mariano Croce
Wilful Ignorance? Exploring the Irish State’s Failure to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse in Socio-Legal Studies Association £1,766 the Period 1950-1990. Confronting kinship: The Regulatory Dilemmas and Policy Challenges of Non-monogamous European Commission £130,597 Family Formation School of Anthropology and Conservation Natural Environment Research £2,749 Council (NERC)
Fish
ESPA Fellowship Agreement
Groombridge
Genetic research on invasive ringneck parakeets University of Antwerp
Fish
Valuing Nature
£16,730
Natural Environment Research £36,900 Council (NERC) School of Economics
Chadha
Mapping the Monetary and Financial Sectors, 1790-1850
British Academy
£9,573
School of Politics and International Relations Whitman Whitman Goodwin Goodwin
The interrelationship of UK and EU foreign poli- Economic and Social Research cy: costs and benefits Council (ESRC) Kent in Europe (KiE): The Future for Business, European Commission Local Communities and Citizens Online experiment to test the power of differEconomic and Social Research ent arguments on attitudes towards Britain's EU Council (ESRC) members BA Small Research Grant
British Academy
£151,284 £16,774 £9,999 £3,994
School of Psychology Uskul
Honor as Goal Pursuit in Turkey and Northern National Science Foundation and Southern US
£10,452
Abrams
Arts and Pro-Social Motivation
£62,567
Brooks
Oscillatory Influences on Perception and Atten- Experimental Psychology Socie£2,500 tion ty
Ferguson Travaglino
The Arts Council of England
Tracking the cognitive basis of social communi- European Research Council £1,059,378 cation across the life-span (CogSocoAGE) (ERC) Community Indifference to Collective Problems: International Society of Political An Interdisciplinary Symposium on Collective £2,565 Psychology Action, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
Yang
Reduction of disease risk claims on food and drinks (REDICLAIM)
Wilson
Identifying Stroke/TIA survivors needs and prefStroke Association erences for short and long term
Yang
Who will care for you when you get old? 10
University of Surrey
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
£18,913 £58,198 £269,148
Matthews
The Islington Crime Survey: Thirty Years On (2) Islington Council
£20,000
Twigg
Buildings in the making: a sociological exploraEconomic and Social Research tion of architecture in the context of health and Council (ESRC) social care
£10,790
Gore
Increasing the quality of health service support National Institute of Health Refor children with intellectual and developmental search (NIHR) disabilities who display behaviour problems
£273,965
Beadle-Brown Coulton Langdon Matthews Beecham Calnan
Uncovering the staff culture of good quality supNational Institute of Health Reported accommodation for people with intellecsearch (NIHR) tual disabilities Adoption and spread of ELPQulC: improving Health Foundation outcomes after emergency laparotomy People with autism detained within hospitals: National Institute of Health Redefining the population, understanding aetiology search (NIHR) and improving care pathways Economic and Social Research The Islington Crime Survey: Thirty Years On Council (ESRC) Transforming Children’s Services with Signs of Safety Practice (MTM) at the Centre: economic Department of Education component Food systems: trust makers, breakers and broSafefood kers.
£85,138 £142,675 £209,789 £264,455 £8,450 £7,349
Breeze
The Million Pound Donor Report
Coutts
£10,000
Billings
Ageless Thanet
Big Lottery Fund
£199,172
*The list given above is for all awards of £1,000 or more. It does not include extensions or supplements
Spotlight on Emerging Research
A RESEARCH DIVIDEND For investors in equity markets, dividends matter. Take the S&P 500 index of large US companies - dividends have historically represented as much as ⅓ of total returns with the rest coming from capital appreciation. But of course with rewards come risks. And so investors are increasingly hedging against dividend risk with dividend derivatives. It would be useful, then, to better understand this new financial innovation? Prof Radu Tunaru from the Centre of Quantitative Finance at Kent Business School thinks so. Models of phenomena – whether natural or social – are often a step towards better knowledge but for dividend derivatives we’re not there yet. “It is important to point out,” says
Radu, “that currently there is no widely accepted model in the industry to price dividend derivatives. That means there is an opportunity to propose one.” Radu’s work on dividend derivative models is already gaining attention. A working paper proposing two 11
potential models rose into the top ten of most downloaded papers on SSRN under various themes. Disseminating this research then led to his being invited as a panel speaker to an event organized jointly by the Financial Times Trading Room and the EUREX Exchange in October 2015. The event was attended by almost one hundred participants from finance industry including investment banks like BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Morgan Stanley and many other hedge funds and investment houses. As with many other emerging asset classes, modelling for dividend derivatives has lagged behind their development. But the Centre for Quantitative Finance at Kent Business School is catching up. Want to know more? Contact Michael Reilly, Research M a n a g e r a t K B S (m.j.reilly@kent.ac.uk, xtn 4389)
SUCCESS RATES AND SIZE Thoughts on Applying to ESRC
Brian Lingley, the Faculty Funding Officer for the Social Sciences, has been looking at recent application and award figures for the ESRC, which suggest that Kent has been performing very well against its peer group in all measures except average value. The conclusion, he believes, is clear. One of the ambitions articulated in the new institut ional R esearch and Innovation Strategy is to double research income by 2020. The driver for this is that Kent currently lags behind our peer group of Universities in terms of research grant income. Not that I distrust statistics, but I found this a bit hard to comprehend—I’ve met people from other Universities and they’re certainly no better than the fine folk of Kent. So I did some digging of my own on the ESRC website, as the Social Sciences funder of choice, for Standard Grant applica-
tion and award information. This does not include schemes such as Future Leaders or Research Seminars, or any of the directed calls. I have to say I was quite surprised at the results, which I’ve shown in the tables below. Over the five financial years from 2010 to 2015, we were amongst the most active in submitting and winning grants, and in fact second only to York in terms of success rates. However, the average value of our awards puts us right at the bottom of the peer group table. This leads me to the rather simplistic conclusion that we don’t necessarily need to double the number of applications that we make to meet the new target (we are already quite prolific), nor do we need to make major changes to proposal writing processes (we already have a good track record of success), but we do need to increase the value of appli-
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cations. By a happy coincidence, this would also align with the ESRC’s aims. They are already making noises about the number of proposals that they receive (they don’t want more), and they want to see more comprehensive, cross-disciplinary, research proposals. So, when you are starting to plan your next grant proposal, take a step back and ask if you could be more ambitious – could you widen the scope of the research, and add another RA? Could you add a Sociological, or a Psychological, or an Economic perspective? This could also make your proposal more compelling and fundable to the ESRC. Want to know more? Contact Brian Lingley (b.lingley@kent.ac.uk, xtn 4427)
EARLY CAREER RESEARCHER NETWORK Programme for the Spring Term The University's ECRN was established to offer mutual support to academics at the beginning of their careers. As well as regular talks and workshops there are opportunities to meet other ECRs from across the University to share the highs and lows of getting started in academia. The programme of events for the Spring Term has been confirmed. They’re free, open to all, and refreshments are provided. Contact Phil Ward (p.ward@kent.ac.uk, xtn 7748) if you would like to come along. Balancing the Conflicting Demands of Academia Prof Gordon Lynch (SECL) & Prof Sarah Spurgeon (EDA) 13 January 2016, 1pm-3pm How to Engage the Public with your Research Prof Paul Allain (Arts) & Dr Vicky Mason (SPS) 4 February 2016, 12noon-2pm How to Overcome ‘Imposter Syndrome’ Dr Caron Fraser Wood (Mindset Method) 16 February 2016, 12noon-4pm Developing Resilience Dr Caron Fraser Wood (Mindset Method) 17 February 2016, 10am-2pm How to Use Social Media to Support your Research Dr Rebekah Higgitt (History) 2 March 2016, 12noon-2pm Getting Published: Targeting the Top Journals and Writing Book Proposals Prof Sally Sheldon (KLS) & Prof Mick Tuite (Biosciences) 17 March 2016, 12noon-2pm Planning your Career Dr Simon Black (SAC/HR) & Prof Sally Sheldon (KLS) 29 March2016, 12noon-2pm
The Figures behind the Figures A regular look at the work of those who have won grants at Kent
Prof Paul Allain School of Arts Few can say that they cut their research teeth by slipping under the Berlin Wall in the 1980s to join a Polish theatre group travelling to the provinces to perform. But Paul Allain, Professor of Theatre and Performance, did just that. He had been a jobbing actor in London, but had signed up to do a PhD at Goldsmiths to explore the physical performance styles for which Polish theatre was known at the time. He subsequently worked as a movement director, using knowledge gained from his training with actors such as Jude Law and Simon Russell Beale. Since coming to Kent in 2000 Paul has applied for more than twenty grants to explore different elements of Polish theatre and actor training, and has been successful on more than 80% of them. It’s an impressive track record, and I asked him what drove him to seek funding. ‘It’s like an itch,’ he suggests. ‘It’s partly self-validation, but it’s also the opportunity to develop interesting and inspiring collaborations. I think I have a desire for activity. I don’t like solitude in research. I come from a theatre background where people work together as a matter of course. I’m used to that sense of community. My funding helps to build communities around research.’ This sense of community has led him to take on additional duties, such as membership of the AHRC’s peer review college, a REF panellist 13
and, lately, as the Faculty Associate Dean (Research and Innovation). In these roles he’s seen ‘practice as research’ move from the sidelines to become firmly embedded in the funding environment. However, although now commonplace, it is still widely misunderstood. ‘Some of the REF case studies we saw were poorly presented and badly supported by institutions. The case still needs to be made: for instance the AHRC has withdrawn specific funding for practice-based research, so we need to continue to lobby for it.’ It is not the only issue on which Paul feels the need to make a stand. Whilst he enjoys collaboration, he recognises the importance of uninterrupted time to think. ‘There are so many demands made on staff now. Small things add up, and it’s a real concern. People should be good citizens, and contribute, but it does make it very difficult to withdraw, especially with the pervasiveness of mobile technology.’ Paul’s latest grant is to develop an online resource on actor training for Methuen Bloomsbury. Until recently, research in this area has been heavily text-based, but it is difficult to convey movement, voice and physicality through words. ‘Film can now come first,’’ says Paul. Funded by Leverhulme, the project had closely missed the funding cut off for an AHRC Leadership Award. ‘It was frustrating, because the decision was based on a misunderstanding of open access by one of the reviewers. I sulked for two weeks, and then took pleasure in reframing it for Leverhulme.’ Looking forward, his new research associate on the project is already exploring the potential for further funded projects leading on from this, just three days into her post. ‘That’s the joy of collaboration,’ he concludes. ‘New ideas, new ways of thinking, and the impetus to move on’.
Claiming Expenses New guidance issued A guidance note has recently been published by the Research Services Accounts team which seeks to clarify how the university’s expenses policy applies to research (and innovation) projects. The key message is that the specific terms and conditions of a grant over-ride the university’s policy. In most cases, funders require claims to be based on actual expenditure supported by original documentation (e.g. receipts) whereas, in some instances, the university allows claims to be made without receipts. The guidance note makes it clear
that claims should be based on actual expenditure supported by receipts etc. unless the funder has specifically agreed that an alternative basis (such as flat rate allowances) can be claimed. Failing to follow this guidance could result in expense claims not being approved or being delayed and/or unexpected costs being charged to general school budgets. It is vital that grants are managed within the funders’ terms and conditions so that we do not incur unfunded costs, incur penalties or be prevented from making further applications. The guidance note also clarifies the
HONOURS
Dr May Seitanidi (KBS) has received the Annual Review of Social Partnerships (ARSP) Honours List Certificate. Prof Ayse Uskul (Psychology) was appointed Associate Editor for Psychological Science, the flagship journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Prof Warwick Funnell (KBS) won the Enrique Fernandez Pena Prize for his paper titled "War or the Business of God: Sacred Mission, Accounting and Spanish Military Hospitals in the 18thCentury." Prof Iain Fraser (Economics) won the Economic Papers Best Paper Prize for his coauthored paper entitled 'How Much Abatement Will Australia's Emissions Reduction Fund Buy?' Dr Lubomira Radoiska (SECL) was elected associate editor of the journal Ethical, Theory and Moral Practice (ETMP). Dr Kirsten AbbotSmith (Psychology, right) was
Whilst research funding is important to Kent, a number of academics at the University have been recognised by their peers in other ways, including: Prof Abdulrazak Gurnah (English, below) was appointed as one of the judges for the 2016 Man Booke r Prize for Fiction. Prof Martin Ridout (SMSAS) was selected as the next President of the British & Irish Region of the International Biometric Society. Dr Diane Cole (SMSAS) was appointed as an Associate Editor for Biometrics. Prof Paul Allain (Arts) was selected as a member of Academia Europa.
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responsibilities of all those included in the expense claim process, from the claimant to the Payments Office. One important point to note is the need to record clearly on expense claim forms the purpose of journeys or other expenditure and include destinations. For example, if attending a conference, the name of the conference (acronyms are fine!) and the location of the conference should be included. Want to know more? The full guidance note, which was circulated to schools in November 2015, can be found at: bit.ly/1TJusbX Alternatively, contact Nigel Martin (n.t.d.martin@kent.ac.uk, xtn 16448)
awarded the prize for the best article of the year by the International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders. The coauthored paper is entitled ‘How much exposure to English is necessary for a bilingual toddler to perform like a monolingual peer in language tests?’ Dr Jane Reeves (SSPSSR, above) was awarded the Chief Constable’s Commendation & Merit Award inn recognition of her extensive work raising awareness of online grooming and radicalization. Prof Peter Boenisch (Arts) was invited to be a Fellow at the International Research College "Interweaving Performance Cultures" in Berlin.
WELCOME! 15 academics have joined Kent since September. Join with us in welcoming them to Kent, and take a moment to find out about their research interests. Mr Amrit A m i r a p u (Economics, left): Development Economics and Applied Microeconomics (including Labour Economics, Industrial Organization and Organizational Economics). Dr Ben Cocking (Journalism): travel journalism, news media and political communications, travel writing, cultural theory and postcolonial theory. Dr Alfredo Deano Cabrera (SMSAS): Analytical and computational properties of classical special functions; Recurrence relations, integral representations and asymptotic analysis using steepest descent. Prof Stephen Flowers (KBS): characteristics of sites in which innovation by users and communities occur; users and community innovation in the context of services; implications for servicebased firms of innovative activity by users and communities; how users and communities mobilise the resources required to undertake innovative activities Dr Emily Guerry (History, right): the relationship between religious devotion and artistic
representation in the Middle Ages, in particular how the veneration of relics influenced Christian iconography. Dr Amir- Homayoun Javad i (Psychology): non-pharmacological approaches to enhancement of memory, learning, and decision making in order to refine and improve the effects, as well as the methods. Dr Ed Kirton-Darling (KLS): Public Law and Family Law, with an emphasis on critical interdisciplinary approaches. Dr Alex Marlow-Mann (SECL): European (and particularly Italian) cinema with strong interests in regional cinemas, the politics of popular genre cinema, cognitive theory, film and emotion, and film preservation. Dr Todd Mei (SECL): the philosophy of economics and the relation between Continental and analytic philosophy Dr Paul Saines (SPS): designing new coordination compounds, which form extended crystalline frameworks, as a novel route to developing substances with complex and tuneable elec-
tronic and magnetic properties. Dr Helena Shepherd (SPS): structureproperty correlations in solid state molecular chemistry and finding new ways to exploit structural features for useful devices. Dr Laura Sudulich (PolIR, right): the effects of new media use on electoral behavior and public opinon, electoral campaigns and their effects on vote gains, Voting Advice Applications, election forecasting and processes of politicization. Dr James Urquhart (SPS): Statistical studies of star forming regions and investigating their connection to the large scale structure of the Milky Way. Dr Nils Waterstraat (SMSAS): Topological methods in Functional Analysis and their applications to Geometry and Differential Equations Dr Wantao Yu (KBS): functional capabilities (operations, IT, and marketing), retail operations and logistics, supply chain integration, green supply chain management, and operations and entrepreneurship in emerging markets.
Newton Fund Set to Double by 2021
The UK Government has just announced a significant expansion of the Newton Fund. The new international research funding scheme,
which was originally scheduled to end in 2019, is now set to continue until 2021. Furthermore the total budget has been doubled from £375 million to £735 million, resulting in over £100 million a year being available to UK researchers for international collaborations. Other changes will be the addition of Kenya as a part15
nering country. The University of Kent has been awarded 6 Newton research grants, since the fund started in 2014, partnering with Brazil, Turkey and India. Want to know more? Cont act Ca rol yn B arke r (c.m.barker-47@kent.ac.uk, xtn 7957)
CHOICE CUTS FROM THE BLOG
H2020 Application Wins the Turner Prize 8 December 2015
Government Follows up REF and TEF with AEF and FTEF 15 November 2015
For the latest news and rumours from the world of research funding, log on to http://fundermental.blogspot.com
The Turner Prize was awarded yesterday to a group of twenty academics for an unsuccessful Horizon 2020 application. The judges announced that the collective, had secured the prize for 'a ground-up approach to recycling an idea multiple times.' 'The Turner Prize is all about challenging concepts of beauty,' said one of the judges. 'Whereas in the past a pickled shark and an unmade bed have made the cut, we felt that this collective had challenged us to consider the essential beauty of futility. Their belief in the sheer 'impossibility of (application) death in the mind of the living (applicant)', to misquote Damien Hirst, is masterful.’ 'And the artwork itself reminds me of the work of White– read or Gormley. It has a haunted loneliness, a sadness, an absence. It speaks of lost hours, never to be reclaimed. At the same time it has a Utopian dynamic, reminiscent of the Russian Futurists. The claims they make for what will be achieved are, of course, ludicrous, but that just adds to the wonderful imaginative discourse.' When asked to comment, the collective stated that they were 'grateful, and £40k will come in handy, but it's not exactly the millions of Euros we were hoping for, is it? Our plan is to put it in for the Booker next year. It's essentially fiction so it should be eligible.'
Following the new Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), the Government has announced plans to introduce an Administration Excellence Framework (AEF) and a Free Time Excellence Framework (FTEF). 'Research and Teaching are only a part of an academic's life' explained Jo Johnson, Minister of State for Universities, Science and Excessive Assessment. 'We want to get a full star rating, for absolutely every single part of it: every moment of every day.' 'For the AEF academics will have to submit their four best additional duties. They will be peer reviewed by other put-upon academics to create an overall quality profile. The scoring will be similar to the REF, and will run from 4*, which is internationally recognised as a waste of time, right down to 1*, which is only locally recognised as a waste of time.' 'The FTEF will be more problematic,' went on the less famous brother of Boris, 'due to the extensive range of activities that need to be covered, and the hopelessly limited amount of time in which they have to be completed. This time we will use the Impact Case Study model.' 'The result will be a complete, quality profile for every academic. The only thing missing will be a Sleep Excellence Framework, but of course that's negligible.’
Exclusive: REF2020 Logo Revealed 9 Oct 2015 With just fifty months until the likely submission date for the next REF, HEFCE has announced the design for the REF2020 logo. The design was revealed at a showbiz ceremony in the heart of Bristol's glittering Abbey Wood. An expectant crowd of literally tens - or ten - of Higher Education's finest celebrities gathered to drink mulled cava and eat slightly stale Hula Hoops and listen to the announcement. 'This is a very exciting time for everyone here,' gushed Hermione Autobahn, HEFCE's Director of Creativity and Peripherals. 'A huge number of very exciting designs were submitted, and it was tremendously hard to select the final design. Many seemed a little fixated on ideas suggestive of long jail sentences, heavy workloads, and barcodes. Pat rick Macgoohan seemed to feature quite prominently in many of them.' However, we wanted something bold, fresh and young, whilst giving a nod to the past. So, without further ado, let me show you...the Face of REF2020!' With a panache that suggested long hours practising in front of the mirror, Ms Autobahn pulled a cord and swept back a pair of little curtains to reveal the design. 'Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!' she thundered.
Lookalike Corner The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has secured the services of the Mekon, former leader of the Treens of northern Venus. ‘This is an exiting time for us,’ crooned a BIS spokesman. ‘He’s a man with a stellar reputation.’ Any resemblance to Said Javid is purely coincidental. 16
Javid
Mekon