Research Active Vol 08 Issue 1 Oct 2013 by University of Kent

Fu IN ll L A is SID w t ar of E: ds R p4 ec - 5 en t

Research Active The Newsletter of University of Kent Research Services, Vol 8, Issue 1, Oct 2013

RESEARCH STRATEGY LAUNCHED At the end of last term Senate formally approved the University’s Research and Impact Strategy 2013-16. The Strategy sets out four key ambitions for the University:    

To increase the volume and intensity of world leading research To increase interdisciplinary research and partnerships To increase impact To support research-led teaching.

Prof John Baldock, PVC Research, took the lead in drafting the Strategy, following a wide-ranging consultation process with Directors of Research and others. In the introduction he made clear that ‘research is fundamental to the character of the University, its reputation, and its contributions to society, The overall ambition is to increase research intensity: by raising the proportion of academic staff conducting research and producing publications and other outputs of the highest quality.‘ Once the REF has been submitted (29 November), the Deputy Director of Research Services, Phil Ward, will be meeting with Directors of Research (DoRs) and other to discuss how best to realise these ambitions. Whilst the Strategy outlines a number of broad objectives and actions, an implementation plan will be developed through the Autumn and Winter, providing a road map for such issues as training for DoRs, standardising Workload Allocation Models, benchmarking and drafting the detail for the new Fellowships Scheme. Want to know more? A summary of the Strategy, together with a downloadable pdf of the full document, is available at: www.kent.ac.uk/researchservices/about/research-strategy.html

Kent ,UEA and Essex form the Eastern Arc Collaboration One of the Strategy’s four key ambitions is the development of interdisciplinary research and partnerships. The first concrete demonstration of this was the establishment of the Eastern Academic Research Consortium (ARC) with the Universities of East Anglia and Essex. Initially focussing on three broad areas of interest, the Consortium will build on the universities' existing research and partnership activities to become a significant new force in research, and research training. The universities have committed to funding six Eastern ARC Fellows and 18 Eastern ARC PhD studentships over a five-year period. More on Eastern ARC on page 2.

INSIDE THIS EDITION Eastern ARC Sciences Funding Success Overview of Funding New Awards Grants Factory 2013-14 Horizon 2020 Future Priorities of ESRC Review of Peer Review Recycling your Proposal Tips on Applying to NIHR Contact Us New Starters REF Update Choice Cuts from the Blog

2 2 3 4 6 7 8 8 9 9 9 10 11 12

ResearchActive is edited by Phil Ward. Contact him for more information or clarification on any of the items in this edition. In addition, 1 or Twitter @frootle for the latest from the world of research funding, go to fundermental.blogspot.com,

EASTERN ARC: The Story So Far

The Universities of East Anglia, Essex and Kent established the Eastern Academic Research Consortium (ARC) in September 2013. The initiative follows similar geographic collaborations in other parts of the UK, including ‘GW4’ (involving Bristol, Bath, Exeter and Cardiff) and ‘N8’ (involving Manchester, Sheffield, and Newcastle, amongst others). Structure

year period. Kent has agreed to fund a further postdoctoral fellow at Kent, so that there will be one in each of the areas. Further funding for travel, workshops and meetings, together with the necessary costs associated with the Fellows’ research, was currently being negotiated with Finance. Current Progress There have been a number of meetings between the academic leads, both internally and externally, to decide how best to develop collaborations in the three priority areas.

The three universities will initially nurture collaboration in three broad interdisciplinary areas:  Digital Humanities  Quantitative Social Sciences  Environmental Science/ Synthetic Biology

Digital Humanities The theme leads have agreed to hold an open meeting at UEA London in January to discuss the role of the Fellows and the focus of the studentships.

For each area there is an academic lead at each of the universities, one of whom is nominated to take overall responsibility (see below).

Quantitative Social Sciences the theme leads plan to meet at the end of October. In the meantime Dr Heejung Chung, is gathering information about the quantitative research done within schools.

Funding The universities will fund six Eastern ARC Fellows and 18 Eastern ARC PhD studentships over a fiveKent

Environmental Science/ Synthetic Biology There was a very strong consensus

UEA

Essex

Digital Humanities

Prof Ray Laurence

Prof Mark Jancovich

Prof Aletta Norval

Quantitative Social Science

Dr Heejung Chung

Prof Jacqueline Collier

Prof Thomas Pluemper

Synthetic Biology

Prof Mark Smales

Prof Phil Gilmartin

Prof Christina Raines

Project Manager

Phil Ward

Helen Lewis

Dr Janice Pittis

between the theme leads that the area of Synthetic Biology should be the focus for the Fellows. This was an area that each institution wished to strengthen, and it was hoped collaborations and larger grants could be developed within it. In addition, the project managers will meet in November to consider the practical processes behind the initiative. Future Developments Whilst the Eastern ARC is taking shape, the details are still being worked out. The PVC Research, is keen to encourage grassroots engagement with the initiative, and some thought is being given to the support mechanisms for individual initiatives and partnerships outside of the strategic priorities.

Sciences Funding Success The Faculty of Sciences has increased the value of research awards won for the second year in a row. In 2012-13 they won 87 r e s e a r ch a w a r d s , t o t a l li n g £7,997,953, a sum exceeded only once in the past 6 years. The Dean, Prof Mark Burchell, congratulated all those who had played a part in this achievement. ‘Research income is essential. Whilst it’s important for REF2014 and other league tables, its critical in enabling excellent research to happen. It allows us to stock labs, acquire equipment and hire research assistants, but it also provides PIs with that most valuable resource: time for research. ‘As research awards become increasingly competitive I am delighted to see an increase in both the value of awards and the range of funders from whom they are won. ‘2012-13 shows that we can and have improved research funding across the Faculty. Now we need to press forward to reach even higher levels of research support.’

An Overview of Research Funding, Apr-Aug 2013 Last term saw grants from the BBSRC make up more than a quarter of the total value of awards. This was due to Prof Mark Smales, who got the largest Sciences award for the second term running, (see below), but also to Prof Colin Robinson, who joined the University this year. His three BBSRC awards total £616,403. Elsewhere special mention should be made to Shona Illingworth and Zaki Wahhaj, who are both based in Schools which do not have a history of getting large grants. Congratulations to them both.

Humanities 10%

Social Sciences 41% Sciences 49%

Total Award Value by Faculty

Largest Individual Awards (titles of projects listed overleaf) Humanities: Shona Illingworth (Music & Fine Art) £129,400 from Wellcome

Sciences: Prof Mark Smales (Biosciences) £398,766 from BBSRC

EKHUNFT 2% Other (<1%) Wellcome 8% EPSRC 4% 3% Interreg 4% Darwin 4%

ESRC 14%

NIHR 5%

EC 9%

AusAID 10%

Leverhulme BA 5% 6%

Award Value 6 5

Award Number (>1award)

4 3

Social Sciences: Dr Zaki Wahhaj (Economics) £372,450 from AusAID

BBSRC 26%

2 1 0

FULL LIST OF AWARDS: 1 April—31 July 2013 Below are awards for more than £1000 made last Term. They do not include extensions or supplements. HUMANITIES Music & Fine Arts Shona Illingworth: Lesions in the Landscape: Claire and the Island of Hirta (Wellcome, £129,400) English Dr Paddy Bullard (left): Personal Knowledge, Enlightenment and the Printed Word 16401815 (BA, £44,906) SECL Dr Anna Schaffner: Medical Theories of Exhaustion: a Historical Analysis (Wellcome, £3,715) Dr Julien Murzi: Inference and Logic (BA, £9,810) Dr Ellen Swift: Design for Living: Artefact Function and Everyday Roman Social Practice (Leverhulme, £21,240) Prof Ben Hutchinson: Visiting Fellowship (Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach, £1,375) Dr Danielle van den Heuvel: Shadow Economics: Informality, Institutions and Economic Development in Northwest Europe (BA, £112,334) NON-FACULTY UELT Dr Janice Malcolm: Discipline and Workplace Learning in Practice: an Exploratory Study of Academic Work (SRHE, £8,500) SCIENCES Centre for Molecular Processing Prof Colin Robinson (right): Novel Tat-Based Systems for Recombinant Protein Produc-

tion and Surface Display in Bacteria (BBSRC, £252,516); Improving Biopharmaceutical Production in Microbial Systems: Engineering GlycoPEGylation in EColi (BBSRC, £27,708); and Development of New -Generation Bacterial Secretion Process Platforms (BBSRC, £336,179) Prof Mark Smales: Unravelling and Engineering the Role of Metals on Recombinant Therapeutic Protein Synthesis and Heterogeneity from Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells (BBSRC, £398,766) Prof Martin Michaelis: Determination of the Stemness Properties of Drug-Resistant Neuroblastoma Cells (BPS, £1,440), and: Investigation of the Role of Wnt Signalling in Platinum Drug-Resistant Neuroblastoma Cells (Wellcome, £1,440) Medway School of Pharmacy Dr Scott Wildman: A Proof of Concept, Longitudinal, Comparative, Observational Study of Urinary Epithelial Cell Infection in Renal Transplant Patients and Asymptomatic Controls (Kidney Research UK, £28,897) Biosciences Dr Gary Robinson: Algal/Bacterial Interactions: Just a Question of Vitamin B12? (Society of Biology, £1,440) Prof Mike Geeves: Expression and Purification of Cardiac Myosin Light Chains (Society of Biology, £1,440) Dr Steffi Frank: Engineering Bacterial Microcompartments for Recombinant Protein Production (Leverhulme, £69,000) Dr Chris Shepherd: Elucidating the Molecular Switch for Nitric Oxide Sensing in Campylobacter Jejuni (Biochemical 4

Society, £1,600), and Nitric Oxide Tolerance in Uropathogenic EColi (UPEC) (Society for General Micobiology, £1,872) Prof Martin Warren: Construction of a Vitamin B12 Trojan Horse (Wellcome Trust, £1,440) Dr Mark Howard: Revealing Structure-Function Relationships of Peptide-Integrin Specificity Using NMR (Wellcome, £1,440) Computing Dr Scott Owens (left): Relaxed memory Model Design for Theory and Practice (EPSRC, £98,538) Dr Dominique Chu: Using in Silico Evolution to Understand the Origin of Codon Usage Bias (Royal Society, £3,600) Prof Frank Wang: Re-Discover a Periodic Table of Elementary Circuit Elements (EC, £261,484) Engineering and Digital Arts Prof Jiangzhou Wang: Small Cell Technologies and Heterogeneous Networks (NTT DoCoMo Inc, £32,547), and Present and Future Wireless Mobile Communications in China (RAE, £6,000) Dr Konstantinos Sirlantzis: Smart Automotive Vehicle for Urban Mobility using Renewable Energy (SAVEMORE) (Interreg, £88,331) Dr Paul Young: Low-Cost HD Indoor Communication Terminal with Flexible Substrate (HOMES) (Interreg, £77,581) Dr Gareth Howells: International Workshop on Human-Machine Systems, Cyborgs and Enhancing Devices (ONR Global, £3,182) Dr Xinggang Yan: Variable Structure Control for Complex Singular Systems with Applications in Biological Systems (RAE, £5,900) Prof Yong Yan: Advanced Monitoring and Computational Modelling of Burner Flames for Environmentally Friendly Power Generation from Biomass and Pulverised Coal (RAE, £15,800) Prof Steven Gao: Advanced Reflectarray Antenna for Small Satellites Synthetic Aperture Radars (RAE,

£23,615) SMSAS Dr Jim Shank: The Vector Invariants of GL_n(F_p) (LMS, £1,200) Dr Federico Zullo: Fellowship (INdAM, £6,895) Physical Sciences Dr Maria Alfredsson (left): Developing a Non-Metallic Fibre Battery (DSTL, £22,481) Sports & Exercises Sciences Dr James Hopker: The Use of a Self-Paced VO2 max Protocol for Assessing Maximal Oxygen Uptake in Post Myocardial Infarction and Pre-Operative Care of Patients with Cardiovascular Disease (EKHUNFT, £53,046) SOCIAL SCIENCES Kent Business School Prof Katie Truss: Enhancing and Embedding Employee Engagement in the NHS (NIHR, £74,323) Kent Law School Prof Iain Ramsay: Personal Insolvency in an Age of Austerity (Leverhulme, £40,020) Suhraiya Jivraj: Exploring Wellbeing and Gross National Happiness in Sustainable Development policy Making (BA, £9,208) Dr Emily Haslam: Nineteenth Century Abolition Litigation and the Development of International Criminal Law (Society of Legal Scholars, £1,024) Anthropology and Conservation Dr Matt Struebig: Climate Change, Land Use and Orang-utan Survival ( U N E n v ir o n me n t P r o g r a m , £31,527) Dr Jim Groombridge: Determining the Evolutionary Distinctiveness of the Seychelles Black Parrot (Seychelles Island Foundation, £19,279), and Population Genetics of Fodys on Adabra (Seychelles Is-

land Foundation, £5,534) Prof Douglas MacMillan: Reviving Socio-Ecological Landscapes for Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Change Adaptation (Darwin Initiative, £171,317) Prof Richard Griffiths & Prof Byron Morgan (SMSAS): Analytical and Methodological Development for Improved Surveillance of the Great Crested Newt, and Other Pond Vertebrates (Pond Conservation, £11,741) Economics Dr Zaki Wahhaj: The Role of Secondary Schooling and Gender Norms in the Long-Term Opportunities and Choices of Rural Bangladeshi Women (AusAID, £372,450) Politics and International Relations Prof Elena Korosteleva: Democracy through Education (FCO, £5,000)and International Research Visit to BSU (CEELBAS, £2,000) Dr Ben Syed: Public Attitudes towards Politics Conference (Political Studies Association, £1,860), Psychology Dr Georgina Randsley de Moura (right): Flexible Pedagogies (HEA, £2,000) Dr David Wilkinson: Electrophysiological Reponses to Caloric Vestibular Stimulation (Scion NeuroStim, £22,056) Dr Ayse Uskul: Effects of Being Ignored vs Humiliated as Forms of Social Exclusion: Evidence from the Black Sea Region (British Institute at Ankara, £4,960), and Ostracism in Micro Cultures: Evidence from Farmers and Herders (BA, £69,172) Prof Dominic Abrams: Mobilising the Potential of Active Ageing in Europe (MOPACT) (EC, £100,796) Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research Dr Dawn Lyon: The Social, Historical, Cultural and Democratic Context of Civic Engagement: Imagining Different Communities and Making Them Happen (ESRC, £64,099) 5

Dr Ben Baumberg: Disability, Impairments and Poverty (JRF, £4,615) Dr Heejung Chung: Working Time Flexibility and Work-Life Balance across Europe and the Role of Contexts (ESRC, £243,486) Dr Ben Baumberg: What Is ‘Incapacity’? The Role of Working Conditions and Job Availability Claims and whether These Should Be Part of Incapacity Assessment (ESRC, £247,071) Prof Stephen Peckham: Commission for Long Term Conditions: Hearing the Voice of and Engaging Users (EVOC) (DH, £14,158) Prof Simon Coulton: Development of a Risk Model for the Prediction of New or Worsening Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) (NIHR, £34,790) Ann Netten and Dr Matthew Towers: Development of a Care Home Quality Indicator Based on Residents’ Social Care Related Quality of Life: Formats and Interpretations of Reported Results (NIHR, £64,223) Dr Kate Hamilton-West: Understanding the Support Needs of Disabled Children and their Families in East Kent (EKHUNFT, £33,066) Dr Dave Garbin: & Dr Sophia Labadi (SECL) Memory Matters: Material Culture and African Diaspora Heritage (HLF, £16,256) Dr Beth Breeze: Philanthropic Journeys (Pilotlight, £7,500), and A Study of Giving Collaboratives in the UK (University of Nebraska, Lincoln, £1,305) Linda Jenkins: Healthy Foundations (NHS Hastings & Rother, £15,000) CORRIGENDUM In the last edition of Research Active Prof Janet Krska’s grant, Evaluation of Spirometry Testing as an Addition to the NHS Health Check Provided by Community Pharmacists (Lewisham PCT) was listed as being £29,992. It should have read £41,455.

GRANTS FACTORY 2013-14 This year sees the most ambitious Grants Factory yet. Not only will the programme of workshops run by experienced academics continue, but we're building on the success of last year's Early Career Researcher Network to offer a forum for ECRs to meet and discuss issues around developing their careers, and we're complementing both with a series of Writing Group drop-in sessions. There will be more information on all these sessions closer to the time, but if you would like to come along to any of them based on the information below, contact Phil Ward (p.ward@kent.ac.uk).

EARLY CAREER RESEARCHER NETWORK The ECR Network exists to offer mutual support to academics at the beginning of their careers. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an opportunity to meet others informally and share the highs and lows of getting started in academia. 16 October 24pm

Planning your Career

8 November, 7pm 27 November, 2-4pm

ECR Social

6 December, 7pm 12 February, 2-4pm 21 February, 7pm 5 March, 24pm 12 March, 7pm 30 May, 7pm

Getting Published: Targeting Top Journals and Writing Book Proposals ECR Social Using Social Media to Support your Career ECR Social Balancing the Conflicting Demands of Academia ECR Social ECR Social

GRANTS FACTORY WORKSHOPS The Grants Factory workshops are an opportunity to hear from experienced colleagues about how funders work and what theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re looking for. This year there is a focus on Horizon 2020, but there will also be in-depth sessions on the Research Councils, including mock panel exercises. 9 October, 11-3pm

The Leverhulme Trust

23 October, 1-5pm

Open Access: Understanding the New Landscape

14 November

Gearing up for Horizon 2020 (invitation only)

11 December, 124pm 5 February 12-5pm

How the AHRC Peer Review Panel Works: overview and mock panel exercise Outreach, Impact & Public Engagement

12 February, 24pm 12 March, 12-4pm

Involving End Users in your Research

3 April, 2-4pm

How the ESRC Peer Review Panel Works: overview and mock panel exercise Alternative Sources of Funding for your Research

9 May, 2-4pm

Overview of Horizon 2020

4 June, 12-4pm

How the EPSRC Peer Review Panel Works: overview and mock panel exercise

GRANTS FACTORY WRITING GROUPS Struggling to prepare a proposal alone? Finding it hard to get motivated? This year the Grants Factory will offer writing groups where you can meet other applicants for mutual help and support. Faculty Funding Officers will be on hand for advice, and each group will be mentored by a senior academic mentor with peer review panel experience. There will be four groups: Arts & Humanities (Mentors: Dr Simon Kirchin & Prof Gordon Lynch) Social Sciences (Mentor: Prof Sarah Vickerstaff) ICT, Maths & Physical Sciences (Mentors: Profs Simon Thompson & Sarah Spurgeon) Life & Health Sciences (Mentor: Prof Mick Tuite) 30 October, 12-2pm w/c 18 November w/c 27 January

Kick-off Event: Essential Elements of a Good Application Writing Group Drop-in Session Writing Group Drop-in Session

w/c 24 February w/c 24 March

Writing Group Drop-in Session

w/c 12 May

Writing Group Drop-in Session

HORIZON2020: WHERE WE’RE AT In the last edition of Research Active (Vol 7, Issue 3) we gave an overview of Horizon 2020 (H2020). Proposals have developed further over the summer, and now is a good opportunity to understand where we are at. The Structure The basic structure of H2020 has remained unaltered from that that was first proposed by the Commission almost two years ago. In summary there will be three elements: excellent science (i.e. responsive mode funding for 'basic' research, such as Marie Curie, the ERC, and the Future and Emerging Technologies scheme); societal challenges (similar to FP7's Cooperation, but with more emphasis on the potential of research to solve society's ills): and industrial leadership (i.e. the enterprise and innovation funding). The Budget The EC, Parliament and Council have agreed a budget of 70.2bn Euros, or 68.7bn Euros if you exclude Euratom. It's intended that small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) will get 20% of this. It's less than the hoped for 80bn Euros, but you can almost hear the collective sigh of relief that an agreement has reached and we can move on to the drafting of the detail. Draft work programmes have already emerged, and we already have a good sense of what to expect. The three pillars will divide the budget like this: Excellent science: 32%, or 22bn Euros;

 Societal challenges: 39%, or

27bn Euros;  Industrial leadership: 22%, or 16bn Euros. Rules for Participation As always with a new Framework Programme, there's talk of simplification, but this time it seems to be justified. There is an intention to have a single document for each call, not the previous smorgsbord of annexes and additional documents. Thus, it will probably be like a home insurance policy, with an all inclusive document and a covering statement telling you which parts refer to you. Better still there will be no time sheets for researchers working full time on a European project. The EC is also in the process of drafting a simplified Consortium Agreement, and intends to allow a 'broader acceptance' of each participants accounting rules for direct costs. Reimbursement Rates Reimbursement rates - i.e. the amount of funding you'll actually get - have been set at a 'simplified' 100% for the direct costs of all participants, and 25% for indirect costs. That's certainly simpler than than the complex algorithms which have characterised previous FPs. However, there are some caveats. Projects that are 'close to market' may only get 70% funding for commercial partners, and there's talk of a 8k Euro 'bonus' that projects can seek for non-profit partners. In addition VAT will be an allowable expense. Time to Grant Most heartening of all, the EC is going to try to cut the 'time 7

to grant' (i.e.negotiation time between being told you've got a grant and it actually being awarded) from the current 1+ year to 8 months. Two possible solutions as to how this will be made possible are being talked about: either taking are a tougher 'take it or leave it’ line on negotiations, and/or asking reviewers to consider the project as a whole, rather than allowing them to favour the projects that excite them in principle, and leaving it up to EC officers to try and work out how to make it work in practice. New

Innovation

Measures

Whilst many elements of H2020 will be a continuation of FP7, albeit reconfigured, the EC does intend to introduce additional funding to support innovation. This may include prizes, including inducement to commercial organisations to take part, and a 'fast track to innovation' scheme, which would have a rolling deadline, and would offer up to 3m euros for no more than 5 partners. Open Access The EC ran a pilot on OA during FP7. It is believed they are happy with the results, and want to roll it out throughout H2020. The costs of doing so - i.e. funding for article processing charges (APCs) can be included in a project, but will have to be included in the original budget. So bear that in mind when you come to us for your costing. Want to know more? Research Services has a dedicated H2020 website with the latest updates: http://www.kent.ac.uk/researchservice s/horizon2020/index.html

The Future Priorities of ESRC In the Spring Prof Paul Boyle, Chief Executive of the ESRC, held a series of regional meetings outlining the its plans for the future. Overview The ESRC currently gives out £200m in funding, of which slightly less than quarter goes on responsive mode funding. Whilst it had cut Small Grants, it still provided small scale funding (such as for the Secondary Data Analysis initiative). It was committed to continued funding for international collaboration (providing up to 30% funding for overseas Co-Is), and for interdisciplinary working, being part of all six of RCUK’s cross-council programmes. It saw engagement with the private sector as a key priority for the future, particularly in financial services, green business and retail. Strategic Priorities ESRC had recently reviewed its three strategic priorities (economic performance and sustainable growth; influencing behaviour and informing interventions; vibrant and fair society), but had decided not to change them. However, it had recognised that there were gaps within these, and that further ‘urgent but predictable scientific opportunities’ had arisen since the priorities were first formed. Moreover, looking at the funding trend towards 2016/17, there was ‘investment headroom’ as current grants tailed off. Thus, the ESRC would be looking to provide more funding, or facilitate further networks, frameworks and events, in the following areas: Evidence:  ‘Big data’  ‘What Works’ (i.e. embedding evi-

dence in policy and practice. Whilst on a different scale, They likened this to NICE – i.e. to synthesise evidence robustly, recommend interventions and monitor their success)  Macroeconomics Economic Performance:  Business innovation  Financial markets  Cities  Green economy Influencing Behaviour:  Epigenetics and educational neuroscience  Innovation in health and social care  Higher education Fair & Vibrant Society:  Civil society and social innovation  Social media  Work (such as the impact of recession. There might be a new call around this). 

Demand Management The ESRC had encouraged universities to implement internal peer review. As a result there had been a 37% decrease in application volume, and success rates had risen from 17% to 24% across its schemes. The decrease in volume had also led to a 20% decrease in peer review activity. The ESRC was still considering whether to introduce tougher measures for demand management. However, any measures would be more nuanced. If a university was not considered to be ‘playing the game’ there may be specific sanctions that would not affect the rest of the sector. He suggested that universities should test the effectiveness of an internal peer review system by questioning how many projects had actually been rejected as a result of it. This was not black and white, however: he clarified that by ‘rejected’ he meant ‘rejected in 8

its current state’, i.e. that they had been encouraged to reframe and redraft their application following feedback. Want to know more? The full text of this article, with relevant links, is available on the blog: http://fundermental.blogspot.co.uk/201 3/04/notes-from-esrc-regionalmeeting-april.html

The Review of Kent Peer Review In October 2010 we launched an internal peer review system. We didn't want the new system to be a deterrent to good applications; rather, we wanted to encourage applicants to share their proposals, to open up and engage in constructive conversations. Under the system, applicants have to contact us early with either a draft application or an 'intention to apply' form. This we send to two reviewers: one with a knowledge of the discipline, one with an understanding of the funder. This summer we reviewed the system to see what difference it had made. The figures suggest that using KPR improves your chances - marginally. But in today’s tough environment, marginal is important. The success rate for applications that had gone through KPR was 23%, compared to a pre-KPR average (2008-11) of 19%, and a nonKPR average of 20%. More markedly, the average value of awards from KPR applications was 25% higher than those that didn't go through KPR, and 30% up on the pre-KPR period, suggesting that, when it mattered, applicants wanted the best feedback they could get. The figures suggest that we can’t be complacent, and we need now to encourage further, fuller engagement with the system.

Recycling your Proposal Given the shrinking success rates, it makes sense to consider whether and where - you should recycle your funding proposal. At a Grants Factory event in May Prof Ray Laurence and Prof Peter Taylor-Gooby encouraged people to consider doing this, but sounded a note of caution.

Take Stock Firstly, think about your motivation. A rejection might be a good opportunity to step back from your project and really think about why you're doing it. Are you passionate about the project, or have you just got on the 'funding treadmill', believing you should be submitting funding bids without really thinking whether it's what you want? If

Tips on applying to the NIHR

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funds NHSrelated research, including social care and public health. Last year it gave out over £200m of research grants. Here Dr Gail Gilchrist (Greenwich) offers some advice on applying to the NIHR’s Patient Benefit (RfPB) scheme. Get the basics right As with many other funders, applicants need to make sure that they’ve got an important research question, with a feasible chance of getting an answer; that the methodology is sound and appropriate; that

you're just doing it through a sense of obligation it's actually 'hugely depressing' when you get the funding. Take on Board Feedback If you are motivated by a passion for your project, and do want to try again, make sure that your passion isn’t blinding you to its shortcomings. Take on board the feedback offered with the rejection. A dose of tough love will make your new application stronger. Be Aware of Differences It's easy to assume that all funders are much the same, but there are key differences, and funders get angry with 'lazy' resubmissions from elsewhere. Take time to really understand the remit of the new funder, what its motivation is, and what it hopes to achieve with that particular scheme. Think Imaginatively In many disciplines there are a limthe proposal can be understood by a broad audience; and that the team is appropriate, multidisciplinary and sufficiently experienced. Specific challenges There are specific challenges for the NIHR. You need to give time to build a multidisciplinary team; to ensure access to NHS sites, to engage with service users; to incorporate steering committees or advisory groups; to estimate the number of participants; and to decide on the most appropriate forms of dissemination. Tips  Get all relevant people on board

before writing. It takes time to get all the people registered,

Want to discuss your research plans, but not sure who to approach? Get in touch with your Faculty Funding Officer as a first point of contact, as below. Humanities Lynne Bennett Social Sciences Brian Lingley Carolyn Barker Sciences Helen Leech

ited number of funders to whom you can submit essentially the same project. You might have to think about carving up the project into smaller sub-projects, or seek funding for a pilot to demonstrate potential that will, in the long term, strengthen your hand. Sit down and consider your project, dividing it up into activities for which funding is essential, and those for which it is desirable. Alternatively, you could consider expanding a small scale application, say from a visiting fellow to a network, which may increase the possible sources of funding, and potential value of exchanges. Consider Collaboration Working together with a successful colleague may help get the funding, but it could also be beneficial in other ways, strengthening your project, and opening up new avenues and areas of interest.

with the necessary CVs uploaded and approved. Remember, public and patient involvement (PPI) is crucial, but it can be time consuming. In addition, working with large NHS organisations isn't always straightforward.  Don't leave it until the last minute.  Be aware of word count, and make sure to save your draft application regularly.  Review and revise. Peer and lay review is incredibly helpful. Want to know more? The full text of this article is on the blog at bit.ly/1ch50ZY. Kent also hosts the Research Design Service, which provides dedicated support for NIHR applicants: bit.ly/1gLHpCM

l.bennett‐282@kent.ac.uk b.lingley@kent.ac.uk c.m.barker‐47@kent.ac.uk h.leech@kent.ac.uk 9

xtn 4799 xtn 4427 xtn 7957 Xtn 7957/8850

WELCOME! 49 academics have joined the University since April. Join with us in welcoming them to Kent, and take a moment to find out about their research interests.

Dr Adolf Acquaye (KBS): the development and application of sustainability frameworks and models used to inform business practice, research and policies for a sustainable and low carbon society. Ms Paloma Atencia Linares (Arts, right): the philosophy of photography and pictorial representation; the relations between art and reality; the distinction between fiction and nonfiction in the visual arts. Prof Stuart Barnes (KBS): the successful utilisation of new information and communications technologies by businesses, governments and consumers. Dr Laura Biron (SECL): political philosophy and taxation, bioethics, philosophy of religion and Kant's practical philosophy. Dr O Burger (SAC): Research interests TBC. Dr Alessia Busc a i n o (Biosciences, left): Genetics and Epigenetics of repetitive DNA elements in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe and the fungal pathogen Candida albicans Dr Sam Carr (SPS): Research interests TBC. Dr Ambrogio Caiani (History): Revolutionary France and Napoleonic Italy. Prof James Carley (History): Glastonbury Abbey and its chronicles; Henry VIII's library and its sources. Prof Leon Chua (Computing): memristors, nonlinear circuits, Cellular Neural Networks, and Chaos Theory. Ms Aleksandra Cichocka (Psychology): the self and various

social and political realities. Dr Simon Cottee (SSPSSR): Apostasy; deviance; political violence and terrorism; war. Prof Theo Dimitrakos (Computing): cloud computing security, cyber security, data confidentiality and data leak protection, trust management and reputation systems, identity and access management, uncertainty reasoning and formal logic. Dr Christos Efstratiou (EDA): pervasive computing, and mobile and embedded sensing. Prof Judy Fudge (KLS): Canadian labour law history, the nexus between immigration and labour law, equality rights at work, precarious work, gender and labour law and labour rights as human rights. Dr Katerina Gousia (CHSS/ PSSRU): applied microeconometrics, health economics, competition and regulation. Dr Stefano Grassi (Economics, right): Time series econometrics, dynamic factor modelling, Bayesian analysis. Dr Rebekah Higgitt (History): the relationship between science, government and the public in 18th- and 19th-century Britain; museums, material culture and the communication of science and its history to the public. Dr Wei Jiang (Economics): Macroeconomics and relevant fields including DSGE modelling, business cycles, dynamic and applied Macroeconomics, and fiscal and monetary policy. Prof Gaynor Johnson (History): twentieth century international history, diplomacy and the statecraft of foreign policy. Dr Eleni Kapogianni 10

(SECL): the semantics/pragmatics interface, experimental pragmatics, and intercultural pragmatics. Prof D Lee (PolIR): Research interests TBC. Prof Norbert Kerr (Psychology): group motivation gains, social dilemmas, social exclusion, juror/jury behaviour, and "how social psychologists (among others) write up their work". Dr Fabrizio Leisen (SMSAS, right): Baye sian NonParametrics, Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods and Stochastic Processes. Prof Christina Lodder (Arts): Early twentieth-century Russian art, architecture and design, their links to Western movements, with a particular focus on the theory and practice of Constructivism and Suprematism. Dr Shaun May (Arts): philosophy and performance; puppetry and object theatre; aesthetic pedagogy; collaboration between theatre makers and scientists; comedy and Autism Spectrum Conditions. Dr Rowena Merritt (CHSS): critical social marketing in relation to the formula milk industry, public health priority areas, obesity, breastfeeding, cancer, HIV/STI, mental health, alcohol & drug misuse & smoking. Prof Martin Meyer (KBS, left): knowledge exchange, academic patenting and emerging sciencebased technologies; quantitative (bibliometric) analysis of science and technology and their interrelationships. Dr M Mollapour

(Biosciences): Research interests TBC. Sean Molloy (PolIR): Kant, Realist Ethics and International Relations. Prof Michael Neill (English): Research interests TBC. Dr Olena Nizalova (PSSRU/CHSS): how the labour market shapes individual behaviours/engagement with family and community, evaluations of major government, population ageing, long-term care. Dr Juliette Pattinson (History, right): cultural memory, oral history methodology and warfare in Western and Eastern Europe. Dr Ekaterini Panopoulou (KBS): Financial Econometrics, Time Series (Modelling and Forecasting), Financial Economics and International Finance. Prof Amanda Perry-Kessaris (KLS): how best to approach the field of legal development--that is, the role of legal phenomena as means, ends, obstacles or irrelevances to human welfare. Mr Edd Pitt (UELT): assessment and feedback in higher education. Dr Emma Pugh (SPS): Research interests TBC. Dr Lubomira Radoilska (SECL, left): Aristotelian theory of autonomous agency as distinctive kind of agential success, and exploring this theory’s wider conceptual and normative implications. Dr S Ramos Perez (SPS): Research interests TBC. Dr Tamara Rathcke (SECL): tone and timing in speech, language and music; language variation and change; laboratory phonology. Dr Robbie Richardson (English): transatlantic exchange, subject formation, material culture, First

Nations studies, colonial discourse, and the rise of consumerism and popular culture. Prof Colin Robinson (Biosciences): Understanding and exploiting (i) protein transport systems in bacteria and chloroplasts, and (ii) pathways for high-value products in microalga. Dr Derek Ryan (English): Virginia Woolf, Modernism, Animal Studies, Posthumanism, Philosophy and Literature. Dr Dominic Scott (SECL): ancient Greek philosophy; contemporary ethics and philosophy of law, especially intellectual property. Dr Anastasios Tsaousis (Biosciences): the patterns and evolutionary mechanisms that shaped the genomic/proteomic, cellular and biochemical adaptations of parasitic unicellular eukaryotes. Dr Matthew Towers (SMSAS): representation theory of quantum algebras. Dr Margrethe Brunn Vaage (Arts): the spectator's engagement with fictional films and television series, and more specifically the imagination, the emotions and the moral psychology of fiction. Prof Dermot Walsh (KLS): Policing and Criminal Justice; Criminal Procedure; Human Rights; European Criminal Law and Procedure. Dr David Williams (Psychology, below): developmental psychopathology, including autism spectrum disorder and specific language impairment. Dr Clare W r i g h t (English): medieval drama and performance, space, place and embodiment. Ms Wei Yang (CHSS/PSSRU): health equity analysis, health care reform, and health policy analysis.

Update on Preparations for the REF As you will know, the deadline for the REF submissions is 29 November 2013. Most decisions about staff and outputs to be included in REF2014 have now been made, although new and additional outputs are still being considered with the aim of maximising the University’s return. The deadline for outputs to appear is 31 December 2013, so there’s still time for new material to appear. At the same time, REF working groups across the University are finalising all the data that has been gathered and uploaded onto the external REF Submission System before the internal deadline of the 25 November 2013. Reviews of all 23 Units of Assessment are being held over the first two weeks in November, and final signoff is planned for the REF Steering Group meeting on Friday 15 November. If you would like to find out more about the current REF2014 progress, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by emailing kentref@kent.ac.uk.

CHOICE CUTS FROM THE BLOG

For the latest news and rumours from the world of research funding, log on to http://fundermental.blogspot.com/ Bear Sh*ts in Woods Shock! 9 April 2013

On 5 April Research Fortnight reported that BIS had published a report that concluded that 'the richest universities take the lion's share under dual support'. This must rank, for news worthiness, along side the recent discovery of the Pope's Catholicism. Yes, the biggest, most research intensive universities really do get most of the government's research funding. What are they going to discover next? That knowing more about stuff makes you cleverer? That drinking coffee makes you jittery? I guess what does make it interesting is the scale of concentration, and what that bodes for the future. The top 10% of universities (in terms of income) get 64% of the Research Councils' funding. The second 10% get 20%, the third get 10%, the fourth get 4%, until you get to the final 40% of universities which get nothing. Interestingly, this distribution hasn’t altered at all over the last decade, which calls into question the belief that RCUK are moving to concentrate their funding on the big hitters. A Professor Writes 27 August 2013 Dear Sir I was pleased to read of Alan Bance's disgust at Wendy Piatt's use of the word 'modern' to describe Post-92 universities (letters, 22 August 2013). Whilst of course I accept that we must all pay lip service to egalitarianism, and that we must pretend to include the former polys in the university fold, Piatt should realise that only universities of a certain age have a right to positive adjectives.

Thus, Russell Group universities have sole custody and use of 'modern', 'progressive', 'worldleading', 'clever', 'good-looking', 'popular', 'funny' and 'sexy'. Post-92s can use 'flea-bitten', 'lacklustre', 'loner', 'weird', 'a bit EMO', 'kept themselves to themselves', and 'I didn't realise they had access to firearms and violent video games'. I hope that clarifies the issue. Yours Prof Piebald (emeritus)

Arbuthnott

Another Professor Writes 27 August 2013 Dear Sir I write in support of Prof (emeritus) Piebald Arbuthnott's admirable clarification on the use of adjectives by the Russell Group and Post-92s. Prompted by his majestic clarification, I thought it was an apposite moment to raise again a modest proposal that I have,. To wit, that, when out in public, all Post-92s be required to wear sackcloth and ring a bell, clearly enunciating in a loud voice the word 'unclean'. This would not, I believe, be too much additional effort, and would help to establish in the public's mind the clear distinction between proper universities and ex-polys. I trust you will support me in this. Yours, etc Revd Prof Tutu McGlenn

OA: Finch Hits Back 13 Sept 2013 Following this week's report from the Select Committee on Open Access, Dame Janet Finch has hit back. The MPs had questioned her preference for Gold OA, saying that, 'at a time when the budgets of universities are under great pressure, it is unacceptable that the government has issued an open-access policy that will require considerable subsidy from research budgets.’ Finch's response was clear: 'That's exactly what I said.' When questioned further by confused journalists, she elaborated. 'Look, any right thinking person would see that where I wrote 'gold' I inferred 'green', and where I wrote 'green' I inferred 'gold'. Anyone who works in government understands that black is white and white is black, and should be argued as such.' 'Perhaps next time the Committee could get on the blower to me and I'll explain to them how stupid they are.' 'Now if there are no more questions I've got an important meeting with Barack Obama to explain what an idiot he's been and how I can help in Syria.'

Lookalike Corner NERC has appointed Iain Gillespie as its Director of Science. Gillespie bears more than a passing resemblance to ‘Frog One’, the baddy from The French Connection (1971). Gilliespie has, however, never smuggled anything from Marseilles in the boot of an unsuspecting French TV personality. As far as we’re aware. 12

Gillespie

Frog One