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Research Active The Newsletter of University of Kent Research Services, Vol 10, Issue 1, Oct 2015
AWARDS REACH ALL-TIME HIGH Academics and researchers at the University won £18.2m worth of grants and awards in 2014/15, the highest total value ever. ‘This is excellent news, and all of those who contributed to it should be justifiably proud.’ said the PVC Research & Innovation, Prof Philippe De Wilde. ‘It is a testament to Kent’s world class research, but also to the commitment and vision of our staff. They are the ones who have mapped out exciting and inspiring research, and have demonstrated how it will be supported by robust project management.’ The total was up 31% on the 5 year rolling average (of £13.8 million),
and marks the continuation of a trend that has seen the long-time ‘glass ceiling’ of £16m broken. The increase in awards has had a resultant effect on research income, which increased 8% on the 5 year rolling average to £13.7m. ‘I offer my congratulations to both the award holders and all those who supported them. Applying for grants is a team effort,’ continued De Wilde. ‘I know that the external funding environment is incredibly tough, and all those who narrowly missed out should not to be disheartened. I appreciate all of their work and would encourage them to continue to strive for funding.’
AWARDS 2014-15 Architecture Arts Biosciences/CMP Computing CSHE Economics EDA
30,130 133,488 6,120,480 922,795 10,756 1,194 1,504,385
English
13,377
History
74,407
KBS
129,409
KLS
20,068
19
Pharmacy
74,896
18
Pol/IR
112,672
17
Psychology
595,645
15
SAC
917,298
14
SECL
642,631
13
SMSAS
948,436
Award Value
16
12
Sport & ES
11
SPS
10 2009/2010 2010/2011 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015
SSPSSR
99,230 647,417 5,166,975
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
PREPARATIONS FOR REF2020 Between January and June 2015 the University consulted on the areas that needed improvement for the next REF exercise, and how to follow up annual progress. Following this, the PVC Research & Innovation Prof Philippe De Wilde, held an event on 8 September to explain what Schools needed to do to prepare. ‘The Institutional and the Research Strategies of the University call for more world-leading and internationally excellent research and innovation. This maps readily to an increase in 4* and 3* outputs, impact and environment in the REF,’ stated De Wilde. ‘Currently the University wants to improve its GPA, while retaining research intensity and power. We seek to include between 80% and 100% of all eligible staff in the next REF submission. The selection will follow a University and HEFCE compliant process that will be decided closer to the REF submission deadline.’ Prof De Wilde set out how the University will support and monitor progress towards this deadline. From 2015/16 onwards REF Coordinators will be asked each December to estimate the percentage of 3* and 4* in each outputs, impact and environment within their discipline. They will also be asked to provide a list of potential impact case studies with a note of the individuals/teams involved and potential sources of corroboration. A full mock exercise will take place in 2017, and will report in 2018. In addition to the REF Coordinators’ estimates, a number of metrics
will be monitored, such as publications, number of PhD students and doctoral awards, and research and innovation income. Whilst the Coordinators will give their view on potential case studies, all staff will be asked for a very brief (100 word) summary of the wider impact of their work, to ensure that the University is not missing any potential activity that should be highlighted in the submission.’ Following the annual survey, the PVC will advise, in writing, the Di-
rectors of Research, Heads of Schools and Deans of progress towards the targets set in the University Strategic Plan. He will suggest actions to the University Executive and the Deans, including the Dean of the Graduate School. The adjustments may be to resources or strategy, including study leave, promotions, staff retention, and teaching load. Want to know more? Contact Clair Thrower on c.thrower@kent.ac.uk xtn 7350.
Changes to Kent Peer Review After four years of operation, there are plans to update the Kent Peer Review (KPR) system. KPR was introduced in October 2011. It applied to all Research Council applications, all large grants (>£100k for the Humanities, >£200k for the Social Sciences, and >£300k for the Sciences) and first grants. European collaboration proposals and NIHR bids were exempt. A review in 2013 suggested that applications that went through the system had, on average, a 23% success rate. This compared favourably with a 20% success rate for those that did not use it, and a 19% average success rate for those submitted in the three preceding years, 2008-11. However, the current system is putting a heavy burden on a small number of reviewers. Thus, the University intends to establish a Peer Review College. As well as providing peer review, members of the College may be asked to share their knowledge: 2
Informally, by the VC, the PVC
Research & Innovation, and others, in relation to their experience of issues such as Open Access, Demand Management or priorities being set by the Research Councils; Formally, to comment on internal competitions necessitated by funders limiting the number of applications that can be submitted by any one institution; Through the Grants Factory and ECR Network, via mock panels or masterclasses. Membership of the Peer Review College will be recruited in two ways: By invitation, based on a knowledge of relevant experience and skills by the Funding Officers, Directors of Research or others; By application, through an annual Call for Members. Applications will be assessed and decided by the PVC Research. Want to know more? Contact Phil Ward on p.ward@kent.ac.uk xtn 7748.
An Overview of Research Funding, Apr-July 2015 Largest Individual Awards (titles of projects listed overleaf) Humanities: Dr Natalia SobrevillaPerea (SECL) £121,313 from the Leverhulme Trust
More than a third of the total award value came from funders of health and medical research last term, with the bulk of this coming from the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Particular mention should go to Dr Chris Toseland in Biosciences (left)
Humanities 4%
Sciences: Dr Chris Toseland (Biosciences) £1,148,886 from the MRC
Social Sciences: Prof Jenny Billings (CHSS) £417,368 from the European Commission
who secured a Career Development Award from the MRC. Highly prestigious, these awards support talented post-doctoral researchers to lead their own research plans and establish their own research team to make the transition from post-doctoral researcher to independent investigator.
Social Sciences 46%
Sciences 50%
Total Award Value by Faculty Kensington Oracle and Chelsea 5% 3% NWO 5%
Other (<2%) 10% MRC 24%
Leverhulme 5% ESRC 5%
NIHR 13% EC 11%
EPSRC 13%
BBSRC 6%
Award Value
An insight into one of the projects funded this term, taken from the application summary.
Led by the Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group, this project will enable leading writers to collaborate with refugees and asylum seekers, and people who work with those groups, in the development of a series of Refugee Tales.
This term: Prof David Herd (English) received £1,475 as part of a larger project from the Arts Council England entitled ‘Refugee Tales’
The tales will provide the focal point for a large-scale public walk intended to raise awareness of
What’s It All About?
3
the circumstances in which asylum seekers live. Modelled on Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the walk will follow the Pilgrims Way from Dover to Crawley, taking place during Refugee Week 2015. The writers will perform the 15 tales at 8 venues en route. The performances will mostly be free and will directly engage local audiences.
FULL LIST OF AWARDS: 1 April—31 July 2015* Faculty of Humanities Kent School of Architecture Haney
The Gardening State
Leverhulme Trust
£15,828
Nikolopoulou
Pathways of Desire
AHRC
£2,302
School of Arts Allain
Physical actor training - an online A-Z and ebook
Leverhulme Trust
£76,908
Allain
Tadeusz Kantor - a symposium
Adam Mickiewicz Institute
£7,000
Brydon
The people's pier: the popular culture of pleasure piers and culAHRC tural regeneration through community heritage
Maes
Just a game? The ethics and aesthetics of video games
British Society of Aesthetics
£3,430
May
Comedy on the spectrum
British Academy
£7,814
£3,735
School of English Bolaki
Artists' books and the medical humanities: an interdisciplinary symposium and workshop
Wellcome Trust
£4,980
Bullard
Cartoon Nation
School of Advanced Study
£1,540
Herd
Refugee Tales
The Arts Council of England
£1,475
Herd
Simon Fraser University Charles Olson Award 2015
Simon Fraser University £1,032
School of History Alanamu
Memories and Experiences of Gender among the Postcolonial Youth of Lagos, Nigeria
Leverhulme Trust
£62,621
School of European Culture and Languages Sobrevilla Perea
War and Nation: identity and the process of state-building in South America (1800-1840).
Leverhulme Trust
£121,313
Faculty of Sciences School of Biosciences Buscaino
Epigenetic regulation of DNA repeats and genome stability in Candida albicans
MRC
£332,186
Garrett
Understanding resistance to the anti-cancer drug AT13148.
EB Hutchinson Charitable Trust
£25,007
Geeves
MSCA Application Alice Ward
European Commission £140,778
Goult
Whose genes are these?
Biochemical Society
Kad Rossman
Biochemical characterisation of a novel interaction between kindlin1 and the Epidermal Growth Factor (EGFR) and its role Biochemical Society in Kindlers Syndrome Optimization of influenza vaccine development by modification MedImmune of viral morphology - CASE topup 4
£1,000 £1,600 £16,000
Toseland
Function of Nuclear Myosin Motors: A Biochemical and Single Molecule Characterization.
Tsaousis
Genomic and cellular characterisation of the brain-eating amoeRoyal Society ba
£12,800
Tuite
Prion-mediated phenotypic heterogeneity in wild yeast
Genetics Society
£2,100
Turner
Comparative time lapse observation of mammalian embryos under differing oxygen concentration
British Society of Animal Science
£2,500
Warren
Biomedical Vacation Scholarships 2015
Wellcome Trust
£8,000
Xue
iGEM 2015
BBSRC
£10,000
Xue
What defines the seeding and cross-seeding potential of amyloid particles?
BBSRC
£367,712
£19,854
MRC
£1,148,886
School of Computing Boiten
Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research
EPSRC
Kolling
CAS research grant
The British Computer £40,798 Society (BCS)
Kolling
BlueJ / Greenfoot 2015
Oracle
£313,766
Migliavacca
Unified stream and transaction processing
EPSRC
£95,457
School of Engineering and Digital Arts Batchelor
Foresight Fellowship Interview: Realizing Integrated Passive Wireless Sensors - Closing the Gap Between Electronics, Materials Science & Manufacturing
EPSRC
£148,602
Batchelor
Assistive, Adaptive and Rehabilitative Technologies Beyond the EPSRC Clinic (AART-BC)
£354,082
School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science Clarkson
Semi-classical orthogonal polynomials and Painleve equations
London Mathematical £1,200 Society
Pearson
Fast solvers for real-world PDE-constrained optimization
EPSRC
£251,303
Medway School of Pharmacy Butrous Gibbs
Cardiovascular Role of inflammation in pulmonary vascular diseases secondary Medical Research and £33,649 to schistosomiasis Education Fund Mechanisms underlying the physiological and cellular response MRC £17,038 to food allergen challenge in human subjects with peanut allergy
Jeffries
Community Pharmacist behaviour change counselling to support weight loss: a feasibility study
National Pharmacy Association
£7,175
Mathie
Novel Regulators of TRESK Potassium Channels
MRC Technology
£13,400
Royal Society of Chemistry
£1,600
School of Physical Sciences Clark
Precious-metal free Sonogashira cross-coupling 5
Continued over
Faculty of Social Sciences Centre for the Study of Higher Education Williams
The role of student satisfaction data in quality assurance and enhancement: How providers use these
Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education
£5,000
Kent Business School Raby
Understanding Sustainable Growth and Performance in the Context of SMEs
Leverhulme Trust
£21,492
Robinson
WISERD Civil Society Research Centre
ESRC
£35,414
Wyatt
Ethnicity and organisational politics: Making sense of the game and learning how to play it.
Richard Benjamin Charitable Trust
£9,998
Kent Law School Williams
Creating inclusionary practices - what are the roles of law and British Academy regulation?
£26,350
School of Politics and International Relations Goodwin Whitman Whitman
The Drivers of Public and party-based Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom
ESRC
£83,878
Answering the Needs of Teaching, Education and Research on European Commission £26,017 EU Foreign Policy (ANTERO) University Association Journal of Common Market Studies Special Issue - Another for Contemporary Eu- £2,000 Theory is Possible: Dissident Voices in Theorising Europe ropean Studies (UACES) School of Psychology
Leicht
Science and Religion: Exploring the Spectrum
John Templeton Foundation
£42,077
Williams
Metacognition and Mindreading: One system or two?
ESRC
£258,029
School of Anthropology and Conservation Fish
Sustainable Intensification Platform Research Project 2 – Opportunities and risks for farming and th
Department for Environment Food and £32,284 Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
Groombridge
Leopard Genetics
Sultanate of Oman
£34,242
School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research Beecham
Copy of Costs and benefits of social care support for exoffenders with learning disabilities
National Institute of £12,744 Health Research (NIHR)
Billings
SUSTAIN
European Commission £417,368
Brookes
Shared Lives Costs and Effectiveness (SLiCE)
National Institute of £366,543 Health Research (NIHR)
Brookes Coulton Forder
Conditions and impacts of welfare mix: comparative analysis of policymaking, public discourse and se The effectiveness for adjunctive medication management and contingency management to enhance adherence to medications for relapse prevention in alcohol dependence
Research Council of Norway
£40,076
National Institute of £24,112 Health Research (NIHR)
NWO (Netherlands Exploring Comparative Effectiveness and efficiency in Long-term Organisation for Scien- £346,144 Care (EXCELC) tific Research) 6
Forder
Associate Directorship of NIHR School for Social Care Research 2 ("SSCR 2")
Department of Health
Gadsby
Evaluation of 'whole place' community lifestyle pilot project
The Royal Borough of £189,653 Kensington and Chelsea
Garbin
Religion and development in Central Africa
British Academy
£9,860
Haux
Parenting and Contact Before and After Separation
Nuffield Foundation
£10,571
Kendall
Conditions and impacts of welfare mix: comparative analysis of Research Council of policymaking, public discourse. Norway
£10,932
McCarthy
Domestic violence and women with learning disabilities
McGill
Preventing challenging behaviour of adults with complex needs National Institute of £15,182 in supported accommodation - a follow up study Health Research (NIHR)
Murphy
Costs and benefits of social care support for ex-offenders with National Institute of £74,898 learning disabilities Health Research (NIHR)
Nizalova
Social exclusion of youth in Europe: cumulative disadvantage, coping strategies, effective policies and transfer: EXCEPT
European Commission £179,041
Peckham
Effectiveness of public health system in combating severe population health crisis in Ukraine
MRC
£100,590
Redmon
Donkeys
Leverhulme Trust
£41,436
Sundberg
Family, the Individual, the Market or the State: Who is responsiBritish Academy ble for your welfare?
Towers
Measuring Outcomes of Care Homes (MOOCH)
National Institute of £366,543 Health Research (NIHR)
Twigg
Dress, masculinities and age
Leverhulme Trust
£29,096
Vickerstaff
Innovative Interventions to Promote Participation of Older Workers in the Labour Market
Research Council of Norway
£3,355
Wilson
HEKSS workforce planning: Future primary and community care Health Education Kent £150,000 workforce project Surrey and Sussex
£100,000
National Institute of £29,013 Health Research (NIHR)
£8,236
*The list given above is for all awards of £1,000 or more. It does not include extensions or supplements
KTP Success Research Services’ sister service, Kent Innovation and Enterprise (KIE), handles business engagement, commercialisation and consultancy. A key source of funding that KIE deals with is Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs). Funded by Innovate UK (formerly the Technology Strategy Board), these enable academics to lead collaborations with innovative organisations which require up-to-date research-based expertise to succeed.
The University has recently secured three KTPs, detailed below. Prof Darren Griffin (Biosciences) To bring 'Karyomapping' a universal test for the diagnosis of genetic disease in human embryos to clinical application. £197,412 Prof Said Salhi (KBS) To analyse current data and embed a fully integrated intelligent scheduling system to increase revenue and improve environmental impacts. £175,896
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Dr Jesse O’Hanley (KBS. below) To redesign and improve traffic flow at the Ports Eastern Docks. To optimise the layout of the Ports new Western Docks cargo terminal building. £144,532 Want to know more? Contact Charlotte Bury or Clare Witcher (enterprise@kent.ac.uk, xtn7376)
Horizon 2020
H2020
Year One Report Card
Information Days
Horizon 2020, the European Commission’s main programme for distributing research funding across Europe, has now been running for 20 months, This gives us the chance to look back to the first year of the programme, and assess the engagement and success rates for the programme. In the first year there were 79 calls, for which 25,903 proposals were submitted, seeking some €41bn. Around 14.5% of these have been successful (3,765), totalling €6.6bn. That’s around 8.5% of the total H2020 budget of €70bn for the seven year programme. Success rates have generally been up very slightly for the European Research Council, compared with H2020’s predecessor, FP7: around 13% compared with 12%. However, they’re down noticeably in the ‘societal challenges’ (or former ‘thematic priorities’’) areas: 14% compared with 21%. The UK has continued to do well compared to others in Europe. It is second only to Germany in the amount of funding it has secured (€526m, compared to Germany’s €852m), but top in the number of ‘participations’ (i.e. the number of recipients of funding): 1,406. Germany had 1,313, Spain 1,118, Italy 937, and France 906. Drilling down into the detail of the schemes, the UK once again shares the accolades with Germany in the ERC Starting Grants, getting 67 in the first call, compared to Germany’s 69, and some way ahead of the next countries in the lineup: France (49), the Netherlands (40) and Italy (28). Similarly, for Marie Sklowdowska Curie ITNs, Germany had 175 and the UK 160, with the Netherlands leading the chasing peloton with 112.
The Commission has received some anecdotal feedback on how things have gone in the first year. Generally, applicants have ‘valued’ the participant portal, but have said that the Work Programme needs to be more visible. In addition, they have complained about delays in handling questions and proving information to National Contact Points (NCPs) and applicants. The research community has welcomed the move to a ‘challengebased’ ap proach in H2020 (compared to the more prescriptive framework used under FP7), and it seems to have had some effect on attracting newcomers and industry. There is evidence, however, that this has led to oversubscription (8x the available budget, compared to 5x in FP7), but this hides a diverse picture. Indeed, for applications that get above the threshold, the success rates are more like 33%, not those quoted above. In terms of the evaluation process, the overall quality is good, although there have been some concerns regarding the interpretation of criteria and understanding of new concepts (such as ‘innovation management’). There is a clear lack of expertise or balance in some areas (such as gender balance, or experts in innovation and business planning), and the quality/depth of feedback varies hugely. Looking forward, we’re gearing up for the Work Programme 2016-17 which should be available shortly If you’re planning on applying, do get in touch with us to have a look at these. Want to know more? Contact Conny Jumel (k.jumel@kent.ac.uk, xtn 3067)
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Work Programmes for the next phase of H2020 are due out in October. The EC is running a series of info days, and attendance is incredibly useful if you are planning to apply.
Health (Brussels, 17 Sept) run jointly by Health-NCPNet 2.0 and Fit for Health 2.0. Health Calls (Brussels, 18 Sept) Climate Horizon 2020 Information Day (Brussels, 21 Sept) Re-greening Cities Information Day (London, 30th Sept) Water innovation (Manchester, 1st Oct) Marie Curie ITNs (London, York, 7 Oct) Feeding a changing world – Resource Efficient bio-based value chains - farm to fork, non-food crops, BioBased products and waste treatment1 (Manchester, 13th Oct) Innovating Cities with Nature and Culture Stakeholder Partnership Event (Brussels, 20th October) ‘Trust—European Research co-creating future societies’ Conference and Societal Challenge 6 Information Day (Brussels, 29-30 October). This will also include info on funding opportunities for the Social Sciences and Humanities under the 2016-17 Work Programme Solutions for a climate resilient world (Exeter, 2 Nov) ERC Consolidator Grants (Sheffield, London 3 & 6 Nov) Transport Information Day (Brussels, 5 Nov)
GRANTS FACTORY 2015-16 This year the Grants Factory is going back to its roots, and offering close support at a Faculty level. Research Services has worked with the Faculty Directors of Research to prepare three discrete but open programmes that are broadly focussed on the needs of academics and researchers within each Faculty. This will include: Mock panels of the main Re-
search Councils; Week-long grant writing workshops in the Humanities, based around the successful pilot in the summer; Visits from the ERC, MRC and Wellcome; Events focussed on specific funders and schemes, such as Leverhulme Fellowships and EPSRC First Grants. As ever, the Grants Factory programme will be complemented by the Early Career Researcher Network, which will offer help, advice and support to those at the start of their careers. For more information on the events happening in your Faculty, talk to your Funding Officer:
Humanities: Lynne Bennett (l.bennett282@kent.ac.uk, xtn 4799) Sciences: Dr Carolyn Barker (c.m.barker47@kent.ac.uk, xtn7957) & Dr Helen Leech (h.leech@kent.ac.uk, xtn 8850) Social Sciences: Brian Lingley (b.lingley@kent.ac.uk, xtn 4427)
The Figures behind the Figures A regular look at the work of those who have won grants at Kent
Prof John Batchelor School of Engineering and Digital Arts John Batchelor looked bashful when I pointed out that he had won more EPSRC grants - and received more EPSRC funding - than anyone else at the University. ‘I’ve just developed a thick skin,’ he joked. ‘Everyone gets knocked back. The trick is not to give up. But that’s easier said than done, especially when the rejections all come at once. That was the case for me in December. Christmas was quite dark last year.’ John has been at Kent for more than 25 years, arriving as an undergraduate and progressing through his doctorate to postdoc researcher and on to being promoted to a chair this year. As head of the Antenna Group in EDA, John’s research is focussed on wearable wireless technologies and low energy passive systems for the Internet of Things. For example, his group is working on technology for smart packaging that will help reduce food waste, and tattoo sensors for patients to manage conditions such as diabetes. He puts his funding success down to a willingness to ‘go off the beaten track’. He’s always had a curiosity, for talking to others outside his discipline, for learning from others, and exploring how their research can inform his work, and vice versa. Recent examples include his work with Simon Holder and Maria Alfredsson in SPS. This interest comes through as an excitement for the 9
potential offered by new crossovers, and this is reflected in his grant proposals. ‘Applying to the EPSRC takes a lot of effort especially emotionally effort - and it is easy to play it safe,’ he says, ‘but reviewers are asked to comment on the novelty and potential of a project, and if this is apparent, they can forgive a lot else.’ The trick is to be able to explain complicated concepts so that reviewers outside of your discipline can understand them, whilst keeping the experts in the field happy with sufficient detail. ‘You can’t over-explain’, he suggests, ‘but you will never catch everything.’ I asked John if his career - and research projects - had followed a clearly defined path. ‘When I first started I had my fingers out, seeing what I could catch, but over the years my research has become much more themed and consolidated.’ Whilst many of his interests chime with EPSRC’s strategic priorities, he doesn’t follow them slavishly. Nevertheless, he makes sure that his proposals make a nod towards them. ‘You have to make it easy for the reviewers to make that connection, for them to see how your research meets a particular priority.’ Over the course of the last quarter century his work has evolved and developed. Each project is a ‘progression’ on the last, building on and enhancing the work that has gone before. Even in the middle of the current project, the seeds of the next are being sown, and what might appear like a blind alley - and a rejection from the funder - can result in new contacts, new publications and new ideas. ‘Nothing you do is ultimately wasted - in research as well as in life’, he concludes.
lion to Kent) and two major Horizon2020 Consortium projects, one of which was led by EDA. (Prof Nathan Gomes, below) Furthermore, the Faculty was awarded a range of prestigious fellowships including senior and postdoctoral EPSRC fellowships (EDA and SMSAS), an MRC career development award (Biosciences), a Royal In 2014-15 the Faculty of Sciences Academy of Engineering research has been awarded more research fellowship (Computing), a Royal funding than even before – a total Society Wolfson Research Merit of £10.4 million. This is the largest award (SPS) and International felamount of research lowships from Mafunding won by a rie Curie and Newsingle Faculty at the ton (Biosciences University of Kent and EDA). New since our current lecturers were also records began, 11 successful in winyears ago, and had ning an EPSRC First a major part to play Grant (Computing), in the £18m grant a BBSRC New Intotal (‘Awards vestigator award Reach All-Time (Biosciences) and High’, p1), Royal Society ReIn the last two Prof Nathan Gomes (EDA), search Grants (SPS years the Faculty PI of the H2020 project, and Biosciences). has pushed for ‘iCirrus’ A full list of the more Research faculties Research Council, European and Enterprise and fellowship applications and this awards will be published shortly. year notable successes were achieved in all these three categoWant to know more? ries. C o n tact Carolyn Barker Major research grant successes (c.m.barker-47@kent.ac.uk, xtn include a Kent led BBSRC Biosci7 9 5 7 ) & H e l e n L e e ch ences Programme grant (£1.4 mil(h.leech@kent.ac.uk, xtn8850)
Sciences Research Funding Tops £10m
New Online Resource for Kent Researchers The Researcher Development Working Group will soon launch www.kent.ac.uk/researcherdevelopment/. Thank you to all research colleagues who contributed to the development of the website. Through it researchers can access development opportunities at the University of Kent and externally. This ranges from structured training courses to informal learning events, networks and careers advice. You can also find out about funding available to support researcher development. Over the summer, the University retained HR Excellence in Research status following the two-year review overseen by Vitae.
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HONOURS Whilst research funding is important to Kent, a number of academics at the University have been recognised by their peers in other ways, including: Dr Jesse O’Hanley (KBS) has been awarded the EURO Excellence in Practice Award (EEPA) 2015; Adam Chodzko (Arts) has been shortlisted for the Derek Jarman Film Award; Prof Davina Cooper (KLS, right) has been awarded the Charles Taylor Book Award 2015 for Everyday Utopias: The Conceptual Life of Promising Spaces; Prof Amalia Arvantiti (SECL) has been elected editor of the Journal of the International Phonetic Association; Dr John Pearson (SMSAS) has been awarded an IMA Leslie Fox Prize in Numerical Analysis; Prof Sarah Spurgeon (EDA) has been elected to the European Control Association (EUCA) as the UK member of its General Assembly. Sarah Turner (SMFA) has had a film shortlisted for the Grierson Award and is being screened at the 2015 BFI London Film Festival.
ERRATUM In the last edition we featured the first Research Prize winners. The winner of the University Prize for Early Career Research was Dr Harmonie Toros. Unfortunately the incorrect picture was included. I do apologise for this mix up, and for any frustration that this may have caused. Right: the real Dr Harmonie Toros
WELCOME! 24 academics have joined Kent since January. Join with us in welcoming them to Kent, and take a moment to find out about their research interests. Dr Laurie Batchelder (SSPSSR): empathy and theory of mind, social motivation, and questionnaire development and validation Dr Amy Blakeway (History): 16th Century Scotland Dr Ingvild Bode (PolIR, left): human element in international relations, humanitarian affairs, international law and conflict narratives. Dr Andrew Cohen (History): economic and political imperial history with a particular interest in decolonisation Mr Jack Cunliffe (SSPSSR): Quantitative criminology and social policy. Research interests include offending development, online cryptomarkets, wealth distributions and structural equation modelling. Dr Muthu De Silva (KBS): Entrepreneurial Co-creation Dr Clare Finburgh (Arts): Modern and contemporary European theatre and performance. Dr Robert Fish (SAC): natural resource management, sustainable land use, environmental policy Prof Trine Flockhart (PolIR): International Order, European Security and Transatlantic Relations, Con-
structivist theory, norms transfer through socialization and processes of change and transformation Prof Matthew Goodwin (PolIR): British politics, elections, radical right parties Dr Yvan Guichaoua (PolIR): collective political violence, the dynamics of irregular armed groups and informal governance in West Africa. Dr Eleanor Jupp (SSPSSR): social policy and human geography, community activism, gender and families. Dr Michael Koch (KBS): Human Resource Strategy and its impact on employee attitudes Dr M R Lawrence (History) Dr Una McIlvenna (English, left): Early Modern Cultural History, Ballads, History of Punishment, History Of News. Dr Todd Mei (SECL): the philosophy of economics and the relation between Continental and analytic philosophy. Dr Clelia Pech (SMSAS): Mirror symmetry; Homogeneous and quasihomogeneous spaces; Gromov-Witten theory; Derived categories; Cluster algebras; LandauGinzburg models. Dr John Pearson (SMSAS, right): Numerical linear algebra and computational optimiza-
tion. PDE-constrained optimization and applications. Optimal control of fluid flow. Quadratic and nonlinear programming. Preconditioning. Dr Bojan S a v i c (PolIR): Critical Security Studies, International Development, and Critical Geopolitics Dr Christopher Serpell (SPS, above): Bioinspired supramolecular chemistry for functional nanosystems. Dr Laura Sudulich (PolIR): 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 Penny Wozniakiewicz (SPS): Space science Dr Pavlos Xenitidis (SMSAS): classification of integrable systems; symmetries, conservation laws and integrability tests; reductions and Painlevé equations; discretization of differential equations. Dr Kuan Xu (SMSAS): Numerical analysis.
Support for Marie Curie Actions
search culture within a School. Moreover, the MSCA schemes have some of the highest success rates around, at between 20-40%. However, in the past some Schools have been put off applying as the overheads offered by the schemes are not enough to offset the University’s central charges. Finance has recognised that the prestigious nature of the awards,
and the University’s strategic position as the UK’s European University, has meant that a special case should be made for MSCA. Thus it has put in place a central credit to offset any negative effect of an MSCA award on a School’s budget.
Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions (MSCA) are highly prestigious awards that provide a great opportunity to bring excellent academics and researchers to Kent. Their outlook and their research can have a transformative effect on the re-
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Want to know more? Contact Conny Jumel (k.jumel@kent.ac.uk, xtn 3067)
CHOICE CUTS FROM THE BLOG
For the latest news and rumours from the world of research funding, log on to http://fundermental.blogspot.com
RCUK Announces Major Breakthrough in 'Substance Free Strategy' 26 June 2015 At a hastily convened press conference today the Chair of RCUK, Prof Rick Rylance, announced a major breakthrough in ‘substancefree strategy.’ 'Researchers and policy makers have been working for decades,on this problem,' gushed Rylance. 'Is it possible to make policy announcements that are completely without any substance whatsoever? Last night our researchers identified that this was, indeed, the case.' To collective gasps of astonishment, Rylance continued. 'Our researchers started with a pure distillation of the Bleeding Obvious. They then diluted this to homoeopathic levels until all meaning ceased to exist. I can confirm that that point was reached at 02:31 hours this morning.’ 'At that point the sample was rushed to our Design Department. Time was of the essence. If this was to be truly meaningless we had to secure the sample within a leaden logo. Until we had done so there was always a danger that the policy statement could tip back into substance and worth. We had to stop that happening.' 'Happily, I can confirm that the complete lack of substance has been secured with this, the 'TriBreast'. It will act in a similar way to Teflon and Titanium: strong enough to stop any penetration or adhesion of meaning.'
RCUK Grants to Be Delayed ‘Until the First of Never’ 27 August 2015 Following the BBSRC's announcement that it would be delaying the start of responsive mode grants until after 1 January 2016, RCUK has gone one step further, stating that all seven of the Councils would delay the start of grants 'until the first of never'. 'In order for the Research Councils to manage their budgets effectively,' ran the statement, '[and] allowing for additional investments whilst also maintaining their responsive mode commitments and success rate, we are intending to not actually hand out any money.' 'This should increase our success rate to 100%. We will say yes to all applications without being shackled to the inconvenience of limited resources. We will, essentially, offer everything to everyone. In theory.' 'As well as the obvious cost savings, it will drastically reduce response times. Applicants will hear the outcome of proposal within a week. Possibly overnight. It will also make the post award process much easier to handle, and will cut down on administration costs.’ When questioned about how the money saved would be spent, a spokesman for RCUK said that it needed all of the funding to 'fight off the various reviews that are hanging over our heads,' before admitting that the lion's share will go on 'sweets and executive desk toys'.
‘truly meaningless’ logo
Earlier this week the Higher Education Statistics Agency announced that income from research grants and contracts totalled £5.08bn in 2013-14. This is an impressive amount, but if you were a Russian oligarch and had a spare £5bn , what else could you spend it on? TV rights to the Premier League between 2016-19. The cost of rebalancing Tesco's balance sheet. Come on, dig deep, people. The cost of 35.5% stake in Formula 1. 27,530 averagely priced UK houses. 10,377 averagely priced London houses. Almost quarter of a million averagely priced weddings. But only half as many divorces, which are almost twice the price. Whereas you could almost get a whopping 1.5 million funerals. Raising 22,222.22 children. Rather a pleasing number, though the .22 child might not see it that way. Which all suggests that it's much more cost efficient to die than to either get married, get divorced, have children or do research. And don't get me started on the Premier League or Formula 1. I do hope Sajid Javid bears all this in mind when deciding on the BIS budget cuts.
Lookalike Corner Rumour has it that Million+ has taken the brave decision to put Baldrick—or rather actor Tony Robinson— in charge. What could possibly go wrong? Any resemblance to Prof Dave Phoenix, VC of London South Bank University, is, of course, entirely coincidental.
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What Does £5bn Buy You? 21 August 2015
Phoenix
Robinson