RESEARCH ACTIVE The Newsletter of University of Kent Research Services, Vol 4, Issue 3, May 2010
Lone Researchers Some academics at Kent work in disciplines with limited traditions of seeking research funding. They may be ‘lone researchers’ who have not needed large teams of collaborators, working instead on their own and in archives. However, research funding can be used for more than just collaboration. You can get funding for travel and subsistence to access archives, for teaching buy out, or for equipment such high-spec computers. Think Different In addition, you could think more broadly about the kind of work you could do. It is possible to design a project that will appeal to the big funders without compromising your research. Profs Paul Allain and Liz Mansfield have done just that. Both are based in schools (Arts and SMSAS) that are rooted in the tradition of individual scholarship. However, both have been successful in getting funding from the Research Councils and charities. Meet Others Alternatively, you might think that there is potential for collaboration within your discipline. But how can you link up with others at Kent or outside? Dr Peter Bennett, based in the School of Anthropology and Conservation (SAC) has been successful in building productive partnerships with other academics, and recognises the serendipitous way these are often formed.
Guidance Three senior academics have agreed to offer their guidance on how lone researchers can design fundable research projects, and create good collaborations. Details of their sessions are below. If you’d like to take part, contact Lynne Bennett for the first workshop, and Jacqueline Aldridge for the second.
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ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT? Research Funding
• Designing a Fundable Project (11am—3pm, 22 June
2010) Prof. Paul Allain and Prof. Elizabeth Mansfield This workshop should appeal particularly to staff at all levels and all disciplines who feel that their research topics and methods do not fit the standard 'aims/questions/ methods/dissemination' project structure required by funders. • Building Successful Collaborations (TBC)
Dr Peter Bennett This workshop will help academics identify the best way to meet suitable collaborators, and to ensure that they will be reliable and deliver their side of the project.
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RECENT AWARDS
News in Brief • The Research Councils will be undertaking an audit of
Recent awards have included: Dr Caroline Rooney (English): £4,806 from ESRC for ‘The Siege of Beirut (1982) and the Ethics of Representation in Literature, Art and Journalism’; Dr Simon Kirchin (SECL): £8,500 from the Mind Association for Metaethics and Everyday Moral Experience’; Prof Martin Warren (Biosciences): £862,067 from BBSRC for ‘Synthetic Biology Approaches to Compartmentalisation in Bacteria and the Construction of Novel Bioreactors’; Richard Jones (Computing): £383,969 from EPSRC for ‘Garbage Collection for Multicore Platforms’; Dr Stephen Lowry (SPS): £315,260 from STFC for ‘Observational detections of the Asteroidal YORP Effect’; Alan Story (KLS): £96,299 from Leverhulme for ‘The North-to-South Transplantation of Copyright Laws and Values’; Dr Stephen Lycett (SAC): £53,724 from Leverhulme for ‘Human Cultural Transmission: from Psychology Lab to the Artefactual Record’; Dr Balihar Sanghera (SSPSSR): £48,249 from ESRC for ‘Social Justice Philanthropy: Implications for Policy and Practice’. Congratulations to all award winners—both listed and unlisted—and all the best with your research.
Kent’s management of awards in May. This is a routine audit, but Kent will be the first to be audited under a new RCUK system. They will be focussing in particular on Biosciences and Engineering and Digital Arts (EDA); • Alf Game, the BBSRC’s Deputy Director of Research, In-
novation and Skills who visited the University last year, has agreed to come back to chair a mock peer review panel on 30 June. Whilst the EPSRC does these on a regular basis, this is new territory for the BBSRC. Contact Phil Ward (p.ward@kent.ac.uk) if you’d like to take part;
of Research, will be visiting the University in the Autumn Term. It is hoped he will talk about the changes to the ESRC peer review system, as well as giving some insight into the ESRC’s priorities in difficult financial times.
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• Adrian Alsop, the ESRC’s Director
Internal Peer Review Panels
The dates for the internal peer review panel meetings, mentioned in the last edition of Research Active, have • now been confirmed. The format of the meetings will be as follows: each participant brings along a draft application. It doesn’t have to be complete, but we would ask for at least a draft Case for Support and perhaps a lay summary. Each person gets paired up with another participant, and they have half an hour to read each other’s proposals. They then have 5 mins to present it and be questioned on it • by the group. In the past this has worked well as it highlights any shortcomings or false assumptions in the applications, and makes people realise how quickly a decision is reached in a real peer review panel. Details of each panel are below. Contact the named Funding Officer if you want to take part. • •
Humanities - AHRC Internal Peer Review Panel • Date: Wednesday 26 May 2010, 12:30-2pm • Venue: Grimond Seminar Room 6 • Chair: Prof Paul Allain (Arts) • Contact: Lynne Bennett (l.bennett282@kent.ac.uk)
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Engineering, digital arts, computing, mathematics – EPSRC Internal Peer Review Panel • Date: Thursday 27 May 2010, 2-4pm • Venue: Brian Spratt Room, Cornwallis • Chair: Prof Peter Clarkson (SMSAS) and Prof. Simon Thompson (Computing) • Contact: Phil Ward (p.ward@kent.ac.uk) Biology, ecology & conservation sciences – BBSRC/NERC Internal Peer Review Panel • Date: Tuesday 1 June 2010, 12:30-2pm • Venue: Senate Committee Room 1 • Chair: Prof. Peter Bennett (DICE) and Prof Darren Griffin (Biosciences) • Contact: Phil Ward (p.ward@kent.ac.uk) Social Sciences – ESRC Internal Peer Review Panel • Date: Wednesday 14 June 2010, 12:30 – 2pm • Venue: TBC • Chair: Prof Dominic Abrams (Psychology) • Contact: Jacqueline Aldridge (j.aldridge@kent.ac.uk)
REF TO BE DELAYED?
The University is changing the way it taxes research projects. Many of you will be familiar with the SOOH Charge, which was a 15% levy on all research income. In August it will be replaced by a new tax of 2% for non-salary costs and 20% for salary costs. It will be charged on expenditure rather than income. Its introduction is part of an overhaul of the RAM, or Resource Allocation Model, which is the system by which school budgets are set. Initial analyses of the effect of the tax suggest it will be good news for the vast majority of research projects, with 80% of projects being better off, including all those with salary costs which are less than 72% of the total. The new tax will result in total charges on research projects falling by around a third. A support mechanism for schools with charity funded projects is being considered by Executive Group.
HEFCE, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, published its preliminary decision last month on the shape of the Research Excellence Framework (REF), the successor to the RAE.
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There was little change from their initial proposals, though HEFCE recognised the concern that the sector has expressed over impact, but said the UCU petition challenging it was based on the Research Councils' understanding of impact (i.e. future rather than past). The use of citations will be left up to individual sub panels.
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More interesting were the thoughts of David Sweeney, HEFCE’s Director of Research, published in the Times Higher. He gave more detail of HEFCE’s thinking on citations. He said that the costs to institutions of including such a measure could be high. He added that the council had also received an analysis suggesting that their use could disadvantage female David Sweeney: staff. ‘nervous about the use 'Equal opportunities is a of citations’ problem that concerns us, so we are very nervous about the use of citations,' he explained. This did not mean that citation data were being ruled out once and for all, he said, but 'we will be discussing it closely with the panels before we give it any significant role'.
WILLETTS IS NEW SCIENCE AND UNIVERSITIES MINISTER As we go to press news is coming through of the ConDem Cabinet. David ‘Two Brains’ Willetts has been appointed as Minister for Universities and Science. It’s too early to say what his priorities will be for this parliament, but he has previously suggested that the REF should be delayed by up to two years (which chimes in with noises from HEFCE, right) and has condemned the assessment of Impact as ‘clunky.’
In addition he suggested that it was very likely that the REF assessment process would be delayed by a year. This would push the REF assessment to 2014 and REFbased funding to 2015. Finally, he robustly defended the inclusion of impact in the face of criticism from the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee last month. 'We will test the methodology and if it doesn't prove adequate then we will reconsider, but we remain confident that the issues can be surmounted,' David Sweeney said.
The last edition of Research Active highlighted the help you can get with identifying the impact of their Impact research. Each fortnight Research Services, Kent Innovation and Enterprise, the Media Office and the European Office discuss research projects and suggest possible avenues for exploiting impact. There has been a good response to this: so far 52 academics have come forward to use the service. There’s been an interesting mix of disciplines, with the Social Sciences using it most (22), closely followed by Humanities (21), and the Sciences least (9).
Lunchtime Seminars: Recordings Available The PVC’s Lunchtime Research Seminars are now being recorded. They can be streamed from the Research Services website at www.kent.ac.uk/researchservices/index.htm. 3
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NEW TAX INTRODUCED
CHOICE CUTS FROM THE BLOG Research Fundermentals, the blog started by Phil Ward, has been keeping an eye on the world of research funding since September. Below are some highlights posted since January. The blog itself can be found at: http://fundermental.blogspot.com/ A Closer Look at ERC Award Figures 9 February 2010 The ERC has published stats from its first three calls (two Starting Researcher, one Advanced). There were 136 Fellowships based at UK universities. 70% of these were at Russell Group universities, 14% went to 94 Group universities, 7% went to small specialist centres (such as MRC institutes or Cancer Research centres), leaving the remaining 9% (or 12 awards) to be split between the 100 or so other universities in the UK, including Strathclyde and Portsmouth, who have a respectable 2 a piece. EPSRC: JeS ‘Summary’ 22 March 2010 The EPSRC has offered some advice to applicants to its Maths Programme, including some useful tips on completing the ‘Summary’ section of the JeS form. This is often overlooked, but is crucial, as it's the first place that reviewers and panel members look. It's a good way to get your foot in the door, to persuade them to read the rest of the proposal. The EPSRC quotes Dr Shaun Stevens, an EPSRC Leadership Fellow, who suggested that applicants should 'make it accessible -- so minimal technical language: certainly none at the beginning and, where there is some, it should be explained. I would say there are (at least) two approaches: either treat it like a summary of a popular lecture, so it is in teaching mode, explaining basic concepts at the beginning and then trying to give a vague idea of the mathematics involved; or do it by analogy without really explaining any of the mathematics at all.'
EU Culture Programme: UK 75% Success Rate
EPSRC Demand Management and ‘Office Rejection’
18 March 2010
29 April 2010
The UK got an impressive 75% success rate in the last round of the EU's Culture Programme, This is twice the EU average, which was still a respectable 34%. So, if you work in the area of arts and culture, the scheme might be worth having a look at. Of course, coming from the UK doesn't guarantee success, but it does suggest that the fierce competition for funding in the UK has honed UK applicants' design and writing skills, making it easy for them to pluck this low-hanging fruit. The Low Down on the BritAc Grants Panel 12 March 2010 The success rate for the British Academy Small Grants has fallen from 69% two years ago to 35% today. No better time, then, to remind ourselves of what your application will be up against. As you know, the BA represents the whole range of Humanities and Social Sciences. As such, the panel of great and good that will assess your application are quite a mixed bunch. • Prof Sir Adam Roberts - President - (Oxford) International Relations • Prof Leslie Hill - (Warwick) French • Prof Maxine Berg - (Warwick) History • Prof Doreen Massey - (Open) Geography • Prof Simon Blackburn - Chairman - (Cambridge) Philosophy • Prof Steven Mithen - (Reading) Archaeology • Prof Christopher Bliss - (Oxford) Economics • Prof Andrew Whiten - (St Andrews) Psychology It’s worth keeping this list in mind when you apply: there won’t necessarily be anyone there to fight your disciplinary corner, so make sure that you explain your research in non-specialist terms — which ties in with EPSRC’s advice (left). 4
‘Office rejects’, or proposals that have not gone to the panel, will count as unsuccessful applications when the EPSRC decides on its ‘blacklist’ of potential applicants. However, a proposal would only be rejected by the office if: • Peer review comments were so unsupportive that there was no point in it going to panel; • it doesn't fit with the call criteria, or with the remit of the EPSRC. If your proposal is on the borderline or interdisciplinary, contact the EPSRC first and submit a 2 page 'remit query' to avoid being rejected on these grounds. Proposals would not be rejected on a technicality - eg or a section of JeS being filled incorrectly. Instead, EPSRC would return the application and allow you to rectify it. If there wasn't time to rectify it before the deadline you would have to withdraw it, and it would therefore not count as a rejection. The Word on the Leverhulme Street 25 March 2010 Recent insights into Leverhulme include: • A new online application system will be launched for Research Project Grants, International Networks and Artists in Residence from 14 July . You will only be able to submit via the current system until 30 June. • Leverhulme are expecting a big increase in applications due to the cuts at the Research Councils, so will not be running any new major initiatives; • However, their Research Programmes will go ahead in the following areas: 1) Resilience 2 ) Intergenerational Justice, 3) Science and Politics. • They state that the Trust has never rejected a proposal because of a lack of funds. In fact, in 2008 and 2009 it didn’t award it’s full quota of Major Research Fellowships as it saw the applications as poor. • The Sciences have had the lion's share of Trust funding recently. The Trust feels that there has been a lack of good proposals in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and would welcome more. • Leverhulme is not interested in impact agenda, nor league tables or ratings. So avoid references to the RAE etc.