Research Active Vol 13 Issue 3 April 2019

Vol 13 Issu e 3

Br ief in g

A Resear ch Ser vices

research acti v e Wh at l i es beneath Themammothroot systemthat istheNational ProductivityInvestment Fund

Pl us A call for part icipant s for t he GCRF Conference in July A complet e list of awards won bet ween January March The lat est on what Brexit means for research Next st eps in select ing t he Signat ure Research Themes Academic Freedom Policy

Photo by Sacha Styles on Unsplash

GCRFCONFERENCE 2019

We will be hosting a Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF) Conference from 30 June ? 2 July 2019 around ?Building Resilience?.

Conference t hemes Resilience is often seen in narrow environmental terms, focussing on issues around reducing natural disaster risk and adapting to climate change. This conference seeks to understand how resilience could and should be embedded more broadly in response to the challenges of these five main themes: 1.

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Preparing for a Changing Environment (PCE) Sustainable Tourism and Heritage (STH) Improving Health and Wellbeing (IHW) Development through Higher Education (DHE) 5. Governance and Resilience in Wider Eurasia (GRE) In the first half of 2019 Research England funded a series of workshops based in DAC list countries to explore these wider issues of resilience. The funded workshops are listed on the next page. This conference is an opportunity to hear about the engagement in and outcome from these, and the next steps leading on from them.

Programme Please note that the first four themes will follow one format and the GRE theme (5) will follow a separate format, with all delegates coming together for the drinks reception and gala dinner.

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Main programme (PCE, STH, IHW and DHE themes) GRE theme programme

Although delegates are welcome to take part in any of the themes, applicants will be asked to indicate which programme they would like to attend (for planning purposes).

Call for part icipant s We've launched a call for participants for academics,

Delegat es at t he GCRF Conference 2018

NGOs and other stakeholders whose work aligns with Official Development Assistance (ODA) objectives and one of the conference?s five main themes.

Applicants do not need to have an established link with Kent in order to apply, but researchers with a connection to the University are particularly welcome. Priority will be given to researchers undertaking projects in Low and Middle Income (LMIC) countries,.

If you are interested in attending this funded event, please complete the online applicat ion form by Monday, 29 April

Funding If successful, delegates will be provided with the following: -

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Kent st aff: catering during the conference, including the gala dinner; UK delegat es: catering and accommodation during the conference, including the gala dinner; Overseas delegat es: as above, but for those coming from DAC list countries, we will provide travel costs (up to a maximum of ÂŁ1,000)

GCDC t raining school We have established a Global Challenges Doctoral Centre (GCDC) that will act as the nucleus of our GCRF PhD training activities.

There will be a GCDC training school following on from the conferece. Read more about the GCDC here.

Want to k now more?

To find out more click on the links throughout the article, or contact globalchallenges@kent.ac.uk

GCRF Work sh ops In January we held a call for proposals for workshops that form the framework for the GCRF Conference in July. 12 workshops were selected in four areas. To find out more, apply to come to the conference, or approach the workshop leads directly.

Sust ainable Tourism and Herit age

Improving Healt h and W ellbeing

Development t hrough Higher Educat ion

Preparing for a Changing Environment

ResCoasT 19: Resilience and coastal tourism in South-East Asia (Dr Mark Hampton, School of Anthropology and Conversation, and Kent BusinessSchool)

La Cuba profunda: The compatibilities of local development and international heritage tourism in Granma province, Cuba (Dr Rebecca Ogden, School of European Culture and Languages)

HerMaP Iran: Capacity building in community engagement (Dr Evangelos Kyriakidis, School of European Culture and Languages)

Social science research in support of a concerted societal effort to fight TB epidemic in post-Soviet countries (Dr Olena Nizalova, School of Economics, and Centre for Health Services Studies)

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine acceptability in an African context (Dr Rebecca Cassidy, Centre for Health ServicesStudies)

Health reforms in Ukraine, and implications for maternal health: Identifying priority areas for policy-relevant research (Prof Sally Kendall, Centre for Health Services Studies)

Towards a resilient research environment in South-East Asia (Dr Sarah Tetley, Research Services)

Teaching and learning in conflict and refugee contexts: Supporting Syrian higher education through academic development (Dr Tom Parkinson, Centre for the Study of Higher Education)

Cultural consequences of university reform in Georgia (Prof David Ayers, School of English)

Co-designing green infrastructure in informal settlements (Dr Silvio Caputo, Kent School of Architecture)

Implementing climate change policies in Thailand: Strategies for increasing societal support (Dr Frank Grundig, School of Politics and International Relations)

The gender continuum in water (in)security (Dr Trude Sundberg, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research)

Th emes

Si gnature Research

In t h e last edit ion of Research Active w e gave som e of t h e back gr ou n d t o t h e developm en t of t h e Sign at u r e Resear ch Th em es. Wh at 's been goin g on sin ce, an d w h at ar e t h e n ext st eps?

Throughout the Spring Term members of the development group have been visiting schools, talking to researchers, academics and professional service staff about the vision and plans for the signature themes.

This is a bottom-up approach, and they been seeking thoughts, questions and ideas from all of those in the schools.

Timet able for t he next st eps -

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1 March 2019: call for expressions of interest opens for anyone wanting to propose a theme.

9 May 2019: closing date for expressions of interest.

24 May 2019: contact applicants, with feedback as appropriate. Those involved in successful bids will be invited to the next stage.

19-21 June 2019: externally facilitated workshops to identify synergies and complementarities between the outline themes. Once a set of possible themes have been identified, those leading them will be invited to submit a full proposal.

30 Sept 2019: deadline for submission of full proposals.

The form is available on the webpage (see box, right). It includes guidelines for completing it, including the criteria against which the expressions of interest will be assessed.

The deadline for EoIs is 9 May at 5pm. Completed forms should be submitted to themes@kent.ac.uk

Sharing ideas and disciplinary expert ise If you have an idea for a theme and want to open it up for others to join, or you have expertise that may be useful to a developing theme, you can share these on our virtual pin board (see box below). Click the plus sign in the bottom right hand corner to add comments, thoughts or ideas.

Want to k now more?

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Call for expressions of int erest The call for expressions of interest is now open. We are only seeking very basic details at this stage.

These outlines are part of a wider process of identifying the themes, which will include sandpits in June.

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There is a dedicated webpage for the signature themes at http://bit.ly/KentSRT. This will be updated as the process progresses.

The form for your expression of interest is available here.

The virtual pin board for sharing ideas prior to the deadline for expressions of interest is available here. There's been quite a bit of interest in this already, and some fascinating ideas coming through.

If you have any questions about the signature themes, contact themes@kent.ac.uk

B

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What will Brexit mean for researchers in the UK? There is still a lot of uncertainty over the UK's participation in European research and innovation funding after 31 October 2019, when the UK is due to leave the European Union.

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There are two possible scenarios.

The UK leaves wit h a legally-binding wit hdrawal agreement An agreement in principle was published by the UK Government and the European Union on 8 December 2017. It confirmed that, if the negotiated Withdrawal Agreement was passed by Parliament, the UK will be able to fully participate in EU programmes (including those outside of Horizon 2020, such as European Regional Development Fund schemes (such as Interreg)) between April 2019 (when the UK leaves) and December 2020 (when the current funding finishes).

The UK leaves wit h no deal The UK will automatically revert to ?third country? status. This means: -

t hat it can part icipat e in all H2020 project s, but cannot aut omat ically receive funding from t he EC for t hem. It cannot host projects, such as those funded by the European Research Council or some Marie Sk?odowska-Curie actions. The government is still hoping that the EC will allow UK researchers to participate, but this is not a given. If it does so, the UK government has stated that it will cover the cost of any project submitted before 31 October 2019 that has been approved (even if it's approved after the point of departure). The government has stated that this is 'subject

to continued eligibility [and that it] is seeking discussions with the European Commission on this issue.' t hat it can apply for, part icipat e in and receive funding for calls specifically open t o t hird count ry part icipant s. This means that, even if the EC doesn't allow the UK to fully participate in H2020, the UK is still allowed to participate in calls open to third countries. The government has also committed to fund UK participants?costs in these. The guarantee would cover the lifetime of their projects, even if they last beyond 2020.

Furt her informat ion Research Services will continue to monitor developments and advise staff on the current situation. If you have a specific question, contact us.

In addition, you can look at: -

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The Joint Report, which sets out the broad parameters of the UK's withdrawal (Dec 2017).

The government's underwrite agreement (July 2018).

The Withdrawal Agreement (Nov 2018).

UKRO, the UK Research Office in Brussels, and Universities UK International are both monitoring the effect that Brexit will have on the UK research base.

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UKRO Factsheet on Brexit UUKi

Webinar Series: what's next for UK and EU science and education?

Brexit FAQs

harmonic analysis urban agricult ure labour economics nonparamet ric ident ificat ion social net work analyt ics big dat a and machine learning hist ory of t echnology imperial hist ory cont est ed cit ies migrat ion innovat ion and t echnology management inequalit y st at e crime and resist ance human right s sensory mot or int eract ion brain-body communicat ion human-ot her animal int eract ions early medieval Brit ain biosignal analysis

Wel come

16 academics have started at Kent between January and the end of March. Take a little time to look at their research interests, and do drop them a line if their interests map on to or complement yours.

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Silvio Caput o (Architecture): urban agriculture, the design and planning of green infrastructure and issues related to democracy and planning such as environmental justice Irma Clot s Figueras (Economics): development economics, political economy, cultural economics, gender economics, and migration.

Robert Gallagher (History): cultural, political and social histories of medieval western Europe, with particular expertise in early medieval Britain, its Latin literatures, manuscripts and documents Emmanuel Guerre (Economics): nonparametric identification and inference for auctions, optimal nonparametric testing and inference for recurrent/unit root processes Marina Iliopoulou (SMSAS): harmonic analysis, incidence geometry, geometric measure theory, additive combinatorics Libo Li (KBS): social network analytics, data mining, machine learning, and statistical modelling Peng Liu (SMSAS): semiparametric estimation, causal inference, big data, and machine learning Aparajit a Mukhopadhyay (History): imperial history; history of colonial south Asia; and history of technology.

Huy Phan (Computing): machine learning, deep learning, signal processing, audio analysis, biosignal analysis, biomedical modelling Jonat han Rock Rokem (SAC): contested cities, urban mobility infrastructure and migration in Europe and the Middle East Abhijit Sengupt a (KBS): innovation and technology management, firm strategy, behaviour over networks and complex systems Nikhil Sengupt a (Psychology): how inequality is produced, maintained and challenged, with a strong focus on the psychology of the victims of inequality Rachel Seoighe (SSPSSR): state crime and resistance, postcolonial and decolonial politics, power and agency, human rights, Tamil rights, Sri Lankan civil war, decarceral feminism, abolition.

Luigi Tame (Psychology): sensory perception and sensory-motor interaction Ruben Andre Teixeira Azevedo (Psychology): understanding the mechanisms underlying brain-body communication; self-awareness, empathy and visual politics Corey W renn (SSPSSR): relationships between humans and other animals and animal liberation efforts.

Strategi c Grants

Thesupport processfor larger grant applications Many funders now limit the number of applications a single university can submit to a strategic scheme. Examples include Leverhulme Leadership awards and ESRC Centre grants.

When calls for such schemes are made, we will do the following: As soon as t he scheme is announced we will advertise it, making it clear that we can only submit a limited number of applications. We will ask that anyone interested in applying should let us know by a specified deadline.

At the same time we will approach Heads of School and Directors of Research and ask if there are others that they know of who are at the appropriate point in their career to apply, or who have a suitable centre or project.

If there are more interested applicants than we have places to submit, we will seek to inform and select them through the following process.

At least t wo mont hs before t he ext ernal deadline we will hold an invitation only information session for those who have either told us directly that they are interested, or have been nominated by their HoS/DoR. This will involve: - An overview of the scheme from Research Services, including success rates, eligibility etc - Advice and insights from academics who have either had funding from the scheme, or have been involved in reviewing or prioritising proposals.

- A summary of the next steps.

At least six weeks before t he ext ernal deadline, those interested in applying will be asked to submit: - A one page summary of their proposal - An eligibility statement (if applicable) - A short CV - A statement of support from their HoS. An assessment panel will be convened to prioritise the applications. The constitution of this panel will depend on the parameters and objectives of the scheme. Its membership will be available to all who submit.

The panel will meet the week after the internal deadline, and applicants will be informed of the outcome as soon as possible.

The Research Development Officers and Grants & Contracts Officers will then work with the University?s selected applicants to prepare their application. They will also facilitate internal peer review to ensure that the quality of the proposal is as good as possible.

One week before t he ext ernal deadline the University?s selected applicants will submit their applications through Krimson for approval. This will allow time for any final changes and adjustments.

There will, of course, be exceptions to this depending on the specific requirements of the schemes. However this provides a transparent, robust and proactive framework by which we hope to select and support the best and most appropriate applications for strategic calls.

For more information, email Phil Ward.

The National Productivity Investment Fund is the invisible hand behind a number of major new funding schemes.But what is it and how does it fits together?

The funding landscape is a little like a garden at the height of summer. It does not appear to have a pattern, and most of the flowers seem unrelated. But if you spend longer in the garden and dig deep into the earth, you find that some of the plants share the same root system even though they sprout up in different places.

The National Productivity Investment Fund is one of the larger root systems. It may not be showy, but it is certainly vigorous.

Most people who wander into the garden cannot see it or access it directly, but they can pick the flowers that sprout from the root system across the grounds.

The NPIF provides funding for areas deemed critical for UK productivity, including housing, R&D and infrastructure. When the government first announced the fund as part of its 2016 autumn statement, it totalled £23 billion over four years with almost £5bn of that going to R&D. Since then the fund has grown to £37bn, with £7bn for R&D. So what plants grow from the NPIF mega-root?

St rat egic Priorit ies Fund In his 2015 review that led to the establishment of the umbrella funding agency UK Research and Innovation, Paul Nurse recommended that an interdisciplinary, challenge-led

fund be established. The Strategic Priorities Fund was the result.

Run by UKRI, the fund has three aims: -

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To increase high-quality interdisciplinary research and innovation To ensure that UKRI?s investment links up effectively with government departments? research priorities and opportunities To ensure the system is able to respond to strategic priorities and opportunities

The first funding calls from the SPF are beginning to appear. The ?landscape decisions? theme, led by the Natural Environment Research Council, aims to fund projects that will inform decision-making relating to land use, with collaborations between policy, business and land management partners, including politicians and policymakers, lobbying groups and those involved in responding to consultations and drafting policy.

Indust rial St rat egy Challenge Fund Based on the model of the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency in the United States, the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund aims, in the words of Innovate UK?s chief operating officer Mike Biddle, ?to deliver

the science that business needs to transform industries and create new ones?.

The funding is channelled through a series of challenges, and project proposals must fit within one of the four ?grand challenge? themes in the industrial strategy: artificial intelligence and the data-driven economy, clean growth, the future of mobility, and an ageing society.

UKRI is currently selecting the third wave of challenges and has published a shortlist. When these are finalised, the challenge directors will work with UKRI to provide funding through a series of calls. Similar in many ways to normal calls, the difference here is that the research must be based in the UK and must be led by industry.

Fund for Int ernat ional Collaborat ion The Fund for International Collaboration is a slightly odd one: it was already spending before it was ?formally? announced.

As Rachael Sara-Kennedy of Universities UK International wrote on Funding Insight, ?the clock started ticking back in April 2018. So, although the fund was officially launched by the minister only recently, it has in effect been covertly operating for some months in order to be able to spend this financial year?s allocation?.

Wh at l i e

The fund supports bilateral and multilateral partnerships for research and innovation with leading nations that have a reputation for excellence. Unlike the more widely known Global Challenges Research Fund, the FIC aims to connect UK researchers with those in more industrialised countries; the first wave of projects includes partnerships with Canada, India, Israel, Japan, South Korea and the US.

St rengt h in Places Fund With the SPF acronym already taken, the Strength in Places Fund had to make do with SIPF. It aims to support innovative regional growth led by businesses, but building on the work of universities, research institutes, the Catapult innovation centres and other R&D facilities (such as Innovation and

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Knowledge Centres, IKCs).

A total of 23 projects were awarded pilot funding in the first wave of the SIPF, and will now develop full bids to be submitted in September.

Talent Announced in June 2018 by business secretary Greg Clark, this £1.3bn fund is intended to attract and retain talent in the UK. It includes the flagship £900-million UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships, and applications for the third round of this scheme opened on 2 April. It offers salary funding for up to seven years for both UK and international early-career researchers in both industry and academia.

A total of £350m is going towards fellowships run by the academies.

One example is the recent British Academy Global Professorships. ?We want to attract the very best people to the UK, share their experience and learn from them,? said the academy?s head of

international Philip Lewis. ?We want them to become an active, engaged part of their host institutions. Such engagement and openness has never been more important.?

Another £90m has been set aside for 1,000 PhD places in areas aligned with the industrial strategy and £160m for early and mid-career fellowships associated with it.

In addition to these funds, the NPIF root system will provide funding for commercialisation and some other programmes that are still to be specified. This root has not finished growing yet.

Want to k now more?

This article was originally published in Research Professional's Funding Insight.

The University has a subscription to this service, and it includes articles focussed on, for example, SPF, FIC, and ISCF.

GCRFNetworkPlus Wh at is Net w or k Plu s?

Network Plus provides flexible funding that is allocated to a lead research organisation, which then redistributes it to a range of projects involving academic and non-academic partners, including NGOs, activists, policymakers and practitioners.

According to Emma Crewe (SOAS), Leader on one of the first awarded projects, the model is transformative, providing agile and equitable funding for developing impactful partnerships.

Back gr ou n d The roots of the Network Plus model go back to the 2017 AHRC's Area-Focused call. This was aimed at collaborative arts and humanities-based research that tackled development challenges in low and middle income countries.

There is a strong emphasis on ef f ect ive leader sh ip of the N+, with experience of working across disciplines and institutions. An N+ is a significant commitment (see tips, below), so make sure you factor in and justify your time in the application. In addition, have a robust and supportive management committee as part of it, and clear responsibilities split between investigators.

Pr act ical Tips At a recent town hall meeting, investigators from SOAS and Leeds offered advice based on their experience of running Networks Plus.

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The first five funded networks were given ÂŁ9m collectively, and their work will carry on until 2021. Led by a range of universities including Leeds, UCL and SOAS, the networks include: -

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Arts-based projects that help young people whose affected by conflict The role played by arts and humanities in strengthening democracy internationally Research around human enslavement and its legacies .

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Key Com pon en t s There are three key components successful Network Plus.

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A solid f ou n dat ion : the N+ needs to be based on an extensive scoping exercise to identify need.

A r obu st an d t r an spar en t design : for selecting sub-projects and distributing the funding.

St r on g coor din at ion : N+ grants are complex, and there need to be good systems in place to manage them.

Network P number of

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Be r eady t o act . The deadlines are tight and start dates swift, so make sure you have a committed team ready to pounce when the calls are issued.

Don't u n der est im at e t h e t im e in volved. Although the networks are creative, exciting and productive, they do require a lot of time and energy to manage. Don't underestimate the effect of this on you and your colleagues.

M ak e su r e you in clu de pr of ession al su ppor t . Professional support is an eligible cost, and is crucial for the success of the project. So think about for instance - finance and contracts managers, or project managers.

In clu de t r ain in g an d in f or m at ion even t s. Share knowledge and best practice within and beyond the network.

Spread the word and develop the next cohort of networks.

Be aw ar e of pot en t ial pr oblem s locally. Work closely with local co-investigators to mitigate these.

Bu ild a legacy. The funders want to see the long-term benefit of their grants.

Make sure you have a plan in place for continuation of the work beyond the lifetime of the network.

Plus is a new type of funding scheme that acts like a hub to fund a f smaller projects. Monika Struebig finds out more.

Cu r r en t Calls

Want to k now more?

This year we've already had four calls from the AHRC, and two from the ESRC, which recently closed. They were focused on the following areas (which give you an idea of what they're looking for):

If you want to find out more talk to Monika Struebig or any of the other Research Development Officers about your plans.

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Preventing Conflict, Building Sustainable and Inclusive Peace Protection in Contexts of Conflict and Displacement Education in Conflict and Crisis Research.

Gender and intersectionality Education as a driver of sustainable development

The Nahrein Network, an N+ that was funded in the AHRC's initial round, is now offering two types of grants for work that fosters sustainable development of antiquity, cultural heritage and the humanities in Iraq and its neighbours. The deadline for both is 15 May: -

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Sm all gr an t s (up to ÂŁ30k fEC) for projects led by Iraqi researchers, or collaborations between Iraqi and UK researchers.

Lar ge gr an t s (up to ÂŁ100k FEC) for collaborations between Iraqi, Lebanese or Turkish and UK researchers.

Th e Fu t u r e

GCRF and Newton funding will be scrutinised in the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review, but we're pretty confident the Networks Plus will continue.

We have submitted case studies from Kent to UKRI and joined the pledge led by Durham University to boost the evidence pool for continuation of the schemes, particularly in Brexit context and potential loss of EU funding.

Photo: Rob Brewer via Flickr - CC BY-SA 2.0

Research and I nnov ati on A w ards This year the Research Prizes will come together with the Innovation Awards. They will be celebrated with the Teaching Awards in July, and all three will be part of the same scheme next year. Here we look at the categories for this year's awards, and how you can apply.

Cat egories There will be seven awards overall.

Research Awards -

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Advanced Research Award : for those with 12 or more years of experience since completion of PhD Consolidat or Research Award: Nominees must have 7-12 years of experience since completion of PhD St art ing Research Award: Nominees must have less than seven years of experience since completion of PhD

Innovat ion Awards -

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Innovat ion and Ent erprise Collaborat ion Award: This award covers activities such as invention disclosure, new patents filed, spin-out company creation, developing new products and developing new links with industry as key factors in bringing research to the market place.

Early Career Knowledge Exchange Award: This award recognises an ECR?s engagement in an external knowledge exchange project, consultancy or training programme.

Public Engagement wit h Research Award: Through Kent 2025, the University has articulated its intention to become one of the leading civic universities. In light of our renewed focus on the value of engagement and as a first step towards the fully combined awards, we are introducing an award for excellence in public engagement with research.

Technical Support Award: The University has signed up to the Technician Commitment, a sector wide, collaborative initiative led by the Science Council to ensure visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technicians working in higher education and research.?

The awards are a recognition of excellence by your peers, and an indication of esteem. There is no financial reward, but the achievements of the winners will be celebrated through a range of different avenues, including an awards dinner hosted by the Vice-Chancellor and President, publications, posters and a dedicated website.

Eligibilit y and crit eria Nominees must be a member of staff at the time the nomination is submitted.

The nomination should be based on a range of exceptional achievements, which should be relevant to the category for which the nominee is being put forward. These could include but not be limited to: publications in highly ranked journals, number of citations, grants awarded, innovation income, policy development, and economic impact.

The Advanced Research Award will be given to exceptional leaders in terms of originality and significance of their research contributions over the past decade. The other awards are for achievements in the last twelve months, although some flexibility in this will be allowed.

Nominat ion, assessment and out come Nominations must use this form (Word) and be accompanied by a CV (two sides of A4) and publicat ion list (one side of A4 listing the most recent relevant publications).

Nominations must be received by Phil Ward by 9:00am on 20 May 2019.

Following the deadline, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research & Innovation will convene a panel to select the winners of the awards.

All nominees will be informed of the outcome by Monday 3 June 2019. A general announcement will be made in the week after, and details of the winners will be widely disseminated via Corporate Communications.

The winners will be will be celebrated at a gala dinner and ceremony to be held on Wednesday 10 July. The event will be hosted by the Vice-Chancellor, and attended by representatives of funders, charities, the media, and the wider public.

Want to k now more?

Full details of this year's competition are on our website, here.

Eastern A RC: Now We A re Eastern ARC - the research consortium bringing together the universities of East Anglia, Essex and Kent - was formally launched in August 2013, but started operationally in the following year. As it reaches a half-decade, Phil Ward, who will be the consortium's first director from August, looks back on the first five years - and forward to what's to come.

Eastern ARC brings together three dynamic universities that were born in a time of optimism and change, when old conventions were being questioned and traditions being challenged. All three aimed to be different, to work across disciplinary boundaries, to offer alternative ways of thinking.

This is enshrined in UEA?s motto (?do different?), it?s there in Essex?s founding principles (?freer, more daring, more experimental?), and clear from the words of Kent?s first VC, Geoffrey Templeman: ?We have tried, in a very real sense, to make this university a community of masters and scholars...where people of the various disciplines mix up.?

Init ial St ruct ure Eastern ARC was established around three broad themes: -

Digital humanities Quantitative social sciences Synthetic biology

Within each of these there was a theme lead, a fellow, and two PhD students (three in synthetic biology) at each university. This provided a structure for the fledgling consortium, and it bore fruit.

Success Eastern ARC has attracted significant funding, including 'Enabling Innovation: Research to Application' (EIRA) (£4.7m), an award from the Cultural Development Fund (£4.3m), and the ESRC Business and Local Government Data Research Centre (£6m). As well as these, the individual fellows secured some £1.5m of grants.

Elsewhere the Consortium was the focus of workshops, sandpits and enterprise development events. It was the platform from which 21 PhD students graduated, and it was the avenue through which academics collaborated on joint publications.

Challenges However, there have been real challenges, not least the distance between the three: it's 158 miles between Canterbury and Norwich. You can't just nip out to catch up with a colleague at UEA. In addition some have questioned the initial

structure: whilst it provided a framework on which to build the ARC, it didn't offer the flexibility and agility necessary to harness three such ?fierce?(to quote Essex?s Albert Solman) and independent universities.

The Fut ure I'm excited to be taking the helm at a pivotal moment in the development of EARC. For me, it has such potential to grow from its strong roots.

I've got some ideas, but before doing anything I want to listen, to learn, and to understand.

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I want to find out what works and what doesn't, what our strengths and weaknesses are, our natural synergies and where we can benefit from each other.

I want to open up the ARC beyond the three themes and build a flexible, agile and robust network of connections and collaborations that would bring together the best of what each university has to offer. It should be a partnership that benefits our own work and informs the work of others, and is ready to make the most of opportunities for external funding, impact and engagement.

So I'll be pestering all of you at some point, and hope to pick your brains over a coffee or two. And don't worry: I'm paying.

Thanks Finally, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to all who have been involved in and supported EARC in its first five years. Without you, it wouldn't have been possible. Here's to the next five - and the next 50.

Want to k now more?

Details are still to be finalised, but I hope to start as Director on 1 August. In the meantime have a look at the current EARC website to fuel your thoughts: http://easternarc.ac.uk/

The rise of social media and the the current febrile political and ideological climate have created a threatening environment for those working in controversial areas.

There's no better time, then, to reinforce the University's commitment to academic freedom.

A cademi c Freedom Pol i cy

The freedom of inquiry is one of the building blocks of academic research. In the second half of the twentieth century this was formalised by Unesco and the International Association of Universities, as well as through the Bologna Magna Charta Universitatum and UK legislation in the Education Reform Act (1988) and Higher Education and Research Act (2017) .

The principles are also enshrined in the University's Charter. This states that ?academic staff of the University have freedom within the law both to question and test received wisdom and to put forward ideas and controversial or unpopular opinions without putting themselves at risk of losing their jobs by virtue of such ideas or opinions, or any privileges, which they may enjoy at the University? (section 19).

affected by such attention. This support may include, but not be limited to, human resources and legal advice, public relations support, counselling services, Campus Security protection, and robust advocacy and defence from managers at all levels.

"Academic staff of the University have freedom within the law both to question and test received wisdom and to put forward ideas and controversial or unpopular opinions"

Research Services is now working with academic colleagues, union leaders and professional services to develop a policy that makes clear what the University is doing to safeguard this freedom. It will go to Executive Group, and we hope to send it to the Research and Innovation Board in May for approval.

The policy is st ill in draft form, and it should be not ed t hat it is subject t o change. Nevertheless, the current draft commits the University to support all of its staff and students in pursuit of research conducted within the law, regardless of its focus and free of political agenda, institutional priority or pressure exerted implicitly or explicitly.

It seeks to protect its staff from abuse, whatever form this may take, and support them if they are

It will provide support from both academic and professional service colleagues in the pursuance of their research and defence of their principles. This may include, but not be limited to, mentoring, administrative assistance, publication and dissemination support, funding, financial and welfare advice.

In return the draft policy sets out a series of expectations that the University has of its staff and students.

These include the pursuance of their research within the law and adherence to ethical regulations, in both letter and spirit.

In addition, it expects that researchers give due consideration to how their research may be perceived among those with conflicting views., and to communicate their findings with an attitude of respect towards those who may be affected by or disagree with them. This include being willing to engage with those with valid, well-evidenced concerns, through a third party if appropriate.

Want to k now more?

Not e t hat t he out lined policy is st ill in draft form and subject t o change. However, to find out more, or to read the draft policy, contact Phil Ward.

R

REF

Code of Practi ce

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) requires that every institution submits a code of practice outlining how the university has made their selections and showing how the university practices equality and diversity in the process.

We have now drafted the University?s Code of Practice and are inviting all staff to comment from 1st -21st May 2019.

The Draft will be published online on the 1st and all staff will be notified.

Following consultation revisions will then be made and the Code of Practice will be submitted to the REF on the 7th of June for final approval.

For this REF cycle the University intends to submit 100% of eligible staff defined as those on teaching and research (T&R) contracts and some research only contracts. The criteria for selection will be outlined in the Code of Practice.

Want to k now more?

To find out more, or to read the draft Code, contact Betty Woessner.

A w ards 1 January Below is a full list of awards received since 1 August. It does not include extensions or supplements. Those in orange are the largest grants in their faculties, but congratulations to all colleagues listed!

Facu lt y of Hu m an it ies Ken t Sch ool of Ar ch it ect u r e Brittain-Catlin

Edwardian Liberals and their Houses - Paul Mellon Centre

Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

£3,000

Aesthetics and Comedy - BSA Synergy Grant

British Society of Aesthetics

£6,000

Sch ool of Ar t s May

Sch ool of En glish Klein

MOVES - Migration and Modernity: Historical and Cultural Challenges

European Commission

£502,303

Richardson

The Cultural Lives of the Middling Sort: writing and material

AHRC

£279,014

Loughnane

Performance, memory and cultural heritage in the UK and Japan

ESRC

£24,895

Sch ool of Eu r opean Cu lt u r e an d Lan gu ages Kirchin

Aesthetics and Comedy - BSA Synergy Grant

British Society of Aesthetics

£6,000

Janke

Breaking into sign language: the role of input and individual differences

Leverhulme Trust

£126,128

Arvaniti

Politics and linguistic variation in a post-diglossic speech

Leverhulme Trust

£106,560

Heinrich

Multilingual Poetry Workshop Series

AHRC

£3,800

Sch ool of Hist or y Loop

The European Qur 'an

European Research Council

£2,144,082

Facu lt y of Scien ces Sch ool of Bioscien ces Moore

Towards the Discovery of the Duocarmycin Biosynthetic Pathway

Royal Society

£18,343

Ezcurra

C. elegans - a model system to study causation in the microbiome-gut-brain-access

Wellcome Trust

£99,905

Toseland

Visualising and Tracking the DNA damage response

Royal Society

£12,000

Mulvihill

Synthetic bacterial vesicles to enhance recombinant protein production

BBSRC

Robinson

Establishment of RNAi-based algal technology for sustainable disease control in shrimp cultivation

Royal Society

£74,000

£350,865

Sch ool of Com pu t in g Hernandez Castro

Small Equipment Bid for the UK Quantum Randomness Beacon

National Cyber Security Centre

£36,226

Owens

Building Verified Applications in CakeML

Verified Trustworthy Software Systems

£96,024

y - 31 M arch 2019 Sch ool of En gin eer in g an d Digit al Ar t s Gao

Millimeter-wave Multi-band Dual-Polarized Antennas and Arrays for Handsets

Huawei

£105,000

Sirlantzis

Mechanised Orthosis for Children with Neurological Disorders (MOTION)

Interreg V 2 Seas Programme (North)

£496,849

Lu

A condition-based monitoring and advisory tool for utility boilers

Biomass and Fossil Fuel Research Alliance (BF2RA)

Wang

On use of machine learning for future mobile Networks

Royal Society

£40,000

£100,500

Sch ool of M at h em at ics, St at ist ics an d Act u ar ial Scien ce Topley

Geometric Representation Theory

London Mathematical Society

£1,200

Soares Loureiro

Orthogonal Polynomials, Special Functions, Operator Theory and Applications

London Mathematical Society

£3,000

Clarkson

Properties of semi-classical orthogonal polynomials

Royal Society

£77,800

Sch ool of Ph ysical Scien ces Holder

The synthesis and characterisation of styrene-based reactive super polymeric absorbents for the degradation of organophosphorous derivatives

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (dstl)

Hiscock

Synthetic bacterial vesicles to enhance recombinant protein production, delivery and isolation for I

BBSRC

£131,194

£9,146

Facu lt y of Social Scien ces Ken t Bu sin ess Sch ool Chrysochoidis

Support for methodological design for testing the impact of dual food quality on consumers' choices

European Commission

£12,295

Sengupta

Exploring the complexity of universities' knowledge exchange activities: Looking beyond currently measured outcomes

Society for Research into Higher Education

£5,878

Howells

Secondary analysis of the Longitudinal Small Business Survey Waves 1-3

BMG Research

£2,989

Sengupta

The dynamic impact of social media activity and networks on firm-level indicators: A longitudinal study.

British Academy

£19,240

Ken t Law Sch ool Perry-Kessaris

Legal design: concepts, methods, norms and examples

Socio-Legal Studies

£1,527

Parfitt

Interdisciplinarity as Resistance

Socio-Legal Studies

£2,000

Jivraj

Embracing and reflecting BME diversity in law school curricula: why and how?

Socio-Legal Studies Association

£2,726

Casey

The Glue that keeps Compliance Stuck Together: The Role of Test Houses in Online Gambling Regulation

Socio-Legal Studies Association

£2,710

Rackley

Revenge Pornography: The implications for Law Reform

Australian Research Council

£9,890

Rackley

Gender and diversity in the judiciary and legal profession

Leverhulme Trust

£80,686

Parsley

Law and the Human

Arts and Humanities

£36,413

Schepel

A Study on Residence Formalities in Belgium

MYRIA

£15,914

Sch ool of An t h r opology an d Con ser vat ion Tiddi

Sexual behaviour and social constraints in a New world primate

VolkswagenStiftung

£13,249

Struebig

Impacts of land-use change on sun bears in Borneo

Chester Zoo

£12,278

James Madison Trust

£10,000

Sch ool of Polit ics an d In t er n at ion al Relat ion s Dardanelli

Why Centralisation and Decentralisation in Federations? Phase 2

Sch ool of Psych ology Beck

Pain and motivation: the impact of tonic experimental pain on

British Academy

£9,740

Hopthrow

International Study of Meta-Norms

Stockholm University

Cameron

Is there a relationship between malocclusion, peer interactions

British Orthodontic Society

Bindemann

Person identification at passport control within realistic context

ESRC

Randsley de

Attitudes to well-being at work initiatives

Society for Industrial and

£7,500

£857 £30,000 £289,734

Sch ool of Social Policy, Sociology an d Social Resear ch Merritt

Global health systems research - development of a community of interest to support engagement in NIH

Department of Health

£6,000

Kendall

The cost implications of initiatives in community health services to reduce hospital utilisation and referral to specialist services

Department of Health

£67,512

Bradshaw

Sensory environments and autistic people: How can tools be developed and used to improve quality of life of autistic adults with severe intellectual disabilities and other conditions?

John and Lorna Wing Foundation

£67,000

Hotham

Ageing Better Programme Intervention Typology Project

Big Lottery Fund

£13,731

Peckham

Identifying and Improving the Capacity of Health Service Staff to Conduct Research

Cancer Research UK

Zhang

Promoting Social Embeddedness of New Biotechnologies: Co-Developing Public Engagement in and with Ch

British Council

£24,000

Langdon

Development of an assent-based process ...

Nuffield Foundation

£13,366

Garbin

Religious urbanization in global times - Max Weber Fellowship

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

£33,314

Song

Racial Identities and Life Choices among Mixed-Heritage People in the USA

Russell Sage Foundation

£12,647

Hotham

The contribution of Integrated Case Management Meetings (ICMs) towards improving patient outcomes

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

£6,500

Barnoux

Understanding the Journeys of the Transforming Care Young People (18-24 years) with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) through inpatient services in England ? Phase 1

National Health Service (NHS)

£18,980

£101,961

Research Active is published termly by Research Services. If you have any questions, queries or clarifications, contact Phil Ward (p.ward@kent.ac.uk).

The contacts above are also available at http://bit.ly/KentRScontact

Wh o Ya Gonna Cal l ?

Confused by who you need to talk to in Research Services? Here's our regular reminder of who to contact about what. Each school has specific contacts (see below), but some of us work across all schools on areas relevant to everyone: -

REF: Betty Woessner Public engagement & Impact : Maddy Bell School

Facult y

Finding funding, developing ideas

-

Et hics: Nicole Palmer East ern ARC: Phil Ward KRIMSON: Renรกta McDonnell Disseminat ion, open access, dat a management : Sarah Slowe, Josie Caplehorne (Office for Scholarly Communications) ResearchFish, general enquiries: Sue Prout

-

Cost ing, submission, cont ract negot iat ion

Post -award finance

Economics

Social Sciences

Sarah

Jane

Ben

Journalism

Social Sciences

Sarah

Karen

Ben

KBS

Social Sciences

Sarah

Rob

Ben

KLS

Social Sciences

Sarah

Jane

Ben

PolIR

Social Sciences

Sarah

Jo

Lynnette

Psychology

Social Sciences

Sarah

Chris

Ben

SAC

Social Sciences

Sarah

Jo

Lynnette

SSPSSR

Social Sciences

Sarah

Chris

Simon C

-

CHSS

Social Sciences

Sarah

Andrew

Dominika

-

PSSRU Social Sciences

Sarah

Jo

Simon C

-

Tizard

Social Sciences

Sarah

Rob

Simon C

Architecture

Humanities

Michelle

Chris

Ben

Arts

Humanities

Michelle

Andrew

Dominika

CMAT

Humanities

Michelle

Karen

Ben

English

Humanities

Michelle

Rob

Dominika

History

Humanities

Michelle

Rob

Dominika

SECL

Humanities

Michelle

Andrew

Simon C

Biosciences

Sciences

Helen/Monika

Chris

Dominic

Computing

Sciences

Helen/Monika

Karen

Ben

EDA

Sciences

Helen/Monika

Jane

Dominic

Pharmacy

Sciences

Helen/Monika

Karen

Nigel

SMSAS

Sciences

Helen/Monika

Jane

Ben

Sports

Sciences

Helen/Monika

Karen

Nigel

SPS

Sciences

Helen/Monika

Rob

Simon C

UELT/CSHE

Non-Faculty

Sarah

Andrew

Dominika

Research Fundermental s For regular dosesof scurrilous satire and sage advice, head over to our Fundermentalsblog. In case you missed it, here are two of our most recent salvos.

At HomewithPhil Baty Early evening in the Baty household.

Phil isbusy rooting through the kitchen cupboards. MrsBaty comes in.

Mrs Bat y: Phil, what are you doing? And why are all these tins of soup all over the floor?

Phil: I'm ranking.

Mrs Bat y: I beg your pardon?

Phil: I'm ranking. With an R. It was complete chaos in the soup cupboard. I couldn't tell which was the most popular soup flavour. I've done a serious, robust qualitative study of all respondents (n=1), and I'm delighted to announce the winner of the inaugural Times HigherSoup Rankings. Cream of Tomato is at number 1 with 100% of the allocated soup points.

Mrs Bat y: Darling...

Phil: Wait. I haven't finished. I've not even begun on the Times Higher'New' Soup Rankings (under five days old).

Mrs Bat y: Phil, I think this is getting a little out of hand...

Phil: Nonsense! Life is better when you rank. I've been going through the house and it's frankly shocking how many things haven't been ranked. I've ranked all the books in terms of popularity amongst their readership (n=1), all the chairs in terms of comfort, all the pets in terms of strokeability, and all the children in terms of size, Mrs Bat y: Phil, could you sit down a moment?

Phil takesChair Number 4 (on the comfort index).

Phil: Yes? Mrs Bat y: Now I know how much you love ranking, and no one loves a good rank as much as me. But don't you think this is a little...much?

Phil: How are you quantifying 'much'?

Mrs Bat y: By a qualitative measure of insanity, following an exhaustive survey of those in the

house (n=1, excluding size-ranked children).

Phil: Nonsense! How are we to understand the world without rankings? How will we know what to think? I'm running out of things to rank in universities. I've done young universities, world universities, world universities by reputation, universities of the emerging economies, universities of Latin America, universities of Asia-Pacific, universities of Japan, universities of Europe (Teaching), education colleges, and Impact.

Darling, I've nothing left universities-wise. Soup is the next big thing. But don't tell anyone about the Cream of Tomato triumph. I want that to be the big reveal at the gala dinner.

Mrs Bat y: Gala dinner?

Phil: Yes, darling. Tomorrow night.

Have you not received your invitation yet?Perhaps you've not paid your attendance fee. It was a snip at £1,000 per place. The graded children and strokeable pets don't seem to have replied yet either.

Mrs Bat y: I really think you need to...

Phil: Rank the pasta? Don't worry, darling: I'm on to it. [holdsup two packets of pasta] So darling, on a scale of 1 (not very good) to 5 (outstanding), how do you rank penne against rigatone?

Mrs Bat y: I'm not doing this, Phil.

I'm off to stroke Cat Number 2.

Phil: But darling we haven't finished! Don't you want to find out where papardelle finishes?

Dog Number 1 padsby nervously, and Phil isleft alone.

'OldMcDonaldFunding' Regular readers will know that there's a special place in our hearts for funders and policymakers who use random letters of the alphabet to name their initiatives. The EC is a past master at this, realigning all of their thematic directorates to the

letter P in February, and launching a '3 Os' agenda in 2016.

Not to be outdone, the newly-flush Research England is making great headway in getting on this bandwagon being a leader in this field. Keen eyed applicants may have noticed that their two most recent schemes, Expanding Excellence in England (E3) and International Investment Initiative (i3), are a brave attempt to shoehorn a vaguely descriptive title into a single vowel.

It's a clear statement of intent, which was confirmed by Death Star House yesterday. 'I'm glad you noticed,' cooed Mr Gimlet.

'Yes, we've ditched the whole 2.4% thing in favour of randomly lettered funding initiatives. For Research England, we're planning the 'full Old MacDonald'.

'There'll be second rounds of E3 and i3 next year, and it will be followed swiftly by an Original and Organic Organisations (O3) scheme in the Summer. We will then have completed the full suite: E, I, E, I, O.' Gimlet continued, 'The O3 call will run for three weeks in the middle of August. £500k will be available through a two stage application process, with interview. We will expect universities to match fund with the weight of their VCs in gold.

'We're hoping to introduce similar schemes across all of the UKRI members. For instance, the AHRC will be rolling out a funding scheme based around the nine films with single letter titles. The first will be named after Fritz Lang's M. It will offer £2,000 (with £1m match funding expected by the host institution) for research on great British products and their cultural significance in a post-Brexit globalised world.

Think Marmite, Mars Bars and Marmalade.

'Yes, we may be turning our backs on Europe, but on this one the EC has it spot on.'