research funding opportunities for early career researchers in kls phil ward research funding...
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Research Funding Opportunities for Early Career Researchers
in KLS
Phil WardResearch Funding Manager
Funding Opportunities
• Planning a Research Bid• Writing a Research Bid• Managing your Bids• Help from Research Services
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Planning a Research Bid
Think
Think
...about the Specifics
• What will you do? (objectives, plan, timescale)• Why now? • Why you? (expertise, track record, contacts)• What impact? (beneficiaries, dissemination)• What kind of resources do you need?
(reasonable, accurate, eligible)
...about the Funder
• 2 types of funding:– Managed– Responsive Mode
• 5 types of funder:– Research Councils– Charities– Learned Societies and Representative Bodies– Government– Industry
Considerations
• Eligibility – Employment status and
residency– Career stage
• Costs– Will it cover all your costs?– Overheads
• Internal Pressures– School budget– Teaching needs
• Remit– Subject– Aims of scheme – ‘Politics’
• Timetable– Deadline – Duration
• Success Rate– Is it worth it?– Back up plan
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Research Councils• Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council
(26% - £795m)• Science & Technology Facilities Council (20% -
£624m)• Medical Research Council (19% - £606m)• Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research
Council (14% - £427m)• Natural Environment Research Council (13% -
£392m)• Economic & Social Research Council (5% - 165m)• Arts & Humanities Research Council (3% - £103m)
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RCUK First Grant SchemesFunder Eligibility Amount Duration
AHRC<8yrs since PhD or <6yrs 1st appt,
and not had AHRC grant before£20-£200k (fEC) Up to 5 yrs
BBSRC<3 yrs of 1st appt; not had grant that
included PDRANo limit No limit
EPSRC<10 yrs since PhD &< 36 months of 1st appt and first
time as PIUp to £125k (fEC); Up to 2 yrs
ESRC<6 yrs since PhD; other eligibility
TBCTBC Up to 2 yrs
MRC
Either: Lecturer: <3yrs since 1st appt, and
>3yrs postdoc experience, orResearcher: 3-10 yrs postdoc
experienceLimits to other funding you can hold
£600k (fEC) Up to 3 yrs
NERC<3 yrs of becoming eligible for
NERC funding and not had funding before
£100k (fEC)Notspecified
AHRC
• Research Grants– Emphasis on supporting ‘teams’ of researchers– 4 ‘routes’ to applying incl Early Career (<5 yrs,
£20k - £200k):• Research Fellowships
– Incl. Early Career route (<9 mths, <£120k)• Eligibility and deadlines
– <8yrs of PhD, or <6yrs 1st appt– Rolling deadline, but ‘blackout’ in Feb
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ESRC
• Future Leaders Scheme– Replaces Postdoc Fellowships & First Grants
Schemes– Details TBC, but:
• Up to 2 years• 3 priority areas• < 6 yrs from PhD• 50-80 new grants per year
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Delivery Plans: Themes
• AHRC– ‘Connected Communities’– ‘strategic need’: modern languages, design and heritage– AHRC’s own multidisciplinary themes: Care for the Future;
Translating Cultures; Digital Transformations; Science and Culture
• ESRC– Economic performance and sustainable growth– Influencing behaviour and informing interventions– Vibrant and fair society
Page 15
Cross-Council Themes
• Global Uncertainties• Living with Environmental Change• Ageing: Lifelong Health and Wellbeing• Digital Economy• Energy• Global Food Security
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Research Councils
• Benefits of applying to RCs:– Prestige– fEC – generous funding
• What to watch out for:– Cuts – and ‘politics’
• Themes, demand management, ‘longer, larger, fewer’• ‘Clique’? eg BBSRC: 3 HEIs get 25% of funding
– JeS form– Impact
Page 18
Charities • General
–Leverhulme Trust–Wellcome Trust–Nuffield Foundation
• Specialist–Joseph Rowntree Foundation–Often medical – e.g. Cancer Research UK–AMRC (www.amrc.org.uk)
• Represents 111 health-related charities, with a combined expenditure on medical research of £630m per annum.
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Leverhulme (£40m)
• Funds all fields, except social policy and welfare, medicine and education
• Supports original, risk-taking research that often transcends traditional discipline boundaries
• Rough split:– Sciences: 40%– Soc. Sciences: 40%– Humanities: 20%
Leverhulme
• Fellowships– Up to £45k– 3-24 mths– Call Sept, deadline Nov
• Study Abroad Fellowship– Up to £22k– Up to 12 mths– Same deadline as above– Employed FT >5 yrs
• Grants– Up to £500k– Up to 5 yrs– 2 part process
• Success Rates– Fellowship: 10-15%– SA Fellowship: 30%– Grants: 15-20%
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Leverhulme• Benefits of applying to Leverhulme
– Not ‘restricted’ by demands of distributing public money • no ‘political agenda’• reporting not as onerous
• What to watch out for:– Research has to appeal to broad general audience
• Trustees all ex-Unilever employees• Depend for advice on:
– ‘Advisory Committee’ (for smaller grants): 9 professors– ‘Advisory Panel’ (for larger grants): 32 academics
– Interdisciplinary – but not ‘last resort’– Risk taking– Individual ‘vision’
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Wellcome (£520m)• ‘To foster and promote research with the aim of
improving human and animal health’• Supports
– Biomedical research– Technology transfer– Medical Humanities:
• History of Medicine & Biomedical Ethics– Public engagement with science
• Does not support– Clinical trials– Generally, cancer research
Wellcome
• Benefits of applying to Wellcome– Wide range of funding– More useful feedback following rejection– Supportive once you have received funding
• What to watch out for– Focusing on longer, larger grants to individuals:
– May 2011 launch of the Senior/New Investigator schemes in the Medical History and Humanities strand, with a Sept 2nd 2011 first round deadline.
Page 25
Nuffield (£10m)
• Aims– ‘To advance social well being…by supporting work
which will bring about improvements in society.’– Themes:
– Children & Families, Education, Law & Society– Also ‘open door’
– Project Grants– Small SS Grants: up to £15k
Nuffield
• Benefits of applying to Nuffield– 2 part process: initial application very simple, and
can apply any time• What to watch out for:
– Look at previously successful grants– Strong social policy element– Small scale funding– Importance of ‘methodology’
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Rowntree (£5m)• 3 aims:
– Poverty: to examine the root causes of poverty and disadvantage and identify solutions.
– Empowerment: to find ways in which people and communities can have control of their own lives.
– Place: to contribute to the building and development of strong, cohesive and sustainable communities.
• Benefits of applying to JRF:– Prestigious
• What to watch out for:– Very prescriptive calls for proposals– Relatively small amounts of funding
Page 28
Learned Societies
• Generally provide some small scale support for visits, conferences, fellowships or smaller research projects
• Professional Bodies Represent people working in a specific area e.g. The Law Society, Socio-Legal Studies Association
• Learned Societies Represent, and act as a forum for, a particular
subject or discipline Royal Society, British Academy
British Academy
• Funds research in Humanities & Social Sciences
• Small Grants and Conference Support will be cut from March
• No longer provide specific support for ECRs• New Fellowships scheme <15 yrs postdoc
– Will be strong competition (35 grants pa)
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Page 30
Government• National
– Government Departments– County Councils– Other Government-funded organisations
• British Council – collaborative grants• NESTA• Lottery
• International– Europe
• Framework Programme – USA
• Federal Grants
Page 31
European Funding
• Framework Programme: – EU’s main method for funding research and
innovation– Budget €50bn over 7 years– Organised into 4 pillars:
Cooperation Ideas
People Capacities
Page 32
Cooperation
People
Ideas
Capacities
JRC
FP7
€7 460
€4 728
€4 217
€1 751
€32 365
Values in
€ Millions
Page 33
FP7: European Research Council
• Responsive Mode• No requirement for collaborative groups• ‘Starting Independent Researcher Grant’
– 200 to be made annually, each lasting up to 5 yrs– Up to €400k per year– Applicants <10 yrs from PhD– Very competitive but success rates rising– Deadline: Nov
Page 34
Industry• Does fund research
– In-house R&D– Contracts for research services– Grants or award programmes
• …but tends to be more restrictive
• If specifically seeking industry support, talk to Kent Innovation & Enterprise (KIE)
• Brian Lingley ([email protected])
Writing a Research Grant
Perspective
• Put yourself in the funder’s position– Can you understand what is proposed?– Is it worth spending money on?
• Are the objectives important?• Are they achievable? • Is the timeframe realistic?• Does it offer value for money?
– Can the applicant deliver?• Do you have the necessary track record?• Can you manage a project?
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Panellists
• Not specialist in your area• Time poor• Eminent• Having to filter 100+
applications at a time
Make It Easy for Them
• Make it simple– Avoid jargon– ‘intelligent 14 yr old’– Simple structure/
format/language
• Make it urgent– Why should we care? – Back it up with evidence
• Make it realistic– Programme and costs– Concentrate on
methodology– Write defensively
• Repeat key messages– ‘we need to know...’– ‘this will tell us...’
Craft it
• Give yourself time– At least a month to write
• Show it to others– Academics working in same discipline– Academics working in other disciplines– Research Services
Good vs BadGood Application
• An important question• Realistic promise of an
answer– Ability and track record of
research team– Well designed and fully
described project– Properly resourced and value
for money• Well written and presented
application• Fits funder priorities
Bad Application• Unclear, esoteric question• Pages of densely packed
jargon• Emphasis on background
and literature• Incomplete description of
research process• Ignores funder guidance
Managing Your Bids
• One won’t be enough– Typical success rate: 10-
20%– ‘lottery’
• Reuse & Recycle– Bids are time consuming– Rejection is crushing
• Don’t wait for it• Multiple applications give
hope
• ‘Portfolio’– Economies of Scale– Complementary bids
• Other funders• Break up project
• Don’t flog a dead horse
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Help from Research Services
Page 43
Cradle to Grave
Identify funders
Help with the proposal and application process
Costing
Institutional ‘sign off’
‘Accept’ award and negotiate contract
Manage AwardFinancial claims
End of Award reports
Fundin
gContracts
Finance
Help in Developing Applications
• Information– Funding opportunities
• Regular, ad hoc, strategic– Background news &
insights• newsletter, website, blog• Funder visits• Grants Factory
• Aiding collaboration – bringing those in similar
disciplines together (eg Lunchtime Seminars)
• Preparing your application– Copy editing, proof reading
and advice on the text– Successful application bank– Staff costings and
calculating overheads– Advice on eligible costs– Research governance
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Grants Factory
• Help and advice from other academics• Workshops
– Tools for writing killer applications
• Masterclasses– What the guidance doesn’t tell you
• Mock panels– Test drive your proposal
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Internal Approval Form
• Ensures the University endorses and takes responsibility for your project.
• Internal Approval Form– Check list – risks/issues
• Need to attach a ‘Full Economic Costing’• Sign off by:
– PI and any Co-Is– HoS (or representative)– Research Services
Page 47
Sources of Information
• Research Funding Officers– Social Sciences:
• Phil Ward ([email protected], xtn 7748)• Rachel Donald (Mon & Tues: [email protected], xtn4575)
– Humanities: Lynne Bennett ([email protected], xtn4799)– Sciences: Carolyn Barker ([email protected], xtn7957)– Medway: Karen Allart ([email protected], xtn8967)
• Websites– Funding opportunities: www.researchprofessional.com – European Funding: www.ukro.ac.uk– Research Services: www.kent.ac.uk/res– Research Fundermentals Blog: http://fundermental.blogspot.com/