RIS Active-Research and Innovation Services News

Grants Factory

Costing a Proposal: What Can I Include?

1 November 12:00-14:00

Rutherford LT2

Sometimes costing a grant application can seem like a dark art, full of unfamiliar terms, complex algorithms, and strange exclusions. This session aims to demystify the process, clearly setting out what you can and cannot apply for, how the calculations are made, and how Research Services can help.

It will be led by Dr Andrew Massoura and Dr Jane Benstead. Andrew heads the Contracts Team within Research Services, previously worked at the University of Oxford and has a doctorate in biomedicine. Jane’s background is also in the life sciences, and has been supporting colleagues for the past seven years, in particular those in EDA, KLS, KBS, Economics and SSPSSR. Thus, they understand the pressures and demands of those working in research, and have a huge amount of experience in supporting them to secure the necessary funding for their projects and fellowships.

The session is free and open to all, and a light lunch will be provided. However, space is limited, so do let Phil Ward (p.ward@kent.ac.uk) know if you plan to come along.

This week the ESRC launched a new call as part of the ESRC-DFID Development Frontiers Research Fund.

This call will support innovative, interdisciplinary research that is focused on new ways to tackle the challenges encountered at the intersections between poverty, environmental sustainability and conflict/fragility in specific developing countries (see list below).

Proposals can be for £200,000 and £300,000 (fEC), last for 12 and 18 months but finish no later than 31 March 2019.

However, ESRC has decided to limit applications to two per institution.

As such, Kent will have to internally select up to two applications to go forward. If you would like to apply for this call, please submit by 1^st of December:

• A CV (max 2 sides of A4);
• An outline of your proposed research, and why you should be put forward for the Award (max 2 sides of A4).

These will be discussed and a decision made by a small panel convened by Prof Philippe De Wilde shortly after the closing date. This will allow the successful candidate 6 weeks to prepare the external application to ESRC by 26^th January 2017.

If you have any specific questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Aurelija Povilaike (a.povilaike@kent.ac.uk)

Applying to Arts Council England – Thursday 20 October 1.00 – 2.30 – venue tba

Led by Jon Linstrum (Arts Council England – Manager, Combined Arts) this 90 minute workshop will be of interest to anyone planning an application to Arts Council England.  Jon has several years of experience at ACE and also knows the University of Kent and region very well. He is currently on secondment to the University to help develop the new Arts, Culture, and Heritage Strategy.  The workshop will consist of an introduction to ACE and its funding schemes, followed by a Q&A discussion.

If you are interested in attending please contact Lynne Bennett (l.bennett-282@kent.ac.uk)

Are you interested or have applied for British Academy research funding before?

If so, please come and join the lunch time workshop on the 19^th October led by Jack Caswell, Assistant Head of Research Awards, from British Academy. Jack is heavily involved in the long and short term planning and successful implementations of all the British Academy’s UK funding schemes. After the presentation you will be able to ask any questions related to any BA specific funding schemes.

Time:     12:00pm

Venue: KLT2

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Aurelija Povilaike (a.povilaike@kent.ac.uk)

We’ve almost finalised the programme of Grants Factory and Early Career Researcher Network events for 2016/17.  More details will be available soon, and a full listing will be in Research Active, which will go out in mid-October.

The first event will look at the ‘essential elements of a successful application’. Everyone’s research is different, but successful funding proposals share a number of common elements. Mastering these is essential if your application is going to get the consideration it deserves, no matter how good your underlying research idea is. This session will look at these, and will provide insights into how to get them right.

This will be held at the Canterbury campus, but will be run again at the Medway campus on 24 February 2017.The speakers come from very different disciplines, but it is their diverse backgrounds which is their strength: it shows that, whether you’re applying to the AHRC or the BBSRC, you need to understand these key elements. Mick Tuite is Professor of Molecular Biology in the School of Biosciences and Paul Allain is Professor of Theatre and Performance in the School of Arts.  Using real life examples, they will share their experience and knowledge, and you should come away from the session with the basic tools for constructing a successful proposal. To get a sense of what will be covered, have a look at notes from previous sessions here and here.

The event is free and open to all, and lunch will be provided. However, places are limited, and it is always well attended, so do let me know if you would like to come.

The government has launched a significant new funding stream, the Global Challenges Research Fund. The GCRF offers a five year, £1.5bn programme.

To find out more and link up with others at the University with similar or complementary interests, I would like to invite you to an information event on the Global Challenges Research Fund on 22 July between 2-4pm (Venue TBC).

If you are interested in coming – even if you can’t make it – do please fill in your details via this link. We only want some brief details to get a sense of your interests and what you hope to get out of the meeting. We hope to create an internal expertise database that will help with collaboration building around the GCRF in the future.

A number of colleagues have asked about how the Referendum result affects the UK’s ability to access European research funding, Horizon 2020. The UK is still a member state, and will remain so until the Article 50 negotiations are completed, and therefore staff at UK institutions can apply as they have always done. In addition David Cameron has confirmed that research contracts signed before the date on which the UK leaves the EU will be honoured through to the end. A formal announcement from Jo Johnson confirming this is available here.

I would encourage all those considering applying for European funding to continue with their plans. Not only is it an excellent source of funding, and facilitates incredibly productive collaborations, but it demonstrates that Kent is outward looking, engaged, and will remain the UK’s European university.

If any potential partners have expressed nervousness or disquiet about our level of commitment, I would be happy to provide formal letters of support from the University confirming this, and have already done so for one potential applicant.

Finally, for those of you who already have European projects, I can reassure you that Research Services is closely monitoring currency exchange rates. Whilst there is a good deal of fluctuation at the moment, RS is confident that they are within acceptable limits which have already been factored in to the awards, but will continue to monitor and act accordingly if need be.

For help and advice on applying to the EC for funding, do talk to your Faculty Funding Officers, as follows:

• Humanities: Lynne Bennett (l.bennett-282@kent.ac.uk)
• Social Sciences: Brian Lingley (until 1 July – b.lingley@kent.ac.uk), or Aurelija Povilaike (from 4 July – a.povilaike@kent.ac.uk)
• Sciences: Carolyn Barker (c.m.barker-47@kent.ac.uk) or Helen Leech (h.leech@kent.ac.uk)

Given Kent’s ambitious target of doubling research income by 2020, the University recognises that it needs to do everything necessary to remove or reduce, wherever possible, barriers or disincentives that may prevent this.

One such are the central charges levied on grants that have low or no overheads, and the negative effect that this has on School resource allocation models (RAMs). It has therefore been decided that, with immediate effect, central charges will not be charged on all research projects funded by charitable organisations (whether UK-based or overseas and including Royal Society/British Academy).

In order to benefit from this credit, your School would need to demonstrate at the application stage that:

1. Any new staff funded by the grant will interact with the school, e.g. contribute to practicals/lectures, co-supervise projects, co-author papers and/or give regular research seminars.
2. The project has the potential for REF-related impact.
3. The project will expand the professional network of the grant holder.
4. The project will improve the track record of the grant holder, i.e. it is in the line of his/her research.

Any exceptions, where it appears that no such benefits will flow to the University, will be referred to the PVC Research & Innovation for a decision.  It is anticipated that the majority of applications will be able to demonstrate these benefits.

The impact of this policy will be assessed in two years’ time. In the meantime, if you have any questions, do drop a line to Nigel Martin, the Research Accounts Manager, at n.t.d.martin@kent.ac.uk

Clock Tower Lecture Theatre CT102 Lecture Theatre
https://www.kent.ac.uk/timetabling/rooms/room.html?room=CTLT
We are planning a Medway Research Network meeting on the 9th June. It’s been a couple of years since we last had a networking lunch and since then there have been many changes on Campus: new staff, new research directions and new opportunities to collaborate through research (and possibly teaching) across the Medway Campus. The event is aimed at academics, researchers and PDRAs, but any interested PhD students would be welcome to attend.

Each School on the Medway Campus will briefly (5 to 10 mins) introduce their academics, research areas, any existing Medway collaborations and what (if any) potential Medway collaborations may benefit their Schools. Lunch will be provided in the final hour with a chance for attendees to network with academics and researchers from across the Medway Campus.

Contact Helen Leech (h.leech@kent.ac.uk) if you would like to attend.

Following the two previous GROW events that focussed on the Newton Fund and Japanese Research Funding, the third in the series will look closer to home, at funding available from the EC.

Every year we host a visit by a representative of the UK Research Office in Brussels (UKRO). UKRO was set up by the UK Research Councils, and offers an invaluable insight into European funding, particularly Horizon 2020, demystifying some of the confusing terminology and processes, and offering advice on what is essential and what is desirable in an H2020 application.

This year Maribel Glogowski will be visiting on 27 April, and the provisional programme is given below. If you would like to come to any of the four parts, do please let me know. The venue will be confirmed in due course.

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10:00     Arrive

 10:30     European Research Council

A session aimed specifically at the Humanities and Social Science faculties. Attendance is by invitation, and your Faculty Funding Officer will be in touch with more detail.

12:00     Lunch

A chance for H2020 applicants and award holders from all disciplines to meet and talk informally to Maribel.

12:30     Forthcoming Societal Challenges

The majority of H2020 funding comes through the third ‘pillar’, which offers funding to find solutions to some of the biggest problems facing the continent. Calls are issued in specific areas, structured around seven sub-programmes:

• Health (€7.3 billion)
• Food, water, forestry, bioeconomy (€3.7 billion)
• Energy (€5.7 billion)
• Transport (€6.1 billion)
• Climate action, environment, resource efficiency, and raw materials (€3 billion)
• European society (€1.3 billion)
• Security (€1.6 billion)

Maribel will highlight forthcoming challenges, and explain some of the context. In addition, Jan Lowe (International Partnerships) will say a few words about Erasmus and internal funding that is available to facilitate research collaborations at an early stage.

14:00     Surgery Session

For those planning an application or currently working on one, a chance to talk to Maribel individually.

15:00     Depart