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RKE News – Latest issue out now

Funding opportunities

The latest issue of RKE News is out now. The purpose of the newsletter is to provide a termly update of internal and external research and knowledge exchange news, successes and opportunities.

This issue focuses on BU2025, the Strategic Investment Areas, Research Funding Panels, some of the many funding opportunities which are available and upcoming events.

I hope this information is helpful and of interest to you. If you would like to send in any stories or ideas for inclusion or if you have any feedback in general, please let me know.

 

Call for EoIs: Impact Champion for UOA 18 to drive REF 2021 preparations

Research assessment

BU is preparing submissions for units of assessment (UOAs) for REF 2021. Each UoA has a UoA Leader, supported by an Impact Champion and Outputs Champion.  The roles are recruited through an open and transparent process, which gives all academic staff the opportunity to put themselves forward for UOA roles.

We are currently seeking an expression of interest (EoI) from academic staff interested in supporting impact development for UoA 18 Law.

Impact Champions play a key role in shaping the impact element of their UoA’s submission.  They work closely with their Faculty’s Impact Officer and Impact Post-Doctoral Researcher, where relevant.

Key responsibilities of the Impact Champion role include:

  • Review the development of impact case studies being prepared within the UOA
  • Provide guidance on how impact case studies can be accelerated and evidenced
  • Advise colleagues on the REF impact guidelines
  • Review impact strategies related to the UOA and assess progress made against them
  • Review and implement recommendations from external research users to strengthen research impact
  • Ensure that colleagues are updating institutional systems for impact tracking
  • Promote relevant training and development opportunities
  • Review impact arising from major programmes of research and knowledge exchange to make recommendations as to how these can contribute to impact case studies
  • Advise on the use of appropriate metrics specific to the subject area
  • To undertake any other duties as requested by the relevant Deputy Dean for Research and Professional Practice (DDRPP) and/or Unit of Assessment leader.

The full role description can be found here – Impact Champion Role Descriptor.

Application process:

To apply for the role, please submit a short statement (suggested length 300 words) explaining your interest in the role and what you could bring to it. This should be sent by email to Professor Dinusha Mendis by Friday 22nd November 2019.  The EoIs will be reviewed by the UoA Leader and Output Champion.

The selection criteria used at EoI are outlined below. Each criterion carries a total possible score of 5. The role will be offered to the highest scoring applicant. The UoA Leader or current Impact Champion will provide feedback to all applicants.

  • Knowledge of the REF and research impact (scored out of 5): Applicants should have the appropriate level of skill and knowledge to help them support the development of impact in their UoA. It is expected that Impact Champions will predominantly be practising researchers and will have a breadth of understanding of research across their Faculty.  They are also expected to have an understanding of the REF assessment process and of research impact.
  • Experience of external engagement and / or impact development (scored out of 5): Impact Champions are expected to be able to provide advice and direction to colleagues who want to develop their research impact. Experience of engaging with external organisations or developing your own research impact would be of benefit in this role.
  • Commitment, motivation and enthusiasm (scored out of 5): Being an Impact Champion is a big commitment and the role has the scope to help shape impact development at BU. Applicants need to be committed to the role, as well as showing the enthusiasm and motivation needed to support their UoA.

Call for EoIs: Output Champion for UOA 20 to drive REF 2021 preparations

Research assessment

BU is preparing submissions for units of assessment (UOAs) for REF 2021. Each UoA has a UoA Leader, supported by an Impact Champion and Outputs Champion.  The roles are recruited through an open and transparent process, which gives all academic staff the opportunity to put themselves forward for UOA roles.

We are currently seeking an expression of interest (EoI) from academic staff interested in supporting output development for UoA20 Social Work & Social Policy.

Output Champions play a key role in shaping the output element of their UoA’s submission.  Key responsibilities of the Output Champion role include:

  • Support the development of research outputs being prepared within the UOA
  • Provide guidance on how research outputs can be produced and published
  • Advise colleagues on the REF output guidelines specifically those in relation to assessment, open access and research metrics
  • Review output strategies related to the UOA and assess progress made against them
  • Ensure that colleagues are updating institutional systems such as BRIAN and BURO
  • Promote Open Access publication and use of the Open Access Publication Fund as appropriate
  • Promote relevant training and development opportunities
  • Review outputs arising from major programmes of research and knowledge exchange to make recommendations as to how these can contribute to the UoAs output profile
  • Work with Post-Doctoral Research Fellows on REF Output related activity as appropriate.

The full role description can be found here.

Application process:

To apply for the role, please submit a short statement (suggested length 300 words) explaining your interest in the role and what you could bring to it. This should be sent by email to Professor Jonathan Parker by Friday 22nd November.  The EoIs will be reviewed by the UoA Leader and Impact Champion.

The selection criteria used at EoI are outlined below. Each criterion carries a total possible score of 5. The role will be offered to the highest scoring applicant. The UoA Leader will provide feedback to all applicants.

  • Knowledge of the REF  (scored out of 5): Applicants should have the appropriate level of skill and knowledge to help them support the development of outputs in their UoA. It is expected that Output Champions will predominantly be practising researchers and will have a breadth of understanding of research across their Faculty.  They are also expected to have an understanding of the REF assessment process and of research outputs and open access.
  • Experience of output development (scored out of 5): Output Champions are expected to be able to provide advice and direction to colleagues who want to develop their research outputs.
  • Commitment, motivation and enthusiasm (scored out of 5): Being an Output Champion is a big commitment and the role has the scope to help shape output development at BU. Applicants need to be committed to the role, as well as showing the enthusiasm and motivation needed to support their UoA.

Call for EoIs: Output Champion for UOA 17 to drive REF 2021 preparations

Research assessment, writing

BU is preparing submissions for units of assessment (UOAs) for REF 2021. Each UoA has a UoA Leader, supported by an Impact Champion and Outputs Champion.  The roles are recruited through an open and transparent process, which gives all academic staff the opportunity to put themselves forward for UOA roles.

We are currently seeking an expression of interest (EoI) from academic staff interested in supporting output development for UoA17 Business & Management, alongside the existing Output Champion George Filis.

Output Champions play a key role in shaping the output element of their UoA’s submission.  Key responsibilities of the Output Champion role include:

  • Support the development of research outputs being prepared within the UOA
  • Provide guidance on how research outputs can be produced and published
  • Advise colleagues on the REF output guidelines specifically those in relation to assessment, open access and research metrics
  • Review output strategies related to the UOA and assess progress made against them
  • Ensure that colleagues are updating institutional systems such as BRIAN and BURO
  • Promote Open Access publication and use of the Open Access Publication Fund as appropriate
  • Promote relevant training and development opportunities
  • Review outputs arising from major programmes of research and knowledge exchange to make recommendations as to how these can contribute to the UoAs output profile
  • Work with Post-Doctoral Research Fellows on REF Output related activity as appropriate.

The full role description can be found here.

Application process:

To apply for the role, please submit a short statement (suggested length 300 words) explaining your interest in the role and what you could bring to it. This should be sent by email to Professor Chris Chapleo by Friday 22nd November.  The EoIs will be reviewed by the UoA Leader and existing Output Champion.

The selection criteria used at EoI are outlined below. Each criterion carries a total possible score of 5. The role will be offered to the highest scoring applicant. The UoA Leader or current Output Champion will provide feedback to all applicants.

  • Knowledge of the REF  (scored out of 5): Applicants should have the appropriate level of skill and knowledge to help them support the development of outputs in their UoA. It is expected that Output Champions will predominantly be practising researchers and will have a breadth of understanding of research across their Faculty.  They are also expected to have an understanding of the REF assessment process and of research outputs and open access.
  • Experience of output development (scored out of 5): Output Champions are expected to be able to provide advice and direction to colleagues who want to develop their research outputs.
  • Commitment, motivation and enthusiasm (scored out of 5): Being an Output Champion is a big commitment and the role has the scope to help shape output development at BU. Applicants need to be committed to the role, as well as showing the enthusiasm and motivation needed to support their UoA.

Photo of the week: ‘Rich and poor living side by side in 21st century India’

Telling a story of research through photography

The ‘photo of the week’ is a weekly series featuring photographs taken by BU academics and students for our Research Photography Competition which took place earlier this year.

These provide a snapshot into some of the incredible research taking place across the BU community. 

This week’s photo of the week was taken by Professor of Maternal and Perinatal Health Research; Edwin van Teijlingen and is titled:

‘Rich and poor living side by side in 21st century India’

‘This photo of a shack made of corrugated iron surrounded by newly build white painted concrete apartment buildings represents the old and the new India. It also reflects the enormous gap between the poor and those growing urban middle-class. The shack is located on a bit of wasteland, suggesting a something temporary, perhaps this piece of land is a future building site. At the same time this humble abode has washing hanging outside signifying certain standards of hygiene as well as dignity in poverty.’

‘This photo was taken in Pune (India) which I visited as part of BU’s Global Festival of Learning in February 2018. This mixture of ‘old and new’ as well as ‘rich and poor’ can be found all over cities in India and Nepal. The picture represents our research in the sense that we continuously try to improve the lives of the poorest in South-Asian society.’

If you have any questions about the Photo of the Week series or the Research Photography Competition please email research@bournemouth.ac.uk

UKRI Future Leadership Fellowships scheme Workshop

Funding opportunities

If you’re an arts and humanities early career researcher who has applied to Round 4 (or thinking of applying to future rounds) of the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (FLF) Scheme, then we have an important date for your diary. On 14 January, the AHRC will be holding a workshop in Bristol specifically for the arts and humanities community. The day will provide plenty of useful advice and networking opportunities as well as a chance to meet current award holders and find out more about the scheme.

If you are interested in attending the workshop on the 14th January in Bristol, please complete the smart survey by Monday 18th November 2019. Please note that there are only 50 places available and these will be allocated on a first come first serve basis. More information about the workshop can be found here.

Please contact Lisa Andrews, RDS Research Facilitator if you secure a place to attend.

Ways of Seeing Sport Coaching Violence – a unique interactive installation

On Monday 4th November 2019, as part of the ESRC festival of social science, Dr Emma Kavanagh and Dr Adi Adams (Faculty of Management) alongside final year sport student Terri Harvey, curated and hosted an arts based installation to showcase their research on inter-personal violence in sport. The event adopted an innovative, immersive, sensory art-based method not traditionally utilised in sport coach education (but widely used in other ‘caring’ professions) to bring their research knowledge to life and allow coaches and other practitioners to engage with data in a dynamic manner. This was achieved through re-presenting research data collected by the BU academics in audio and visual forms.

Abuse, intimidation and violence in sport and coaching remains a significant global problem. In 2017 the British Government published the Duty of Care in Sport Review, sharing the findings of a critical inquiry into the culture and climate of elite sport in the United Kingdom. High performance sport came under significant scrutiny linked to a number of high profile accounts in the media that raised serious questions concerning the safety of elite sporting spaces and the threats they can pose to athlete welfare. Allegations of bullying, racial, sexual and gender abuse alongside other forms of discrimination have been made across Olympic and Paralympic sports. This ESRC event provided an opportunity to engage practitioners in debates surrounding the safety of sporting spaces as a way of promoting the duty of care in practice.

The event brought to life qualitative social science research data, currently available to academics through peer-reviewed journal articles through the production of an immersive arts-based installation. The data was used to enable those who attended to see/hear/feel and confront the contemporary issue of inter-personal violence in the world of sport coaching, from the perspective of ‘others’. The event aimed to bring sport coaches (and other practitioners) together around a shared concern/problem in the sport industry, with the aim of inspiring awareness, understanding, empathy, care and practical solutions to reducing interpersonal-violence. An arts and media-based approach is often adopted in the education of other ‘caring’ professions engaged in complex, difficult, ‘social’ and emotional work (e.g. nurses, medical practitioners, social workers, palliative care workers), yet has gained limited application in the sporting profession.

 

The event attracted significant attention from external practitioners, students and local organisations. Participants moved around and shared the immersive space with others, experiencing the ‘felt difficulty’ (Trevelyan et al., 2014) of ‘what it feels like’ to experience violence and intimidation as a participant in sport. It is anticipated that experiencing this ‘felt difficulty’, provoked by engaging with material that is ‘perplexing’ or ‘disorientating’ has the potential to provide a platform for coaches to reflect authentically on and transform their own practice. The impact of attending the installation is currently the topic of Terri’s dissertation and the team are excited to understand more about how participants experienced the event.

The event would not have been a success without the support of the ESRC team and, in particular, Adam Morris who helped drive the installation forward. In addition, thanks goes to the sport students who volunteered on the evening and actively engaged in the project through ‘becoming voices’. All of these people shared one passion; making sport a safer space for all those who participate in it.

What makes a Bournemouth University publication?

international, open access, Publishing, writing

Last week the IOM (International Organization for Migration) in Nepal, the UN Migration Agency published a new report online: Research on the Health Vulnerabilities of the Cross-Border Migrants from Nepal.  This report mentioned the input and advice of Bournemouth University (BU) staff, including Dr. Nirmal Aryal, who worked on the report prior to his appointment at BU and who is listed as Co-Investigator, furthermore listed as Resource Persons are: Dr. Pramod Regmi and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.  Working with the charity Green Tara Nepal (GTN) on this study has been good for IOM and BU.  All of use have worked on the report in different kind of ways and to different degrees.  The publication suggested a corporate authorship as ‘International Organization for Migration’, which is great for the status of the report as it is a UN agency.  We feel part of this as BU academics and feel we are part of the team despite this not being a BU publication!

 

 

Professor Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

Reference:

International Organization for Migration (2019) Research on the Health Vulnerabilities of the Cross-Border Migrants from Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal: International Organization for Migration.  Available at : https://nepal.iom.int/sites/default/files/publication/Research_on_The_Health_Vulnerabilities_of_The_Cross_Border_Migrants_from_Nepal_0.pdf

Registration open!

conferences, innovation, PG research

Registration has opened! Draft programme available.

Spaces for the oral presentation session are limited. Please only book sessions you can commit to attending. Lunch will be provided to those attending oral presentation sessions and conference presenters.

To attend the Keynote by Professor Genoveva Esteban please book onto session 2 oral presentations.

No need to book for the Live Research Exhibition or Poster Presentations, please just come along to FG06 between 09:30 – 11:30 to visit the exhibitions. However, if you are based at Lansdowne you may wish to register for a ticket as you can show it on the bus for free U1 UniBus travel between campus during the conference.

Register now and spread the word.

We look forward to seeing you there.

The Research Impact Fund is open for applications

Funding opportunities

Demonstrating impact is becoming an increasingly normal part of academic life, with changes in the external environment underpinning the need to show how research is making a difference beyond academia. As well as forming a significant part of a university’s REF submission, impact pathways are often included as a routine part of funding applications.

In order to support impact development at Bournemouth University, an impact fund was established in spring 2019, overseen by the Research Impact Funding Panel.

For 2019/20, the Research Impact Fund has been split into three strands with a total of £50,000 available:

  • Strand 1: To support the development of new research partnerships and networks, to lay the groundwork for future research projects
  • Strand 2: To provide support for emerging impact from existing underpinning research
  • Strand 3: For the development of impact case studies for REF2021 – now closed

We are pleased to announce another open call for applications for strands 1 and 2.

The first call for applications for strands 1 and 2 resulted in eight successful awards, which are currently underway.  The outcomes of the second call for applications for strand 3 are due to be announced soon.

Eligibility

Strand 1: To support the development of new research partnerships and networks, to lay the groundwork for future research projects
This strand is aimed at those who are new to research (academic staff who have not published an academic output, or received internal or external funding for research) such as Early Career Researchers (those who are within 7 years of completing their doctorate, or equivalent experience, and are not Associate Professors / Professors). The funding aims to support colleagues to engage with key stakeholders at the very beginning of the research process, to establish partnerships and networks to support the co-creation of research questions.

There is £11,000 available in total for this funding strand.  From this £11,000, the panel hope to fund multiple projects and would particularly welcome applications for smaller projects up to £2,500.  

Strand 2: To provide support for emerging impact from existing underpinning research
This strand is aimed at academic staff who have evidence of existing underpinning research which has the potential for impact, or is starting to result in impact.  The funding aims to support the development of research impact across BU and begin to identify potential case studies for post-REF2021 exercises.

There is £5,000 available in total for this funding strand.  From this £5,000 the panel hope to fund multiple projects and would particularly welcome applications for smaller projects up to £2,500.  

Application process

To apply, please read the policy, application form and guidance. Applications must be submitted to researchimpact@bournemouth.ac.uk by 5pm on Thursday 12 December.

 If you have any questions about your application please email either Rachel Bowen (for HSS or FM queries) or Genna del Rosa (for FMC or SciTech queries).

Support for applicants

The Panel strongly recommends that applicants speak with their Faculty Impact Officer and/or relevant Unit of Assessment leads / impact champions prior to applying.  If you are unsure who this is, please contact your Faculty Impact Officer in the first instance:

You can also seek advice from the following RDS colleagues when developing your application:

The Panel members will also be available to answer any queries and discuss ideas at a series of lunch time surgery sessions:

Tuesday 19 November Lansdowne Campus – B224 12:30 – 13:30
Thursday 21 November Talbot Campus – P402 12:30 – 13:30
Monday 25 November Talbot Campus – P411 12:00 – 13:00
Wednesday 27 November Lansdowne Campus – B202 12:00 – 13:00
Monday 2 December Lansdowne Campus – EB303 12:30 – 13:30
Thursday 5 December Talbot Campus – F206 12:30 – 13:30
Tuesday 10 December Talbot Campus – F304 12:30 – 13:30
Wednesday 11 December Lansdowne Campus – TBC 12:00 – 13:00

 

BU’s Research Principles

Putting the Research Impact Fund into strategic context, under BU2025, the following funding panels operate to prioritise applications for funding and make recommendations to the Research Performance and Management Committee (RPMC).

There are eight funding panels:

  1. HEIF Funding Panel
  2. GCRF Funding Panel
  3. Research Impact Funding Panel
  4. Doctoral Studentship Funding Panel
  5. ACORN Funding Panel
  6. Research Fellowships Funding Panel
  7. Charity Support Funding Panel
  8. SIA Funding panel

Please see further announcements regarding each initiative.

These panels align with the BU2025 focus on research, including BU’s Research Principles.  Specifically, but not exclusively, regarding the Research Impact Funding Panel, please refer to:

  • Principle 5 – which sets of the context for such funding panels,
  • Principle 6 and Outcome 9 – which recognises the need for interdisciplinarity and the importance of social science and humanities (SSH).

 

Talk/session with the Wessex Clinical Research Network Study Support Service

Info Days, Knowledge Exchange, NHS, Research Ethics

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is the nation’s largest funder of health and care research – the NIHR oversee 15 Clinical Research Networks (CRN) and these CRNs work alongside NHS Trusts, primary care providers and Universities. Each CRN has a dedicated Study Support Service.

The NIHR have a portfolio of research studies that are eligible for consideration for support from the CRN in England.  Portfolio status is usually vital to participating NHS Trusts when considering undertaking a proposed study.

Information on the NIHR portfolio is present on the research blog, but at this session our local CRN’s Study Support team will provide you with an opportunity to hear about and discuss the network and the service, and how it could benefit you.

This session is aimed at those planning on conducting clinical research.
It is also designed to raise awareness at BU about the benefits and importance of the NIHR portfolio, so if you’re just interested in learning more, please book on.

The session will take place on Tuesday 10th December at 2:3opm until 4:00pm on Lansdowne Campus.

To register your interest or if you have any queries, please get in touch with Research Ethics.

Photo of the week: ‘A sense of place’

Telling a story of research through photography

The ‘photo of the week’ is a weekly series featuring photographs taken by BU academics and students for our Research Photography Competition which took place earlier this year.

These provide a snapshot into some of the incredible research taking place across the BU community. 

This week’s photo of the week was taken by  Dr Sue Baron and is titled;

‘A sense of place’

This image ‘A Sense of Place’ illustrates one of the many often unreported benefits of co-creation projects, where research outputs are achieved by BU staff, students and members of the public working together. An important part of being human is for us to feel a sense of place; not just in terms of our environment and objects but also through our experiences and the connections we make as these contribute to our sense of belonging, togetherness, comfort and security. Being aware of the importance of these factors is vital in research that seeks to investigate or report on human experience as was the aim of this project. This image captures the positive sense of place and togetherness which developed between two former strangers, Emma and Helen (L-R) through their engagement with this project. Helen has cerebral palsy and complex communication needs and has experienced many and varied challenges as a patient in hospital which she wanted to share.

Outputs from the project include a series of filmed interactions between a patient and nurse. An example can be viewed on Virtual Empathy Museum click on ‘Take a Walk in my Shoes’, Simulation Room and ‘Empathic care of a person with cerebral palsy e-simulation’. The photograph was taken on location in Helen’s home.

If you have any questions about the Photo of the Week series or the Research Photography Competition please email research@bournemouth.ac.uk

VC Fusion Prize winner delivers guest lecture to MSc Events students

Events Management student Sabine Toppig delivered a guest lecture via skype to 50 Events Management and Events Marketing Masters students as part of the Contemporary Issues in Events Management (CIEM) unit.

Sabine, who graduated with a first Honours degree, received her diploma as well as the VC Fusion Prize on Tuesday.

[Picture: holding the Prize with her dissertation Supervisor, Dr. Miguel Moital].

Sabine’s presentation was based on her dissertation topic and focused on the techniques, outputs and outcomes of circulation management at exhibitions. One of the challenges Sabine faced during her placement was managing attendee circulation at the exhibition she managed. The topic intrigued her and she set out to research it as part of her dissertation. The detailed and comprehensive model depicting how and why circulation is managed at exhibitions embodies the spirit of fusion, as it can be used for academic, professional practice and educational/training purposes.

 

Back in July Sabine presented her research at the International Conference on Strategic Innovative Marketing and Tourism 2019 in Greece, funded by the Department of Sport & Events Management, and an article co-authored with her supervisor Dr. Miguel Moital is now under review by a leading Events journal.

Commenting on the experience, Sabine said:

It was a great experience presenting a topic which I loved learning about intensively during my placement and my dissertation research to an audience which is as passionate about the events industry as I am. I also enjoyed teaching the students something which I believe they could find useful, should they decide to pursue a career in exhibition management.

Abde Ali, the course rep for events management, shared the student consensus view about the presentation:

The presentation from Sabine was an unexpected aid and a much needed one. Her presentation provided us with a view to managing events that was not much thought about or looked into. She also talked about the experience of doing the dissertation and what was expected from us at our Master’s program, while also highlighting the methods, skills, details and model to help the students during their dissertation. MSc Events would like to thank Sabine for her valuable time and contribution to our learning.”

Dr. Miguel Moital, CIEM tutor, said:

Sabine did a fantastic dissertation and produced a detailed, visually engaging presentation which the students appreciated very much. Her in-depth understanding of a cutting-edge topic relevant to events management suited the CIEM unit very well. This is an excellent example of fusion and co-creation, and demonstrates how student research can enhance the learning experience at BU.

WeObserve launches its first online course: Citizen Science Projects – How to make a difference

WeObserve, in partnership with FutureLearn, introduces its first online course, Citizen Science Projects: How to make a difference. The course starts on 18 November 2019 and will run for four-weeks. It is open to anyone and is free to participate. The course is now open for registration on the FutureLearn platform here.

During the course, learners will be able to discover citizen science projects and find out how to create and lead their own citizen observatory. Citizen science experts will share their knowledge, experiences and best practices in delivering citizen science projects. The course will also support co-creation and shared learning through discussion forums and group activities.

Exploring a diverse range of citizen science topics including:

  • Understanding the issue or problem: exploring environmental issues, deciding on a researh focus and defining the research question(s).
  • Creating a community: finding the people who are brought together by a shared concern and positively nurturing the sharing of ideas and experiences.
  • Deciding what data to collect: using the research question(s) to select what information will be gathered.
  • Capturing or generating the data: collecting the information, keeping motivated and engaged.
  • Analysing the data: interpreting the data, being able to spot trends and anomalies.
  • Disseminating results: using the findings from the data to communicate with others about the environmental concern.
  • Change-making and planning action: using the findings to lobby for change, or plan an intervention or action to inform others about the environmental concern.

Through this course, the aim is to build an international community of learners that will explore what is citizen science, what are citizen observatories, which tools they can use and where to find them, how to plan and conduct a data collection campaign, and how they can act.

This a great opportunity to reach an audience of DIY Citizen Scientists interested in taking action in their own communities, or researchers interested in the Citizen Science method.

For more information please contact Adam Morris – Engagement Officer

BU Bridging Fund

In summer 2015, we launched the BU Bridging Fund Scheme which aims to provide additional stability to fixed-term researchers who often rely on short-term contracts usually linked to external funding. This situation may impact on continuity of employment and job security and can result in a costly loss of researcher talent for the institution.

The Scheme aims to mitigate these circumstances by redeploying the researcher where possible, or where feasible, by providing ‘bridging funding’ for the continuation of employment for a short-term (maximum three months and up to six months, in exceptional circumstances) between research grants. It is intended to permit the temporary employment, in certain circumstances, of researchers between fixed-term contracts at BU, for whom no other source of funding is available, in order to:

(a) encourage the retention of experienced and skilled staff, and sustain research teams and expertise;

(b) avoid the break in employment and career which might otherwise be faced by such staff;

(c) maximise the opportunity for such staff to produce high-quality outputs and/or research impact at the end of funded contracts/grants.

The Scheme was updated in 2019 to:

  1. Increase the potential bridging period to a maximum of six months in exceptional cases (from the max of three months as it is currently).
  2. Update the application criteria so that applications will only be considered when one of the following conditions has been met at the point of application:
      1. Sufficient external funding has been secured to retain the researcher but there is an unavoidable gap (usually up to three months, but up to six months can be considered) between funding.
      2. The researcher is named on a submitted application for research funding and the decision is pending with an outcome expected before the end of the bridging period.

To find out more about the scheme, including how to apply for bridging funding, see the scheme guidelines.

The Bridging Fund Scheme is an action from our Athena SWAN action plan (which aims to create a more gender inclusive culture at BU) and our EC HR Excellence in Research Award (which aims to increase BU’s alignment with the national Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers).