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Research funding: 10 tips for writing a successful application

Guidance

The following post was first published on The Guardian’s Higher Education Network in April this year.  If you are thinking about developing a funding proposal, it would be worth having a quick read through the following useful tips.  

Read the eligibility rules

It’s important to understand what can be funded and what can’t on a particular call, says Ken Emond, head of research awards at the British Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Take a hard look at the priorities of the funding body you are applying to. It is the knack of linking what you want to do, with what they want to know, adds Mel Bartley, a medical sociologist.

Leave plenty of time to prepare

Most people would be better off submitting fewer grants but putting far more effort into the ones that they do, says Rebecca Steliaros, strategist, facilitator and REF (research excellence framework) impact advisor to eight UK institutions. It’s important to remember individual behaviour versus what the rest of the crowd is doing.

No unexplained jargon

The review is conducted by your peers, so advice we give on grant writing is about getting your message over in the clearest way in the available space, says Adam Staines, head of policy at Research Councils UK. Make sure the reviewer “gets it” and is excited about what is proposed, rather than infuriated by having to wade through to find the nub of the idea, adds Rebecca Steliaros.

Get other people to read it

Having the application read by someone you trust who is not a specialist in your field often helps to highlight areas where the application could be better expressed, says Ken Emond. Mock funding panels are very effective in helping people understand how hard it is to communicate in writing, adds Andrew Derrington, executive pro vice-chancellor of humanities and social sciences at the University of Liverpool. This exercise takes less than 90 minutes and helps researchers understand what happens to their applications as they pass through the grants’ committee process, and how they need to structure and write an application to succeed.

Explain why research is needed

It’s good to explain why it is important for a piece of research to be done now (at the time of application), for example to take advantage of the opportunity to interview people alive now who won’t be around forever, says Ken Emond. Explain why we need to know the things that your sub-projects will discover, and make sure in every paragraph you write, the message of the paragraph is contained in the first sentence, adds Andrew Derrington.

Network effectively

Networking both within your university and subject area allows you to develop the support that you need to work your way up the research funding ladder, says Andrew Derrington. It’s mostly applied common sense but there are several good blogs. The best way in is Phil Ward’s blog which has an excellent blogroll. If you are inexperienced in getting funding from a particular body, collaborate with people who have that experience, adds Adam Staines.

Justify extra time or resources

You have to justify the time and cost of any additional specialist staff, says Adam Staines. I have seen many panels supportive of 10% – 20% time of a bioinformatician or technician. Things tend to go wrong when you ask for 100% time and don’t need it, or ask for any time and don’t justify it in the case for support.

Participate in funding panels

It can be a real eye-opener in terms of what you need to do to stand out. You should develop a style that communicates your proposed work quickly and effectively, a contributor advises. It’s also a good idea to get your proposal reviewed internally by someone you trust to give good feedback, particularly on the summary sections which will be read first.

Interpret referees feedback carefully

If you can get the funder to tell you how far your proposal was below those that got funded, it can help, says Andrew Derrington. Once you have calmed down from the disappointment of rejection, look at the application again and show a colleague what the referees’ comments were. Often colleagues who have experience on panels will spot things that might explain the result. One harsh reality is the UK is very good at research, so many excellent applications don’t get funded with the available funding, adds Adam Staines.

Plan applications in batches

 The best way to ameliorate the post-rejection blues is to have another application already under consideration when the rejection comes, says Andrew Derrington. Never get down to your last application. Given that rejection rates are very high and panels can be slightly capricious, you probably want to try out a set of ideas four or five times before you decide that they are unfundable and move on

 If you found this useful, you might be interested to learn that the The Guardian supplemented this information with a live, on-line question and answer session.
 

Questions?

If you have any questions about research funding proposals and the support available to you please contact Caroline O’Kane in the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office.   

CEMP Research & Innovation Cluster: New Bulletin & Agenda

Funding opportunities, PG research

The updated CEMP R&I funding bulletin & cluster meeting agenda is here: CEMP Cluster bulletin and agenda 24.5.13

The meeting is on Friday 24th May from 1-3 in the CEMP office with the following two elements:

‘Thinktank’ discussion of reading 1 – 1.40          

Funding review and monitoring 1.40 – 3

All are welcome to attend either or both. If you see a funding opportunity in the bulletin that appeals for a collaboration with CEMP, but cannot attend the meeting, please email Julian McDougall.

The reading for the ‘Think-tank’ is provided this time by Pete Fraser.  It is ‘Making sense of young people, education and digital technology: the role of sociological theory‘ by Neil Selwyn and it’s here:  Neil Selwyn Making Sense

 

 

“More than half of academics are either not aware of their university’s knowledge transfer services, or do not use them…..” – Are YOU in that half?

Funding opportunities

Surprising figures of only 43% of academics recently surveyed were aware of their university’s knowledge exchange services!

Approximately, 22,000 academics were questioned in a recent survey which was carried out by the Centre for Business Research and the UK- Innovation Research Centre, and published in a report titled The Dual Funding Structure for Research in the UK.

The report also showed that 80% of external organisations contact academics directly, which means that if you are not in contact with your Knowledge Exchange Officer – you may be missing out on further knowledge engagement with the organisations you are already in touch with!  There are a number of funded knowledge engagement schemes available for organisations to tap into, such as Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) and Innovation Vouchers.  To find out more on these schemes please contact your Knowledge Engagement Officer – Lucy Rossiter.

Please do take advantage of the support on offer from your KE Officer.  Additionally, there is a lot to gain from touching base with them…. If they know a bit more about what you do, in turn it will help them direct any relevant business engagement KE opportunities your way…….

** The ‘engagement’ image used in this blog was sourced from http://www.peopleinsight.co.uk/ **

New to BRIAN?

Training

If you are new to BU, have missed the Brian training sessions or just need a refresher, the BRIAN team is looking to run some training sessions for academics to help you gain the most from BRIAN.  The session covers how to set up and maintain your BRIAN profile,  how to ensure your details are correct, how to request a photo is uploaded, how BRIAN links to your external staff profile and lots more. 

These are hands-on sessions being run on both the Lansdowne and Talbot Campuses or one-to-one.  To register your interest, please email the BRIAN team (BRIAN@bournemouth.ac.uk).

Useful research ethics documents now available – participant information sheet and consent form

Research Ethics

The University has produced two useful research ethics documents; the first is a helpful guide to preparing your participant information sheet and the second is a sample consent form. Both documents can be accessed on the Research Ethics page on the blog.

If your research involves human participation, please take a look at the documents and discuss them with your supervisor/ethics representative if you have any questions.

These documents were drafted in consultation with the school’s ethics representatives and they are meant to be guidelines of best practice.

eBU: Online Journal

Fusion, PG research, Publishing, Research themes

Following on from my last post ‘Developing a Working Paper at BU’ in January of this year, we are now within sight of having an exciting new online journal at BU. eBU will provide both an internal and external forum for the development of research papers by undergraduate to Professor around the eight BU research themes:

 

–          Creative & Digital Economies

–          Culture & Society

–          Entrepreneurship & Economic Growth

–          Environmental Change & Biodiversity

–          Green Economy & Sustainability  

–          Health, Wellbeing & Ageing 

–          Leisure & Recreation

–          Technology & Design

Submissions will be open to immediate publication (in a safe internal environment) and open peer review by 2 appropriate BU academics. Authors will be encouraged to act upon these reviews by either reworking papers for submission to an external journal or by opting for publication on the external eBU site.

For BU academics this is a great opportunity to get critical appraisal on your research papers or ideas from colleagues. For academics it also an opportunity to encourage the submission of high quality student output, and possibly to facilitate the co-creation and co-production of publishable material to an external journal or to publish externally with eBU. For students, this is a fantastic opportunity to turn high quality essays or dissertations into scholarly outputs, which will be attractive to employers across many sectors and industries.

It is anticipated that author guidelines will be circulated in the coming weeks, and staff and students alike should begin to think about how they could submit to eBU.

If you have any questions or would like to become involved in this exciting venture, please get in touch with me via email aharding@bournemouth.ac.uk or by telephone 01202 963025

The perfect academic career path

Knowing what kind of grant you should go for can be a little tricky when you start your academic career. The ESRC have produced this very handy diagram which outlines at what stage you should ideally submit proposals for different types of grants and values.

 

If you need any help or advice on what types of grant to go for, come and speak to us in R&KEO.

 

School of Health and Social Care – PhD / Open Research Seminar Wednesday 22nd May 2013 @ 1pm in R301, Royal London House

PG research

Nepali boy drinking milk tea.You are cordially invited to the lunch time seminar below which is one of a regular series of HSC PhD seminars which are open to all. Please feel free to bring your lunch.

A comparative study on nutritional problems in pre-school aged children of Kaski, Nepal – Jib Acharya

Background
Nepal remains one of the poorest countries in the world and malnutrition is a one of most pressing serious health problems especially among rural children. Malnutrition during childhood can also affect future growth and an increased risk of morbidity and mortality in later years of life. About half of all child deaths are associated with malnutrition, of which three quarters are linked to mild and moderate forms. Since Nepal has geographical variation, socio-economic inequalities and cultural beliefs which significantly affect food practices in different areas of the country. In order to overcome this situation pragmatic approaches are required.

Methods
A cross sectional study using mixed methods, was conducted among preschool children, aged 3-5 years old, from urban and rural areas of the Kaski district of Nepal. There were interviews with semi-structured questionnaires and focus group discussions on various aspects of knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, food recommendations and its barriers.  This seminar reports on 524 mothers from rural and urban areas who completed a questionnaire.

Results
A total of 61.6% mothers from urban and 38.4% from rural area, participated in the questionnaire study. The study shows nearly 37% children are not provided with nutritious food (meat, fish & eggs) regularly. Similarly, nearly 5% of families cannot afford meat, 7.1% juice and 7% fruit. Nearly 17% of mothers cannot choose nutritious food from grocery stores. Likewise, 4.3% of children like fish, meat & eggs, 33.2% noodles, 35.1% biscuits & chocolates and 22.9% rice, pulses & vegetables.

Conclusion
The knowledge and attitudes towards nutritious food of rural and urban mothers are still poor in both societies. However, a belief about food practice is still strongly embedded in rural mothers compared to those in urban areas. Urban mothers are significantly better in food recommendation compared to rural mothers who face huge barriers.

Biography
Jib is at the transfer stage of his PhD

There is no need to book but general enquiries should be directed to Sara Glithro

Grants Academy – June grant writing workshop: only a few spaces left !

Awarded & submitted bids, Funding opportunities, Grants Academy, Training

We are holding an additional Grants Academy,  2 Day Grant Writing Workshop in June with Martin Pickard on the:

Monday the 10th and Tuesday the 11th of June 2013

However on this workshop we have only a few spaces left and these are available on a first come basis so we urge you to act fast if you wish to secure a space.

By clicking on the Grants Academy page on the Research Blog you can find further details about the Grants Academy, what assistance is available to you and the expectations from you going forward.

Please note: if you would like to attend we will need you to bring a draft proposal you are currently working on. Please also be aware as a member of the Grants Academy you will be required to work on a proposal after the session, using the resources available to Grants Academy members, and to submit this proposal for external funding within six months of completing the training programme.  Membership of the Academy is for a maximum of 18 months during which time you will be expected to have submitted a minimum of three external bids.

If you would like a place on this workshop please email me (Dianne Goodman) and confirm you are able to bring a proposal. Please also forward an email from your line manager supporting your membership of the Grants Academy. We look forward to hearing from you shortly.

Call for papers and special BU staff rate: 2nd International Conference on Social Responsibility, Ethics and Sustainable Business

Training

You are invited to attend the 2nd International Conference on Social Responsibility, Ethics and Sustainable Business to be held at Bournemouth University, UK, on September 5-6, 2013. The purpose of the conference is to create a networking opportunity for both researchers and practitioners to discuss recent insights on socially responsible practices in the non- and for-profit sector.

Although academic in nature, representatives in the business environment will deliver case studies on sustainability practices and will reflect on the challenges and opportunities that corporate social responsibility brings to different industries. The main topics of the conference, but not limited to these, are: CSR and Sustainability, CSR and Business Ethics, CSR and Social Media, CSR and Education, Communicating CSR, CSR initiatives/strategies, Corporate Governance, NGO Marketing.

Keynote speakers

David Crowther, Professor of Corporate Social Responsibility and Head of the Centre for Research into Organisational Governance at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. He is a qualified accountant with many years business experience. His research is into corporate social responsibility with a particular emphasis on the relationship between social, environmental and financial performance. David has published over 30 books and has also contributed to more than 350 articles to academic, business and professional journals and to edited book collections. He has also spoken widely at conferences and seminars and acted as a consultant to a wide range of government, professional and commercial organisations.  He is a member of a number of international advisory boards and is also founding chair of the Social Responsibility Research Network: series editor of the Gower Applied Research in Responsibility Journal and convenor of the International Conference Series on Corporate Social Responsibility.

 Wim J.L. Elving, (PhD U of Twente, 1999) finished an MA in Social and Organizational Psychology (U of Groningen, 1993). His PhD was on the care of cancer patients, and especially the constraints in cooperation and communication of health care professionals. In 2000 he started working as assistant professor at the Department of Communication, Amsterdam School of Communications Research at the U of Amsterdam. His research shifted from organizational and or internal communication (Communicating Organizational Change) to Corporate Communications in general. In the last years he did several studies in Branding, use of Social Networking Sites, and CSR Communications. As visiting professor he taught students at reputable institutions in Finland, Denmark, the UK, Slovenia, Italy and Spain. Since 2006 he is editor in chief of Corporate Communications, an International Journal, member of the Editorial Board of Journal of Brand Management and the Dutch Journal in Communication Science. He has co-authored almost 100 different articles in Communication Journals and 4 books.

Please send an abstract of 300 words in a Word document format via email to icsr2013@bournemouth.ac.uk by May 20, 2013 (extended). No more than two papers will be accepted from any author. The deadline for the full paper is August 1, 2013. The abstracts of the papers will be published in the Conference Proceedings and the intention is to publish selected papers in an edited collection.

Abstract Submission Deadline: May 20, 2013 (extended)

Acceptance Notification: May 25, 2013

Registration Deadline: July 10, 2013

Full Papers Deadline: August 1, 2013

Conference: September 5-6, 2013

Conference Fee: £200 academic/practitioner; £150 PhD student **BU staff rate £60*

Website: http://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/icsr2013/about-2/

Organizing Committee

Dr Georgiana F. Grigore, The Media School, Bournemouth University

Dr Anastasios Theofilou, The Media School, Bournemouth University

Dr Dan Jackson, The Media School, Bournemouth University

Dr Alin Stancu, Faculty of Marketing, Bucharest University of Economic Studies

Cristian Ducu, Centre for Advanced Research in Management and Applied Sciences

Does Guinness taste different in Dublin?

In August 2012 a call was put out through the midwifery networks by the Preterm Birth Clinical Study Group (CSG) who were seeking to recruit new members. The Preterm Birth CSG aims to identify important research questions around preterm birth and to work with the originators of supported studies around preterm birth, and to improve clinical outcomes following preterm birth by prevention or intervention.

This group, one of 11 CSGs, is a Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (RCOG) specialist group supported by British Maternal and Fetal Medicine Society (BMFMS), British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM) and by Action Medical Research. Applications were welcomed from obstetricians, neonatologists and midwives who were interested in preventing preterm birth or in improving outcomes. I (Luisa Cescutti-Butler) was successful in my application and attended my first meeting on the 23rd April 2013 in Dublin.

Most of us were new to the group and following introductions we set to business. An urgent consideration was the representation of lay members. There were a number of suggestions put forward as to how lay members could be approached and groups such as MumsNet, Bliss and Bounty were to be approached for their views on research priorities within preterm birth. The group also felt that establishing a focus group of women who had experienced a preterm birth would be valuable and I offered to facilitate this.

A number of research projects were discussed and whilst many of these studies were focused on RCT’s and not within my comfort zone, I was able to provide input into some where a qualitative approach would work. Many of the professors around the table were comfortable with scientific methodologies, but were open to the possibilities of where proposed projects might benefit from a qualitative perspective, i.e. inviting women to speak about their experiences of possible interventions to prevent preterm birth.

Following the Preterm Birth Clinical Study Group meeting on the 23rd April 2013, I was fortunate to attend on the following two days a conference arranged by the British Maternal and Fetal Medicine Society (BMFMS) of which I am a member. The programme, which consisted of high quality clinical and basic science key lectures and presentations were fascinating for me as a midwife, although I did feel at various points throughout the two days that if it were left to ‘science’, women would never have an opportunity to have a normal pregnancy and birth. It appeared that every step of the childbirth continuum could be researched, with outcomes managed in some way because of ‘evidence,’ which for some women who experience life threatening conditions such as pre-eclampsia is of vital importance. In the event, I was able to gain information that would benefit BU undergraduate midwifery students. At the end of the conference I was in awe of all the high quality research being undertaken in the UK to prevent preterm birth and obstetric conditions such as pre-eclampsia, but also a little sad. Sad at the prospect that if midwives don’t continue to protect normality for women, it might fall forever within the realms of ‘medicine’ and who knows where pregnant women will end up? And finally in conclusion, I never did get to taste a Guinness in one of the many traditional Irish Pubs scattered around the city, so couldn’t say whether it tasted better in Dublin or not!