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RCUK Demand Management week on the blog! AHRC and demand management

Guidance

Welcome to RCUK Demand Management week on the blog! Today’s focus is on the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and their views on, and actions around, demand management. The AHRC’s current approach is to develop good practice guidelines for institutions (such as good practice in internal peer review and setting up an internal institutional triage system whereby only the best applications are submitted to Research Councils). However, along with the other Research Councils, the AHRC are keen to reduce the number of applications by implementing demand management procedures.

What are the AHRC’s future plans for demand management? – The AHRC’s Delivery Plan for 2011 – 2015 identifies demand management as a key aim of the AHRC, with a view to implementing procedures that will ensure that resource is used to maximum advantage for researchers, HEIs and the AHRC. The AHRC will disseminate information on application success rates and then enter into strategic discussions with HEIs falling below the average to develop ‘self-management of demand’ (p21). If this is ineffective, AHRC will introduce sanctions (e.g. institutional quotas). The AHRC’s approach to demand management will also use more targeted schemes to include longer and larger awards with greater use of the Expression of Interest phase, and an increase in the number of ‘sandpit’ style workshops to limit the number of applications on specific schemes to those which have been invited.

Will sanctions be introduced for repeatedly unsuccessful applicants? – The AHRC only plan to introduce sanctions as a last resort however they will be monitoring success rates as the basis for strategic discussions with institutions and introducing sanctions if deemed necessary.

I am interested in applying to the AHRC. How can I make sure my application stands the best chance of being funded? – BU has established an internal peer review scheme (Research Proposal Review Service) which has been up and running in its current form for almost 12 months now. The scheme is managed by Caroline O’Kane and a whopping 21 proposals have been reviewed since July. If you are submitting an bid to EPSRC then I strongly encourage you to work with Caroline through the RPRS. You can also check the Blog to see what proposal writing sessions are running at BU. For example, on 23 and 24 November Dr Martin Pickard will be visiting BU to run sessions specifically focusing on writing and preparing applications for Research Council funding – read more and book a place here. Martin’s sessions are excellent and always well received, and I would encourage anyone considering applying for research funding to attend.

Report: skills for a Green Economy

This is a joint HM Government report with contributions from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/further-education-skills/skills-for-green-economy
It reports on a project undertaken to identify the skills needed for a transition to a green economy. It is not directed at HE but begs the question as to what kind of curriculum we might have at BU to ensure that our students are adequately prepared for a green economy and can contribute to sustainable development?

AHRC still seeking nominations for peer reviewers – excellent opportunity!

The AHRC are still seeking nominations for new members to be appointed to its Peer Review College (PRC) who would be able to assess proposals submitted under AHRC’s research themes. In parallel they wish to increase the capacity of the College in specific research areas.

Peer review lies at the heart of the AHRC’s operations, and they remain fully committed to the principle of peer review for the assessment of proposals to their schemes and programmes. PRC members provide expert quality reviews of proposals within their areas of expertise, which inform the AHRC’s decision making processes. As well as making an important contribution to the AHRC’s peer review processes, the experience gained by membership of the College also provides benefits to individuals, departments and higher education institutions.

BU is actively encouraging all research-active staff in relevant areas to consider putting themselves forward as peer reviewers. Being part of a peer review college for a prestigious funding body such as the AHRC has a number of significant benefits, such as:

  • it will help to raise your profile
  • it is a useful way of getting an insight into how the funder works
  • it will help you to keep abreast of what work is currently being done in your discipline, thus ensuring your teaching and research are cutting edge
  • you will gain an understanding of what it takes for an application to get funded
  • you will be in a stronger position to mentor and help your colleagues with regard to internal peer review and bid writing

BU’s Dr Richard Shipway is a peer reviewer for the ESRC and recently wrote an excellent blog post on the benefits of being a peer reviewer. You can read Richard’s post here.

Further details of the call for nominations are available on the AHRC website, available here.

Applications are sought from academics at all stages of their career and, if chosen, you will serve a four year term. Candidates must be nominated by a senior academic within the University. If you want to be nominated then send your CV to me by Friday 9 December and I will liaise with Matthew Bennett,  who will put forward nominations on behalf of BU.

EU and Brazil to launch a whopping €10m ICT research programme!

The EU and Brazil have just signed a deal to launch a joint €10-million call for research proposals in Information and Communication Technologies.

The scheme will fund cooperative research in areas including cloud computing for science, technologies for smart cities, and hybrid broadcast-broadband TV services. I will keep you posted on calls when they are available on this blog.

RCUK Demand Management week on the blog! NERC and demand management

Guidance

Welcome to RCUK Demand Management week on the blog! Today’s focus is on the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and their views on, and actions around, demand management.

What does NERC do already in respect of demand management? – NERC already employs various measures to manage demand and to maintain success rates at around 20%, such as:

  • limiting the number of proposals a principal investigator can submit;
  • rejecting around 40% of proposals prior to external peer review through a triage-type sift;
  • limiting resubmissions;
  • requiring pre‐application outline‐bids for large grants;
  • publishing the success rates of research organisations to encourage self‐management of demand and quality;
  • consolidating and streamlining grants schemes (e.g. the small grants scheme which closed recently).

What are NERC’s future plans for demand management? – NERC’s 2011-15 Delivery Plan stipulates a number of further plans for managing demand for funds in future, including the introduction of demand management procedures for Responsive Mode proposals submitted from 1 January 2012. The aim will be to improve success rates and to increase the efficiency of the applications and assessment procedures. Uncompetitive proposals (defined as those scoring 6 ot below for excellence) will be the main focus. NERC aim to manage this by working with institutions, asking them to self-manage their applications and focus on competitive proposals. All institutions will be required to participate and will be eligible for sanction, if progress in reducing uncompetitive proposals are not observed to the targets and timescales agreed. Full details of the demand management system being introduced will be available from the NERC website later this month. We will bring you full details on the Blog when they are announced.

I am interested in applying to NERC. How can I make sure my application stands the best chance of being funded? – BU has established an internal peer review scheme (Research Proposal Review Service) which has been up and running in its current form for almost 12 months now. The scheme is managed by Caroline O’Kane and a whopping 21 proposals have been reviewed since July. If you are submitting an bid to NERC then I strongly encourage you to work with Caroline through the RPRS. You can also check the Blog to see what proposal writing sessions are running at BU. For example, on 23 and 24 November Dr Martin Pickard will be visiting BU to run sessions specifically focusing on writing and preparing applications for Research Council funding – read more and book a place here. Martin’s sessions are excellent and always well received, and I would encourage anyone considering applying for research funding to attend.

Good Luck & Congratulations!

Awarded & submitted bids

Good luck to Stuart Allan (MS) who has submitted quite a large bid to the BBC to undertake some research in the media coverage of conflict, Einar Thorsen (MS) for a small bid to the Association of Journalism Education to look at strategies for the use of news websites in journalism education, Edwin van Teijlingen (HSC) for submitting a capacity building partnership bid to THET, Eileen Wilkes (ApSci) for submitting a proposal to the British Academy small grants scheme to continue her research at Mount Folly, Ian Jones, Emma Kavanagh and Lorraine Brown (ST) for a joint bid to the British Academy, and to Lorraine Brown for a second bid to the British Academy. Good luck also to Janet Dickinson (ST), Heather Hartwell (ST/HSC) and Fabian Homberg (BS) each of whom has submitted a bid to the ESRC seminar series, Rosie Read (HSC) who has submitted two fellowship applications to research volunteering in the Czech Republic, and to Steve Calver and the MRG team (ST) who have submitted three bids to Dorset County Council

Congratulations to Mark Passera (MS) for a winning a contract with Grapevine Telecom Ltd and to Clive Andrewes (HSC) for securing a small contract with Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust. Congratulations also to Stephanie Farmer (Red Balloon, MS) for winning a contract with Weymouth and Portland Borough Council to film footage for the Olympics, and Bronwen Russell and the Bournemouth Archaeology team (ApSci) for securing a contract with Donhead St Andrew.

Best wishes

Matthew Bennett

Looking for EU partners? Try this improved Partner Search!

The ECs website CORDIS has launched a ‘more user-friendly and intuitive’ Partners service.

The new service provides interactive web technologies, tools and solutions to help you find project partners, offer your expertise, create groups, expand networks… and a wide variety of other possibilities to make the most of opportunities in innovation, research and development.

As further improvements can still be made, you have the chance to give feedback on its functionality through this survey which takes less than 5 mins to answer.

If you haven’t yet explored the partner search functionality – now’s the perfect time to do so!

RCUK Demand Management week on the blog! ESRC and demand management

Guidance

Welcome to RCUK Demand Management week on the blog! Today’s focus is on the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and their views on, and actions around, demand management. Over the summer the ESRC consulted with the sector on a range of proposed demand management options/ sanctions. The results, published last month, indicated that 68% of respondants favoured individual researcher sanctions. You can read the full details of the consultation and its outcomes on the ESRC website here.

Will the ESRC be introducing demand management procedures? – The ESRC will not be introducing any demand management procedures YET. However, it they do decide to introduce individual researcher sanctions at a later date these are likely to be much tougher than those introduced by EPSRC. The ESRC would ban any researcher who had two unsuccessful outline or full proposals in 24 months which failed to reach an alpha grade equivalent from submitting further applications for 12 months. Failed applications would also be counted against both PIs and Co-Is, and a sanctioned researcher would be banned from submitting any applications as either a PI or Co-I over the next 12-month period. Ouch!

What are the ESRC doing instead of individual researcher sanctions? In June the ESRC introduced a number of changes to existing peer review practises and submission policies to help reduce the pressure on resources, and it is hoped that these changes along with self regulation from the research community (such as institutional peer review schemes) will be enough reduce demand.

I am interested in applying to the ESRC. How can I make sure my application stands the best chance of being funded? – BU has established an internal peer review scheme (Research Proposal Review Service) which has been up and running in its current form for almost 12 months now. The scheme is managed by Caroline O’Kane and a whopping 21 proposals have been reviewed since July. If you are submitting an bid to EPSRC then I strongly encourage you to work with Caroline through the RPRS. You can also check the Blog to see what proposal writing sessions are running at BU. For example, on 23 and 24 November Dr Martin Pickard will be visiting BU to run sessions specifically focusing on writing and preparing applications for Research Council funding – read more and book a place here. Martin’s sessions are excellent and always well received, and I would encourage anyone considering applying for research funding to attend.

Research Funding, Society & Research @ BU

Over the last decade, but particularly in the last five years, BU has matured into a university with a strong research track record with some of the most talented researchers anywhere in the world.  It is a fantastic success story and one to be justifiably proud.  Take a look at the graph which shows the growth in our published output as depicted by Scopus data; it truly something!  Our output has grown at a rate of over 13% compared to 3.7% for the UK as a whole.

RAE2008 was a milestone in this journey – the fourth most improved University was the well-deserved headline!   There is much to shout about but we also have to think carefully about how we can continue this trajectory building on this foundation.

To do this we will need to find more income.  Our research income per academic FTE remains modest at around £6.5k compared to a sector average of £50k per FTE.  To grow our research base further we need to up our game.  You may ask why?  Well to make another step change and ensure that we are not just left in the stocks as a teaching-only university as the sector shifts in the coming years we need to grow our learning community of research students, research assistants and post-doctoral fellows which are the lifeblood of a successful research active university.   To do this we will need to attract much more external research income.  It is not, however, just a question of bidding more, but critically of increasing the quality of our bids and thereby our success rates.

There are many reasons why a shift to a research culture driven by societal need is important, not least of which is to give something back as a public institution to society, but it is also important to ensure our ability to bid more successfully for funds in the future.  Let me use my own career as an illustration.  My first passion is glacial geology and I spent much of the 1990s studying the esoteric discipline of sediment transport in Arctic glaciers.  It was a fantastic period in my life in which I was perpetually scraping together funds for my next field trip and never more at home than on some frozen glacier.  Money was not easy to come by because in truth there was little funding available for such work, to be blunt it has little or no societal relevance.  It was not until I joined BU in 2002 that I started to reinvent my research direction working for the first time in the field of contaminated land as an environmental geologist and starting to work first in Central America and then in Africa on aspects of human evolution.  During this second part of my career my success rate with Research Councils increased three-fold, as did the total amount of research income I generated.  In essence I shifted from a field with little societal relevance to one with huge value. My passion for research remains but is just directed slightly differently!  At the heart of this story is the fact that I was able to transfer my skills as sedimentologist – someone who studies dirt – from one discipline to another.

Within BU we have a lot of active and talented researchers some of whom are working in fields of societal importance but some whom are not, preferring to pursue their own, often narrow, research agenda.  By shifting to a more societal focus for the majority of our research our ability to generate income and achieve societal impact is likely to be much greater and this is a shift that we need to make together over the next year or so.  A shift which is something that is essential if we are to make BU2018 a reality.

During the last year BU has been through a process of defining societal research themes and it is worth refreshing ourselves about this journey.  The initial candidate set of themes was generated from a trawl of all the priority funding areas for all major research funding bodies (Research Councils, European Commission, major charities, etc).  This list was debated and refined by the BU Professoriate and subject to an all staff survey, in which candidate themes where put to the public vote.  The remaining ten themes were scoped out and defined and then whittled to eight earlier this year via debate on this blog.  These are the research themes on which BU has chosen to focus its societal research effort.  But crucially they are still up for debate, evolution and further discussion.  To this end I recently invited all staff to an event on the 14 December 2011 at which the research themes will be scoped further and networks of researchers created.  If you have not signed up yet I would encourage you to do so!

To register your place at the Fusion Event on 14 December complete this form:

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Your School / Professional Service (required)

    Staff or PGR student? (required)

    StaffPGR

    Please select the themes that you are interested in (required)

    See the BU Research Themes brought to life with our excellent short videos!

    Over the next couple of weeks we will be posting a series of YouTube videos to the blog which illustrate examples of the excellent research being undertaken at BU within each of the 8 BU Research Themes.

    The first video went live today in the Recreation and Leisure section of the blog, and features Prof Alan Fyall (School of Tourism) discussing the research he has undertaken with the Malaysian Tourism Board to develop a sports tourism policy.

    The videos were produced internally by the Marketing & Communications team and provide excellent, colourful and lively examples of BU research brought to life. They are intended to give an insight into the research going on within the Themes.

    We’d love to receive your feedback on the videos! Just add a comment to this post 😀

    To see other BU videos on YouTube go to the BU YouTube page.

    Introducing the new Executive Briefing Centre

    Guidance

    The sixth floor of the Executive Business Centre (EBC) on the Lansdowne Campus has recently been refurbished to include a Briefing Centre, an impressive new facility which is now available for staff to use when meeting and hosting external visitors and contacts. Co-located with the Centre for Entrepreneurship, it offers the ideal venue to brief external clients.

    The Executive Briefing Centre suite consists of a Reception area with sofas and Welcome Desk, two large state-of-the-art meeting rooms (EB602 & EB603), as well as access to the floor’s kitchenette facilities. The purpose of the Centre is to provide suitable meeting space for all staff and students to book when hosting external visitors, with the aim of facilitating links and engaging with the business community. Such meetings may include developing consultancy projects and research opportunities, media relations, student consultancy assignments, and more. 

    The larger of the two rooms, EB602 which sits 12, houses an exciting state-of-the-art HD video conferencing system which enables real time broadcast of video and audio as well as the transmission of computer graphics over the internet. A network-based image store is also available, and lighting in this room has been specifically designed to enhance the quality of the video calls.

    Bookings and access – To book either of these two superb meeting rooms please use the Room Booking Request form on the Estates and IT Services web page, http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/itservices/index.html. If you require EB602 for a video conference, please fill in the relevant information on the request form.

    In order to access the meeting rooms, please collect key card/s from the EBC Reception and ensure that all cards are returned on your departure. The information on the confirmation email includes a link to the Chartwells website to order catering, as well as information on how to book car parking for external visitors.

    Instructions on how to use the AV equipment are available in the meeting rooms in paper format, however training can be given on how to operate the equipment in advance of your booking. Please call the IT Service Desk on 01202 965515 in order to arrange this, if required.

    SciTech Europe 2011: Advancing Research, Innovation & Collaboration

    There are a limited number of last minute complimentary places available to attend SciTech Europe 2011 on 24 November at The Square, Meeting Centre, Brussels.

    Confirmed to Speak

    Dr. Anneli Pauli
    Deputy Director-General on Innovation and ERA (European Research Area), Directorate-General Research, European Commission

    Professor Enric Banda
    President, Euroscience

    Professor Maria Leptin
    Member of the Management Committee, Initiative for Science in Europe and Director of EMBO

    Iztok Lesjak
    President, International Association of Science Parks, European Division

    Dr. Katrien Maes
    Chief Policy Officer, League of European Research Universities

    Dr. John Smith
    Deputy Secretary General, European University Association (EUA)

    Dr. Ayoade MJ Oduola
    Coordinator, Stewardship for Infectious Diseases of poverty (STE),

    Professor Joanna Chataway
    Director, Innovation and Technology Policy, RAND Europe

    Professor Anthony J Ryan OBE
    Board member, STFC Science Council; Pro-Vice Chancellor, Faculty of Science, Sheffield University

    View Full Programme

    To register your complimentary place at this event please use our Online Registration System using discount code STEUCOMP at the final stage of the registration process.  Book Online

    EPSRC applications now need to include ‘national importance’

    The EPSRC has announced that from the 15th November 2011 their peer reviewers will be asked to assess the national importance of research proposals.  The Council have tried to reassure people that research quality will remain the key criteria by which research proposals are assessed.

    The EPSRC added the following definition of National Importance to their website:

    What is National Importance?

    National importance looks over a 10 to 50 year time frame. It takes into account the national importance of the research in relation to other research in the area, how it aligns to national UK priorities, user/stakeholder pull or if it underpins priority areas for other research councils.

    When considering National Importance for research and training we take into account;

    • the potential impact of a research area on the current or future success of the UK economy,
    • whether it has been identified as an area that will enable the future development of key emerging industry(s),
    • if the area makes a clear contribution to meeting key societal challenges facing the UK,
    • If the area is key to the health of other research disciplines.

    We are asking applicants to demonstrate the importance of their proposed research project to the UK in relation to other research in that area. We do not expect applicants to be able to predict the impact of their research, nor do we expect reviewers to make assumptions about the probability of the benefits being fully delivered. The purpose of national importance is to encourage applicants to articulate how their research aligns to national UK priorities, user/stakeholder pull or if it underpins other research areas. We encourage and recognise the research we invest in has a global impact.

    A full list of the FAQs can be found on their website here.

    RCUK Demand Management week on the blog! EPSRC and demand management…

    Guidance

    EPSRC logoWelcome to RCUK Demand Management week on the blog! Today’s focus is on the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the steps they have taken to enforce demand management. The EPSRC was the first Research Council to initiate a policy for demand management and it was particularly controversial at the time. Back in April 2010 the EPSRC launched the ‘12-month cooling-off period for repeatedly unsuccessful applicants‘ as a way of reducing the number of applications they received through individual researcher sanctions. This policy restricts repeatedly unsuccessful applicants to submitting one application (as PI or Co-I) for a 12-month period.

    What is the criteria for ‘repeatedly unsuccessful applicants’? – Researchers are considered repeatedly unsuccessful if they meet both of the following criteria:

    1. Three or more applications within a two-year period ranked in the bottom half of a funding prioritisation list or rejected before panel (including administrative rejects);
    2. An overall personal success rate of less than 25% over the same two years.

    The two year period is calculated from the date on the letter the applicant receives informing them of the decision not to fund their application.

    Will all applications to EPSRC be taken into account? – All full proposals submitted by an applicant as PI will be considered over a rolling two-year period. Examples of applications not taken into account include: training grants, outline applications, applications submitted as Co-I, and all activities where peer review is led by another funding body. See the EPSRC website for a full list.

    What sanction is applied to applicants who meet the criteria? – They will be allowed to submit only one application during the next 12 month period and asked to review their submission behaviour with their university.

    How are people notifed that they have met the criteria? – They will be emailed by EPSRC. The Research Development Unit are also notified and keep a central record of BU applicants who have met the criteria.

    I am interested in applying to EPSRC. How can I make sure my application stands the best chance of being funded? – BU has established an internal peer review scheme (Research Proposal Review Service) which has been up and running in its current form for almost 12 months now. The scheme is managed by Caroline O’Kane and a whopping 21 proposals have been reviewed since July. If you are submitting an bid to EPSRC then I strongly encourage you to work with Caroline through the RPRS. You can also check the Blog to see what proposal writing sessions are running at BU. For example, on 23 and 24 November Dr Martin Pickard will be visiting BU to run sessions specifically focusing on writing and preparing applications for Research Council funding – read more and book a place here. Martin’s sessions are excellent and always well received, and I would encourage anyone considering applying for research funding to attend.