Category / Funding opportunities

What do funders look for in a research application?

Funding opportunities, Guidance

  • Funders look for a research application that is novel and that addresses an important research question pertinent to their strategic aims.  Check funder’s websites and research their current priorities.
  • They need to be convinced of the Principal Investigator’s ability to deliver and are thus keen to see clearly described aims and a well thought through project plan.
  • Funders are also increasingly looking for a clear indication of what the likely impact of the research will be.

How does the funding decision process work?

  • On receipt of a grant proposal, funders will identify UK and/or international academics with appropriate expertise to provide written assessment of it.
  • On the day of decision-making, there is rarely enough money to fund every grant considered to be fundable and so often a ranking/scoring system is adopted such that only those ranked in the top grouping get funded.
  • How far the bar comes down depends on the committee’s budget – you just have to present the best case you can to catch the eye of the funding committee.

What are the typical reasons for proposal rejection?

  • Applicant is not eligible to apply/exceeding the page limits/missing documentation
  • Uninvited/undeclared resubmissions which fail to meet the criteria after revision
  • Lack of clearly stated hypothesis/research question
  • Research question not considered to be novel
  • Insufficient reference to previously published research
  • Importance of research question not well argued
  • Project too vague in its objectives
  • Not clear how the methodologies/work plan will provide the answer to the question posed
  • Unconvincing track record of applicant
  • Proposal is over-ambitious
  • Lack of sound methodology
  • Not value for money (i.e. a quicker/cheaper way to answer question exists)
  • Outcome unlikely to have much impact on the field or impact of outcomes not explained
  • Proposed research would be run in isolation/in an unsupported environment

Who can I ask for further help?

Contact Caroline O’Kane in the Research Development Unit for advice on what makes a good proposal.  

Caroline also runs the University’s Research Proposal Review Service (RPRS), and can advise on funding criteria, funders and eligibility issues.   For the best results please get in touch with Caroline as soon as you start developing a funding proposal – the RPRS can support your bid in more ways than you think.

Find out more:

British Academy announce Mid-Career Fellowship Scheme

Funding opportunities

 

The British Academy have published details of their next round of Mid-Career Fellowships, with a  2nd November 2011 closing date for applications to the Outline Stage.

These fellowships are aimed at allowing successful applicants to obtain time freed from normal teaching and administrative commitments. The time bought by the scheme should be devoted to the completion of a major piece of research.

Who is eligible?

  • scholars who have already published works of intellectual distinction
  • or have established a significant track record as an excellent communicator and ‘champion’ in their field,
  • and who are normally within no more than 15 years from the award of their doctorate.
  • the Academy will make due allowance for applicants who have had career breaks, and for established scholars who do not have doctorates.

Full Economic Costing

These Fellowships are covered under the Full Economic Costing (FEC) regime, but the Academy’s contribution to the salary of the Mid-Career Fellow will be capped at an upper limit of £80,000. It is not expected that the total value of an award will exceed £160,000 (BA contribution to FEC). Awards can be held over a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 12 months, beginning in the autumn of 2012.

Thinking of applying? Talk to the British Academy

If you have any questions about your eligibility please have a chat with the BA they are happy to help and actively encourage researchers to get in touch when thinking about submitting a bid.   

Phone: 020 7969 5200  5200   

Contact RPRS!

If you are thinking about submitting a proposal please contact Caroline O’Kane at the RPRS at the earliest stage.  The RPRS will not only organise peer review of your proposal, but can also ensure that your bid is fully compliant with funder guidelines and eligibilty. 

Key deadlines:

The BA closing date is 2nd November 2011.  Please remember the BU internal deadline of five working days for submission of British Academy bids, and build this into your planning.

BU internal peer-review scheme for your research proposal

Funding opportunities, Guidance

Why is the internal peer review of research proposals important?

  • The competition for research funds is high and is likely to increase.  Research Council funding presents a particular challenge – with the ESRC having one of the lowest success rates.
  • In recent years funders have expressed their growing concern over the number of poor quality research proposals they receive, with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) taking the action to implement a ban on submissions from unsuccessful candidates who fail repeatedly and requesting evidence on steps institutions take to improve academic skills in producing research proposals.
  • Internal peer review has been credited with producing higher quality research proposals and increased success rates and is a process encouraged by the Research Councils.

Who reviews the applications?

  • The Peer Reviewers are a selection of BU academics who have a considerable track record in successfully gaining research funding, who sit on funding panels and who review research proposals for funders.
  • We select two reviewers to review your proposal.

Who can apply to the RPRS?

  • The service is open to anyone at BU and for any type of research funding.

What kind of feedback can I expect?

  • Peer reviewers will provide feedback on the proposed research in terms of topic selection, novel value, clarity of ideas proposed and advise on how the proposal can be further strengthened. They may also provide the names of potential collaborators where applicable.
  • Feedback will be delivered within 3 weeks of submission – often before.

Will the RPRS help with unsuccessful applications?

  • Yes, if you have a unsuccesful proposal, the RPRS will provide feedback on your submission on how you could potentially improve the style of the proposal, advise on other possible funders and provide other useful information.   The system works as for as yet unsubmitted drafts.

How do I submit an application?

  • Contact RKEO Funding Development Team to obtain a rough costing for your proposal. RKEO FDT will guide you through the process
  • Send in a Word or PDF version of your electronic submission draft (such as Je-S) and submit to Jo Garrad and Dianne Goodman/Giles Ashton.
  • The RKEO FDT will undertake review of the proposal and forward to 2 experts
  • You will receive feedback within 2-3 weeks

Remember

  • Please allow sufficient time in your proposal development to allow for the  mandatory internal deadline of five working days for the submission of Research Council bids via the Je-S system. This internal deadline also applies to applications made via the E-Gap2 and Leverhulme Online e-submissions systems (affecting applications made to the British Academy, the Royal Society and the Leverhulme Trust).

Who can I ask for further help?

  • Jo Garrad and Dianne Goodman/Giles Ashton  in the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development team look after the RPRS and will answer any questions you have.

Reminder of the BU Santander Scholarships 2011-12 – apply now!

Funding opportunities

Reminder of the Santander Scholarships currently on offer to BU staff and postgraduate research students.

Santander is offering five x £5,000 research and travel grants to BU staff and students

The funds must be used for a specific project to build on or develop links with at least one university from the Santander overseas network. Trips must be taken before February 2012.

Preference will be given to applications received from postgraduate research students and early career researchers.

Funds can only be used to cover direct costs (i.e. not salary costs or overheads).

To apply complete the Santander application form and submit it by email to Susan Dowdle: sdowdle@bournemouth.ac.uk.

The closing date for applications is Friday 16 September 2011.

Good luck 🙂

ESRC Future Research Leaders scheme – internal application information

Funding opportunities, Guidance

ESRC logoThe ESRC’s Future Research Leaders call is currently open with a closing date of 15 September 2011.

Universities are expected to consider applications very carefully prior to submitting them to the ESRC through this call, and all applications need to be supported with a letter from the PVC (Research, Enterprise and Internationalisation).

With this in mind BU has established a process for submissions to this call. All proposals must be submitted to a special version of our internal peer review scheme (the RPRS) first and must be signed off by Matthew Bennett as PVC (Research, Enterprise and Internationalisation) prior to submission.

For applicants interested in the scheme, the key internal dates are as follows:

22 Aug Proposals to be submitted to the RPRS and sent for review.
29 Aug Proposal feedback to be returned to applicants.
29 Aug – 5 Sep Applicants to finalise proposals based on reviewer feedback.
5 Sep Final proposals to be sent to Matthew Bennett (via CRE Operations).
5 Sep – 15 Sep Matthew Bennett to review and approve final proposals (and write the PVC letter of support). Once reviewed, CRE Operations will let applicants know when to submit via Je-S.
15 Sep ESRC submission deadline.

For further information on the RPRS please see the RPRS website: http://erss.bournemouth.ac.uk/researchsupport/bids/writing/rprs.html

If you are considering applying to the scheme but have not yet confirmed this with the CRE Operations team please could you do so as soon as possible.

Changes to research schemes at NERC

Funding opportunities

Yesterday the Natural Environment Research Council announced changes to the Consortium and Small grants responsive mode schemes.

The Small Grants Scheme will close after 2011 with the last application deadline being 1st September 2011.

The Consortium Grants Scheme will be modified to operate via one grant round per year rather than two, and an outline stage assessed by members of the Peer Review College will be introduced. The final closing date for submissions to the Consortium scheme in the current format will be 1 December 2011 (concept notes to be submitted by 1 September 2011).  From 2012 additional resources will be committed to the Consortium Grants scheme.

These changes are part of the NERC Delivery Plan 2011-2015 which includes the following targets for Responsive Mode:

  • reduce demand for research grants,
  • consolidate RM schemes and processes, and balances between them, to deliver NERC strategic needs

The full news item can be viewed here.

Leverhulme Trust research programme grants

Funding opportunities

The Leverhulme Trust has funding available for research programme grants. This funding is for projects of up to five years duration and overarching projects should address a central theme of significance through the undertaking of a series of distinctive sub-projects. The 2012 competition themes are:

  • conspiracies
  • patronage
  • value

Proposals will be scored against the following criteria:

  • the opportunity for original thinking in the subject
  • the extent to which the proposed topic naturally touches upon an array of sub-disciplines
  • the extend to which the treatment of the topic departs from the heartland of a current and established professional specialism
  • the significance of the topic as a future issue of debate

The deadline for applications is 4pm on 11 January 2012.

For further information, including definitions of each of the themes, application guidelines, see the call website: http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/funding/RP/RP.cfm

If you’d like to submit a bid then speak to the lovely people in CRE Operations who will help you with the submission process.

I’d also recommend that all proposals are run through our excellent internal peer review process, the RPRS, to ensure they are as strong as possible prior to submission. For further information on the RPRS contact Caroline O’Kane or see the RPRS website.

Research Professional – Updates and Improvements

Funding opportunities

In order to add updates and improve their funding website, Research Professional will be unavailable on Tuesday 2nd August 2012 from 6 pm.  It is expected that the funding website will be unavailable for at least 4 hours.

The improvements will include:

  • updating the site to prevent your sessions from timing out
  • changing URLs to make them simpler and clearer (don’t worry – old bookmarks and links you have will still work)
  • standardising the behaviour of the ‘back’ button on your web browser
  • speeding up the performance of Research Professional

After this time, if anyone experiences problems accessing or using Research Professional, please contact Susan Dowdle in the first instance.

BU Santander Scholarships 2011-12 – apply now!!

Funding opportunities

Santander is offering five x £5,000 research and travel grants to BU staff and students

The funds must be used for a specific project to build on or develop links with at least one university from the Santander overseas network. Trips must be taken before February 2012.

Preference will be given to applications received from postgraduate research students and early career researchers.

Funds can only be used to cover direct costs (i.e. not salary costs or overheads).

To apply complete the Santander application form and submit it by email to: researchunit@bournemouth.ac.uk.

The closing date for applications is Friday 16 September 2011.

Good luck 🙂

ESRC Knowledge Exchange Opportunities

Funding opportunities

ESRC logoThe ESRC has announced two new calls as part of its Knowledge Exchange Opportunities scheme

The scheme exists to enable researchers to work with individuals and organisations in the private, public and civil society sectors. Knowledge exchange can involve a range of methods but is ultimately about sharing and applying good ideas, research results, experiences and engagement skills. The ESRC fund and manage a range of schemes to support collaborative projects and create a dialogue between researchers and individuals/organisations that have the potential to benefit from social science research.

The two calls that have been announced are:

 – the Follow on Fund scheme

 – the Knowledge Exchange Opportunities scheme

The Knowledge Exchange call is open from 1 September until 27 October 2011 and is aimed at social science researchers at all stages of their career and at organisations in the business, public and civil society sectors, with the intention of encouraging dialogue and collaboration between these groups.

Future calls are scheduled as follows:

  • 12 December 2011 – 6 February 2012
  • 9 April 2012 – 4 June 2012
  • 20 August 2012 – 1 October 2012

Further information is available from the ESRC website: http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/collaboration/knowledge-exchange/opportunities/index.aspx

If you are interested in applying to one of these schemes, please contact CRE Operations who will happy to support your application.

ESRC Update – Demand Management, Restructuring & Collaboration

Funding opportunities

With reduced budgets and the resulting increase in competition, times are tough in the search for RCUK funding.  Dr Richard Shipway attended a number of ESRC events recently and highlighted some key messages from the Council.

There was a 12% cut in real terms to the ESRC’s programme budget and a 23% cut to their administration budget.

The ESRC has indicated they will have 3 priority areas for funding:

  1. Global economic performance and sustainable growth
  2. Influencing behaviour and informing interventions
  3. Vibrant and fair society.

Demand Management

The ESRC aren’t introducing strict demand management measures at this stage but they are monitoring the situation closely.  At the moment they are encouraging universities to regulate internally so there are fewer applications but of a higher quality reaching the Council.  More information on the introduction of their intial measures is available on the ESRC’s website.

The ESRC has a useful section on their website providing grant writing advice to applicants.

BU also has our own internal peer review service to help you with applications.

Restructuring of Schemes

The Council have integrated the post-doc fellowships and first grants sheme to create the new Future Leaders Scheme which is aimed at outstanding early career researchers.  The call has recently been announced and closes on 15th Sept 2011.

International Partnership and Networking Scheme 2011 has been launched.  This is aimed at fostering the development of long-term relationships with overseas social scientists in areas of interest that are of direct relevance to ESRC’s current strategic priorities.  The closing date is 12th Oct 2011.

They will be streamlining their funding with fewer but more flexible research competitions.  Small grants are phased out and standard grant thesholds are increased.  Resources will be focused on larger and longer grants – ambitious social science.

Economic and Societal Impact

Creating, assessing and communicating impact are central to all of the ESRC’s activities.  It is very important to consider this when putting together a proposal to the ESRC.

International Collaboration

The ESRC is very keen to promote international collaboration.  They have a ‘Rising Powers’ programme to encourage collaboration with China, India and Brazil (deadline of 8 Sept 2011).  The Council also allow international academics to be listed as co-investigators on the grants of UK universities, more info can be found here.

HEFCE funding of £10 million to cut carbon emissions

Funding opportunities

The Revolving Green Fund (RGF) is open for proposals to reduce carbon emissions. There are two strands of funding both with a deadline of October 17th.
Strand 1 targets small-scale projects to improve energy efficiency and will aim to reach a broad range of institutions.
Strand 2 will make up to £3 million available for exemplary retrofit projects. These flagship initiatives will inform research, promote skills development and market growth in the relevant technologies – they must also demonstrate potential to capture and disseminate learning that will be of benefit across the higher education sector.
FAQs about the fund are available online.

Future energy needs and efficiency

Funding opportunities

Depleting non-renewable resources and limited alternative (heat pumps and solar photovoltaic), renewable (tidal, wind, solar) options of energy generation are posing challenging questions. In addition sustained energy supply and security are important factors to consider.

“European Union ministers meeting  in Luxembourg have signalled support for draft European Commission plans for an energy efficiency law impacting directly on utilities” http://www.utilityweek.co.uk/news/news.asp . Among other considerations it is noted that “Reinvigorated efforts are necessary in order to reach the 20% EU energy saving objective by 2020.” This is an optimistic, challenging but achievable target. However these savings could easily be topped up with available options and technologies available to us without painful cuts to energy consumption in our daily lives. This should not necessarily mean that energy inlets are to be reduced or energy flow through these inlets is reduced. As both of these are directly related to life standard and output. For example we will have to choose either have a TV or laptop and/or have a smaller TV at domestic level. Or reduced manufacturing lines in the industry or reduced number of industry.

One third of the available energy is dissipated through frictional heat in mechanical interacting machines for example motors, pumps, compressors, internal combustion engines, steam/tidal/wind turbines and manufacturing tools etc. A significant part of this energy is recoverable. This is achieved through mathematically adjusting the surface profile of the interacting surface through which energy is transferred. This key aspect is part of the science and engineering of friction, wear and lubrication; Tribology.

Colleagues in the Sustainable Design Research Centre have expertise and resources in this key and strategically important area of activity and are also actively engaged in the BU initiative within Green Knowledge Economy. If you are interested in this area or would like to find out more contact Professor Mark Hadfield / Dr Zulfiqar Khan. For details please see the SDRC webpage.

European Food Safety Authority – Call for Proposals

Funding opportunities

The European Food Safety Authority invites proposals on gathering consumption data on specific consumer groups of energy drinks. The project should collect data on the consumption of energy drinks and specific ingredients, including caffeine and glucuronolactone, in relation to member state consumers aged three to 10 years, 10 to 18 years and 18 to 65 years. The budget for this call is €100,000 over 12 months; see the website for more info.

Funding for optimising outcomes for victims of violence, trauma and abuse announced

Funding opportunities

DoH  invites applications for research on optimising outcomes for victims of violence, trauma and abuse. This aims to encourage research that supports the policy intention to improve outcomes for victims, stimulate collaborations between policy, research and informatics communities, and generate evidence to optimise outcomes for users of health and care services. The total budget is £1.8 million; see the website for more details.