Category / Guidance

EPSRC supporting flexible research careers

EPSRC logoWhether you want to continue with existing university or external activities, have caring responsibilities or are returning from a career break, EPSRC is committed to provide support both as part of your initial application and should your situation change over the course of your grant. With this in mind, we welcome applications from academics who job share, have a part-time contract, or need flexible working arrangements.

Read EPSRC’s blog post on this topic to see what’s available to you as an applicant and existing grant holder.

In addition, EPSRC wish to ensure the support they offer is flexible in practice as well as in principle, and are interested to hear your views. Throughout April they will have a survey open where you can share your experiences of where their support has and has not worked for you and help them improve their guidance and policy. A separate survey is available for students.

Je-S unavailable for 4 days in March

If you are preparing an application to UKRI or any of the research councils, or you have an awarded project that requires either maintenance or end of award actions, please take note of the following:

From 17:00 GMT on Thursday 21 March to 08:30 GMT Tuesday 26 March 2019 the Je-S system will be unavailable.

Working closely with UKRI, UK SBS will be renewing and moving the IT infrastructure that supports the grant administration services for UKRI and their Councils, known as Je-S. To complete this work the Je-S system will be unavailable for a 4 day period, including the weekend between 17:00 Thursday 21 March – 08:30 Tuesday 26 March.

This is mainly an infrastructure change and there will be no effect on the functionality or look and feel of the Je-S system itself.

Please also note that Je-S email addresses are being changed from RCUK to UKRI. The following from email addresses will be changing for Je-S automated emails:

Current email                  New email

JeSHelp@rcuk.ac.uk       JeSHelp@je-s.ukri.org

Je-S1Help@rcuk.ac.uk   Je-S1Help@je-s.ukri.org

Je-SHelp@rcuk.ac.uk     Je-SHelp@je-s.ukri.org

HRA help guides – data and technology

An updated Code of Conduct for the application of data-driven technologies in the NHS was published on Tuesday of this week – the code ‘sets out what the NHS expects from companies who are developing new technologies for the health system, and what they can expect in return.

In order to assist applicants and researchers, the HRA have created new pages that set out the approvals process for data-driven technology research.

The section incorporates two pages of support –

The help pages will be added to the Clinical Governance section of the blog, for ease of access.

New HRA guidance launched for public co-applicants in research

‘Increasing numbers of public contributors are helping to shape and deliver health and social care research, and there has been a rise in the number of public co-applicants joining research teams.

Involving members of the public in research design and development has been shown to have a positive effect on projects by improving the quality and relevance of research. However, until now there has been no guidance, either for researchers or for people involved, about what it means to be a co-applicant.

Now new guidance co-developed by NIHR-INVOVLE, the NHS R&D Forum and the Health Research Authority, has been launched to help support members of the public who are co-applicants on research grants and ensure that their contribution is valuable and rewarding.’

See the HRA’s update here and remember that support is on offer at BU if you are thinking of introducing your own research idea into the NHS – email Research Ethics for advice and take a look at the Clinical Governance blog.

REF 2021 – Final Guidance Published!

Research England have this morning published the final guidance for REF 2021 submission. The following documents:

  • Guidance on submissions
  • Panel criteria and working methods
  • Guidance on codes of practice

Are available under the publications page of the REF 2021 website: https://www.ref.ac.uk/publications/

For further information, and to read the official announcement, please visit the REF news page

NHS research cost attribution and funding update – support on offer at BU

You may have seen an earlier post regarding recent developments, surrounding changes to the way that NHS research costs will be attributed and funded.

Acord specialists working within Local Clinical Research Networks (LCRN) are available to assist researchers in completing the SoECAT.
However, there is also further guidance and support on offer at BU. Email Research Ethics with any queries you may have, as well as requests for any guidance surrounding NHS research and associated procedures.

Changes to the way that NHS research costs will be attributed and funded

We have been informed by MRC of changes to the way that NHS research costs will be attributed and funded. You may already be aware but the Department of Health and NIHR have introduced a new attribution tool called the Schedule of Events Attribution Tool (SoECAT) which will now be mandatory for any researcher wishing to access resources within the NHS for their study. The Pilot stage for the project began on 1st October 2018 and there are three main changes;

1.  Any researcher applying to a funding call that opened from 1st October will be required to submit a SoECAT with their proposal or with their second stage proposal if applying to a 2-stage application process.

2.  All current research projects accessing resources within the NHS will be asked to migrate onto the new SoECAT system.

3.  A ‘high threshold’ is being introduced where the portion of NHS costs attributed to Excess Treatment Costs (ETC) will in future be reassessed for value to the NHS before these ETC are funded. This threshold is set at more than 1M per study or 20,000 per patient.

There are Acord specialists working within Local Clinical Research Networks (LCRN) who are available to assist researchers in completing the SoECAT. It is anticipated that these Acord specialists will be in high demand and while DH is training more Acord specialists they advise that researchers wishing to access this resource do so early during preparation of their proposals.

During this Pilot stage MRC are working with DH and NIHR to devise appropriate ways of working for MRC applicants and will be able to update their Guidance for Applicants in early 2019.

Next steps for researchers undertaking/planning to undertake clinical studies;

1.  Contact your Acord specialist within your LCRN for more information and to discuss completion of the SoECAT.

2.  While they are updating MRC guidance more information can be found here on the NIHR web-site.

If you have any questions, please contact your LCRN Acord specialist.

 

#DataSavesLives – using patient data for research

Patient data underpins and leads to improvements in research and care.

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has recently shared a resource surrounding the use of patient data in clinical research. The page contains a number of useful links to guidance such as the NHS pages on why patients’ data matters and also the Understanding Patient Data resource, which outlines a set of key principles that should be followed in using patient data for research purposes.

Acknowledging contribution

It’s important that if a researcher uses patient data, that they acknowledge it by using the following citation –

“This work uses data provided by patients and collected by the NHS as part of their care and support”

The above has been developed by use MY data, a movement of patients, carers and relatives, in place to ensure that the patient data used is protected by the appropriate safeguards, and is treated with the respect and confidentiality it deserves.

National data opt-out programme

The page likewise signposts the above programme which allows patients and the public to opt-out of their confidential patient information being used for planning and research purposes.

All health and care organisation will uphold these choices by March 2020.

Je-S outage – are you working on a research council application?

The UKRI Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) service will be unavailable between 9pm GMT on Friday 23 November to 8am GMT on Monday 26 November due to essential database maintenance.

If you are working on an application to the research councils, you will need to be aware of this and may want to download any essential documents (for your application or help text/guidance) before 9pm on Friday.

UKRI apologise for any inconvenience.

Review and changes to BU Prestigious Funders scheme

The Prestigious Funders scheme was launched in August 2017, revised in February 2018 and October 2018.  The revised policy document can be found here or on the BU staff intranet under ‘policy/ research/ pre-award’.

The main changes are as follows:

  • There is no longer a requirement for applicants to make a case for the BU costs of funding a PGR. If your application meets the eligibility criteria (based on value) then you will be advised by the RKEO Funding Development Officer when they receive the completed intention to bid form.
  • The BU income value threshold for ECRs applying to external prestigious research funders has been revised to £100k (before full economic costing (fEC)) for both pathways: PGR studentships and Postdoctoral research staff.
  • The value threshold for all those adding a BU funded PGR student when applying to an external prestigious research funder has been revised to £100k (before fEC).
  • Applications to other funders (from those listed in the scheme document) are now eligible to add a BU funded PGR to applications when costed at BU income over £350K (before fEC) or £100k (before fEC) for ECRS for the PGR studentship pathway only.
  • The value threshold for the postdoctoral research staff pathway 2 remains at £350k but has been revised to £100k for ECRs (both before fEC).  Only funders listed in the scheme document are considered for this pathway.
  • Clarification has been given that a postdoctoral researcher will normally be included within an application at 1FTE post for the duration of the project (applicants can choose to reduce this so that it is appropriate to their research plan).

No retrospective requests will be considered (i.e. any applications submitted before 25 October 2018 who now meet the new eligibility criteria will not be able to apply). The scheme continues to be open for applications where BU lead and where we are a Co-Investigator to another institution, as long as the eligibility requirements are met.

Please read the full scheme document for clarification of the above.  You will need time to build this into your application and so please speak with your RKEO Funding Development Officer as soon as you think you might meet the eligibility criteria for either pathway.

Looking for a Challenge?

Bournemouth University invites expressions of interest from internationally recognised mid-career to senior researchers who currently work outside the UK, and are active within the social sciences and humanities who wish to apply for the British Academy Global Fellowship scheme (BAGF).

The purpose of the Global Professorships is to enable world-class scholars to further their individual research goals while strengthening the UK research base and advancing the research goals and strategies of their UK host universities. Each four-year appointment is intended to be a complete project in itself and is expected to involve a specific research focus.

More information about the scheme will be available presently from the British Academy. There are strict eligibility requirements and potential candidates are advised to check these carefully.

Candidates who intend to apply for a BA BAGF at Bournemouth University as the host institution are asked to submit the following BA EOI form – Prof 2018  application to apekalski@bournemouth.ac.uk no later than 27th November 2018.

There is no guarantee that applications which arrive after this date will be supported or processed.

 

Procedure For applicants applying through Bournemouth University

Should you be interested in applying through Bournemouth University for a BAGF, please note that your expression of interest application will be assessed by the relevant Faculty in the first instance.

Once your application has been approved by Faculty, it will be sent for internal review. The panel will be convening on the 13th December 2018, and candidates can expect feedback by 4th December 2018.

If your application has been approved, the research facilitator responsible will work with you on your application.

The internal deadline for submitting applications via the BA’s Flexi-Grant system will be 5 working days before the external BA deadline (28 February 2019) – this is to allow time for institutional approval of your application, a requirement by the British Academy.

If you have further questions or queries please contact lease contact apekalski@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Important update regarding human DNA from acellular materials

The revised Governance Arrangement for Research Ethics Committees document was released recently.

Amongst updates to incorporate legal, policy and operational developments, following a public consultation by the Human Tissue Authority, research involving human DNA extracted from acellular material is now included in the document, as requiring NHS Research Ethics Committee review.

If you are collecting ‘relevant materials‘ and rendering them acellular, then storage of the samples does not require a HTA license – however, a license is required for distribution of the samples, or if you are extracting DNA from these materials.

Please get in touch if you have any queries or wish to discuss the samples being collected/stored at BU.

UKRI GDPR and Research – An Overview for Researchers

It is important that researchers understand what the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) means for them and the personal data that is processed during their research. Compiled with the support of the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UKRI have provided a GDPR overview for researchers, which sets out guidance and signposts to further sources of information.