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New Year’s Research Resolution #3 – plan your research strategy

Guidance

Happy New Year to you all and welcome back to work! Each day this week we’ll be posting a New Year’s Research Resolution to help you get back into the swing of things. Today’s resolution is to forward plan your research strategy.

WHY? – To ensure your time and efforts are utilised in the most effective and advantageous way then you should have an up to date research strategy. This should set out a plan of how you want your research to develop, what your goals are for the next year, three years, five years, fifteen years, etc., and the steps you need to take to get there. It should cover funding (internal and external), publishing and other activities, such as public engagement, that will support you to develop your career over the years.

HOW? The steps below will take you at least a couple of hours to work through and could take significantly longer. Working through them, however, will pay dividends as a plan will give structure and objectives for your short- and long-term research career development.

Ensure you are aware of the support available to you and the research strategy of your Faculty. Check out stage 1 of BU’s research lifecycle – Your Research Strategy. This outlines the support and resources available to you when designing your research strategy, including support from RKEO, horizon scanning for future funding calls and policy news/issues, and support from the academic development schemes that BU offers. It also provides links to the most recent versions of the Faculty strategies.

 

Start to write your plan. Start by asking yourself what your ultimate goals are. These could be:

– to be the lead partner for a collaborative EU project

– to establish and lead a research centre or institute

– to publish an article in a leading journal

– to be a keynote speaker at a leading international conference

– for your research to result in a change to a national policy

– for your research to result in a significant benefit in the local community

– to land a senior academic position at a leading university in another country

Once you have these listed then put realistic dates against when you wish to achieve these.

 

Then work backwards and identify the steps you need to get there, setting yourself targets to achieve each task.

For example, if your goal is to lead a collaborative EU project then you will need to: ensure you are fully conversant with Horizon 2020 and EU strategy, join/establish a network (ideally to join one that has already had some EU success), apply for some internal funding (via the Fusion Investment Fund or the URA Programme) to undertake some pilot research, apply for small research grants (these help you to gather data and build a track record), engage with business/industry to undertake contract research, KTPs, consultancy, etc (this helps you to build your profile, make connections, build you track record, develop real-world case studies to support your teaching), publish your work in highly ranked journals and ensure your work is freely available (open access publication fund and via BURO), use your network to bid for EU funding with you as a work package leader, apply for a research fellowship, undertake some public engagement work, etc.

 

Set yourself success measures where appropriate and add in specifics. For example, if one of your interim goals is to publish in a journal then identify two or three journals highly ranked journals (such as Q1 journals on Web of Science or Scopus) that closely align to your research field and make your interim goal to specifically publish in one of these journals.

 

 

Review the interim tasks and think about the support you need to achieve these. Would additional support help you to achieve these goals? Maybe an industry-based mentor would help? Add these to your plan.

 

 

Share your plan (or at least parts of it) with those who can support you in making it a reality. For example, share your long-term bidding plan with the Research Facilitators in RKEO who can help you with horizon scanning, identifying potential funders and calls, shaping ideas, etc. Share the highlights of the plan with your line manager and Deputy Dean Research who can help you with time, support and resources.

 

 

Once you have finalised your plan then try not to be diverted from it and regularly check progress against your goals.

 

 

 

 

Sources of further information include:

Elsevier’s Charting a course for a successful research career

Strategic approaches to getting your work published

Academic career pathway diagram

The perfect academic career path (includes an excellent career path diagram from the ESRC)

Winning grant funding and writing papers for publication

In metrics we trust?

Post-award, Publishing, REF Subjects, Research assessment

Back in May HEFCE launched a Call for Evidence on the role of metrics in research assessment. The Independent review chaired by by Professor James Wilsdon,  University of Sussex and supported by an independent steering group, is tasked with building on the previous 2008/9 pilot exercise to explore the current use of metrics for research assessment, consider the robustness of metrics across different disciplines, and assess their potential contribution to the development of research excellence and impact.

HEFCE received 153 responses (44% from HEIs, 27% individuals, 18% learned societies, 7% providers, 2% mission groups, 2% other). With the majority – 57% – of those who responded expressed overall scepticism about the further introduction of metrics into research assessment.

As part of the review three stakeholder workshops have been held/scheduled on key areas of interest and debate:

To date, all have been well attended and very lively. I was able to attend the I workshop in Sussex with some 150 odd other delegates including members of the metrics review panel, metrics developers and providers, researchers, university managers, and a range of stakeholders from across the research and HE community.

The day contained many thoughtful contributions from a range of speakers including: Dr Philip Campbell, Editor-in-Chief, Nature; Professor Stephen Curry, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College; and Dr Steven Hill, Head of Research Policy, HEFCE. There was lively discussion about the value, potential role, and unintended consequences of metrics in research evaluation. If you are interested in the future role of metrics in research assessment, I would particularly recommend reviewing the presentations from David Colquhoun, Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology at UCL and Dorothy Bishop, Professor of Developmental Neuropsychology, the University of Oxford.

For further insight you could also check out the Twitter discussion, which has over 1000 tweets tagged with #HEFCEmetrics, Impact story have also helpfully encapsulated much of the story/discussion via Storify.

The results of the review will be announced at the end of March and published in the summer. The report will make recommendation againsts three time horizons:

(1) What can HEIs do to improve research management now;

(2) Suggestions for the next REF;

(3) The longer term, including identification of programmes for further work.

Top tips from the Leverhulme Trust

Funding opportunities, Guidance

The Leverhulme Trust have provided us with helpful notes when submitting an application to them.  They have provided notes on the most common errors made, which result in an application being returned.  These are as follows:

• Applicants should only use their institutional email address – gmail, hotmail, etc addresses are not allowable.

• Principal and co-applicants cannot claim for direct salary costs for themselves nor be a consultant, research assistant, local researcher or PhD student.

• There must be at least one research assistant, local researcher or PhD student working for at least 50% in each year of the grant.

• Percentages must be based on the time spent on the project as a whole, not yearly. For example a research assistant working on a project for 100% would have to be costed in every year, not just one.

• Replacement teaching must not exceed 33% on any grant, this equals a third of the time of any project, e.g. 1 year on a 3 year grant.

• Consultants must be named and be crucial to the project, they cannot claim a salary only a reasonable fee.

• If you are requesting administration/secretarial/technician/technical assistance then this must be listed under associated costs.

• Leverhulme Trust do not provide funding for setting up a conference, only to attend ones relevant to the research being undertaken.

If you are thinking of applying to the Leverhulme Trust then please contact the RKEO Funding Development Team and we will assist you with your application.

BU academic awarded prestigious Visiting Fellowship

Dr John Oliver, Associate Professor of Media Management, has been awarded a prestigious Visiting Fellowship at the University of Oxford’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

He will focus his research on Dynamic Capabilities Theory which provides an appropriate lens through which to examine: media management, organisational change, and news firms’ ability adapt and renew their resources, capabilities and competencies through deliberate resource investment.

Dr Oliver said that he was “delighted with the appointment and hopes that his research will help a number of different stakeholders, from policy makers to news organisations, to better understand the adaptive and transformative processes that have made some news businesses more successful than others”.

Huffington Post Blog BU by PhD student Sheetal Sharma

PG research, Publishing

FHSS PhD student Sheetal Sharma and ICS Integrare’s Petra ten Hoope-Bender  discuss issues around the evidence to support the policy direction after the Millennium Development Goals come to end in 2015.  The global research and policy community has been gathering the evidence and the lessons learnt on what has worked for whom and how.  They remind us that the UN General Assembly’s Open Working Group has identified 17 new goals that cover far-reaching sustainable development issues, such as ending poverty and hunger, improving health and education, making cities more sustainable, combating climate change, and protecting oceans and forests.   Read all at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/petra-ten-hoopebender/women-newborns-and-health_b_6459614.html

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Introducing Eva Papadopoulou the New Research Ethics and Governance Advisor

Post-award, R & KE Operations, Research Ethics

Hi, for those who do not know me, I am Eva Papadopoulou and I have been since September 2014, the new Research Ethics and Governance Advisor.

I am responsible for providing support and advice to students and academic colleagues on all aspects of ethics queries, process and governance. I am part of the Project Delivery Team, for more info of the team, see Shelly’s yesterday post

I look after the Online Ethics Checklist, which filters all ethics applications and collaborate with students and colleagues of all Faculties for the progress of their ethics relating to Undergraduate, Masters, PhD and staff studies/research. I am also the secretary of the Science, Technology & Health Research Ethics Panel, the Social Science & Humanities Panel and the University Research Ethics Committee.

I have been working at BU for the last 9 years, first at HSC as the administrator of the PDU scheme, then moved on to be the HSC Research Administrator and two years ago moved to the R&KEOps and worked with Business School, SciTec and finally EU projects. I am a BU School of Tourism Graduate and received my MSc in Tourism Management at 2003.

Outside of work I am a happily busy mama to 4,5 year old Kally and trying unsuccessfully to teach her Greek, latest approach is to find all words that derive from Greek, so far so good, hmm. I like to travel, usually back home to Greece and the East of England to see the family and also enjoy reading, my Kindle is like my second child, cooking and watching films.

 

New Year’s Research Resolution #2 – Consider open access publishing via the GOLD route

Publishing

open access logo, Public Library of Science

Happy New Year to you all and welcome back to work!

Each day this week we’ll be posting a New Year’s Research Resolution to help you get back into the swing of things. Today’s resolution is to consider open access publishing via the GOLD route!

Research shows that making your research freely available dramatically increases the number of citations and leads to more people downloading the research papers, this increasing the academic and societal impact of your research.

The gold route to open access is considered at the moment to be the most sustainable method in the long term, and was recommended by the Finch report.  It involves publishing in a fully open access journal or website, or in a hybrid journal (i.e. the paper appears in the traditional print journal and is freely available online).  Authors usually need to pay for their work to be published via this route.

BU has operated a central dedicated budget for open access payments via the gold route since April 2011.  The fund is open to all BU academics and PGRs, and you can find out how to apply here: BU Open Access Fund

Fusion Fund Research in South Africa

Infested Abalone Shell (Photo:C Simon)

Stellenbosch Unverisity (Photo: C Simon)

This Fusion Investment Fund project is about to kick off involving collaboration between Matt Bentley at BU and Carol Simon at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. The research focuses on control of pest infestation of cultured abalone. Abalone is one of the world’s most valuable aquaculture products and its culture has alleviated the illegal harvesting of wild individuals. In South Africa, abalone and oyster culture form part of the country’s ‘Blue Revolution’ developing sustainable aquaculture. This project will involve two BU students who will work on the development of a methodology for use on abalone farms to manage shell-boring worm infestations which threaten the industry (the abalone’s response is to carry out shell repair/thickening in place of flesh growth thereby reducing the product yield). The methodologies will be developed in the laboratories of Stellenbosch University and then transferred to trials at the abalone farm of Abagold Pty Ltd in Hermanus in the Western Cape.

Introducing Shelly Anne Stringer – Project Delivery Manager

Awarded & submitted bids, Post-award, Publishing

Hello everyone,

For those of you who don’t know me I’m Shelly Anne Stringer (previously Shelly Maskell) and I’m the new Project Delivery Manager in the newly restructured Research & Knowledge Exchange Office.

I am responsible for the management of support for research and knowledge exchange projects from the point of award and beyond!

I’ve worked in Research Management for seven years; I cut my teeth in HSC and have since worked across all faculties and have lead on a number of initiatives most recent being Open Access and the Writing Academy. I am a Media School graduate and in 2008 completed my MBA.

Outside of work I enjoy being a mummy to my 2 year old son and plan plenty of crazy adventures for us both to go on, I like to go running with my friends and have completed a couple of marathons, I’m thinking of doing the Bournemouth pier to pier swim next year but am a useless swimmer so we’ll see how that goes, I’m also partial to a bit of karaoke 🙂

So the team… the Project Delivery Team is represented by a great group of people it is comprised of Advisors (Finance & Systems, Research Governance and Research Outputs), the Fusion Investment Fund Coordinator and faculty-facing Project Delivery Officers and Administrators. Across the team we assist with all aspects of project management to ensure it runs successfully, in line with good practice and that the value of outputs produced are maximised. In upcoming days the team will be introducing themselves to you in their own blog posts however as a quick overview…

The Advisors

We have dedicated advisors who are available to provide expert advice and guidance about research outputs, financial, research ethics, governance and conduct for projects across the university Peng Peng Hatch specialises in Research Outputs leads the Writing Academy and champions Open Access across the sector, Eva Papadopolou specialises in Research Governance and manages the development and implementation of the University’s research ethics and governance policies and procedures, Gary Cowen specialises in Finance and Systems providing expert financial advice, reviewing and developing post-award IT systems to ensure that robust management information is available.

The Officers

We have Project Delivery Officers (PDO) who provide the faculties with a single point of contact for all operational aspects of the post-award process. This includes establishment of contracts, purchasing and procurement, management of financial reporting process, record management and auditing. So, if once you have secured funding, your PDO will be in contact to kick start the process. Philip Leahy-Harland is the PDO for the Faculty of Management, Cristina Lujan-Barroso is PDO for Health and Social Science, Dean Eatherton is PDO for Media & Communication, and Laura Zisa-Swann is PDO for SciTech.

The Administrators

We have Project Delivery Administrators (PDA) who provide support to the post-award team, particularly with the financial administration, as well as being the first point of contact for all project enquiries. So if as part of your project you’d like to travel to Guatemala, purchase a deer carcass or simply book some catering you can contact one of the Project Deleivery Administrators: Charmain Lyons is the PDA for the Faculty of Management, Sara Mundy is PDA for Health and Social Science and SciTech and Joanne Schofield for Media & Communication.

The Sue

Last but not at all least… the Fusion Investment Fund Coordinator is Sue Townrow who is the main point of contact for the competitive strands of the fusion investment fund and manages enquiries regarding all aspects of the management of the fund, logging and keeping track of applications, and administering the fund budgets.

Well that’s enough from me, ta ta for now… Shelly

sastringer@bournemouth.ac.uk (01202) 961205

New Year’s Research Resolution #1 – Love your drafts, don’t delete them!

Publishing

Happy New Year to you all and welcome back!

Each day this week we’ll be posting a New Year’s Research Resolution to help you get back into the swing of things, starting with today’s – Love your drafts, don’t delete them, add them to BRIAN!

open access logo, Public Library of ScienceDon’t delete your drafts!  You will hear this A LOT over the next couple of years as the open access movement gathers even more momentum and the role of green open access and institutional repositories is moved to the fore of the next REF (likely to be REF 2020).  HEFCE policy states that all journal papers and conference proceedings must be made freely available in an institutional repository (like BURO) at the time of acceptance if they are to be eligible for submission to the next REF (likely to be 2020).

This policy is summarised as:

  • All journal papers and conference proceedings submitted to the next REF will have to be freely available in BURO from the point of acceptance.
  • A journal paper / conference proceeding that was not made freely available in BURO from the point of acceptance will not be eligible to be submitted, even if it is made available retrospectively.
  • The version made available in BURO should be the final accepted version but does not have to be the publisher’s PDF.
  • This is applicable for outputs accepted for publication from April 2016 onwards.

It is excellent to see the Funding Councils promoting the open access agenda and embedding it within the REF.  Making outputs freely available increases their visibility and is likely to increase their impact, not only within the academic community but in the public sphere too.  It ensures research is easily accessible to our students, politicians and policy-makers, charities and businesses and industry, as well as to potential collaborators in other countries which can help with building networks and the internationalisation of research.

Talking to academic colleagues around the University it is apparent that the normal practice is to delete previous drafts, including the final accepted version, as soon as a paper is accepted for publication.  This needs to change!  Many publisher’s will already allow you to add the final accepted version of your paper to BURO (just not the version with the publisher’s header, logo, etc) and this is set to increase in light of the HEFCE consultation.  Rather than deleting the final version, add it to BRIAN so it will be freely available to everyone in the institutional repository, BURO.

We need to get into the habit now of doing this now.  BRIAN is linked to the Sherpa-Romeo database of journals so you can easily check the archiving policy of the journal.  All you need to do is:

1. Log into your BRIAN account and find the paper.

2. One of the tabs is named ‘full text’.

3. If you click into this tab you will see a link near the Sherpa-Romeo logo to check your ‘publisher’s policy’.

4. Click on this and you will see the archiving policy for this particular journal, clearly stating which version of the paper can be uploaded. Ideally you are looking for your journal to be a green journal which allows the accepted version or (even better but quite rare, unless you have paid extra to make it freely available*) the publisher’s version/PDF. See the screen shot.

5. Click ‘back’ and then click on the ‘full text’ tab again and you will see a link (in a blue box) to ‘upload new file for this publication’.

6. Upload the file and follow the onscreen instructions.

7. Your full text will then automatically feed through to BURO and be available open access in the next few days.

 

*In point 4 I mentioned about paying extra to the publisher at the point of acceptance to make it freely available upon publication.  This is often referred to as the gold route to open access publishing and at BU we have a central dedicated budget for paying these fees.  You can find out about the GOLD route to open access publishing here: Gold route

So the overriding message for New Year’s Resolution #1 is:

LOVE YOUR DRAFTS – DON’T DELETE THEM – ADD THEM TO BRIAN!

HE Policy Update

Monday

International Students

Sir James Dyson has criticised Theresa May’s proposals (for the Conservative Party manifesto) to expel international students on graduation. He argues the proposals are a short-term vote winner that will harm the economy by losing valuable ideas from the brightest foreign minds. Dyson wipes floor with May’s student immigration plan  (The Guardian).

Tuesday

Student Funding Panel

The interim findings of the Universities UK’s Student Funding Panel, which was established last year to examine the current system, has said that raising tuition fees to £9,000 has not helped drive improvements in teaching despite the government’s insistence it would improve standards. It also reveals concerns around a drop in flexible places (i.e. part-time) and the level of support available to students in financial difficulties. Fee hike ‘has not driven teaching improvement’, says UUK panel (Times Higher Education).

Wednesday

International Students

The Chancellor, George Osborne has opposed Theresa May’s plan to deport foreign students after they graduate amid fears that it would damage the economy and universities’ finances. Osborne blocks May’s plan to deport foreign students (The Times).

Thursday

Independent Universities Group

A group representing non-profit and for-profit private providers aims to be “the Russell Group of the alternative sector” and to dissociate its members from “dodgy” for-profit colleges. The Independent Universities Group consists of eight institutions which have degree-awarding powers and/or university titles that are not funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.  Private providers create ‘Russell Group of the alternative sector’ (Times Higher Education).

Friday

NSS 

University teacher training students will be included in this year’s National Student Survey after HEFCE took the “exceptional” step of agreeing to fund their participation. The decision comes days after HEFCE revealed that the National College for Teaching and Learning – the Department for Education agency that funds teacher training, would no longer be funding initial teacher training students’ involvement in the survey. NSS to include teacher training students after funding council steps in (Times Higher Education).