Tagged / bidding

BU support available to increase bid quality – research fundamentals

You will have seen my blog post last week, which provided you with a number of pointers for submitting a good quality research bid. In case you didn’t, please read it here. I won’t go over the same information, but do read it if you want to know about the application timeline, BU processes, and what support information is available to you when writing a bid.

This week, RDS and academics will provide you with a series of blog posts about what makes a good quality bid, what success looks like, and how the RDS Research Facilitators can support you. To start your week off, I’ve outlined below some of the options available to support you with research bidding.

Let’s start with what’s available to you under the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework (RKEDF). We will shortly be publicising a range of opportunities to progress your research bids at BU. Do keep an eye on OD’s Calendar of Events for upcoming activity. We will also be posting when new opportunities are finalised.

  • Research Council Development Scheme –  is a coordinated, targeted set of activities designed to inspire and equip BU researchers to achieve greater success with Research Council funding. The third cohort was cancelled due to the pandemic. This will be reintroduced in early 2022 to those on the third cohort. Any vacancies to join the cohort will be advertised.
  • Faculty Grant Hubs – led by RDS and academics, this was trialled in FMC in the summer and will be rolled out to the other faculties in due course. The Grant Hubs tend to be four sessions held over a month for academic staff (mainly ECRs), and include advice by experienced academics on how to write a research application, a writing day, peer review sessions, and EAR (see below) support.
  • Research Leadership Programme (RLP) – ECR and mid-career cohorts – RLP develops and enhances wider research-related skills through workshops, action learning, and progress reports. The focus is on research leadership, project management, networking and dealing with risk and uncertainty.
  • External application reviewers – will be provided to academic staff preparing research proposals to prestigious funders and those identified to work on major and strategic bids. ECRs, NERC standard grants, attendees of the Faculty ‘Grant Hubs’ and other bid writing sessions, and cohort members of the RCDS, will also be given priority to work with an EAR.

In addition to the above, we will run ad hoc bid writing sessions for certain calls. STEAMLabs will be held for each SIA and Global Engagement, to form collaborations and generate bids. We will continue with the weekly funder briefings. There will be a fair bit of training on research methods this year, as well as many more opportunities. Therefore, keep an eye on the blog for what’s new and upcoming.

What’s available on the blog?

The Research Funders Toolkit contains a host of information to support you when bidding for research. The Research Funders’ Guide gives an overview of the main funders, including links to their essential documents. Do explore these two resources for the latest information. Not sure where to start? Our Research Lifecycle guides you through all aspects of research and includes useful links to essential information to help you in your research career. Finally, it also helps you identify your RDS support and faculty contacts. Meet the RDS team here.

I hope that’s given you a ‘starter for ten’ in terms of developing your research at BU and contributing to the research aims within BU2025. On Friday, there will be a post about RDS Research Facilitators and what they can do to support you. Do remember that you also have a Faculty Research Mentor to help guide you through the world of academic research.

Good luck and once you have been awarded your grant, our skilled Project Delivery team are there the rest of the way to help you manage your funding. More from them in the next few weeks.

10 things you need to know about the BU Financial Regulations and RKE

Post-award

Please read the following 10 things you need to know about the BU Financial Regulations in relation to research and knowledge exchange (RKE).

1. The purpose of the BU Financial Regulations is to provide control over university resources, ensuring the resources are being properly applied to achieve the university’s objectives. They provide practical guidance on the university’s policies relating to financial control. All matters concerning finance must be carried out in line with the Financial Regulations.

2. They apply to all of us, irrespective of your grade, role, department that you work in or what type of employment contract you hold.

3. Non-compliance with the regulations is potentially a disciplinary matter. See below for a non-exhaustive list of examples of potential breaches of the Financial Regulations in relation to RKE.

4. They apply to all university activities irrespective of the source of funding. Specific external funding such as research grants are still subject to our Financial Regulations because the funds are awarded to the university and not to an individual member of staff.

5. All bids/applications/quotations to external funders/clients must be costed by RDS and approved via the Activity Proposal Form (APF) process, prior to submission. The approved costs must match those submitted to the funder. If a named sub-contractor is included within the bid/application, this will be subject to BU Procurement procedures (see #7).  No commitment to outside agencies or to incur expenditure can be made without the proper approval being in place.  If a bid commits BU at the time of submission then the Contract Signing Policy & Procedures will need to be followed at bid stage.

6. A contract/agreement/grant offer letter, etc. cannot be signed until it has been reviewed by Legal Services. There are only certain people who can sign documents or agreements/contracts ‘on behalf of the university’. RKE projects cannot start until there is a signed contract in place. See the Financial Authority Limits and the Contract Signing Policy & Procedures.

7. All purchasing must be made in accordance with the BU Procurement Manual. There are thresholds determining when quotations and tendering procedures are required.

8. Principal Investigators are responsible for ensuring their RKE projects do not exceed the funds available/the approved budget. This can be monitored using the Research & Enterprise Database, RED.

9. All purchases must be approved prior to commitment. All purchases must have a purchase order raised prior to the order being placed or the work taking place.

10. Travel and Business Expenses can only be incurred in accordance with the Financial Regulations. The specific rules in are in the BU Business Travel Policy and the Staff & Visitors Expenses Policy.

Examples of potential breaches of BU Financial Regulations, which could lead to further action (such as disciplinary proceedings):

  • Signing a contract that has not undergone legal review and/or without the required approvals in place.
  • Changing the financial figures in an external funding application so they no longer match those approved via the APF process.
  • Starting work on an externally-funded RKE project, before a contract has been signed.
  • Committing to purchases, without prior approval or without having a purchase order.
  • Exceeding the budget available for an RKE project.
  • Spending more on travel, subsistence or accommodation than the rates specified in the Staff & Visitors Expenses Policy, without prior approval.
  • Not adhering to the procurement procedures set out in the BU Procurement Manual.

Eurostat

Are you trying to justify your research submission to the EU or another funder?

One way that you can support your bid is to use the EU statistical database – Eurostat. The Eurostat website provides direct and free of charge online access to all its statistical databases and associated electronic publications. The Eurostat database is updated twice a day and covers:

  • the European Union
  • the EU Member States
  • the euro-zone
  • Candidate countries
  • EFTA countries

Take a look at the first visit page to find out the main features, including tools for visualisation of data, extraction tools, mobile apps and tutorials to help you make the best use of EU statistical data. You can register for free so that you can receive tailor-made e-mail alerts informing you of new publications as soon as they are online and access enhanced functionalities of the databases (customize the navigation tree, bulk download). You can also sign up to alerts. If you already have an ECAS login, you can access Eurostat using this.

 

Life as an AHRC Panel Reviewer

Guidance

AHRC

At the moment the Arts and Humanities Research Council are recruiting new members for their review panels. I have been member of the review college (as it’s grandly called) for just over two years have reviewed many bids in that time. Like Dr. Richard Shipway of the School of Tourism – who has recently posted about his experiences reviewing for the ESRC – I’ve found it to be a surprisingly enjoyable experience.

I get around 4-5 bids to review a year. It is all done online – although you can save and print all of the documents as PDFs if you want. I’ve looked at all sorts of bids, submitted by all sorts of academics, at varying stages of their career. Sometimes I have heard of the researcher, sometimes not. Sometimes I know a great deal about the proposed topic, sometimes not so much. That’s OK, because you can evaluate your own expertise in commenting on a proposal when reviewing the bid – this is great if you’re not entirely comfortable.

So, you get to see what other people are bidding for, and for what. The review process then directly informs your own bidding activity. The training for reviewers – at Polaris House in Swindon – is excellent, and the regular sessions are a further opportunity to meet other academics from all over the UK. The most useful thing though is to read and discuss same successful and unsuccessful bids with other reviewers, panel chairs and AHRC staff.

Being a reviewer gives me a great insight into the ways in which a successful research proposal can be crafted. It’s like being at the other end of the ‘pipe’ because on one hand I’m putting together bids with my colleagues here at BU, and then I’m very often reading the submissions at the same time. Right now I have a proposal sitting in my inbox waiting to be reviewed, alongside an almost complete proposal I’m working on with a colleague at the University of Wolverhampton, which we will be submitting to the AHRC very soon.

For me, this dialog between the two processes (reviewing and writing) has been invaluable, and has certainly improved the practice of putting together research bids. It’s also shaped my thinking a lot more strategically in terms of what to go for, and who to work with.

There is still time to put yourself forward as an AHRC reviewer and I would highly recommend it.

If you’re interested in being nominated as a reviewer for the AHRC then read how to do so here: AHRC Still Seeking Nominations for Peer Reviewers

Sometimes a kick in the teeth can be good for you!

Guidance

My rationale needed to be contextualised, my aims were too tentative and I had a weak dissemination strategy. Apart from that my bid had potential.

This was the feedback I got on a two-day course run by the Missenden Centre on bidding for research funding. John Wakeford and his small team of experts began by painting a rather dismal picture – an institutional success rate of more than 50% is rare apparently. And this does not necessarily mean that the amount of bidding should be increased, rather it’s better to ensure that every bid is precise, well-crafted and perfectly pitched.

The course was structured around presentations on the national context, the processes of the research councils and, most usefully, dissection of our own bids. My group was small and we quickly learned not to be too precious about surrendering our proposals for scrutiny. The critique we got from each other, from the facilitators and from the research development officers (who joined us on day two) was invaluable and I left with these key lessons:

  • Take time to prepare a robust bid – rushed responses to late calls are rarely successful;
  • Make sure the bid is going to the right place – make sure you know exactly why a particular body should fund your research;
  • Build in plenty of time for peer review – even minor errors can have a disproportionately negative effect;
  • Be bold and convincing about the impact your research will definitely have;
  • Write like a journalist – seduce and engage your reader – minimise the chances they have to say ‘no’.

And now I have some revisions to do…

 

The RDU has funding available to send BU academics on external proposal writing workshops, such as the one Mark went on at the Missenden Centre. If you’re interested in attending then email me (jnortham@bournemouth.ac.uk) to discuss the workshops coming up.

 

Upcoming Missenden Centre workshops – book your place now!

The Missenden Centre still has places available on a number excellent workshops this autumn/winter.

The Research Development Unit has some funds available to support academics and research support staff to attend. If you are interested please contact Julie Northam in the first instance.

Ensuring PhD completions for REF 2014
15/16 September
With: John Wakeford, Head of Missenden Centre and Fiona Denney, Head of Postgraduate Development at King’s College London
Special session for academic, registry and graduate school staff
http://www.missendencentre.co.uk/s1

Successful bidding: third of our day clinics
18 November
With: John Wakeford
Bring a draft or previously unsuccessful application for advice on how to turn it into an award-winning form.
http://www.missendencentre.co.uk/s4

Bidding for research funding: pathways to success
9/10 November for academics
10/11 November for research support staff
With Sarah Andrew, Dean of Applied and Health Sciences, University of Chester
Robert Crawshaw, Faculty of Arts and Social Science, Lancaster University
‘The course was excellent. I think it will probably change my entire approach to writing grant proposals and will most wholeheartedly recommend it to my colleagues. So, once again, many thanks.’  Dr. Miriam V. Dwek, Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry, University of Westminster.
http://www.missendencentre.co.uk/s2

Effective supervision
12/13 January
Our unique preparation for supervisors and those with responsibilities for training them.
http://www.missendencentre.co.uk/s6

Speak to the Research Development Unit and book your place now!

Reminder – 5 day internal deadline for Research Councils

Just a reminder that from 1st February 2011 ULT has agreed an internal deadline of five working days prior to the published submission deadline for all Research Council bids made via the Je-S system. 

If proposals are submitted with technical errors they are either returned by the Research Council for amendment or, in the worst case scenario, the application will fail the initial Research Council sift and be rejected. These problems can easily be spotted by CRE Operations prior to final submission if they have enough time to review the application.  The new internal deadline is in line with Research Council recommendations and will allow checks to take place so that the academic content can shine and give the project the best chance of being funded!

Upcoming Missenden Centre workshops – book your place now!

The Missenden Centre still has places available on two excellent workshops in June. The Research Development Unit has some funds available to support academics and research support staff to attend. If you are interested please contact Julie Northam in the first instance.

Successful bidding: second of our day clinics
2nd June
Woburn House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9HQ
Tutor: John Wakeford
Bring a draft or previously unsuccessful application for advice on how to turn it into an award-winning form.
http://www.missendencentre.co.uk/s8.htm

Bidding for research funding: pathways to success
15/16 June for academics and
16/17 June for research support staff
With Sarah Andrew, Dean of Applied and Health Sciences, University of Chester
Robert Crawshaw, Faculty of Arts and Social Science, Lancaster University
‘The course was excellent. I think it will probably change my entire approach to writing grant proposals and will most wholeheartedly recommend it to my colleagues. So, once again, many thanks.’  Dr. Miriam V. Dwek, Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry, University of Westminster.
http://www.missendencentre.co.uk/s7.htm

Book your place now!

Missenden Centre research workshops

The Missenden Centre is running a series of workshops this year that may be of interest to BU academics and research support staff:

Successful Bidding: Day Clinic – 2 June 2011, London 

Bidding for Research Funding  for academic staff – 15/16 June 2011, Missenden Centre

Bidding for Research Funding for research support staff – 16/17 June 2011, Missenden Centre

The Missenden Centre courses are highly praised and well respected within the sector.