Tagged / demand management

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

Guidance, Research news

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.

RCUK Demand Management week on the blog! What is RCUK Demand Management?

Guidance, Research news

Welcome to RCUK Demand Management week on the blog! There has been a lot of discussion and debate about demand management over the past 12 months or so, particularly in response to the RCUK Efficiency 2011-15 strategy, Research Councils’ delivery plans, and EPSRC’s cooling off period launched in April 2010. The other Research Councils have now started to publish their plans for demand management so it’s timely to look at what this actually is, how each of the Research Councils will enforce it, and what it means for researchers. Every day this week on the blog we will focus on a different element of demand management starting with today’s overview of what demand management actually means…

What is Demand Management? – Demand management is the term given to the steps taken by RCUK and the Research Councils to reduce the amount of applications they receive.

Why is Demand Management required? – Research Councils currently receive more applications that they are able to support and research institutions currently submit more applications than are likely to be funded. This can be seen in the Research Council success rates which continue to fall year-on-year as the demand for funds increases compared to the limited funding available (see the table below). The costs of administering such large quantities of applications is a huge burden for the Research Councils and reduces the amount of money available to fund research. Large quantities of applications also place a heavy burden on the peer reviewers, thus increasing the risk that the quality of decision-making could be compromised. RCUK note that “there are some proposals submitted which have little or no chance of success” and that steps should be taken at both applicant and institution level to pre-sift these proposals prior to submission, therefore reducing the volume of applications submitted to Research Councils.

What has RCUK asked institutions to do? – RCUK has asked institutions to actively encourage the self-management of demand and quality control, such as through internal sifting processes.

What resources and processes has BU put in place to support Demand Management? – 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. BU has also invested in proposal writing sessions and bid writing surgeries for researchers. 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.

What processes have the Research Councils put in place to enforce Demand Management? – This varies between the Research Councils and we will focus on a different Council every day as part of RCUK Demand Management week on the Blog!

ESRC Demand Management consultation

Research news

ESRC logoThe Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has today published plans for how it will manage the increasing demand for its research funding. Their aim is to have fewer, high-quality applications so the best social science is funded in the most effective way.

They will be introducing an initial programme of measures of improved self-regulation and a change to their existing peer review practices and submission policies.

These measures include:

  • the introduction of an invited-only resubmission policy as of June 2011
  • revised sifting mechanisms (greater use of outline applications and earlier sifting for standard grants)
  • issue more tightly specified calls on managed mode schemes which address the ESRC strategic priorities

After 12 months of these initial measures the ESRC will review their effectiveness, to establish whether further steps need to be taken to manage demand. In case further steps are required the ESRC welcome your views on the potential options, particularly in relation to the following questions:

  • Which main demand management options are worthy of further development and why?
  • How might those options be further developed and refined?
  • Which, if any of the main demand management options, would you not consider for further development and why?
  • Overall, which of the options offers the best opportunities to effectively manage demand whilst ensuring the flow of high-quality research applications? Are there any further options which are not included in this paper whcich should be considered by us as part of our demand management strategy?

The deadline for the submission of responses is 16 June 2011. These should be completed using the form on ‘SurveyMonkey’ at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/demand_management.

We would encourage all academic staff researching in the social sciences to respond to the consultation.

To ensure your research proposal stands the best chance of success use BU’s internal peer review scheme – the Research Proposal Review Service.