Tagged / ESRC

ESRC – Grant linked studentships funding opportunity

BU research, Funding opportunities

Grant Linked studentships are designed to add value to the proposed research outlined in the grant application, whilst providing a clear opportunity for a distinct and independent course of enquiry for the student. Through being embedded with a high quality research team, they should offer the student an opportunity to both develop their substantive research skills, alongside broader professional development.

Grant linked studentships may be requested on any research application (with the exception of the Future Leaders scheme) as long as:

  • the grant applied for is for 3 years or more
  • the Principal or Co-Investigators are approved to act as primary supervisors for PhD students
  • the student(s) will be located in an ESRC accredited Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) and they are studying on an accredited pathway.

Up to three studentships can be applied for on any single grant application. It must also be clear that the studentship is not a displacement for the normal research support required on the grant. The student must have a distinct, independent area of enquiry that will add value to the overall research objectives of the grant.  

For further details on the application process for Grant Linked Studentships please read the information available within the Research Funding Guide.

More information on the details on the rules and regulations for Grant linked studentships can be found within the Postgraduate Funding Guidelines.

If you require further assistance please contact ptdenquiries@esrc.ac.uk

 The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

ESRC Social Science Festival

BU research, Funding opportunities, Research news

Professor Ruth Towse and Professor Martin Kretschmer have been awarded funding from the ESRC (RES-622-26-565) to organise an event as part of the Festival of Social Science 2012.

The symposium ‘What constitutes evidence for copyright policy?’ will be held on 8 November 2012 in the Executive Business Centre.

Professors Towse and Kretschmer write: “This interactive event offers the opportunity for discussion on evidence for copyright policy between social scientists, policy-makers and producers and users of copyright works. Copyright law is a topical and contentious area that affects a wide range of stakeholders with differing views on copyright policy. The need for evidence-based policy on copyright policy was emphasised in the Hargreaves Review and has led to several calls for evidence from stakeholders. The responses they provide to the Intellectual Policy Office are varied in nature and quality; the IPO has responded by issuing guidelines on what constitutes acceptable evidence (which itself is contested).

“Besides being a matter of pressing public concern, copyright also attracts the interest of a broad range of social science disciplines each with its own rules of evidence. The emphasis on economic growth as the objective of copyright policy has shifted the need for evidence in the direction of economics but economic evidence is not always easily available. Nor it is the case that only quantitative evidence is regarded as valid.”

The event will involve the following:

  1. Social scientists in a range of disciplines will explore their perceptions of evidence in non-technical terms and discuss their research findings on copyright. The aim is to develop a perspective on what evidence social scientists believe is relevant for copyright policy-making purposes.
  2. Representatives of stakeholder organisations that have responded with evidence to the IPO’s calls for evidence will explain what to them is relevant evidence.
  3. IPO staff responsible for assessing responses to calls for evidence have already committed to participate in this event. They will explain how they use the information they receive from stakeholder meetings and calls for evidence to develop policy measures.

If you are interested to participate, please contact Dr Rebecca Edwards (Research Development Officer, Public Engagement): redwards@bournemouth.ac.uk

ESRC Call for Evaluating the Business Impact of Social Science

Funding opportunities

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is seeking to commission an evaluation study to assess the ways in which social science research and the knowledge and skills of social scientists can have impact in business. The study will begin by assessing the business impact of social science through the work of a small number of Business/Management Schools. It will then track the career paths of social science doctoral graduates from these Schools, and investigate in greater depth the contributions of those working in business.

The aims of the evaluation are as follows:

Part 1 – Impact of Business/Management Schools

  • identify the range and nature of business impacts resulting from the work of the Business/Management Schools
  • evaluate the processes through which business impacts may be or have been generated, through research and related activities (including academic/business collaborations, knowledge exchange and business engagement initiatives, networking and dissemination)
  • develop an understanding of the contributions of social science within local, regional and national contexts, and the factors that promote or inhibit impact within these contexts
  • identify and analyse the determinants of the impacts identified (ie why and how impact has been generated)
  • identify good practice and lessons learned, to support the development of impact generation within the business sector
  • inform the development of methodology for future impact evaluation studies in this area.

Part 2 – Impact of social scientist with PhDs working within business

  • identify the employment destinations of social science doctoral graduates from the three Schools
  • identify the range and nature of impacts that social scientists with PhDs working in business have contributed to
  • identify and analyse the determinants of the impacts (ie why and how impact has been generated)
  • explore impact processes and potential impacts, and identify any barriers to impact generation
  • develop an understanding of businesses’ appreciation and need for the higher level skills associated with PhD training
  • identify good practice and lessons for enhancing the contribution that social science doctoral graduates can make to business
  • inform the ESRC’s investment in PhD training with a view to maximising future impacts.

Further details, and a copy of the full specification are available from the Research Councils UK Shared Services Centre Ltd. Please contact Jonathan Smith by email: jonathan.smith@ssc.rcuk.ac.uk or by telephone: 01235 446394 (Ref PS120008).

The deadline for submission of bids is 11.00 on 11 June 2012.

 The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

EPSRC call ‘Design for Wellbeing: Ageing and Mobility in the Built Environment’

Funding opportunities

                             

Summary

EPSRC is leading a call with the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and invites proposals from interdisciplinary consortia for evidence led research into ageing and mobility in the built environment. This call is being run under the auspices of the Lifelong Health and Wellbeing (LLHW) cross-council ageing research programme which supports research addressing factors throughout life that influence health and wellbeing in older age.

This call is seeking to create a step change in interdisciplinary engineering, social science and design research for wellbeing in the built environment. There is up to £7M available (EPSRC up to £4M, ESRC up to £2M and AHRC up to £1M) to support a maximum of five large multi-disciplinary projects of up to three years duration.

Prospective applicants will need to complete an Expression of Interest form by 12:00 on Monday 10 September 2012.

The expressions of interest will be assessed by an expert short listing panel in September 2012 and those aligned appropriately with the assessment criteria will be invited to submit full proposals. The deadline for submitting an Expression of Interest is 12:00 on 10 September 2012. Those invited to submit a full proposal will be notified by the end of September 2012. The deadline for the submission of full proposals will be 28 November 2012, and will be peer-reviewed in March 2013 with the expectation that funding decisions will be made by the end of March 2013.

Timetable

There are two stages in the assessment process. This call invites Expressions of Interest (EoIs) which will be assessed by a shortlisting panel in September 2012. Shortlisted applicants will then be invited to submit full proposals.

Activity Date/Time
Call for Expressions of Interest May 2012
Call for Expressions of Interest submission deadline 12:00 noon on 10 September 2012
Applicants informed of outcome and full proposals invited        26 September 2012
Deadline for submission of full proposals 16:00 on 28 November 2012
Prioritisation panel March 2013
 
Documents to download
 
The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Opportunities for existing ESRC Students

Funding opportunities

Overseas institutional visits

All full-time ESRC studentship holders are eligible to apply for financial support for overseas institutional visits (OIVs) within their studentship period, to visit overseas universities or esteemed research organisations. This additional funding is intended to provide applicants with the opportunity to:

  • establish research networks
  • disseminate early research findings
  • participate in seminars and other academic activities that are directly relevant to their research
  • undertake specialist research training that is not available within the UK.

How to apply

You should submit completed applications to your research organisation (RO) nominated contact who will check the form before forwarding it to ESRC. You should note that applications are sent to ESRC in batches by 16.00 on the last working day of the month. If you miss a batch deadline this will delay the processing of your application.

Applicants must allow at least three months between the batch deadline for the month in which they apply and commencing the visit (eg if your application was received by ESRC on 30 January, the earliest you would be able to commence your visit would be 1 May).

We will aim to process and send applications to assessors within five working days. We will normally communicate funding decisions to nominated RO contacts within two months of the batch deadline, although this may take longer at certain times of the year.

You should read the scheme guidance notes before completing the application form:

All successful overseas applicants are required to submit an end of award report within two weeks of the end of the overseas institutional visit. Students undertaking more than one visit should submit a report on completion of each separate visit.

Further information

If you have any queries about the scheme please contact:

ESRC Training Bursaries

Funding opportunities

Each year ESRC provides 50 bursaries for up to £1,000 each to enable staff in the UK social science community engaged in research, teaching research methods or supervising research to update their research skills. Those training courses must not be provided at the own institution. Contract researchers working in HEIs are also eligible for the bursaries.

I have obtained a number of bursaries from this source. It is not a complicated process to apply. Quite simple and straightforward. Search for suitable courses for your own need on NCRM Training and Events website. Then go to ESRC Training Bursaries website to fill in a short form.

Good luck.

New user friendly ESRC Research Funding Guide

Guidance, Research news

A new version of the ESRC Research Funding Guide is now available to download on their web site.

It has been thoroughly reviewed and substantial changes made to the layout and content.  The contents page now includes hyperlinks so that you do not need to scroll through the document to find what you need; relevant links to current Funding Opportunities and assessment information are included; as are guidance in chronological order from beginning to end of the grants process; annexes have been removed and where appropriate the information is now included within the document; and a revision to the OJEU threshold has also been included.

The new streamlined version is much more user friendly and easier to keep up to date. This document will now only be updated on a bi-annual basis – in April and October – where changes are required (unless exceptional circumstances require immediate revision). Where possible amendments will be implemented at the point at which the guide is updated. Any changes which occur during the interim period will be captured as amendments on the web page so that they are easy to find and will be communicated as appropriate (this may be via RCUK or the normal ESRC channels).

ISBE and ESRC announce call for Research and Knowledge Exchange Fund

BU research, Funding opportunities, Research news

Exploring knowledge exchange and transfer processes and possibilities for SME internationalisation

The Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) Research and Knowledge Exchange (RAKE) fund is an initiative supported by Barclays Bank and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) administered through ISBE.  This initiative aims to encourage and support research activities from academics, third sector organisations, consultants and practitioners with the ambition of drawing together and generating an entrepreneurial community of practice to facilitate knowledge exchange and transfer.

Applications are invited from individuals or teams. Collaborative bids which draw together any combination of third sector organisations, academic researchers, consultants and practitioners are welcome. The Principal Investigator must be employed within a UK institution but may be partnered with an international team. Research teams which demonstrate capacity building through collaborations between experienced and early career academics would be favourably considered; applications which demonstrate ‘in-kind’ contributions from partner organisations are welcomed as are those jointly funded from other sources.  Applications presented as pilot studies, with the aim of generating future funding from other sources, are encouraged. As such, we wish to promote engagement with all who have an interest or stake in generating further insight and understanding into contemporary entrepreneurial activities, behaviours and practices.  For the 2012 call for applications, a number of critical themes have been identified which are of contemporary interest and offer potential to develop knowledge exchange and transfer links.

Exploring processes and possibilities of SME internationalisation

There is a growing focus and interest upon the process of small firm internationalisation which includes ‘born globals’ and those firms tentatively seeking export opportunities.  Axiomatically, smaller firms face a range of challenges related to resource accrual and management when entering international markets. However, a recent survey by UKTI found that the proportion of small UK firms exporting has increased by 10 percent since 2004. In addition, UKTI are actively supporting SME internationalisation on the basis that exporting firms are more productive and innovative, have greater resilient during economic down turns and exhibit lower failure rates than those firms focussed upon local markets.  It would appear that internationalisation is an attractive option for SMEs in terms of potential returns but developing appropriate contacts, networks, resources, managerial capabilities and strategic partnerships is challenging.  Accordingly, we invite proposals which investigate and analyse any aspect of the SME internationalisation process and specifically, any knowledge exchange and transfer issues.  A potential but not exhaustive list of suggestions would include:

• Strategies to overcome barriers to the internationalization process for UK SMEs
• Developing capacity and dynamic capabilities through national and international partnerships between SMEs but also between SMEs and corporate firms
• Evaluations of policy support structures to encourage internationalization – exploring the opportunities of working with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPS), Chambers of Commerce and specific industry support groups
• Regional SME support for developing internalization strategies focused on specific sectors and value added industries
• Enhancing networks and information exchange possibilities between potential export firms and international partners
• Gaining knowledge of and tapping into potential new markets in developing economies
• Using networks and contacts to facilitate the export process

Attention is drawn to the current Business Engagement Strategy of the ESRC which embraces three broad priorities any of which can be mapped onto and integrated with the themes outlined above:

•    Economic Performance and Sustainable Growth
•    Influencing Behaviour and Informing Interventions
•    A Vibrant and Fair Society

Clearly, the contribution of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activity can be mapped onto these priorities.  Thus, applications which indicate their relevance to these issues would be welcomed.  Despite any distinctive focus, it is emphasised that all proposals must clearly demonstrate and describe relevance to the notion of knowledge transfer and exchange related to the context of the bid.

For this round of funding, they envisage awarding a number of separate grants of around £10,000 – £12,000 each.  These will not support full economic costing given ISBE’s position as a registered charity. Applications for smaller, seed corn funds would not be discounted however, bids of over £12,000 will not be considered.

Successful grant holders will be required to fulfil the following conditions:
• To be in membership of ISBE for the duration of the award
• To present their work at the annual ISBE conference
• To make findings available to the ESRC’s business channel on ESRC Society Today (EST)
• To produce a satisfactory end of award report within three months of the completion of the research
• To recognise the ISBE RAKE fund in any presentations or publications arising from an award
• To report to the RAKE fund management board to discuss research progress

Further details on the aims and constitution of the ISBE RAKE fund can be found at: www.isbe.org.uk/rakefund

The closing date for applications is 5 p.m. Friday 15th June 2012 with notifications of awards given by mid September. It is suggested that the earliest starting date for research projects should be 1st October 2012.

Completed applications may be returned electronically to Chris Rolles at chris@isbe.org.uk To download an electronic application form please click here Please submit applications in MSWord format – not as a PDF file. This enables anonymisation of proposals.

Applicants may contact the following ISBE board members and staff for informal discussions regarding their bids and/or the aims of RAKE:

Professor Susan Marlow s.marlow@bham.ac.uk VP: Research ISBE: RAKE Fund Manager.
Professor Lynn Marting l.martin@mmu.ac.uk ISBE President
Dr Maura McAdam m.mcadam@qub.ac.uk Board Member
Professor Gerard McElwee gerard.mcelwee@ntu.ac.uk Board Member
Professor Dean Patton dpatton@bournemouth.ac.uk Treasurer: ISBE
Lorraine Reese lorraine@isbe .org.uk Business and Events Manager: ISBE

 The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

EPSRC/ESRC Invitation for Outlines: Consortia for Exploratory Research in Security

Funding opportunities, Research news

                                                                                                                                                                                                         

As part of their contribution to the RCUK Global Uncertainties Programme, EPSRC and ESRC are jointly inviting proposals for research consortia (PDF 79KB) to explore current and future cyber security challenges.

CEReS consortia are encouraged to work across or between established disciplines and to draw on expertise from multiple research organisations wherever necessary. They particularly welcome proposals with significant novel mathematics and/or social science content.

Initially, outline proposals will be assessed for their novelty and fit to the aims of the call. Successful outline applicants will be invited to submit full proposals later in 2012.

EPSRC and ESRC have made available up to £4M available to fund full proposals funded through the CEReS call. They expect to support a range of projects which is broad in terms of scale (likely to be between £500k and £1M for each consortium), duration (two to four years), mix of disciplines (with single discipline proposals being the exception rather than the norm) and subject matter (although all must focus on cyber security-related challenges in the broadest sense).  Activities funded through CEReS are limited to those currently allowed on EPSRC grants. As a result they will not be able to accept applications which request funding for PhD studentships, even if they are outside EPSRC’s remit.

CEReS is a call for exploratory research. Consortia should identify ambitious goals with far-reaching impacts on future research and, potentially at least, practice in cyber security. Projects which continue or extend current work in a straightforward or obvious way will not be supported. Collaboration between disciplines is strongly encouraged. Although it is not essential that all projects include cross- or intra-disciplinary working it is likely that the assessment process will select positively for consortia which adopt this approach.

Although it is being managed by EPSRC the CEReS call is also open to researchers eligible to apply for targeted funding from ESRC. There is no quota of applications or funding based on Research Council remits. It is possible for the same researcher(s) to be associated with more than one consortium application.

For further information visit the call website: http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/calls/open/Pages/ceres.aspx and read the call documentation: http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/Calls/2012/CEReSCall.pdf. Outline proposals should be prepared and submitted using the Research Councils’ Joint electronic Submission (JeS) System (https://je-s.rcuk.ac.uk/).

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

The closing date is 14 June 2012.

Knowledge Exchange Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

The scheme provides the opportunity to apply for funding for knowledge exchange activities at any stage of the research lifecycle, and is aimed at maximising the impact of social science research outside academia.

The flexibility built into the scheme is intended to encourage applicants to think creatively about knowledge exchange, and applications are welcomed for either a single activity or a combination of activities; be it setting up a network to help inform the development of a research proposal, arranging an academic placement with a voluntary or business organisation, or developing tools such as podcasts and videos aimed at communicating the results of research to non-academic audiences.

The next call will open on 14 December 2011 and close at 16.00 on 7 February 2012. 

Applicants can apply for projects up to one year in duration. However, the proposed start date should be no earlier than 1 September 2012.

The aim is to inform applicants of a decision on all applications within 26 weeks of the closing date for the call.

Please note, from the next KE call the Knowledge Exchange Opportunities and Follow on Fund Schemes will be amalgamated into a single funding opportunity (funded at 80 per cent fEC). Applications can still follow on from previous research, however an important change will be the requirement for all applications to involve co-funding from user stakeholders.

Call documents, including the scheme guidance can be found at:

http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/collaboration/knowledge-exchange/opportunities/index.aspx

Join the ESRC as a peer reviewer

Research news

ESRC is now inviting applications for membership of its Grants Assessment Panels in the following disciplinary areas:

        • Sociology, particularly sociology of health
        • Socio-legal studies
        • Science and technology studies
        • Management and business studies, including accounting and finance
        • Economics, particularly micro-economics

This is an opportunity to work with other experienced people from across the academic, public, private and third sectors to help ensure ESRC funds high-quality research at the forefront of social and economic science whilst working to maximise the impact of the research it supports.

For further information on the vacancies and the work of the GAPs, please see the website and vacancy specification (PDF, 93Kb). For questions or queries that are not covered in the vacancy specification, please contact Gavin Salisbury at ESRC on email gavin.salisbury@esrc.ac.uk or telephone 01793 413136.

Application forms, with a short curriculum vitae (no longer than two A4 pages), should be submitted by email to gavin.salisbury@esrc.ac.uk not later than 17.00 on Wednesday 1 February 2011.

ESRC Knowledge Exchange Opportunities Scheme

Funding opportunities

The new Knowledge Exchange Opportunities Scheme opens today until the 07th February 2012.

This scheme provides researchers with a great opportunity to engage with organisations in the private, public and civil society sector(s) on a social science issue.

The KE Opportunities Scheme now covers activities at all stages of the research process; from setting up networks to help inform the first stages of research; to the development of activities designed to apply previous research to policy and practice issues (previously covered by the ESRC Follow on Fund Scheme).

Please note this is a collaborative scheme and, as such, all applications must include at least 25% co-funding from partner(s) in the user community (depending on the sector involved). For further details, including how to apply, please visit the website:

http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/collaboration/knowledge-exchange/opportunities/index.aspx

There have been a number of changes to this call from previous ESRC Knowledge Exchange calls.  For this reason, please ensure you have read the guidance notes carefully before submitting your proposal.

Please contact RKE Ops as soon as possible if you are considering applying to the scheme – they can help you with costings, school approval and using the JeS system to prepare your application.

We also have RPRS – the internal peer review scheme which you can use to obtain comments from our academic staff on your draft application.

RCUK Demand Management week on the blog! ESRC and demand management

Guidance, Research news

Welcome to RCUK Demand Management week on the blog! Today’s focus is on the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and their views on, and actions around, demand management. Over the summer the ESRC consulted with the sector on a range of proposed demand management options/ sanctions. The results, published last month, indicated that 68% of respondants favoured individual researcher sanctions. You can read the full details of the consultation and its outcomes on the ESRC website here.

Will the ESRC be introducing demand management procedures? – The ESRC will not be introducing any demand management procedures YET. However, it they do decide to introduce individual researcher sanctions at a later date these are likely to be much tougher than those introduced by EPSRC. The ESRC would ban any researcher who had two unsuccessful outline or full proposals in 24 months which failed to reach an alpha grade equivalent from submitting further applications for 12 months. Failed applications would also be counted against both PIs and Co-Is, and a sanctioned researcher would be banned from submitting any applications as either a PI or Co-I over the next 12-month period. Ouch!

What are the ESRC doing instead of individual researcher sanctions? In June the ESRC introduced a number of changes to existing peer review practises and submission policies to help reduce the pressure on resources, and it is hoped that these changes along with self regulation from the research community (such as institutional peer review schemes) will be enough reduce demand.

I am interested in applying to the ESRC. 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.