Tagged / nerc

Congratulations to BU’s newly appointed NERC reviewers!

Congratulations to Prof Matthew Bennett and Prof Rudy Gozlan who have both been appointed as reviewers to NERC.

The NERC Peer Review College provides assessments, advice and guidance across NERC’s range of research investments. However, members are most involved in reviewing Responsive Mode research proposals and participating in Responsive Mode moderating panel meetings. The are currently c. 440 college members.

This is great news for Matthew and Rudy, and also for the School of Applied Sciences and the University. Congratulations!

The pursuit of mud

News from the PVC

I am fortunate to have been let out of the office and into the sunshine this week to pursue a small piece of data collection I have wanted to do for ages as part of my NERC grant.  It involves standing knee deep in mud!

I have been working for a while on the control of substrate on footprint typology and believe firmly in working in natural depositional environments to do so when I can.  In recent years the team has done a lot of work on various beaches looking at the control of moisture content and walking speed on print form and linking this to plantar pressure data taken in the lab.  We have also done some really cool work in Namibia on footprint morphology and substrate properties, which one of my colleagues recently reported at the Annual American Physical Anthropology conference in Portland.  But testing the limits of print preservation needs some real mud!

Plotting BU’s research strategy and REF submission is no match in terms of fun when one could be wading bare foot and knee deep in mud, although the two feel quite similar at times!  This week I am collecting data from a range of estuarine muds – different grains sizes, moisture contents to explore the limits of footprint formation and typological variance.  Visiting different sites we make a trail of prints and then photograph each print, perhaps 30 or 40 times, from different angles and perspectives to provide the data to build three dimensional models using photogrammetry.  We will then combine these models to create an average print and compare this to the sedimentological data we are also collecting at each site.  In the past I have used an optical laser scanner to analyse foot prints, but no one in their right mind would let me loose with one of those in this mud!  So it’s a week of mud for me and I will see you all back in the office next week.

 

NERC announce first round of the 2012/13 Follow-on Fund

Funding opportunities

Applications are invited to NERC’s first round of the 2012/13 Follow-on Fund.

The aim of this scheme is to develop outcomes from previous funding to a stage where commercial opportunities are possible.  The fund is open to researchers in UK universities and research council institutes with current or past research council funding.

Funds are typically requested to further develop the scientific or technical aspects of an idea.  This may be to strengthen the intellectual property position, carry out further market research or investigate possible licensees.

Applications must be made through the JeS system (https://je-s.rcuk.ac.uk/).

The closing date for applications is 4pm, 6 June 2012.

NERC also funds a Follow-on Fund ‘Pathfinder’ scheme to support small-scale, specific activities that can help develop a better understanding of future work needs and may be beneficial when submitting a full Follow-on Fund application.

For more information and contact details go to http://www.nerc.ac.uk/using/schemes/followonfund.asp

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Useful documents

To find out more, please download the documents you need from the list below.

Guidance to applicants

Eligibility and assessment criteria

Specific guidance – ‘Full’ Follow-on Fund

Specific guidance – Follow-on Fund Pathfinder

Moderating panel membership

Guidance for writing supporting letters

NERC – Demand Management is coming…

From the 1st April 2012 NERC will be monitoring the number of proposals that institutions submit and the quality of the proposals.  In July 2012 NERC will identify research organisations with high number or proportion of uncompetitive submissions and will begin discussions with these institutions on reducing their submissions and improving their quality.  It is undecided yet whether sanctions will be applied. 

Initially uncompetitive submissions are being defined as those receiving a final grade of 6 (out of 10) or below for excellence.  Full details on the new demand management policy can be found on the research council’s website.

What does this mean for me?

BU will be closely monitoring all applications to research councils.  We have a 5 day internal deadline for research council applications to allow time to complete checks on applications before submission.

The best way to ensure that your application is of a high standard is to obtain feedback from academic colleagues.  Our internal peer review service (RPRS),  managed by Caroline O’Kane, allows you to select two academic staff to undertake a review of your draft application.  Caroline also provides feedback on content, structure, a lay perspective and whether funder guidelines have been met.  More information on using the RPRS is available here.

NERC plans to move to shared Research Outcomes System (ROS)

NERC has been collecting research outputs data on NERC-funded research through its Research Outputs Database (ROD) for nearly a decade.  This year’s collection exercise on ROD is progressing towards its 13 March 2012 submissions deadline.

NERC has decided it will in future adopt the Research Outcomes System (ROS) as used by AHRC, BBSRC, EPSRC and ESRC.  By changing systems NERC expects to:

  • Reduce the reporting burden for universities by reducing the number of equivalent systems;
  • Simplify submission by moving to a more standardised questionnaire;
  • Improve how publications are handled;
  • Share information better between systems, reducing data entry and reducing transcription errors; and
  • Improve the quality of performance information available to support the case for public investment in the environmental sciences.

The research council are putting measures in place to ensure a smooth transfer to the new system before next year’s data collection and to engage with users to obtain feedback on the system so that user requirements are met.

new from NERC – demand management sanctions

The news is out today:  NERC is considering the introduction of sanctions in a bid to boost low success rates for responsive-mode grants.

NERC will continue to strongly encourage self-regulation for universities. But, current measures for reducing demand, such as limiting re-submissions, is not raising success rates as hoped.  Success rates are currently running at 16 per cent for recent standard grant proposals.

New measures may include:

  • NERC identifitying  institutions with a high number or proportion of unsuccessful submissions, meeting with them and setting targets
  • Sanctions to research organisations if they fail to reduce the number of uncompetitive proposals to agreed targets and timescales
  • Organisations to nominate a ‘designated first point of contact’ for demand management.

NERC says: The overall aim of introducing these measures is to increase success rates in NERC responsive mode schemes year on year for several years. This is likely to be a gradual process, but initial progress is expected to be achieved within two years

How to make sure your application stands the best chance of being funded:

If you are submitting a bid to NERC (or any other funder for that matter) you are strongly encouraged to work with Caroline O’Kane through BU’s internal peer review scheme (Research Proposal Review Service – RPRS). 

You can also check the Blog on a regular basis to see what proposal writing sessions are running at BU.  They are always excellent and well received.   The more people we know about who are planning on submitting a proposal to a funder the better – then we can develop some tailored support to enhance your chances of success.

Click here  to read more about NERC and Demand Management

Click here to learn more our series of blog posts on Demand Management

 

Call for Members – NERC Peer Review College

NERC invites nominations for membership and affiliate membership of the NERC Peer Review College by 27 January 2012. Those selected will make an important contribution to determining the research that NERC funds and have a pivotal role in maintaining its quality. The Council is looking for College members with a high level of expertise and experience, who are prepared to devote sufficient time and take responsibility for contributing to these key decisions.  They are asking you who you think should be representing the environmental sciences community and peer reviewing applications to the NERC by nominating yourself or a colleague for membership.  Further information and guidance on how to apply can be found on the NERC website at http://www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/assessment/peerreview/members-call.asp or by contacting the College team (college@nerc.ac.uk).

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

Guidance

Welcome to RCUK Demand Management week on the blog! Today’s focus is on the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and their views on, and actions around, demand management.

What does NERC do already in respect of demand management? – NERC already employs various measures to manage demand and to maintain success rates at around 20%, such as:

  • limiting the number of proposals a principal investigator can submit;
  • rejecting around 40% of proposals prior to external peer review through a triage-type sift;
  • limiting resubmissions;
  • requiring pre‐application outline‐bids for large grants;
  • publishing the success rates of research organisations to encourage self‐management of demand and quality;
  • consolidating and streamlining grants schemes (e.g. the small grants scheme which closed recently).

What are NERC’s future plans for demand management? – NERC’s 2011-15 Delivery Plan stipulates a number of further plans for managing demand for funds in future, including the introduction of demand management procedures for Responsive Mode proposals submitted from 1 January 2012. The aim will be to improve success rates and to increase the efficiency of the applications and assessment procedures. Uncompetitive proposals (defined as those scoring 6 ot below for excellence) will be the main focus. NERC aim to manage this by working with institutions, asking them to self-manage their applications and focus on competitive proposals. All institutions will be required to participate and will be eligible for sanction, if progress in reducing uncompetitive proposals are not observed to the targets and timescales agreed. Full details of the demand management system being introduced will be available from the NERC website later this month. We will bring you full details on the Blog when they are announced.

I am interested in applying to NERC. 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 NERC 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.

Changes to research schemes at NERC

Funding opportunities

Yesterday the Natural Environment Research Council announced changes to the Consortium and Small grants responsive mode schemes.

The Small Grants Scheme will close after 2011 with the last application deadline being 1st September 2011.

The Consortium Grants Scheme will be modified to operate via one grant round per year rather than two, and an outline stage assessed by members of the Peer Review College will be introduced. The final closing date for submissions to the Consortium scheme in the current format will be 1 December 2011 (concept notes to be submitted by 1 September 2011).  From 2012 additional resources will be committed to the Consortium Grants scheme.

These changes are part of the NERC Delivery Plan 2011-2015 which includes the following targets for Responsive Mode:

  • reduce demand for research grants,
  • consolidate RM schemes and processes, and balances between them, to deliver NERC strategic needs

The full news item can be viewed here.