Research Funding Opportunities for Early Career Researchers

in KLS

Phil WardResearch Funding Manager

Funding Opportunities

• Planning a Research Bid• Writing a Research Bid• Managing your Bids• Help from Research Services

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Planning a Research Bid

Think

Think

...about the Specifics

• What will you do? (objectives, plan, timescale)• Why now? • Why you? (expertise, track record, contacts)• What impact? (beneficiaries, dissemination)• What kind of resources do you need?

(reasonable, accurate, eligible)

...about the Funder

• 2 types of funding:– Managed– Responsive Mode

• 5 types of funder:– Research Councils– Charities– Learned Societies and Representative Bodies– Government– Industry

Considerations

• Eligibility – Employment status and

residency– Career stage

• Costs– Will it cover all your costs?– Overheads

• Internal Pressures– School budget– Teaching needs

• Remit– Subject– Aims of scheme – ‘Politics’

• Timetable– Deadline – Duration

• Success Rate– Is it worth it?– Back up plan

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Research Councils• Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council

(26% - £795m)• Science & Technology Facilities Council (20% -

£624m)• Medical Research Council (19% - £606m)• Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research

Council (14% - £427m)• Natural Environment Research Council (13% -

£392m)• Economic & Social Research Council (5% - 165m)• Arts & Humanities Research Council (3% - £103m)

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RCUK First Grant SchemesFunder Eligibility Amount Duration

AHRC<8yrs since PhD or <6yrs 1st appt,

and not had AHRC grant before£20-£200k (fEC) Up to 5 yrs

BBSRC<3 yrs of 1st appt; not had grant that

included PDRANo limit No limit

EPSRC<10 yrs since PhD &< 36 months of 1st appt and first

time as PIUp to £125k (fEC); Up to 2 yrs

ESRC<6 yrs since PhD; other eligibility

TBCTBC Up to 2 yrs

MRC

Either: Lecturer: <3yrs since 1st appt, and

>3yrs postdoc experience, orResearcher: 3-10 yrs postdoc

experienceLimits to other funding you can hold

£600k (fEC) Up to 3 yrs

NERC<3 yrs of becoming eligible for

NERC funding and not had funding before

£100k (fEC)Notspecified

AHRC

• Research Grants– Emphasis on supporting ‘teams’ of researchers– 4 ‘routes’ to applying incl Early Career (<5 yrs,

£20k - £200k):• Research Fellowships

– Incl. Early Career route (<9 mths, <£120k)• Eligibility and deadlines

– <8yrs of PhD, or <6yrs 1st appt– Rolling deadline, but ‘blackout’ in Feb

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ESRC

• Future Leaders Scheme– Replaces Postdoc Fellowships & First Grants

Schemes– Details TBC, but:

• Up to 2 years• 3 priority areas• < 6 yrs from PhD• 50-80 new grants per year

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Delivery Plans: Themes

• AHRC– ‘Connected Communities’– ‘strategic need’: modern languages, design and heritage– AHRC’s own multidisciplinary themes: Care for the Future;

Translating Cultures; Digital Transformations; Science and Culture

• ESRC– Economic performance and sustainable growth– Influencing behaviour and informing interventions– Vibrant and fair society

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Cross-Council Themes

• Global Uncertainties• Living with Environmental Change• Ageing: Lifelong Health and Wellbeing• Digital Economy• Energy• Global Food Security

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Research Councils

• Benefits of applying to RCs:– Prestige– fEC – generous funding

• What to watch out for:– Cuts – and ‘politics’

• Themes, demand management, ‘longer, larger, fewer’• ‘Clique’? eg BBSRC: 3 HEIs get 25% of funding

– JeS form– Impact

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Charities • General

–Leverhulme Trust–Wellcome Trust–Nuffield Foundation

• Specialist–Joseph Rowntree Foundation–Often medical – e.g. Cancer Research UK–AMRC (www.amrc.org.uk)

• Represents 111 health-related charities, with a combined expenditure on medical research of £630m per annum.

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Leverhulme (£40m)

• Funds all fields, except social policy and welfare, medicine and education

• Supports original, risk-taking research that often transcends traditional discipline boundaries

• Rough split:– Sciences: 40%– Soc. Sciences: 40%– Humanities: 20%

Leverhulme

• Fellowships– Up to £45k– 3-24 mths– Call Sept, deadline Nov

• Study Abroad Fellowship– Up to £22k– Up to 12 mths– Same deadline as above– Employed FT >5 yrs

• Grants– Up to £500k– Up to 5 yrs– 2 part process

• Success Rates– Fellowship: 10-15%– SA Fellowship: 30%– Grants: 15-20%

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Leverhulme• Benefits of applying to Leverhulme

– Not ‘restricted’ by demands of distributing public money • no ‘political agenda’• reporting not as onerous

• What to watch out for:– Research has to appeal to broad general audience

• Trustees all ex-Unilever employees• Depend for advice on:

– ‘Advisory Committee’ (for smaller grants): 9 professors– ‘Advisory Panel’ (for larger grants): 32 academics

– Interdisciplinary – but not ‘last resort’– Risk taking– Individual ‘vision’

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Wellcome (£520m)• ‘To foster and promote research with the aim of

improving human and animal health’• Supports

– Biomedical research– Technology transfer– Medical Humanities:

• History of Medicine & Biomedical Ethics– Public engagement with science

• Does not support– Clinical trials– Generally, cancer research

Wellcome

• Benefits of applying to Wellcome– Wide range of funding– More useful feedback following rejection– Supportive once you have received funding

• What to watch out for– Focusing on longer, larger grants to individuals:

– May 2011 launch of the Senior/New Investigator schemes in the Medical History and Humanities strand, with a Sept 2nd 2011 first round deadline.

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Nuffield (£10m)

• Aims– ‘To advance social well being…by supporting work

which will bring about improvements in society.’– Themes:

– Children & Families, Education, Law & Society– Also ‘open door’

– Project Grants– Small SS Grants: up to £15k

Nuffield

• Benefits of applying to Nuffield– 2 part process: initial application very simple, and

can apply any time• What to watch out for:

– Look at previously successful grants– Strong social policy element– Small scale funding– Importance of ‘methodology’

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Rowntree (£5m)• 3 aims:

– Poverty: to examine the root causes of poverty and disadvantage and identify solutions.

– Empowerment: to find ways in which people and communities can have control of their own lives.

– Place: to contribute to the building and development of strong, cohesive and sustainable communities.

• Benefits of applying to JRF:– Prestigious

• What to watch out for:– Very prescriptive calls for proposals– Relatively small amounts of funding

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Learned Societies

• Generally provide some small scale support for visits, conferences, fellowships or smaller research projects

• Professional Bodies Represent people working in a specific area e.g. The Law Society, Socio-Legal Studies Association

• Learned Societies Represent, and act as a forum for, a particular

subject or discipline Royal Society, British Academy

British Academy

• Funds research in Humanities & Social Sciences

• Small Grants and Conference Support will be cut from March

• No longer provide specific support for ECRs• New Fellowships scheme <15 yrs postdoc

– Will be strong competition (35 grants pa)

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Government• National

– Government Departments– County Councils– Other Government-funded organisations

• British Council – collaborative grants• NESTA• Lottery

• International– Europe

• Framework Programme – USA

• Federal Grants

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European Funding

• Framework Programme: – EU’s main method for funding research and

innovation– Budget €50bn over 7 years– Organised into 4 pillars:

Cooperation Ideas

People Capacities

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Cooperation

People

Ideas

Capacities

JRC

FP7

€7 460

€4 728

€4 217

€1 751

€32 365

Values in

€ Millions

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FP7: European Research Council

• Responsive Mode• No requirement for collaborative groups• ‘Starting Independent Researcher Grant’

– 200 to be made annually, each lasting up to 5 yrs– Up to €400k per year– Applicants <10 yrs from PhD– Very competitive but success rates rising– Deadline: Nov

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Industry• Does fund research

– In-house R&D– Contracts for research services– Grants or award programmes

• …but tends to be more restrictive

• If specifically seeking industry support, talk to Kent Innovation & Enterprise (KIE)

• Brian Lingley (b.lingley@kent.ac.uk)

Writing a Research Grant

Perspective

• Put yourself in the funder’s position– Can you understand what is proposed?– Is it worth spending money on?

• Are the objectives important?• Are they achievable? • Is the timeframe realistic?• Does it offer value for money?

– Can the applicant deliver?• Do you have the necessary track record?• Can you manage a project?

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Panellists

• Not specialist in your area• Time poor• Eminent• Having to filter 100+

applications at a time

Make It Easy for Them

• Make it simple– Avoid jargon– ‘intelligent 14 yr old’– Simple structure/

format/language

• Make it urgent– Why should we care? – Back it up with evidence

• Make it realistic– Programme and costs– Concentrate on

methodology– Write defensively

• Repeat key messages– ‘we need to know...’– ‘this will tell us...’

Craft it

• Give yourself time– At least a month to write

• Show it to others– Academics working in same discipline– Academics working in other disciplines– Research Services

Good vs BadGood Application

• An important question• Realistic promise of an

answer– Ability and track record of

research team– Well designed and fully

described project– Properly resourced and value

for money• Well written and presented

application• Fits funder priorities

Bad Application• Unclear, esoteric question• Pages of densely packed

jargon• Emphasis on background

and literature• Incomplete description of

research process• Ignores funder guidance

Managing Your Bids

• One won’t be enough– Typical success rate: 10-

20%– ‘lottery’

• Reuse & Recycle– Bids are time consuming– Rejection is crushing

• Don’t wait for it• Multiple applications give

hope

• ‘Portfolio’– Economies of Scale– Complementary bids

• Other funders• Break up project

• Don’t flog a dead horse

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Help from Research Services

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Cradle to Grave

Identify funders

Help with the proposal and application process

Costing

Institutional ‘sign off’

‘Accept’ award and negotiate contract

Manage AwardFinancial claims

End of Award reports

Fundin

gContracts

Finance

Help in Developing Applications

• Information– Funding opportunities

• Regular, ad hoc, strategic– Background news &

insights• newsletter, website, blog• Funder visits• Grants Factory

• Aiding collaboration – bringing those in similar

disciplines together (eg Lunchtime Seminars)

• Preparing your application– Copy editing, proof reading

and advice on the text– Successful application bank– Staff costings and

calculating overheads– Advice on eligible costs– Research governance

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Grants Factory

• Help and advice from other academics• Workshops

– Tools for writing killer applications

• Masterclasses– What the guidance doesn’t tell you

• Mock panels– Test drive your proposal

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Internal Approval Form

• Ensures the University endorses and takes responsibility for your project.

• Internal Approval Form– Check list – risks/issues

• Need to attach a ‘Full Economic Costing’• Sign off by:

– PI and any Co-Is– HoS (or representative)– Research Services

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Sources of Information

• Research Funding Officers– Social Sciences:

• Phil Ward (p.ward@kent.ac.uk, xtn 7748)• Rachel Donald (Mon & Tues: r.l.donald@kent.ac.uk, xtn4575)

– Humanities: Lynne Bennett (l.bennett-282@kent.ac.uk, xtn4799)– Sciences: Carolyn Barker (c.m.barker-47@kent.ac.uk, xtn7957)– Medway: Karen Allart (k.a.allart@kent.ac.uk, xtn8967)

• Websites– Funding opportunities: www.researchprofessional.com – European Funding: www.ukro.ac.uk– Research Services: www.kent.ac.uk/res– Research Fundermentals Blog: http://fundermental.blogspot.com/