Barbara E Thomas University of Bolton Dr Jill Fernie-Clarke Leeds College of Art and Design

 Staff working in Higher Education and Higher Education in Further Education  Members included Heads of Department, Principal Lecturers, Senior Lecturers and part time hourly paid staff

 Exploring the development of partnerships working collaboratively  Exploring the means by which this was done  Innovative, non hierarchical approach  Outlining the process of project conception, development and delivery

 Learning and teaching was given a higher profile through funding opportunities. This has made bidding much easier than the formerly more constrained period of public funding for work in this area.

 Linear development of the project outlined in the following slides from the initial ideas development through to dissemination and publication  Make it an enjoyable and learning experience for all

 Once initial ideas discussed communication was generally by e mail to consolidate ideas into a final application. The role of the project lead in synthesising ideas, maintaining diversity whilst ensuring it could all come together cohesively is important, as having one person to collate and disseminate has proved to be an effective tool.

 While success is a key factor in moving the project on within the original focus this can also be measured alongside the importance of taking part in positive partnerships.

 It is easy to write too much, thus clever use of appropriate literature is a skill for development. And while literature reviews for projects are often delayed until data collection and analysis has been completed and in line with grounded theory (Charmaz and Bryan 2010) this initial review reduces the later workload of locating appropriate literature at the point of project writing.

 Reaching final agreement on the purpose of the project is a powerful place to be. While this may be the most crucial part of the application there are other aspects to consider e.g. How funding is to be distributes, what it will be used for, who takes responsibility and ensuring institutional support is in place as well as agreement to apply and undertake the work if successful and very importantly a manageable timetable.

 Pleasure and terror are the twin features of this process. Essential is the double checking that all the requirements of the funders and their criteria have been met – this may include sending multiple copies of the application, evidence of agreement from the institution, evidence of how ethical clearance will be dealt with where relevant, ensuring the details of co-researchers is included and a named project lead/project manager.

 Not all applications will be successful and good quality feedback to inform future bids from the partnership is important in understanding this. An example of feedback with regard to both theme and the range of partners involved in a recent bid was: ‘the proposal relates well to the theme...There may be too many issues however, one tested across the partnerships may enable a greater in- depth and developmental/comparative study.’

 Celebrations can be short lived as the real work starts now, external funding means that you have to deliver, on time and to budget. Ensure meetings are set up as per the project timetable and that individual responsibilities are completed – in principle this is an individual responsibility but experience has shown that a supportive hand and gentle but assertive reminders can help ensure this happens.

 Whichever method is deemed most suitable for individual project members the use of an overarching and agreed set of questions is key in ensuring that the resulting data can be analysed usefully. Keep all the evidence based research so that if questions arise about the validity of the data it can be defended.

 Keep it focused, relevant and clearly related to the findings of the project. Consider the length of this section otherwise other areas of the project are likely to have less opportunity to express findings etc. which is the aspect readers are generally interested in.

 Be prepared to respond to questions, adjustments and possibly some re-writing. The more thorough you are at the developmental stages, using the data for analysis and clarity in writing up the less likely this is to happen.

 This is an aspect of personal choice but has been a useful tool for dissemination of the project experience through the project funders own dissemination streams.

 One important aspect is to collate all activity as this can be used to support future bids for other projects through demonstrating successful project development and evidence the further development of the research and as part of the funders’ own responsibility for demonstrating the use of public funding.

 It is more likely that for publication to occur you would need to present the research in a revised paper format for future publication in conference proceedings or as a basis for applying to or being invited to write for a journal.

 Enjoy the experience, learn from members of the group involved, develop networks through dissemination and be proud of the fact that you have made a difference to knowledge even if the impact is apparently small.

 Barbara E Thomas   Jill Fernie-Clarke 