Writing for funding Faculty of Humanities Postgraduate Research Training John Canning

Personal experience Writing of bids Being successful Being unsuccessful Evaluating bids (LLAS subject centre and Higher Education Academy) Funding increasingly competitive No-one 100% successful Bid as an individual or part of a team 2

3 1.Research leave 2.Teaching buyout 3.Funding for Research Assistant 4.Conference/ workshop attendance 5.Fieldwork 6.Prizes 7.Prestige 8.Major projects/ research centres Why write for funding?

Where can you get funding from? Research councils (e.g. AHRC, ESRC) British Academy Funding councils (e.g. HEFCE), and other national organisations (e.g. Higher Education Academy) Private sector companies Internal funds at UoS (e.g. small faculty grants). Foundations/ charities (e.g. Sutton Trust, Leverhulme) Overseas sources Wealthy private individuals Subject associations 4

Frequently asked questions How much can I bid for? –Anything from £200 to £millions depending on what its for and where from. Where can I find out about funding? –Internal mailing lists – (personal alerts) –Funding organisation websites –Colleagues When does funding come out/ what are the deadlines? –Depends. Some funders no deadlines. 5

Writing for funding Need to find notes for bidders –How much you can bid for. –Who is eligible? academic staff/ early career / member of organisation X, part-time staff, UoS staff etc. –What is the funding for? –Is there a standard form? –Is a certain proportion of funding reserved for particular type of project/ researcher? –What needs to be included in the bid? 6

Why bids fail- some reasons Very competitive – not everyone can be successful– but the following reasons are generally avoidable: Project not relevant to what the funding is for. Not clear what the project is about. Unclear/ ineligible use of finances Ineligible bidder(s) Not clear bidder is able to do the work 7

Why bids fail- some more reasons No clear outcomes or outputs Too ambitious/ not ambitious enough Already funded a lot of ‘similar’ research Not priority area for funder. Ethical issues not acknowledged/ addressed. 8

Getting funding- internal allies Head of discipline/ faculty Accountancy staff Colleagues Internal coordination might be needed –Some schemes restrict number of bids per institution –Sometimes internal review (to avoid too many failed bids) –Senior Management/ accountant sign off (don’t leave until last minute!) 9

Costings- Things which might need to be costed Not all costs eligible under every funder but might include: Salaries/ staff time/ teaching buyout Conference attendance/ travel/ research/ fieldwork Specialist equipment Website development Printing and publication costs Conference organisation costs 10

Terms you will come across Overheads/on costs/ Full Economic Costs (FECs) : Costs for university for pension, NI, office space, centralised services. Matched funding: University has to provide funding. Sometimes in form of overheads reduction, donated staff time. Always talk to the finance staff as soon as possible. 11

Audience Bid evaluators will not (always) be experts in your area of study. Write clearly. Show knowledge of existing work in the area. Show YOU (or your team) can do the work. Don’t assume that the reviewer already knows all about your topic. Before sending: Ask a colleague for comments. 12

Be ambitious, but realistic Understand the cost implications. £30,000 of funding for the university does not usually mean £30,000 for you. Have clear outcomes. E./g. book, articles, report, website (as appropriate). Have a clear time frame and project plan. Sometimes need to include risk assessment. READ notes for bidders very carefully. 13

Contact John Canning 14