Research Grants & Contracts Office Research Seminar Dept of Management Craig Bryce

Summary Research Grants & Contracts Office (RGCO) Funding Schemes FEC and Costing (briefly!) Internal procedures for approving applications Finding further information

Peter Westley Director of Finance Liz Francis Head of RGCO Craig Bryce Deputy Head Sharon Bell Research Accounts Officer Rassi Pelpola Research Accounts Assistant George Eyre Research Support Officer Marion Barthram Research Grants Assistant Theresa Ball Costing & Pricing Accountant Research Grants & Contracts Office structure

Liz Francis Head of RGCO Craig Bryce Deputy Head Sharon Bell Research Accounts Officer Rassi Pelpola Research Accounts Assistant George Eyre Research Support Officer Marion Barthram Research Grants Assistant Theresa Ball Costing & Pricing Accountant Applications Peter Westley Director of Finance

Research Grants & Contracts Office structure Liz Francis Head of RGCO Craig Bryce Deputy Head Sharon Bell Research Accounts Officer Rassi Pelpola Research Accounts Assistant Marion Barthram Research Grants Assistant Project Accounting Theresa Ball Costing & Pricing Accountant George Eyre Research Support Officer Peter Westley Director of Finance

Peter Westley Director of Finance Liz Francis Head of RGCO Craig Bryce Deputy Head Sharon Bell Research Accounts Officer Rassi Pelpola Research Accounts Assistant George Eyre Research Support Officer Marion Barthram Research Grants Assistant Theresa Ball Costing & Pricing Accountant School of Business, Economics & Informatics Psychological Sciences Psychosocial Social Policy & Education All EU grants School of Arts Biological Sciences School of SSHP (rest of) Research Grants & Contracts Office structure – Dept of Management

Research Grants & Contracts Office (RGCO) The RGCO, part of Finance Dept, provides administrative, financial and support services related to externally funded research projects Pre award: funding information, help with applications, approval, contract negotiation Post award: project accounting, approval of posts, allocation of overheads, financial reporting, contracts with partners Policy development Management information Training and events

Help with Applications Costing - salaries and overhead-type costs – done on web-based costing system pFACT Approval – done using workflow system on pFACT Electronic submission – may need to set up an account, e.g Research Councils Joint Electronic Submission (Je-S) system Contractual arrangements Copies of previously successful applications for most schemes

Research Funding at Birkbeck 2009/10 – 209 applications (33%) Income £10,170,194 in 2009/10 (12.5%) Jan 11 contract value £52,006, different funding bodies 162 active research projects, throughout all Schools Management 2009/ applications (75%) Income 2009/10 – £76k 5 Active projects, Contract value £268k

Research Funding at Birkbeck Funder TypeNo. of apps % of apps SuccessfulUnsuccessfulUnknown% to date Research Councils, Royal Soc, British Academy % % UK Based Charities46 22% % UK Govt12 6% 81367% UK Industry, Commerce 3 1% 2167% EU23 11% % Overseas & Other10 5% 63160% Total %

Funding Information Economic & Social Research Council Leverhulme Trust British Academy Others…

ESRC (1) Research Grants Scheme £200k > £2m Recently changed – no small applications <£200k considered Up to 5 years duration Flexible re subject area as long as within ESRC's remit 80% FEC No closing dates Apply via Je-S 6 sides of A4 for research proposal Most decisions within 26 weeks

ESRC (2) Recent revisions to Funding Schemes, fewer but more flexible research schemes Future Leaders scheme Will replace postdoctoral fellowship and first grants scheme. More information will be available shortly Large grants and centres will be integrating large grants and centre competitions more information will be available shortly opportunities/

ESRC (3) - Fellowships Professorial Fellowships support leading social scientists working in the UK Fellow given freedom to pursue their own innovative and creative research agendas Provides; Fellows time (up to 60%) additional research assistance costs PhD studentship Up to 3 years 80% FEC Usually announced in October, closing date in December, peer review February to April, interviews are in May and decisions made by end of July. Awards are expected to commence the following October at the earliest. Knowledge Exchanges/Placement Fellowships private, public and civil society sectors

ESRC (4) Research Seminars - multi-institutional groups of academic researchers, PG students and non-academic users who meet regularly to exchange information and ideas with the aim of advancing research within their fields non-fEC and are limited to £15,000 travel and expenses for speakers and participants secretarial costs stationary postage copying and telephone hire of rooms and facilities. Another £3k available if strong case for enhancing knowledge transfer impact for non academic users and/or the inclusion of international academics at events and/or the holding of events abroad. WILL be running 2011/12 details tba 2009 – 146/41 – 28%

ESRC (5) Decision process Submission via JeS Checked by Shared Services Centre (SSC), allocated to ESRC Officer for eligibility check Once accepted, proposal sent to reviewers from ESRCs Peer Review College Proposal scoring below 4 rejected, those above 4 allocated to 2 members of the Grant Assessment Panel PIs given 10 days to respond to Reviewers comments (max 2 A4) Grant Assessment Panel meet and agree prioritisation list, considered by Grants Delivery Group and final decisions made. Feedback sent with decision letters, scores of 4 reviewer comments plus comments of 2 panel members.

ESRC award rates ESRC Responsive mode; 2009/10 – Standard Grants 682/94 – 14% Small Grants 653/124 – 19% 2010/11 - Standard Grants 304/41 – 13% (to date)Small Grants 178/44 – 25% Birkbeck responsive mode Success rate for 09/10: 6/2 (33%) Success rate for 08/09: 5/2 (40%) Success rate for 07/08: 8/2 (25%) Success rate for 06/07: 8/4 (50%)

Leverhulme Trust (1) Research Project support for innovative and original research projects of high quality and potential, the choice of theme and the design of the research lying entirely with the applicant Up to 5 years; < £500k for research assistance, PhD Students, replacement teaching, other direct costs Most awards ~250k for 3 years Any topic 2 stage application process, outline must be accepted prior to submitting full application (up to 12 weeks) full appl deadlines Sept, Dec and March

Leverhulme Trust (2) Research Fellowship open to experienced researchers up to £45k research expenses over and above normal living costs including reasonable replacement teaching 3 – 24 months Next round announced Sept 11 Major Research Fellowship Open well-established and distinguished researchers Provides a replacement staff member to cover the period of the Fellowship and £5k p.a. expenses. 2 –3 years 4.00pm on 6 May 2011 (result December) Early Career Fellowship 2 year award, Trust pays up to 50% of the employment cost (up to max of £23k), plus research expenses up to £6,000 pa, deadline 10 March

Leverhulme Trust (3) Success Rates Research grants 2007 – Outline – 43%, Full – 47%, Combined – 20% 2008 – Outline – 44%, Full – 49%, Combined – 22% 2009 – Outline – 48%, Full – 39%, Combined – 19% Research Fellowships 2007 – 18% 2008 – 16% 2009 – 15% Major Research Fellowships 2007 – 14% 2008 – 13% 2009 – 14% Early Career Fellowship 2007 – 13% 2008 – 12% 2009 – 13%

British Academy (1) Small Grants primary research in the humanities and social sciences up to £7,500 direct costs, up to 2 years applications assessed equally on their merits, with no preference as to mode of enquiry for clearly defined, discrete piece of research with an identifiable outcome FINAL deadline: 23 March BA Research Development Awards (BARDA) Up to £150,000 FEC, up to 3 years scheme is currently suspended Conference Support and O/S Conference Grants Final deadlines 16 th & 2 nd March – scheme scrapped

British Academy (2) Postdoctoral Fellowships 3 years support for outstanding early career researchers. 2-stage application, deadline: October applicants are expected to be at an early stage of their academic career. Provides fellows salary plus limited research expenses and FEC costs (directly allocated costs, including mentors time, estates, and indirect costs). New British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship Scheme aim is to free applicants from normal teaching and administrative commitments support outstanding individual researchers with excellent research proposals, and to support outstanding communicators awards to individuals employed at UK universities, particularly to support mid-career scholars normally within no more than 15 years from the award of their doctorate 6-12 months duration It is not expected that the total value of an award will exceed £200,000 FEC Deadline 9 March per year

British Academy (3) Full list British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowships and Thank- Offering to Britain Fellowship British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowships and Thank- Offering to Britain Fellowship British Academy Research Development Award Scheme (BARDAs) British Academy Wolfson Research Professorships Conference Support Country-specific Agreements International Partnerships Mid-Career Fellowships Overseas Conference Grants Postdoctoral Fellowships Small Research Grants Special Funds UK-Latin America and the Caribbean Link Scheme Visiting Scholars

Europe Research mainly funded via 7 th Framework Programme Co- operation - Collaborative Research Programme Co- operation - Collaborative Research Programme Collaborative/multi-national requirement Call driven Ideas - Frontier Research (European Research Council) Ideas - Frontier Research (European Research Council) Starting Grants (call opens July 11) 1.5m over 5 years PI must have PhD awarded in last years PI expected to spend min 50% of time on project (funded) Advanced grants 2.5m over 5 years SSH deadline 6 April No PhD time eligibility but only exceptional research leaders PI with track record of significant research achievements in the last 10 years PI expected to spend min 30% of time on project (funded) People - Marie Curie Schemes People - Marie Curie Schemes 'mobility' requirement

Others…. Over the last 3 years the School has submitted applications to; ACAS, AHRC, BBSRC, British Academy, CIMA, ESRC, EPSRC, EU, Health Research Council of New Zealand, JISC, Leverhulme Trust, National Maritime Museum, Natural England, NESTA, NORFACE, Nuffield Foundation, Royal Academy of Engineering, Royal Society, Technology Strategy Board, OMII-UK, UEFA. Research Professional -

Preparing a good proposal Guidance notes on constructing a good proposal to the ESRC Research Grants Scheme: Part 1Allow yourself time Study your funding source Read the rules Discuss your application Justify your costings Part 2Content and presentation Part 3Dissemination and impact Check the details If you are successful If you are unsuccessful EPSRC: Preparing a Proposal: NERC: How to win money for research:

Full Economic Costing (fEC) Introduced by the Government in 2005 Used as basis to cost research projects, but very few funders will pay 100% of FEC Research Councils pay 80% of FEC Other funders pay according to their own terms and conditions We use pFACT to calculate the FEC

What makes up fEC? Directly Incurred (DI) costs Directly Allocated (DA) costs Indirect costs Exceptional items: e.g. project studentships Research Councils will pay 80% of DI, DA and Indirect Costs; 100% of Exceptional Items

College Approval procedures - pFACT Set out in the College's Financial Regulations, as approved by Governors All external research grants must be authorised for submission through the pFACT system. All approval stages to be completed prior to submitting to the funding body RGCO – webpage n/authorization.shtml n/authorization.shtml

College Approval procedures - pFACT The application should only be submitted once all the stages have been completed. Each approver should be given at least three clear working days (thats NINE days prior to deadline). Paper applications that require institutional signatures should be passed to the RGCO at the same time that the applicant completes their stage of the pFACT sign-off

Contact information Research Grants Office: Craig Bryce: extn Sharon Bell: extn 3139 Financial statements and reports