The Royal Academy of Engineering is Britain’s national Academy of Engineering dedicated to the promotion of excellence in the science, art and practice of engineering.

Supporting Research Presentation for Imperial College by Rob Barrett, Head of Research Programmes July 2008

Research Schemes Research Chairs & Senior Research Fellowships Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowships Research Fellowships Global Research Awards External spend - £3.9m in 07/08 (£4.6m in 07/08)

Research Chairs & Senior Research Fellowships Strengthen industrial/academic links Gearing and sponsors Establish high-quality research professors Establish/enhance a centre of excellence Open competition or nominated All areas of engineering, five year tenure Monitoring – by sponsor & Fellow 25 existing Chairs, 5 active SRFs

Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowships Mid-career academics Relieved from teaching and administration, to commit solely to research Duration from one academic term to one full year 7 Fellowships available annually Gross salary cost of replacement academic + possible £2,500 support fund Currently 6 active Leverhulme SRFs

International Travel Grants support for conference attendance and short study visits up to two months open to UK citizens and residents involved in engineering research in academia or industry grants of up to 50% approved costs fully electronic application, all year round reports published in The Delegate, the scheme’s monthly newsletter

Global Research Awards Engineers in R&D undertake projects at centres of excellence overseas Joint benefits to the engineer, employer and host Period of months Disseminate the benefits gained to UK engineering Open to all engineers with research experience RAEng to provide up to 50% costs up to £40k Currently 16 secondees are being supported

Global Research Awards The secondment can be to any centre of excellence in any country The secondee and their employer are expected to know where they want to go – the best secondments are those where the secondee knows the person he/she wants to work with (more than one host is possible) Costs may include salary, employer’s NI, travel, accommodation, conference attendance and possibly family expenses No closing dates, apply at any time Two stage assessment: by confidential referees, and if successful, by interview

RAEng/EPSRC Research Fellowships Joint scheme with EPSRC Aimed at outstanding researchers from ALL branches of engineering Just completing PhD, or up to 3 years postdoc research experience Duration of 60 months (can be part-time – 50%)

Benefits to Awardee The Research Fellow is freed from teaching and admin responsibilities to concentrate on basic research Establish a research track record Fellow of the Academy appointed as a Mentor for advice and contacts with industry, academia and networks Progress monitored through an annual report from the incumbent and Mentor meetings

Funding Research Fellowship is designed to support incumbents for 5 years Under new regime of Full Economic Costing (fEC), cost elements agreed by TRAC methodology (Transparent Approach to Costing) cost elements which should be included are: Gross salary, travel & subsistence, indirect, estates costs, and other costs full details in EPSRC funding guide and Royal Academy website

Applications Annual call made 31 st July, application deadline for 2008 will be 28 th October via EPSRC J-eS system 140 applications in last round, from which 10 awards were made Target for this round ( ) is 7 awards 57 existing Research Fellows, expected to rise above 60 by 2009 Limit of 5 applications per institution

Application Case for support (clear, concise, jargon free) - track record - description of proposed research/methodology - diagrammatic work plan - list of publications (no page limit) - justification of resources HoD statement and Registrar to certify eligibility

RAEng/EPSRC Research Fellowships: Assessment Criteria The criteria used as part of the overall assessment process include: Communication Career aspirations Independence (current standing) Track Record Planning and management Contribution to research environment (e.g. outreach and teaching) Significance and potential of the research Degree of novelty / risk Collaboration and contribution to Knowledge Transfer / Exploitation

RAEng/EPSRC Research Fellowships: Process Chart Proposal Refereed 1 nominated by candidate 1 from EPSRC College 1 Fellow of The Royal Academy of Engineering Referee’s Comments Sufficiently Supportive? Sift Panel Select a shortlist of candidates for interview Interviews Final selection of candidates Award Fellowship Not selected for panel review Not selected for interview Not successful at interview Candidate Informed Proposal Feedback to Candidate

Invitation... Please feel free to come to our Annual Research Forum on Friday 19 th September

Annual Research Forum Our annual Engineering Research Forum is held in September at the Royal College of Physicians, London. The Forum includes: Presentations from representatives of all our research schemes An opportunity to network among engineering researchers, sponsors and funders A poster exhibition of Academy-funded research

Contacts Rob Barrett, Head of Research Programmes, RAEng Or Angus Baker, Research Administrator, at RAEng RAEng Website: