Internal approval process for bids

If you are thinking of applying for ANY external funding - whether for research, enterprise, teaching or any other activity - you need to let the University know and receive the relevant approvals. Depending on the circumstances, this may take a few weeks. There is a new page on the intranet which outlines the processes with an explanation of which form to use for each type of funding. This can be found at: http://intranet.open.ac.uk/developmentoffice/project-funding/

If you are a member of the Arts Faculty, please notify the Research and Enterprise Team at Arts-REST of any planned funding bids or negotiations.

ESRC new strategic plan increases focus on impact

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) released its Strategic Plan for 2009-14 on 21 July. It outlines the research council’s goals and objectives for the next five years, including a greater concentration on the impact of its research.

"The social sciences are essential to developing the international competitiveness of UK business and the wellbeing of citizens in the UK and beyond. Providing a high quality social science knowledge and evidence base, which is at the heart of the ESRC's mission, is fundamental to addressing a range of economic and social issues within the UK and globally. To achieve this, active two-way dialogue and collaboration between social scientists and potential users throughout the research process and beyond is crucial."

For more information and to download a full copy of the Strategic Plan go to: http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/strategicplan/

Launch of OU's new Research and Enterprise Hub

Finding research-related information on the intranet has been made a whole lot easier thanks to a new Research & Enterprise Hub (http://intranet.open.ac.uk/research/) - launched on the OU intranet this week.

The site performs a signposting function, making it easy to find research-related content wherever it may be across the university. The target audiences are researchers, research students, research managers, research administrators and other support staff as well as staff in service units supporting research.

The Hub project team, led by Mark Wight, would like to thank all those who have contributed to its development, especially Pat Grace in the Strategy Unit (who built the site), Research Administrators and Research School teams.

The site will be maintained by the Research School (email Research-Publicity).

Edited from email from Mark Wight, Senior Manager (Research Degrees) 13/07/09

Funding Opportunity for Pursuing Transdisciplinary Approaches to the Big Questions

The Metanexus Institute announces grants in support of transdisciplinary exploration of fundamental questions of life, the cosmos, and humanity. Metanexus invites proposals from networked teams of five or more investigators who:

• Intend to examine questions that range beyond those normally studied within established academic disciplines;
• Span an adventurous diversity of such disciplines;
• May engage religious and spiritual points of view;
• Seek to forge new and enduring links among different fields of study; and
• Aspire to have a transformational impact upon human knowledge and education.

To foster this transformation, MGNI will support open and dynamic transdisciplinary exploration and research with the aim of discovering new scientific, philosophical, and spiritual insights. The grants are intended to provide seed money for the formation and maintenance of networked groups of investigators from diverse academic backgrounds with the aim of building intellectual community.

Awards of $30,000 (£18,000) will be made through the Metanexus Global Network Initiative (MGNI) Basic Grant. Winning proposals will demonstrate academic rigor in program content, imagination and creativity in program planning, and cost-effectiveness in program execution.

For Further information visit: http://www.blogger.com/www.metanexus.net/globalnetwork

Free Ethic Lectures

How should ethics be built into our strategies for business, for government and for life?

The downturn has an upside. The current economic turmoil is the perfect opportunity for business, governments, and individuals to rethink their ethical orientations from the bottom up. The Open University would like to invite you to one of the following free lunchtime lectures on 'Integrity in Public Life' to explore some of the most pressing ethical dilemmas.

The lectures are free and open to all, and will be hosted at St Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield, London from 12.50 - 2pm (see: http://www.greatstbarts.com/Pages/Other/News/lectures.html ) . Places are limited, to book your place please email Marie-Claire Le Roux (m.leroux@open.ac.uk)


20th May - Lord Butler: Integrity and Politics

Lord Butler will draw on his experience as a previous head of the Civil Service, and lead author of the Butler Report, to discuss the ethical pitfalls facing politicians and civil servants, and how to avoid them.


27th May - Professor John Cottingham: Integrity and Fragmentation

Professor Cottingham, the distinguished philosopher from the University of Reading, will argue that we are harmed by living in a compartmentalised culture. Our institutions are manned by specialists who have mastered a particular field, but are not expected to form a view of the whole. Yet the classical ideal of the unity of the virtues suggests that people cannot live well unless their activities are integrated into a meaningful structure, informed not just by narrow technical expertise but by an overall vision of the good for humankind. We need this idea today.


17th June - Baroness O'Neil: Trustworthiness, Accountability and Character

Baroness O'Neill, cross-bench peer and President of the British Academy, focuses on the place of trust in public life, and explores what we should take as evidence of trustworthiness. Character, codes of conduct and formal systems of accountability can all be helpful for judging trustworthiness, but what can we do when they don't provide enough evidence?


This lecture series has been organised by the Open University's Ethics Centre (http://www.open.ac.uk/ethics-centre/). The Open University would like to thank F&C (http://www.fandc.com/new/UK/) for their support of these lectures.

The Research School's latest research related news.

The Research School have updated the Research Information Alert. The main stories are:

Connecting up Strategy: Are Senior Strategy Directors (SSDs) a missing link?

Postdoctoral Fellowship Community Service-Learning 2009-2010

Times Higher Education Awards

To follow these stories and for other research related news visit the Research Schools Research Alert website at:

http://intranet.open.ac.uk/strategy-unit/research-alerts/info.shtml

EU Launches Call for Proposals to Promote International University Cooperation (UK)

The European Commission has launched a new call for proposals under its new Tempus IV Programme (2007 – 13). The aim of Tempus IV is to support projects that facilitate cooperation in the field of higher education among Member States of the European Union (EU) and partner countries in the surrounding area. Tempus support two types of actions:

• Joint Projects, which are based on multilateral partnerships between higher education institutions in the EU and the partner countries. They can develop, modernise and disseminate new curricula, teaching methods or materials, boost a quality assurance culture, and modernise the management and governance of higher education institutions.
• Structural Measures, which contribute to the development and reform of higher education institutions and systems in partner countries, to enhance their quality and relevance, and increase their convergence with EU developments.

Institutions and organisations which may participate in the Tempus Programme range from higher education institutions and organisations through to non-academic institutions and organisations such as non-governmental organisations, companies, industries and public authorities. The total amount of funding available for this call for proposals is €53 million and the financial contribution from the Commission cannot exceed 90% of the total eligible direct costs.

Application form is available from the website – must be submitted electronically.

Deadline: 28th April 2009.

For more information see: http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/tempus/call09_en.html
and http://ec.europa.eu/tempus

Times Higher Education Awards - Research Project of the Year

Deadline: 5 June 2009

This will be awarded to the individual or team for innovative research that has a far-reaching impact on its field and has caught, or has the potential to catch, the imagination of the public. It is open to individuals or teams in any discipline at a UK institution. Nominations must be endorsed by the applicants' institution.

• Explain the background to your project.
• Why was the research necessary, and what were its primary objectives?
• Describe how the research was funded, what the work involved and what challenges arose.
• What did the results reveal, and what are the potential wider benefits to society?
• Has it led to other projects or new avenues of exploration?
• Judges will look for evidence of significant or novel results, creative collaborations and imaginative communication of research results.

The awards will recognise achievements in the 2008/2009 academic year and entries will be accepted between 26 February 2009 and 5 June 2009. Judging will take place in June and the shortlist will be announced in July. The winners will be announced at a dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London on 15 October 2009.

For more information and online application form see: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/hybrid.asp?typeCode=352&;pubCode=1&;navcode=98

New "Impact Requirements" for AHRC & ESRC grant applications

From 23rd March 2009, applicants for Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) research and fellowship grant proposals are required to include a description in the application of the impact that their research will have on society and the economy.

If you have already been working on an application form on the Je-S system you will find that since 17th February a new section has automatically been added for an impact summary, which has a 4,000 character limit, including spaces and returns. If you are submitting a bid before 23rd March, you need to put in this box the words "Not applicable" and also add an Impact Plan in the attachments section that is a page also just saying "Impact Plan not applicable."

To find the specific guidance for AHRC and ESRC bids, if you click on "edit attachments" in your Je-S form, and then the help link in the top right corner, you will be taken to the attachment page of that councils help text. For ease here are links to the pages for AHRC and ESRC:

AHRC: Click here
ESRC: Click here

Click here for the Je-S Help guidance page which gives the summary information on the requirements.

The impact summary on the Proposal Form should address the following questions:

• Who will benefit from this research?
• How will they benefit from this research?
• What will be done to ensure that they have the opportunity to benefit from this research?

Peer reviewers for research grant proposals will be asked to consider:

• Whether the plans to increase impact are appropriate and justified, given the nature of the proposed research

Note: The impact summary may be published to demonstrate potential impact of Research Council funded research. Please ensure confidential information is not included in this section.

The Case for Support (and/or attached Impact Plan where required) should expand on the information contained in the impact summary and describe what will be done to increase the scale or likelihood of impact. In making your case, you should consider and describe any potential impacts of the research on society and the economy.

Article updated on 24/02/09 after additional email guidance from AHRC.

Social/professional networking site for academics

Forget Facebook, Dr Richard Price of Oxford University, with a team of people from Stanford and Cambridge, has launched a new networking site aimed at academics: http://www.academia.edu

Dr Price says that the site has two functions:

"1 It shows academics around the world structured in a 'tree' format, displayed according to their departmental and institutional affiliations.

2 It enables academics to see news on the latest research in their area the latest people, papers and talks."

Even if you are not in a current contract with a university there is a place for Independent researchers - "Independent Researchers" portion of the tree at http://independent.academia.edu

Information edited from an email date: Wed, 26 Nov 2008
From: progers@MAIL.H-NET.MSU.EDU
Subject: Announcing "Academia.edu" - Tree of Academics Launches

The Nuffield Foundation - Social Science Small Grants Scheme

This Scheme makes small grants for social science research expenses. Awards are normally up to £7,500, although in exceptional circumstances awards may be made of up to a maximum of £12,000. The Scheme has no closing date. Applicants must be resident and working at a UK institution, although the research may be undertaken outside the UK.

The Scheme has three priorities for funding:

• projects that develop social science research capacity particularly by supporting the work of those new to social science research;


• self-contained or pilot or preliminary projects that address the wider objects of the Foundation, namely a broad concern with the 'advancement of social well-being';


• outstanding small projects in the social sciences.

These grants are intended for self-contained research projects in the social sciences, including pilot studies. Their main purpose is to meet the cost of research assistance, research materials, data collection and analysis, and travel and subsistence in this country and overseas.

All applicants to the Social Science Schemes need to comply with Nuffield Foundation policy on independent ethical scrutiny.

Please read the statement on the ethical review of research projects before completing your application. You must address this issue in the research statement you submit as part of your application.

Elgibility
The Nuffield Foundation make awards only to people who have a post with a permanent contract, or a research contract of three years or more, in a university or independent research institute in the United Kingdom. The grants are administered by the researcher’s institution and are not paid to applicants personally.

You can apply to the Scheme even if you have applied before, once any current award is completed. Each project will be judged on its merits, but they accept resubmissions only if these have been invited by trustees.

Exclusions
Research students, whether working for a PhD or other higher degrees, are NOT eligible.

Grants are not usually given for:

• subsistence for work from home


• attendance at conferences or courses


• conferring with colleagues in other institutions


• the organisation or holding of academic conferences or seminars


• the purchase of computer hardware or software


• work in progress or projects that are already grant aided (but see point 9 in Notes for completing the application form)


• literature and systematic reviews


• publication and printing costs


• health and medical research

The Scheme does not cover replacement teaching costs, nor does it pay salaries of permanent university staff in receipt of the HEFCE subsidy.

Information from www.nuffieldfoundation.org on 14/11/08.
Please check website for up to date guidance before making any application and if you are a member of staff in the OU faculty of Arts, please make sure you discuss your proposed application with the Research and Enterprise Support Team (REST) at least 4 weeks before you intend to submit your application.

For more information see: http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/go/grants/smallgrants/page_123.html

AHRC Standard Grants move to open deadlines

Next year, the AHRC will move to ‘open deadlines’ for research grant applications. This means that from January 2009 applicants will be able to submit standard, speculative and early career research grant applications at any time without having to worry about submitting for specific deadlines.

If you are thinking about, or working on, a bid and have in mind that you want to submit in January, early consultation with a member of REST is advised, please email Arts-REST in the first instance.

We also have had advance notification of some other changes to the application and approval process. There may be an additional couple of sections asking the applicant to consider who the beneficiaries of the research will be and asking you to outline how the project will ensure these beneficiaries benefit. Also, the AHRC will be seeking three peer reviews and the panels will be operating in a moderating rather than a re-reviewing role.

The March 2009 closing date of the research leave scheme is not affected by this move to open dates for research grants nor are any other deadlines under strategic programmes or other funding schemes.

The RED Form process for internal approval

A new bid approval process started in the Arts faculty in August 2008 called the RED form. (RED = "Research and Enterprise Development"). This form replaces the blue and pink forms.

The new procedure has a semi-electronic approval process - emails confirming approval will be accepted rather than signatures, which means signatories do not have to be in the office to approve a bid.

If you are considering making an application to any funder you will need to send an email to the Arts-REST email box to obtain the electronic form, which will be sent to you with a unique reference number. It is advisable to let us know at least 20 working days before the deadline if you are thinking of making an application so that we can plan our workload. You need to aim to have completed your application at least 2 weeks before the deadline to allow time for the internal approval process.

Faculty of Arts, Research and Enterprise Support Team (REST)
See: http://intranet.open.ac.uk/arts/p5_3.shtml for more information about the work of the team.