Leverhulme Fellowships: Notes from a Panellist

Prof Davina Cooper

Last week we ran a Grants Factory session on Leverhulme Trust Fellowships. Prof Davina Cooper from Kent Law School offered some thoughts from her time on the Research Awards Advisory Committee which administers a number of Leverhulme’s fellowship schemes, and my colleague Brian Lingley provided some notes from the session below. 

Shock Poll Result: Turkeys Vote for Christmas

Turkeys: willing to 'respond flexibly'

In a surprise election upset, turkeys on a farm in Norfolk have voted unanimously for Christmas.

'Well I'm as shocked as anyone,' said turkey farmer Sajid David. 'I've been preparing for a cull for sometime, and have been thinking about the most cost effective way of doing it. I've even drafted in two separate sets of consultants to advise me. I thought it was going to be a difficult and painful process'.

'However, late last night a group of seven turkeys knocked on my door and said that they had had a vote, and they were all committed to Christmas'.

King Mekon

In a shock announcement from BIS it has been revealed that the Department has agreed to share its the same leader as the Treens of northern Venus.

'I really don't see what all the fuss is about,' commented a BIS spokesman. 'In times of austerity, this makes perfect sense. We are sharing ministerial costs of the Mekon with the Treens. Even factoring in the cost of the levitating chair, and the somewhat lengthy commute, it's all entirely reasonable.'

Any resemblance to Sajid Javid, Conservative MP for Bromsgrove, is entirely coincidental.

Javid

Mekon

Innovate UK Promises to Simplify Siege Engines

Trebuchet Vouchers 'confusing', admits McKernan

The Chief Executive of the UK's premier producer of catapults, Innovate UK, has promised to simplify the range of medieval siege engine-style funding schemes it creates.

'I appreciate that our range of siege engine schemes may be confusing to many academics and companies who just want a bit of funding to start a collaboration,' admitted Ruth McKernan. 'However, what they don't realise is that, in a crowded funding scheme marketplace, you've really got to stand out from the rest of the competition. And ideally brutally bombard them into submission.'

Impact: What Works?

The Award-Winning
Julie Bayley

Whilst impact has become an accepted fixture on the research landscape since it was introduced by the Research Councils in 2008, there is still a nervousness about what it is and how it should be recorded.

Fortunately help is at hand: Julie Bayley has developed a national reputation in supporting colleagues in understanding impact at Coventry University, and she accepted our invitation to come to Kent and talk about her experiences.

Engaging with Europe

In April I wrote about the European Research Area, the ‘borderless continent’ that the founding fathers of the European Union hoped to achieve. The ERA can best be seen as a work in progress, but that shouldn’t stop academics from engaging with it and trying to influence its future direction and focus.

To many, the European Commission can seem like an impenetrable technocracy. If you ever hear a commissioner speak, it will do little to dispel this notion. I wrote once about the basic components of a Commission presentation. The vital elements are PowerPoint slides dense with text, detailed maps of the process by which directives have been agreed, preferably involving an incomprehensible flowchart, lots of clip art, and a peppering of unexplained acronyms.

Exclusive: Design of REF2020 Logo Revealed

With just fifty months until the likely submission date for the next REF, HEFCE has announced the design for the REF2020 logo.

The design was revealed at a showbiz ceremony in the heart of Bristol's glittering Abbey Wood. An expectant crowd of literally tens - or ten - of Higher Education's finest celebrities gathered to drink mulled cava and eat slightly stale Hula Hoops and listen to the announcement.

The Second Annual University Research Prize Competition: Open for Nominations

The University’s second annual Research Prize competition is open for nominations. The Prizes recognise exceptional achievements in research and are open to all research active staff and doctoral students at Kent.  

 

Prof Jon Williamson (SECL), winner of the 2015 University Research Prize.