Grants Factory: ERC Masterclass

Thursday 9 Nov, 12pm-2pm

Cornwallis LT3 (COLT3), Canterbury campus

Our last ERC masterclass

The ERC​ or European Research Council is the gold standard of European research funding. There are no research boundaries or priorities, all topics are supported from arts to medicine, from social science to engineering. Each year hundreds of the very best researchers are supported by the ERC to pursue their own, transformative research ideas in Europe. They are, quite simply, 'career-making' grants.

If you are thinking of applying to the ERC in 2018 this is the time to start preparing, particularly for the ERC Consolidator call. 

The Joy of Six

Life on Quality St: the three speakers in action

The ‘Essential Elements of a Successful Application’ workshop is like the purple one in Quality Street: it’s a perennial favourite. We’ve been running variations on it since we began the Grants Factory in 2009, and there is always a good turnout and a stimulating discussion. I’ve written up some notes from previous sessions here, here, here and here (I could go on). Friday’s iteration was no different.

'Are you - or have you ever been - a victim of anti-Brexit bias?'

Wanted: McCarthyites for fun times. 

Dear Daily Mail

I am writing this by candle light inside a small cupboard in the so called 'Registry'. The Anti-Brexit Stormtroopers are everywhere. They march down the corridor at all hours, banging on our doors, demanding that we remove all signs of Britishness including our Great British Bake Off calendar and our National Trust poster, checking to see that all of our measuring jugs are metric and that we know all of the words to 'Ode to Joy.'

They are monitoring our thoughts with their sophisticated Remainer mind techniques. I know it. I am trying to keep my mind blank so that they don't pick up on my desire for a return to a time when we were allowed to holiday on polluted beaches and watch Benny Hill and the Two Ronnies on endless repeat. Before all those Apple Macs and skinny lattes came along and spoilt everything.

Nana Mouskouri to lead ESRC

In what was described by Research Professional as a surprise move, the Government has appointed Nana Mouskouri as head of the ESRC.

'It was expected that the position would be filled by a senior researcher from the University of Oxford,' said RP. Instead, Theresa May plumped for seventies crooner Nana Mouskouri. 

'There is no truth whatsoever in the scurrilous rumour that the PM only chose her because her song 'By Persistently Praying' offered her a way forward on the Brexit negotiations,' insisted a No 10 spokesman.

Any resemblance to Prof Jennifer Rubin, Director of the Policy Institute at KCL, is, of course, entirely coincidental.

Join Us!

The Gulb: arthouse cinema, theatre, concert hall. And oh: cafe.

We’re currently recruiting for an RDO to work with the Faculty of Humanities here at Kent.

The role is very flexible, independent and proactive, working closely with the Associate Dean, directors of research and others to strategically target and develop the research and funding culture within the Faculty. This will include supporting individual academics to identify and apply for funding opportunities and working with them to increase the quality of their applications. 

More broadly you will be organising Grants Factory and ECR Network sessions, giving presentations at school or Faculty level, arranging internal peer review, facilitating collaborations, and gathering information externally on what the changing policy and priorities are.

More info on the role here. And, of course, here’s more on Research Services, the University and the fabulous city of Canterbury. Feel free to email or phone me if you have any questions or just want an informal chat.

The salary is Grade 7 (£33,518 - £38,833 per annum), and the closing date is 30 Oct 2017. 

Figures behind the Figures: Prof Paul Allain

Each term I feature a different Kent award winner in the Research Services newsletter, looking at their research and discussing their career path and funding track record. Earlier in the year I featured Prof John Batchelor. Dr This time the spotlight falls on Prof Paul Allain in the School of Arts.  

Few can say that they cut their research teeth by slipping under the Berlin Wall in the 1980s to join a Polish theatre group travelling to the provinces to perform. But Paul Allain, Professor of Theatre and Performance, did just that.

He had been a jobbing actor in London, but had signed up to do a PhD at Goldsmiths to explore the physical performance styles for which Polish theatre was known at the time. He subsequently worked as a movement director, using knowledge gained from his training with actors such as Jude Law and Simon Russell Beale.

You Wouldn't Let It Lie

Big news in the short-staffed Department for Exiting the European Union. They've managed to get Bob Mortimer, partner of Vic Reeves, to step up to the plate as its Chief Scientist.

This is excellent news. In these troubled times it's important to have clowns and comedians at the helm. I mean, it worked for David Davis, didn't it?

Any relation to Chris Jones, the Department's Director for Justice, Security and Migration is, of course, entirely coincidental.

Mortimer

Jones

The Highs of the Hybrid: Bridging the Researcher-Administrator Divide

Last week I emailed all staff about a change to the names of the teams in Research Services. The Funding Team was being rebadged the Research Development Team. Their role didn’t change, but it better reflected what they did, and fitted with what most other universities called those who worked at a very early stage with academics in developing proposals.

To be honest I felt a little guilty about the email. It was one of those messages that, if I was the recipient, I would have deleted immediately or perhaps rolled my eyes and wondered if they didn’t have anything better to do in the Registry.

I think that’s probably what happened with 99.9% of the staff. However, it was the 0.1% who wrote back. ‘How many of the Research Development Team are active researchers?’ asked the academic.

It was an odd question, but I could read between the lines and recognise the disgust with which it was delivered. The point was this: what right did those who don’t do research have to talk to those who do about ‘developing research’?