Notes from the First Grants Factory Masterclass

Notes and slides are available from the first Grants Factory 2010 Masterclass, given by Prof Peter Taylor Gooby, and focused on how applicants can help their research become known to individual funders and make projects appeal to specific schemes.

Prof Taylor Gooby was well place to discuss this. During his academic career, Peter has won over 40 research grants with a total value of over £7 million. This includes several (Research Council and EU) grants worth over £1million each. His work as a panellist means he is also familiar with the decision-making process and 'mindset' of many of key UK funders including the Leverhulme Trust, British Academy, ESRC and Nuffield Foundation.

The notes and slides are available on the Research Services website.

How Leverhulme Assesses Applications

I had an interesting conversation with Leverhulme the other day, and got to the heart of the process grant applications go through with them. I've always said that applicants need to speak to a very general audience when pitching to Leverhulme, and understanding the process that proposals go through makes this all too clear. So here's the low down:

• At the Outline Stage your application is sent to a member of the 35 strong ‘Advisory Panel,’ made up of academics from across the remit of Leverhulme (i.e. Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities). Depending on the amount, the application will either be seen by one (if it’s less than £250k) or two (if it’s more than £250k);
• Their comments are sent to the Director, who approves (or, indeed, overrules) them.


• At the Full Application Stage it is sent to four referees: 2 suggested by you, 2 identified by them. They are not people on the Advisory Panel.


• Based on these reviews, the Trustees make the final decision. So the Trustees have more influence than I initially thought. Below is a list of who they are, together with links for a little background:


• Sir Michael Angus (Chairman)


• Sir Michael Perry


• Mr N W A Fitzgerald


• Mr P J-P Cescau


• Dr A S Ganguly – I think this is the one


• Mr A C Butler


• Sir Iain Anderson


• Professor Sir Richard Brook (the Director)

A Good Alternative Fellowship

People often ask for fellowship funding, and you can understand why. It allows academics to take time out from routine administrative and teaching duties to concentrate on research, which is often what they went into academia for in the first place.

Unfortunately, most other academics are seeking the same thing, and as a result success rates for fellowships tend to be the lowest of any kind of research funding, averaging between 5-15%. However, the Leverhulme 'Study Abroad' Fellowship bucks this trend. The success rate for these last year was a healthy 31%. They offer up to £22,000 to cover 'reasonable replacement cover whilst the Fellow is overseas; travel to and within the overseas country or countries; a maintenance grant to meet the increased expense of living overseas; and essential research costs.'

So if your research takes you abroad, think about these as an 'alternative' type of fellowship. But be warned: the deadline's fast approaching on 10 November.