Tales from Topographic Oceans

I don't know, you wait ages for a senior appointment at the Research Councils, and then two come along at the same time.

After all the excitement over the AHRC's New Director of Research, news has just come in of the appointment of the new head of the NERC. It took them nearly five months to find someone: that's almost as long as Mark Llewellyn's total academic career.

So who has NERC gone for? Prof Duncan Wingham is Professor of Climate Physics at UCL. The golden-locked prof is a specialist in measuring ice sheet movements. So whereas the AHRC has gone for youth and speed, the NERC seem to have taken a 'steady as she goes' approach. Prof Wingham has been at UCL since 1986, and was already Chair of NERC's Science and Innovation Strategy Board. So very much a known quantity. Oh, and he studies glaciers.

We wish him all the best. But now down to the serious business of trying to match him up to a look-a-like musician. We've got Derek Smalls in David Delpy, Donny Osmond in Mark Llewellyn, and even Andrew Lloyd-Webber in his predecessor, Alan Thorpe. Is there a touch of the keyboard virtuoso Rick Wakeman in Duncan Wingham?

Changes to NERC Schemes

With all the changes at ESRC, EPSRC, STFC and AHRC, it feels like NERC has been dragging its feet somewhat. Not any more. It's announced that:

• It's cutting its Small Grants.
• Consortium Grants are being cut from two rounds per year to one, and an outline stage will be introduced.

At this stage these kind of changes shouldn't come as a surprise. There's barely a funder left standing that hasn't stripped out its small grants: the ESRC and BA have already done so, and the Royal Society dropped its Conference Grants. Small scale funding is so last year.

NERC does say that 'it will remain possible to submit proposals for small discrete projects, proof-of-concept studies and pump-priming exercises to the Standard Grants scheme, if they exceed the minimum scheme funding level'. That's defined by NERC as '£25,000 for directly incurred costs', which has always struck me as a slightly curious way of defining a lower limit. Why not a minimum that includes directly allocated and, perhaps estates and indirect as well? Whilst £25k may sound like quite a small amount, and way below the £65k maximum for the current Small Grants, when you add in directly allocated, estates and indirect costs you would be coming very close to this figure.

So, in effect, they will not be providing any small scale funding. I tried talking to them about it this morning, but unfortunately the relevant person was away from her desk, but I imagine the reason for cutting the grants is (a) they're getting too many applications and the success rates are plummeting, (b) what they have been funding has tended to be incremental and not paradigm shifting, and (c) universities should be funding it anyway.

Well, up to a point, Lord Cooper. I would suggest, in response, that (a) if you're getting too many applications, it's a sign of popularity, of a scheme that the sector actually wants. How about putting more money towards it and away from the flashy large scale schemes? (b) okay, it's small scale by nature, but then, sometimes research does progress in small increments, and current breakthroughs build on previous knowledge, and (c) universities have the cash?? Ha!

However, something tells me that NERC aren't going to backtrack on the decision, especially when all their sister funders are doing the same. So we need to work in the changed climate. If you want to apply for funding for a small project get in touch with me and I'll help you identify other possible sources of funding, or how to frame your project in such a way that it could fit within NERC's Standard Grants scheme.

New Interim NERC Boss

With Alan Thorpe's imminent move to the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts on 1 July, NERC has announced that Dr Steven Wilson will be caretaker boss whilst they recruit for a permanent replacement.

Looking at Steven Wilson's potted biography on the NERC press release, he looks to be a NERC journeyman. He's been there for 13 years, in various different, shifting roles. Which is quite something, given he looks to be about 12 in the accompanying photo. He was most recently Director, Strategy & Partnerships, with responsibility for developing and implementing the NERC Science & Innovation Strategy. Prior to that he was at the Met Office. Given their - ahem - 'patchy' ability to forecast 'barbecue summers', let's hope he has a better eye for predicting (and coping with) the stormy funding weather ahead.

ERC Success Rates

Interesting stats from UKRO on the ERC Starting (StG) and Advance (AdG) Grants. There's now been three complete calls for each scheme, and UKRO's statistics show how the success rate for both StG and AdG has risen:

• Starting Grants: 3.3% (2007-8) to 14.9 (2009-10)
• Advanced Grants: 12.7% (2007-08) to 13.2% (2009-10)

Interestingly, the success rates for Grants hosted at UK HEIs is higher than the European average for StG (17.3%), but only marginally so for AdG (13.6%).

Now compare these figures with those published by the ESRC in their Demand Management Consultation Paper on the recent success rates for all the UK Research Councils:

• AHRC: 16%
• ESRC: 17% (small and standard grants combined)
• MRC: 19%
• BBSRC: 22%
• NERC: 24%
• EPSRC: 30% (following the introduction of its blacklisting procedure)
• STFC: 53%

So the ERC success rates aren't a million miles away from the bottom three Research Councils - and the UK Starting Grants are actually the same or better than the AHRC and ESRC. No wonder the ESRC is making moves to introduce demand management measures, and the AHRC is following fast in its footsteps.

'Newton Scholarships' amongst the First Victims of the Cuts

The Treasury has issued a statement detailing a number of projects that will face the axe under the new austerity regime. From a funding perspective this includes the Newton Scholarships, which were introduced by Peter Mandelson to encourage overseas postgrads to come to the UK. The Newton Fellowships will continue to be funded.
The Dept of Health's Health Research Initiative will also go, as will the University Enterprise Capital Fund.
However, there is some good news: BIS has also announced a series of projects which will be saved from the chop, including the NERC Discovery Ship and the International Space Innovation Centre in Harwell.

NERC Announces Change to July Deadline

NERC have announced that their 1 July closing date for standard, consortium and partnership proposals has been moved forward to 10 June, for 2010 only. This is due to them moving to use the RCUK Shared Service Centre (SSC). More detail in the press release here.

NERC Set New Limit for New Investigator Awards

NERC have scrapped the slightly torturous 'no overall limit, but a limit for directly incurred costs' for their New Investigator Awards. Previously, they had set a limit for the direct costs of £40k. Now, there is a limit of £100k overall. Jim Aland, Research Grants Team Leader at the Council confirmed that the move was aimed at bringing NERC into line with the other councils, and also because applicants had tended to pitch their applications slightly low. He said that on average applicants had asked for around £80k in the past. The new limit gave a clearer indication of how much they could apply for.

NERC Call for Peer Review Panellists

If your research falls within the remit of NERC, consider putting yourself forward as a peer review panellist. I've said it elsewhere on this blog, but I would always encourage academics to get involved with the funders: it's good for your profile, but it's also good to get an insight into how the funders work. More details of the call is available here.

Become a Research Council Member

A call's been announced for the annual round of appointments to the Research Councils. This round usually commences in October and takes place in two parts. BBSRC, EPSRC, MRC and STFC first, followed by AHRC, NERC and ESRC slightly later. This round may be supplemented by competitions for individual or groups of posts as necessary.
All appointments are initially for a period of up to four years, and members are eligible for re-appointment for a further period of up to four years. Members of Council are part-time and are expected to spend some 20 days each year on Council business. An annual honorarium of £6,740 is paid to council members and £8,970 is paid to members who chair boards.
I'd encourage all senior staff to consider applying; as I've said before, involvement with the Councils is incredibly valuable not only for raising your profile (and that of the University), but also for gaining an insight into the way the Councils work. More details of the call, specification, and forms are available here.

Impact Not Clunky, Says New RCUK Chief

In a story that neatly ties together three previous posts on this blog, the newly appointed Chair of RCUK has fired back at David Willett's criticism of Impact assessment as 'clunky'. Alan Thorpe, Chief Executive of NERC, launching the RCUK Framework, robustly countered Willett's criticism. “I don’t think it’s at all clunky to be articulate in describing the really excellent and inspirational impacts that research has and I can’t imagine why it would be anything other than a good thing to celebrate that.”

He went on to recognise the difficult times ahead. "[Thorpe's predecessor] Ian Diamond really advanced the coming together of the missions and activities under this RCUK framework umbrella, but it was at a time when there was strong increasing investment in the research budget. I’m coming in at a time when we’re absolutely clear about the RCUK agenda but we’re looking at a much more uncertain future.”