A Wellcome Visit

The Wellcome Trust will be visiting the University on July 8th 2011. They will discuss their biomedical funding schemes, including the New Investigator Awards, and their vision for UK funding.

The agenda is as follows:

• 11 – 12 Talk (BLT1, Stacey Building)
• 12 – 1 Lunch (Howard Rogers Room, Ingram Building)
• 1 – 3 Individual meetings (Howard Rogers Room, Ingram Building)

Do let my colleague Carolyn Barker know if you would like to attend the talk and/or the lunch, and if you would like to book an individual session with the Wellcome officers.

Wellcome to Introduce Investigator Awards in Humanities

As some of you long term grant watchers will know, Wellcome introduced 'Investigator Awards' in biomedicine some time ago. These were intended to release excellent researchers from the treadmill of having to reapply for project funding. Instead, Wellcome would identify the 'brightest researchers with the best ideas' and give them enough money to keep them going for some time.

Well, now they're rolling out the Awards to the Medical History and Humanities. They plan a May 2011 launch of the Senior/New Investigator schemes in this area, with a Sept 2nd 2011 first round deadline. They're suggesting that there may not need to be a CV check in these disciplines because they anticipate fewer applications. The Awards must be historically-grounded, and driven by historical methodologies.

Elsewhere, they're hoping to (ahem) 'homogenise' the plethora of smaller grant schemes they have in this area, such as research expenses, travel grants, conferences, symposia etc.

So keep an eye on Wellcome's website, and let me (or, more likely, my colleague Lynne Bennett who deals with the Humanities Faculty) know if you're interested in these awards, and we'll update you when more information is available.

Wellcome Announces Details of its New Awards

Wellcome has given details of its new 'Investigator' Awards, that will replace its current project awards. There'll be two types: New Investigator and Senior Investigator. Both provide £100-£425k per year for up to seven years. For the New Investigator Award you need to have less than five years from appointment to your first academic position.
At the point of application, researchers will no longer be expected to provide a detailed methodological description of how their work will be carried out or a line-by-line budget. The application form will ask researchers to outline their research vision, their approach to answering their key research questions and the approximate costs needed.
They say that they do not intend to make a pre-determined number of Investigator Awards per year. If you're unsuccessful the first time, you can apply again, but only after one year (for new investigators) or two years (for senior investigators). Applicants do not need to be already in position at their host institution, but there does need to be a written guarantee by the host.
The first round of applications for Investigator Awards will open on 1 October 2010, with the first awards due to be made in May 2011.More detail, including FAQs, is available here.

More Details of Wellcome's New Scheme Announced

The Wellcome Trust has issued more information on its new Investigator Award scheme, the timetable for it, and how this affects its other schemes.

The following grant schemes will be phased out:

• project grants


• programme grants


• equipment grants


• biomedical resources grants


• technology development grants


• University Awards


• Flexible Travel Awards
  

The schemes managed through their Technology Transfer and Medicine, Society and History divisions are not affected by these changes.

Full details of the Investigator Award application form and process will be available from 2 June 2010. You can then apply between 1 October 2010 onwards and Monday 22 November 2010 for the first round. Applications received after this date will be considered at subsequent funding rounds.
In order to manage an expected high volume of applications during the phasing out of the above schemes and to ensure that each application is given a fair and rigorous assessment, Wellcome will have to limit the number of applications that any applicant may have under consideration at one time during the transition period. You will not, therefore, be able to submit applications for Investigator Awards if you either:

• Are waiting to hear the outcome of an application submitted to a grant scheme that is being phased out;or


• Are currently a programme grant holder and the grant still has more than two years to run.

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.