Inside the Belly of the Beast: How the Peer Review Panel Works in Practice

A Grants Factory Event

Thursday 3 February 2.00-3.00
Cornwallis Seminar Room 5

The next Grants Factory Masterclass will take place on Thursday 3 February. Prof. Mick Tuite (Biosciences) will talk about the role of the Funding Panel. Mick is an experienced panellist with both research councils (BBSRC) and charities (Wellcome). He is also a highly successful applicant and grant holder. In recent years he has been involved in large scale funded projects from the BBSRC, MRC, Wellcome and European Commission.

Whilst he’s a bioscientist, the way funding panels work is common across all disciplines, and you get the same types of people sitting on them, such as:

• Dr ‘Know it all’: has opinions on all the grants, but actually knows very little;
• Dr ‘Methodical’: knows all the fine detail, but unable to make an informed decision;
• Dr ‘Disorganised’: still reading the applications during the meeting;
  

as well as a host of others. Mick will talk about these, and about how panels work in practice. Understanding how panels work, and what makes the panellists tick, is crucial for getting your project funded, so Mick’s talk will be invaluable to those planning or drafting a proposal.

All are welcome, but do let me know if you intend to come along.

STFC: Consultation on Future Grant Options

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) has been reviewing the way it distributes research funding. It now wants to find out what you think of the possible options. These are:

• Option 1: 1-3 year Standard Grants;
• Option 2: Additional 6 year Core Grants. This option would provide a degree of funding stability for key generic “core” staff (technical, engineers, IT and administrative staff);
• Option 3: 5 year Rolling Exploitation Grants alongside Standard Grants (the current system). STFC believe that, with the anticipated cuts and the lack of flexibility this option offers, the level of support/number of grants that could be funded would be at a significantly reduced.
  

The consultation form will be available from here next week and will close at 4pm on 6th September 2010.