Autumn Newsletter Out Now

Right! Time to stop whatever you're doing, and make for the newstands: the autumn edition of our newsletter, ResearchActive, is out.

It's a bumper edition this term, and includes:

• details of the shiny new Peer Review system that was launched at the beginning of October;
• a snapshot of selection of recent awards;
• information about the new Grants Factory programme;
• all the funding gossip from Brussels and Swindon;
• an overview of the research interests of the 25 new academics who have joined the University recently;
• pass notes on the REF;
• contact details for everyone in Research Services.

So check your pigeon holes, and drop me a line if that familiar yellow pamphlet isn't there; I'll send you a pdf of it by return.

Keepers of the Keys

I went along to 'the Athens of the South South West' (Swindon) on Tuesday for an ESRC Study Visit. Such events are always - inevitably - a bit of a curate's egg: a lot of known and/or irrelevant information, peppered with some gems which make the whole thing worth the three hour cross-country schlep.

For me, one of the most useful insights was the issue of 'introducers' rejections'. As I'm sure you know, when you submit an application to the ESRC it doesn't go straight to panel. It goes through a sifting process, including:

• Office sift: roughly 10% of applications get rejected at this stage on technicalities, such as not having the right attachments, sections not being filled, format not being adhered to, etc;
• Reviewers' sift: roughly 30% get rejected at this stage. If the reviewers identify substantial flaws, and grade the applications accordingly;
• Introducers' sift: I think this has been in place for some time, but I hadn't realised the scale of it before now. Each application is allocated to two introducers, who will have the responsibility of introducing the application to the panel. However, they can reject applications before they get to panel if they think that, realistically, they don't stand any real chance of getting funding, and it would be wasting the panel's time to discuss them.

The ESRC said that, after these sifts, they would only expect 30% of applications to go to panel. Given this figure, it looks like the introducers are expected to strip out 30% of the applications. That's quite a substantial figure.

In practice I imagine that this is fairly straightforward. There will be obvious applications that don't have anything wrong with them, but are never going to fly. However, it does make me worry slightly that the responsibility for identifying these is bestowed on so few people. Given how 'political' sub disciplines can be, what happens if your application is sifted out be someone who disagrees with your work, rather than allowing a wider range of views to input?

Anyway, the lesson to take away from this is to look at the grants panel membership (pdf) and try and identify the two people who are likely to be the introducers. Do a bit of background research on them and their interests, and try to key your proposal in with what makes them tick. They are the keepers of the keys to the kingdom - or at least to the grants panel.

AHRC Joins Stable Mates in DisneyWorld South West

I should have mentioned this earlier, but the AHRC has completed its move to Death Star Avenue - sorry, North Star Avenue - to join the other Research Councils in Polaris House. Ah, Swindon, home of roundabouts, the swimming centre after which Oasis were named, and the Great Western Railway.

As if these attractions weren't enough, word is that staff are being offered generous travel allowances for up to three years to sugar the pill of having to commute from Bristol. But surely staff should be paying the AHRC for the privilege of working somewhere this good? After all, it's not many places that can claim to be a home from home for Mickey and co.

So, if you want to contact the AHRC from now on, here's their new contact details:

AHRC
Polaris House
North Star Avenue
Swindon SN2 1FL
Tel: 01793 41 6000
Email: enquiries@ahrc.ac.uk

MRC Move to Swindon - Sort Of

It's been announced that the bulk of the MRC's operations will move to Swindon to join its sister councils in Polaris House. However, it's reluctant to abandon London completely, and, whilst it will move out of its Portland Place residence, it will find alternative accommodation in the capital for 90 or so staff dealing with 'science strategy and policy, high-level management of the council's portfolio and funding partnerships.'

The MRC has justified this split by saying that it needs a London base 'to bouild on our collaboration with our partners such as the National Institute for Health Research, as well as providing a London location for use across the research councils.'