Singing a New Aria

Last week we learnt a little more about the UK’s Arpa-style research organisation, the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria).

A Rough Guide to Mentoring

What's the point of a research consortium? It's a tough, existential question to face on a snowy, February day, but a valid one. 

When I started as Director of Eastern Arc, the regional research consortium comprising the universities of East Anglia, Essex and Kent, I looked around at the other consortia across the UK. I managed to find at least 12, all with different raisons d'etre. For some it was to share equipment, for others it was to facilitate engagement with industry, and others it was to provide a framework for doctoral training. 

For me, it was broader than that. In the words of the ill-fated 'remain' campaign, it enables members to be 'stronger together,' to share knowledge and expertise and to find areas where they can work to support each other. 

However, it also allows us to think differently about how we work. Higher education in the UK has become increasingly marketised, and we are forced into competition more often than collaboration. Consortia run counter to that, and they enable us to find the commonalities from which we jointly benefit.

Horizon Scan 2021

What does the future hold?
Close your eyes and hold on tight...
Photo by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash

Each year Research Professional invites me to look to the year ahead and try and predict what's on the cards in the world of research funding. Inevitably I get it wrong. But will 2021 be the year I'm spot on? Well, it's only January and I've already missed an insurrection in America and a second impeachment of the President. My crystal ball is as hazy as ever...

Fundermentals Top 5 2020

2020: Another year 'we'd all rather forget'
Photo by ANIRUDH on Unsplash

Last year I started my annual round up of the most popular posts on Fundermentals with the words 'it's been quite a year. One, I think, that we'd all rather forget.'

After 2020, the previous year feels positively halcyon. The pandemic has changed everything, and we've all had to adjust to a new way of working, living and relaxing. As we start 2021 even the idea of going to an office or a cafe feels positively exotic. 

Given the changes we've had to adapt to, I've had less opportunity to post frequently, so this year's round up is more svelte, limiting itself to the top five. Still, it's not about the quantity but the quality, and 2020 saw some of the finest, well-crafted and frankly world-changing articles. So sit back, try not to think about the world outside, and enjoy looking back at another year 'we'd all rather forget.' 

Kicking the Tyres of Wellcome's New Strategy

Where it all began: Henry Wellcome. And his 'tache
(image: Wellcome Collection CC BY 4.0)

The Wellcome Trust has published its new strategy, but is it meaningful and, if so, what does it tell us about the charity's direction of travel? We kick the metaphorical tyres to see if it's a goer. 

Globally Challenged: the future of ODA funding

Photo by Annie Spratt 

These are uncertain times for those undertaking work with colleagues in the global south. After five years of significant investment through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and the Newton Fund, there’s a cooler wind blowing through the official development assistance (ODA) landscape. 

The Funnel of Love

 Funnelling grant success
(photo: Sergio Mena Ferreira on Unsplash)

Although larger universities get the majority of research funding, their success rates are no better than that of smaller ones. What makes the difference is the culture and expectations at each.

Levelling up the regions

 

Great Yarmouth (photo: John Fielding)

There's been a lot of talk about 'levelling-up' the regions. As Bono once said, 'maybe, maybe too much talk.' It was there in last year's election, and it was prominent in the recent R&D Roadmap. 

Not surprisingly, this is an issue that affects the regional research consortium that I direct: Eastern Arc. Eastern Arc is in a slightly odd position when compared to consortia in other regions: it's in the 'rich' East/South East. Therefore, it follows, there's no reason to level up our region. If anything, it should be levelled down. 

But the narrative of being a 'rich' area of the UK is misleading.

Seven Key Messages in the R&D Roadmap

The R&D Roadmap gives the nation's researchers and innovators an indication of where the government wants to invest over the next few years. Here are seven key messages to take from the proposals.

‘There's too much f**king perspective now’:

Working - with friend. Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash

I wrote this article for the Arma magazine, The Protagonist, in March, at the beginning of the lockdown. Three months on and the shock of adjustment has softened somewhat, but the advice still stands. The Canadian government's wrote that you're not 'working from home', but rather 'at home, during a crisis, trying to work'. It's a subtle but important difference, and one I try to convey in this piece. 

Changing a Toxic Research Culture

In January the Wellcome Trust published a report highlighting the ‘toxic environment’ in which much research is undertaken. Many of its findings pointed the finger at the funding structure that underpins it.

Beyond the Horizon

The long goodbye

With the UK due to leave the European Union on 31 January 2020, what’s ahead for international research funding for UK researchers? 

Horizon Scan: Research Funding in 2020

2020: all eyes to the horizon

What does 2020 hold in store for those working in the world of research funding? Here's what's on the horizon in the months ahead.
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Arc Welding

Arc welding (Photo by Pete Wright on Unsplash)

So today I start a new job. I'm taking on the role of Director of Eastern Arc.

If you've not come across Eastern Arc before, there's more on this regional consortium below. I'm really excited to be taking up this new challenge, and I think there's huge potential in this collaboation of three radical universities, born in a time of optimism and change, which form an arc across the outward facing prow of the UK.

Before I step up to this prow, I wanted a moment to take stock and share eight things I've learnt from my time in supporting academics with their proposals.

Fundermentals Top Ten 2018

A confused smorgasbord of wonder (photo: Max Pixel CC0)

Every year we make a list, check it twice, and work out who's been naughty and nice. Or at least most read. Which amounts to the same thing, right? 

If you're curious about what was tippermost of the toppermost in previous years, here's the list from 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014. Before that, well, you're on your own. 

Here's the lowdown on which articles were most read on Fundermentals this year.

EPSRC's 'Concept Auditions'

'Heeelllooo Swindoooon!'
Photo by James Barr on Unsplash

Last year EPSRC launched a scheme for which applicants had to sign up for a 'concept audition'. What's going on? 

What You Need to Know: How other Countries Assess Research

Two ends of the South African research assessment scale: kak and lekker.
Photo by Greg Bakker on Unsplash

In the UK the REF has become an unavoidable feature of the research landscape. But how do other countries assess research? We look at one example - South Africa - and their very different solution to the same challenge.

The Breathless Pursuit of Excellence

'Excellence of physique': soon to be a REF category
(Image: Wellcome CC BY)

The rhetoric of excellence has become all pervasive in higher education and beyond. We all aspire to excellence, but what does it actually mean? It's become an empty phrase that can mean anything to anyone - and that's its appeal.

What's on the Horizon?

Cue 'Ode to Joy' (photo: Phil Ward)

A proposal for Horizon Europe, the successor to Horizon 2020, is due to be published on 7 June 2018. However there have been plenty of hints, suggestions and straightforward leaks already, and the current plan is the worst kept secret ever. So what do we know so far? Well, unless there are significant changes in the next couple of weeks, here are the seven take home points.

What You Need to Know: the UKRI Strategic Prospectus

You will have read the Boiled down Basics on the Prospectus, but what’s it really about? Here are the seven take home points.

What the public wants: jetpacks, and lots of them
(photo: Samuel Johnson)