How Does the Coronavirus Lockdown Affect Funding Applications?

Most funders are aiming to keep open
for business as usual - so get typing.
(Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash)

Every part of our lives has been affected by the current lockdown to tackle the Covid-19 outbreak, and the world of research funding is no exception. Some funders are postponing the deadlines for some or all of their schemes, while others are trying to continue as normal. Here we summarise what we know so far.

The Inside Track on Applying to Leverhulme

Sunlight soap: the beginning of it all (photo: Øklands trykksaker CC BY 2.0)

Academics love the Leverhulme Trust. Other funders may be bigger, or bolder, or more ambitious. But Leverhulme seems to sing the song that academics want to hear. It funds blue skies research without the layers of political varnish. Your work doesn’t have to fit a particular discipline. It doesn’t have to be a collaboration. You don’t have to link with industry, or focus on capacity building.

For Leverhulme, it’s the research, stupid. It funds curiosity-driven research that reflects an individual vision. It disregards disciplinary boundaries. It can take risks. It can fail.

No wonder academics love it.

But what makes it tick? What is it looking for? How does it assess applications? And what are your chances of being funded?

Figures behind the Figures: Prof Paul Allain

Each term I feature a different Kent award winner in the Research Services newsletter, looking at their research and discussing their career path and funding track record. Earlier in the year I featured Prof John Batchelor. Dr This time the spotlight falls on Prof Paul Allain in the School of Arts.  

Few can say that they cut their research teeth by slipping under the Berlin Wall in the 1980s to join a Polish theatre group travelling to the provinces to perform. But Paul Allain, Professor of Theatre and Performance, did just that.

He had been a jobbing actor in London, but had signed up to do a PhD at Goldsmiths to explore the physical performance styles for which Polish theatre was known at the time. He subsequently worked as a movement director, using knowledge gained from his training with actors such as Jude Law and Simon Russell Beale.

Figures behind the Figures: Dr Natalia Sobrevilla Perea

Each term I feature a different Kent award winner in the Research Services newsletter, looking at their research and discussing their career path and funding track record. I thought it would be worth adding these to the Blog. In February I featured Prof Adrian Podoleanu; today the spotlight falls on Dr Natalia Sobrevilla Perea, Reader in Hispanic Studies in the School of European Culture and Languages.

Dr Natalia Sobrevilla Perea

When I showed Dr Natalia Sobrevilla Perea a list of her applications and awards over the last seven years, she seemed genuinely shocked. ‘I’d forgotten about some of these,’ she said as she looked down the list, ‘but it does show that perseverance pays off.’

And how. Natalia, a Reader in Hispanic Studies, has put in 11 applications and got five awards, totalling almost £100,000. Her first two applications were unsuccessful, but she never gave up. ‘I had in mind a larger project, and submitted a series of applications to allow me to explore different facets of it.’

Her research, she laughingly admits, is focussed on an area ‘that nobody cares about’: nineteenth century Peru. The secret of her success has been her ability to ‘translate’ her interest to those outside the area, and demonstrate its relevance to wider history, policy, and culture. It’s a crucial skill for anyone putting together a funding application.

Leverhulme Fellowships: Notes from a Panellist

Prof Davina Cooper

Last week we ran a Grants Factory session on Leverhulme Trust Fellowships. Prof Davina Cooper from Kent Law School offered some thoughts from her time on the Research Awards Advisory Committee which administers a number of Leverhulme’s fellowship schemes, and my colleague Brian Lingley provided some notes from the session below. 

Picking Winners

Lord Leverhulme: the choice is yours.

On 10 December 2014 The Leverhulme Trust announced a new centres scheme. “A major new initiative,” gushed the press release, “representing a commitment of up to £10m over 10 years for each centre”.

The sting came in the tail. “Each UK university will be permitted to make one bid as the principal applicant institution.” My heart sank. Of course I could see why Leverhulme wanted to limit the number of applications it received, but I knew that managing the demand within the university would mean treading carefully, being scrupulously fair—and answering lots and lots of emails.

Winter Newsletter Available

It's like this, but sickly yellow.

Tube strikes and gale force storms. Syrian negotiations and the Winter Olympics. Longer school days and higher/lower rates of tax. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Satya Nadella, Kevin Pietersen.

None of these feature in this term's newsletter. Call us narrow minded, blinkered and agenda-driven, but instead we're focusing on research-related issues relating to the University of Kent. So, for instance, we've got details of the new PVC Research & Enterprise, Prof Philippe De Wilde; we've got a full listing of awards over the last three months, with a breakdown by faculty and funder; we've got updates on Eastern ARC and the REF. We've got the latest from the world of ethics and governance. We've got notes from the visit of the Director of the Leverhulme Trust.

In fact, if you haven't received your copy and read it cover to cover, you'll be woefully ill-informed. Get in touch if there isn't a garish golden glow in your pigeon hole. Alternatively, a pdf of the latest edition, together with back copies, are available on the Research Services website.

Notes from Leverhulme Visit, October 2013

A Soap Opera: the source of the Leverhulme millions

The new Director of the Leverhulme Trust, Prof Gordon Marshall, visited the University last week. Whilst we've had visits from his predecessor, Prof Sir Richard Brook, and I've heard Marshall speaking at the LSE, this was the first time he's come to Kent. Anticipation was high, and was shown in the strong turnout: there was standing room only at the back.

Gordon Marshall is a sociologist by training, and has had a long and illustrious career in senior management within higher education. He taught at Bath, Essex and the LSE, was Chief Executive of the ESRC and VC at Reading. After climbing to these dizzy heights, Marshall is enjoying life at the helm of what he described as a 'small peer review shop off Fleet Street'.

The Trust gives out less than half the value of awards of the ESRC (£80m, compared to some £200m), but processes four times as many applications (4,000 pa, compared to the ESRC's 800). Moreover, it does so with just 14 people, compared to the ESRC's 125. With such a small team, 'we can't generate much bureaucracy', said Marshall.

96% of their awards are responsive mode. The exception are the Programme Grants, which offer substantial funding (up to £1.75m) in areas identified by the Trustees. The disciplinary distribution of awards generally follows applications: they get more science applications, so tend to give out more science awards. The divide is roughly as follows:

• Sciences: 50%
• Humanities: 30%
• Social Sciences: 20%

 However, these figures should be treated with caution: Leverhulme encourages interdisciplinary work, so its sometimes hard to pin down exactly which discipline any project belongs to.

The Trust does not 'manage demand', as many of the Research Councils have had to do. 'If your quality is acceptable we fund you,' said Marshall. Whilst the Trustees have the ultimate say on who gets funded, they rely for advice on reviews and on a small group of academic advisors. The Trustees, claimed Marshall, 'were the last group of people in the country who have respect for the academy'. They recognised the worth of good research, and wanted to fund it. In terms of what shape this should take, Leverhulme was very open. It covers all disciplines except:

• clinical medical research (which is already well covered by Wellcome); 
• policy-driven research, which should be funded by the Government;
• 'advocacy' projects;
• those with immediate commercial applications, which should be funded by industry.

The Trust wanted to fund the best, but didn't want to be in competition with the Research Councils or, worse still, be the 'funder of last resort' for those who have already tried the Research Councils. However, if your work is exciting, ground-breaking and robust, but can't get funding with the Research Councils (perhaps because you're emeritus, or you're seeking studentships, or the project's too risky, or too interdisciplinary), then the Trust would be interested.

Marshall finished by highlighting some common failings of unsuccessful applications. These included:

• An overly detailed review of the literature. Whilst the Trustees need some context, you should concentrate on the specifics of what you are actually going to do. This leads on to the second failing:
• Under specified research design;
• Claims of scholarship. Leverhulme isn't interested in H-Index, REF scores, or any other indication of prestige. They look solely at the potential of the project and your ability to undertake the research;
• Supposition of a hidden agenda. There is no agenda. Leverhulme just wants to fund the best research, wherever it is found;
• Incremental work. They don't provide funding for 'empire building', or work that doesn't lead to a step change in understanding. Excite them.
• Claims of impact. They have no interest in this agenda.

I will make a recording of his talk and Marshall's slides available on the Research Services website shortly. If you would like me to email these to you, drop me a line.

Visit by Director of Leverhulme Trust: 9 Oct

Prof Gordon Marshall

The new Director of the Leverhulme Trust, Prof GordonMarshall, will be visiting the University on 9 October.

Leverhulme Programme Event at Kent

Lord Leverhulme.
With a tie. Knotted.

Each year Leverhulme announces two areas of interest for which it will provide grants of up to 1.75m. It only funds two grants. This year the topics are:

• The Nature of Knots
• Innovation for Sustainable Living.

These are intended to be interpreted broadly, but more detail is provided on Leverhulme's website, here. Whilst Leverhulme do not set a limit on the number of applications per university, the small number of grants awarded would suggest that we do not put huge effort into a large number of applications.

With this in mind it would make sense for anyone interested to get together to meet others, talk about their work, and see what mileage there is collaboration inside or outside the University.

To this end we will be will be holding a meeting at 12:30pm on 18 March in Woolf Seminar Room 5. Come along if you want to find out more about the Leverhulme Programme Grants, and to hear from a previous applicant about what was involved.

First Impressions of the New Leverhulme Director

My colleagues at LSE kindly invited me along to listen to the new Director of the Leverhulme Trust speaking to them at lunchtime today. I wasn’t sure what to expect: I’d always been impressed with his predecessor, Prof Sir Richard Brook. He was reassuringly old school, with a glimmer of mischief in his eye. He was the perfect advocate for Leverhulme: enthusiastic, sharp, engaged, and fiercely supportive of the work of the Trust. It was a tough act to follow.

Moreover, the fact that Prof Gordon Marshall had been a Vice Chancellor worried me. You see, VCs have a characteristic desire to imprint their leadership on the organisations they steer. They reorganise, realign. Priorities are shifted, sections amalgamated, faculties split - whether it's necessary or not. Was Marshall intending to do something similar to Leverhulme?

The answer – on the evidence of this talk – was no. In fact I got the sense that Marshall was relishing the refuge that the Trust offered from the wild tornadoes and bleak arctic winds of the current funding environment. There was no need for Leverhulme to go chasing the latest political fad, or hound award holders to demonstrate social or economic relevance. Its only concern, said Marshall, ‘is to increase the sum of human knowledge. It may sound corny, but it’s true.’

And, if your experiments don’t work, or your research goes off piste, then Leverhulme will still be on your side. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ said Marshall. You will have still learnt something. The Trust was the only funder ‘to score risk positively’.

Marshall tried to encapsulate the Trust’s aims in a simple sentence. ‘Tell us (in plain language) what research you want to do, and why it is compelling, and if that sounds persuasive then we will try to fund the work.’

‘I can’t decide whether we’re just very old fashioned, or the last honourable man standing’, concluded Marshall. We clapped, and I came away from the talk reassured that this idiosyncratic funder was in safe hands. Please don't disappoint me, Gordon.

Leverhulme Bankrolls the BA Small Grants Scheme

Great news from the Mayfair Gentlemen's Club that is the BA HQ. As you will remember, the BA scrapped, and then reinstated, their Small Grants scheme. However, there was still some uncertainty hanging over the scheme: when I spoke to them at the time they said that they would make 'strong representations and arguments' to BIS to continue it.

Now Leverhulme has come riding over the horizon with a fistful of dollars. They are going to pump £1.5m into the scheme over the next three years. Adam Golberg at Nottingham has done more analysis of what this will mean in practice, and he reckons that it will be an extra 67 or so funded projects.

It remains to be seen whether the scheme will continue indefinitely, and what the success rate will be when the scheme reopens in the open. But in the meantime let's just thank Leverhulme for recognising the worth of small scale funding as an investment in the future.

ESRC Launches Future Leaders Scheme

The ESRC has officially launched its Future Leaders scheme. This scheme was announced in the Council's Delivery Plan in December, and discussed at the London workshop and regional events.

The scheme will use a two part application process, which suggests that the ESRC expects a high number of applications, despite limiting the eligibility to less those with less than four years experience since their PhD (measured as the thesis submission date). This might be a narrow window, but the view's far-reaching (if you'll excuse the tortured metaphor): it's open to people from anywhere in the world, as long as they've got the support of a UK institution.

You can apply for up to £215k (100% fEC - or £172k at 80% fEC, which is what they'll actually give you), for support for up to three years. They aim to fund 70 awards. The deadline for applications is 15 September 2011.

So what will a successful FL project look like? Well, you'll need to have the following:

• a mentor 'of high international research standing';
• a programme of research skills development;
• a programme of knowledge exchange skills development;
• plans for maximising potential impact, and a 'clear strategy to build relationships and networks with potential beneficiaries and users';

In terms of the type of research they want, it's open, but they're keen on:

• research proposals involving secondary analysis of existing datasets and the application of innovative research methods;
  
• inter/multidisciplinary working both within and beyond the social sciences;
• international working;
• strong impact.

That's not much to ask, is it? So really, it's an international multidisciplinary analysis of existing datasets involving end users, or nothing. Get your thinking caps on.

Proposals will be assessed using the following criteria:

• Originality;
• Academic potential of applicant;
• Research design and methods;
• Collaborations;
• Outputs and dissemination;
• Knowledge exchange, including impact plans;
• Organisational support, including mentor, and commitment of organisation to applicant's career development.

Finally, from what I understand they're not so much looking for applications from established academics, but more from those hoping to enter the profession with the potential to be 4* researchers, who will move into a permanent position when the grant finishes. In addition they expect the applicant's salary to be (at least 40%) match funded by the host university. So in essence it's a little like a combination between the RCUK's erstwhile Academic Fellowships, and the Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships.

ResearchActive Newsletter: Summer Edition Available

The summer edition of the Research Services Newsletter, ResearchActive, is now available. A hard copy has been sent to all staff, but if you've not received it do get in touch and we can send you an electronic version. It's a bumper six pager this term, and includes:

• Details of the University's new Internal Peer Review system;
• Information on the research interests of new staff;
• Highlights of some recent awards;
• REF update;
• Changes to RCUK equipment costs;
• Details of how we use the data that EPSRC sends us on 'blacklisting';
• Notes from the Leverhulme visit, and Grants Factory events;
• and, of course, some choice cuts from the Blog.

Get it while it's hot!

Leverhulme: Volleyball, Pulp Fiction, and Cars

Over at Leverhulme there's been a (minor) shakeup of the Trustees. As you may remember, the Trustees play an important part in deciding which projects get the funding, so it's worth taking a little time to understand who the Trustees are, and what their interests might be. Of course, you can't necessarily play to them but it's worth knowing your audience.

So here are the changes in full. After the death of the Chairman, Sir Michael Angus, last year, Michael Perry ('he has a ruddy face, a strong nose, small eyes and a gently self-deprecating sense of humour that at times can make you feel like you are taking tea with a tense bishop,' muses Management Today) has stepped up to the plate to be chairman, and the Board has been added to with:

• Rudy Markham, a philosopher-king, who tells the FT: “You are one of the few people who can work out where the ship is, because you can read maps, triangulate positions and work out what happens if the ship goes faster or slower. You’re not responsible for the ship, but all that knowledge is useless if you can’t convey to the captain that if you continue at this speed you’ll run out of fuel or hit the rocks."
• Paul Polman: enjoys mountaineering, volleyball and classic car racing. Though not at the same time.
• Stephen Williams: likes 'contemporary art, professional football, pulp fiction or vulgar automobiles'. You can imagine the pre-meeting chats he and Paul have.

There’s also a new Director taking over from Richard Brook. Gordon Marshall, for it is he, is VC at Reading, and will be taking over in October. His background is in the social sciences, and in particular social exclusion, equality of opportunity, distributive justice and the culture of economic enterprise. We've no detail of his interest in cars, vulgar, classic or otherwise, but we'll keep you posted.

So if you've got a project looking at the distributive justice in the crime novels of Sara Paretsky, which involve VI Warshawski driving a muscle car, Steve and Gordo will be on your side and you're well on the way to getting that grant.

Notes from Leverhulme Visit

There was a good turnout in the Senate yesterday to listen to a talk by Prof Sir Richard Brook, Director of the Leverhulme Trust. He was an engaging speaker, and his talk stimulated a good discussion around the philosophy and function of the Trust.

The Leverhulme Trust was founded on a bequest left by the soap baron and founder of the Lever Bros, Lord Leverhulme, in 1925. It had a simple remit to provide ‘scholarships for education and research.’ This has been interpreted broadly since then, and it provides about £50m worth of funding per year for people (rather than infrastructure and equipment) across the sciences, social sciences and humanities.

The Trust Board is the most important body within the Trust. It decides on policy, but it also decides on who gets the awards. So it’s worth spending a little time on understanding its membership and thinking. It is made of ex-Unilever employees, almost all of whom have been the CEO of the company. They are not academics, and many don’t have a background in the UK. So they’re straight talking, straight acting businessmen, often with an international background. With this in mind, the Board should be viewed as:

• Generalist: They don’t understand your discipline. Unless it’s business, of course, in which case you should be very, very careful...
• Decisive: these are businessmen. Don’t flannel. Tell it like it is. And they’ll tell you if they think you’re worth backing.
• Resistive to fashion: don’t bang on about impact, or the REF, or how your research fits with whatever government initiative. It won’t wash. They don’t care.
  

What they do like are projects which have:

• Originality;
• Forward significance;
• Lateral significance (i.e. significance for other disciplines);
• Risk.
  

In addition, the icing on the cake would be:

• A clear individual vision;
• An apparent fresh direction;
• An unawareness of traditional disciplinary boundaries.
  

And whatever you do, make sure your project avoids:

• ‘empire sustenance’: I’ve been ploughing this furrow for the last 30 years, I’ve got a lab of 20 people dependent on me, and this project will sustain them.’ No.
• ‘initiative sustenance’: just because your area has been dropped as a priority by another funder, it doesn’t mean that Leverhulme will be interested.
  

What they’re completely bored with are applicants who:

• Make a claim to status entirely in metrics (eg how many 4* publications, which journals, which award, on which panel etc)
• Think there’s some kind of hidden agenda. Really, there isn’t.
• Talk in jargon. Remember, they’re non-academic generalists.
  

Sir Richard made it clear that Leverhulme was refereshingly unfettered by the political demands of government, and that it ‘tries to avoid rules’. Above all, it wants to fund interesting research that has the potential to make a difference to the individual, to their discipline, and to others more broadly. To this end it doesn’t so much encourage interdisciplinary research as research that is blind to subject distinctions – what he called a ‘disdain for disciplinary boundaries.’

You could almost hear the collective release of breath from those in the room. At last! A funder with the imagination and freedom to fund what they want, untethered from the policy fashions du jour.

If you want to find out more about Leverhulme and its schemes, or would like help with putting together an application, do get in touch.

Leverhulme Visit: Programme Announced

More details are available about the programme for the visit on Monday 4 April by Professor Sir Richard Brook, Director of the Leverhulme Trust.

Professor Brook is a materials scientist whose career has included Chairs at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford, Director of the Max Planck Institute and Chief Executive of the EPSRC before joining the Leverhulme Trust in 2001.

There are two parts to the day: first, a series of talks by Kent award holders that highlight both the international reach of Leverhulme, and a specific area of interest (i.e. understanding the past). They also demonstrate the range of funding that the Trust offers. The second part is Professor Sir Richard's talk about the work of the Trust. All staff and postgraduate students are welcome to both.

Talks by Kent Award Holders

International Collaborations and Research

• 11.00 – 11.15 Alan Story (KLS) Research Project Grant - ‘The North to South transplantation of copyright laws and values'
• 11.15 – 11.30 Professor Donna Landry (School of English) Study Abroad Fellowship - ‘Hoofprinting: Evliya Çelebi and Lady Anne Blunt’
• 11.30 – 11.45 Professor Sarah Spurgeon (EDA) ‘Visiting Professorship for Professor Utkin’
  

Understanding the Past

• 11.45 – 12.00 Professor Ray Laurence (SECL) Research Project Grant - ‘Age and communications in the Roman Empire’
• 12.00 – 12.15 Professor Alan Chadwick (SPS) Emeritus Professorship - ‘Nanoparticles as agents in conservation’
  

Talk by Professor Sir Richard Brook

• 13.15 – 14.30, in the Senate Chamber

If you haven’t already contacted Lynne Bennett, please let her know if you intend coming along to either the award holder talks or the talk by Richard Brook (or both) so that she can get an idea of numbers.

Visit by Director of Leverhulme Trust

Professor Sir Richard Brook, Director of the Leverhulme Trust, will be visiting the University on Monday 4 April. Although the final timings for the programme are yet to be finalised, we are expecting him to give his talk to University staff at about 1.15pm in the Senate Chamber (J12 on this map). There will also be a series of brief talks by Leverhulme award holders from 11.00am (also in the Senate Chamber) – again the programme has yet to be finalised.

My colleague Lynne Bennett will circulate the final programme once it is available. Please let her know if you intend coming along to either the award holder talks or the talk by Richard Brook (or both) so that she can get an idea of numbers.

The picture's not Richard Brook, in case you were wondering...it's the man on whom the Leverhulme Trust is built, William Lever, the 1st Viscount Leverhulme himself.

Shiny New Leverhulme Website

Leverhulme have redesigned their website. Hurrah! Anyone who's tried to find info on their funding schemes will breathe a sigh of relief at the cursed drop down menu finally being - well - dropped. The redesign's not too radical, but does make for clearer browsing. Bear in mind that the 'Note from the Director', which laid out the funding criteria for the Trust, has now been deleted, and instead the info is all here. Do make sure you read this if you're thinking of applying to Leverhulme, and make sure you're clear as to why you're applying to them rather than to one of the research councils. Somehow I think that 'well, the ESRC's run out of money' just won't cut it...

Leverhulme: Imminent Change to Electronic Submission System

From 14 July 2010 the Leverhulme Trust will be launching a new online application system for outline applications for the following schemes: Research Project Grants, International Networks and Artists in Residence.
The current system will shut down at 4pm on 30 June 2010. If you are in the process of preparing an outline application, or intend to start you should SUBMIT your application by this date. Any information entered and not submitted before this date will be lost and applicants should use the new system after 14 July.