Funding your Research SCIRA Fellows Away-Day 25 Nov 09 Dr Steve Taylor (RCS) & Dr Chris Veal (RSS)

1. Funding your ResearchSCIRA Fellows Away-Day 25 Nov 09Dr Steve Taylor (RCS) & Dr Chris Veal (RSS)

2. Major Funders • Research Councils (EPSRC, MRC etc) • National Academies (Royal Society, RAEng) • Charities (Leverhulme, Wellcome Trust etc) • Government agencies (RDAs, TSB etc) • EU (FP7, ERC) • Industry

3. Types of Funding • Responsive mode research grants • Fellowships (ERC Starting Grant, Marie Curie, EPSRC Career Acceleration) • Directed research grants • Travel / Conference • Networks • Equipment • Symposia / Workshops • Capacity Buidling

4. Early-Career Research Grants • EPSRC First Grant Scheme • £125k over 2 yrs. Good success rate. For new academic lecturers (or equivalent) within 36 months of starting their post • Challenging Engineering • Within 10yrs of PhD. Allows individuals to develop their own research groups. • MRC New Investigator Research Grant • £600k over 3 yrs. Between 3 – 10yrs postdoc experience;

5. MRC Discipline specific fellowships Career Development Award Clinical Research Training Fellowship Clinical Scientist Fellowships Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Fellowships NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship Post-Doctoral Fellowship Career Development Fellowships Wellcome Trust Training Fellowships Research Career Development Fellowshipsin Basic Biomedical Science Research Training Fellowships Cancer Research UK Career development Fellowships Clinical Scientist Fellowship Postdoctoral fellowships Population Research Fellowships BBSRC David Phillips Fellowships Research Development Fellowships Daphne Jackson memorial Fellowships Institute Career Path Fellowships Institute Development Fellowships EPSRC EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellowships RAEng/EPSRC Fellowships Royal Academy of Engineering Senior Research Fellowships Research Fellowships Royal Society Industry Fellowships Dorothy Hodgkin University Research Fellowships Wolfson Research Merit Awards STFC Postdoctoral Fellowships Advanced Fellowships Anglo-Australian Observatory Postdoctoral Research Fellowship European Space Agency Fellowships Science and Society Fellowships The Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowships Study Abroad Fellowships Early Career Fellowships Senior Research Fellowships Fellowships

6. Examples • EPSRC CAF • 3 - 10 years postdoc research and/or relevant industrial experience. • Up to 5 years funding • ~ 25 funded each year, 5% success rate • Salary, consumables, PhD, PDRA @80FEC • MRC Career Development Awards • 3 – 6 yrs postdoc experience • Up to 5 yrs • 11 funded, 15% success rate

7. Examples • Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin • For those needing flexible support • Early stage career (1 or 2 postdoc positions) • Up to 4 years funding • 10 funded each year – 2.5% success rate • Salary, consumables (£11k/yr) @80FEC • University Research Fellowships • All areas of the life and physical sciences, including engineering, but excluding clinical medicine. • Early to mid-stage career (1 to 3 postdoc positions) • 5 + 3 yrs • 30 offered - 5% success rate

8. So, what are they looking for? • The Candidate • Individual’s calibre; leadership potential; management capability • The Research • Quality; originality; coherent methodology • Impact • Beneficiaries; engagement • Research Environment • Added value of partners; support from host • Planning and Management • Ability to deliver; risk management; project management

9. ERC Starting Grant • To support researchers at thestart of their independent research career and establishing or consolidating their own independent research team (or research programme) • - ‘starters’, which are applicants who obtained their PhD from two up to six years before the call date; and • - ‘consolidators’, which are applicants who obtained their PhD over six years, but no more than ten years, before the call date. • The topic of the proposal is freely chosen. ERC schemes are investigator-driven. Research is bottom-up, in any field of research. • Up to 5 years in duration, €1.5million ERC contribution • Excellence is the key criterion. • Track record must be exemplary • International experience • Delivery of ground-breaking research with high scholarly (and other) impact

10. Interdisciplinary Research Barriers & Enablers • Time and opportunity • Language • Methodologies • Mutual respect and understanding • Funding… • RCs getting better at working together to fund IDR. 2 page outlines; discussions with portfolio managers; dedicated funding mechanisms • Shared goals/drivers • Problem-based research

11. Interdisciplinary Research • Network Grants (most research councils) • MRC Discipline hopping awards (EPS – MDLS); 3 – 6 months • EPSRC Bridging the Gaps (institutional award) • Multi-disciplinary Optimisation and Data Mining at Birmingham • Cross-Council Programmes • Energy • Digital Economy • Nanoscience through Engineering to Application • Global uncertainties; security for all in a changing world • Ageing: Lifelong health and wellbeing • Living with environmental change • IRCs

12. Engagement with industry • CASE Awards • EngD/DTCs • MICA (MRC Industrial Collaboration Awards) • KTP • KTS • TSB Collaborative R&D • Innovation Vouchers

13. Public Engagement • Media Fellowships • Media Training • Partnerships for Public Engagement • EU Researcher’s Night • Science in Society • Public Lectures, School Visits, Blogs, Podcasts, Twitter etc…

14. Funder Priorities • EPSRC Signposting • MRC Highlight Notices • Cross-Council Themes • Strategic Initiatives (e.g. Wellcome) • BBSRC Topical Issues • TSB Innovation Platforms

15. Current Issues • Managing Demand • Budget threats • International competition [collaboration] • Research with Impact • Socioeconomic value added • Solutions to major societal issues

16. Impact

17. UB contacts • General Funding information: Sally Wiley (s.a.wiley@bham.ac.uk x43884) • European Funding: Xavier Rodde (x.rodde@bham.ac.uk x43880) • Research Councils, Strategic Projects: Steve Taylor (s.b.taylor@bham.ac.uk x48247) • Business Collaboration Funding (KTP; TSB; KTS): Matthew Wasley (m.r.wasley@bham.ac.uk x48246) • Commercialisation: Alan Tibbatts (a.tibbatts@alta.bham.ac.uk x 48620) • Website: www.rcs.bham.ac.uk