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Research Active The Newsletter of University of Kent Research Services, Vol 11, Issue 2, Feb 2017

BONFIRE OF THE SANITIES What does Brexit mean for EU research funding? Since the EU Referendum last year, there has been a lot of uncertainty about what it will mean for UK academics. In this edition of RA, we look at known unknowns, and why European funding is crucial to the University— and the UK as a whole. Current Situation The EU has made it clear that, until the UK actually leaves the Union, it is still a full Member State, with all ‘rights and obligations’: ‘UK legal entities [are eligible] to participate and receive funding in Horizon 2020 actions,’ it confirmed. The UK government has backed this up: ‘the referendum result has no immediate effect on those applying to or participating in Horizon 2020. UK participants can continue to apply to the programme in the usual way.’ Similarly, the Research Councils are ‘encourag[ing] researchers to continue to engage with partners in the EU and with European funding schemes as normal…We are working with Government to ensure that the concerns and needs of UK researchers are represented and are considered in the negotiation of a future relationship with the EU.‘

In Practice But what does this mean in practice? Evaluators are being told by the Commission that ‘experts should not evaluate proposals from the UK

any differently than before.’ Furthermore, in the ‘frequently asked questions’ (FAQs) page of the H2020 Participant Portal, the EC states:  Q: 'Should project coordinators of Horizon 2020 proposals dedicate a part of their proposal to addressing the potential risks as a consequence of the UK Referendum?’  A: ‘No. At this stage, any speculation on the consequences for the Horizon 2020 action of a withdrawal of the UK from the EU will not be taken into account in the evaluation.' The University is certainly supportive of its academics continuing to apply. ‘We would encourage all those considering applying for European funding to continue with their plans. Not only is it an excellent source of funding, and facilitates incredibly productive collaborations, but it demonstrates that Kent is outward looking, engaged, and remains the UK’s European university.' After Departure After the UK leaves the EU, the situation is less certain. However, the Treasury has agreed to underwrite any commitments to fund projects from the EU: ‘Where UK organisations bid directly to the European Commission on a competitive basis for EU funding projects while we are still a member of the EU, for example universities participating in Horizon 2020, the Treasury will 1

underwrite the payments of such awards, even when specific projects continue beyond the UK’s departure from the EU.’ According to the UK Research Office in Brussels (UKRO), this will apply to both applications submitted and grants awarded before the exit date. (continued, p2) Inside this Edition Bonfire of the Sanities (cont) What Has EU Done for Us? Overview of Funding New Awards What’s It All About? Researchfish Welcome: New Academics Public Engagement New VC: Known Knowns OA & the REF Measuring Impact Figures Behind the Figures Final Years of H2020 Setting Exchange Rates Feedback from Researchers Research Design Service £4.7bn R&I Increase Industrial Strategy Dark Art of Costing Changes to RS Update on EPSRC Readiness for the REF Wellcome Visit Eastern ARC Choice Cuts from the Blog

2 2 3 4 4 7 8 9 9 10 11 11 12 13 13 14 15 15 16 17 17 18 18 19 20

 Third Countries: a substantial

list of broadly ‘developing’ countries. Once again, this does not apply to the UK.  Countries with Scientific and Technological Cooperation Agreements (currently Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, India, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, Tunisia, USA). These countries have an ‘a la carte’ participation with H2020, and their academics receive funding for participation in chosen themes from their national funders. Realistically, if the EU allows the UK to sign such an agreement, this seems the most likely outcome.

BONFIRE OF THE SANITIES Continued from page 1 In addition, it is hoped that the UK will be able to renegotiate its engagement with the Framework Programme. UK research is a cornerstone of European research, and it currently coordinates 40% of all H2020 projects. The ‘open’ principle of H2020 means all countries can participate, but not all receive funding. Nevertheless, a number of non-EU countries do so. They fall into three categories:  Associated Countries (currently Iceland, Norway, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, Israel, Moldova, Switzerland, Faroe Islands, Ukraine, Tunisia, Georgia, Armenia). They ‘participate under the same conditions as legal entities from the Member States.’ However, it is unlikely that the UK will do the same, as it would have to subscribe to the four basic freedoms of the EU: the free movement of people, goods, services and capital.

going] in search of funding.’

And Finally Whilst we should assume that the UK will leave the EU, it is not a given, and staff are encouraged to make their voices heard on this. In terms of research funding, the UK is a net beneficiary of EU funding: between 2007-13 it contributed €5.4bn for research, and received €8.8bn. As a recent editorial in Nature, put it, ‘leaving the European Union is not yet a done deal, and UK researchers must look past a pay-off and take a stand.’

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Beyond Funding In the meantime academics should explore the possibilities of collaborations and agreements with institutions within the EU. The Rector of Leuven, Prof Rik Torfs, was quoted in the Times Higher as saying that ‘you could imagine [an] association of certain excellent UK and continental universities, with legal personality, somewhere in Brussels…a centre for discussing research and for participating in all kinds of [research] programmes and [for

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Want to know more? For info on the final calls of H2020, have a look at p12 To understand University exchange rates, go to p13 For possible alternative funding from Govt, go to p15 For EU advice and info:  Kent: bit.ly/kenteu  UUK: bit.ly/UUKEUadvice Nature article: http://bit.ly/ notbrexit Science is Vital (for suggestions of action to protest or lobby): http://bit.ly/protestbrexit UK Research Office in Brussels (UKRO): www.ukro.ac.uk

What’s the EU ever done for us? So what’s the potential effect on Kent of EU funding no longer being available? Here’s an overview of funding the University has had from the Framework Programme since 2007.

Projects

Lead

Active

Kent Funding Total

Average Kent Grant Value

Average Kent EU Funding per Year

% of Kent Funding

Average Number Involved

Range of People Involved

FP7 (20072013)

€ 15.5m

€ 353k

€ 2.6m

19%

1 to 72

H2020 (20142020)

€ 10.5m

€ 525k

€ 3.5m

20%

1 to 17

An Overview of Research Funding, Aug-Dec 2016 Largest Individual Awards (titles of projects listed overleaf) Humanities: Dr Lois Lee (SECL) £643,662 from the Templeton Foundation

Sciences: Dr Richard Guest (EDA) £585,783 from the European Commission

The cover story this term deals with the implications of the UK’s exit from the EU. This term’s figures shows the potential issue here, with 30% of grants coming from Europe, as H2020 or Interreg. The Leverhulme Trust is a relatively small funder compared to behemoths like the EC, but provides funding for diverse and interesting research. This term. Rebekah HigSocial Sciences 31%

Sciences 48%

An insight into one of the projects funded this term, taken from the application summary.

This term: Dr Barbara Bombi (History), who received £107,600 from the BA for ‘Studies in Medieval Diplomacy. Anglo-papal relations in the fourteenth century’

Humanities 22%

Percentage of overall award value by faculty Percentage of overall award value by funder

Social Sciences: Prof Patricia Wilson (CHSS) £498,254 from the NIHR

What’s It All About?

gitt (History), Mark Burnley (Sports), Stuart Gibson (SPS) and Zara Bergstrom (Psychology) all received funding from the Trust. Elsewhere, it’s interesting to note the number of health-related projects funded. (13 out of 17 grants in SSPSSR). Congratulations to all those who secured funding, and thanks to all applicants.

The project will be the first to challenge the assumption that Medieval diplomacy only dealt with management of foreign affairs; it focuses on the relationship between diplomacy, administrative practices and political conflicts to enquire how far these issues re-shaped Anglo-papal relations in this period. The fourteenth century was especially critical in this development owing to the papacy’s move to Avignon and the outbreak of the 3

Hundred Years’ War, which saw the papacy act as a mediator in this Anglo-French conflict. Rather than writing the political history of Anglo-papal relations in this period, the project addresses four case studies in the context of political changes and conflicts in order to question whether bureaucratic reforms were a reaction either to political or to administrative circumstances.

FULL LIST OF AWARDS: 1 Aug-31 Dec 2016* Faculty of Humanities Brooks

School of Arts AHRC WW1 Centre Phase 2 Arts input

AHRC

£22,374

Brooks

Recovering First World War Theatre

AHRC

£11,947

AHRC

£194,864

School of English Lyons

Literary culture, meritocracy, and the assessment of intelligence in Britain and America, 1880-1920 School of History

Bombi

Studies in Medieval Diplomacy. Anglo-papal relations in the British Academy fourteenth century

£107,600

Cohen

Labour Migration and Labour Relations in South and southern Africa, c.1900-2000

British Academy

Connelly

AHRC WW1 Centre Phase 2

AHRC

£303,114

Connelly

Visiting and revisiting the Western Front, 1919 - 1938

AHRC

£11,682

Higgitt

Metropolitan Science: Places, Objects and Cultures of Practice and Knowledge in London, 1600-1800

Leverhulme

£94,000

£368,663

School of European Culture and Languages Arvaniti

Components of intonation and the structure of intonational meaning

British Academy

£9,998

Lee

Understanding Unbelief

John Templeton Foundation

£643,662

Swift

Army communities at Roman Risborough: an analysis of the Roman military equipment

Historic England

£6,000

Faculty of Sciences School of Biosciences Garrett

Kent Cancer Trust Funding Application

Kent Cancer Trust

£36,486

Geeves

Myosin Gene Diversity and Function

NIH

£23,167

Griffin

To test the hypothesis that low levels of aneuploidy in ear- Invitro Genetics Ltd ly human development are commonplace,

£82,500

Rossman

Optimisation of influenza vaccine manufacturing through modification of cellular membrane organisation

BBSRC

£10,000

Tsaousis

Cryptosporidium culturing and drug-screening

Gates Foundation

£81,802

Tsaousis

Establishing collaboration with Mae Fah Luang University in Biochemical Society Thailand

Smales

Regulation of protein synthesis by elongation control in health and disease

Wellcome Trust

£1,590 £478,736

School of Computing Chadwick

Collaborative & Confidential Information Sharing & Analy- European Commissis for Cyber Protection sion

Thompson

Scripting languages for crytocurrencies

Input Output HK Limited 4

£448,300 £40,000

Guest

School of Engineering and Digital Arts enhAnced Mobile BiomEtRics (AMBER) European Commission

£585,783

Howells

Security and PrIvacy foR the Internet of Things

CHIST-ERA

£174,413

Howells

Industry 4.0 via Networked Control Applications and Sustainable Engineering (INCASE)

Interreg

£255,347

Howells

Empowerment of Disabled People through the User Co-creation of Assistive Technology (EDUCAT)

Interreg

£326,096

Yan

CO2 Flow Metering under CCS Conditions - A Visit to North China Electric Power University

EPSRC

£16,794

Medway School of Pharmacy

Scott

Ebola virus pseudotypes as tools for the investigation of immunity, infectivity and vaccine/antivira

Intravacc

£8,500

School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science Dunning

South East Mathematical Physics seminars

London Mathematical Society

Wang

Exact solutions for discrete and continuous nonlinear sys- EPSRC tems

Fast numerical algorithms for computing the convolution Royal Society of compactly supported functions

£1,200 £202,788 £4,192

School of Sports Science Burnley

EPFNMS - Emergent properties of the fatiguing neuromus- Leverhulme cular system

Passfield

Canterbury Academy Studentship

£160,189

Canterbury Academy

£83,084

Neurocognitive mechanisms underlying retrieval-induced Leverhulme updating of face memories

£4,083

School of Physical Sciences Gibson

Quintanilla Tizon Unconventional superconductors: new paradigms for new EPSRC materials

£338,398

Faculty of Social Sciences School of Economics

Malde

IFS Research on child health and informal insurance in developing countries

Institute for Fiscal Studies

Siegel

Disentangling occupation- and sector-specific technologi- British Academy cal change

£11,156 £9,518

School of Politics and International Relations Guichaoua, Yvan Roots of Behaviour in War - Mali

Red Cross

£38,456

Loizides

Reuniting Cyprus: The British-Cypriot Diasporas as Peace British Academy Agents

£97,698

Loizides

Truth and Justice in the Aftermath of Economic Collapse ESRC

£38,272

School of Psychology Abrams

Testing the Social Identity Relative Deprivation Model of British Academy Social Change:

Abrams

Brexit on the Border

ESRC

£10,000 £9,956

Continued over

Abrams

"When in Rome": Tax evasion and Tax compliance as reactions to group based deviance.

Royal Society

£66,000

Alleyne

Understanding why adults abuse animals

Petplan Charitable Trust

£10,000

Bergstrom

Neurocognitive mechanisms underlying retrievalinduced updating of face memories

Leverhulme

Hopthrow

A mindfulness intervention to reduce the detrimental British Academy impact of stereotype threat on children's academic performance Older Workers Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Swift

£186,984 £9,744 £3,960

School of Anthropology and Conservation Alanna Cant

MEXRES: Restoration and Faith: practicing religion and European Commission conservation in Mexico's historic churches

Groombridge

Measuring the effects of supplementary feeding on tra- Durrell Wildlife jectory of threatened populations Conservation Trust

£3,000

Groombridge

Measuring the effects of supplementary-feeding for population ecologists ...

Wildlife Vets International

£3,000

Key

'In the palm of your hand': fellowship for Alastair Key

British Academy

Smith

Development of software to explore the long-term Natural England effectiveness of different approaches to conservation ("CELMA") Exploring the potential applications of systematic con- Natural England servation planning techniques to Natural England’s conservation work at national and local levels Investing in agroforestry options for forest restoration Department for in Indonesia Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Marrying community land rights with stakeholder Darwin Initiative aspirations in Indonesian Borneo

Smith St John Struebig

£156,566

£191,091 £5,000 £5,000 £18,820 £291,735

School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research Beadle-Brown

Beadle Brown Open Society Mental Health Europe

Bradshaw

Developing autism friendly services: an action research United Response project

Coulton

Forder

A multi-centre cluster-randomised controlled trial of NIHR screening and brief alcohol intervention to prevent risky drinking in young people aged 14-15 in a high school setting (SIPS JR HIGH) Post-operative study evaluating inpatient interventions NIHR in dementia occurring following fractured neck of femur (POSEIIDON) Improving choices for care Department of Health

Forder

Funding options for the NHS and social care in the UK Health Foundation

Forrester-Jones

Becoming less eligible? Intellectual disability services in NIHR the age of austerity

£131,920

Hashem

Development of a haemophilia physiotherapy interven- NIHR tion for optimum musculoskeletal health (DOLPHIN)

£33,323

Hubbard

Sex work in the context of sports mega events: exam- ESRC ining the impact of Rio 2016

£29,174

Coulton

Open Society Institute

£15,818 £8,004 £104,072

£5,285 £16,018 £21,863

Kendall

Developing an antenatal intervention to promote infant NIHR mental health

Logan

Discovering the Belgian Community in Tunbridge Wells, Kent 1914-18

AHRC

£9,379

Naick

NIHR

£19,894

Peckham

Factors that impact on telecare prescriber behaviour: evidencing current practice in statutory and nonstatutory services Improving choices for care

Department of Health

£212,653

Peckham

Encompass research and evaluation programme

NHS

£164,000

Wilson

Funding for GP Clinical Fellow

Wilson

Optimum ‘Hospice at Home’ Services for End of Life Care

Clinical Research Network: Kent, Surrey and Sussex NIHR

Young

Conceptions of violence, friendship and legal consciousness among young people

ESRC

£10,237

£5,143 £498,254 £71,976

*The list given is for all awards of £1,000 or more. They do not include extensions or supplements

Researchfish

Sue Prout provides an update on the system that the Research Councils use for collecting information on their funded projects Each year the Research Councils (RCUK) require us to give them details of outputs arising from their funded projects. RCUK-funded Research Students are also required to submit details of the outcomes of their studentship awards. This return is mandatory, and failure to comply will result in the loss of eligibility for either a PI or Co-I to apply for further awards from any of the Research Councils, and any current awards will be withheld until we comply. This could affect the annual £5.5.m that the University currently receives from RCUK. It is crucial, then, that any investigators take time to complete the return. This year the Collection Period runs from Monday 6 February to 4pm on Thursday 16 March.

In the past PIs have had to grapple with an unintuitive submission system, but Researchfish have now updated the user interface and it’s a great improvement to the previous version.  There are some significant changes to the way it looks and functions and, on first log-in, there is a tour giving an overview of the new interface with a guidance video.  The information on how to submit the information once it has been uploaded has been made much clearer and hopefully there shouldn’t be the need for me to send out quite as many emails this year saying “I know you think you’ve submitted but….” I will of course be available to answer any queries and will monitor the Researchfish dashboard throughout the submission period. I hope we can, once again, achieve a 100% submission rate. 7

Want to know more? Researchfish is available at https://www.researchfish.net/ H o w t o s u b m i t : https://userguide.researchfish.co m/submit-award.html

Improved help and support: https://app.researchfish.com/help wiz This includes useful resources such as FAQ's and a link to sign up for webinars on the user interface. Any queries can also be addressed to support@researchfish.com

For more information and help at the University, contact Sue Prout (s.c.prout@kent,ac.uk, xtn 7054)

WELCOME!

24 academics have joined Kent between August and December. Join with us in welcoming them to the University, and take a moment to find out about their research interests. Dr Jospeh Amankwah-Amoah (KBS): global business strategy, international divestment, entrepreneurship (business failure), and lateral hiring in emerging markets. Dr Michele Bigoni (KBS): private, public and not-for-profit accounting and accountability, with particular emphasis on the role of accounting in organizations and society D r M a r i a Christakis (left, Computing): automatic test generation, software verification, program analysis, and empirical software engineering Dr Claudia Civai (Psychology): cognitive processes underlying social decision-making by integrating psychology, neuroscience and economic decision theory Prof Michael Czinkota (KBS): global marketing management, export development strategies, the linkage between terrorism and international business, international trade and policy Dr Alfred Duncan (left, Economics): m a c r o e co n om i c s with incomplete financial markets D r S t e l l a Hadjiantoni (SMSAS): Highdimensional data, large-scale models, computationally intensive problems in statistics, functional data analysis, numerical linear algebra. Dr Claire Jones (History): the cultural, economic and social history of medicine and health in modern Britain Dr Camillia Kong (SECL, right): moral and political philoso-

phy in both analytic and continental traditions of thought. Dr Dimitrios Lamprou (Pharmacy, right): Drug Delivery & Pharmaceutical Product Development; Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Process; Surface & Nanoanalysis Dr Angelos Lengeris (SECL): phonetics, second-language learning and TEFL/TESOL. Dr Jonathan Mair (SAC): the anthropology of ethics Dr Bansi Malde (Economics): Development Economics; Social Networks; Health Economics Dr Maria MĂ¤lksoo (PolIR, left): Critical

Security Studies; memory laws and memory wars in Eastern Europe Dr Anirban Mitra (Economics): Development economics; Polit-

ical economy Dr Jose Ortega-Roldan (Biosciences): Integral membrane proteins and membrane-associated proteins are essential players in biological processes. Dr Dominic Orchard (Computing): program verification and the mathematical foundations of programming Dr Erin Sanders -McDonagh (SSPSSR): inequality in different forms, including recent work on sex 8

workers, young men in gangs, women who have experienced sexual or domestic violence. Dr Xiaohui (Leo) Shi (KBS): innovation & business models, including new product performance in the market, innovation diffusion at the industry level, business model evolution in university spin-offs, and explorations of sustainable business models for new technologies and services. Dr Christian Siegel (Economics): the intersection of macroeconomics, especially economic growth, and labour economics. Dr NicolĂ˛ Sibilla (SMSAS, right): Algebraic geometry, topology, and mathematical physics. Dr Yaniv Voller (PolIR): the geopolitics of the Middle East, the foreign policies of Middle Eastern states, separatism/liberation, insurgency and the role of ideas, ideology and practices in shaping international politics. Dr Tara Young (SSPSSR): marginalised young people as perpetrators and victims of anti-social behaviour and violent crime Dr Jing (Maggie) Zen g (KBS, right): emerging strategies in the digital economy, business ecosystem and dynamic capabilities.

Public Engagement with Research Fund Awards Eleven awards were given out in the summer 2016 round of the Public Engagement with Research (PER) Fund. Covering all three faculties and subjects as diverse as autism, ancient Rome and statistical ecology, the Fund gave out nearly £17k of funding, and the average award was approximately £1,500.

Want to know more? The next call for applications to will close at 5pm on Monday 13th March 2017 : https://www.kent.ac.uk/ publicengagement/ These pages are being refreshed and will soon showcase examples of engagement supported through this fund. To discuss your PER projects, or get help with your plans, contact Maddy Bell at peresearch@kent.ac.uk

Melissa Trimingham

Autism Affects: Imagining Autism (extending impact)

Arts

Erica Gadsby

Research priority setting with survivors of the Ebola virus in Guinea

SSPSSR

Helen Brooks

Recovering First World War Theatre – Plays and Playwrights

Arts

Oliver Double

British Stand-Up Comedy Archive Podcast

Arts

Ray Laurence

Animating Ancient Rome

SECL

Tamar Jeffers McDonald Sheona York

Arts

Karen Jones

Women’s War Work Is Never Done: Female Representation in The War Illustrated Supporting young asylum seekers in a hostile environment: how rights have changed after the Immigration Acts 2014 and 2016 Prescriptions Exhibition Catalogue: Artists’ Books on Wellbeing and Medicine ‘Understanding Fundraising’ a conference for academics, practitioners and volunteers Ecology in Action at Quex Park

Eleni Matechou

Statistical Ecology Outreach Event

SMSAS

Stella Bolaki Beth Breeze

The New VC: Known Knowns You will have heard about the appointment of Prof Karen Cox as the new Vice-Chancellor. We don’t, of course, know what her plans are for research leadership, but it is useful to understand her background, and hear what she and others have said. She’s currently Deputy ViceChancellor at Nottingham, responsible for ‘delivery of the University’s Strategic Plan and for overseeing the deployment of academic resources.’ She studied at Kings, Oxford Brookes and Nottingham, and is a professor of cancer and palliative care. More specifically her research interests are information provision, decision-making and quality of life in relation to cancer treatment trials and palliative care.

She’s part of the Nottingham Centre for the Advancement of Research into Supportive, Palliative and End-of-life Care (NCARE), which focuses ‘not only on illnesses such as cancer, but reaches into traditionally under-served populations and under-researched areas, including LGBT, dementia and older people. [They] touch upon all stages of care, including prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, follow-up and care of the dying.’ In an interview with the Nottingham Post she was asked about her DVC role. ‘You have to think about how we lead develop and manage the University, building on its past to shape the future, so that it is still about the vision and mission...for me, it's about nursing, health, education, the future work9

KLS English SSPSSR History

force, mentoring my students and supporting research.’ When asked about her future ambition, she said that ‘one of the great things about this role is that you can go on and do so much [but] it will have to be worthwhile and challenging, about making a difference.’ Finally, I asked a colleague at Nottingham if he knew Karen. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I know Karen very well and she is one of the stars here...she is a genuine, sincere and humane individual who does listen to people and will, I am sure, do an excellent job for you. We are really going to miss her!’ Want to know more? Nottingham DVC page: http://bit.ly/NottDVC Karen’s own webpage: http://bit.ly/CoxWebpage NCARE: http://bit.ly/NottCARE Nottingham Post int erview: http://bit.ly/NottPostCox

OA and the REF Making sure your publications can be included Journal articles and conference proceedings now need to be Open Access to be eligible for inclusion in REF 2021. In summary, this means the Author’s Accepted Manuscript must be deposited in the Kent Academic Repository (KAR) within three months of publication. Authors may also choose to publish Gold and pay for Open Access. Although certain exceptions are allowed by HEFCE and can be logged in KAR, ignorance of the requirements is not one of them and articles which do not meet the requirements within the time frame will not be submitted to the REF. Keeping track of this Information Services (IS) produces monthly reports from KAR on the number of journal articles and conference proceedings which meet the Open Access requirements for the

Total publications under new REF guidelines At risk of not complying Deadline has passed Fully compliant

REF. These reports are made available to the Associate Deans for Research and Innovation and to the School Directors of Research. The main aim is to provide details of the items which are at risk of not complying so that action can be taken in time. The depositors of these items will already have been alerted via an email from the Research Support team which will have requested the full text or further information such as the date of acceptance or confirmation of the manuscript version. So how are we doing at Kent? The data below is a snapshot of the situation on 04/01/2017. It deals with articles and conference proceedings accepted for publication after 01/04/2016 (when the REF requirements came into force). Not the whole picture While it is understood that there are many reasons for writing articles and not all of them are con-

Social Sciences

Sciences

Humanities

329

302

36 46 247

23 39 240

5 17 36

Total 689

64 102 523

nected with a desire to submit to the REF, it is clearly in our best interests to ensure that as many as possible can be included. At the moment 15% of them are ineligible. However, this is not the whole picture because it only relates to items which have been entered in KAR. If information about publications has not been added to KAR then we will not know about them, so our levels of compliance may be significantly lower. Gathering data from other sources about University of Kent publications not entered into KAR is difficult and matching and comparing exercises are time consuming. Library staff are investigating ways to acquire this information to gather a more accurate overall picture. And in the near future… By April 2017 IS will be providing a service to help you meet the Open Access REF requirements. You will be able to send information and manuscripts to the Research Support team who will enter the details on KAR for you, upload the full text, check publisher permission terms and embargoes and ensure that the details needed for compliance are completed. Want to know more? For help with OA and REF compliance, or with depositing publications in KAR, we offer 1-1 sessions in the Library between 2-4 on Wednesday. Email researchsupport@kent.ac.uk to book a slot. In addition, we are happy to come and speak at any school or centre meetings. Email (as above) if you’d like us to do so. For info on OA and REF requirements, go to https:// www.kent.ac.uk/library/research/ open-access/. It includes an explanation of different versions, permissions, and the process for applying for funding for article processing charges (APCs).

Measuring and Amplifying Impact

The Figures behind the Figures A regular look at the work of those who have won grants at Kent

Kirsty Wallis, Research Support Librarian, looks at the range of online tools that provide metrics for impact. Many people are familiar with the two main types of impact:  academic impact: the contribution that research makes to advances in understanding, method, theory and application across and within disciplines  economic and societal impact: the demonstrable contribution that research makes to society and the economy. This is the type of impact used in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and impact case studies. A range of tools is available that can help you to identify metrics on the impact of you and your work. These include:  SciVal, which uses Elsevier data to look at citations and collaborations. It can focus on you, your school, the University or your discipline as a whole, and can be helpful in making links and developing future collaborations.  Altmetric collects nonacademic mentions of your work from across the Web, and presents it as a score.  Kudos allows you to annotate your papers for multiple audiences and use inbuilt tools to promote your work using social media. Integrates some data from Altmetric and other alternative metric sources. Want to know more? All three tools are on the IS website at https://http://bit.ly/ kentimpacttools For help or advice, email researchsupport@kent.ac.uk. For help and information about impact in relation to the REF, contact Maddy Bell, Impact and Engagement Officer in Research Services (m.r.bell@kent.ac.uk)

Dr David Stirrup School of English David Stirrup’s latest funding application took four years to gestate. ‘It’s not a strategy,’ he admits. ‘It’s just the way I work. Things have to ferment for a long time.’ But the fermentation paid off. He was awarded £980k (fEC) by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) before Christmas. The project, entitled ‘Beyond the Spectacle: Native North American Presence in Britain’, coincides with the 400 year anniversary of the death of Pocahontas and examines the subsequent two way relationship between the UK and indigenous North Americans. It will provide a lens for the further consideration of migration and displacement, the historic and ongoing development of globalization, and questions of nationhood and belonging. David’s interests focus on the culture of indigenous North Americans, regardless of national boundaries. He has always been attracted by what mainstream narratives leave unexamined. He started life in Kenya and had been fascinated by the culture that had been disregarded by the Europeans who had colonised the country. Then, as an undergraduate, he was drawn to the literature that the American ‘canon’ seemed to ignore: that of the Native Americans. And finally, in his own research, he was interested in the ‘border crossing’ of indigenous people that was largely unexamined by scholars in both the States and Canada. He recognises the irony and potential danger in being a white European examining such issues. ‘There’s 11

no getting around the politics in this field,’ he says, ‘but it has resulted in an ethical imperative negotiated between Indigenous and non-Native scholars.’ As with academics and researchers the world over, indigenous scholars are interested in discourse and the need for rigorous objectivity. Moreover, they are resistant to ‘isolationism.’ And it is in overcoming his own geographical isolation as an Americanist in the UK, in reaching out and networking that David’s funding record was established. Starting with a British Academy grant of £4k shortly after he arrived at Kent in 2004, he moved on to getting a grant from the High Commission of Canada (£7k), before landing a Leverhulme £100k grant in 2011. The Leverhulme project looked at the cultural exchange across the USCanadian border. ‘It was very under-researched at the time,’ says David. ‘Only political scientists were interested in the border’. The resulting research was ‘pivotal’, creating the platform for a serious conversation between scholars, and it made a foundational contribution to this emerging field. The AHRC project has built on this conversation and the network that formed from it. The experience of writing the bid has taught him the importance of ‘being stubborn’, of taking the time to make the proposal as good as it can be, and of being ambitious. ‘I added everything,’ he acknowledges. ‘I thought they could cut out some parts later, but I didn’t want to be restricted by being too cautious’. The project will ‘massively expedite’ his work, taking forward in three years something that, without funding, might have taken him 10-15. And he can already see the potential for a future project. But he’s in no hurry: his AHRC project will more than occupy him for the next three years, and who knows what other gaps and absences he will identify in the interim?

The Final Years of H2020 The final Horizon 2020 Work Programmes, outlining the funding opportunities for 2018-20, will be published later this year. Uncertainty Although there is some uncertainty about the future of the UK’s engagement in this (see ‘Bonfire of the Sanities’, p1-2), the UK government has pledged to honour all applications submitted prior to the UK’s exist from the EU. There is every likelihood that, after that point, a Science & Technology Agreement is negotiated to ensure the UK’s continued participation in H2020. Thus, it is worth looking at what priorities are being highlighted in the programmes. Before doing so, here are some figures for H2020 so far. 2014-17 Summary Since 2014 the Commission has reviewed 110,000 applications and awarded €29 billion to 10,000 successful projects. resulting in an average spend of €2.9 million per project and an eye-wateringly low success rate of 9%. 'FET open' is the most oversubscribed scheme, with a 4% success rate. 2018-20 Priorities The final three years of the programme will have a budget of €30 billion and will seek to tackle the l o w s u c c e s s r a t e through "Applicants must have a reasonable chance of success", state the Commission in 2017. The 2018-2020 programme will continue with "challenge-led" calls, in which it is up to the applicants as to how a particular problem is addressed, a welcome departure from the more prescriptive calls of the past. Open science, i.e. open access publishing, social media and embedding the public in research design, will have a greater emphasis in all

calls. Success rates will hopefully be driven up with more two-stage applications and improved call documentation outlining the expected impact of projects. Scoping Papers The Commission has just published scoping papers covering each area in more detail. Here are some of the key points: Marie Curie  "Any topic" PhD training (ITN), postdoc fellowships (IF) and more  All schemes will remain (ITN, IF, RISE, COFUND and NIGHT) with annual calls.  More family friendly features are likely to be introduced: More, and longer duration, "career restart" fellowships (IF), more parttime fellowships and changes to the family allowance.  A disability allowance should be introduced.  'Open science' training will be a more important review criteria for all schemes: Open access publishing, social media and public engagement embedded in research. FET open  Doubling of budget for FET open - to increase the 4% success rate.  The scheme will remain singlestage, light-touch (15 page application form) ICT  Number of topics reduced  Specific calls on software not proposed  Key areas to be expanded or explored will be:  Internet of Things  Artificial Intelligence (utilizing recent advances)  Cyber security (as part of the new Public-PrivatePartnership). Cyber security

is one of the political priorities of the EU  Big data will focus on the creative industries and languages,  European cloud initiative, launched in 2016. Nanotechnology, Advanced Materials, Biotechnology and Manufacturing  Calls will be centred around two themes:  'Fourth Industrial Revolution'. Developing smart materials, devices and biotechnology into new innovative products and delivering them to the customer.  Energy  New calls to explore nano(bio) informatics are planned  Research and innovation calls can be expected for medical technologies  Electric Green Vehicles will be a highlight, in particular electrochemical storage Research Infrastructures  Increased emphasis on open science: Opening up the data and knowledge developed within existing research infrastructures for the benefit of all. This interactive map shows where the H2020 "Research Infrastructures" are. Want to know more? For more information on any of the Work Programmes, contact your Faculty Funding Officer:  Carolyn Barker (c.m.barker47@kent.ac.uk),  Lynne Bennett (l.m.bennett282@kent.ac.uk), and Aurelija Povilaike (a.povilaike@kent.ac.uk). The Scoping Papers can be found at www.ukro.ac.uk

Managing Uncertainty: Setting Exchange Rates Exchange rate fluctuations have always been a feature of research projects awarded in a foreign currency or with spend in foreign currencies. The major swings in exchange rates since the Brexit vote last June, notably in the euro and US dollar, have thrown this issue into sharp focus. Of course, these changes are outside the control of anyone in the University but we explain below what the Research Accounts team is doing to try to mitigate the impact of them.  When a new research project is announced and set up, the initial budget is calculated using the exchange rate at that time adjusted by 10%; for example, ). This has the effect of constraining the £ budget to provide a buffer for future adverse rate changes.

For Example: if the rate is 1.2 euros to the £, the rate used will be 1.32 (1.2 plus 10%) 

When an instalment of funds is received, we recalculate the budget to reflect the actual funds received in £

and then estimate the £ value of the balance using the current exchange rate, again adjusted by 10%.  Each quarter, we again review the budgets and adjust them in line with current rates.  When claims are made, we once again review the budget. We are often required to use a set exchange rate for converting the £ spend into the reporting currency (e.g. for H2020 projects, we have to calculate the average rate for the claim period). Rates for EC projects must be taken from those published on the European Central Bank’s website. For other currencies, we use XE.com.  In the last 12 months of the project, the 10% buffer is usually reviewed and is generally removed to maximise use of the budget. Research Accounts Officers will liaise closely with PIs during this period. The recent changes in euro and US dollar rates since the Brexit vote have actually been in favour of projects awarded in those currencies. This has enabled £ budgets to be increased in many cases.

However, we need to remain cautious where funds are yet to be received as rates are likely to fluctuate in both directions during the course of the Brexit negotiations. As things stand, it may not be possible to spend up to the full foreign currency budget on some projects whereas, if rates move in the other direction, £ budgets may need to be reduced. Of course, for those with awards in £ but with spend in foreign currency, the recent changes have put some pressure on budgets. Where there are significant increases in cost, a review of the overall budget is recommended to see if budget can be moved from elsewhere within the project. In most cases, a request will need to be made to the funder to amend budgets. We will continue to monitor the situation and advise PIs on the individual circumstances of their projects. Want to know more? For more information speak to your usual Research Accounts Team contact or contact Nigel Martin, Research Accounts Manager n.t.d.martin@kent.ac.uk.

Wanted: Feedback from Researchers The University will be seeking reaccreditation of its HR Excellence in Research Award in May. This award, given by the European Commission, confirms our commitment to the Principles in the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for their Recruitment. Survey This February a survey was sent to all staff on research contracts at Kent to help inform our plans and finalise the accreditation submission. If any researchers want to give direct feedback, or to find out more about development opportunities,

please contact your RDWG Faculty representatives listed on the RDWG web page or check out resource links through the Researcher Development web portal (both accessible via links in box below). Vitae The University is a member of Vitae, the organisation which supports the professional and career development of researchers. By registering with your Kent email address you can access a huge range of resources. Research Leaders Training HR are piloting one day ‘managing people in research teams’ courses for (i) established research leaders, 13

and (ii) new research managers. If principal investigators or research team managers are interested please contact HR via the email below. Want to know more? Researcher Development portal https://www.kent.ac.uk/ researcherdevelopment/ To register interest in research leaders’ training, contact ldev@kent.ac.uk HR Excellence in Research: http://bit.ly/KentHRex Concordat details: http://bit.ly/VitaeConcordat RDWG members: http://bit.ly/unikentrdwg

HELP WITH HEALTH OR SOCIAL CARE PROPOSALS The University hosts one of ten re- ers with experience across a wide gional Research Design Services. range of disciplines and skills, and (RDS). Funded by the National Insti- have a proven track record in imtute for Health Research (NIHR), proving research applications. the RDS-South East is held jointly How can they “The RDS can direct you to with the Universihelp? collaborators with the experties of Brighton They provide respontise you need. You may have a and Surrey. sive specialist advice great idea… but someone RDS-SE provides on all aspects of an outside your own area can FREE research application including: look objectively, give feedback design and meth designing your and develop your thoughts odological support research study into a workable proposal. to those preparing  research methTheir focus on feasibility, and applications for ods (qualitative and knowing what will work defihealth and social quantitative) nitely helped me to hone the care research  signposting to application into a fundable funding from suitable funding study. The RDS team support NIHR and other  involving patients you through the whole applinational peerand public in recation process”. reviewed prosearch design NIHR Research for Patient grammes.  identifying potenBenefit grantholder RDS-SE is situated tial academic, clinical in the Centre for and lay collaborators Health Service Studies (CHSS) in  medical statistics, health ecothe George Allen Wing of Cornwalnomics and other specialist lis. Those with the Services are skills methodologists and active research-  advice on common pitfalls

 

interpreting feedback from funding panels signposting to other help as appropriate e.g. costings

When should I contact RDS? As soon as possible! It’s best to get in touch as early as you can in the planning stage of your study. This means we can help you develop your research idea from the initial stages right through to submitting your application. Want to know more? For full details of how we can help, including case studies visit www.rds-se.nihr.ac.uk For an appointment to talk about your project, go to: Appointments: http://bit.ly/RDSappt Alternatively, talk to Helen McGregor as the first point of contact: h.mcgregor@kent.ac.uk, xtn 4281.

The Research Design Service 14

Extra £4.7bn for R&I

In his autumn statement the Chancellor Philip Hammond committed the government to ‘£4.7 billion to enhance the UK’s position as a world leader in science and innovation.’ According to the Statement (see link below), the additional funding will come through two channels:  An Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF), described as ‘a new cross-disciplinary fund to support collaborations between business and the UK’s science base, which will set identifiable challenges for UK researchers to tackle.’  Innovation, applied science and research. This will be administered by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), the new organisation that will bring together the Research Councils and Innovate UK, as well as the REF. It is intended to ‘increase research capacity and business innovation, to further support the UK’s worldleading research base and to unlock its full potential.’ The devil, of course, will be in the detail. Initial impressions, however, were good. Prof James Wilsdon (Sheffield) stated that ‘it’s clear that this really is new money. By 2020, government spending on R&D will

But where will it go? Government consults on Industrial Strategy Following the announcement of the additional funding, the Government published its green paper on an Industrial Strategy in January. The intention of the paper was to start ‘a consultation on how to invest this funding, setting out options ranging from investment in local science and innovation strengths, and increased support for commercialisation, to investing in future research talent.’

grow to an additional £2bn over and above existing spending, an increase of about a fifth. The investment ramps up year-on-year to reach this level, and means a total boost of £4.7 billion by 2020-21. As HM Treasury points out, this is the largest increase in R&D investment in any Parliament since 1979.’ According to ResearchProfessional the ISCF will start launching calls in March. It is believed that these calls will take the form of ‘challenges’, along the lines of those issued by the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) programme, which has invested in technology that has underpinned the internet, voice recognition, the computer mouse and driverless cars. The more cynical may see this as a pay off for the shortfall resulting from the UK’s withdrawal from H2020 (p1-2), and Nature has commented as such (see links, p2). Does this level of investment suggest an acceptance that the UK will not be able to access H2020, even through the S&T Cooperation Agreement route suggested in ‘Bonfire of the Sanities.’? The community is divided, with civil servants at the Dept of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)

adamant that R&I engagement will be a key element of any exit negotiations. Overall, Wilsdon concludes that these announcements ‘represent an unexpected and transformative statement of intent.’ However, ’DARPA is not what the UK really needs right now. We may need to walk before we can run, and a steady focus on rebuilding our technology base may be more appropriate than leaping into riskier waters.’

The paper suggests that the ISCF will focus on challenges where the global market is potentially large, or fast growing and sustainable; where the UK has existing strengths (such as in the 8 great technologies, launched in the Science Strategy in 2015) and Government support will make a difference, These could include: Smart, flexible and clean energy technologies; Robotics and artificial intelligence; Satellites and space technologies; leading-edge healthcare and medicine; materials of the future; bioscience and biotechnology; quantum technologies; and transformative digital technologies including supercompu-

ting, advanced modelling, and 5G mobile network technology. There are 31 points for consultation on the Industrial strategy covering a number of areas from priority areas for investment in science, research and innovation, focus of funding for economic impact to local infrastructure and support: see the full Strategy via link in box above. The University is preparing a response to be submitted by 17th April, led by Prof Philippe De Wilde and coordinated by Carole Barron, if you have any elements you would like to contribute please email Carole (details in box above) referencing the specific question number.

Want to know more? Autumn Statement: http://bit.ly/AutState Industrial Strategy Green Paper: http://bit.ly/IndustStrat  Respond to Green Paper: http://bit.ly/R2IndustStrat  Feed into the Kent response: contact c.barron@kent.ac.uk Science Strategy: http://bit.ly/SciStrat Comment from Stian Westlake on ResearchProfessional: http://bit.ly/WestlakeRP, and suggestions for the ISCF: http://bit.ly/WestlakeRP2 Comment from James Wilsdon in the Guardian: http://bit.ly/WilsdonGuardian For advice on innovation funding, talk to entfunding@kent.ac.uk

THE DARK ART OF COSTING At the end of last year Dr Andrew Massoura and Dr Jane Benstead ran a Grants Factory session on costing proposals.. Here are 11 key points to help understand this crucial element in your proposal Cost and Price Aren’t the Same Thing These two can seem like synonyms, but it’s useful to understand the difference: the cost is how much the research infrastructure and project take to run; the price is how much you charge the funder for undertaking it. The government introduced ‘full economic costing’ (fEC) a decade ago to help universities calculate the true cost of doing research. This figure is a lodestone that helps the University decide what price it should charge for its work. Sometimes the price might not cover the cost, but there are other factors that still make it worth doing.

Each Funder is Different… Whilst all funders broadly cover the cost of doing research, this means different things to different funders, and there are four basic models.  Percentage of fEC: the Research Councils (RCUK) take the fEC algorithm as its starting point, and broadly pays 80% of it. This will include:  Directly Incurred Costs: the costs generated solely by the project;  Directly Allocated Costs: costs that exist already (eg academic time), but for which an allocation is being given.  Estates Rates & Indirect Costs: the underlying costs of keeping the university infrastructure going. Thus, in the RCUK model, you can get funding for an element of your time, and most non-staff costs (such as travel and subsistence), and indirect costs. But there are some quirks: for instance, PhD students aren’t allowed (funding from them

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comes through doctoral training centres), and equipment is only part covered. Direct Costs Only: Most charities only pay directly incurred costs. However, they do offer 100% funding for these, and do usually allow students. Direct Costs + a Percentage of Overheads: Essentially, they offer 100% of direct costs, and a percentage as an overhead (also called Facilities & Administrative (F&A) or Indirect costs). This varies: the European Commission (EC) offers 25%, but the National Institutes for Health (NIH) generally 8%. The Mongrel: a specialism of the Learned Societies, for whom each scheme seems to be different. Thus, some of the British Academy and Royal Society schemes provide a percentage of fEC, others are direct cost only.

...But Sometimes They Mean the Same Thing Some funders call indirect/estates costs ‘overheads’ but essentially it means the same thing: the ‘hidden’ costs that you wouldn’t necessarily think about, but are still crucial. If given a choice, always choose a funder or scheme that provides for these costs.

You Get Funding in Arrears, not in Advance You have been allocated funding, but you have to spend first, and then invoice the funder for your actual costs.

You Can Only Claim Actual Costs The funder wants to what you actually spent money on, and will only out for that. And for teaching

for see the pay re-

placement, your stand in will have to complete timesheets We’ll Help with Staff Costs... Staff costs are complex, but don’t worry: we can help with this. Just let us know what type of research assistance you want, at what full time equivalent (FTE), and for how long. We’ll do the rest. Think also about other staff such as technicians or administrators, especially a project officer for a complex project.

...But You Have to Work Out your NonStaff Costs Yourself Whilst Research Services can help with calculating staff costs, and working out your fEC, it’s up to you to estimate your non-staff costs. This is because you are far better placed to know what you need to undertake your research, from surveys to conference attendance, research assistance to ad hoc fieldworkers.

Always Remember VAT When you’re getting the price for an item to include in your proposal, suppliers often quote without VAT. Make sure you add 20%. If you’re unsure whether they’ve already included it, add it just in case. It can always be claimed back by the funder if not needed. Not including VAT is the most common reason for a shortfall in funding for project.

It’s Value for Money, not Cheapness, that Matters Not only do funders know when a project is unrealistically costed, but you don’t want to put yourself in a position where you aren’t able to complete your research for a lack of resources. How-

ever, you shouldn’t be wildly excessive either. Aim to offer value for money, and not be unrealistic in either direction. On a related point, where a justification of resources is required, the funder doesn’t want you to ‘show your workings’ as to how a particular figure was arrived at, but rather wants an explanation of why you need that particular item, or that particular member of staff, in the first place. T alk to yo u r School… This is crucial. Many of the costs you seek will have a knock on effect on the school, so make sure you’ve got their buy in. For instance, if you’re seeking replacement teaching costs, are you being realistic in what you are asking for - or even whether you can be replaced at all for the period in question. If the funder is only offering part funding (such as RCUK for equipment), will the school be willing to pick up the other part? If they don’t pay for a specific element (such as the EC and tuition fees) can the school cover this?

...And to Research Services as Early as You Can We can only help if you get in touch with us early. We say that you should give us a final draft application at least three days before the deadline, but the sooner you get it to us, the more help, advice and input we can give. If possible, make sure your application details have been put on KRIMSON, and, where you can, give us editing rights on the funders’ submission systems, as this allows us to add costs without you having to do so.

CHANGES IN RESEARCH SERVICES There’s been a couple of changes in Research Services recently.

Moving On  Jon King left, after 12 years

with RS, to take up a new role in Kent Law School. Rob Goldsmith has taken over as Deputy Research Accounts Manager. Rob has been a member of the Research Accounts team for the past 4 years. We are in the process of recruiting a new Research Accounts Officer to fill Rob’s vacant role.

 Kate Ludlow has recently left

the Contract team in Research Services to take up the position as Centre Administration Manager in the Centre for Health Services Studies (CHSS).

Want to know more? For more help and advice, contact Dr Andrew Massoura (a.n.massoura@kent.ac.uk, xtn 3256), or Dr Jane Benstead (j.benstead@kent.ac.uk, xtn 4203)

Joining Us 



Lynnette Maling joined us in January as a Research Accounts Officer (replacing Jody Turner who left us in October last year). Lynnette has substantial finance experience gained within the insurance sector and she is looking forward to applying this to supporting academics at Kent. After 12 years, Rob Whiteing joined as the new Research Grants & Contracts Officer. Rob joins the University from SOAS, University of London and brings over 10 years of experience to the team.

Update on

EPSRC We’re expecting a number of changes at the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) shortly, including new fellowships, panels and priority areas. However, at the time of going to press we are aware of two new changes: 



It is planning to lift the current £125,000 (fEC) cap on "new lecturer" First Grants. This change is expected to made later this year. It has launched a new multidisciplinary Healthcare Technologies panel, to run alongside the traditional ICT, Engineering, Maths and Physical S c i e n c e s p e e r review panels. An openended call is now open for responsive-mode Healthcare Technologies applications. This new panel is subject to demand.

Want to know more? To be kept updated on the changes at EPSRC and all science funding, contact Dr Carolyn Barker (c.m.barker@kent.ac.uk, xtn 7957). Interested to see who has a prestigious EPSRC fellowship? Then browse EPSRC's fellows gallery. Over 300 post doctoral, early and established career scientists now hold one: http://bit.ly/EPSRCfellows

READINESS FOR THE REF Betty Woessner, the REF and Information Manager, provides an update on preparations for the forthcoming REF

Despite all the uncertainties (see RA Vol11, Issue 1: ‘Future of the REF’ and ‘Stern-ed, not Shaken’), we are continuing to prepare for the upcoming REF. Annual Reviews We have recently completed an annual review of all schools for research outputs, impact and environment, and are providing feedback from this to REF groups in the schools. Following this, we are developing our plans for the future full REF Pilot exercise to be held in Autumn 2017 when it is hoped that the guidelines to the next REF will have been published.

terms of getting the data right, particularly if the guidelines require us to submit all eligible staff. We are also scrutinising PhD completions and research income to ensure full alignment with upcoming requirements.

HEFCE Consultation The Stern Review released recommendations moving forward in December 2016 and HEFCE has launched a consultation which is open to March 2017. We are currently working on an institutional response to the recommendations and contributing to a collective response as part of Eastern ARC.

Impact Case Studies The next important area for development will be the Impact case studies. We have just finished a trial for potential Impact trackers, a novel and easy way to log impact from your research. These impact tracking software solutions allow you to upload evidence, identify impact types and create storyboards which can be transferred to impact templates for the REF. We hope to have this up and running in late February to enable researchers to capture their impact as early in the cycle as possible. In addition, schools are now looking at the 100 word statements of all their staff and forming approaches for eventual case studies including interdisciplinary and institutional level.

Data What this last review has told us is that much needs to be done in

Research Outputs In the coming months we will also be collecting research outputs and

putting them on KAR, the institutional repository to ensure that they can all be made available for the REF Pilot exercise and the REF submission and also meet Open Access requirements (see ’OA and the REF, p10). The pilot itself will be run from the data submitted on KAR so it is preferable that all researchers manage to keep up to date by providing information regarding their publications to the library team. Overall, some new approaches will be needed for the forthcoming REF, but we are confident that we have the systems, the software—and the flexibility to meet the challenges effectively. Want to know more? ‘OA and the REF’: p10 HEFCE Consultation: http://bit.ly/ HEFCERefConsult For more information, contact B e t t y W o e s s n e r (b.woessner@kent.ac.uk, xtn 7350)

WELLCOME VISIT: 23 FEBRUARY We are delighted to announce that the Wellcome Trust will be visiting the University of Kent on 23rd February 2017. The Trust last visited Kent six years ago and in that time their funding schemes have changed considerably, with more emphasis on multi-disciplinary, collaborative research. Wellcome is the largest non-governmental funder in the UK and supports health research from the sciences, humanities and social sciences. The event is suitable for academics, researchers, PhD students and grant support staff from all three faculties.

Want to know more? For more information contact Dr Carolyn Barker (c.m.barker-47@kent.ac.uk, xtn 7957), or register your i n t e r e s t a t : http://bit.ly/WellcomeVisit

EASTERN ARC Eastern ARC Officer Dr Sarah Tetley looks back at the achievements of 2016, and the plans for 2017 2016 was a busy year for Eastern ARC – the research consortium bringing together the Universities of Kent, Essex and East Anglia. The Year in Review In the first fully operational year for the Consortium, highlights included:  48 grant applications submit-

ted, 26 of which were successful (a respectable hit rate of 54%);  25 original research articles accepted into peer reviewed journals;  Presentations at prestigious national and international conferences by Eastern ARC Fellows;  Numerous workshops and training events on themes ranging from gender equality to the digital creative arts. Looking Forward The focus for Eastern ARC for 2017 remains building upon these early

successes as well as developing new collaborations across (and beyond) the Eastern ARC partners, that address the ten thematic areas supported by the Global Challenges Research Fund, namely:  secure and resilient food systems;  sustainable health and wellbeing;  inclusive and equitable quality education;  clean air, water and sanitation;  renewable energy and materials;  sustainable livelihoods;  resilience and action on environmental shocks / change;  sustainable cities and communities; forced displacement and multiple refugee crises;  reducing conflict and promoting peace, justice and humanitarian action; and,  reducing poverty and inequality, including gender inequalities.)

Financial Support Please note that academics with an interest in exploring opportunities for collaboration around these themes may be financially supported to do so through the office of the DVC Research. Student Mobility Eastern ARC also continues to support postgraduate development through its student mobility fund. The 2016/17 round of Events funding was decided in November, with awards being made to the six ideas below. Want to know more? For more information on EARC, finding collaborators, and applying for internal GCRF funding, contact Sarah Tetley (s.r.tetley8@kent.ac.uk, xtn 816423) For more on the postgraduate mobility projects, contact the organisers directly. For up to date information on the Eastern ARC, go to https://www.kent.ac.uk/easterna rc/

Event Name

Organisers

Expected Event Date

Innovation and the Public Good : An Interdisciplinary Conference on the Ethical and Historical Context of Synthetic Biology and Emerging Biotechnologies

David Peace dp411@kent.ac.uk Russell Moul rtm4@kent.ac.uk

28 April 2017

Big Data in the Social Sciences

Virginia Ghiara vg201@kent.ac.uk

22-23 June 2017

Environmental Impact Assessment : Putting Theory into Practice

Rufus Howard rah46@kent.ac.uk

Spring 2017

Mindfulness Networking Event for Researchers and Professional Practitioners in the SE

Zaffie Cox zec3@kent.ac.uk Vanessa Dias vcrd2@kent.ac.uk

June 2017

Bytes, Bodies and Souls : Interrogating Human Digitalisation

Allison Holmes amh54@kent.ac.uk Joao Araujo Monteiro Neto ja458@kent.ac.uk

30 May 2017

New Worlds in Synthetic Biology

Linas Tamosaitis lt334@kent.ac.uk

25 June - 10 July 2017

CHOICE CUTS FROM THE BLOG For the latest news and rumours from the world of research funding, log on to http://fundermental.blogspot.com Faster, Higher, Stronger 20 January 2017 It was reported this week that the House of Lords regarded the Government's proposal to categorise universities as gold, silver and bronze as 'extremely damaging'. Here at Fundermental Towers University (FTU) we wish to distance ourselves from the peers' narrow and antiquated disgust with a viable and popular rating system. Those aged lords and bishops just need to get over themselves and get with the times. Don't they realise that everything is rated these days, and there is no finer system than one based on Olympian metals? In fact, we would encourage the Government to go further in aligning with the Olympic ideals. Not only should the TEF use these labels, but universities should be expected to demonstrate the Olympic ideals of Faster, Higher, Stronger. To excel in the TEF, universities should go: Faster: Universities must be super efficient and speedy in their administration. They should offer places to applicants as soon as they apply, and preferably before. Indeed, to achieve the top medal (we're pushing the Government to introduce a 'Graphene' category), universities should be offering places to the brightest and best before they've even considered going to university. Ideally shortly after they've been conceived. Once enrolled, academics should ensure that all essays are marked before they're written. Speed is everything. Well, perhaps second only to the ability to pull a fully laden Hercules plane, but more of that in a minute. Higher: the UK higher education

sector is the very best in the world. However, sometimes this isn't reflected in the super-robust global league tables. The Government should insist that all present only their - ahem - very best data and make sure that all those foreigners filling in the reputation surveys are bribed persuaded to tell the compilers that all UK universities are marvellous and no, getting a post-Brexit visa was really very easy. Stronger: Strength is a key performance indicator. Gone are the days when being brainy was enough. These days our students demand that their lecturers and profs are able to pull a fully laden Hercules plane, randomly throw heavy things, and tear telephone directories in half. How else are we to impress the young? Intelligence? Ha! Oh, you're so terribly twentieth century. Yes, FTU is well on track to getting a graphene-coated dobule omnium with a side order of platinum. We'll display it with full pride in our trophy cabinet. Right next to the full set of mint Lady Diana commemorative tableware. Look on ye mighty, and despair! Thoughts on BA Funding 25 Oct 2016 In the autumn we had a visit from the BA. Whilst it may have a reputation as a somewhat fusty, traditional funder, it actually funds a lot of riskier, explorative research. The ESRC and AHRC are now so keen to push for larger, longer,

grants, that there's little space left for being more speculative. The BA, by contrast, offers Small Research Grants that can facilitate small scale pilot projects that test out possible scenarios. This is a welcome offering in the current climate. I've written elsewhere about centres and large grants, and the weight of evidence demonstrating that these are not necessarily healthy for research. However, the BA does offer some large grants in the form of Postdoctoral Fellowships, Mid-Career Fellowships, Senior Fellowships, and BA/Wolfson Professorial Fellowships. In contrast to the Small Grants, these fund fewer than 90 awards a year, totalling some £14.4m. In comparison, the Small Grants offered 391 awards totalling £2.3m. Doing the maths, that £14.4m could buy an extra 2,448 Small Grants. Why, then, doesn’t the BA just give up on the large fellowships and instead concentrate on being a small grant funder, a facilitator of novel, exciting, risky research? I suspect the answer lies in the patchwork of funding that comprises the BA budget. Even the Small Grants scheme uses funds from over 20 different sources. Thus, the BA is probably limited in what it can use its funding for, and the backers of the Fellowships may well specify that their funds should go towards this end. However, it's a shame: imagine how many new lines of research, new careers, and new discoveries could be launched if the BA were to be solely a small grant funder.

Lookalike Corner The AHRC has appointed Masterchef’s Gregg Wallace as its Creative Economy Champion. 'Gregg is the ideal appointment,' gushed a spokesman. ‘In an organisation driven by biscuit consumption, his knowledge will be invaluable.’ Any relation to Prof Andrew Chitty is entirely coincidental. 20

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Wallace Wallace