Applying to the ESRC: Advanced Career Opportunities

Applying to the ESRC: Advanced career opportunities

What this presentation covers

Overview of the career lifecycle

Advanced career funding options

Large Grants

Priority Networks and Groups

Centres

Professorial fellowships

Research careers – funding pathway Centres Research Masters +3 Studentship Postdoctoral Fellowship Small Grant Large Grant Mid-career Development Fellowship First Grant Scheme Professorial Fellowship Priority Networks/ Groups Research Opportunities On-going Training and Development Standard Grant

Research careers – funding pathway Centres Research Masters +3 Studentship Postdoctoral Fellowship Small Grant Large Grant Mid-career Development Fellowship First Grant Scheme Professorial Fellowship Priority Networks/ Groups Research Opportunities On-going Training and Development Standard Grant Early career Mid career Advanced career International Bilateral Grant

Large Grants overview

Large Grants

Applications from £1.5 million to £5 million FEC

Applications may be up to 5 years in duration

Longer term or extended support for:

Research groups

Inter-institutional research networks

Linked-project programmes

Medium-large surveys

Other infrastructure, methodological developments or related large scale projects where funding above the standard research grant of £1.5 million is required

Large Grants detail

Large Grants

Open competition, run annually, normally with a closing date in the autumn

Open to staff associated with HEIs and recognised independent research organisations

Principal and Co-Investigators are likely to be experienced researchers with a proven international track record

Projects must make a major contribution to the UK social science research base

Successful projects are likely to make a significant contribution to social science at a global level

Priority networks and groups

Priority networks and groups

Designed to fund a network of projects lasting 3-5 years

Normally researchers must have formed a network of up to ten linked projects and selected a co-ordinator

The normal mechanism for applying for this type of support is through the Large Grants mechanism

From time to time, opportunities to apply for support for networks, (either new or existing) outside of the Large Grants mechanism arise and are advertised on the ESRC website

Centres

Major investments

National focus points for social science where academics can collaborate on long-term projects

Funded for an initial period of 10 years, subject to a satisfactory mid-term review after 5 years

May be located within a single research organisation - dual or multi-site applications are also eligible but must demonstrate the added value of such an arrangement

Open to staff associated with HEIs and recognised independent research organisations

Centres - continued

Facilitate the building or strong relationships with research users and the development of the careers of new and outstanding researchers

Central to the ESRC’s strategy to develop the UK social science research base and strengthen its position on the international stage

Are appropriate where long-term investment is justified in terms of the topic, the intellectual challenges and the needs of the research team

Applications are normally in the range of £3-5.5 million FEC over the first five years of the award

Annual competition – Council normally supports up to 3 Centres as a result of the competition, dependent on the excellence of the proposals

Steered and open calls

Centres – role of the Director

The Director is expected to perform the following duties:

Provide intellectual leadership

Manage the Centre and the research processes

Provide a lead on engaging with potential users of the research

Provide input to public policy debates

Provide input to ESRC policy debates

Provide a channel of communication for the ESRC with the research community

Professorial Fellowships – the candidate

Designed to support leading social scientists working in the UK

Successful fellows must have an outstanding track record of research and be acknowledged scholarly leaders in their field at national and international level

Proposals will be judged on the basis of a Fellow’s ability to produce exciting and ground breaking research outcomes

Fellows will be expected to achieve a significant contribution to the development of social science

Fellows must commit between 60 and 100% of their time to their programme of work

Professorial Fellowships – the proposal

Fellows will be granted a greater degree of independence than usually offered under other funding mechanisms

In completing the proposal, potential Fellows are asked to provide as much information as possible on methods, research questions and research design

By providing Fellows with the freedom to pursue their own innovative and creative research agendas, it is accepted that such creativity and innovation may imply greater risks