On 14th November 2014, members of ARMA (Association of Research Managers and Administrators) were invited to a study tour at the AHRC offices in Swindon. The day provided ARMA members with the opportunity to learn more about the AHRC, and upcoming developments of interest. The day included presentations on: - The AHRC’s 10th Anniversary activities - The AHRC's new area of Business Processes and Analysis - European Funding – Horizon 2020 and HERA - The Knowledge Exchange Hubs: lessons and legacy - Research Outcomes and Researchfish

1. Arts and Humanities
Research Council
Professor Mark Llewellyn
Director of Research

2. History:
• AHRB 1998 / AHRC Royal Charter
April 2005
Scope:
• 21% of research-active academic
community within AHRC remit
[c.11,900 researchers in REF2014]
• AHRC receives 2.8% of the science
and research budget from BIS
• CSR 2010: AHRC
– £99.9m in Yr 1
– £98.4m p.a. Yrs 2-4
• SR 2015/16: £98.3m

3. Strategy, 2013-18
• The Human World: The
Arts and Humanities in
Our Times
• New confidence
• Tenth/twentieth
anniversaries
• Engagement
• Advocacy
• Enhancement

4. Priorities, 2011-15, 2015/16
• Advancing UK’s world-leading
reputation for research
• Building capacity and capability
• Enabling researchers
• Strategic targeting of partnerships
and greater brokerage activities,
to:
– influence public policy
– engage with the creative economy
– have an impact internationally
– have greater profile with public

5. Research Funding Schemes
• Leadership Fellows
• Research Grants
• Networking
• Follow on Fund

6. • AHRC Themes
• Digital Transformations in A+H
• Translating Cultures
• Care for the Future
• Science in Culture
• Connected Communities (with other
RCs)
• Priority Areas: Design, Heritage,
Languages
Themes and Priority Areas

7. Research:
Collaboration and Ambition
• enhancement of existing schemes to
stimulate new approaches;
• commitment to responsive mode and
researcher-led projects that are
ambitious, dynamic and field defining;
• facilitate greater interdisciplinarity;
• thematic programmes to stimulate and
support cross-cutting research in key
areas.

8. Peer Review
• ensure high standards to inform decision-making;
• create a greater depth of engagement across the Peer Review College
to increase its formative advice to the Council;
• consider new models of review and funding;
• review processes of application to minimise administrative and other
burdens and ensure the effective and efficient use of resources.

9. People: From PG to PI
• enhance postgraduate provision and maintain commitment to one
third of programme spend to PG;
• work with research organisations on the flexible and effective use of
funding to deliver the highest quality training for postgraduates;
• increase training, mentoring and other opportunities for early-career
researchers;
• ensure the Fellowships scheme (in addition to supporting major
intellectual projects) offers researchers at all career stages
opportunities to develop leadership.

10. Knowledge Exchange
• build upon the KE Hubs for the Creative
Economy;
• enhance partnerships with mutual
benefits;
• increase opportunities for all researchers
to develop their work in collaboration
inside and outside HE and convey their
findings to wider public audiences.
Public Good and the Power of Knowledge
• develop the impact of arts and
humanities research
• lead the analysis of the cultural value of
the arts and humanities and its
contribution to public and economic
good.

11. International
• continue to raise the international
profile of arts and humanities
research;
• ensure international leadership in
supporting the role of A&H in global
challenges;
• develop further relationships under
the International Placement Scheme to
facilitate greater international mobility
for UK researchers;
• enhance awareness of the
international possibilities for
researchers across our funding
portfolio.

12. AHRC Commons and Commons
Fellow
Dr Richard Clay, University of Birmingham
r.s.clay@bham.ac.uk
– develop the vision and objectives of the
AHRC Commons
– three-year schedule of activities and outputs.
– encourage dialogue and debate engaging
broadly across arts and humanities research
disciplines in the UK and beyond
– connect existing AHRC-funded projects,
events and groups with other relevant
networks
– role of the Commons in the 10 year
anniversary of the AHRC in 2015

13. Making the Case
• Funding sustainability
• Competition, collaboration
• Resources: Demand and
expectation management
• Funding “the best”: role of
risk and innovation
• Evidence and knowledge:
Researchfish, Gateway to
Research and why they
matter

14. The AHRC’s 10th
Anniversary
2005 – 2015
Dr Philip Pothen
AHRC Head of Communications

15. The AHRC 10th
anniversary
• Research Council status achieved in 2005
• Significant changes since then
• Opportunity to:
o celebrate 10 years of achievement
o engage key audiences
o highlight impact of sustained investment
o celebrate role of arts and humanities in national life
o provide opportunities for researchers
o look forward to the future

16. The AHRC 10th
anniversary
Anniversary Advisory Group
• Jan Dalley (Financial Times, AHRC Council)
• Jane Ellison (BBC)
• Richard Clay (AHRC Commons Fellow)
• Joanna Mackle (British Museum)
• Professor Evelyn Welch (KCL)
• Philip Pothen (AHRC)

17. The AHRC 10th
anniversary
Activities being planned or scoped:
• Series of debates – “The Way We Live now” – HEI involvement, call
currently live
• International collaborations
• “Crowdsourcing the anniversary” workshop – next week
• Film competition
• Celebrating success – case studies, films, feature articles, “Class of
2005”, facts and figures…
• IROs and CDAs

18. The AHRC 10th
anniversary
Activities being planned or scoped (2):
• Peer Review College
• Cheltenham Festival call – currently live – Jazz and Music;
Science and Literature to follow
• Image Gallery
• Follow on Fund call

19. The AHRC 10th
anniversary
Key considerations:
• Audience engagement
• Election year
• Working in partnership with community
• Legacy
• Forward looking
• Other Councils

20. The AHRC 10th
anniversary
Questions or feedback?
What would you like to see emerge from the AHRC anniversary
that might be useful to you as research managers and
administrators?
How can we engage your researchers in these activities?
p.pothen@ahrc.ac.uk

21. Business Process and Analysis
Anne Sofield
Head of Business Process and Analysis
14 November 2014

22. Who are we?

23. What do we do?
We are a business-focused team:
•Demonstrate impact of AHRC-funded research
•Manage business information and evidence
•Manage business processes and systems

24. Demonstrating Impact
Why AHRC should exist
•Who is our audience?
•Why does it matter?
•What do we look at?

25. Managing Business Information
It’s all about the data
•Data quality = robust information analysis
•Collection systems – in-house and cross Council
•Information management policies, strategies and
delivery plans
•Information and data management aid operational
processing

26. Managing Business Processes
Efficient and effective working
•‘Ring fenced’ budget?
•Duty to be more efficient and effective
•Reduce internal (and external) processing
requirements

27. What do we need?
• Accurate data in source systems, ideally first time –
we might come back to you…
• Full and comprehensive updates regarding outputs
of research – ResearchFish!

28. What’s in it for you?
• Accurate outward-facing representation of the
impact of your research!
• Our success with BIS = your success

29. Questions?
Anne Sofield
Head of Business Process and Analysis

30. International Funding
Opportunities
ARMA, November 14 2014
Adam Walker, Head of Languages, Literature and
International Engagement
Follow the AHRC’s international blog at
http://researchbeyondborders.wordpress.com/

31. On-going opportunities
 Lead agency agreements in place with FAPESP (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
& NSF (US):
• FAPESP: applications can be submitted to the AHRC Research Grants
scheme at any time & follow the same review process as AHRC
standard grants but with reviewer input from FAPESP
• NSF (SBE): applications can be submitted to either AHRC or NSF
(BBSRC & ESRC also operate under this agreement)
 Research Networking: proposals involving international
collaborations may apply for additional funding of up to £15,000, in
addition to the £30,000 FEC scheme limit
 Significant international components to programmes such as
Translating Cultures, OWRI
 Potential new opportunities: e.g. Digging Into Data; UnBox

32. International Co-Investigators
 International Co-Is are eligible on Research Grants, Research
Networking, Follow-on Fund and some thematic calls
 Costs up to 30% of the 100% fEC of a proposal can be requested
 Proposals must still be led by a UK PI
 Salary costs can be included in some circumstances but estates
and indirect costs cannot
 Pilot scheme due for review in December

33. International Placement Scheme
 Annual scheme providing 2-6 month funded fellowships for PhD students &
ECRs at world-leading international research institutions:
1. Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin, USA
2. Huntington Library, California, USA
3. Library of Congress, Washington D.C., USA
4. National Institutes for the Humanities, Japan
5. Shanghai Theatre Academy, China - NEW HOST FROM 2015!
6. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. & New York, US
7. Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut, USA
 Call for the 2015/16 round is live next week: deadline 15 Jan 2015, c.60
awards available

34. Horizon 2020
 The largest ever EU Research & Innovation programme – nearly €80 billion
from 2014-20
 Does involve some arts & humanities – AHRC is working with others to
increase this
 Societal challenge: ‘Europe in a Changing World’ has the largest humanities
component
 Relevant topics currently / soon to be open include: ‘The cultural heritage of
war in contemporary Europe’ & ‘European cultural and science diplomacy:
exploiting the potential of culture and science in the EU’s external relations’
 Please refer to the AHRC International Blog: ‘Research Beyond Borders’ for
regular updates

35. Humanities in the European Research
Area (HERA)
 Partnership of funders across 24 European countries
 2 previous large-scale calls (2010 & 2013), high level of
UK success
 New call: ‘Uses of the Past’ will formally be launched in
January 2015
 Up to €23m, call likely to be for large-scale, collaborative
projects up to €1.2m, involving 4 countries or more
 www.heranet.info

36. The Newton Fund
 Part of UK’s Official Development Assistance – to promote
economic & welfare development of partner countries
 £75m per year for 5 years from 2014 (plus match)
 Multiple delivery partners
 3 areas of activity: people, programmes, translation
 Partner countries: Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, India,
Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, South Africa
& wider Africa, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam
 Allocations for individual Council activity but also cross-Council
‘bottom-up’ calls – calls with Chile and Brail have closed,
forthcoming calls with Mexico & Turkey

37. Platforms
 EU funded projects that aim to enhance collaboration between social
science & humanities researchers in Europe & other countries
 EqUIP: Europe – India
 Trans-Atlantic Platform: Europe and the Americas
 Currently in the scoping stage for both projects – looking at existing
collaborations, barriers etc
 Aim to identify new ways of working, scope common areas of interest and
identify priorities & opportunities for future collaboration between the
countries involved.
 www.equiproject.eu; www.transatlanticplattform.com

38. Thank you! Questions?
Follow the AHRC’s international blog at
http://researchbeyondborders.wordpress.com/

39. Arts and Humanities Research Council
November 2014
Heather Williams
KE Strategy & Development Manager

40. AHRC KE & Partnerships
• Supporting A&H researchers who want to explore ways of
working in collaboration with organisations and agencies
outside HE
• AHRC internal structure – KE team members now in core
teams
• Expectation is that supporting researchers to think about
opportunities to work in collaboration with interested parties
outside HE is normal across all our funding
• Not a separate breed of those who do KE, as opposed to
‘normal’ researchers

41. Why research and the creative
economy?
• UK Arts & Humanities research - world-leading
 highest proportion of 4* research in RAE 2008
 27% of UK research active staff are in A&H
• UK Creative sector - world-leading creative talent
 As big as financial services sector
 Fastest growing sector of economy
 Employs many A&H graduates and PGs – highly qualified workforce
 Dominated by SMEs, esp. small and micros

42. The Human World
AHRC Strategy 2013-18
“Research is a powerful driver of
growth in the economy, and engaging
with academic researchers is an
important factor in business
innovation.
There is great demand among the UK’s
creative and cultural sector – from
international companies and major
cultural institutions to small arts
organisations and creative micro-
businesses – to take advantage of the
deep understanding and innovative
thinking of arts and humanities
researchers.”

43. Main AHRC CE investments
Doing
•Four Knowledge Exchange Hubs
•10 Creative Economy KE projects
•Nesta/ACE/AHRC Digital R&D
Fund
•Design – priority area
•Videogames networks
•BBC New Generation Thinkers
•IROs (BM, BL, V&A…)
•Collaborative Doctoral Awards
Understanding
•Brighton Fuse report
•Brighton Fuse follow-up
projects
•Bristol & Bath By Design
•CREATe centre for
copyright research
•Cultural Value Project

45. What were we thinking in 2011?
• Opportunity to scale up from individual, small-scale
KT grants
• Put the funding in the hands of people closer to the
action (not in Swindon…)
• 4 centres, 4 directors – nearly 30 HEIs; researchers,
fellows, ECRs, PhDs…
• Scope for those outside Hub to engage

46. Hub application guidance said…
‘…By the end of the funding period the KE Hubs, as a cohort, should have:
•Extended A&H reach into the private sector as well as the public and third sectors
•established new strategic partnerships in the creative economy
•increased the number of A&H researchers actively engaged in KE with the creative
economy
•brought KE into the academic mainstream in ways that established researchers, early
career researchers and post graduate students perceive as enhancing and enriching
•driven up awareness within the creative economy of the value of A&H to innovation
in the sector to the extent that A&H researchers become partners of choice for
leading creative businesses seeking innovative solutions
•brought about demonstrable and distinctive economic, social and cultural impacts in
the creative economy which would not have happened without the KE Hubs.’

47. 4 hubs, 4 years (2012-16), £4 million each
Design in Action
­Connecting with over 1000 SMEs in Scotland; Chiasmas – deep
engagement
Creative Exchange
­20 KE PhDs, 200 interested businesses -> 40 partners (from BBC,
Microsoft Research to micros)
REACT
­Connecting 300 creative businesses and 300 academics; Ideas Labs -
Sandbox process – co-creation/production
CreativeWorks London
­9 sectors of London’s creative and cultural life; creative vouchers,
Researchers/entrepreneurs in residence
AHRC Knowledge Exchange Hubs

48. AHRC Knowledge Exchange Hubs
“The arts and
humanities and
interdisciplinary
interactions are a key
source of innovation
and economic
growth”

49. What have we learnt?
• Nature of arts and humanities research
 Specialist historical/cultural knowledge
 Practice-based approaches e.g. Design
• Nature of creative and cultural sector and partnerships
 Fragmented
 Diverse
 Freelance
 Micros
 National-scale cultural institutions

50. What have we learnt?
• Models of collaboration
 Co-creation
 Producers v business development
• PhD model
• What do creative SMEs need?
 Access to people with new ways of thinking
 Not £££…
• Impact on local area
 Networks
 Ecosystems
• A&H research can create commercially viable propositions

51. Challenges
• Culture change
• HEIs make life difficult for SMEs
• Contracts
• IP
• Payments
• Overheads
• Timescales

52. Where next?
• IP consultant
• KE Fellow
• Policy papers
• Regional events 2015
• Sustainability
• Sharing with other Research Councils /
Innovate UK

53. Legacy
• Culture change in HEI
• Skills
• Raised awareness of the role of HEI in the
Creative Economy
• A&H model for working with businesses not
just those within creative and cultural sector
• What is working and how can this be
replicated?
• Where do we go next?

54. Research Outcomes
and
Researchfish
Ian Lyne (Associate Director, AHRC)
Senior Responsible Owner for the
RCUK Research Outcomes Harmonisation Project

55. Overview
• Background to the Harmonisation project
• The importance of collecting information on research
outcomes
• Current Submission Period
• Future developments

56. Background – In brief
• Previously AHRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC and NERC used a system
called ROS (Research Outcomes System) for capturing research
outcomes. ROS was ‘frozen’ in April 2014.
• STFC and MRC used Researchfish – this meant some multi-
disciplinary researchers had to use both systems.
• Researchfish was selected as the Councils’ preferred outcomes
collection system after careful evaluation in an open and
competitive tender process.

57. Why Change?
An internal analysis of the situation in 2013 looked at the issues
and options:
•Do nothing was not an option since ROS needed substantial re-development
(technology obsolete)
•Having two different systems risked sending a very poor message about
cross-Council harmonisation and joint working
•Tendering for a single system as opposed to using two would offer
opportunities for cost saving.
•Gateway to Research (GtR) required harmonisation of data from the two
systems.
•Having two systems with different data content and structures was a real
obstacle to developing further interoperability

58. Project Progress
• The ‘Research Outcomes Harmonisation’ project was formally
established in January 2014, and set itself the deadline of
launching a harmonised system by September.
• Working with the sector and keeping the sector informed
have been key principles of the project.
• Simon Kerridge (Chair of ARMA) is a member of the Project
Board.

59. Simon Kerridge, Chair of ARMA, says:
•“I have been very pleased to have been part of the project, representing
ARMA on the project board.
The collection of information on the outputs of the research we help
support is of vital importance, and I hope that ARMA members will
continue to work to enhance this area of work in their ROs.
We also look forward to being part of further discussions around how to
develop greater interoperability with RO systems to minimise the effort
and maximise the value of collecting this information.”
Working with the Sector

60. Working with the Sector
• To help with developing and communicating the project:
– We have maintained a project website, with minutes of the Project
Board meetings being published:
www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/researchoutcomes
– We have sent out regular email updates, and tweeted about them
from the Research Funding Programme twitter account (@RCUKRFP).
– We had a stall at the ARMA conference in Blackpool in June, and held
two communications workshops in July.
– A Virtual User Group (only meets in cyber space) has been set up to
provide input to and comment on all our communications.
– RCUK Roadshows in London, Manchester and Edinburgh in October
2014.

61. Data Migration
• Significant back office work has been undertaken – in particular,
the cleansing of data in ROS following the closure of the system
in April, ready for migration.
– Over 155,000 publication entries
– Over 900 subsequent awards and other marks of esteem
– Over 1200 research databases and models made available to other
researchers.
– Over 6,000 records of further funding achieved to take the research
further
– Over 37,000 entries relating to public engagement and other public
dissemination of the research findings.
– Over 1400 records of intellectual property, 100 spin outs, and 900 entries
relating to influence on public policy.

62. Common Question Set
• As part of the move to Researchfish, Research Councils have
harmonised on a single framework for research outcomes
information – the ‘Common Question Set’.
• This Common Question Set covers outcome types for all
disciplines and is the result of significant amounts of work by the
Research Councils’ Performance and Evaluation Network (PEN).
• It is thought to be a European, if not global, first.

63. Common Question Set
• The Common Question Set is freely available on the RCUK
website (pdf), and also in xml format on the Researchfish website
to enable its use by other organisations and system developers.
• The full data schema will be released later in November 2014.

64. Why capture research outputs?
• It is vital that grant holders record and confirm the outcomes and
outputs from their projects so that we can use this to understand
the impact of our funding and to make the case for continued
investment in research.
• Information returned to the Research Councils is made available
through the Gateway to Research, thereby raising the visibility of
research to other researchers, government, the public and to
potential collaborators.

65. Hearts and Minds…
•Reporting outcomes of research is required as part of the Terms And
Conditions of grant acceptance.
•We need to communicate to grant holders the importance of
returning information to us, not just seeing it as a reporting obligation
under the Terms and Conditions of their awards.
•The submission period this year was the last opportunity before the
next Comprehensive Spending Review to provide us with systematic
information to use in making the case.

66. Progress so far…
• In September RCUK sent out 21,459 registration emails – a
combination of grant holders funded by the ex-ROS Councils,
and new grant-holders funded by STFC and MRC.
• The current levels of activation are (as at 14 November 2014):
funding_organisation
Awards
in RF
Active
Awards
Percentage
Active
AHRC- 4350 2859 66%
BSRC- 8241 6948 84%
EPRC- 14778 11331 77%
ESRC- 5780 3982 69%
MRC-- 7022 6531 93%
NERC- 5452 4684 86%
STFC- 3008 2568 85%

67. Submission Period
• Information can be entered at any time during the year, but
we only use submitted outcomes data for analysis and
reporting (and for putting in the public domain through GtR)
• The submission period opened on 16 October 2014 ….
and closed on 13 November 2014.
• During this period a grant holder confirms the information
they are returning to us.

68. Submission Rates
Research
Council
Number of
Awards
Number of
Awards
Requiring
Submission*
Number of
Awards
Submitted
Percentage
of Awards
Submitted
AHRC 4350 2714 1828 67%
BBSRC 8241 6410 5021 78%
EPSRC 14778 8675 6243 72%
ESRC 5780 3232 2001 62%
MRC 7022 6447 5683 88%
NERC 5452 4754 3645 77%
STFC 3008 2435 1496 61%
48631 34667 25917 75%
* Response codes 1 and 4 – ie includes people who have changed institution, but still
expected to submit.

69. Submission Rates
• Looking at just response code 1: ie grant active, or within
five years of ending, and PI still at same RO…
• 92% of these AHRC grant holders have activated their account
• 77% had submitted by the deadline yesterday.
• 52 ROs had a 100% submission rate
• Out of 150 ROs, only two with 10+ submission expected had
less than a 50% submission rate.
• 37,211 total outcomes in Researchfish for AHRC, of which
19,400 have been added by PIs during the past 2 months

70. Future Developments – Sanctions
•A harmonised sanctions policy for all Councils has been agreed.
•Councils other than MRC will not apply sanctions this year, but
anticipate applying the policy from 2015.
•Sanctions will apply to grant holders who do not make a
submission to the relevant Research Council each year (ie a
declaration of what outcomes and outputs, if any, have been
achieved).
Sanctions:
•PI may be unable to apply for further awards
•payments may be withheld

71. Future Developments –
Interoperability
• RCUK and Researchfish are both committed to exploring and
introducing further system interoperability during 2015.
• We are holding a workshop in December 2014 will work with all
stakeholders in the research community to move towards better
interoperability during 2015.
• We appreciate that some ROs put considerable effort into
developing processes to bulk upload data into ROS… but there
were problems.

72. • We want you to discuss this in breakout groups… But some
initial ideas:
– Encourage PIs to use Researchfish online help.
– Encourage PIs to enter info as outputs / outcomes emerge, and not leave
it to the last minute.
– Learn about some of the functionality which can help research managers
or other team members support the PI:
E.g. the Delegate function to enable someone to manage the PI’s account on
their behalf, or the ‘Research Team’ functions for collaborative grants.
How You Can Help

73. Thank you for listening
Comments or Questions….?

74. 1. How can research managers best support grant holders in providing
information to AHRC on the outputs and outcomes from their projects?
2. What sort of outputs / outcomes (other than publications) are collected
from staff through your RO’s own information system, and how do these
relate to the RCUK framework?
3. How can AHRC best communicate to grant holders the importance of
returning information to us about the outputs and outcomes of their
funding? Ie what messages, what forms of communication etc?
4. What do you think are the options for interoperability between
Researchfish and your university’s system? What are the challenges for a
funder in taking information from a variety of different systems?
For Discussion