Application process
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What Works Centre for Wellbeing - application process By Karen Powell, ESRC lead for the What Works Centre for Wellbeing
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Application process
- 1. Application Process Karen Powell Senior Research Portfolio Manager Economic and Social Research Council
- 2. Summary • Am I eligible to apply? • Should I make a proposal? • What is the assessment process? • What are the selection criteria? • How do I apply? • What is the timetable?
- 3. Eligibility • Principal Investigators: • UK wide eligibility • HEIs • Research Organisations eligible for ESRC or AHRC funding • Co-Investigators and collaboration • Inter-institutional proposals • UK business, third sector or government body • International academics
- 4. Ambition for the call • Four wellbeing-themed evidence programmes • One cohesive independent What Works Centre amongst a network of WWCs • Genuine commitment to a wider WWC for Wellbeing • Proposals are invited: • Leading interdisciplinary teams led by a principal investigator • Consortium of organisations with a blend of experience relevant to each evidence programme • Multiple applications and demand management statistics
- 5. Selection criteria • Outstanding track record in relevant wellbeing research with leadership and capacity to draw together the appropriate mix of expertise • Interdisciplinary with right blend of methodological and research skills and expertise • Fit with the common and specific requirements including: • Open and flexible approach to working collaboratively • Experience of and ability to engage with and respond to users • Strong partnerships with policy and practice expertise • Potential to build upon the existing evidence base and stimulate innovation • A robust management structure with a nominated principal investigator • Speed of initiation of evidence programme to achieve initial operational capacity
- 6. Assessment process • Two stage process • 1. Proposals • peer and user reviewed by commissioning panel • principal investigator response stage • Panel meeting to shortlist for interview • 2. Interviews • w/c 9 March 2015 (TBC) • Final decisions end of March 2015 • Awards all start 1 June 2015 with collaborative development phase
- 7. Collaborative Development Phase Timings: Phases of award: Collaborative development phase:
- 8. How to apply • Forms must be submitted to the ESRC using the Joint Electronic Submission system (Je-S) • All PIs and Co-Is must have a Je-S account – register in good time • Apply to the correct call – ‘What Works Wellbeing’ • Further layer of administration between your submission of the application and the application submitted to the ESRC, via Je-S – allow time • Deadline 16:00 on 21 January 2014
- 9. How to apply • Use call specification, call specific guidance notes and FAQs (available on ESRC website after today) • Use Je-S helptext • Prefix proposal title with evidence programme • Include the correct attachments: • Case for Support (max 9 sides) • Justification of resources (max 2 sides) • Pathways to impact (max 2 sides) • Data Management Plan (max 3 sides per applicant) • Management Plan (max 1 side) • CV (max 2 sides per applicant)
- 10. Case for Support (p13) • Body of your research proposal • Address selection criteria • Flexibility for the collaboration phase to shape the final work plan • Priority areas based on your existing knowledge and user consultation • How expertise enables you to lead and deliver proposal • Approach for engaging users/collaborating with the centre • Approach for managing flexibility whilst maintaining coherence
- 11. Timetable Applicant workshop 5 November 2014 Deadline for proposals 16:00 21 January 2015 Commissioning panel meeting 25 February 2015 Interviews 13 March 2015 Announce final decisions End of March 2015 Start date 1 June 2015 Collaborative development phase June to November 2015 Collaboration phase outputs due No later than 1 Dec 2015 Collaboration phase checkpoint Mid-January 2015 Remainder of 3 year award To May 2018
- 12. Contact Email: whatworkswellbeingcommissioning@esrc.ac.uk Telephone: Karen Powell (Monday – Wednesday) 01793 413009 Nicola McCrory (Tuesday – Friday) 01793 444517 Online networking forum: whatworkswellbeing.grou.ps/signup
Editor's Notes
- Hello. I’m Karen Powell and I am ESRC’s lead for the What Works Centre for Wellbeing and with particular responsibility for the application process. This presentation about the application process was scheduled for the applicant workshop on 5th November but did not take place to allow changes on the day to the agenda to allow more time to discuss the deadline for proposals and other elements of the call. This presentation should therefore be considered in the context of all other presentations provided on the day of the applicant workshop which can be found on the funding opportunities pages of the ESRC website.
- I am sure there were lots of questions on the day of the applicant workshop about the detail of the process. We have perhaps answered some of your most pressing concerns since then over email. Perhaps some of you still have questions. Maybe you are wondering: Am I eligible to apply?.......... I hope to answer those questions in my presentation now. Any outstanding questions you may have will be address during the twitterchat on 3rd December 12-2pm. Please follow the online Q&A session with the hashtag #wwwqa I will give more information at the end of the presentation about where to direct outstanding questions.
- Each proposal needs to be led by a principal investigator (PI). PIs must be based at a UK Higher Education Institution (HEI) or at an organisation that is already recognised as an Independent Research Organisation eligible to receive funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) or Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). There is not time to gain IRO status in time for this award or infact any of our awards. The PIs institution would be the host institution and would be responsible for administering the grant; drawing up agreements to pay any other investigators and for meeting reporting requirements. If you are not eligible to be a principal investigator then you need to find some who is eligible to apply to work with. Hopefully this workshop proved useful for meeting others interested in making a proposal for the evidence programmes. Another way we would encourage you to make connections is to join the virtual networking forum that has been set up following the applicant workshop. This has been set up to provide a online space for you to meet other researchers and practitioners interested in the What Works Centre for Wellbeing. I will provide more information about how to do this at the end of the presentation. We welcome applications from inter-disciplinary teams with a mix of skills. Teams might come from a consortium of organisations. Co-investigators (who would be other name individuals on the application and would be involved in the management and direction of the grant) can be from the same academic institution, other academic institutions, the public, third, and private sectors or indeed international research organisations. Not everyone who went to the applicant workshop or who is listening to this presentation today will be involved in an application. That’s okay. This presentation is to provide enough information for those who do want to bid. Those of you who decide not to bid can still be engaged and involved in the centre and it’s development. Nancy Hey’s team are consulting users on the knowledge mobilisation and other functions of the hub; there’s the collaborative development phase; if you’re interested we can log you as a recognised user and your details can be passed on to development team and also the successful teams. Please do get in touch. Our details are available at the end.
- This call is to commission four evidence programmes for the What Works Centre for Wellbeing. To be clear - this call is not to commission the central hub functions – these will be established via separate means and Nancy Hey’s Development Team will be leading on this. It is essential to the ambition of this call that all parts of the What Works Centre work together towards a common goal. That the evidence programmes work together and also with the hub to function and be perceived as a coherent and independent what works centre for wellbeing. And also that the What Works Centre for Wellbeing will be part of a wider network of What Works Centres. To that end we’re only looking to award this grant to teams that are genuinely committed to working collaboratively with all parts of the centre and as part of a wider network of What Works Centres. Specifically we’re inviting proposals from leading interdisciplinary teams drawn from a consortium of organisations and led by a principal investigator. Teams will need to have the right blend of experience relevant to each evidence programme. Prospective applicants may bid for more than one evidence programme although separate proposals must be submitted. References between such multiple applications are encouraged to highlight potential connections and synergies. Principal investigators and co-investigators on multiple applications will need to consider the feasibility of their involvement in multiple applications if all proposals are successful. It is also Worth considering your own ability to manage multiple applications in practice – if they were all to be funded. It is also worth noting that multiple applications will count towards your institutions demand management statistics for ESRC. We’re not looking for speculative applications. We’re looking for applications which are as well rounded as possible give the timeframes.
- Proposals must clearly demonstrate that they meet the remit of the call in order to be considered by the panel. The full selection criteria are set out in the common specification which is available on our website. Some of the key criteria for selection are set out here: The principal investigator must have an outstanding track record in relevant wellbeing research. They must have the leadership and the capacity to draw together the appropriate mix of expertise. We encourage proposals from inter-disciplinary teams including co-investigators from other mixed disciplines, from the private sector, the public sector and the third sector. Teams with the right blend of methodological and research skills and expertise. It is important that the team is open and flexible and willing to work collaboratively towards the wider common goal of the whole centre Also that the teams have the experience and the ability to engage with and respond to users. Users are really at the heart of the what works centre and understanding their needs and shaping and adapting the work plan to address their needs will be crucial. Well connected teams with strong partnerships – providing they are relevant to the evidence programme – will also an attractive feature of a proposal. The potential to develop the existing evidence base by improving the quality of local interventions and their evaluations; stimulating innovation in research and methodology will also make a strong application. As this is a complex initiative a robust management structure with strong leadership will be essential. It will also be important to be able to mobilise teams quickly to ensure the what works centre as a whole can reach it’s operational capacity in good time. This is especially true of the collaborative development phase where we will expect individuals working on this phase to be named and ready to start on 1 June 2015.
- The assessment process is a two stage process – the proposal stage and then interview stage. First – the proposal stage. A commissioning panel, made up of relevant academics and users will assess proposals. Each application will be reviewed and scored by at least 3 members of the commissioning panel including both academic peers and users. These comments will then be made available for the PI of each proposal to respond to. All commissioning panel members will convene to discuss the applications, their reviews and scores and PI responses. Proposals will be shortlisted at the meeting for interview. Interviews will be held on 13th March. It is essential that bidding teams are able to attend this interview date. The assessment process is most concerned about selecting the right team for the job. This is partly because the success of the initiative will very much be down to the involvement of the right teams and also because the collaborative development phase is an opportunity to ensure the precise work plan is defined in the best way. The interview stage is a critical part of the assessment process. Final decision will be made at the end of march 2015. It is also a requirement that successful teams across all evidence programmes are able to start work on the same day – 1 June 2015. This is so that all teams can embark upon the collaborative development phase at the same time.
- The collaborative development phase is about setting the foundations for all parts of the What Works Centre for Wellbeing – the four evidence programmes and the hub – to work as a collective to achieve a common goal. This phase will begin on 1st June for a period of up to six months and includes three dimensions and three outputs which focus around engaging end-users; developing a prioritised work plan that is realistic within available budgets; meets the needs of users; adds value to and learns from the existing WWCs. All of this will be underpinned by a collaborative agreement defined and signed up to by all parts of the centre. The checkpoint at the end of the six months is an opportunity for reflection to consider the outputs and ensure all parties including the longer term governance arrangements are content with the plan. This is more of a gateway to pass through. It is by no means another form of assessing whether the right teams are in place.
- All the information you need about applying should be in the specification and the guidance on the website. But I will give you a quick overview: It is important to be aware that pressing send on your application doesn’t mean it arrives with ESRC. It first goes through the host institutions research office who carry out some necessary administration before they forward the application to ESRC. This process will vary in time from institution to institution but could take up to two weeks. If you are serious about making an application I can only advise that you allow sufficient time for this process and speak to your research office well in advance to be clear about their requirements. The deadline for submission (received from the host institution’s research office) is 4pm on Wednesday 21st January.
- Case for support – this is the key section of your proposal and where you need to address the specific selection criteria. The guidance provides a clear description of what needs to go in the case support. It is worth noting though that we are asking that you strike a balance between conveying how you plan to tackle the requirements of the specific evidence programme whilst leaving some flexibility to allow the six month collaborative development phase to shape your final work plan. Essentially we need the proposals to put forward an agenda for the areas they would consider a priority based on their existing knowledge and existing consultation with users, how their expertise would enable them to lead this, what their proposals are for user engagement and working with other parts of the centre, how they will approach the management of an award of this nature, how this approach will deal with the need for flexibility whilst maintaining coherence.
- Please do read the specifications and the guidance and the frequently asked questions on the website – these are designed to help you and should have most if not all of the information you need. You can also contact your own Research Office for support. For further support and queries please email whatworkswellbeingcommissioning@esrc.ac.uk Please also contact us directly if you need to. ESRC with funding partners will be hosting an online twitterchat on 3rd December between 12-2pm. We will be answering your questions about the What Works Centre for Wellbeing with specific focus around the call for proposals. An updated FAQs document will be made available after the online Q&A event. Where possible, partners will also be online between 12-2pm on the virtual networking forum for further discussion and debate. We encourage you to join us where you will also be able to meet with other researchers and practioners interested in making a proposal, learn about the work they are engaged in, develop potential collaborations and share knowledge and skills across different areas of expertise. To sign-up please go to whatworkswellbeing.grou.ps/signup Please send us your questions and consider joining the virtual networking site in advance to make the most of the event. Further instructions are below. You can send questions to us via twitter; to the above email address or on the forum of the virtual networking site. Many thanks for listening and all the best with your endeavours in the wellbeing field and any applications you are involved in.