LDC FUNDING FOR RESEARCH ACTIVE STAFF (RAS) NETWORKS
APPLICATION FORM 2014-2015
PART A
Details:
Name: Sue Wharton
Job Title: Associate Professor
Staff No: 380123
Department/Centre/Unit/Faculty: Centre for Applied Linguistics
Departmental Administrator (name): Maureen Tustin
Purpose / Objective of the Research Staff Network:
We wish to continue to work with the group of staff we brought together last year at our event
“Discourse Studies in the Social Sciences’
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/research/groups/pad/activities/discourse_studies_in_social_
sciences/, to which the LDC kindly contributed funding. As indicated in our report on the event, this
conference was a successful way of bringing together staff across Social Sciences who are using
Discourse Analysis in their research. Some contacts have continued since the original event, and we
now wish to organise a second event for the whole group, plus new staff who we have identified over
the last year.
Details of the Skills/ Development Activity(ies) (Max 500 words):
We are planning a half day meeting for approximately 30 people. It will begin with lunch, and
opportunities for informal conversation as group members catch up with each other. We will then
have one talk from an invited speaker, Yannis Stavrakakis, who was with us last year. This will be
followed by a roundtable in which discourse researchers from within Warwick Social Sciences, but
outside CAL, will join discourse researchers from within CAL to give brief presentations on how
discourse work currently fits with research they are doing. Confirmed speakers from outside CAL are
Marianna Fotaki (WBS), Mike Saward (PAIS), and Nick Vaughan-Williams (PAIS). Speakers from within
CAL are Johannes Angermuller, Malcolm MacDonald and Sue Wharton. After the round table
presentations, there will be plenty of opportunity for questions from and interactions between, other
audience members.
Sandy Sparks, LDC
Research Active Staff Network Funding
October 2014
Date of your activity/event(s), if known:
Thursday 5 Feb 2015
If you have a website, please give the URL:
A subpage will be added on the site of CAL’s PAD research group,
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/research/groups/pad/
Please state which events will be open to other University of Warwick Research Active staff or if
relevant to a specific facility or department.
The event will be of interest to, and open to, any Warwick social science research active staff.
Is this a new network or existing network?
Existing
Scope/ Evaluation / Impact of activity(ies) proposed
(Please give us an estimate of the numbers of staff who will be involved and an indication of how you will measure the impact of the
activity/activities. If you intend to follow up the activity by disseminating information, or using the outcomes to support other staff
development activities, please also let us know this)
Apart from the already confirmed six Warwick speakers, we hope to attract approximately 24
‘audience’ participants. Feedback from our event last year was that participants would welcome
future get togethers around an invited speaker. Measures of impact, as last year, will be the extent to
which non-CAL participants form an interest in working with CAL or each other on discourse based
projects, and see an increased place for discourse work in their own research.
How do you plan to let Research Active Staff know about your events/meetings (LDC RAS website or
RAS e-newsletter can be used)?
We will use the website and newsletter, emails, informal contacts, contacts with key staff members in
other departments within the faculty. As last year, we will create an electronic poster to go on screens
in social sciences and in Chaplaincy Alley.
How do you plan to share the learning / best practice with other University of Warwick Research
Sandy Sparks, LDC
Research Active Staff Network Funding
October 2014
Staff Networks?
We will provide a report for the LDC newsletter and will develop a webpage, as last year, which will
capture the keynote talk and the round table. We will discuss the event in any networks of which we
are a part, e.g. Warwick GRP networks.
What is the benefit of your activity/activities to:

The University
The anticipated benefit to the university is the same as last year – the university needs better contacts
across disciplines and departments – it needs networks of people who share interest in a common
research approach (in this case, Discourse Analysis) but who work in different disciplines and may not
normally get to know each other. It is of importance to the university that connections forged through
one event should continue to be nurtured as time goes on.

Your department/organisation
CAL continues to seek to establish itself as something of a hub for discourse research in the university.
As a result of last year’s event and other initiatives of ours, we feel that our work in this area is
becoming better known within Warwick. We hope to continue to build on these developments, and
for other departments to see us as relevant people to collaborate with on projects which may include
a discourse element.

Research agenda
Many of the university’s GRPs are capable of including a discourse element and members of CAL are
already participants in some of these, eg Global Governance and International Development. By
improving our collaboration with colleagues in other depts. in Social Sciences, we hope to increase
these opportunities and to raise the profile of the language dimension of Social Science research at
Warwick.
Total amount of funding requested:
£ 300.00
Sandy Sparks, LDC
Research Active Staff Network Funding
October 2014
Breakdown of funding requested (approximate):
£ 268.20 – Hot fork buffet for 30 people from Warwick delivered food and drink
£30.00 soft drinks for 30 people.
£
*Signature of Applicant: …
. Date: …18 December 2014
Head of Department’s signature:
Head of Department:
**Signed:
Helen Spencer-Oatey
(please print)
Date: 18 December 2014
Please send your completed form either in hard copy or electronically to Sandy Sparks
(Sandy.Sparks@warwick.ac.uk) in the Learning and Development Centre, University House.
If you have any queries, please contact Sandy to discuss (either via email at the above address or on
extn 74121).
*You can either sign a hardcopy, scan in your signature or email the application which will be taken as your signature.
**Your HOD can either sign a hardcopy, scan in their signature or send an email to Sandy Sparks stating they support your
application.
For LDC use
Approved by: ……………………………………………………..……..….
Date: …………………………….
Amount approved: £………………………………………….……………
Budget Code: ……………………..
Sandy Sparks, LDC
Research Active Staff Network Funding
October 2014
PART B (sent post event)
Report:
Funding awards are conditional upon a report being produced after the event or activity which
reflects on the value and impact of the activity in order to share best practice. We ask you to do this
by completing Part B of this form within 2 weeks of the event or by 31 July 2015 for a series of
events. (Please note that funding may be retracted where reports are not produced).
Please tell us:
How you felt the event/activity went:
How many research staff were involved in
a) the organisational process:
and
b) presenting at the event itself:
How it has contributed to the Department/ University/ Research Agenda:
What has been learnt:
What would be done differently next time:
Impact/results/benefits:
Budget (provide breakdown of amounts spent):
£
£
£
*Signature of Applicant: ………………………………………………………
Date: ……………………………………….
Please send your completed report either in hard copy or electronically to Sandy Sparks
(Sandy.Sparks@warwick.ac.uk) in the Learning and Development Centre, University House.
*You can either sign a hardcopy, scan in your signature or email the report which will be taken as your signature.
For LDC use
Report received (date): ………………………………..
Sandy Sparks, LDC
Amount spent: £ ……………………………………
Research Active Staff Network Funding
October 2014