Research Grants & Contracts
Office
Research Seminar
Dept of Management
Craig Bryce
Summary
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Research Grants & Contracts Office (RGCO)
Funding Schemes
FEC and Costing (briefly!)
Internal procedures for approving
applications
Finding further information
Research Grants & Contracts Office
structure
Peter Westley
Director of Finance
Liz Francis
Head of RGCO
Craig Bryce
Deputy Head
Sharon Bell
Research Accounts Officer
Rassi Pelpola
Research Accounts Assistant
Theresa Ball
Costing & Pricing
Accountant
George Eyre
Research Support Officer
Marion Barthram
Research Grants Assistant
Research Grants & Contracts Office
structure
Peter Westley
Director of Finance
Liz Francis
Head of RGCO
Craig Bryce
Deputy Head
Sharon Bell
Research Accounts Officer
Rassi Pelpola
Research Accounts Assistant
Theresa Ball
Costing & Pricing
Accountant
George Eyre
Research Support
Officer
Applications
Marion Barthram
Research Grants
Assistant
Research Grants & Contracts Office
structure
Peter Westley
Director of Finance
Project Accounting
Liz Francis
Head of RGCO
Craig Bryce
Deputy Head
Sharon Bell
Research Accounts Officer
Rassi Pelpola
Research Accounts Assistant
Theresa Ball
Costing & Pricing
Accountant
George Eyre
Research Support Officer
Marion Barthram
Research Grants
Assistant
Research Grants & Contracts Office
structure – Dept of Management
•School of Business, Economics &
Informatics
•Psychological Sciences
•Psychosocial
•Social Policy & Education
•All EU grants
Peter Westley
Director of Finance
Liz Francis
Head of RGCO
Craig Bryce
Deputy Head
Sharon Bell
Research Accounts Officer
Rassi Pelpola
Research Accounts Assistant
Theresa Ball
Costing & Pricing
Accountant
George Eyre
Research Support Officer
Marion Barthram
Research Grants Assistant
•School of Arts
•Biological Sciences
•School of SSHP (rest of)
Research Grants & Contracts Office (RGCO)
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The RGCO, part of Finance Dept, provides
administrative, financial and support services related
to externally funded research projects
Pre award: funding information, help with
applications, approval, contract negotiation
Post award: project accounting, approval of posts,
allocation of overheads, financial reporting,
contracts with partners
Policy development
Management information
Training and events
Help with Applications
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Costing - salaries and overhead-type costs – done
on web-based costing system pFACT
Approval – done using workflow system on pFACT
Electronic submission – may need to set up an
account, e.g Research Council’s Joint Electronic
Submission (Je-S) system
Contractual arrangements
Copies of previously successful applications for
most schemes
Research Funding at Birkbeck
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2009/10 – 209 applications (33%)
Income £10,170,194 in 2009/10 (12.5%)
Jan ‘11 contract value £52,006,414
66 different funding bodies
162 active research projects, throughout all Schools
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Management
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2009/10 - 4 applications (75%)
Income 2009/10 – £76k
5 Active projects, Contract value £268k
Research Funding at Birkbeck
Funder Type
No. of
apps
% of
apps
Successful
Unsuccessful
Unknown
% to
date
Research Councils,
Royal Soc, British
Academy
115
55%
28
75
12
24%
UK Based Charities
46
22%
12
27
7
26%
UK Govt
12
6%
8
1
3
67%
UK Industry ,
Commerce
3
1%
2
1
EU
23
11%
12
10
1
52%
Overseas & Other
10
5%
6
3
1
60%
Total
209
68
117
24
33%
67%
Funding Information
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Economic & Social Research Council
Leverhulme Trust
British Academy
Others…
ESRC (1)
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Research Grants Scheme
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£200k > £2m
Recently changed – no small applications <£200k
considered
Up to 5 years duration
Flexible re subject area as long as within ESRC's remit
80% FEC
No closing dates
Apply via Je-S
6 sides of A4 for research proposal
Most decisions within 26 weeks
ESRC (2)
Recent revisions to Funding Schemes, “fewer but more flexible
research schemes”
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Future Leaders scheme
 Will replace postdoctoral fellowship and first grants scheme.
 “More information will be available shortly”
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Large grants and centres
 will be integrating large grants and centre competitions
 “more information will be available shortly”
http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/fundingopportunities/
ESRC (3) - Fellowships
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Professorial Fellowships
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support leading social scientists working in the UK
Fellow given freedom to pursue their own innovative and creative research
agendas
Provides;
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Fellow’s time (up to 60%)
additional research assistance costs
PhD studentship
Up to 3 years
80% FEC
Usually announced in October, closing date in December, peer
review February to April, interviews are in May and decisions made by end
of July. Awards are expected to commence the following October at the
earliest.
Knowledge Exchanges/Placement Fellowships
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private, public and civil society sectors
ESRC (4)
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Research Seminars - multi-institutional groups of academic
researchers, PG students and non-academic users who meet regularly
to exchange information and ideas with the aim of advancing research
within their fields
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non-fEC and are limited to £15,000
travel and expenses for speakers and participants
secretarial costs
stationary postage copying and telephone
hire of rooms and facilities.
Another £3k available if strong case for
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enhancing knowledge transfer
impact for non academic users
and/or the inclusion of international academics at events and/or the holding of
events abroad.
WILL be running 2011/12 details tba
2009 – 146/41 – 28%
ESRC (5)
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Decision process
Submission via JeS
Checked by Shared Services Centre (SSC), allocated to ESRC Officer for
eligibility check
Once accepted, proposal sent to reviewers from ESRC’s Peer Review College
Proposal scoring below 4 rejected, those above 4 allocated to 2 members of the
Grant Assessment Panel
PIs given 10 days to respond to Reviewers comments (max 2 A4)
Grant Assessment Panel meet and agree prioritisation list, considered by Grants
Delivery Group and final decisions made.
Feedback sent with decision letters, scores of <4 receive 3or4 anonymous
reviewer comments, scores >4 reviewer comments plus comments of 2
panel members.
ESRC award rates
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ESRC Responsive mode;
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2009/10 – Standard Grants 682/94 – 14%
Small Grants 653/124 – 19%
2010/11 - Standard Grants 304/41 – 13%
(to date) Small Grants 178/44 – 25%
Birkbeck responsive mode
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Success rate for 09/10: 6/2 (33%)
Success rate for 08/09: 5/2 (40%)
Success rate for 07/08: 8/2 (25%)
Success rate for 06/07: 8/4 (50%)
Leverhulme Trust (1)
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Research Project
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“support for innovative and original research projects of high
quality and potential, the choice of theme and the design of
the research lying entirely with the applicant”
Up to 5 years; < £500k for research assistance, PhD
Students, replacement teaching, other direct costs
Most awards ~250k for 3 years
Any topic
2 stage application process, outline must be accepted prior
to submitting full application (up to 12 weeks)
full appl deadlines Sept, Dec and March
Leverhulme Trust (2)
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Research Fellowship
 open to experienced researchers
 up to £45k
 research expenses ‘over and above normal living costs’ including
reasonable replacement teaching
 3 – 24 months
 Next round announced Sept ‘11
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Major Research Fellowship
 Open well-established and distinguished researchers
 Provides a replacement staff member to cover the period of the
Fellowship and £5k p.a. expenses.
 2 –3 years
 4.00pm on 6 May 2011 (result December)
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Early Career Fellowship
 2 year award, Trust pays up to 50% of the employment cost (up to max
of £23k), plus research expenses up to £6,000 pa, deadline 10 March
Leverhulme Trust (3)
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Success Rates
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Research grants
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Research Fellowships
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2007 – 18%
2008 – 16%
2009 – 15%
Major Research Fellowships
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2007 – Outline – 43%, Full – 47%, Combined – 20%
2008 – Outline – 44%, Full – 49%, Combined – 22%
2009 – Outline – 48%, Full – 39%, Combined – 19%
2007 – 14%
2008 – 13%
2009 – 14%
Early Career Fellowship
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2007 – 13%
2008 – 12%
2009 – 13%
British Academy (1)
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Small Grants
 primary research in the humanities and social sciences
 up to £7,500 direct costs, up to 2 years
 applications assessed equally on their merits, with no preference
as to mode of enquiry
 for clearly defined, discrete piece of research with an identifiable
outcome
 FINAL deadline: 23 March
BA Research Development Awards (BARDA)
 Up to £150,000 FEC, up to 3 years
 scheme is currently suspended
Conference Support and O/S Conference Grants
 Final deadlines 16th & 2nd March – scheme scrapped
British Academy (2)
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Postdoctoral Fellowships
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3 years support for outstanding early career researchers. 2-stage application, deadline:
October
applicants are expected to be at an early stage of their academic career.
Provides fellow’s salary plus limited research expenses and FEC costs (directly
allocated costs, including mentor’s time, estates, and indirect costs).
‘New’ British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship Scheme
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aim is to free applicants from normal teaching and administrative commitments
support outstanding individual researchers with excellent research proposals, and to
support outstanding communicators
awards to individuals employed at UK universities, particularly to support mid-career
scholars
normally within no more than 15 years from the award of their doctorate
6-12 months duration
It is not expected that the total value of an award will exceed £200,000 FEC
Deadline 9 March 2011
35 per year
British Academy (3)
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Full list
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British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowships and ThankOffering to Britain Fellowship
British Academy Research Development Award Scheme (BARDAs)
British Academy Wolfson Research Professorships
Conference Support
Country-specific Agreements
International Partnerships
Mid-Career Fellowships
Overseas Conference Grants
Postdoctoral Fellowships
Small Research Grants
Special Funds
UK-Latin America and the Caribbean Link Scheme
Visiting Scholars
Europe
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Research mainly funded via 7th Framework Programme
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Co- operation - Collaborative Research Programme
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Collaborative/multi-national requirement
Call driven
Ideas - Frontier Research (European Research Council)
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Starting Grants (call opens July ’11)
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Advanced grants
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1.5m€ over 5 years
PI must have PhD awarded in last 2 - 12 years
PI expected to spend min 50% of time on project (funded)
2.5m€ over 5 years
SSH deadline 6 April
No PhD time eligibility but “only exceptional research leaders”
PI with track record of significant research achievements in the last 10 years
PI expected to spend min 30% of time on project (funded)
People - Marie Curie Schemes
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'mobility' requirement
Others….
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Over the last 3 years the School has submitted
applications to;
ACAS, AHRC, BBSRC, British Academy, CIMA, ESRC,
EPSRC, EU, Health Research Council of New Zealand,
JISC, Leverhulme Trust, National Maritime Museum,
Natural England, NESTA, NORFACE, Nuffield
Foundation, Royal Academy of Engineering, Royal
Society, Technology Strategy Board, OMII-UK, UEFA.
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Research Professional -
http://www.researchprofessional.com
Preparing a good proposal
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Guidance notes on constructing a good proposal to the ESRC Research Grants Scheme:
http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/guidance/applicants/how-to.aspx
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Part 1
Allow yourself time
Study your funding source
Read the rules
Discuss your application
Justify your costings
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Part 2
Content and presentation
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Part 3
Dissemination and impact
Check the details
If you are successful
If you are unsuccessful
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EPSRC: Preparing a Proposal:
http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/apprev/preparing/Pages/default.aspx
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NERC: How to win money for research:
http://www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/application/howtowin.asp
Full Economic Costing (fEC)
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Introduced by the Government in 2005
Used as basis to cost research projects, but
very few funders will pay 100% of FEC
Research Councils pay 80% of FEC
Other funders pay according to their own
terms and conditions
We use pFACT to calculate the FEC
What makes up fEC?
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Directly Incurred (DI) costs
Directly Allocated (DA) costs
Indirect costs
Exceptional items: e.g. project studentships
Research Councils will pay 80% of DI, DA and
Indirect Costs; 100% of Exceptional Items
College Approval procedures pFACT
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Set out in the College's Financial Regulations, as
approved by Governors
All external research grants must be authorised for
submission through the pFACT system.
All approval stages to be completed prior to
submitting to the funding body
RGCO – webpage
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/rgco/researchgrants/applicatio
n/authorization.shtml
College Approval procedures pFACT
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The application should only be submitted
once all the stages have been completed.
Each approver should be given at least three
clear working days (that’s NINE days prior to
deadline).
Paper applications that require institutional
signatures should be passed to the RGCO at
the same time that the applicant completes
their stage of the pFACT sign-off
http://pfact.bbk.ac.uk/login.aspx
Contact information
Research Grants Office: www.bbk.ac.uk/rgco
Craig Bryce: extn 3141
c.bryce@bbk.ac.uk
Sharon Bell: extn 3139
s.bell@bbk.ac.uk
Financial statements and reports
www.bbk.ac.uk/rgco