The British Academy
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UK national academy
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Learned society
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Grant-giving body
The British Academy
• The Humanities
• The Social Sciences
The Royal Society
The Royal Academy of Engineering
The Academy of Medical Sciences
The Royal Society of Edinburgh
Relation to Research Councils
The British Academy
• ESRC – social sciences
• AHRC – arts and humanities
Strategic Framework 2008-2013
Strategic priorities
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Ideas, individuals and intellectual resources
International engagement
Communication and advocacy
Fellowship
Spending Review 2010
Change in focus
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Individuals
International engagement
Excellence and engagement
Languages and Quantitative Skills
BA Policy Centre
• The British Academy believes it is essential that policymakers take
decisions based on the best available evidence.
• We oversee a programme of activities including reports and events which
aim to engage expertise within the HSS to shed light on public policy
issues.
• We contribute to debates on HE and research policy.
• As a fellowship of over 900 eminent UK scholars across the HSS, we can
play an important role in offering cross-disciplinary expertise and advice to
government.
Policy Centre Reports
And also...
• Building relationships with policymakers,
fellows and other HSS academics
• Consultation responses and statements
e.g.
– Response to the HE white paper
– Response to HEFCE consultation on teaching
funding and student numbers.
– Position statements on language matters
Programme Budget 2011-12
Individuals £16,256m
International £6.66m
Excellence and Engagement
£1.3m
Languages and Quantitative
Skills £0.95m
Research budget 2011-12
Early Career (Postdoctoral
Fellowships) £10.169m
Mid-Career (MC Fellowships)
£2.28m
Sunsetting old schemes (SGs,
CGs, BARDAs) £2.9m
Newton International
Fellowships £1.408m
International partnerships and
mobility £1.1m
Languages and Quantitative Skills
• New programme: £5m over 4 years
• 3 strands:
– Fellowships
– Partnership awards
– Promotional activity: events, communications
Research support
• Humanities and social sciences
• Postdoctoral level
• Applicants resident in the UK
• Complement the schemes of the AHRC and ESRC
• Major focus on individuals through Postdoctoral
and Mid-Career Fellowships
• New International partnerships and mobility
scheme
Research Posts
Postdoctoral fellowships (3 years)
• Early career (Apply within 3 years of award of doctorate)
Mid-Career Fellowships (1 year)
• Mid-career (research and communication)
Senior Research Fellowships (1 year)
• Aimed at mid-career: privately funded, no FEC
Newton International Fellowships (2 years)
• Early career: for overseas scholars
Postdoctoral Fellowships
• currently offering up to 45 awards each year
• tenable for three years
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experience of independent research
introduction to teaching
career development
output and dissemination
Postdoctoral Fellowships
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Annual competition
2-stage application process
Deadline for outline applications Oct 2012
Shortlist announced in February
Final awards announced in May
Awards to be taken up from Sep 2013
Heavy competition – 900+ applications last year
High priority scheme
Postdoctoral Fellowships
Success rates
• 826 applications in 2011, 47 awards
expected, 5.7% success rate
• 900 applications in 2010, 45 awards, 5%
success rate
• 707 applications in 2009, 43 awards, 6.1%
success rate
Mid-Career Fellowships (1 year)
• Mid-career (research and communication)
• 2-stage selection process
• Success rate under 10%, likely to be around 35
awards
• Awards for 6-12 months: research leave, FEC basis
• Emphasis on:
– Strength of research proposal
– Communication to a broad audience
Senior Research Fellowships
7 each year, tenable for one year
• to complete major programme of research
• relief from teaching and administration
• Non-FEC, sponsored by Leverhulme Trust
• One closing date per year – next in November
2012; decisions announced in February
• Awards tenable from the following autumn
Small Research Grants
• Restored scheme
• Awards £10k, tenable for up to 24 months
• Commonly used for pilot studies, small-scale projects
• Worldwide in scope, international partners
• High priority in Academy portfolio
• Wide outreach: over 120 HEIs in last financial year
• Next deadline not yet announced
Academy Research Projects
• Recognition of c. 50 long-term infrastructural projects
• Datasets of fundamental resources
• Support for British contribution to collaborative
international enterprises
• Occasional Call for new proposals, most recently in
November 2011
International
International Aims
Representation
Partnerships
Funding
Communication
Sponsored Overseas Institutes
Includes 6 research institutes with premises in Ankara,
Athens, Nairobi, Tehran, Rome, Amman, Jerusalem
European Consortium for Asian Field
Study
Access to 23 field centres across Asia
Newton International Fellowships
Run by two national academies (Royal Society, British
Academy)
• Supports visits by foreign scholars to the UK for
up to two years
• Covers any discipline within remit of RS and BA
• Electronic application via RS e-Gap system
• Most recent closing date was 4 April 2011 for
fellowships from January 2012
• See www.newtonfellowships.org
• Next competition opening January 2012
International Funding
• New International Partnership and Mobility
Scheme
Support for research partnerships between UK
scholars and scholars in Africa, East Asia, the
Middle East, Latin America & Caribbean, and
South Asia
3-year and 1-year awards: £10,000 per year
First call open now, deadline 8 February
Area Panels
Area Panels covering:
Europe
Africa
Latin America and Caribbean
Middle East
South Asia
East Asia (China)
Kinds of Activity...
Europe
Africa
EC consultation responses
Evaluation Criteria
For all awards:
o academic merit
o originality of proposal
o relationship to and volume of research
already in the field
o feasibility of research programme
o specificity of scheme of research
o intended outcomes
Evaluation Criteria
Research Posts: additional factors:
• For PDFs: potential to go on to a successful
academic career as a teacher in higher education
• For MCFs: the communication plan and the public
benefit of the intended outcomes
• For Senior Fellows: how pressing is the need for
the research time applied for
Evaluation Criteria
International awards: additional factors
• Still under discussion: for partnerships,
priority might be on working with areas of
world where barriers to research
collaboration – financial, cultural, political
Peer Review
• assessment procedures proportionate to
scale of funding
• subject specialists within Academy
• for international grants, may also use area
specialists
• recommendations confirmed by Award
Committees, in light of budget available
• Code of Practice for all assessors
Royal Holloway, University of London
Recent and current awards of interest include:
• Dr Duncan Astle (Department of Psychology) (Why
memory fails: understanding the reasons for visuo-spatial
working memory capacity limits in typically developing children
and adults) – BA PDF
• Dr Julie Brown (Department of Music) ('Film fitting' in
Britain, 1913-1926) – BARDA
• Professor Christopher Townsend (Department of Media
Arts) (Remains in Light: Modernist Intermediality, the Body and
the Event ) – SRG
Academy Review
• The British Academy Review is pitched at an educated but
non-specialist readership, showcasing the work of the
Academy, and of the scholars it supports
Are friends electric?
9 June 2011
Could robots offer our ageing populations care in their
dotage, even love? Can machines genuinely become
social beings? Will androids one day dream of electric
sheep? Kathleen Richardson examines the history and
development of the robot and evaluates the
possibilities
Contacts
• Research Awards Team
grants@britac.ac.uk / 020 7969 5217
posts@britac.ac.uk / 020 7969 5270
• International Department
overseas@britac.ac.uk / 020 7969 5220
Email Bulletin
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forthcoming grant deadline dates, policy
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• Register at http://www.britac.ac.uk/bulletin or go
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