RCUK Global Uncertainties Leadership Fellows Programme Specification Introduction The RCUK Global Uncertainties (GU) Programme brings together the activities of the seven UK Research Councils in response to global security challenges. The Programme helps governments, businesses and societies to better predict, detect, prevent and mitigate threats to security. The Programme is focussed on six core areas: Ideologies and beliefs Terrorism Transnational organised crime Cyber security Threats to infrastructures Countering the proliferation of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) weapons and technologies. More details of the Programme are available at the Global Uncertainties Programme website www.globaluncertainties.org.uk/. The Programme has a portfolio of projects worth over 180 million, many of which have been funded through responsive mode, and provide a diffuse coverage of the field. The Programme is now seeking to appoint a number of Leadership Fellows to help to provide further focus to the Programme and to maximise the impact from Research Council investments. Fellowship funding will also enable Fellows to conduct a personal research programme. There is up to 4.5 million of funding available, primarily from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Economic and Social research Council (ESRC), with contributions from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the Medical Research Council (MRC). The personal research programme should reflect the remits of participating Research Councils. Aims of the Scheme The aims of the scheme are: To enable outstanding researchers to help to focus the GU Programme in one or more of its core areas 1
To help to establish networks and working relationships between researchers and with researchers and end users. To fund excellent research projects with a high potential to contribute to academic advances, society and economy, and carefully considered pathways for realising such impact. Scope of the Scheme These grants will provide up to three years funding for up to 60 per cent of the Fellows time (FTE basis) with an overall limit of 500,000 (fec) per grant (cost to Research Councils of 400k at 80 per cent). Successful proposals will include: A programme of activities to help to achieve further focus within one or more of the GU Programme core areas (for example through producing overviews or syntheses of existing research in the area, convening discussion meetings or seminars, leading possible public engagement and media outreach activities). A programme of activities to help to build relationships and networks between researchers in the area and between researchers and potential beneficiaries and users of the research, potentially including the business community and/or the public sector and/or the third sector in the UK and internationally. A well-defined, high-quality, innovative and ground-breaking research project relevant to one or more Global Uncertainties core areas. The capacity to make, and the possibility of achieving, a significant impact on relevant research fields must be demonstrated. Consideration should also be given to appropriate pathways through which this research might have a significant impact beyond academia. Across the period of the grant, at least 20 per cent of the Fellow s time should be expected to be devoted to the first two activities, with the balance of up to 40 per cent for personal research. Potential research issues in each of the GU core areas cover a wide range of disciplines from the physical sciences to arts and humanities and social sciences. It is important that fellows are able to work across disciplinary boundaries. Therefore inter/multidisciplinary working as well as international work is strongly encouraged. Research proposals based on a wide range of approaches are also invited, including historic, creative, interpretative, comparative and critical perspectives, on a wide range of security challenges across the globe, provided they have broader relevance to the core Programme themes. In the first two activities, grant holders would be expected to take an inclusive, strategic, approach to lead on activities advancing Global Uncertainties Programme strategic aims and objectives. GU Leadership Fellows are expected to work with Research Councils, as well as other Leadership Fellows and existing GU Programme investments. Where appropriate this may involve programme representation roles, including possible media activities and public events, or acting on behalf of all GU Leadership Fellows and the wider research community. Resources to support these activities should be requested in the application. As part of regular engagement with the Research Councils, GU theme leader and programme management, grant holders will be expected to attend a yearly workshop for GU Leadership Fellows, including an induction meeting; travel funds for such meetings should be included in the application. Research themes Proposals are welcome in any of the GU core areas. We hope to appoint eight to ten Leadership Fellows. Complete coverage of any core area is not required in a single proposal, 2
but the scope of each proposal should be well defined. As there is a degree of overlap between the core areas, proposals that cover more than one core area would be welcome, but would also need to be firmly bounded. Knowledge exchange The scheme aims to produce a new national cohort of researchers who will act as advocates for the GU Programme, and who will carry out and actively promote the importance of knowledge exchange with the business community, the public sector, the third sector and the wider community in the UK and internationally. Eligibility Applicants must meet the following eligibility criteria: Applicants should be based at a UK research organisation that is eligible to hold Research Council grants. Applicants are expected to have an outstanding track record of research and international acknowledgement of their scholarly leadership. They would be expected to have significant experience in disseminating the results of the research within academia and to government, policy makers, business and the general public. Applicants who hold a current Research Council fellowship are able to apply; if successful, additional funding would be available (eg to extend the duration of the fellowship and to support leadership and networking activities), although it would be expected that the leadership activities would commence immediately. Expected outcomes At the end of the grant, we expect GU Leadership Fellows to have completed both a highquality research project and helped to achieve a more focussed and co-ordinated GU Programme, with a wider and deeper set of working relationships between academics, and potential beneficiaries and end users of research in the UK and internationally. Funding available Grants will be for a maximum of three years in length with an overall limit of 500,000 (fec) per grant (cost to Research Councils of 400,000 at 80 per cent). Funding comes primarily from AHRC, ESRC (approximately 2 million each) and STFC; MRC will contribute on a case by case basis. Personal research programmes should reflect the interests of participating Research Councils (in the case of STFC this includes researchers drawing on significant past or planned use of STFC facilities). Interdisciplinary research proposals across the remits of participating Research Councils are particularly welcome, for example studies examining the legal, ethical, regulatory, or public responses to technology development or uptake or the role of different media in communication across cultures and in the evolution of conflicts. All costs included in the proposal must be fully justified. The applicant may request funding for the following, where standard regulations apply to all cost categories: Investigator time (maximum 60 per cent FTE) Research assistant support Equipment, travel, fieldwork, data collection Technical, administrative and clerical support 3
Investigator research skills development and training Research assistant development and training Knowledge exchange activities, such as seminars and workshops International collaborations. We expect to support eight to ten Fellowships. Assessment Process The assessment process will be led by the ESRC. To ensure that this process is robust as well as efficient, it will involve two stages. The first stage of Expressions of Interest should be submitted by 16.00 on 28 September 2011. This will be followed by invited applications for full proposals, to be submitted in January 2012 through the Je-S system (http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/guidance/applicants/je-s-electronicapplications.aspx). Expressions of Interest should demonstrate the applicant s track record and give a succinct but comprehensive overview of the proposed activities in the GU core areas, as well as the scope and arrangements for a personal research programme. Expressions of interest will be checked against the eligibility criteria (please see section on Eligibility ) and then be sifted by a Panel of key programme stakeholders, including eminent academics and high profile experts in the field as well as potential research users. The main criterion at this stage will be the fit to the aims of the scheme, with the intention to sift down to 15-20 proposals, so as to achieve a 50 per cent success rate for full proposals, subject to excellence and quality. Invited full research proposals will have to comply with requirements as detailed in the Je-S guidelines. They will be subject to a full and comprehensive interdisciplinary peer and merit review. At least three external peer reviewers will be selected by the Research Councils, including at least one reviewer nominated by the applicant. Reviewer s comments will be fed back to applicants for written response. Following this peer review process, applications will be reviewed by the Commissioning Panel established specifically for this call. The Commissioning Panel will comprise an interdisciplinary spread of academics and users working in the GU area - a full list of Panel members will be published on the ESRC website. Assessment criteria Proposals will be assessed by reviewers and Panels against the following criteria: Effectiveness of plans to help achieve further focus for part of the GU programme Effectiveness of proposals to achieve networking and relationship building Effectiveness of project management arrangements Originality, potential contribution to knowledge, ie research excellence, including the academic standing of the applicant Research design and methods Value for money Outputs, dissemination and impact Strategic coverage of the GU Programme. 4
Timetable The timetable for the commissioning process is: Launch of scheme: July 2011 Receipt of expressions of interest: 28 September 2011 Full proposals invited: November 2011 Deadline for full proposals: Early January 2012 Final funding decisions: May 2012 First grants to start: August/September 2012 Further information Completed Expressions of Interest and e-mail enquiries and should to be sent to global.uncertainties@esrc.ac.uk. Deadline: 16.00 on 28 September 2011. Further information is available from: Andrea Turner (telephone: 01793 413121) Zaneta Ulozeviciute (telephone: 01793 442876) John Wand (telephone: 01793 442824) 5