TRUST US, WE CAN HELP!

 

Research Professional recently shared an article about how useful your Research Office can be and we couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

We may not be researchers but the Research Office can be a real help when you are thinking about writing a bid – and not just because you need us to develop your budget and navigate the institutional approvals!

FUNDERS We know them. If you have a research idea but you’re not sure which funder you stand the best chance of success with, we will help you explore the funders and get to the bottom of what it is they want to identify where your research best fits amongst them.

FUNDING CALLS We read funding calls all day and we know what to look for when picking out key bits: where the emphasis lies and what the funder is really looking for in a proposal. If you’re not sure you are ticking the right boxes or would like some guidance on any particular scheme, we can help you with that.

TIMESCALES Sometimes it can be a difficult thing to establish a timeline either for writing a research proposal or for carrying out the project itself. Your Research Development Manager can help you to think realistically about your goals and map out how much time you will ideally spend on each aspect of the proposal or project.

LAY REVIEW Your Research Office can be a helpful place to get a lay person’s perspective on your proposal. When your project goes off to the funders for consideration, it is likely that those reviewing it aren’t going to be experts in your field. If your Research Development Manager is having a hard time grasping what your research is, then there’s a possibility that those reviewing it will too, and a project that isn’t easily understood is less likely to be funded than one that is.

You can read the full article here, but the main point is that we are here to help every step of the way so make sure you get in touch so we can get started!

Contact the Research Office: researchapplications@mmu.ac.uk

Know Your Funder (KYF) Summer Series

The Know Your Funder (KYF) series, presented by your Research Development Team, is back! These weekly, one-hour (maximum), sessions focus in on a different Funder and Scheme each week to give you a greater insight into who they are, what they fund and what to expect from the application process.

Each session is in two parts, we start off with a presentation from the Research Development Team which is recorded and uploaded to the intranet for you to view at any time, followed by a Q&A session.

Sessions are held on Tuesday via MS Teams. If you would like to attend, please book via the Intranet. For ease, we have included links to individuals session below.

For the full list of upcoming sessions, links to sign-up to the sessions and all recordings of talks we’ve held so far, please visit the Know Your Funder page on the Intranet.

Date/Time	Session	Speakers	Session Outline
Tuesday 21st June 2–3pm	Introduction to the Research Development Team Book Here	Rachel Colley and Megan Webb	An introduction to the central Research Development team, including who you need to contact when you require support and a summary of the associated research development processes we can help you to navigate.
Tuesday 28th June 12–1pm	Business Engagement 101 Book Here	Yvonne Hung	Explore some of the basics when considering engagement with businesses. This short session will cover: – What is Business Engagement and Knowledge Exchange – How you can benefit from engaging with industry – How the Business Engagement team support you in your Research and KE activities – A short introduction to some funding opportunities available.
Tuesday 5th July 12–1pm	ECR Panel – Metrics Myth Busting Book Here	ECR Forum Panel Members: – Adam Riches: Information Systems Manager, RKE Directorate   – Dr Rob Drummond, Reader in Sociolinguistics and Head of CELL   – Dr Rory Shand: Reader in Political Economy, Business and Law	Third in the ECR Forum panel series exploring key topics requested by the ECR community. This panel will explore the different research metrics used and how to engage with them usefully.
Tuesday 12th July 12–1pm	BA Mid-Career Fellowship Book Here	Germaine Loader	Information on the upcoming funding call followed by opportunity for a Q&A.
Tuesday 19th July 12–1pm	Business Engagement Funding Overview Book Here	Yvonne Hung	Hear about the range of funding available to support business engagement and knowledge exchange activities and how your Business Development Managers can provide support. This short session will outline the following sources of funding: – Business Growth Hub Innovation Vouchers – Internal ‘Innovation Fund’ – Internal ‘Seed Fund: Developing Knowledge Exchange Opportunities’ – Contract Research, Consultancy, KTPs, and Match-Funded PhDs

Rethinking Public Dialogues – EOI

In collaboration with UKRI, the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) is offering funding to support pilot projects that challenge the boundaries of conversations between the public, researchers, and policymakers.

Rethinking Public Dialogue is a UKRI fund, delivered by the RSA, that will be supporting up to eight new projects that test new approaches to public dialogue.

The total value for this fund is £480,000 across all pilots, which are anticipated to last up to nine months in their delivery and should be concluded by summer 2023.

Applications are encouraged from a wide range of topics:

• Building a green future
• Securing better health, ageing and wellbeing
• Tackling infection
• Building a secure and resilient world
• Creating opportunities and improving outcomes

As part of the first stage, you will need to complete an Expression of Interest (EOI) form. You can access the form here.

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Timeline

9 June 2022	Fund opens for Expression of Interest. You can access the form here
7 July 2022	Fund closes for Expression of Interest
14 July	Successful applicants are invited to submit full application
4 August 2022	Full application deadline
26 August 2022	Successful applicants are notified
8 September 2022	Kick-off workshop for successful applicants

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Interested?

More information about the scheme can be found here. If you’re interested in applying, please contact the Research Development Team researchapplications@mmu.ac.uk

Leverhulme Research Leadership Awards – EOI

The Leverhulme Trust Research Leadership Award (RLA) is currently open for applications.

Each institution is limited to one bid. As a result, an internal process has been put in place to nominate the Manchester Metropolitan proposal for submission.

The Research Leadership Award is aimed at exceptionally talented Manchester Metropolitan academics who are on an academic career trajectory to be the future research leaders and need to build a team to address a distinct research problem.  The awards will be for up to £1 million, for staff salaries and associated costs. Please note this is an annually occurring call.

Proposals are invited in any research area, with the exception of the following:

• studies of disease, illness and disabilities in humans and animals
• research that is intended to inform clinical practice or the development of medical applications
• research areas currently identified as a priority by the research councils or other significant public funders
• policy-driven research where the principal objective is to assemble an evidence base for immediate policy initiatives
• research where advocacy is an explicit component
• research aimed principally at an immediate commercial application
• proposals in which the balance between assembling a data bank or database and the related subsequent research is heavily inclined to the former

As part of the first stage of the internal process, the applicants are requested to email an Expression of Interest (EOI) (using the template provided) and a CV (max. 2 pages) to researchapplications@mmu.ac.uk on or before Friday 6^th May 2022.

Further details about the internal process outlined below:

INTERNAL PROCESS:

Please note this is a suggested timeline and may be subject to change dependant on availability.

	Task	Person	Date
1	Internal EOI opens for applications		Friday 22nd April
2	Internal EOI closes	Applicants	Friday 6th May
3	Review of applications and shortlist one application per centre to be developed into a full proposal	Review and decision making led by centre directors	Week commencing 9th May
4	Shortlisted applicants to work with respective UCRKE centre directors to develop the EOI into a full application with supporting statement from Centre Directors	Applicant and UCRKE centre director
5	Shortlisted full applications sent to panel sent to panel for review	RDM	Friday 27th May
5	University panel to consider the full applications and choose a single MMU bid to take forward	Faculty Directors/Senior Academics & RKE Director	Week commencing 30th May
6	Decision communicated to applicants	RDM	Week commencing 6th June
7	MMU Proposal submitted to Leverhulme	Applicant & RDM	Friday 10th June

lease contact the Research Development Managers for your respective area if you have any questions about the call or the process.

Leverhulme-EOI-application-form-2022Download

Wellbeing of Women Research Funding

Wellbeing of Women welcome research applications from all areas of women’s reproductive and gynaecological health across the life course. The Research Project Grant scheme is now open for applications.

Research Project Grants will be considered for basic science, clinical and translational research, including explanatory or feasibility studies and systematic reviews, that seek to improve the health of women, girls and babies in one of the following areas:

• Fertility, pregnancy and birth;
• Gynaecological and reproductive health;
• Gynaecological cancers

Wellbeing of Women supports collaborative research projects, especially between academic and industry researchers.

Key Details

Max budget: £300,000

Project Duration: Up to 3 years

Deadline: 1pm on 30th June 2022

Outcome: December 2022

Awards start: from February 2023

For further details about this and Wellbeing of Women’s other available funding please visit their website. If you’re interested in applying please contact your Research Development Manager.

ECR Summer Panel Series

The Early Career Researcher (ECR) Forum are excited to announce an upcoming panel series exploring key topics requested by the Man Met ECR community. These monthly panel sessions are open to all and will be taking place via Teams as part of the ‘Know Your Funder’ talk series.

Please see below for our exciting summer schedule:

Date	Topic	Panel Members
03.05.22 12.00-13.00	My First Research Grant Discussion of the realities of the grant application process, project management and key points of learning from their journey to success. Panel members have experience of the ESRC New Investigator Grant, BA Small Grant and Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grant.	Dr Su Corcoran: Research Associate, Health and Education Dr Katy Jones: Research Fellow, Business and Law Dr Krystal Wilkinson: Senior Lecturer, Business and Law
07.06.22 12.00-13.00	Crafting your Academic Profile Discussion of what to include in your online profile to help you stand out.	Dr Kirsty Fairclough: Reader in Screen Studies, SODA Nick Holland: Head of Digital, External Relations Directorate Dr Alex Lees: Senior Lecturer, Science and Engineering
05.07.22 12.00-13.00	Metrics Myth Busting Exploration of the different research metrics used and how to engage with them usefully.	Adam Riches: Information Systems Manager, RKE Directorate Prof. Berthold Schoene: Faculty Head of RKE, Arts and Humanities Dr Rory Shand: Reader in Political Economy, Business and Law

To register to attend, please follow the respective links.

My First Grant: Event – My First Research Grant – Manchester Met Intranet (updated link)

Crafting your profile: Event – Crafting your Academic Profile – Manchester Met Intranet (updated link)

Metrics Myth Busting: Event – Metrics Myth Busting – Manchester Met Intranet (updated link)

More information on the Early Career Research Forum and details of your local representative can be found on the intranet.

Research Development Funding Now Open for Applications

The Research & Knowledge Exchange Directorate are pleased to announce that the internal funding schemes for Research Development are now open for applications!

Funding Scheme Details

There are two streams of funding available for Research Development:

Research Accelerator Grant (£5,000)

Primarily aimed at Early Career Researchers, the Research Accelerator Grant (RAG) will provide a small amount of funding to enable researchers to work towards submission for a larger external research application e.g by generating pilot data. Funding to those beyond their early careers will be limited.

International Collaborative Fund (£5,000)

The International Collaborative Fund will provide the opportunity to bring together researchers (and other interested parties) around a specific theme or topic to align to external funding opportunities, with at least one partner being international. Funding is available to host meetings in the UK or in an international location .

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Timetable

Monday 4th April	Funding stream open for application
Monday 9th May	Deadline for applications
Early June 2022	Funding decisions released
July 2022	Project Starts

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Documents

For more information please visit the Research Funding Schemes Intranet Page or refer to the documents below:

Guidance and FAQ’sDownload

Research Accelerator Grant Application Form Download

International Collaborative Fund Application Form Download

If you have any further queries, which are not addressed in the guidance or FAQ’s, or require any further support, please contact researchapplications@mmu.ac.uk

***POSTPONED**** Know Your Funder session today, Tues 29th March

Apologies for the short notice but today’s Know Your Funder session on the British Academy’s Mid-Career Fellowship has been postponed as we have too small a number of registrations (given Strike action and Covid) and a new date will be arranged a.s.a.p.

If anyone wants copies of the slides in the meantime, please contact your Research Development Manager

Next ‘Know Your Funder’ informal online briefing session this Tues (29th) – British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship

The Research Development team’s weekly online ‘Know Your Funder’ session is every Tuesday at 12. One of the team give a run through of a specific funding scheme with some insights and chance for some questions at the end.

The next session is on the British Academy’s annual Mid-Career Fellowship. This combines research in humanities or social sciences with public communication but all will be explained at the session so do come along!

Please do book in advance here: https://mmuintranet.mmu.ac.uk/Interact/Pages/Modules/Calendar/Event.aspx?id=130111&subsection=8368

Know Your Funder: Royal Society

Come and join your Research Development Team tomorrow as we give you an insight into the The Royal Society and discuss two of their most popular schemes; the Research Grant (aimed at ECR’s) and the International Exchange.

The session will be held on MS Teams, as part of our ongoing Know Your Funder series, at 12 noon and is available to book via the intranet. Please visit this page and click ‘yes’ you will be attending.

You can view all up coming sessions here.

AHRC blog shares info on upcoming opportunities

Christopher Smith, Executive Chair, Arts and Humanities Research Council has published a new Blog post setting out some key new opportunities to look out for in Spring 2022.

These include:

• Design Future Observatory: Design Exchange Partnerships

• Capacity Building Digital and Data Skills pilots

• Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships (CDP) scheme

• Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage ‘Cultural Heritage, Society and Ethics’ (open now)

• New Generation Thinkers 2023

• Early Career Fellowships working in cultural institutions

The post is here: https://www.ukri.org/blog/ahrc-forward-look-spring-2022/