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ESRC U pdate. Professor Paul Boyle, Chief Executive, ESRC . Introduction. ESRC. The major public sector funder of social science research and post graduate training in the UK - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
ESRC UpdateProfessor Paul Boyle, Chief Executive, ESRC
Introduction
ESRC▶The major public sector funder of social
science research and post graduate training in the UK
▶Non-Departmental Public Body, established in 1965, largely funded through the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS)
▶Key Principles: – Quality– Impact– Independence
Economic and Societal Impact▶ESRC supports excellent research that has
impact▶Creating, assessing and communicating
impact is central to all our activities– Pathways to impact– Impact toolkit
▶Research Excellence Framework (20% for impact)
Distribution of ESRC Funding 2011/12
International, £4m (2%) Administration & Pro-gramme Management,
£13m (6%)
Responsive Research,
£49m (24%)
Methods & In-frastructure, £30m (14%)
Strategic & Col-laborative Re-search, £53m
(25%)
Training & Skills, £54m (26%)
Knowledge Exchange, £6m (3%)
Funding▶Budget for 2012/13 is £200m (BIS allocation of
£179m)▶CSR 2010 – 2% cut in real terms to Programme budget– 23% cut in real terms to Administration budget
▶Need to continue to make strong arguments for social science research in the next CSR
▶Importance of continuing to invest in the future:– Long-term infrastructure– Next generation of research leaders– Research areas of major national importance
ESRC Funding Opportunities
Research Career
EARLY SENIOR
Fund
ing
Amou
nt
200k
2m
5m+
Centres and Large Grants (early career researchers involved through grant linked studentships etc rather than as Principal Investigator)
Datasets and Data Services
Research GrantsOpen Research Area
International Bi-lateralsProfessorial Fellowships
Future Research Leaders
PhD (through
DTCs)
Secondary Data Analysis Initiative
Knowledge Exchange & Follow-on Funding Seminars & International Networking
International Collaboration
▶Embed international in all we do– International Co-Investigators
▶Work with European partners– Open Research Area (ESRC, NOW, DFG, ANR – now NSF)
▶Strengthen collaborations with key partner countries – 3 RCUK teams (US, India and China)
▶Influence Horizon 2020– Ensure social scientists contribute to all societal
challenges▶Extend our successful partnerships with DfID
7 Research Councils and RCUK
▶Social Science is embedded in all six cross-Council programmes
▶ESRC leads – Global Uncertainties
RCUK Programmes
Partnerships and Collaboration▶Collaboration with private, public and third-sector
bodies through co-funding of research and people exchange– Attract around £20m of additional co-funding each year– Co-production ensures research is better placed to
inform policy and practice▶Private sector prioritised for increased
engagement and co-funding– Focus initially on financial services, green business and
retail– ESRC-led partnerships
Refreshing the Strategic Priorities
2011 Delivery Plan▶Economic Performance and Sustainable Growth▶Influencing Behaviour and Informing Interventions▶Vibrant and Fair Society
▶Contributions to all 6 RCUK challenges and TSB▶Building social science capability
Refresh February 2013▶What have we achieved and which gaps need to be
filled?▶How can we respond to urgent but unpredictable
scientific opportunities?
Economic Performance and Sustainable GrowthIn 2011 Council committed to making new investments in:
Entrepreneurship - Achieved as Enterprise Research Centre; BIS, BBA, ESRC £2.9 m, lead: University of Warwick
Rising Powers- Achieved as third phase of Rising Powers Programme£6m, 12 projects
Macro-economics - Achieved as Centre for Macroeconomics, £3.9 m lead: LSE (also international symposium)
Risk - Achieved as Systemic Risk Centre, £3.8 m lead: LSEand Centre for Study of Risk and Ambiguity £3.4 m lead:Exeter
Global distribution of - Achieved as ESRC/DFID growth programme, Economic Performance Venture, £9.9 m, 18 projects 5 of 5 targets met
Expenditure across ESRC’s portfolio
13
12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/170
5
10
15
20
25
30
Analysis of Expenditure by Strategic Priority Area(Minus DfID Poverty Alleviation programme)
Economic PerformanceUnderstanding Individual BehaviourV& F (Exc DFID)
Financial Years
£Mill
ions
InvestmentHeadroom
15
Expenditure across ESRC’s portfolio
Putting it Together Strategic Priority Gap Smart Potential
CrossCouncil
Business/TSB
International
PartneringEconomic Performance and Sustainable Growth
Business Innovation * * *Housing * Future Cities * * *Green Economy * * *Local Economic Growth * *New Macro Economics *Financial Markets * *
Influencing Behaviour and Informing Interventions
Health Inequalities * *Crime Epigenetics * *Educational Neuroscience * *Innovation in Healthcare * * *
A Vibrant and Fair Society Civil Society, Social Innovation, Civic Participation *Human Rights, Diversity * *Education – Developing Countries, Higher Education *Social Media * *Democratic Renewal
Building Social Science Capacity Big Data * * *Evidence, What Works * * *
N.B. Europe!
24
Capacity Building
National Capability▶Providing support across all stages of the
career▶Opportunities for early and mid-career– Doctoral Training Centres– Future Research Leaders and Research Grants
▶Opportunities for senior and established researchers– Professorial Fellowships and larger schemes
▶Opportunities for all researchers through ESRC grants schemes, and training through NCRM and RDI
Doctoral Training Centres▶21 DTCs – our main capacity building vehicle▶First cohorts started in October 2011▶645 awards made in year 1, and 753 in year 2▶First and final year conferences for ESRC PhD
students▶Tailored initiatives to:
– Concentrate studentships in strategic areas (e.g. AQM and economics)
– Expand collaboration with public, private and civil society organisations through internships and collaborative activities
– Utilise and build upon existing or emerging international links– Develop an Advanced Training Network
Advanced Training Network▶Integrated network of advanced training
for all postgraduate researchers, not only those funded by ESRC– Consultation to identify gaps in provision– Additional training commissioned later in the
year– All postgraduate researchers can register for
any of these courses, at a maximum cost of £30 per day
DTC Lessons Learned▶Training and Skills Committee is currently
carrying out a ‘lessons learned’ exercise– ESRC expects studentships to be awarded on
the basis of excellence– Balance between +3 and 1+3 studentships– Success of securing co-funding
▶Progress on these matters will be considered when decisions around re-commissioning are being made
▶ESRC encourages DTC Directors to work together to develop best practice
Infrastructure
UK Strategy for Data Resources for Social and Economic Research ▶The ‘national data strategy’ was first
published in 2007, updated in 2009, and being refreshed for 2013
▶Owned by the UK Data Forum▶Priorities and recommendations include:– Improved data linkage– Develop partnerships and collaborative work– Explore customer databases and international
partnerships▶ESRC Data infrastructure led by the new
UK Data Service (UKDS)– Access to census and other datasets and a new
website
Capital Funding▶Chancellor’s Autumn Statement included
£600m for science, research and innovation, £484m for RCUK– Funds to support the development of innovative
technologies across eight areas, including ‘big data’
– Draws from RCUK Strategic Framework for Capital Investment (published Nov 2012)
– ESRC earmarked £64m to support packages of activity within the ‘big data’ theme
Administrative Data Taskforce▶Jointly established by the ESRC, MRC,
Wellcome Trust, chaired by Sir Alan Langlands
▶5 recommendations– Administrative Data Research Centres (ADRCs)
should be established in each country of the UK– Legislation should be enacted to facilitate
research access to administrative data (generic legal gateway)
– Researcher accreditation process and training– Strategy for engaging with the public – Funds to support access to and linkage between
data
Business Datasafe▶National resource for analysing business
dynamics, drawing upon a wide range of previously unavailable and disparate data sources
▶From organisational surveys to customer databases (e.g. store cards, utilities data, banking transactions, mortgage details, etc.)
▶Enable new analysis that informs broad understanding of economic growth, organisational efficiency, productivity, employment relations, organisational finance, investment, health and wellbeing at the workplace…..
Understanding Populations▶Opportunities to capitalise on existing data
assets▶ESRC funds world leading longitudinal studies:–British Household Panel Study & Understanding
Society– English Longitudinal Study, Scottish LS & N. Ireland
LS–Birth cohorts (1958, 1970, Millennium Cohort) and
Life Study– English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and
other ageing studies▶Further collection of a wide variety of biomarkers
and the genotyping of existing DNA samples
Social Media Research▶Social media is distinctive in capturing
user-generated data from populations▶Social media analytics represent an
opportunity to invest in large scale social research– A Centre comprising a network of nodes across
participating countries, with a coordinating hub– Workshop in May 2013 to discuss Centre
structure and aims/objectives– Call likely to be announced in September 2013
New Schemes
Building QM Capacity▶£15.5 million funding programme with
Nuffield Foundation and HEFCE– Promoting a step-change in quantitative
methods training for UK social science undergraduates
– Centres of excellence that will provide cohorts of students capable of filling the quantitative skills gap among postgraduates
– Possibility of new 4-year social science degrees
The Future of the UK and Scotland▶Objective evidence on the effects of
Scottish independence▶Phase 1– 7 one-year Professorial Fellowships– 10 research projects based at major ESRC
investments– Conference event, May 2013, to inform the
debate– Research Coordinator
▶Phase 2– Potential research initiative, examining medium
term impacts
What Works ▶National, co-ordinated initiative that seeks
to strengthen the use of evidence for policy and practice
▶Worked with Cabinet Office to establish ‘What Works’ centres– Local economic growth (call opens March 25th)– Ageing– Crime and policing– Re-offending– Early intervention (Education Endowment
Foundation)
Transformative Research▶ESRC-funded research tends to be incremental▶Want to encourage greater innovation – next
big ‘transformative’ ideas in social science– ROs receiving over £100k of ESRC funding, 2011/12– 66 applications; panel shortlisted 32– ‘Pitch to Peers’ workshop (March)– Supporting 20 awards, from June 2013
▶Re-launching the transformative potential of existing schemes
Engaging with Retail▶ESRC is continuing to increase its
engagement with retail sector▶Retail Navigators – Nottingham Business
School– Facilitating better communication between
social science researchers and retailers▶Data Navigators – Demographic Decisions
Ltd– Data infrastructure of mutual interest to
researchers and retailers (e.g. store card data)
Impact Prize▶Annual prize (£10,000) for achieving
economic /societal impact– Business– Public Policy– Society– International– Early Career– Impact Champion of the Year
▶2 applications have been shortlisted in each category
Large Grants and Centres▶Call due to be launched shortly▶Likely to fund up to 8 awards – more than
ever before▶Total budget likely to be doubled to £10
million▶We want to see:– Ambitious bids– Improved quality bids– More cross-institutional bids, bringing the very
best together
‘Priority Networks’▶Mechanism for Centre/Large Grant
applications– Small group of projects– Usually with existing relationships between
researchers– Coordinator selected from within the group
▶Evaluation show strengths include high levels of collaboration and coordination
▶Recent example: ‘Network for Integrated Behavioural Science’ (Nottingham, Warwick and UEA)
▶Scale: not ‘scattergun’ large Programme approach
Other Funding Opportunities▶EU
Joint Programme - Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND)
▶Coordinator for the Retail Sector Initiative ▶Strategic Advisors for Data Resources ▶DFID-ESRC Growth Research Programme -
call 2
▶Retail Knowledge Exchange Opportunities ▶UK Drought and Water Scarcity (NERC web
site)
▶Digging into Data round 3
Operational Issues
Demand Management▶Over last five years we have seen a 33%
increase in the number of applications▶No additional funding available leading to
fall in success rates (research grants scheme 13%)
▶Burden on researchers, reviewers, universities and the ESRC
▶We expect to see individuals and HEIs demonstrate that they are improving self-regulation
Demand Management▶To help meet these expectations we have…– Provision of performance data to individuals and
institutions– Developed good practice guidelines– Invited-only resubmissions policy with
associated guidance– Reduced external peer review burden (greater
use of outline applications; reduced referee thresholds)
– More tightly specified calls on managed mode schemes (e.g. Centres and Large Grants competition)
– RCUK harmonising demand management measures
Demand Management Progress▶Results include:– 37% drop in application volume– Increase in overall success rates from 17% to
24%– Signs of improvements in the quality of
applications– Reduction of around 20% in peer review
requirements
Open Access▶RCUK policy on Open Access from 1st April▶RCUK definition of Open Access– Peer reviewed papers that acknowledge RC
funding– Gold preferred, but green (6 / 12 months) also
supported– CC-BY license
▶Additional funding (£10m + £17m year 1) to support this activity
▶Journey, not an event (5 years)▶Part of an international revolution
Open Access
Triennial Review▶Review of the Research Councils,
conducted by BIS, taking place over 6 months from January 2013
▶Two stage review process– Stage 1 (Jan–March): Assess the need for
Research Councils– Stage 2 (Apr–June): Examine RC structure and
governance▶Consultation of a wide range of
stakeholders, on– How structure contributes to delivery of
functions– Relationship between RCs and other
stakeholders– Relationship between RCs and ‘customers’
▶ May 2012, over 1286 ESRC-related media stories
▶ Twitter followers increased 200% to over 6,000 from 2,000 in 2011
▶ ESRC videos viewed over 9,000 times in 2011, from 830 in 2010
▶ Britain In magazine (2011 won 2nd prize in International Content Marketing Awards)
Communication Highlights
ESRC’s Contacts▶Committees/Council Secretaries:– Nigel Bird, Audit Committee
[email protected]– Vicki Crossley, Council [email protected] ac.uk– Vicki Crossley, Evaluation Committee
[email protected] ac.uk– Paul Meller, Methods and Infrastructure Committee
[email protected] – Michelle Dodson, Research Committee
[email protected]– Dawn Woodgate, Training and Skills Committee