public engagement masterclass: writing funding .../file/grantwriting.pdf•“public engagement...

Public Engagement Masterclass: Writing funding applications for public engagement

29/06/2015 © The University of Sheffield

Fran Marshall, Sara Unwin, Amy Carter and Rachel Dwyer Research & Innovation Services

What is Public Engagement?

• “Public engagement describes the myriad of ways in which the activity and benefits of higher education and research can be shared with the public. Engagement is by definition a two-way process, involving interaction and listening, with the goal of generating mutual benefit”

National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement

“Thanks SO much. I had fun and learnt a lot”

Audience feedback

• The University’s Good Research and Innovation Practices policy

www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/grip

• Minimum accepted practices in public engagement

• Higher practices to aspire to


Introduction to the Public Engagement and Impact Team

• Introduction to the Public Engagement and Impact Team

• The masterclass series

• What we can do to help?


Faculty Support

Arts & Humanities Amy Carter

Engineering Sara Unwin

Medicine, Dentistry and Health

Nicola Strafford

Science Greg Oldfield

Social Sciences Amy Carter

Fran Marshall

Impact Cliona Boyle


Contact [email protected]

Web resources

• Key source of information

• Main aspects of public engagement

• More coming soon…



http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/publicengagement/ resource/toolkits/index

Masterclass series

Masterclass title Date 21: What to think about when organising your public engagement event

24 February 2015

22: Working in partnership with others 25 March 2015

23: Coordinating large scale public engagement 29 April 2015

24: Public Engagement or Widening Participation/ Outreach? 27 May 2015

25: Grant writing and impact 24 June 2015

26: Writing a risk assessment for your event/ event planning 29 July 2015

27: How to identify, approach and work with stakeholders 30 September 2015

28: How to communicate your event

28 October 2015

29: Storytelling in public engagement 25 November 2015

30: Some ideas about how to evaluate your public

engagement event

16 December 2015



Outline of session

2.00 – 2.10pm Welcome

2.10-2.25pm Sara Unwin

2.25 – 2.35pm Amy Carer

2.35 – 2.55pm Rachel Dwyer

Break

3.05 – 3.30pm Group exercise

3.30-3.45pm Feedback on group exercise

3.50pm Questions and close


Evaluation

Sara Unwin & Amy Carter


Funding for Public Engagement

• “Public engagement describes the myriad of ways in which the activity and benefits of higher education and research can be shared with the public. Engagement is by definition a two-way process, involving interaction and listening, with the goal of generating mutual benefit”. NCCPE


Opportunity to • Approach new funders - primary interest

not research

• Meet new partners & create innovative ways to translate your research

Painter? Dancer? Graphic designer? Filmmaker? Theatre Co.?

• Create new ways to communicate research to broader audience


Alignment • PEI team introduce potential Partners –

Ideas Bazaar (FoTM)

• PEI team advice - funders

• Focus on funder’s criteria – what’s important to them (research it)


• Arts Council England “to achieve great art for everyone”

• Nesta “promote fearless creativity in the service of the common good”


• Esmée Fairbairn Foundation “improve the quality of life throughout the UK”

• Paul Hamlyn Foundation “help people realize their potential & lead more fulfilling, creative & enjoyable lives”


Good Fit?

• Will their investment in you help them achieve this?

• Will their investment help you enhance your research?

• PEI team will help


Writing your Proposal • Eligibility guidance – follow it & don’t fail at early stage

• You & your work – no assumptions

• Tangibles – what you will do, how, who with

• Roles & responsibilities of all partners

• Clear outcomes & achievements

• What you want to achieve by doing it

• Match funding – cash, earned, in-kind contributions


Beat the Competition

• Tell a compelling story

• Passion – match their passion with yours

• How will partners help you deliver

• Why you? Why your work is important to you

• What difference will their investment make?

• Knowledge exchange & impact

• What is innovative & fresh

• Structure proposal so it flows well


Public Engagement • Who is your target audience – align with funder

(diversity, hard to reach, generational, women)

• How will audiences find out about the activity – your marketing activities (PEI)

• What will audiences gain, learn, offer

• How many people/how often (value for money?)


Create Confidence • Transparent, feasible budget

• How you will manage their investment - accountability

• Tailor make e.g. ACE high proportion on art

• Managing partner relationships (e.g. MOU)

• Clear logistical approach

• Capacity to deliver – support in place

• Don’t forget the basics – timeplan, meet deadline


General costs in public engagement activities

Staff costs

• Your time

• Support from technicians or Audio Visual


Non-staff costs 1. Marketing: promoting the event and

printed material

2. External facilitators e.g. Ideas Bazaar

3. Note takers

4. An incentive for participants

5. Venue hire - University event in the University is normally free. Allow approx £100 per hour for external venues

6. Refreshments: Snacks usually costing up to £7.50 per person. (Depending on the venue.) Teas and coffees usually costing up to £2.50 per person

7. If you are reconvening on several occasions this will add to the cost (and time) requirements



8. Materials for children’s activities 9. Postage 10. Photographer to record your

event 11. Materials for demonstration or

exhibitions 12. Evaluation – costs for posters,

pens, questionnaire printing etc 13. Hire of audio-visual equipment

at an external venue – e.g. - Projector or flipchart

14. Consumables: hand-outs , T Shirts balloons, banners, leaflets

15. Costs may involve the cost of travel to venues and the cost of consumables for workshops and demonstrations

Structured Evaluation • How will you monitor activity – qualitative &

quantitative

• Feedback from partners & participants

• Measurable achievements

• Unexpected outcomes

• Document what happened as a result - model

• Future activity – shape, improve


Tips … • Help them to help you – elevator pitch

• Architect’s blueprint

• “Take time to understand who we are!”

• “You have to excite us & give us reasons to fund you”

• Take out the negatives – Ski slope

• No acronyms


… Tips

• Objective feedback from someone in another field

• Push innovation

• Attachments & links – don’t bury vital information

• Give them every reason to have confidence in you – it’s their investment


Success? • Bid = framework for delivery

• Map & share key milestones

• Manage the process e.g. Financial drawdowns

• Examine risks & manage expectations

• Trusted partners meet report deadlines – you might want to go back!

• Keep conversation live


If not? • Request assessment feedback – often

detailed

• Cultivate the relationship – their job is to grant funds


Krebs Festival : No Greater Fear than the Unseen.

• Creating academic/arts partnerships

• How do the arts enhance public engagement?

• Bid writing process

• Selection of Artists

• The story so far ……


Creating academic/arts partnerships • Guidance from the PE team

• True collaboration from the start

• Artist-led with lead artist Luke Jerram

• Created a brief in partnership

• Application to the Arts Council


How do the arts enhance public engagement? • Communicating complex messages

• Creative format – spark deeper resonance

• Reduce the fear factor for the public

• Provide academics with an ‘in-road’

• Co-creation to reflect on academic PE


Bid writing process

• Academic-led Arts Council bid

• Initial ideas were rejected by ACE

• Local artists to work with Luke Jerram

• The successful bid – created new art, opened a dialogue between previously unconnected artists and scientists: Innovative.


The selection process

• Great response to the brief

• Interview panel with representation from arts, science and academia

• Chosen for their innovative ideas for engaging with the public

• Strong track record of delivery


The story so far ….

• Understanding– finding common language

• Project management practicalities

• Artists are now in the making process

• What you will see in Oct/November ……

• Evaluation – did we achieve our goals?

• Unexpected outcomes …


Luke Jerram


Balbir Singh Dance Company


Seiko Kinoshita : visual artist


Nuts and Bolts of Writing a Grant Application

Rachel Dwyer


Contents

1. Planning and drafting • Identifying funding opportunities

• Eligibility and remit

• Drafting your proposal

• Peer review

2. Costing and submission • Electronic submission systems

• Costing and URMS

• Approval process

Planning & drafting


Identifying Funding

Get to know who funds in your area? •Funders’ Twitter / RSS feeds/email alerts/websites

•Faculty funding opportunities emails

•Research Professional (www.researchprofessional.com)

•R&IS contacts (www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/contacts)

•Faculty contacts/committee members


Funding Sources

Get to know how different funders support public engagement?

•Within standard project grants, fellowships

•Through dedicated funding stream (see list held by National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement:

www.publicengagement.ac.uk/how/funding)


Example Calls

Public Engagement Grants, Royal Academy of Engineering

These support projects that engage the public with engineers and engineering. Grants are worth between £3,000 to £30,000 per project.

Award amount max: £30,000 Closing date: 07 Sep 15

http://www.raeng.org.uk/grants-and-prizes/ingenious-grant


Example Calls

British Academy Rising Star Engagement Awards 2015 (BARSEA)

The Rising Star Engagement awards are intended to enable established early career scholars to become actively engaged in the work of the Academy and to enhance their own skills and career development through the organisation of events, training, and mentoring activities for a wide range of other early career researchers.

http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/rising-star-engagement-awards.cfm


Example Calls

British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship

The awards support outstanding individual researchers and outstanding communicators who will promote public engagement and understanding of the humanities and social sciences. Applicants will be asked in their proposal to set out specific plans for the dissemination of their research to a broad audience, in addition to publication in the usual academic press and journals.

http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/midcareer.cfm


Example Calls

Public Engagement Large Awards Scheme Science and Technology Facilities Council

This supports projects that are expected to have a significant regional or national impact relevant to publicising engagement or teaching about the council’s science and technology areas. Awards are worth from £10,000 to £100,000 each.

Award amount max: £100,000 Closing date: 11 Nov 15

http://www.stfc.ac.uk/1839.aspx


Example Calls

International Engagement Awards, Wellcome Trust These awards support work that builds capacity for public engagement with biomedical research in sub-Saharan Africa, south-east Asia and south Asia. Each award is worth up to £30,000 for up to three years.

Award amount max: £30,000 Closing date: 21 Aug 15

http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/funding/public-engagement/Funding-

schemes/InternationalEngagementAwards/index.htm

http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Public-engagement/index.htm


INVOLVE - http://www.invo.org.uk/

• Funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to support public involvement in NHS, public health and social care research.

• Resources for researchers: publications, plain English summaries, training, impact, payment advice.

• Annual Conference

• NIHR Research Design Service for Yorkshire & Humber (http://www.rds-yh.nihr.ac.uk/ppi/)


Eligibility and Remit

• Check early – read the guidance

• Person = tenure, years post PhD, nationality, residency, funding history, society membership…

• Project = within remit, currently funded area, collaborators, multidisciplinary

• Funders – encourage pre-submission contact

• Some have remit query services

• Some have eligibility checkers

• Some encourage pre-application contact

• Contact R&IS – internal contact / funder intelligence


Drafting Your Proposal

• Begin at the end: check the deadline, check the submission route

• Start early: plan time for peer review, University / Department sign off, hard copy delivery?

• Be aware of all the requirements

• Impact summary, ‘Pathways to Impact’, data management plan, collaborators, CVs, letters of support (university, department, partners)

• Seek out award holders to ask their advice



It is a competitive process: be clear, be convincing!

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough” [Albert Einstein]

• What is your aim…and why?

• What methods are you thinking about using, and why?

• What are the potential impacts?

• Will you – and should you – be collaborating with others?

• Is there anything innovative about your idea?

Talk to colleagues, draft a summary: get informal feedback



• Consider your audience(s) • Think about how they will read it • Peer review • Panel membership


Language

1. Use language that is

• Specific

• Emphatic

• Concise

2. Use active not passive sense

3. Keep it simple

4. Delete all adjectives, re-read, then insert essential ones

5. Cut out any unnecessary words or “padding”.

6. Eliminate jargon, and minimise acronyms


Make it engaging, make it easy


Top Tips

Format •check the rules: word count, font size, margins

Content and Structure •answer the exam question

Consider your Audience •avoid dense text: use bold, italics, paragraph breaks

•keep it simple: avoid jargon, acronyms

•engage the reader: avoid passive tense, be emphatic

Don’t go it Alone

•seek feedback: from friends, colleagues, R&IS

Costing and Submission


Submission Systems

Online submission systems: used by most major funders

•RCUK (Je-S)

•British Academy and the Royal Society (e-GAP2)

•Wellcome Trust (eGrants)

•Leverhulme Trust (CC Grant Tracker)

Hard Copy Submission: still used by smaller funders


Key points

• Most online systems are clunky

• large number of sections

• Some documents may need to be uploaded

• You will find it frustrating at first so……

HAVE A PLAY NOW – YOU CAN’T BREAK THEM!


Create JeS account if you don’t already have one. May need to register for an admin account if not eligible to apply as a PI (type = to prepare but not submit)


JeS Help

‘How to’ related queries

• Online help within JeS

• Departmental research support

• R&IS - URMS helpdesk (mon-fri, 9am-5pm, extn 21450 or [email protected].)

Account related queries

• JeS helpdesk


Costing, Pricing and URMS

What is FEC? (Full Economic Cost)

•This needs to be calculated for all grant applications

•University tool = URMS (University Research Management System)

•URMS = system by which University calculates FEC http://www.shef.ac.uk/ris/application/pricing/urms

http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/application/pricing/urmsform

HAVE A PLAY NOW – YOU CAN’T BREAK IT!


http://www.researchoffice.dept.shef.ac.uk/shef-only /Tutorials/urms2011.swf


Approval process

Plan Ahead: •internal peer review?

•agreement for match funding?

•iInstitutional letter of commitment?

Understand the process •HoD signs off URMS and application

•R&IS signs off URMS and application (minimum of 3 days)

http://www.shef.ac.uk/ris/application/submission


Approval process

Complete budget sections

Start an URMS

Outline resources req’d

Revisit resources

HoD approve URMS

R&IS approve URMS

NEW

Draft a proposal

Plan out the research

Finalise URMS NEW

PENDING

COSTING

APPROVED

Begin Je-S application

Submit Je-S

HoD approves Je-S

R&IS approve and submit Je-S

R&IS check Je-S

APPLICATION

AUTHORISED

What is impact?

“The demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes to society and the economy. Impact encompasses all the extremely diverse ways in which related knowledge and skills benefit individuals, organisations and nations”

Research Councils UK


Impact Summary: (4000 characters)

• Benefits outside academia from your research over any timeframe.

- Who might benefit?

- What would change for them?


Pathways to Impact: (max 2A4 pages)

• What activities will encourage this to happen during the timeframe of the project.

- What will you do?

- When?

- Who will do it?

- How often?

- How much will it cost?

- Where will it happen?

- How would you measure change?


More help…

• Monthly Pathway to Impact workshops:

3rd July, 2nd September

• Individual surgeries, contact Cliona Boyle [email protected]


Group exercise

Have a look at the 2 examples of grant applications. You are the funder.

• What are the good parts of the applications?

• What areas could be improved?

• Did they fulfil the criteria?

• Would you fund it?


Opportunities for engagement – what is coming up?

• Ideas Bazaar - September 2015

• Mobile University - September 2015

• Festival of Social Science - November 2015

• Krebs Festival - November 2015

© The University of Sheffield

For further information contact:

[email protected]

@UniShefEngage

#GetEngaged


Questions


To Discover And Understand.

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