LSE Research Division hosts ESRC’s Global Challenge Research Fund seminar

On Tuesday 18 October 2016, the Research Division (RD) held its first ever Funding Information Day (FInD). Guest speakers included representatives from the Academy of Social Sciences (AcSS), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Universities UK International (UUKi). There were 5 sessions covering topics such as the future of EU funding for research post-referendum, research funding sources beyond Europe, such as the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and Newton Fund, as well as two case studies on evidencing impact by Dr Ernestina Coast, Dr Emily Freeman and Dr Sandra Sequeira.

New look Research Briefing

This month we are road-testing our new layout. We aim to make further improvements over the next couple of months but, in the meantime, let us know what you think. Send your comments to Amanda Burgess.

Don't miss out: book your place on forthcoming RISe sessions

Funding Information Day (FInD): From Brussels with love
Wednesday 9 November 2016, various times (see agenda)
 
Come and find out the latest information on funding opportunities under Horizon2020, the EU’s largest research funding scheme. One session will focus on collaborative research funding schemes that are currently open to all UK-based researchers. Another session will deliver information on individual researcher-based grant schemes such as Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions Individual Fellowships and European Research Council investigator grants.
Speaker: Maribel Glogowski, European Advisor to the LSE, UK Research Office, Brussels.
 
Agenda:
Morning
09.30-10.00  Registration and coffee/tea
10.00-11.00 EU funding: collaborative projects for SSH researchers
11.00-11.15 Break
11.30-12.00 Consultation I (one-to-one or small group session with the speaker)
12.00-12.30 Consultation II (one-to-one or small group session with the speaker)
Afternoon
14.15-14.30 Registration
14.30-15.30 EU funding for individual fellowships: from early career to research leaders
16.00-16.30 Consultation III (one-to-one or small group session with the speaker)
16.30-17.00 Consultation IV (one-to-one or small group session with the speaker)

When booking on the portal, please identify the session you are intending to attend. For individual or group discussions with the speaker please email to rescon@lse.ac.uk which consultation you would like to book. Book as early as possible to avoid disappointment. First come first served.
>>BOOK YOUR PLACE.


Workshop:  Fundamentals of grant writing
Friday 9 December 2016, 09:30-16:30
 
Do you have a research idea and would you like help with writing a grant proposal?
Bidding for research funding is becoming increasingly competitive and is requiring professional skills. This workshop will help you understand the context of the funding landscape and get advice on how to go about bidding. The day will provide an opportunity for a maximum of four participants’ draft proposals or ideas to get individual and group feedback. Workshop participants will be expected to attend all day and provide a work-in-progress or a failed proposal (by the end of November) which will be treated confidentially. Only four participants’ proposals will be selected and worked on as part of the exercise during the workshop. First come first served. The workshop is aimed at emerging and established academic staff who are relatively new to writing research proposals or those who wish to refresh their grant writing skills.
Workshop facilitator: Professor John Wakeford, Missenden Centre. 
 
This workshop is free to attend. Those interested in attending must be aware that their participation requires line manager approval, as no-shows and late cancellations will be charged to the department. Places are limited. Please request a place before Wednesday 30 November 2016 to avoid disappointment.
>>BOOK YOUR PLACE.

Elsevier’s Brexit Resource Centre

Elsevier has launched a website “providing free access to data, metrics and other resources to help monitor any effects of Brexit”. 

UKRO ERC Consolidator Grant Proposal Writing and Information Events

Led by UKRO (UK Research Office), this session on Wednesday 16 November 2016 will provide information about writing an ERC Consolidator Grant Proposal, as well as tips for preparing for an interview. The 2017 Consolidator Grants call is expected to open soon and close on Thursday 9 February 2017. Registration details available only to UKRO members (registration is open to all LSE staff).
 

The Nine Dots Prize: a new prize for creative thinking in the social sciences

Last month saw the launch of the Nine Dots Prize - a new prize for creative thinking in the social sciences. It is sponsored by the Kadas Prize Foundation and supported by CRASSH at the University of Cambridge and Cambridge University Press.
 
The Prize will be awarded to the best response to its inaugural question: "Are digital technologies making politics impossible?" Applicants are asked to respond in 3,000 words. The Prize will be judged anonymously by its Board of 12 distinguished academics, journalists, authors and thinkers. The winner will receive $100,000 to support them in writing up a short book based on their response. They have the opportunity to spend a term as Visiting Fellow at CRASSH at the University of Cambridge and the book will be published by Cambridge University Press in an open access format. 
 

Internal selection process deadlines

In a recent funding call RCUK specified that an individual organisation could lead on no more than two applications. This restriction is starting to be seen more frequently and applicants interested in a funding opportunity are advised to look out for internal selection process deadlines. Internal selection is managed by Research Division's Research Development team. Contact your grant applications manager for further information and advice. 

Why engage with the media?

What are the benefits for LSE academics of engaging with the media? It may be time consuming – yes – but it can also open many other doors for academics, often reaping unexpected rewards, as Professor Iain Begg, Professorial Research Fellow in the European Institute explains. 

European Commission study assistance request

Successful cooperation between higher education and the business sector bring substantial benefits to higher education institutions, their academics and students, as well as to companies, their staff, and to society as a whole. To get a better understanding of this cooperation, and the potential barriers and key success factors involved the European Commission has contracted a wide-ranging study on cooperation between higher education institutions and public and private organisations in Europe.

The survey is the most comprehensive one of its kind ever undertaken in Europe, involving all European universities and over 1,000 businesses. It will help inform appropriate policy making aimed at improving future partnerships between higher education institutions and external organisations.

The survey takes about 15 minutes to complete and all responses will remain anonymous. Complete the survey by Friday 11 November 2016.

RCUK announces dates for Researchfish submission period 2017

RCUK have announced that the next Researchfish submission period will be run in February/March 2017. 

PIs will need to log on to Researchfish and submit a return between Monday 6 February 2017 and 4pm on Thursday 16 March 2017 to confirm that their outcomes information is accurate and complete at that time.  

In January 2017, further information will be sent by Researchfish to PIs who are required to make a submission. At this time, PIs who do not currently have a Researchfish account will be invited to create one.

LSE academic presents at Royal Statistical Society (RSS) International Annual Conference 

LSE's Dr Meena Kotecha presented a session on “Communicating Statistics: Communication statistics to non-specialist university students” at the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) International Annual Conference in September 2016.

Dr Kotecha reported: “My invited session was well attended and well received. It was followed by lively discussion and questions. Moreover, it generated enormous interest in my research and led to research collaboration invitations which I am extremely excited about.”

The funding opportunities highlighted here are a selection of upcoming calls, for a full list of funding opportunities view our Find a funding opportunity web page. 

ESRC-DFID Development Frontiers Research Fund 2016-17

Funding innovative, strategic and catalytic research with the potential to radically impact on sustainable development concepts or practices, or lead to new thinking and action on poverty reduction, this new funding opportunity aims to place innovation and appetite for risk at the centre of world-class research.

Designed to enable researchers to conduct exploratory, small-scale projects with a view to developing ideas, collaboration, and research capacity for future larger grants for other calls, this call will support innovative, interdisciplinary research that is focused on new ways to tackle the challenges at the intersections between poverty, environmental sustainability and conflict/fragility in specific developing country contexts (see the call specification for details).  Proposals are invited for projects with a fEC value between £200,000 and £300,000. UK organisations can lead on a maximum of up to two proposals. The deadline for the internal review process is 15.00 on Thursday 8 December 2016. Contact Research Division for more information.
 

British Academy/Leverhulme Senior Research Fellowships

This scheme provides opportunities for scholars who have already published works of intellectual distinction and who have been hampered in their efforts to accomplish a major piece of research by heavy teaching and administrative duties. It enables concentrated effort to be directed towards completing a major piece of research, which will be an important contribution to knowledge. Deadline: Wednesday 16 November 2016.

British Academy Wolfson Research Professorships

Wolfson Research Professorships are held for a period of three years.The awards are of a fixed value of £165,000 (£55,000 p.a.) Deadline: Wednesday 23 November 2016.

British Academy Rising Star Engagement Awards (BARSEAs)  

This scheme is designed primarily to enable early career academics employed in a UK institution to actively engage in the work of the British 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. It is not an award to enable a scholar to undertake research. Award value: £15,000. Deadline: Wednesday 30 November 2016.

Upcoming events from RISe, Research Division's Research Development Programme

Learn key information about funding opportunities and clarify understanding around REF and KEI. Interact with experts face to face, improve your working practice and become inspired by your peers and success stories. For more information, email researchdivision@lse.ac.uk. 
 

View the full calendar for 2016-17. 

For daily updates, follow us on Twitter @LSE_RD
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Dr Jose-Luis Fernandez, PSSRU

Received funding under the Department of Health, National Institute for Health Research's Policy Research Programme for a study on supporting carers following the implementation of the Care Act 2014. The study will explore how English local authorities identify, assess and respond to the needs of carers and what the costs and outcomes of different forms of support for carers are.

Dr Myria Georgiou, Media and Communications

Awarded a Newton International Fellowship to undertake research that will explore Alevi television within a transnational context and the role it plays in defining the Alevi identity and building a public sphere engaging Alevis in different local and national contexts. The research, jointly undertaken with Dr Kumru Emre Cetin from Hacettepe Universitesi, will also examine how the media professionals who work for the various channels contribute towards the construction of a transnational public sphere through television. 

Dr Tania Burchardt, CASE

Received ESRC funding to examine the implications of alternative assumptions about the intra-household sharing of resources on estimates of poverty, inequality and material deprivation across Europe.

Prof. Simon Dietz, Grantham Research Institute

Received funding under the European Commission's Horizon2020 Marie-Sklodowska Curie RISE programme for the GEMCLIME project. The project will look at the drivers of climate change, the examination of climate change and energy-related risks and vulnerabilities, the valuation of economic impacts of climate change mitigation and adaptation policies, and the investigation of policy.

Prof. Charlie Beckett, Media and Communications

Received funding from The Nobel Foundation for a project that brings together academics and media practitioners to explore the recent legal developments affecting the Polish media landscape that have attracted serious international scrutiny and criticism for their apparent violation of freedom, pluralism and independence of public service broadcasting. The project is a collaborative undertaking between LSE and Collegium Civitas, Warsaw with advisory expertise from Leeds University.

Ms Nicola Brimblecombe, PSSRU

Received funding from LSE's NIHR School for Social Care Research for research on the role of adult social care in improving outcomes for young people who provide unpaid care. The project will assess if young adult carers have better education, employment, social and personal relationships, health and quality of life if the adult they care for receives social care services.

International open access week

In October the Library celebrated international open access week (24-30 October), which is a chance for researchers and institutions to share and reflect on the progress we’re making to ensure the world’s research and knowledge is accessible to anyone, whatever their location, budget or affiliation. Read a summary of the work the research support team is doing to facilitate open access publishing at LSE, including a video interview with Professor Emeritus Rodney Barker on making his new book open access.
 

New open access fund

Ensure your work is included in the REF: send your accepted manuscripts to lseresearchonline@lse.ac.uk. 

Laurence Horton, Data Librarian

Tell us about your role as Data Librarian at LSE.
My job is to help researchers either produce reusable research data for long-term preservation and access or to access and use third party data sources responsibly. This means helping researchers or connecting them with the specialist support inside and outside LSE.

There's an LSE website, moodle, funder-themed writing Data Management Plan sessions using an LSE customised version of DMPonline, and fortnightly surgeries. Researchers can always contact me at Datalibrary@lse.ac.uk.
 
All funded researchers are now required to complete a research data management plan (DMP) for their research proposals. What is this and what does it mean for LSE's research active staff? 
Almost all Research Council UK funders, Horizon 2020, and Wellcome Trust already require DMPs, so it's business as usual for many researchers. DMPs don't evaluate the merits of the research, just how the data is managed. Think of a DMP as a route map. Routes need not be fixed and can be adjusted according to conditions. A plan highlights potential problems before they become insurmountable obstacles. They focus resources (RCUK members support funding RDM costs), allocate roles and responsibilities (who in the team, institutionally, externally is responsible for what), clarify requirements (like must data be shared in a specific archive), and identify potential sharing problems (are these sensitive data, third-party licenced). Journals are also likely to require data sharing, so thinking ahead in a DMP about being able and where to share data as part of a publication strategy.

For researchers and the school, infrastructure is in place to make research data a research output in its own right, (it’s even eligible for the REF providing it embodies original research). Through Digital Object Identifiers (DOI) offered by most data archives, persistent stable links to datasets are provided. DOIs can be tracked by bibliometrics like Altmetric, and some data archives now offer formatted citations to allow easy citation of datasets.

One final benefit: if you manage and share your data in an archive, then you don't have to manage it long-term by backing it up, keeping it in accessible formats, or dealing with requests to send people the data.
 
What are the main challenges with data sharing?
Terminology causes problems - especially in the social sciences where “open” is a problem for researchers dealing with personal data and vulnerable participants. Open data means sharing with anyone for any purpose. Open data is synonymous with data sharing; but data sharing is not synonymous with open data.

The European Commission’s approach to data sharing is: "Open as possible, as closed as necessary". Data can be shared with suitable restrictions on access like restricted access conditions (registered users, providing a reason for reuse) or licence restrictions on how data can be used (non-commercial usage, no identifying or contacting participants).

No funder or institution will force data to be shared where there is a clear risk of breaking the law or harming participants. But, critically, you must be prepared to ask for restrictions in your plan, justify why they’re necessary, and explore alternative ways to share data.
 
Do you have any advice for your fellow colleagues when managing their data?
A question to keep in mind is “If this was someone else’s data would I be able to understand it?” or “would I be able to understand my own data in a few years' time?” Never underestimate the capacity of even the best memories to fade. Think about the information you need to be recording to be able to answer “yes”. For example, do file names have meaning (no, "final final.doc"?) Have you recorded what you’ve done to clean or anonymise data?
 
If you could do it all again, what alternative career would you choose?
In this job I've learnt a little bit about law (Intellectual Property, data protection, freedom of information); Information Security, librarianship, research methodologies and ethics. All provide interesting alternative careers.
 
Do you have anything else you would like to share?
I’m always happy to talk about data management, sharing, and what you would like the RDM service to do to help support your research. I’m keen to work with anyone in the school to help make sharing data with as few restrictions as possible the norm in academic research.
 

Travel distribution industry underestimates the speed and scale of the consumer revolution

Artificial Intelligence, virtual reality and the use of portable technology could change travel distribution as we know it over the next 10 years, according to a new independent study by LSE.

Strong government institutions more important than geography for economic development in the EU

A new study from LSE has found that strong government institutions are more influential for economic growth than geographic conditions.

Are UK drivers ready to give up the wheel?

A recently released survey of UK motorists shows that people who find driving stressful and are confident about technology are, on average, more comfortable with the prospect of autonomous vehicles on our roads.

Children involved in cyber-bullying much more likely to view web content containing self-harm and suicide

A new LSE and University of West London study on the link between cyber-bullying and suicide has found that ten per cent of children are involved in cyber-bullying, as victims, perpetrators or both, and that they are much more likely to view web content containing self-harm and suicide. It calls for more web-based prevention and intervention strategies to tackle the issue.

Leveson press restrictions a 'threat to democracy and accuracy'

The breakdown of metropolitan police and media relations in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry has led to a proliferation of inaccurate and prejudicial news reports in recent years, according to a new study by a leading criminologist at LSE.

Read more about LSE's cutting edge research.

5 networking tips for introverted researchers

Every researcher has to network in order to develop their career. However for some this can feel like a difficult and potentially stressful task. Matt Jamieson provides 5 quick tips to help overcome barriers to building key relationships.

Brought to you courtesy of iHawkes, (Institute of Health and Wellbeing Early Career Researchers' Blog)
 

Get in touch

The next edition of Research Briefing is on Tuesday 6 December 2016. If you would like to feature a research story, award, or opportunity in this newsletter, contact Amanda Burgess in the Research Division by Wednesday 30 November 2016.
 
Research Briefing is emailed on the first Tuesday of every month throughout the academic year.  

Contact us
+44 (0) 20 7106 1202  I researchdivision@lse.ac.uk
Visit our website for more information and a detailed list of funding opportunities.