How to Generate Funding – Tips for Research Students

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PGR Tips is Vitae’s monthly email, which offers tips and advice to help PhD researchers through their doctorate.

In this month’s issue there is some really useful advice on the ability to generate funding which is a real necessity if you aspire to a career in academia.  Even outside of academia this ability is highly valued and is often one of the skills that employers may look for.

The advice given by PGR Tips provides information about the following things you will need to consider:

• start with small funding applications
• be as informed as you can be
• perfect the art of persuasion
• formulate a strong hypothesis
• be clear on the methodology you intend to use
• put in detail
• be realistic
• present  preliminary data
• follow any guidelines to the letter
•  edit, edit and edit again

Go to the current issue of PGR Tips  for the full information.

Looking for international funding opportunities?

If you are wondering how to find out about funding schemes that could help you with financing travel to conferences, organising meetings and short research visits take a look at the Euraxess website.

This website provides information and advice for international researchers wishing to come to the UK or for those wanting information about research in Europe. The new Euraxess funding search tool is only for funding schemes and cannot provide information for individual fellowships but you can find individual fellowships under the fellowships programme search.

Finding funding for your postgraduate studies

Funding postgraduate study is always difficult.

If you are finding it hard to know where to go for funding information you can now  search the Prospects Funding database.   We also have a handy “Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding” which is available in our Careers Service office in the ULU Building in Malet Street.

Another place you could look at if you are interested in finding out about benefits and grants for all types of activity is Turn 2 Us. 

Successful researchers and their social and economic impacts

For those of you who have been following developments in university research funding, you will be aware of the replacement of the previous Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) with a new method for assessing the quality of university research outputs, the Research Excellence Framework (REF). Although the date for the introduction of the REF is still not yet set in stone, and some of the assessment criteria have still to be hammered out, one key element of this process is the future evaluation of research projects based on the their wider impact on the economy or society (for further information visit www.hefce.ac.uk/research/ref). If you are scratching your head trying to think how you can adjust your research ideas to accommodate this future requirement, you might want to take a look at a new report from Research Councils UK, ‘Impacts: People and Skills’ that;

profiles a number of researchers from different disciplines who have an impact on the economy and society in a variety of ways.

The report can be downloaded as a PDF file from the Vitae Researcher Development website.

Posted by Calum Leckie, UCL Careers Service.

Opportunities for arts and humanities researchers in India

I picked up this interesting news item from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) website, published on the 7th of August;

A major new report has been published that offers arts and humanities researchers in the UK a chance to better understand the potential funding and collaborative opportunities available to them in India. Commissioned by the AHRC, on behalf of Research Councils UK, this report presents an overview of the arts and humanities landscape in Inda through mapping the centres of excellence and funders. The report also highlights the strengths and challenges of Indian research in the arts and humanities.

A copy of  the report can be accessed via the RCUK website, but you can download a copy of the document directly, in PDF format, by clicking here. You may also like to check out our own information sheet on Indian research opportunites to be found on the  ‘International Academic Careers’ page of the Research Staff Careers website (www.ucl.ac.uk/researchcareers).

Posted by Calum Leckie, UCL Careers Service

Keep up to date with funding opportunities

The website ResearchResearch.com has created a portal for all things grants related at www.researchprofessional.com. UCL has it’s own pages within this system and you can easily create your own account to access this resource. If you are new to the site you can watch the video introduction or read the quick start guide and FAQs. ResearchProfessional contains information and news on current funding opportunities from a wide range of sources in the Arts and Social Sciences, Life and Medical Sciences and the BEAMS school.

Posted by Calum Leckie, UCL Careers Service

Latest Careers Podcasts from Nature Magazine

A regularly updated resource from NatureJobs:

Our series of free audio shows features interviews and advice from experts in the field and highlights diverse career issues relevant to today’s scientists.

Recent Podcasts posted include:

• How to get a job as a lecturer
• Insights into the life science industry
• Setting up a ‘spin-out’ company
• Tips on submitting grants to the European Research Council

To access the above and more, visit the NatureJobs site at: www.nature.com/naturejobs

Posted by: Calum Leckie, UCL Careers Service

Opportunities for Social Entrepreneurship

Its always useful when thing about taking your research forward to think who might fund this or who could i collaborate with. To maximise your chances of success it’s worth thinking beyond the usual academic collaborators and national funding bodies to bodies and organisations outside the academic research enviroment. For those of you who have research experience and expertise that you believe can be applied to wider society and communities, you might like to read about UnLtd – the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs. On their website it states:

UnLtd – the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs – wants to support and develop the role of social entrepreneurs as a force for positive change in the United Kingdom. In the short to medium term UnLtd will achieve this by providing:

Awards to social entrepreneurs

A UK wide Fellowship of people who have received awards

Research into the impact of social entrepreneurs on society

UnLtd Ventures

For more information, visit their website at www.unltd.org.uk

Posted by: Calum Leckie, UCL Careers Service

Find out more about Grant success with the EPSRC

The Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) study days are an excellent opportunity for early career researchers, more experienced research staff, academics and staff developers to gain invaluable insights into the Grant review process and tips on key issues such as writing an effective grant and how to tackle the issue of ‘impact’ on the grant application form. Other topics that may be included include Public engagement, better exploitation, transformative research, doctoral training and the international agenda. As well as being held at the head office in Swindon some study days are also being held on-site in a select number of Universities, including UCL.  For dates of forthcoming study days check the study days page on the EPSRC website. Note that you have to complete a registration form to attend and you are asked to contact your University Research office in the first instance before applying.

Posted by: Calum Leckie, UCL Careers Service

The UK Research Staff Association

The UK Research Staff Association have been very active on their twitter account the last day or so.

Things that caught my eye:

• Career versus Family Life http://ow.ly/1P9Gb via @womenintech
• Who is pondering applying for Vitae Innovate funding? http://tinyurl.com/36fbp57 via @tennievideler
• A Day in the Life of a Management Consultant http://ow.ly/1S1Fm interesting for those who’d like a career in consulting RT @Bio_Careers

Each is worth a few minutes of your time today.

Also you can get a snapshot of what the people we follow on twitter are saying here: http://paper.li/uclcareersblog

James Weaver

Employer Services & Events Officer