Event Details

*This event is part of ARMA’s Research Culture Programme*

Join us for a panel session to discuss how we, as ARMA community, can support the future of research culture as a successful endeavour for UK’s research and innovation excellence, through developing successful funding proposals. The panel discussion will help us understand a snapshot of funders’ thinking with regards to research culture; and how we can support funding proposals and secure grants that reflect funders’ relevant expectations. The session is aimed at those who lead the design of research funding support systems as well as those who are tasked to implement them.

More funders are changing how they asses grant applications to consider many of the intersections of research culture (e.g. EDI/leadership/collegiately/diverse career pathways and outputs/open research), with many either taking different perspectives or prioritising some aspects over others. For example, some are asking how the research environment will help grow the researcher (e.g. Marie Sklodowska Curie fellowships) and others are asking for diverse applicants, but then they may struggle to relate to the diverse values that these applicants show. Many are waiting for others to determine the best approach; therefore, they may stick to the EDI/Open Research focus as an indication of consideration of a good research culture. In line with the UK Government’s recent R&D People and Culture Strategy and funders’ (potentially) growing requirements from grant applicants and host institutions to comply with such definitions, we are keen to explore how research support professionals can play a role in this exercise. How can research support and management professionals assist with these kinds of proposals during a period of intense change? How could we interpret funders’ interests and specifically reviewer comments which may not be always aligned with funders’ policies or ethos of a specific call?

Panel include:

Diego Baptista, Head of Research and Funding Equity at the Wellcome Trust.

Vanessa Cuthill, Director of Research at the British Academy.

Adam Golberg, Research Development Manager (Charities) at the University of Nottingham.

Aygen Kurt-Dickson (Chair), Research and Innovation Strategy Manager at the LSE, and ARMA Research Development SIG Champion.