Category Archives: Funding

I’m running a marathon….

Posted on July 12, 2015 by Adam

“The first rule of Running Club is that you DO NOT stop talking about running.” It starts with the couch-to-5k running programme. This is a relatively gentle start to talking about running, with typical sessions involving only talking about running … Continue reading →

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ESRC success rates 2014/2015 – a quick and dirty commentary

Posted on July 8, 2015 by Adam

The ESRC has issued its annual report and accounts for the financial year 2014/15, and they don’t make good reading. As predicted by Brian Lingley and Phil Ward back in January on the basis of the figures from the July … Continue reading →

Posted in Application advice, Career Young Researchers, ESRC, Frustrations, Funding, Funding Policy, Research Costs, University culture | 5 Comments

ESRC – sweeping changes to the standard grants scheme

Posted on March 5, 2015 by Adam

The ESRC have just announced a huge change to their standard grants scheme, and I think it’s fair to say that it’s going to prove somewhat controversial. At the moment, it’s possible to apply to the ESRC Standard Grant Scheme … Continue reading →

Posted in Career Young Researchers, ESRC, Frustrations, Funding, Funding Policy, Research Costs, University culture | 6 Comments

Grant Writing Mistakes part 94: The “Star Wars”

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Adam

Have you seen Star Wars?  Even if you haven’t, you might be aware of the iconic opening scene, and in particular the scrolling text that begins “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away….” (Incidentally, this means that … Continue reading →

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ESRC success rates 2013/2014

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Adam

The ESRC Annual Report for 2013-14 has been out for quite a while now, and a quick summary and analysis from me is long overdue. Although I was tempted to skip straight through all of the good news stories about … Continue reading →

Posted in Application advice, ESRC, Frustrations, Funding, Funding Policy, Research Costs, University culture | 1 Comment

Pre-mortems: Tell me why your current grant application or research project will fail

Posted on June 18, 2014 by Adam

I came across a really interesting idea the other day week via the Freakonomics podcast – the idea of a project “pre-mortem” or “prospective hindsight”  They interviewed Gary Klein who described it as follows: KLEIN:  I need you to be … Continue reading →

Posted in Application advice, Funding, Funding Policy, University culture | 4 Comments

Adam Golberg announces new post about Ministers inserting themselves into research grant announcements

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Adam

Here’s something I’ve been wondering recently.  Is it just me, or have major research council funding announcements started to be made by government ministers, rather than by the, er, research councils? Here’s a couple of examples that caught my eye … Continue reading →

Posted in British Academy, ESRC, Funding, Funding Policy, Research Impact, University culture | 4 Comments

Six writing habits I reckon you ought to avoid in grant applications…..

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Adam

There are lots of mistakes to avoid in writing grant applications, and I’ve written a bit about some of them in some previous posts (see “advice on grant applications” link above).  This one is more about writing habits.  I read … Continue reading →

Posted in Application advice, Career Young Researchers, ESRC, Frustrations, Funding, University culture | 4 Comments

ESRC success rates by discipline for 2012-13

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Adam

Update: 2013/14 figures here. With all of the fanfare of a cat-burglar slipping in through a first floor window in back office of a diamond museum, the ESRC has published its Vital Statistics for 2012-13, including the success rates by … Continue reading →

Posted in ESRC, Frustrations, Funding, Funding Policy, University culture | 1 Comment

Meanwhile, over at the ESRC…

Posted on September 3, 2013 by Adam

There have been a few noteworthy developments at the ESRC over the summer months which I think are probably worth drawing together into a single blog post for those (like me) who’ve made the tactical error of choosing to have … Continue reading →

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