Category Archives: ESRC

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 →

Posted in Career Young Researchers, ESRC, Frustrations, Funding, Funding Policy, University culture | Comments Off on Meanwhile, over at the ESRC…

Is there a danger that research funding calls are getting too narrow?

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Adam

The ESRC have recently added a little more detail to a previous announcement about a pending call for European-Chinese joint research projects on Green Economy and Population Change.  Specifically, they’re after projects which address the following themes: Green Economy The … Continue reading →

Posted in ESRC, Frustrations, Funding, Funding Policy, Research Costs, Research Impact | 2 Comments

ESRC “demand management” measures working….. and why rises and falls in institutions’ levels of research funding are not news

Posted on November 18, 2012 by Adam

There was an interesting snippet of information in an article in this week’s Times Higher about the latest research council success rates.  [A] spokeswoman for the ESRC said that since the research council had begun requiring institutions from June 2011 … Continue reading →

Posted in ESRC, Frustrations, Funding, Research Costs, University culture | Comments Off on ESRC “demand management” measures working….. and why rises and falls in institutions’ levels of research funding are not news

ESRC success rates by discipline: what on earth is going on?

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Adam

Update – read this post for the 2012/13 stats for success rates by discipline The ESRC have recently published a set of ‘vital statistics‘ which are “a detailed breakdown of research funding for the 2011/12 financial year” (see page 22).  … Continue reading →

Posted in ESRC, Frustrations, Funding, Funding Policy, Public Sector, Research Costs, Research Impact, University culture | 8 Comments

News from the ESRC: International co-investigators and the Future Leaders Scheme

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Adam

I’m still behind on my blogging – I owe the internet the second part of the impact series, and a book review I really must get round to writing.  But I picked up an interesting nugget of information regarding the … Continue reading →

Posted in Application advice, Career Young Researchers, ESRC, Funding, Funding Policy, Research Costs, University culture | 1 Comment

Responding to Referees

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Adam

This post is co-authored by Adam Golberg of Cash for Questions (UK), and Jonathan O’Donnell and Tseen Khoo of The Research Whisperer (Australia). It arises out of a comment that Jonathan made about understanding and responding to referees on one … Continue reading →

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

Coping with rejection: What to do if your grant application is unsuccessful. Part 2: Next Steps

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Adam

In the first part of this series, I argued that it’s important not to misunderstand or misinterpret the reasons for a grant application being unsuccessful.  In the comments, Jo VanEvery shared a phrase that she’s heard from a senior figure … Continue reading →

Posted in Application advice, ESRC, Funding, Funding Policy, University culture | 5 Comments

Coping with rejection: What to do if your grant application is unsuccessful. Part 1: Understand what it means…. and what it doesn’t mean

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Adam

Some application and assessment processes are for limited goods, and some are for unlimited goods, and it’s important to understand the difference.  PhD vivas and driving tests are assessments for unlimited goods – there’s no limit on how many PhDs … Continue reading →

Posted in Application advice, Career Young Researchers, ESRC, Funding, Funding Policy | 11 Comments