Hello Everyone,
Welcome to the March 2020 issue of the Sussex Researcher.
We kick off with the wonderful news that we have retained the HR Excellence in Research Award - with the external review panel approving our 2019-2021 action plan! Achieving this is the culmination of quite a few months of work, so we are delighted that it's been worthwhile.
In terms of near-term provision for our RS, March is looking exciting too. There are a number of items on the theme of "Open Research" this month we'd particularly like to draw your attention to:
Finally - we just want to remind you that the Academic Promotions round is open until March 11th, and that Research Fellows are eligible to apply. In particular people should note:
- Within the Academic Promotions 2020 Process document it states: "It is the normal expectation that eligible Lecturers and Researchers at the top salary point of Grade 7 will be promoted to Grade 8 unless there are serious performance concerns however, they will be required to submit an application in order to be considered"
- At the Research Staff Lunch on March 3rd, Hayley is happy to spend time talking about promotions / helping link people to their HR Business Partners / reviewing any applications you may be drafting. If you want this support (as well as a free lunch!) sign up now.
So we encourage you to think about going for a promotion!
Best wishes,
The Research Staff Office Team (Hayley Cordingley and Alex Aghajanian)
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Workshops & Events - Spring term
- Preparing for leadership & management
- Improving your academic writing & communication
- Personal effectiveness
- Research skills development
- Understanding the academic context
- Mental health & wellbeing
- Community events
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Research Staff Office Events
RSO Monthly Lunch - Tuesday 3rd March, 12:30-14:00
Introduction to REF2021 - Tuesday 10th March, 13:00-14:00
Thinking Strategically About Your Research - Wednesday 18th March, 14:00-17:00
Informing and Inspiring the Public Through Outreach - Wednesday 25th March, 10:00-13:00
Using Your Emotional Intelligence to Support and Manage Others - Thursday 2nd April, 10:00-13:00
RSO Monthly Lunch - Tuesday 7th April, 12:30-14:00
Introduction to Coaching Skills for Principal Investigators and Research Managers - Wednesday 22nd April, 14:00-17:00
WEBINAR: 5 steps to making your work more visible - Wednesday 22nd April, 17:00-18:00
Supporting PhD Students: Practical Tips - Wednesday 29th April, 14:00-17:00
RSO Monthly Lunch - Tuesday 5th May, 12:30-14:00
How to Create an Effective Podcast: An Introductory One-Day Workshop - Thursday 4th June, 09:15-17:15 |
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Events organised by other teams
Develop your career online - Tuesday 3rd March, 11:00-12:00
Introduction to Open Access publishing - Tuesday 10th March, 14:00-15:30
Managing Mental Health at Work - Wednesday 11th March, 09:15-12:45
Finding Balance - In the mind-set - Thursday 12th March, 13:30-16:30
Finding Balance - In the mind, body and emotions - Thursday 12th March, 13:30-16:30
Personal Digital Archiving - Tuesday 17th March, 11:00-12:00
Managing your research data - Wednesday 18th March, 10:00-12:30
How to Edit Your Own Writing - Wednesday 18th March, 14:00-17:00
How can open practices help you to get published? - Thursday 19th March, 12:00-14:00
Searching Twitter for data - Tuesday 24th March, 14:00-12:00
Understanding publication metrics - Tuesday 24th March, 14:00-16:00
Intellectual Property for Research workshop - Tuesday 31st March, 10:00-15:30 |
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Life Sciences Pro-forma teaching system adopted by MPS We were pleased to hear a very positive outcome resulting from the ongoing discussions and practice sharing taking place at Research Staff Reps meetings concerning RS being involved in teaching and supervision and the issues they face such as:
- Inconsistent recognition / tracking of teaching undertaken
- lack of opportunity to teach / supervise
- requirement to teach (without remuneration)
- lack of clarity regarding how teaching is allocated
Mark Bason (RS Rep, MPS) has worked with his School to adopt the system for recognition of teaching developed by, and used in the School of Life Sciences. This simple process involves Research Staff using two pro-formas to:
If anyone is interested in finding out more about the pro-formas and/or getting changes made in your Schools, please link up either with the RSO or with your local Rep. We always welcome new reps from any school/department. If you would be interested in representing your fellow researchers and influencing University policy while enhancing your CV, take a look at the Research Staff Reps Terms of Reference or contact us for more information.
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University of Sussex retains the HR excellence in Research award A personal message from Dr Hayley Cordingley - Research Staff Officer: Here in the RSO, we are over the moon that the University has been successful in retaining the HREiR award - something the University has held since 2013 and which has to be renewed every 2 years. This European Commission granted award is an internationally recognised “marque” that should give our Research Staff (RS - both currently here and future applicants) reassurance that the University have plans and groups in place to support them while they are here. Whilst people may feel that particular Groups, Departments, Schools or indeed the University as a whole are not perfect in the way that they support our Research Staff (RS), holding this award and undergoing external scrutiny every 2 years provides an (additional) impetus to ensure that we are working towards implementing the Principles of the Researcher Development Concordat (2008) here at Sussex - across the board. For this submission, we consulted with and solicited input from RS (our 6 Year Review Report articulates how we have done this), and created a new plan for 2019-21. This plan has 14 SMART actions we are committed to delivering over the next 2 years in a range of areas that are designed specifically to benefit RS at Sussex. The actions, can be loosely clustered into areas such as: Employment practices; Supporting RS with their skills and career development; Supporting managers of RS to support their RS; Promoting a good research culture; Updating assurance processes. Full details are in the plan which is, in essence, an approved route-map for the next 2 years, outlining specific activities that the RSO will be working hard to lead, collaborate and/or deliver on. An integral part of obtaining the award is having this action plan view-able by the public; All of the University’s HREiR documentation can be found at this webpage. So in the RSO, we are delighted that Sussex seeks to retain the HREiR award, and enables us to work in ways you want us to to support you during your time here at Sussex. We encourage you to take a look at the documentation some time, and ask you to continue to engage with / send your thoughts and feedback to the RSO. Everything we do is aimed at helping you to have a fantastic career - whatever you choose that to be. To read the official University news item on this story click here.
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New research information system: Symplectic Elements Symplectic Elements is the university's new Current Research Information System (or CRIS), and is being rolled out on a School by School basis. Elements enables you to manage and share your research activities easily, providing one single point of organisation, presentation and reporting for research outputs and other scholarly activities. Submitting publications to the university's repository will now happen via the Elements interface; existing publications on SRO have been imported into Elements and are already visible. Elements will also be the new platform for staff and researcher profiles, offering an opportunity for increased discovery of our research expertise. For academic and research staff, current web profiles have been frozen and migrated into Elements, with professional services to follow shortly. Implementation has begun across campus, and access to Elements will be granted to everyone over the next two months. Each School will be notified before their launch date, and support will be on hand from the Elements team in the Library. For more information see the webpages for FAQs, support and training resources: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/library/research-outputs/elements or contact the Elements team on: elements@sussex.ac.uk
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Who will be the new head of UKRI? With Sir Mark Walport set to retire as chief executive of the UK’s £7 billion-a-year funding body, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), later this year, the hunt is on to find a successor. If you would like to find out more about the search for the new chief executive take a look at this article from Times Higher Education providing a brief overview of some of the potential candidates to lead UKRI.
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Splitting ministerial responsibility for universities and science within the UK government Browsing through the Times Higher Education, we came across this article on the recent cabinet reshuffle and the separation of universities and science ministers that we think may be interesting to you. The article covers the implications of splitting ministerial responsibility for universities and science within the UK government for the HE sector as a whole.
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Opportunities / External events
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Could you be an ESRC Impact prize winner? - Deadline 27th March Have you created or brought about outstanding impact from social science research here in the UK or internationally? You could apply for the Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) Celebrating Impact Prize. The Celebrating Impact Prize recognises and rewards current and previous ESRC-supported researchers at any career stage who have created or enabled outstanding impact. These impacts will have resulted in changes in practice, thinking or capacity which have created a positive impact in our society or economy in the UK and internationally. Applications opened on 27 January 2020 and will close on 19 March 2020. All finalists will have a film professionally made about their work and its impact, and winners are awarded £10,000 to spend on further knowledge exchange, public engagement or other impact related activities. Find out more about the Prize and how to apply. Questions about the prize can be emailed to the ESRC Impact team: impact@esrc.ukri.org.
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Sector initiatives to know about...
Understanding the Academic Context:
Bite-size briefing #4
According to the Biennial Pulse Survey, researchers at the University are quite knowledgeable about some sector initiatives, but are unfamiliar with others - some of which are quite important for academic research careers. So over the next few newsletters, we thought we would give you some "bite-size briefings" to help familiarize you with the 13 initiatives you were asked about in the survey. 5) Concordat on Open Research Data
- This Concordat, published in 2016, was developed by a UK multi-stakeholder group to "ensure that the research data gathered and generated by members of the UK research community is made openly available for use by others wherever possible in a manner consistent with relevant legal, ethical, disciplinary and regulatory frameworks and norms, and with due regard to the costs involved".
- According to the relevant UKRI webpages, the four original signatories (the former HEFCE, UKRI [the former RCUK], Universities UK and the Wellcome Trust have now been joined by other important funders such as Cancer Research UK; the Scottish Funding Council; and The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW).
- The Concordat outlines 10 Principles, and it is clear that there is a strong link between some of these principles and funder/institutional policies and support. For example, the requirements many funders have for a data management plan as part of the bidding process clearly relate to both Principle #6: “Good data management is fundamental to all stages of the research process and should be established at the outset” and Principle #7: “Data curation is vital to make data useful for others and for long-term preservation of data”
- The Library team have a wealth of support for Researchers at the University of Sussex on their Research Data Management web pages including links to the University Research Data Management Policy and Code of Practice for Research, and a very helpful page around creating your data management plan
- For more general background information around Open Research (which includes open access to scholarly publications as well as research data and more) - look at the Vitae Open Research webpages and the University of Sussex Library Open Access Webpages
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Research Funding
If applying for funding, remember to check funders' eligibility criteria carefully and discuss the opportunity with your host institution/department prior to preparing any applications.
Do look at Research Development webpages for guidance around applications
For more information about ECR Fellowships, check out our new webpage:
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/staff/research/researchstaff/funding/fellowship-opportunities |
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Save the date: European Research Funding event – Visit by the UK Research Office (UKRO)
20th March 2020 Further details on the programme to follow, if you have any questions about the event please contact your Research Development Officer
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NTU Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship
The Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship (PPF) provides the opportunity for early career scientists, engineers and scholars from Singapore and around the world, to conduct independent investigations in any discipline at NTU, a research-intensive university in Asia.
The fellowship is awarded for a duration of two years with a research funding of up to SGD 18,000 per year.
Deadline for Applications: 31st March 2020
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Discovery fellowship
This enables early-career researchers to gain leadership skills by undertaking independent research in any area of science within the council’s remit. Up to 10 fellowships, worth up to £300,000 each over three years, are available.
Deadline for Applications: 12th May 2020
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Research Grants
These provide seed-corn funding for scientists in the UK who are at an early stage in their career, or returning from a career break. Grants are worth up to £20,000 each over one year.
Deadline for Applications: 19th May 2020
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Clinical research career development fellowship
These enable clinically active health professionals to continue research at postdoctoral level and develop scientific independence, balancing clinical work with a research career. Funding supports a basic salary, research expenses and personal removal expenses for up to eight years.
Deadline for Applications: 5th August 2020
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University research fellowships
These enable early-career scientists who have the potential to become leaders in their field to build an independent research career in the natural sciences. Awards cover 80 per cent of the fellow’s salary costs, research assistance, as well as research expenses over five years.
Deadline for Applications: 3rd September 2020
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Dorothy Hodgkin fellowships
These enable early-career scientists who require a flexible working pattern due to personal circumstance to take the first step into an independent research career. Fellowships last for five years.
Deadline for Applications: 10th November 2020
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