Research Culture Seeding Fund - Apply for up to £2,500 for initiatives to enhance research culture
*Deadline for applications is Friday 15 April

The Research Culture Seeding (RCS) Fund is part of a range of initiatives that the University of Sussex has recently launched to help foster a creative, inclusive, and collaborative research culture here at Sussex.

Open to Early Career Researchers (ECRs), the RCS Fund will pump-prime innovative approaches to enhancing the environment in which research takes place at the University, and act as a pilot projects for new ideas which could serve as best practice models to be rolled out in other parts of the University.

See the Research Culture Seeding Fund webpage for applicant guidance, terms and conditions, and to apply. The deadline for applications is Friday 15 April.

Research with Impact Awards 2022 now open for entries!

Everyone’s impact journey is different; we’re all at different stages along the way, and have different roles to play, in working together to achieve real change. This year, our Research with Impact Awards have been designed to recognise this.
 
We’ll be acknowledging efforts to plan for and progress the fundamentals important for achieving impact, as well as rewarding activity that is already underway and generating impact. We’ll also be rewarding the commitment and contribution of colleagues (academic and professional services) who play vital roles in supporting impact work and culture.
 
Winners will receive £1000 to pursue the next stage of their impact plans and/or develop their impact capabilities.
 
The six award categories this year are as follows:

1. Emerging impact (2 awards: 1 open to staff at all career levels, 1 ECR-specific)
2. Ongoing impact (2 awards: 1 open to staff at all career levels, 1 ECR-specific)
3. Emerging impact through enterprising activity
4. Ongoing impact through interdisciplinary collaboration
5. Academic impact champion
6. Professional Services impact champion

To encourage entries from our Early Career Researcher community, two awards will be given in each of Categories 1 and 2, one of which will be awarded to an ECR.
 
Award winners will be announced at the end of the Research with Impact Day on Tuesday 7th June 2022, as part of a celebratory drinks reception in the Bramber House Conference Centre.
 
Please visit the Research with Impact Awards 2022 webpage to read the Call for Entries, and to download the entry form. Completed forms should be submitted via email to rqi@sussex.ac.uk by midday Wednesday 18 May 2022.

Research with Impact Forum - Narrative CVs - another tool to enhance research culture?
Wednesday 13th April (2.30pm - 4pm)

The next Research with Impact forum will take place on Wednesday 13 April (2.30 pm - 4.00 pm) and the theme will be: Narrative CVs - another tool to enhance research culture?

UKRI have developed a single CV format for researchers, based on the Royal Society’s résumé for researchers. These ‘Narrative CVs’ are being requested by funders as a way of supporting researchers to share their varied contributions to research; to their field and to wider society. The intention is to provide a way to evaluate these contributions that does not rely solely on narrow performance indicators and metrics, and to enable a consistent approach across widely varying backgrounds, individual circumstances and career pathways.

This seminar will explore a number of questions from the perspective of the early career researcher, the senior academic and the reviewer.

• How can we best evaluate individuals’ varied contributions to research in line with our commitment to DORA principles?
• How can researchers evidence and document their outputs and other contributions to research and scholarship?
• How does an institution develop and nurture talent?
• What are the benefits of narrative CVs with reference to EDI issues, career breaks, time spent out of academia, etc.?
• What are the challenges for recruitment and review panels?

The event takes place on Wednesday 13 April, between 2.30 pm and 4.00 pm via Zoom. Book your place now.

New PI or Faculty Member at Sussex? Please Complete Survey

Making the transition from post-doc to PI and/or starting your first faculty position can be equal parts exciting and daunting.

Two new research fellows Beth Nicholls (Life Sciences) and Jamie Knight (Engineering & Informatics), and faculty member Kate Shaw (Physics & Astronomy) are planning to apply to the Research Culture Seeding Fund to set up a network for new PI’s and first time faculty members at the University of Sussex.
 
This will be a self-defining and inclusive network, open to members of all departments across the university, and they would really like your input as to what activities and initiatives (e.g. coffee mornings, training) you’d like to see as part of this network. For context, we can apply for up to £2500 (deadline 15th April) and funds must be spent by the end of July.
 
In order to help informed application please fill in the short online survey by Friday 8th April. There is also an option to add your name to an email list to be contacted about the network should this or future funding applications be successful.