| Message from the Research Staff Office |
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Hello everyone
Welcome to this issue of the Sussex Researcher. Since we wrote our last message for the newsletter the country has become a seemingly different and uncertain place as a consequence of the outcome of the EU Referendum. We'd like to remind everyone that any researcher is welcome to contact the Research Staff Office to discuss questions or concerns you have relating to your role, career, professional development or general issues/concerns. You can do this by:
All discussions with the Research Staff Office are treated in confidence.
As we are coming to the end of the academic year we'd like to take this opportunity to thank the Research Staff Reps and Research Staff Working Group for their contributions to the work of the Research Staff Office over the course of the year. Below Dr Lucy Robinson reflects on her year as Director of Research Staff Development and looks forward to future developments in 2016/17. It has been a pleasure working with Lucy and we look forward to continuing collaborations into the future.
Best wishes,
Natalie James (Research Staff Officer) and Kirsty Bridger (Researcher Development Coordinator)
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| Creativity and Innovation Tools for Career Success |
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Wednesday 20th July: 13.30-16.00 - Book a place
"Creative Problem Solving"" and "Ideation" techniques are frequently used in the process of innovation - to generate novel ideas and solutions that address unmet needs.
This workshop will introduce you to a range of tools and principles used in the process and show you how they can help you succeed in your careers (whether you want that to be in academia, a start-up, industry, business or public sector) by helping you to:
- generate exciting new (fundable) research ideas
- translate your research outcomes into business propositions
- think laterally about the way you job hunt
Guest speakers will round off the session by outlining the support available to you at Sussex if you are interested in taking your research and innovations into the commercial world.
Presenters:
Dr Hayley Cordingley, Freelance Consultant & Enterprise Skills Trainer
Mr Peter Lane, Innovation Support Manager
Mr Keith O'Brien, Intellectual Property Manager
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| News |
| Brexit - Information Hub for Sussex Staff and Students |
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 It is without doubt that the UK electorate's vote to leave the EU will have significant implications for UK Higher Education and research; the specifics of which are likely to take many months or even years to become apparent.
In his message to staff and students following the outcome, Vice-Chancellor Michael Farthing highlighted that the outcome of the vote did not represent the views of most of us at Sussex, with a pre-referendum poll of staff and students revealing that 82% of those that took part wanted the UK to retain it's membership of the EU.
In his message, Michael Farthing went on to highlight the vital and valued contribution that staff and students from the EU make to our community.
On 28th June staff were invited to an open session to discuss the implications of the EU referendum result for the University of Sussex and to raise any concerns they had. The audio recording of this session is now available on the new Brexit information hub for staff and students . The information hub also contains answers to frequently asked questions, general information and contacts and will be continually updated as new developments become known.
Access the Brexit information hub here
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| Early Career Research Staff win Sussex Impact & Emerging Researcher Awards |
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 Sussex Impact Day concluded on 14th June with the presentation of University awards to Sussex researchers whose work has had exceptional effects on the outside world, and to outstanding emerging researchers.
The awards under three categories; Commerical and Economic, Public Engagement and Policy and Practice along with the Emerging Researcher Award, were presented at a celebratory reception in the Jubilee Atrium by the Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) along with two award judges.
We would like to congratulate those Research Fellows that received awards and commendations:
Public Engagement Award to Nicolette Fox, School of Business, Management and Economics, for 'Take 7 - sharing solar stories for greater engagement and impact'
Public Engagement Special Commendation to Dr Jillian Scudder (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences), for 'Based directly on public curiosity, Astroquizzical has answered questions about outer space for nearly half a million readers'
Emerging Researcher Special Commendation to Dr Kasia Pisanski, School of Psychology, for 'Vocal communication and bioacoustics (H2020 European Union Project title: 'Faking it: the production, perception, and function of social voice modulation')
Congratulations also to everyone that was nominated for an Impact Award.
Read the full news story and details of all Awards and Special Commendations.
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| Dr Lucy Robinson reflects on her year as Director of Research Staff Development |
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 For the last year I have been acting as Director of Research Staff Development for the University. Because Research Staff includes, but is not limited to, early career academics I felt an immediate affinity to the people I was tasked with working with. Although I've never worked on a research only contract, I did come up through the ranks at Sussex moving from short term contract to short term contract. The impact of the precarity that goes with those contracts was very close to my heart.
What I hadn't expected was the way in with Research Staff epitomise all of the different facets of the challenges of academic work. The work that the Research Staff Office does to support Research Staff really does support all of us in the Sussex community, even if we don't always know it. The best practice that the Research Staff Office develop and share acts as a model for us all. Beyond providing support for individuals the structures built around the Research Staff Working Group make sure that Research Staff are actually heard within the University.
I was particularly proud of the event that we organised in April where PIs shared their best practice of managing and supporting Research Staff. Supporting Research Staff means also supporting PIs. If we treat our research staff right, everyone benefits. Once more Research Staff interests shone a light on us all. The discussions at the PI event made it clear how much Equality and Diversity matters, not as a tickbox agenda, but as a central organising principle, something that academia as a whole has woefully struggled to do.
I'm not going to pretend that everything was smooth sailing. There is a residual attitude to Research Staff that sometimes made my jaw drop and some less desirable practice has been accepted in the past. Getting access to data, finding out who is actually doing what and where turned out to be the biggest challenge of all. Which is ironic, considering we've got a campus full of excellent Research Staff who do clever things with data. However, progress continues to be made and I look forward to seeing further developments for research staff in 2016/17.
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| Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowships - Net4Mobility Webinar Recording Available |
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 Almost 900 people registered for the Net4Mobility webinar about the European Commission's Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowships.
During the webinar, presented by the Net4Mobility Project and lasting around 1 hr 15 min, you will get an overview of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action: Individual Fellowships and learn how you can enhance your innovation potential through interdisciplinary and intersectoral research and training in Europe.
You can access the webinar recording now online on YouTube.
The slides from the presentations are available in the 'past events' section on Net4Mobility's website.
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| AHRC Early Career Researchers Short Film |
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 THE Arts and Humanities Research Council has created a short film aimed at Early Career Researchers (ECR) in the arts and humanities.
This short film shines a light on a number of schemes and opportunities available to ECRs via the AHRC.
The film also offers advice from current ECR award holders who share practical tips on subjects such as how to make a successful application, and how to address feedback from the peer review process.
Watch the short film here.
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| Opportunities |
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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.
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| NCRM and ICLS Autumn School 2016 for Post-doctoral Researchers |
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The National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) will be holding its eleventh residential training event for post-doctoral researchers in Manchester. This year the School will be run in conjunction with the International Centre for Lifecourse Studies in Society and Health (ICLS) and is led by Professors Meena Kumari and Tarani Chandola. 
This Autumn School is designed to cover the methodological implications of using biological data for social science research purposes
There are 25 fully funded (travel, accommodation) places for early career researchers and PhD students from across the social sciences.
31st August - 2nd September 2016
The University of Manchester
More information
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| Alain Bensoussan Fellowships |
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The European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics invites applications for the Alain Bensoussan fellowship programme. This enables early-career scientists to conduct research at leading European centres outside their own country. Research must align with the following topics: computer applications, computer systems organisation, computing methodologies, computing milieux, data, hardware, information systems, mathematics, mathematics of computing, software, theory of computation and other related disciplines.
Applicants must have obtained a PhD degree during the last eight years, or be in the last year of their thesis work.
Fellowships last for 12 months and each fellow receives a monthly allowance worth between €1,230 and €3,550, depending on the host country, and is reimbursed for travel expenses. Fellows must spend at least one week visiting another ERCIM member institute.
Deadline for applications: 30 September 2016
More information
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| Discovering Collections, Discovering Communities 2016 Conference |
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Collections, connections, collaborations: From potential to impact.
The National Archives and Research Libraries UK have announced that registration is now open for this year's Discovering Collections, Discovering Communities Conference - Collections, connections, collaborations: From potential to impact.
Keynote speakers include:
- Baroness Neville-Rolfe DBE CMG (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (jointly with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport) and Minister for Intellectual Property [subject to Parliamentary business].
- Nicola Wright (Director of LSE Library Services)
- Professor Carenza Lewis (Professor for the Public Understanding of Research, University of Lincoln).
£50 full conference/£30 day-rate @ The Lowry, Manchester.
For more information see here.
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