Hello Everyone,

Welcome to the 2017/18 academic year and the latest issue of the Sussex Researcher, we hope you like the new look to the newsletter.

We're looking forward to another busy academic year and we're excited to launch the autumn events programme (see below). We hope to see many of you at the events this term and we are excited to meet those of you that have joined Sussex recently at our welcome lunch on Monday 2nd October. We are also leading up to the annual International Researcher Lunch on 10th October, we hope that those of you from overseas will join us to meet other international colleagues and enjoy a free lunch on us!

Best wishes,

The Research Staff Office Team (Natalie James, Catherine Pope and Alex Aghajanian)

Events

• Welcome Lunch for New Researchers - Monday 2nd October, 12:00-13:30pm
• Aiming for Promotion at Sussex - Tuesday 3rd October, 12:30-15:30pm
• Where are my Strengths? Identifying Values and Talents to Make Satisfying Career Choices - Thursday 5th October, 14:00-17:00pm
• Writing for The Conversation - Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics - Friday 6th October, 10:00-11:00pm
• Writing for The Conversation - Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences - Friday 6th October, 12:00-13:00pm
• International Researcher Lunch - Tuesday 10th October, 12:30-14:30pm
• Embedding Public Engagement into Research - Friday 20th October, 10:00am-12:00pm

Featured Event

Where are my Strengths? Identifying Values and Talents to Make Satisfying Career Choices
Thursday 5th October, 14:00 - 17:00

As a researcher, you acquire a number of skill sets that help you become an expert in your chosen field. However, there are a range of additional talents (the things you are naturally good at) and personal values (the things you love doing) that can add tremendous value to your acquired skills. This workshop aims to facilitate doctoral and postdoctoral researchers in identifying their talents and values and help them integrate these into their next career move.

Following this workshop participants will have:

• Created a comprehensive profile of your values and current life circumstances.
• Better awareness of your market value and a more optimistic outlook towards future employment.
• Knowledge of the limitations of certain career choices.
• Awareness of how to achieve a higher ‘return on investment’ when applying for jobs.
• A better understanding of the varied possibilities to sell your skills, talents and values and increase your employability.

Spotlight on Dr Kasia Pisanski 
Research Fellow in Psychology

My research project is about the idea of modulating your voice in different social contexts to affect how other people might perceive you

If people know the stereotypes that are associated with certain voice qualities then they can use this to their advantage, like voice makeup.  For example, Margaret Thatcher had voice training so that she could lower her voice to sound more dominant. Indeed people often vote for politicians with a lower voice pitch as we associate this with confidence, trust, intelligence and dominance. We’ve recently shown that people can also modulate their voices to sound physically bigger or smaller. We can do this consciously, but we might also modulate our voices without being aware of it.

Research Staff Development Series

We are very pleased to launch the autumn programme of development events for Sussex researchers. The programme includes workshops covering the themes of:

• Embedding Public Engagement into Research
• Boosting your Productivity
• Aiming for Promotion
• Thinking Creatively about your Career
• Professional Networking for Researchers
• Interviewing Techniques for Qualitative Researchers
• And more!

All events are free to attend and are now open for booking. Places are limited so we recommend booking early to avoid disappointment.

See the research staff training and development page for the full programme, workshop outlines and booking information.

International Researcher Lunch - Tuesday 10th October, 12:30-14:30pm

On Tuesday 10th October the Researcher Development Programme and Research Staff Office are hosting a networking lunch for international doctoral and postdoctoral researchers.

Book your place to join us for a free buffet lunch and to meet other international researchers from across the University. We look forward to seeing you there!

Funding Schemes for Researchers

Researcher Led Initiative Fund
The fund is available to support our doctoral researchers and early careers research staff to organise activities that will enhance their professional and research skills. Initiatives must be for the benefit of groups of researchers across Schools (although applications for initiatives benefiting a broad group of researchers at School level will also now be considered). Up to £10,000 will be available for each funding round with a maximum of £1,000 available for any one project.

Deadline for Applications: 31st October 2017

Public Engagement Fund
The Researcher Development Programme  is introducing a pilot scheme to encourage doctoral and early career researchers interested in delivering public engagement activity. The aim of the scheme is to build on the success of recent doctoral and early career researchers in securing public engagement funding and to encourage more researchers to work in this way. The total fund available is ~£5000 and eligible researchers are invited to apply for a small grant of up to £750.

Deadline for Applications: 17th November 2017

Five Steps Forward
 

Vitae launched ‘Five Steps Forward ’ report at the Vitae Researcher Development International conference 2017. The report documents progress in implementing The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and is based on successive Careers in Research Online Surveys (CROS) and Principal Investigators and Research Leaders Surveys (PIRLS).

The report shows the national progress and remaining challenges with respect to the employment and professional and career development of researchers.

As you may remember, the University of Sussex participated in the CROS 2017 survey, to which many of you responded. We are in the final stages of compiling the report and recommendations from the survey and will bring you an update on this next month.

Naturejobs Career Expo| London - 4th October 2017, Business Design Centre

The Naturejobs Career Expo is the largest careers event and conference that caters exclusively to the life sciences, physical sciences and medicine. The event offers talented students, early career stages researchers and scientific academics the opportunity for direct contact with a diverse selection of national and international employers from academic institutions and scientific industries, with live job vacancies.

You can expect to see pharmaceutical organizations, digital technology companies, science publishing and more, promoting their global career opportunities in science.

NERC Early Career Researcher Evaluation - The health of the research base
 

NERC is undertaking an evaluation of its support for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to be completed in 2017. This evaluation is to gain a better understanding of the challenges and issues facing ECRs during this crucial period for their career development.

The evidence to inform this evaluation is being collected through an online survey and provides the opportunity for employers of ECRs and other key stakeholders to provide feedback. This survey is being complemented by case study interviews to provide further information concerning the insights arising from the survey and explore in greater depth the challenges facing ECRs.

ERC-2018-StG Starting Grants 

The European Commission Horizon 2020: Excellent Science ERC invites proposals for its ERC-2018-StG starting grants. These support principal investigators in starting their own independent research team or programme.

Deadline for Applications: 17th October 2017

British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships

These enable early-career researchers to strengthen their experience of research and teaching in a university environment, which develops their curriculum vitae and improves their prospects of obtaining permanent lecturing posts by the end of the fellowship. Fellowships are tenable for three years, and a total of 45 fellowships are expected to be available.

Deadline for Applications: 18th October 2017

Fulbright-CRUK Scholar Award 

These enable UK-based academic researchers to pursue cancer research at any accredited US higher education institution. The awards aim to build capacity and accelerate progress in priority areas in cancer research by facilitating collaboration and building links between UK and US research groups. 

Deadline for Applications: 6th November 2017

Sir Henry Dale Fellowships

These support postdoctoral researchers who aim to become independent scientists leading their own groups in the field of public health. Fellowships are tenable for five years and provide a basic salary, a fellowship supplement of £7,500, personal removal expenses, research expenses and an annual contribution of £11,000 towards indirect and estate costs.  

Deadline for Applications: 20th November 2017

Marie Curie Post-doctoral Research Fellowships (RESPIRE 3)

These enable early-career scientists to carry out basic, translational or clinical research projects in the field of respiratory science. Grants consist of a living allowance of up to €56,400 per year, a mobility allowance of up to €14,600 per year, if applicable a family allowance of up to €6,000 per year and up to €3,900 for the host institute per year for exactly 24 months. 

Deadline for Applications: 1st December 2017

Society in Science – Branco Weiss fellowships

These enable young postdoctoral researchers to work on a research topic of choice in science, engineering and social sciences. Fellowships include a grant worth CHF 100,000 per year for up to five years and the opportunity to work at any academic institution of the fellow’s choice.

Deadline for Applications: 15th January 2018

Research Travel Award

This enables postdoctoral researchers based in the UK to work with other research groups in the UK or overseas. The award enables researchers to develop their own independent researcher career, introduce new techniques or skills to their current research group, and promote future collaborations between institutions. 

Deadline for Applications: 18th January 2018