Hello Everyone,
Welcome to the new term and this October 2019 "bumper" issue of the Sussex Researcher!
We are really excited about the expanded offering of support the Research Staff Office (RSO) have in store for you this academic year, informed to a large extent by the 2019 Biennial researcher survey results. Of particular note:
- In terms of Training and Development - we have themed workshops and activities based on what you said you want, are developing a suite of resources and e-learning for you to access "on demand" on Canvas, and are looking forward to doing more lunchtime seminars in Schools on topics you say you want.
- In terms of Community Building - we have booked the Meeting House for lunchtime the first Tuesday of each month (kicking off this month with our "Autumn Welcome lunch") and are delighted that our team of RS Reps continues to grow
We look forward to seeing you all at the various events and activities coming up over the next months, and as always invite you to get in touch with ideas and feedback!
Best wishes,
The Research Staff Office Team (Hayley Cordingley and Alex Aghajanian)
In this Edition RSO programme of support: - You said, we're doing... exciting new programme - Autumn Workshops & Events - In-School activities News: Our Community: - Biennial Survey Results & Prize draw - Our new Reps - and want to become one? University: - Recruiting for DPVC-R - HREiR award - renewal coming up in Nov Sector: - New Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers Opportunities/ External events: - Sussex events at the Brighton Digital Festival - Vitae Research Integrity Workshop - Oct 25th Your Research & Careers: Research: - Director of Research Staff Development calls for change in perception of youth culture - New study to explore how to deliver a fair and just Net Zero transition Research Funding: - RS; Harvard; WT; CRUK
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You said, we're doing - Exciting new programme Following on from talking/engaging with you over the summer, we are delighted to tell you about the new initiatives and programme we have lined up for you this academic year. You all seemed "on board" with the concept of theming things, so we're adopting this and have started using colour coding to help you navigate the provision. Let us know what you think! As well as giving you the staples of workshops to support your Personal effectiveness, Understanding the academic context and Research skills development, we will be delivering bespoke mini-programmes on themes you have told us are important to you:
- Academic Writing (Nov-Dec) & Communication (Spring)
Starting in November (and running through to mid-December), linking in with the international Academic Writing Month (AcWriMo) movement, we will be hosting a suite of themed workshops, webinars/seminars, news items and touch in/coaching sessions to help you with your academic writing. In the Spring we will be putting together a programme around communicating your research.
- Preparing for leadership & management (All year)
Launching with a new module on Canvas this Autumn, we we will be putting together a series of workshops and events over the year - including a session on Supervisor Skills, action learning sets/peer support sessions.
- Mental health & wellbeing (All year)
We are planning this out at the moment - do get in touch with ideas! In the meantime, you might be interested in listening to this "Life Scientific" podcast which has Prof Richard Wiseman talking about lucky people and resilience (amongst other interesting things!)
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Workshops & Events - Autumn term
- Preparing for leadership & management
- Improving your academic writing
- Personal effectiveness
- Research skills development
- Understanding the academic context
- Mental health & wellbeing
- Community events
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Events organised by other teams
Using reference management tools - Mendeley - Tuesday 15th October, 10:30 - 12:30
Introduction to Open Access publishing - Monday 21st October, 11:30 - 13:00
Using reference management tools - Endnote - Tuesday 29th October, 10:30 - 12:30
Getting ethical approval - Wednesday 30th October, 14:00 - 17:00
Using reference management tools - Zotero - Tuesday 5th November, 14:00 - 16:00
Understanding publication metrics - Wednesday 6th November, 11:00 - 12:45
Overcoming Perfectionism and Imposter Phenomenon - Wednesday 13th November, 13:30 - 16:30
Managing your research data - Monday 2nd December, 10:15 - 13:00
Figures, images and visualising information - Tuesday 10th December, 10:00 - 13:00
Posters: designing, presenting and networking - Tuesday 10th December, 14:00 - 17:00
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In-School events: Lunchtime seminars - EngInf In response to a request from the Research Staff in the Engineering & Informatics, we have organised two brown bag sessions over lunch, open to all, aimed at introducing what is consultancy and its benefits as well as understanding intellectual property and patenting: Introduction to Consultancy - Friday 11th October, 13:00 - 14:00 Speaker: Alessandro Silvestri, Consultancy manager Understanding Intellectual Property and Patenting - Thursday 24th October, 13:00 - 14:00 Speaker: Keith O'Brien, Intellectual Property Business Partner Sign up using the links above, and if there are any events that you would like organised in your school do contact us to let us know and we will do our best to make it happen!
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Community news - Biennial Survey Results Many thanks to the 107 people that took part in the survey over this summer - we really appreciate your input. As promised, when we circulated the news about the prize draw on Sep 23rd, we have performed a preliminary analysis of the results & provide a brief summary of our findings here: There are many good things noted in the survey results. For example Research Staff (RS) generally:
- feel they are perceived and treated as staff by both the institution and their managers
- feel they are fairly treated compared to other staff groups in most areas
- are encouraged to engage with personal/career development and are well supported by their managers
- agree that the University is committed to Equality and Diversity, and are satisfied with their work-life balance
However, there are also items of concern that deserve action and more attention. For example, the survey highlighted that:
- a number of RS do not feel valued for some of the work they do, and face problems with their workspaces (3 RS do not have any workspace allocated to them at all)
- there are issues around opportunities for RS to be involved in decision making, as well as the appraisals and promotions processes that need addressing
- there is a need to provide, disseminate and promote support to RS regarding their teaching and supervisory activities
- work needs to be done around: Mental Health & Wellbeing, and Equality & Diversity
In terms of Training & Development support and opportunities:
- only 8% of RS engaged in 10 or more days training/CPD over the last 12 months, with 31% undertaking less than 1 day of this type of activity
- there is strong appetite for CPD in the areas Career Management, Research Impact, Leadership & Management, Supervision
- seminars, ½ day or mini-workshops, and 1:1 coaching/mentoring were the preferred modes of CPD delivery, with a fair proportion of people willing to engage with online support
A full analysis and report will be issued over the coming months. In the meantime, the RSO are already using these findings to inform the provision we provide for RS, and will be feeding the findings into discussions with parties across the University to influence future plans. Thank you again to all who participated in the survey!
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Community news - Welcome our new Reps! We would like to extend a warm welcome to our latest Research Staff Reps additions, Dr Leonardo Garcia-Garcia & Dr Grammatiki Lioliou, who will be representing research staff within the school of Engineering & Informatics. Our Research Staff Representatives are drawn from schools across the University and meet termly with the Research Staff Office. Reps advise on and influence university policy and projects relating to Sussex Researchers and share good practice of research staff support between schools. 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. "The Research Staff Reps group is a good environment to exchange opinions and influence decisions that impact on our careers. By becoming a Research Staff Rep I feel that I have positively contributed to our diverse researcher community and gained a solid understanding of our wider roles within the University."
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University news - Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) being recruited As outlined in this University news item (from Sep 6th), the University is undergoing an internal recruitment exercise for a Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research). The new DPVC-R will work closely with the DPVC-REF (Gordon Harold), and assist the Vice-Chancellor and the Director of Research and Enterprise Services in developing and implementing the University’s research strengths and research strategy. In the Research Staff Office (RSO), we are excited about this development, and are very much looking forward to this new appointment. If, like us, you are interested in seeing the Job Description for this role - just click the button below.
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University news - HREiR renewal coming up (Nov): invitation to input into action plan
Higher Education Institutions in the UK that have gone through a process to demonstrate that they are committed to implementing the “European Charter for Researchers” and “Code of Conduct for the recruitment of Researchers” principles can obtain the EC recognized "HR Excellence in Research Award". Sussex first obtained this award in 2013, and has successfully retained it through the 2 and 4 year review process - by creating, and delivering to, a "Concordat Implementation Action Plan". The 6 year review is due in November this year, and the RSO is working hard with the Research Staff Working Group to get the University papers ready. We are using feedback from the Research Staff community (obtained from: the Bienneial Researcher Pulse survey; meetings with RS Reps; workshop feedback forms; e-mail and verbal feedback from individuals) to report on progress and update the action plan for the next 2 years. We welcome any and all input from the Research Staff Community - do get in touch if you would like to look at the draft documentation and/or feel you have a burning issue you would like included for the next 2 years.
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Sector news - New Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers The Concordat Strategy Group recently undertook a ten-year review of the Concordat, and on the 12th of September the new 2019 Concordat was published. The new Concordat has three defining Principles covering Environment and culture, Employment, Professional and career development. For each of these Principles, the Concordat outlines the key responsibilities of the four main stakeholder groups; researchers, manager of researchers, institutions, and funders. These responsibilities are cast as obligations, given the pressing need to improve standards for researchers across the UK. A positive update from the new Concordat, under the professional and career development principle, institutions must provide opportunities, structured support, encouragement and time for researchers to engage in a minimum of 10-days of professional development pro-rata per year.
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Opportunities / External events
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Sussex at the Brighton Digital Festival - 12-25 October The Brighton Digital Festival, which will run for over two weeks in October, celebrates Brighton’s creative and digital industries and explores how digital technology shapes the way we live and think. Six upcoming Brighton Digital Festival events will showcase University of Sussex projects and researchers. Sign up to explore a sound installation and virtual worlds, find out more about podcasting, quantum mechanics and our cutting-edge methods to use electronic health data.
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Research integrity workshop - 25th October Would you like to contribute to a research study of research integrity? Vitae in partnership with UKRIO have been commissioned by Research England, on behalf of UKRI to undertake a research integrity landscape study. This landscape study will consider the effects of incentives in the research system on researcher behaviour in the context of research integrity, how these incentives are perceived by different stakeholders and the impact of these incentives on researcher behaviour and organisational practices more broadly. The study involves a number of research workshops in October across the UK and a large-scale researcher survey in the autumn. VITAE are looking for researchers at all career stages and in all disciplines, who are based in the UK, to participate. Find out more.
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Director of Research Staff Development calls for change in perception of youth culture in new podcast The existing narrative around youth culture needs to change drastically, according to a leading historian at the University of Sussex. In a new episode of the Impacted podcast, Director of Research Staff Development & Professor of Collaborative History Lucy Robinson notes that most people think students aren’t political anymore - but they are. Professor Robinson said: “I’m just really sick of old punks telling young people that they’re not doing it properly. They’re just looking in the wrong place.” During her career, Professor Robinson has also embraced a variety of ways in which to share her research, most notably through documentary films. For the anniversary of the Sexual Offences Act 1967, she co-produced Queerama, which used footage from the archives of the British Film Institute to not only tell the story of gay history, but to disrupt the narrative and create in a queer way. *News story by Stephanie Allen
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New £1.25million study will explore how to deliver a fair and just Net Zero transition A new three-year research project led by the University of Sussex will explore ways to ensure that the UK’s shift to a low-carbon society does not leave anyone behind. FAIR (Fuel and Transport Poverty in the UK’s Energy Transition) will explore the causes and links between fuel poverty and transport poverty in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland before drawing up policy recommendations designed to limit their impacts in the transition to a more sustainable future. The project will be a part of the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS). The study’s principal investigator is Dr Mari Martiskainen, a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sussex’s Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) and Sussex Energy Group (SEG). Mari said: “This study is pressingly needed to ensure that as the UK undergoes a significant and very necessary decarbonisation effort of Net Zero by 2050, innovations such as vehicle electrification and ‘smart’ technologies do not create new injustices." *New story by Neil Vowles
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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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Short industry fellowship
This enables scientists employed in industry or academia and their postdoctoral researcher to have shorter, more dynamic engagements between academia and industry, working on a mutually beneficial and collaborative project. The fellowship covers the fellow’s basic salary during the secondment, and research expenses up to the value of £1,000.
Deadline for Applications: 6th November 2019
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Fellowships in the digital humanities
These support the work of scholars in the humanities or social sciences, librarians, archivists, and data science professionals with a digital aspect. The stipend includes USD 4,000 per month, USD 1,500 for relocation fees and USD 1,000 per month for rent if an apartment cannot be provided.
Deadline for Applications: 15th November 2019
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Sir Henry Dale fellowships
These support postdoctoral researchers who aim to become independent scientists leading their own groups addressing an important research question within their scientific remit. Fellowships cover a basic salary, a supplement of £7,500 for personal support, personal removal expenses, research and other relevant expenses over five years.
Deadline for Applications: 14th November 2019
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Clinician scientist fellowship
This enables clinician scientists to develop a clinical academic research career through a period of postdoctoral training. The fellowship is tenable for five years.
Deadline for Applications: 4th December 2019
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Investigator Awards in Humanities and Social Science
These enable humanities and social science researchers with a compelling research vision to tackle the most significant questions in human health. Awards range from £250,000 to £1 million each over three to five years.
Deadline for Applications: 20th January 2020
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Multidisciplinary project award
These support early-career non-clinical researchers beginning an independent project on Alzheimer’s and related dementias. Fellowships include a salary and up to £20,000 per year for up to three years as a contribution towards research, animal and travel costs.
Deadline for Applications: 30th January 2020
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Clinical research career development fellowship
These enable humanities and social science researchers with a compelling research vision to tackle the most significant questions in human health. Awards range from £250,000 to £1 million each over three to five years.
Deadline for Applications: 4th February 2020
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