A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
A
Ageing: Lifelong Health and Wellbeing: one of the Research Councils’ priority themes. This interdisciplinary initiative will provide substantial longer term funding for new interdisciplinary centres targeting themes of healthy ageing and factors over the whole life course that may be major determinants of health and well being in later life. Centres will be focused on specific research themes drawing on the interdisciplinary strengths of the Research Councils, such as Quality of Life, Physical Frailty and Ageing Brain.
AHRC: the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funds research on a very wide range of subjects, from traditional humanities such as history, English, linguistics, French and other modern languages, philosophy and classics, area and interdisciplinary studies to creative and performing arts such as drama, dance, music, art and design.
Awards and incentives: Research Councils value all the many diverse ways in which their research investments can lead to benefits for the UK society and economy. Councils provide support for activities to recognise and reward individuals and/or organisations that demonstrate initiative, enterprise and achievement in creating impacts from excellent research.
B
BBSRC: the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) supports world-class research in some of the most exciting areas of contemporary science. These include: stem cell biology, brain function and behaviour, nanotechnology, e-science.
Brokerage: a managed process where a third party helps to bring together researchers and potential users of research outputs in a structured way with the overall objective of stimulating collaborative research and/or knowledge exchange. Research Councils provide support for brokerage services, and on occasion will act as brokers themselves. Brokers help to identify suitable opportunities, make contacts or access sources of information - for example about funding opportunities, resources or research findings.
C
Capacity Building Clusters: the core aim of these clusters will be to create a new generation of high quality researchers committed to the co-production of knowledge and its application to the business sector. It is anticipated that there will be 4 or 5 clusters within the UK.
CASE: a PhD studentship during which the student enhances their training by spending between three and 18 months with the co-operating body in a workplace outside the academic environment.
Centres for Doctoral Training: EPSRC will establish at least 40 centres for doctoral training with an investment of over £250 million, building on the success of EPSRC's thriving Engineering Doctorate centres and Doctoral Training Centres in Complexity Science, Systems Biology and at the Life Sciences Interface. Students within a centre will:
- be supported for four years
- receive a formal programme of taught coursework which will form up to 25 per cent of the overall training package and develops and enhances technical interdisciplinary knowledge as well as broadening skills
- be fully integrated with the research project and undertake a significant, challenging and original research project.
Collaborative Doctoral Studentships: PhD studentship projects based in UK universities. Projects are often carried out in collaboration with non-academic organisations, who typically contribute resource and/or intellectual support and mentoring for the project and/or student. Expectations of collaborator involvement vary for specific schemes, Councils and/or initiatives.
Collaborative R&D Programme: a programme designed to assist the industrial and research communities to work together on R&D projects in strategically important areas of science, engineering and technology - from which successful new products, processes and services can emerge. The Programme is administered by the Technology Strategy Board, in collaboration with the Research Councils. Regular competitions for funding of collaborative R&D projects have been held since 2004, and by June 2007 a portfolio of over 600 projects was being supported with a combined business and Government investment in excess of £1 billion.
Collaborative research: academic research undertaken in partnership between universities and/or research organisations working with business, government and/or the third sector.
Collaborative Research Grants: grants led by academic researchers, but involve other partners. Partners generally contribute either cash or ‘in-kind’ services to the full economic cost of the research. Research Councils support collaborative research through a variety of mechanisms, including responsive mode and schemes specifically aimed at encouraging academic collaboration with industry.
Collaborative training: enables researchers to develop the relevant skills to, for example, undertake excellent research, to work effectively in business (and/or the government or other important sectors), and to exploit the outcomes of their research. Training opportunities include vocational courses, collaborative studentship projects between academia and industry, and training in entrepreneurship.
Collaborative Ventures Scheme: specific to ESRC, the scheme offers the opportunity to develop strategic partnerships with interested parties (across all sectors including business, public and third sectors) willing to co-fund high quality research and in some instances develop research capacity, outside current funding modes.
Commercialisation & development: includes a number of activities to encourage researchers for to take their ideas further down the route to exploitation, and to reward them for excellence in innovation. For example, the Research Councils’ Follow-on Fund (plus a range of other Council-specific schemes) support ‘proof-of-concept’ type work, the RCUK Business Plan Competition provides training and mentoring in the development of business skills, and Enterprise Training develops researchers’ entrepreneurial skills. The Research Councils also support a number of awards such as the Excellence with Impact Awards and the Yorkshire and Humberside Innovation Awards.
D
Data products and services: describes support for the wider application of datasets developed with Research Council funding, and the development of products and services built upon those datasets. This may include the development of both commercial and non-commercial products and services.
Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme: MRC specific, the scheme supports the development of novel therapies, interventions and diagnostics, and the research tools used in the development of therapies, interventions or diagnostics.
Digital Economy: one of the Research Councils’ priority themes. The programme will link the world-class ICT research base with the other disciplines needed to deliver its benefits and match those with a strong user pull to deliver a programme of multidisciplinary, user focused research aimed at building a base of people and expertise to put the UK at the forefront of the Digital Economy. Through the Digital Economy programme we will make a step-change in the type of industrial engagement to pursue key research challenges so that the transformational possibilities of ICT are employed to support the innovation cycle. The initiative will concentrate on areas where the management and presentation of information can have maximum transformational impact: healthcare, transport, and the creative industries.
Doctoral Training Grants: provide support to universities for a cohort of studentships, a proportion of which involve non-academic organisations, many of which are managed as CASE projects.
Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Awards: a UK initiative to bring outstanding students from India, China, Hong Kong, South Africa, Brazil and the developing world to come and study for PhDs in top rated UK research facilities.
E
Economic and Social Data Service(ESDS): provides access and support for an extensive range of key economic and social data, both quantitative and qualitative, spanning many disciplines and themes. It includes a number of specialist data services that promote and encourage data usage in teaching and research.
Energy Technologies Institute (ETI): a potential £1 billion partnership over 10 years between the public and private sector which aims to accelerate the movement of industrially relevant innovative energy technologies through the full innovation chain to deployment. There are currently six full company members of the Institute: BP, Caterpillar, EDF Energy, E.ON UK, Rolls-Royce and Shell. Public sector funding will be provided by EPSRC and the Technology Strategy Board. ETI is likely to focus on development and demonstration work by funding a small number of highly targeted projects. Funding may be provided to companies, universities and other organisations in the UK or world-wide.
Enterprise Fellowships: run jointly by a Research Council and The Royal Society of Edinburgh. The Fellowships provide a unique opportunity for researchers to spend a year gaining business training whilst developing the commercialisation of their existing research. The training provided aims to support fellows through an active process of business planning and implementation.
Enterprise Training: training and/or course development with the aim of increasing awareness of entrepreneurship, and encouraging innovative approaches to the exploitation of research. The aim is to develop enterprise skills such as developing creativity, networking skills, marketing, finance, intellectual property management and starting a business.
EPSRC: the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is the main UK government agency for funding research and training in engineering and the physical sciences, investing around £740 million a year in a broad range of subjects – from mathematics to materials science, and from information technology to structural engineering.
ESRC: the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funds research and training in social and economic issues. Its budget of £181 million (2007/2008) funds over 2,500 researchers in academic institutions and policy research institutes throughout the UK. It also supports more than 2,000 postgraduate students.
Evidence for Public Policy: activities that encourage the use of the research and knowledge emerging from Research Council-funded research to inform and improve public policy and services. One of the primary aims is to enable all parties to develop their understanding of research and policy-making processes and the interactions between them, helping to break down barriers in the science-to-policy process.
Excellence with Impact Awards: BBSRC-specific, these awards acknowledge university departments that are most active in embedding a culture that recognises the importance of economic and social impact alongside excellent research. The competition will run between 1 December 2008 and 1 December 2010, with departments being monitored over this period.
F
Follow-on Fund: the Research Councils’ Follow-on Fund helps researchers to bridge the gap between traditional research grants and commercial funding by supporting the very early stage of turning research outputs into a commercial proposition. For example, it funds work to convert an idea into a robust business plan where a route to commercialisation is clear, e.g., a spin-out (seed or venture finance) or licensing opportunity.
Follow-on Fund: Pathfinder: scheme which enables potential future applicants to the Follow-on Fund to secure small amounts of money quickly to carry out commercial activities. These activities will help to develop a clearer understanding of work required in a full Follow-on Fund application and will be beneficial to the applicant in developing a future work plan.
G
Global Uncertainties: security for all in a changing world: one of the Research Councils’ priority themes. All seven Research Councils will work together to address four inter-related global threats to security - crime, terrorism, environmental stress, and global poverty, each linked in a systematic way to address three themes - causes, detection, and possible interventions to prevent harm. Research will be pursued that seeks to understand how crime, terror, environmental stress, and poverty create vicious circles through positive feedback. A particular challenge is to move debates away from a narrow definition of national interests to one in which national interests are best served by mutual attention to causes, detection, and prevention in the international domain.
Governmental Collaborative Studentships: ESRC specific, these studentships encourage greater interaction between academic research and Government, whereby students based in UK academic institutions carry out high quality policy-relevant research in conjunction with a Government Department or Devolved Administration.
I
IDEAS factory: specific to EPSRC, the IDEAS Factory is about finding a new way to generate research projects coupled with real-time peer review. The aim is to stimulate highly innovative and more risk-accepting research activities that would be difficult to conceive under normal circumstances. IDEAS factories focus on topics that need a new dimension in thinking, - not just at the overlap between disciplines. For each topic, an intense interactive workshop (called a sandpit) is held, lasting up to five days. Each sandpit has a pre-determined amount of research funding earmarked (around £1.45 million.
Industrial CASE Awards: 3.5-4 year postgraduate awards allocated to companies either directly or via agents (e.g., Knowledge Transfer Networks and Regional Development Agencies). The aim of the awards is to enable companies to take the lead in defining, and arranging, projects, with an academic partner of their choice.
Industry Collaboration Awards: specific to MRC, these awards follow on from each MRC Showcase and encourage collaborative research between MRC-funded researchers and industry.
Industry Fellowships Scheme: appointments funded by the Royal Society, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Natural Environment Research Council, Rolls-Royce plc and Astra Zeneca. The Industry Fellowships Scheme aims to enhance knowledge transfer in science and technology between those in industry and those in academia. It provides opportunities for an academic scientist to work on a collaborative project with industry, or someone employed in industry to work on a collaborative project with a university department or a not-for-profit research organisation. It is anticipated that fellows will establish personal and corporate links between the two sectors in the UK as a foundation for their long-term future development.
Innovation and Knowledge Centres: centres of excellence with five years' funding to accelerate and promote business exploitation of an emerging research and technology field. Their key feature is a shared space and entrepreneurial environment, in which researchers, potential customers and skilled professionals from both academia and business can work side-by-side to scope applications, business models and routes to market.
Innovation Vouchers (INDEX): INDEX (Innovation Delivers Expansion) is a unique demand-led innovation voucher scheme that invites Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to apply for a voucher to purchase academic support from one of the 13 universities in the West Midlands. The project is funded by Advantage West Midlands (AWM), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
Innovator of the Year: BBSRC specific, this is an annual competition to celebrate the successes of BBSRC-supported scientists in delivering economic and/or social impact from their excellent research. Individual scientists or teams can submit an application detailing their activities that have resulted in economic and/or social impact.
J
Joint Strategic Programmes: initiatives or programmes of research focussed in areas that have been identified by the Research Councils and other stakeholders as strategically important, such as Diet & Health, Transportation, and Sustainable Communities. Programmes are jointly supported by the Research Councils and other funding partners, and consist of a portfolio of related projects and activities. These will often be interdependent, managed and/or promoted collectively.
K
Knowledge exchange translators: enable the sharing and flow of knowledge, people, skills and expertise between the UK's research base and the user community (public and private sector organisations). They focus on transferring technologies developed from Research Council-funded research to industry and other academic disciplines.
Knowledge transfer: describes how knowledge and ideas move between the knowledge source to the potential users of that knowledge. The Research Councils encourage knowledge transfer by promoting schemes and activities to transfer good ideas, research results and skills between, for example, universities and other research organisations, business, the third sector, public sector and/or the wider community.
Knowledge Transfer Networks (KTNs): UK-wide networks designed to stimulate innovation in key technology sectors by promoting collaboration, best practice and knowledge sharing between industry and academia. KTNs are funded by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB).
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) : as part of a UK-wide programme, these partnerships serve as a mechanism to transfer knowledge and to develop graduate and postgraduate personnel for industrial careers. Each partnership, lasting between 1 and 3 years, employs one or more high-calibre KTP Associates (early-career researchers) to work on an innovative project within industry. Associates are jointly supervised by the participating industrial and academic partners. Government support is delivered through a grant to the academic partner. In addition, a contribution from the participating company fully covers an HEI’s cost of participation.
L
LINK programme: involves collaborative research with at least one company and one science-base partner (projects with SMEs are particularly favoured). Overall Government support can be up to 50 per cent of total eligible costs. BBSRC contributes around £3 million a year to the national LINK scheme, which promotes academic/industrial collaboration in pre-competitive research. Projects are typically funded 50:50 by industry and government support.
Living with Environmental Change (LWEC): one of the Research Councils’ priority themes. It is a major interdisciplinary research and policy partnership to tackle environmental change and the societal challenges it poses, and so to provide a firmer basis for people to deal with the unprecedented changes that the world will face over the next century. All seven Research Councils, working with partners in at least nine Government departments, will design the LWEC programme across the relevant research areas and policy and industrial sectors.
Local Authority Research Council Initiative (LARCI) : strategically positioned at the interface between local authorities and the Research Councils, LARCI provides a response to the growing demand on local authorities for evidence-based policy making. LARCI brings local authorities and Research Councils into closer partnership, leading to better informed research, policy and practice, and facilitating knowledge exchange at a strategic and operational level. Input from local authorities helps the Research Councils ensure the projects they fund have practical applications; using Research Council-funded research helps local authorities ensure their policies are based on reliable information.
M
Medical Futures Innovation Awards: MRC is one of the sponsors of the Medical Futures Innovation Awards which aim to nurture, support and reward healthcare professionals and help turn their ideas into products and services that can benefit patients.
Ministry of Defence (MoD) Joint Grants Scheme: the Ministry of Defence (MoD) allocates over £5 million every year for the Research Councils and MoD Joint Grants Scheme (JGS). This supports high-quality basic and strategic research relevant to defence needs. The scheme is open to anyone eligible for research council funding and is particularly suited to the development of new research links. Prospective applicants wishing to be part-supported through JGS need to discuss their proposed research with MoD personnel before applying. If MoD agrees to co-fund the project, it will inform the applicant by letter.
Modular Training for Industry: BBSRC specific, this is for the development of industrially-relevant short training courses at Masters level. Training should be developed in close collaboration with industry; BBSRC provide support for the development of individual training modules. We recommend the training provider holds regular meetings with at least 50 per cent industrial representation. Evidence of industrial demand is a key requirement of funding.
MRC: the Medical Research Council (MRC) is a publicly-funded organisation dedicated to improving human health. It supports research across the entire spectrum of medical sciences, in universities and hospitals, in our own units and institutes in the UK, and in our units in Africa.
MRC Showcase: the MRC hosts a series of Showcases to highlight new advances and discoveries that aim to improve health. Each one gives a limited number of scientists, from pharmaceutical and biotech companies, unprecedented access to the latest research being undertaken by MRC units and institutes. At each Showcase, key experts will be giving talks, and poster sessions will reveal the latest thinking on a variety of topics.
N
NanoScience through engineering to application: one of the Research Councils’ priority themes. A series of Grand Challenges will be developed in conjunction with researchers and users in areas of societal importance such as energy, environmental remediation, the digital economy, and healthcare. An interdisciplinary, stage-gate approach spanning basic research through to application will be used. This will include studies on risk governance, economics, and social implications. The challenges will be addressed via interdisciplinary consortia supported jointly by EPSRC, BBSRC, ESRC, MRC, NERC, and STFC, and the Technology Strategy Board.
NERC: the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) delivers independent research, survey, training and knowledge transfer in the environmental sciences, to advance knowledge of planet Earth as a complex, interacting system. Its work covers the full range of atmospheric, earth, biological, terrestrial and aquatic sciences, from the deep oceans to the upper atmosphere, and from the poles to the equator.
Networks: these create new, interdisciplinary research communities and topics by developing new linkages and promoting interactions within and beyond the research base. Networks may lead to new, collaborative, multidisciplinary research proposals; some may develop into virtual centres of excellence, providing critical mass of expertise; some will create opportunities for interaction between diverse communities.
Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive (ARK): an existing resource, but is not an archive in the traditional sense in that it provides a variety of services to maximise the use and impact of social and political research. The ARK houses data on the internet on: 'the Troubles'; summaries of social policy research based on Northern Ireland; results of social surveys; and facts and figures on Northern Ireland elections.
O
Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research (OSCHR): takes an overview of the budgetary division and research strategy of both the MRC and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). OSCHR’s mission is to facilitate more efficient translation of health research into health and economic benefits in the UK through better coordination of health research and more coherent funding arrangements to support translation.
P
Partnership Research Grants: NERC specific, these grants support collaborative research activities between academic researchers and public or private sector partners.
People Exchange: encompasses Research Council funding for the secondment/placements between the research base and other organisations. During the secondment/placement, the secondee’s expertise is applied to a project which meets a real organisational need. The secondee gains experience from working within a different organisational context, as well as the satisfaction of taking research into practice.
Policy Fellowships: allow researchers and other staff involved in particular research areas to work closely with policy makers within government and other public and third sector organizations in the UK. During the fellowship, students explore a policy topic which is usually related to their research interests. During the fellowships researchers might produce briefing papers, contribute to policy reports, or assist a select committee in a current inquiry.
R
RCUK: Research Councils UK (RCUK) is the strategic partnership of the seven Research Councils.
RCUK Business Plan Competition: provides researchers who have ideas with commercial potential the skills, knowledge and support needed to develop a first-rate business plan. This is provided through expert trainers, coaches and mentors. Postgraduates, postdocs and academic staff who have a business idea arising from research and want to develop this further are encouraged to participate.
RCUK Priority Themes: multi-disciplinary programmes of research that aim to solve many of the big research challenges over the next 10 to 20 years. Current themes are in areas such as environmental change, lifelong health and well-being, energy and dealing with global uncertainties in a changing world. RCUK coordinates the priority themes to accelerate the delivery of benefits and economic impact.
Research in Industry: specific to STFC, the scheme aims to engage industry in STFC's programme technology development. Funding - in specified programme areas - is provided through agreements between STFC and supplier companies, following standard terms and conditions
Research programmes: (sometimes referred to as Directive Mode, Managed Calls, Signposting or Directed Programmes) are investigator-led research projects which respond directly to specific calls, initiatives or solicited competitions, often to tackle specific, high priority, strategic aims. Collaboration is encouraged along with co-funding from the public and/or private sector.
Responsive mode: describes investigator-led research projects which do not respond directly to specific calls, initiatives or solicited competitions, i.e., responsive mode is an ‘open call’ where proposals are accepted at any time. Collaboration with users is encouraged where appropriate to the proposed project, but is not normally mandatory. Proposals are assessed on research merit in competition with other proposals.
S
SMEs: small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
STFC: the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) was formed as a new Research Council on 1 April 2007 through a merger of the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC) and the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) and the transfer of responsibility for nuclear physics from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). STFC is a science-driven organisation, funding researchers in universities directly through grants, providing access to world-class facilities both in the UK and overseas, and providing in the UK a broad range of scientific and technical expertise in space and ground-based astronomy technologies, microelectronics, wafer scale manufacturing, particle and nuclear physics, alternative energy production, radio communications and radar.
Strategic Partnerships: formal arrangements between Research Councils and other organisations to jointly support research, training and other activities in UK universities. A partnership can involve one or several organisations; it provides a framework for supporting mutually-beneficial activities in areas of interest. Activities can include things like research chairs, research grants, consortia and studentships.
Support for Enterprise: training and support for entrepreneurial researchers. Many of the activities allow researchers to gain business training while developing the commercialisation of their existing research.
Sustainable Energy Systems: one of RCUK's Prioroty Themes, this programme brings together energy-related research and training across the Research Councils to address the outstanding international issues of climate change and security of energy supply. The programme aims to sustain the strong research portfolio in power generation and supply, and grow the portfolio in demand reduction, alternative energy vectors, transport, security of supply, research capacity building, and international engagement.
T
Targeted Priority Studentships: BBSRC specific, this is an annual competition which awards studentship funding in areas where BBSRC are making substantial research investment through initiatives and other funding priorities.
Technology Strategy Board (TSB): an executive non-departmental public body. Its task, operating across all important sectors of the UK economy, is to stimulate innovation in those areas which offer the greatest scope for boosting UK growth and productivity. Originally set up as a business-led panel of board members to advise the Department of Trade Industry on the translation of knowledge into innovation and new and improved products and services, the TSB was established on 1 July 2007 as a new body at arm’s length from Government in Swindon.
Training for Business and Policy: postgraduate training to equip people with advanced skills for employment in business, government or other important sectors. Training provision often has close involvement of employers and practitioners. This includes training opportunities which enable researchers to develop their skills to more effectively engage with stakeholders who may benefit from research expertise.
Transferable skills: general skills which can be applied in many different jobs, and which allow adaptability and flexibility in a changing job market.
U
UNICO: Unico is a membership organisation which was founded in 1994 to promote knowledge transfer activities and the commercialising of UK research.
Y
Yorkshire and Humberside Innovation Awards: RCUK supports the Yorkshire and Humberside Innovation Awards, which recognise creativity and innovation within this region.
Young Entrepreneur’s Scheme (YES): a scheme to introduce researchers, working in either the natural environment sciences or biotechnology, to the commercialisation of their work. The aim is to increase the level of entrepreneurial awareness in the environmental science and biotechnology communities. Teams benefit from entrepreneurial awareness training, and present their plans for hypothetical businesses to real entrepreneurs, financiers and industrialists. MRC also support this scheme.
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