22-23 July 2011, New Delhi
On behalf of UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Department
for International Development (DFID), representative offices for these two organisations
Research Councils UK (RCUK) India and DFID South Asia Research Hub (SARH) co-organised
a training workshop for South-Asian social scientists on 22 and 23 July 2011 in
New Delhi, India.
The workshop was designed as a training opportunity for mid-career social scientists
from India, Pakistan and Nepal in writing successful research grant applications,
research management, impact and dissemination. Participants were selected because
they had previously applied for funding from one of the research schemes administered
by a UK Research council. The workshop specifically focussed on challenges of applying
for ESRC and DFID schemes like
ESRC-DFID Poverty Alleviation call,
ESRC-DFID Poverty Alleviation call
ESRC-DFID Growth programme,
ESRC-DFID Poverty Alleviation call and
ESRC’s Rising Powers and Interdependent Futures programme.
Held at the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), the workshop was
inaugurated by Prof S Thorat, Chairperson, ICSSR.
Team leaders from the ESRC-DFID Strategic Advisory Team (SAT),
ESRC-DFID Poverty Alleviation call
Professor Paul van Gardingen and
ESRC-DFID Poverty Alleviation callProfessor
Roger Jeffery introduced the workshop by providing an overview of the funding
cycle of ESRC-DFID calls.
This was followed by a panel discussion of managers of research funding schemes
sharing their experience of designing a call, managing peer-review and common mistakes
that separated successful proposals from unsuccessful ones. The panel also highlighted
various funding programmes available for Indian researchers. Panel members and discussants
included representatives from RCUK, European Commission, ESRC-DFID SAT, UK-India
Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI), Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation
(ESPA) and DFID SARH.
The second day of the workshop focussed on learning from a ‘reviewer’s perspective’
of the strengths and weaknesses of example proposals. Participants were introduced
to the different criteria used in judging inter-disciplinary, cross-national, social
science research applications. In breakout groups, participants wrote ‘mock’ proposals
on a theme relevant to ESRC-DFID schemes. The proposals were then presented to the
group who then evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of each proposal on the basis
of their newly acquired knowledge. A common theme emerging from the discussion was
that participants had very good research ideas, but were having difficulty in articulating
these in a format that would be convincing to peer- reviewers and managers of the
scheme. This was most apparent in terms of the ‘Case for Support’ and ‘Pathway to
Impact’ sections of the proposal.
These specific sections were discussed further to help participants strengthen
their understanding of how to make best use of these sections to pitch for their
research ideas.
In relation to the ‘case for support’, participants were advised that they should:
- clearly communicate what high-level research questions (or evidence challenge)
the
- proposal addressed and why it was important
- contextualise the research in terms of existing knowledge
- identify how the research will generate new and innovative research results.
In terms of the ‘Pathway to Impact’, participants were advised to include details
along the following lines:
- who ultimately had the potential to benefit from the research (e.g. poor
communities)
- description of the beneficiaries
- how they will benefit from the application of the research
Applicants were told that research project partners were encouraged to build
partnerships with appropriate knowledge intermediaries (e.g. civil society, policy
makers, media) who would take the outcomes from research and help to translate them
into results that can impact on the lives of the poor. Projects were encouraged
to work with these groups during all phases of projects from design, through to
implementation and knowledge exchange.
There was also the suggestion that proposals would benefit from having a better
explanation of rationale and relevant of planned impact activities e.g. instead
of stating ‘the project will hold an end of project workshop’, it would be more
useful to explain: the purpose of the event, the target audience, expected outcomes
(e.g. influencing a specific policy, launching a pilot study based on the research)
and (4) follow-up actions that will be used to determine if participants have made
use of the opportunities provided by the event. It was agreed that participants
representing various research institutes will share the lessons learnt at this workshop
with their colleagues
Presentations from the workshop are available here:
RCUK Funding Opportunities in Social Sciences- Naomi Beaumont
UKIERI-
Sally Goggin
The European Union’s 7th Research Framework Programme- Indraneel Ghose
DFID Areas of Research Focus
How to Meet Assessment Criteria- Roger Jeffery
Ethics and Good Practice in Research- Roger Jeffery
Building the Pathway to Development Impact- Paul van Gardingen
Review & Impact- Paul van Gardingen
Handouts from the workshop are available here:
ESRC DFID Application Lifecycle Flowchart
UK-India Funding Opportunities –ESRC
ESRC DFID Guidance Note for Applicants
ESRC DFID Guidance on Costs
ESRC DFID Checklist for Completed Applications
Images from the event
Professor Roger Jeffery and Professor S Thorat
Workshop in progress
Panel Discussion (L-R): Dr Alicia Greated - RCUK India, Dr Indraneel Ghose- EU,
Naomi Beaumont - RCUK India, Prof Paul van Gardingen- ESRC DFID SAT, Sally Goggin
- UKIERI
Workshop in progress