College of Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities

College of Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities

College Development Fund for Research 2015-16

The College has a limited amount of funding in 2015-16 to promote research. External sources of funding should be sought, if available, before an application is made to the College. Bids are invited from College academic staff (including teaching focused and research staff) according to the following criteria:

• Bids should ideally either initiate or bring to fruition a particular project in research. Both new and continuing projects will be considered for funding. Preference may be given to projects and individuals who have not previously received College funding.
• Bids are especially encouraged that have the potential to generate future income, such as grant capture. In particular, bids that encourage collaboration with external individuals and organisations are welcomed.
• Bids can be used for a variety of purposes, such as a specific piece of research, or the preparation of a bid, but they must contribute to a definable output.
• The College RDF should not normally be the first port of call for research which might be eligible for external funding; applicants should consider external funding routes first and explain their strategy in relation to external funding bodies. If there is a good case to be made for applying for internal money first, then that needs to be communicated as part of the RDF bid.
• Funding may be used to buy out teaching, and applications seeking such funding must be accompanied by a letter of support from the Head of School; any use of funds for staffing (other than for interns) is subject to University guidelines.
• Funding may not be used to buy equipment solely for personal use.
• The maximum sum that can be allocated is normally £5,000 though exceptions may be made in particular cases dependent on availability and need.
• Funding must apply in year, i.e. upto 31/7/2016, asfunding cannot be rolled over from one financial year to the next; all allocated funding must be spent by 31 July, 2016.However, bids can be made to cover spending between 1 August and the next allocation of CDF funds in October 2016. In that case, spending would be counted against the next year’s funds.
• Applications are encouraged from teaching fellows where the results of the bid would be of benefit to their teaching area.

Process

Applications should be a maximumtwo sides of A4, size 11 font, and applications which are too long will be sent back for revision. Applicationsshould address the following headings.

• Title of Project
• Rationale - what the project aims to achieve
• Alignment with Departmental or Unit Priorities – how the project contributes to Department or University research aims, including income generation
• Budget – a brief breakdown of proposed spending
• Outputs – be as specific as possible by giving the name of the journal or research council targeted, or the title of the module or course concerned.
• Timescale – a short timetable, including when the project will be completed.

There are three deadlines for applications: 2 October 2015; 11 January 2016; and 3 May 2016.

Applications will be considered by the College Research Committee. Theyshould be submitted to Kathy Baddiley, the relevant date above.

Successful candidates will be required to produce an interim report on their progress, and a report at the end of the funding period indicating how the money has been spent and what outputs have been achieved. At year end(31/7/2016), if any invoices have not been received candidates should advise their Department Manager.