ESRC Regional Visits 2017 Professor Jane Elliott, CEO @JaneElliott66
External Context and Challenges ▶ Globalisation ▶ General Election 8 June 2017 – New government and ministers (though some continuity) – Potential spending review/ allocation process ▶ Brexit – Impact on social science and wider research community – Opportunities for research and contribution of the social sciences ▶ UK Research and Innovation…
Overview ▶ ESRC in context – portfolio and external challenges ▶ UK Research and Innovation ▶ Celebrating the successes of social science ▶ Current and planned priorities ▶ Global Challenges Research Fund ▶ What next? – current funding opportunities – policy development – engaging with the ESRC
ESRC Strategic Plan 2015 ▶ Cross-disciplinary work to answer major societal issues ▶ Greater awareness of international perspective ▶ Collaborative working (in the UK and beyond) ▶ Full exploitation of existing resources ▶ Investing in the next generation ▶ Focused priorities will follow in the next Delivery Plan
ESRC priority areas ▶ Developed as a pipeline ▶ Core social science themes and major interdisciplinary challenges ▶ Ongoing, current and developing priorities 1. Urban Transformations 2. Anti Microbial Resistance 3. Productivity 4. Understanding the Macro-Economy 5. Mental Health 6. Housing 7. Brexit/ Governance and the future of liberal democracy 8. Automation, AI and robotics 9. Climate Change 10. Innovation in health and social care systems
Collaboration and Engagement ▶ We are committed to encouraging collaboration between researchers and the business, public and civil society sectors ▶ Working with other Research Councils to commission independent researchers to carry out work to inform policy and practice ▶ Leveraging c£23m additional co-funding ▶ Major initiatives to support non-academic engagement: – What Works – POST – Impact Acceleration Accounts
Institute for Government An independent, award-winning, non-partisan charity and think tank. Our mission is to promote a more effective government. We were established in 2008 and came to 2, Carlton Gardens in 2009. We have around 35 permanent staff, working on research, For more information please see learning and development, communications and events and www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk or operations contact Katie.Thorpe@instituteforgovernment. Staff have backgrounds in the Civil Service, consulting, think org.uk tanks, academia and the private sector. We combine research and learning activity looking at how government should improve and helping it to do so. We do this publically and privately. Our programmes of work are: • Whitehall : making Whitehall more effective • Policy-making : improving the process, competence and principles • Brexit : making Brexit work better • Public services : improving planning, management, outsourcing and delivery • Devolution : managing devolution of power to UK nations, regions and cities • Parliament : strengthening accountability of government • Professional development for government : offering high-level advice and seminars for Ministers and their advisers
International collaboration ▶ International collaboration remains a key priority, increasingly given expansion of Newton Fund and establishment of GCRF ▶ Embed international in all we do • International Co-Investigator policy ▶ Work with European partners • Open Research Area (ESRC, NWO, DFG, ANR) • Calls under NORFACE partnership ▶ Collaborations with key partner countries • 3 RCUK teams (US, India and China) ▶ Leading role in the Newton Fund and GCRF • Importance of ODA requirements
ESRC – global engagement
Strategy for Early Career Researchers ▶ Revised Strategy for ECRs launched in August 2016 ▶ Aims to provide a more integrated support system ▶ A number of different activities at different stages of implementation within 3 key areas: – Doctoral – Immediately post doctorate – Transition to independent researcher ▪ Initial investigator scheme (£100K - £300K)
Doctoral Training Partnerships Cambridge Social Science DTP Grand Union DTP London Interdisciplinary Social Science DTP London School of Economics DTP Midlands Graduate School DTP Northern Ireland and North East DTP North West Social Science DTP Scottish Graduate School of Social Science DTP South Coast DTP South East Network for Social Sciences DTP South West DTP UCL, Bloomsbury and East London DTP Wales DTP White Rose Social Sciences DTP
ESRC income since 2013 £250M £200M £150M Other BEIS funding (AME, non-cash, etc) Income BEIS admin GCRF Co-funding and income £100M BEIS capital funding BEIS Programme Funding £50M 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 Financial Years
Most social science funding in the UK is not awarded through ESRC AHRC BBSRC EPSRC ESRC MRC NERC STFC 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 Ratio of QR to RC funding Based on RCs' 16/17 resource,GCRF and capital allocations as specified by BEIS (4 March 2016), estimates of FTEs by Council based on REF 2014 data ,and QR funding by HEFCE, HEFCW and SFC in 16/17 - all figures are approximate and indicative only due to difficulty in mapping FC to RC data.
RCUK funding does not scale with community size Funding per academic researcher £200,000 (X%) = proportion of funding that is capital STFC (23%) £150,000 BBSRC (15%) £100,000 NERC (11%) EPSRC (6%) MRC (5%) £50,000 ESRC (13%) AHRC (0%) £0 0 4,000 8,000 12,000 16,000 20,000 Number of academic researchers (FTE) Based on RCs' 16/17 resource,GCRF and capital allocations as specified by BEIS (4 March 2016), estimates of community FTEs by Council based on REF 2014 data, and QR funding by HEFCE, HEFCW and SFC in 16/17 – bars show estimated range of funding per FTE, and all figures are approximate and indicative only.
UK Research and Innovation
UKRI: What is it and why are we doing it? Increase Invest in the MRC engagement highest quality Research between research ESRC research and England and all sectors innovation Foster and Innovate Promote BBSRC UK develop the commercialisation UKRI talent pipeline of research AHRC NERC Create and Deliver a sustain the best collaborative EPSRC STFC infrastructure environment for all to leverage additional funding Enable an efficient Support a healthy and high integrity research and culture innovation landscape
Progress to date ▶ Higher Education Research Act – passed 27 April 2017 ▶ Will be established in April 2018 ▶ Transition work underway across 7 Research Councils, Innovate UK and HEFCE ▶ UKRI Board appointments underway ▶ Key appointments: Anne Dixon, Programme Sir John Kingman, Sir Mark Walport, Rebecca Endean, Director, UKRI Transition interim Chair of CEO designate of Strategy Director Programme UKRI UKRI designate of UKRI
Interdisciplinarity ▶ ESRC and the social sciences already well positioned to flourish in this new structure. ▶ Current interdisciplinary working: – 10% of ESRC budget being committed to cross-Council activities and growing each year – Diverse interdisciplinary portfolio – across all other Research Council remits and as contributor to all previous cross-Council challenge areas – Major new investments under GCRF providing extra stimulus for new interdisciplinary activities
UKRI – Next Steps ▶ ESRC is engaging across all Research Councils, Innovate UK, HEFCE and BEIS to help develop: – Final organisational design of UKRI – Strategic Centre, Corporate Services, Councils – UKRI governance arrangements – especially around the transfer and transition between current and future governance ▶ Sir Mark Walport’s initial priorities: – International strategy for UKRI – Allocation of the £4.7bn for research from the Autumn Statement – Build an effective UKRI ▶ Maintaining business as usual – including GCRF and ISCF
A tale of two challenges… ▶ Global Challenges Research Fund – £45m ESRC funding (Phase 1) – 4 calls led by ESRC alone, 2 calls led by ESRC in collaboration, 3 calls led by other Councils with ESRC contributing – Collective Fund Phase 1 – a third of all awards social science led ▶ Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund – Phase 1 funding – focused on skills – Challenge for Phase 2
What is GCRF? ▶ £1.5 billion fund to be delivered by the Research Councils and other delivery partners over five years ▶ Aims to: – address global challenges through cutting-edge disciplinary and interdisciplinary research – strengthen capability for research and innovation, within both UK and developing countries – provide an agile response to emergencies and opportunities ▶ Forms part of the UK's Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitment ▶ Further information on RCUK website (http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/funding/gcrf/)
GCRF allocation to Research Councils
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