The British Academy

• UK national academy

• Learned society

• Grant-giving body

The British Academy

• The Humanities

• The Social Sciences

The Royal SocietyThe Royal Academy of EngineeringThe Academy of Medical SciencesThe Royal Society of Edinburgh

Relation to Research Councils

The British Academy

• ESRC – social sciences

• AHRC – arts and humanities

Strategic Framework 2008-2013

Strategic priorities

• Ideas, individuals and intellectual resources

• International engagement

• Communication and advocacy

• Fellowship

Spending Review 2010

Change in focus

• Individuals

• International engagement

• Excellence and engagement

• Languages and Quantitative Skills

BA Policy Centre• The British Academy believes it is essential that policymakers

take decisions based on the best available evidence.

• We oversee a programme of activities including reports and

events which aim to engage expertise within the HSS to shed

light on public policy issues.

• We contribute to debates on HE and research policy.

• As a fellowship of over 900 eminent UK scholars across the

HSS, we can play an important role in offering cross-

disciplinary expertise and advice to government.

Policy Centre Reports

And also...• Building relationships with

policymakers, fellows and other HSS

academics

• Consultation responses and

statements e.g.

– Response to the HE white paper

– Response to HEFCE consultation on

teaching funding and student numbers.

– Position statements on language matters

Individuals £16,256m

International £6.66m

Excellence and Engagement £1.3m

Languages and Quantitative Skills £0.95m

Programme Budget 2011-12

Early Career (Postdoctoral Fellowships) £10.169m

Mid-Career (MC Fellowships) £2.28m

Sunsetting old schemes (SGs, CGs, BARDAs) £2.9m

Newton International Fellowships £1.408m

International partnerships and mobility £1.1m

Research budget 2011-12

Languages and Quantitative Skills

• New programme: £5m over 4 years

• 3 strands: – Fellowships– Partnership awards– Promotional activity: events,

communications

Research support

• Humanities and social sciences

• Postdoctoral level

• Applicants resident in the UK

• Complement the schemes of the AHRC and ESRC

• Major focus on individuals through Postdoctoral

and Mid-Career Fellowships

• New International partnerships and mobility

scheme

Research Posts

Postdoctoral fellowships (3 years)• Early career (Apply within 3 years of award of

doctorate)

Mid-Career Fellowships (1 year)• Mid-career (research and communication)

Senior Research Fellowships (1 year)• Aimed at mid-career: privately funded, no FEC

Newton International Fellowships (2 years)

• Early career: for overseas scholars

Postdoctoral Fellowships

• currently offering up to 45 awards each year

• tenable for three years

– experience of independent research– introduction to teaching– career development– output and dissemination

Postdoctoral Fellowships• Annual competition• 2-stage application process• Deadline for outline applications Oct

2012• Shortlist announced in February• Final awards announced in May• Awards to be taken up from Sep 2013• Heavy competition – 900+ applications

last year• High priority scheme

Postdoctoral Fellowships

Success rates

• 826 applications in 2011, 47 awards expected, 5.7% success rate

• 900 applications in 2010, 45 awards, 5% success rate

• 707 applications in 2009, 43 awards, 6.1% success rate

Mid-Career Fellowships (1 year)• Mid-career (research and communication)• 2-stage selection process• Success rate under 10%, likely to be

around 35 awards• Awards for 6-12 months: research leave,

FEC basis• Emphasis on:

– Strength of research proposal– Communication to a broad audience

Senior Research Fellowships

7 each year, tenable for one year• to complete major programme of research• relief from teaching and administration• Non-FEC, sponsored by Leverhulme Trust• One closing date per year – next in

November 2012; decisions announced in February

• Awards tenable from the following autumn

Small Research Grants• Restored scheme

• Awards £10k, tenable for up to 24 months

• Commonly used for pilot studies, small-scale

projects

• Worldwide in scope, international partners

• High priority in Academy portfolio

• Wide outreach: over 120 HEIs in last financial year

• Next deadline not yet announced

Academy Research Projects

• Recognition of c. 50 long-term infrastructural projects

• Datasets of fundamental resources• Support for British contribution to collaborative

international enterprises• Occasional Call for new proposals, most

recently in November 2011

International

International Aims

Representation Partnerships

Funding Communication

Sponsored Overseas Institutes

Includes 6 research institutes with premises in Ankara, Athens, Nairobi, Tehran, Rome, Amman, Jerusalem

European Consortium for Asian Field Study

Access to 23 field centres across Asia

Newton International Fellowships

Run by two national academies (Royal Society, British Academy)

• Supports visits by foreign scholars to the UK for up to two years

• Covers any discipline within remit of RS and BA

• Electronic application via RS e-Gap system• Most recent closing date was 4 April 2011 for

fellowships from January 2012• See www.newtonfellowships.org• Next competition opening January 2012

International Funding

• New International Partnership and Mobility SchemeSupport for research partnerships between UK scholars and scholars in Africa, East Asia, the Middle East, Latin America & Caribbean, and South Asia

3-year and 1-year awards: £10,000 per year

First call open now, deadline 8 February

Area Panels

Area Panels covering: Europe Africa Latin America and Caribbean Middle East South Asia East Asia (China)

Kinds of Activity...Europe EC consultation responses

Africa

Evaluation CriteriaFor all awards: o academic merito originality of proposalo relationship to and volume of

research already in the fieldo feasibility of research programmeo specificity of scheme of researcho intended outcomes

Evaluation CriteriaResearch Posts: additional factors:

• For PDFs: potential to go on to a successful academic career as a teacher in higher education

• For MCFs: the communication plan and the public benefit of the intended outcomes

• For Senior Fellows: how pressing is the need for the research time applied for

Evaluation CriteriaInternational awards: additional

factors

• Still under discussion: for partnerships, priority might be on working with areas of world where barriers to research collaboration – financial, cultural, political

Peer Review

• assessment procedures proportionate to scale of funding

• subject specialists within Academy• for international grants, may also

use area specialists• recommendations confirmed by

Award Committees, in light of budget available

• Code of Practice for all assessors

Royal Holloway, University of LondonRecent and current awards of interest include: • Dr Duncan Astle (Department of Psychology)

(Why memory fails: understanding the reasons for visuo-spatial working memory capacity limits in typically developing children and adults) – BA PDF

• Dr Julie Brown (Department of Music) ('Film fitting' in Britain, 1913-1926) – BARDA

• Professor Christopher Townsend (Department of Media Arts) (Remains in Light: Modernist Intermediality, the Body and the Event ) – SRG

Academy Review

• The British Academy Review is pitched at an educated but

non-specialist readership, showcasing the work of the

Academy, and of the scholars it supports

Are friends electric?9 June 2011Could robots offer our ageing populations care in their dotage, even love? Can machines genuinely become social beings? Will androids one day dream of electric sheep? Kathleen Richardson examines the history and development of the robot and evaluates the possibilities

Contacts

• Research Awards Teamgrants@britac.ac.uk / 020 7969 5217posts@britac.ac.uk / 020 7969 5270

• International Departmentoverseas@britac.ac.uk / 020 7969 5220

Email Bulletin

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