Arts and Humanities Research Council

Professor Mark Llewellyn

Director of Research

History:• AHRB 1998 / AHRC Royal Charter

April 2005Scope:• 21% of research-active academic

community within AHRC remit [c.11,900 researchers in REF2014]

• AHRC receives 2.8% of the science and research budget from BIS

• CSR 2010: AHRC– £99.9m in Yr 1 – £98.4m p.a. Yrs 2-4

• SR 2015/16: £98.3m

Strategy, 2013-18

• The Human World: The Arts and Humanities in Our Times

• New confidence• Tenth/twentieth

anniversaries• Engagement• Advocacy • Enhancement

Priorities, 2011-15, 2015/16• Advancing UK’s world-leading

reputation for research• Building capacity and capability• Enabling researchers • Strategic targeting of partnerships

and greater brokerage activities, to:– influence public policy– engage with the creative economy– have an impact internationally– have greater profile with public

Research Funding Schemes

• Leadership Fellows• Research Grants• Networking • Follow on Fund

• AHRC Themes

• Digital Transformations in A+H

• Translating Cultures

• Care for the Future

• Science in Culture

• Connected Communities (with other RCs)

• Priority Areas: Design, Heritage,

Languages

Themes and Priority Areas

Research: Collaboration and Ambition

• enhancement of existing schemes to stimulate new approaches;

• commitment to responsive mode and researcher-led projects that are ambitious, dynamic and field defining;

• facilitate greater interdisciplinarity;• thematic programmes to stimulate and

support cross-cutting research in key areas.

Peer Review • ensure high standards to inform decision-making;• create a greater depth of engagement across the Peer Review College

to increase its formative advice to the Council;• consider new models of review and funding;• review processes of application to minimise administrative and other

burdens and ensure the effective and efficient use of resources.

People: From PG to PI• enhance postgraduate provision and maintain commitment to one

third of programme spend to PG; • work with research organisations on the flexible and effective use of

funding to deliver the highest quality training for postgraduates; • increase training, mentoring and other opportunities for early-career

researchers;• ensure the Fellowships scheme (in addition to supporting major

intellectual projects) offers researchers at all career stages opportunities to develop leadership.

Knowledge Exchange • build upon the KE Hubs for the Creative Economy;• enhance partnerships with mutual benefits; • increase opportunities for all researchers to

develop their work in collaboration inside and outside HE and convey their findings to wider public audiences.

Public Good and the Power of Knowledge• develop the impact of arts and humanities research • lead the analysis of the cultural value of the arts

and humanities and its contribution to public and economic good.

International • continue to raise the international

profile of arts and humanities research;• ensure international leadership in

supporting the role of A&H in global challenges;

• develop further relationships under the International Placement Scheme to facilitate greater international mobility for UK researchers;

• enhance awareness of the international possibilities for researchers across our funding portfolio.

AHRC Commons and Commons FellowDr Richard Clay, University of Birmingham

r.s.clay@bham.ac.uk – develop the vision and objectives of the AHRC

Commons– three-year schedule of activities and outputs.– encourage dialogue and debate engaging broadly

across arts and humanities research disciplines in the UK and beyond

– connect existing AHRC-funded projects, events and groups with other relevant networks

– role of the Commons in the 10 year anniversary of the AHRC in 2015

Making the Case

• Funding sustainability• Competition, collaboration

• Resources: Demand and expectation management

• Funding “the best”: role of risk and innovation

• Evidence and knowledge: Researchfish, Gateway to

Research and why they matter

The AHRC’s 10th Anniversary

2005 – 2015

Dr Philip Pothen

AHRC Head of Communications

The AHRC 10th anniversary

• Research Council status achieved in 2005

• Significant changes since then

• Opportunity to:

o celebrate 10 years of achievement

o engage key audiences

o highlight impact of sustained investment

o celebrate role of arts and humanities in national life

o provide opportunities for researchers

o look forward to the future

The AHRC 10th anniversary

Anniversary Advisory Group

• Jan Dalley (Financial Times, AHRC Council)

• Jane Ellison (BBC)

• Richard Clay (AHRC Commons Fellow)

• Joanna Mackle (British Museum)

• Professor Evelyn Welch (KCL)

• Philip Pothen (AHRC)

The AHRC 10th anniversary

Activities being planned or scoped:

• Series of debates – “The Way We Live now” – HEI involvement, call

currently live

• International collaborations

• “Crowdsourcing the anniversary” workshop – next week

• Film competition

• Celebrating success – case studies, films, feature articles, “Class of

2005”, facts and figures…

• IROs and CDAs

The AHRC 10th anniversary

Activities being planned or scoped (2):

• Peer Review College

• Cheltenham Festival call – currently live – Jazz and Music;

Science and Literature to follow

• Image Gallery

• Follow on Fund call

The AHRC 10th anniversary

Key considerations:

• Audience engagement

• Election year

• Working in partnership with community

• Legacy

• Forward looking

• Other Councils

The AHRC 10th anniversary

Questions or feedback?

What would you like to see emerge from the AHRC anniversary

that might be useful to you as research managers and

administrators?

How can we engage your researchers in these activities?

p.pothen@ahrc.ac.uk

Business Process and Analysis

Anne SofieldHead of Business Process and Analysis

14 November 2014

Who are we?

Anne SofieldHead of BPA

Sumi DavidImpact and Analysis

Sarah WingroveEvidence and Impact

Ian HendersonBusiness Processes

Barry KnowlesBusiness Systems

Sara KellyProgrammes Support

Claire EdwardsImpact Manager

Rebecca TannerInformation Manager

What do we do?

We are a business-focused team:

•Demonstrate impact of AHRC-funded research

•Manage business information and evidence

•Manage business processes and systems

Demonstrating Impact

Why AHRC should exist

•Who is our audience?

•Why does it matter?

•What do we look at?

Managing Business Information

It’s all about the data

•Data quality = robust information analysis

•Collection systems – in-house and cross Council

•Information management policies, strategies and delivery plans

•Information and data management aid operational processing

Managing Business Processes

Efficient and effective working

•‘Ring fenced’ budget?

•Duty to be more efficient and effective

•Reduce internal (and external) processing requirements

What do we need?

• Accurate data in source systems, ideally first time – we might come back to you…

• Full and comprehensive updates regarding outputs of research – ResearchFish!

What’s in it for you?

• Accurate outward-facing representation of the impact of your research!

• Our success with BIS = your success

Questions?

Anne Sofield

Head of Business Process and Analysis

International Funding Opportunities

ARMA, November 14 2014

Adam Walker, Head of Languages, Literature and International Engagement

Follow the AHRC’s international blog at http://researchbeyondborders.wordpress.com/

On-going opportunities Lead agency agreements in place with FAPESP (Sao Paulo, Brazil) & NSF

(US):

• FAPESP: applications can be submitted to the AHRC Research Grants scheme at any time & follow the same review process as AHRC standard grants but with reviewer input from FAPESP

• NSF (SBE): applications can be submitted to either AHRC or NSF (BBSRC & ESRC also operate under this agreement)

Research Networking: proposals involving international collaborations may apply for additional funding of up to £15,000, in addition to the £30,000 FEC scheme limit

Significant international components to programmes such as Translating Cultures, OWRI

Potential new opportunities: e.g. Digging Into Data; UnBox

International Co-Investigators International Co-Is are eligible on Research Grants, Research Networking,

Follow-on Fund and some thematic calls

Costs up to 30% of the 100% fEC of a proposal can be requested

Proposals must still be led by a UK PI

Salary costs can be included in some circumstances but estates

and indirect costs cannot

Pilot scheme due for review in December

International Placement Scheme Annual scheme providing 2-6 month funded fellowships for PhD students &

ECRs at world-leading international research institutions:

1. Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin, USA

2. Huntington Library, California, USA

3. Library of Congress, Washington D.C., USA

4. National Institutes for the Humanities, Japan

5. Shanghai Theatre Academy, China  - NEW HOST FROM 2015!

6. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. & New York, US

7. Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut, USA

Call for the 2015/16 round is live next week: deadline 15 Jan 2015, c.60 awards available

Horizon 2020 The largest ever EU Research & Innovation programme – nearly €80 billion

from 2014-20

Does involve some arts & humanities – AHRC is working with others to increase this

Societal challenge: ‘Europe in a Changing World’ has the largest humanities component

Relevant topics currently / soon to be open include: ‘The cultural heritage of war in contemporary Europe’ & ‘European cultural and science diplomacy: exploiting the potential of culture and science in the EU’s external relations’

Please refer to the AHRC International Blog: ‘Research Beyond Borders’ for regular updates

Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA)

Partnership of funders across 24 European countries

2 previous large-scale calls (2010 & 2013), high level of UK success

New call: ‘Uses of the Past’ will formally be launched in January 2015

Up to €23m, call likely to be for large-scale, collaborative projects up to €1.2m, involving 4 countries or more

www.heranet.info

The Newton Fund

Part of UK’s Official Development Assistance – to promote economic &

welfare development of partner countries

£75m per year for 5 years from 2014 (plus match)

Multiple delivery partners

3 areas of activity: people, programmes, translation

Partner countries: Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Indonesia,

Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, South Africa & wider Africa,

Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam

Allocations for individual Council activity but also cross-Council ‘bottom-up’

calls – calls with Chile and Brail have closed, forthcoming calls with Mexico

& Turkey

Platforms

EU funded projects that aim to enhance collaboration between social

science & humanities researchers in Europe & other countries

EqUIP: Europe – India

Trans-Atlantic Platform: Europe and the Americas

Currently in the scoping stage for both projects – looking at existing

collaborations, barriers etc

Aim to identify new ways of working, scope common areas of interest and

identify priorities & opportunities for future collaboration between the

countries involved.

www.equiproject.eu; www.transatlanticplattform.com

Thank you! Questions?

Follow the AHRC’s international blog at http://researchbeyondborders.wordpress.com/

Arts and Humanities Research Council

November 2014

Heather WilliamsKE Strategy & Development Manager

AHRC KE & Partnerships

• Supporting A&H researchers who want to explore ways of working in collaboration with organisations and agencies outside HE

• AHRC internal structure – KE team members now in core teams

• Expectation is that supporting researchers to think about opportunities to work in collaboration with interested parties outside HE is normal across all our funding

• Not a separate breed of those who do KE, as opposed to ‘normal’ researchers

Why research and the creative economy?

• UK Arts & Humanities research - world-leading highest proportion of 4* research in RAE 2008 27% of UK research active staff are in A&H

• UK Creative sector - world-leading creative talent As big as financial services sector Fastest growing sector of economy Employs many A&H graduates and PGs – highly qualified workforce Dominated by SMEs, esp. small and micros

The Human WorldAHRC Strategy 2013-18

“Research is a powerful driver of growth in the economy, and engaging with academic researchers is an important factor in business innovation. There is great demand among the UK’s creative and cultural sector – from international companies and major cultural institutions to small arts organisations and creative micro-businesses – to take advantage of the deep understanding and innovative thinking of arts and humanities researchers.”

Main AHRC CE investmentsDoing•Four Knowledge Exchange Hubs•10 Creative Economy KE projects•Nesta/ACE/AHRC Digital R&D Fund•Design – priority area•Videogames networks•BBC New Generation Thinkers•IROs (BM, BL, V&A…)•Collaborative Doctoral Awards

Understanding•Brighton Fuse report•Brighton Fuse follow-up projects•Bristol & Bath By Design•CREATe centre for copyright research•Cultural Value Project

What were we thinking in 2011?

• Opportunity to scale up from individual, small-scale KT grants

• Put the funding in the hands of people closer to the action (not in Swindon…)

• 4 centres, 4 directors – nearly 30 HEIs; researchers, fellows, ECRs, PhDs…

• Scope for those outside Hub to engage

Hub application guidance said…‘…By the end of the funding period the KE Hubs, as a cohort, should have: •Extended A&H reach into the private sector as well as the public and third sectors

•established new strategic partnerships in the creative economy

•increased the number of A&H researchers actively engaged in KE with the creative economy

•brought KE into the academic mainstream in ways that established researchers, early career researchers and post graduate students perceive as enhancing and enriching

•driven up awareness within the creative economy of the value of A&H to innovation in the sector to the extent that A&H researchers become partners of choice for leading creative businesses seeking innovative solutions

•brought about demonstrable and distinctive economic, social and cultural impacts in the creative economy which would not have happened without the KE Hubs.’

4 hubs, 4 years (2012-16), £4 million eachDesign in Action­Connecting with over 1000 SMEs in Scotland; Chiasmas – deep engagementCreative Exchange­20 KE PhDs, 200 interested businesses -> 40 partners (from BBC, Microsoft Research to micros)REACT­Connecting 300 creative businesses and 300 academics; Ideas Labs - Sandbox process – co-creation/productionCreativeWorks London­9 sectors of London’s creative and cultural life; creative vouchers, Researchers/entrepreneurs in residence

AHRC Knowledge Exchange Hubs

AHRC Knowledge Exchange Hubs

“The arts and humanities and interdisciplinary interactions are a key source of innovation and economic growth”

What have we learnt?

• Nature of arts and humanities research Specialist historical/cultural knowledge

Practice-based approaches e.g. Design

• Nature of creative and cultural sector and partnerships Fragmented

Diverse

Freelance

Micros

National-scale cultural institutions

What have we learnt?• Models of collaboration

Co-creation Producers v business development

• PhD model• What do creative SMEs need?

Access to people with new ways of thinking Not £££…

• Impact on local area Networks Ecosystems

• A&H research can create commercially viable propositions

Challenges

• Culture change• HEIs make life difficult for SMEs • Contracts• IP • Payments• Overheads• Timescales

Where next?

• IP consultant• KE Fellow• Policy papers• Regional events 2015• Sustainability• Sharing with other Research Councils /

Innovate UK

Legacy• Culture change in HEI• Skills• Raised awareness of the role of HEI in the

Creative Economy• A&H model for working with businesses not

just those within creative and cultural sector • What is working and how can this be

replicated?• Where do we go next?

Research Outcomesand

Researchfish

Ian Lyne (Associate Director, AHRC)

Senior Responsible Owner for the RCUK Research Outcomes Harmonisation Project

Overview

• Background to the Harmonisation project

• The importance of collecting information on research outcomes

• Current Submission Period

• Future developments

Background – In brief

• Previously AHRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC and NERC used a system called ROS (Research Outcomes System) for capturing research outcomes. ROS was ‘frozen’ in April 2014.

• STFC and MRC used Researchfish – this meant some multi-disciplinary researchers had to use both systems.

• Researchfish was selected as the Councils’ preferred outcomes collection system after careful evaluation in an open and competitive tender process.

Why Change? An internal analysis of the situation in 2013 looked at the issues and options:

•Do nothing was not an option since ROS needed substantial re-development (technology obsolete)•Having two different systems risked sending a very poor message about cross-Council harmonisation and joint working•Tendering for a single system as opposed to using two would offer opportunities for cost saving.•Gateway to Research (GtR) required harmonisation of data from the two systems. •Having two systems with different data content and structures was a real obstacle to developing further interoperability

Project Progress

• The ‘Research Outcomes Harmonisation’ project was formally established in January 2014, and set itself the deadline of launching a harmonised system by September.

• Working with the sector and keeping the sector informed have been key principles of the project.

• Simon Kerridge (Chair of ARMA) is a member of the Project Board.

Simon Kerridge, Chair of ARMA, says:

•“I have been very pleased to have been part of the project, representing ARMA on the project board.

The collection of information on the outputs of the research we help support is of vital importance, and I hope that ARMA members will continue to work to enhance this area of work in their ROs. We also look forward to being part of further discussions around how to develop greater interoperability with RO systems to minimise the effort and maximise the value of collecting this information.”

Working with the Sector

Working with the Sector

• To help with developing and communicating the project:

– We have maintained a project website, with minutes of the Project Board meetings being published: www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/researchoutcomes

– We have sent out regular email updates, and tweeted about them from the Research Funding Programme twitter account (@RCUKRFP).

– We had a stall at the ARMA conference in Blackpool in June, and held two communications workshops in July.

– A Virtual User Group (only meets in cyber space) has been set up to provide input to and comment on all our communications.

– RCUK Roadshows in London, Manchester and Edinburgh in October 2014.

Data Migration• Significant back office work has been undertaken – in particular,

the cleansing of data in ROS following the closure of the system in April, ready for migration.

– Over 155,000 publication entries– Over 900 subsequent awards and other marks of esteem– Over 1200 research databases and models made available to other

researchers.– Over 6,000 records of further funding achieved to take the research

further– Over 37,000 entries relating to public engagement and other public

dissemination of the research findings.– Over 1400 records of intellectual property, 100 spin outs, and 900 entries

relating to influence on public policy.

Common Question Set

• As part of the move to Researchfish, Research Councils have harmonised on a single framework for research outcomes information – the ‘Common Question Set’.

• This Common Question Set covers outcome types for all disciplines and is the result of significant amounts of work by the Research Councils’ Performance and Evaluation Network (PEN).

• It is thought to be a European, if not global, first.

Common Question Set

• The Common Question Set is freely available on the RCUK website (pdf), and also in xml format on the Researchfish website to enable its use by other organisations and system developers.

• The full data schema will be released later in November 2014.

Why capture research outputs?

• It is vital that grant holders record and confirm the outcomes and outputs from their projects so that we can use this to understand the impact of our funding and to make the case for continued investment in research.

• Information returned to the Research Councils is made available through the Gateway to Research, thereby raising the visibility of research to other researchers, government, the public and to potential collaborators.

Hearts and Minds…

•Reporting outcomes of research is required as part of the Terms And Conditions of grant acceptance.

•We need to communicate to grant holders the importance of returning information to us, not just seeing it as a reporting obligation under the Terms and Conditions of their awards.

•The submission period this year was the last opportunity before the next Comprehensive Spending Review to provide us with systematic information to use in making the case.

Progress so far…• In September RCUK sent out 21,459 registration emails – a

combination of grant holders funded by the ex-ROS Councils, and new grant-holders funded by STFC and MRC.

• The current levels of activation are (as at 14 November 2014):

funding_organisationAwards

in RFActive

AwardsPercentage

Active

AHRC- 4350 2859 66%

BSRC- 8241 6948 84%

EPRC- 14778 11331 77%

ESRC- 5780 3982 69%

MRC-- 7022 6531 93%

NERC- 5452 4684 86%

STFC- 3008 2568 85%

Submission Period

• Information can be entered at any time during the year, but we only use submitted outcomes data for analysis and reporting (and for putting in the public domain through GtR)

• The submission period opened on 16 October 2014 ….and closed on 13 November 2014.

• During this period a grant holder confirms the information they are returning to us.

Submission Rates

Research Council

Number of Awards

Number of Awards

Requiring Submission*

Number of Awards

Submitted

Percentage of Awards Submitted

AHRC 4350 2714 1828 67%

BBSRC 8241 6410 5021 78%

EPSRC 14778 8675 6243 72%

ESRC 5780 3232 2001 62%

MRC 7022 6447 5683 88%

NERC 5452 4754 3645 77%

STFC 3008 2435 1496 61%

48631 34667 25917 75%

* Response codes 1 and 4 – ie includes people who have changed institution, but still expected to submit.

Submission Rates

• Looking at just response code 1: ie grant active, or within five years of ending, and PI still at same RO…

• 92% of these AHRC grant holders have activated their account• 77% had submitted by the deadline yesterday.• 52 ROs had a 100% submission rate• Out of 150 ROs, only two with 10+ submission expected had

less than a 50% submission rate.• 37,211 total outcomes in Researchfish for AHRC, of which

19,400 have been added by PIs during the past 2 months

Future Developments – Sanctions

•A harmonised sanctions policy for all Councils has been agreed. •Councils other than MRC will not apply sanctions this year, but anticipate applying the policy from 2015.•Sanctions will apply to grant holders who do not make a submission to the relevant Research Council each year (ie a declaration of what outcomes and outputs, if any, have been achieved).Sanctions: •PI may be unable to apply for further awards •payments may be withheld

Future Developments – Interoperability

• RCUK and Researchfish are both committed to exploring and introducing further system interoperability during 2015.

• We are holding a workshop in December 2014 will work with all stakeholders in the research community to move towards better interoperability during 2015.

• We appreciate that some ROs put considerable effort into developing processes to bulk upload data into ROS… but there were problems.

• We want you to discuss this in breakout groups… But some initial ideas:

– Encourage PIs to use Researchfish online help.– Encourage PIs to enter info as outputs / outcomes emerge, and not leave

it to the last minute.– Learn about some of the functionality which can help research managers

or other team members support the PI: E.g. the Delegate function to enable someone to manage the PI’s account on their behalf, or the ‘Research Team’ functions for collaborative grants.

How You Can Help

Thank you for listening

Comments or Questions….?

1. How can research managers best support grant holders in providing information to AHRC on the outputs and outcomes from their projects?

2. What sort of outputs / outcomes (other than publications) are collected from staff through your RO’s own information system, and how do these relate to the RCUK framework?

3. How can AHRC best communicate to grant holders the importance of returning information to us about the outputs and outcomes of their funding? Ie what messages, what forms of communication etc?

4. What do you think are the options for interoperability between Researchfish and your university’s system? What are the challenges for a funder in taking information from a variety of different systems?

For Discussion