Research priorities and the international research agenda - Adrian Alsop

Research priorities and the international research agenda
Adrian Alsop, ESRC Director of Research, Partnerships and International

Presented at the Retail Research and Big Data ESRC Meeting 07/10/2014 - The Royal Society, London

Transcript

1. Research priorities and the international agenda Adrian Alsop, Director, for Research, Partnerships and International, ESRC
2. Overview ▶ Who we are ▶ What we do ▶ Opportunities ▶ Guiding principles ▶ Collaboration ▶ Data landscape ▶ International dimension ▶ Questions?
3. Who we are… ▶ The major public sector funder of social science research and post graduate training in the UK. ▶ Established in 1965, by Royal Charter, largely funded through the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) with a budget around £200 m. per year ▶ Support for over 4,000 high quality researchers and postgraduate students in universities and independent research institutes at any one point in time
4. ESRC Funding 13/14 Training & Skills £53m (26%) Strategic & Collaborative Research £51m (25%) Standard Grants £45m (22%) Methods & Infrastructure £33m (16%) International £5m (2%) Knowledge Exchange £8m (4%) Admin £4m (2%) Programme Delivery £6m (3%)
5. ESRC Funding Opportunities Research Career EARLY SENIOR Funding Amount 200k 2m 5m + Centres and Large Grants (Now up to £10m, early career researchers involved through grant linked studentships etc rather than as Principal Investigator) Datasets and Data Services Research Grants Open Research Area International Bi-laterals Professorial Fellowships Future Research Leaders PhD (through DTCs) Secondary Data Analysis Initiative Knowledge Exchange & Seminars & International Networking
6. Guiding Principles • Quality: Absolute commitment to excellence in everything we do • Impact: Our research is intended to make a positive economic and /or societal difference to business, government or civil society • Independence: As publicly funded science, we emphasise the importance of independence and impartial research. Be prepared that working with us could challenge current policies or practices…….
7. RCUK and the Research Councils
8. Business Collaboration
9. The ESRC and the data landscape
10. International Dimensions Social science is increasingly a global endeavour. Therefore, we operate on an international scale e.g. -Co-investigators from any university on the planet (and it can particularly help with US partnerships!) -Major partner with DFID in developing countries- £110m e.g. Food supply chains and poverty reduction in Brazil, China, and India; Dairy food security in Malawi; Maintaining quality- farm to fork- in Kenya -To come: Newton programme to include big social science data infrastructure in India and China
11. Next Steps ▶ Devolve Knowledge Exchange opportunities to 24 Universities-enhances agility to “local” business need (Impact Acceleration Accounts) ▶ RCUK Strategic Partnerships with key businesses ▶ Increased partnering with InnovateUK/TSB and business e.g. urban living ▶ Newton programme: Big Social Science Data infrastructure in India and China ▶ = More rungs on the ladder!
12. Any questions?