RC 20SEP16 2
MINUTES OF UNIVERSITY RESEARCH COMMITTEE
Held on Tuesday 10th May 2016
in the University Committee Room, CM2.08 Claus Moser Building
1. APOLOGIES AND ABSENCES
For a record of attendance and apologies, see attached list
2. MINUTES AND MATTERS ARISING
The minutes of the meeting held on 9th February 2016 were approved.
The Dean of Natural Sciences reported that the shared facilities agreement with the University of Liverpool is progressing, but noted that the VAT situation needs to be clarified and appears to hinge on the nature of the interaction - service provision verses collaborative projects. Colleagues in DEP are reviewing this. The Dean further noted that a number of BBSRC applications are to be submitted which cite use of Liverpool’s facilities.
The Dean of Medicine and Health Sciences noted the Faculty’s new name, observing that this now aligns Keele with the Russell Group. The Research Institutes have been highly successful and will be retained but, in addition, Schools will become more involved in research. A third Research Institute - the Institute of Applied Clinical Sciences has been created and will interact closely with UHNM R&D, focused on secondary care the new institute will look to obtain NIHR and commercial clinical trial funding (attracting significant overheads). The Dean noted that this will require very explicit Governance processes. The Faculty will set up a new Faculty Research Committee, chaired by Professor Elaine Hay (for the first 12 months) and comprising the three RI Directors, the four Heads of School and the two PGR Directors. It is likely that the Director of the CTU will also be involved.
3. Chair’s report
The Chair welcomed new members to the Committee; Marissa Maciej-Hulme (providing postdoctoral representation), Scott McGowan (Research Support Librarian) and Steven Shardlow (Acting Dean of Humanities & Social Sciences). Christian Mallen was also welcomed, in attendance for Primary Care and Health Sciences.
ESRC bid
The Chair noted that the consortium (Manchester, Liverpool, Lancaster and Keele universities) has been invited to interview on 28th June 2016. The peer review reports received were positive and any issues they contained have been addressed. Professor Clare Holdsworth will represent Keele at the interview; the Chair and Faculty Director for HumSS have met with Professor Holdsworth to consider the questions that might arise at interview.
The Deputy VC asked if there is any indication of the numbers called to interview stage. This was not known, but it was observed that the White Rose consortium has expanded and there is possibly another in London.
Action: Chair to investigate competing bids
The Chair also congratulated colleagues on the work of the AHRC consortium, which has been awarded a further 40 fTEs per annum over the next two years. The Faculty Director for HumSS noted that Keele previously averaged 3 PGRs a year out of the AHRC DTP.
Leverhulme Research Leadership awards
The Chair reported that after internal evaluation of potential institutional submissions to this scheme, Dr Deidre McKay (FNS) was selected and has submitted her project application.
Public Engagement event and The Conversation.
The Chair reported on Paul Manners’ (National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement, NCCPE) two day visit to Keele. The visit involved a successful showcasing of research activity to Council from each of the Faculties (Professor Christian Mallen, Dr Catherine Merrick and Professor Scott McCracken) and Paul Manners subsequently worked with Council at the Council Away Day. The second day saw Paul Manners working with colleagues across the University at a day entitled, ‘Shaping an Engaged University’ with the aim of the visit being to advance Keele towards signing up to NCCPE’s concordat as an ‘engaged university’. The first part of the day showcased public engagement work from across the Faculties (Professor Mihaela Kellemen/Sue Moffatt (New Vic), Dr Tony Kearon, Professor Rob Jefferies, Dr Helen Price, Professor Carolyn Chew Graham/Carol Rhodes and Dr Dimitra Blana), followed by a workshop led by Paul Manners. The Partnership case studies received very encouraging feedback and Paul Manners was genuinely impressed by what he saw and the culture he could see operating across the University; but there is a need to work through the self-assessment tool that NCCPE has provided and to map Keele’s case studies, and wider institutional profile, in terms of the thresholds of quality/excellence that the self-assessment tool maps. Keele is probably, currently, a ‘developing’ institution rather than a ‘gripping’ institution. In all likelihood it would not take Keele much to move from one to the other, since a great deal of the groundwork has already been done. The two day visit should be followed up by further colleague engagement with events and training mounted by NCCPE. The Chair thanked all those involved in making the visit a success. Since the meeting of Research Committee, and further contact between PVC R&E and Paul Manners, the Vice-Chancellor has been invited to sign NCCPE’s manifesto for public engagement which will enable Keele to claim a role as a full participating member.
Action: Chair to facilitate NCCPE involvement in Natural Sciences Away Day
Action: Each Faculty / RI to map its public engagement stakeholders
The Chair noted that Keele has now formally signed up to The Conversation. The Conversation produces academically based news items / academic comment on current news, written in combination between an academic and journalist, and released under creative commons licence for republication by news organisations around the world. To launch Keele’s involvement there will be an event on the 23rd May 2016, with a visit from Will de Freitas of The Conversation, and involving MAC and certain academics.
The Dean of Natural Sciences noted that the Faculty would be keen for someone from NCCPE to attend its Away Day to facilitate the day and develop insights as to how the Faculty might be more coordinated in its engagement activities. The Faculty would be happy to consider if this should be a wider, university level event.
Stoke on Trent City Council - City of Culture
The City of Culture bid is still being worked on and the Chair will share more information at the next meeting.
Next Generation of Leaders workshop
The Chair noted that the Next Generation of Leaders workshop will take place on the 11th May 2016.
. Action: Chair to consider further the role of leadership - involvement of Council, DEP etc, but also a recognition that leadership is distributed
4. Impact Acceleration Fund (IAF) interim reports
The Committee received interim progress reports from the sixteen holders of Keele’s first Impact Acceleration Fund.
The Director of Engagement and Partnerships asked the Committee to consider the additionality of the scheme - would the activities still have happened if the funding had not been there? The Faculty Research Manager for HumSS noted that the Faculty is pleased with the progress that has been made. The scheme may not have had “additionality” but it certainly made activities easier.
The RI Director for ISTM noted that many of the activities relied on short term employees working on the projects (e.g. students) and raised the idea that the funding might be aligned to training and/or a pool of trained people who can contribute to such initiatives. The Dean of Medicine and Health Sciencesexpanded upon this, suggesting that the scheme might be tailor made for three month secondments, which might work especially well for colleagues within the Keele Management School..
The Acting Dean of HumSS asked if there would be feedback to the IAF award holders from the Heads of Partnerships in DEP and noted that there were very differing levels of detail in the submitted reports.
The Director of Engagement and Partnerships stated that in the long term the Heads of Partnerships will be closely involved in the development of Impact Case Studies.
Final IAF reports will be submitted to the September meeting of the Research Committee.
5. Update from the Director of Engagement and Partnerships
The Director reported that as a result of Keele’s most recent HE-BCI submission we are now in receipt of a 50% increase in HEIF funding (increasing from £478,065 to £717,098). This is the biggest increase that the cap would allow. The recovery is not necessarily tied to performance, but a different method of collecting the data (in particular the inclusion of Science Park income, ~£3m, for the first time).
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The Director informed the Committee that interviews for a new Head of Research and Clinical Governance were held on 6th May 2016.
The Steering Group overseeing the implementation of the new Research Management System (which replaces pFACT) met on the 3rd May 2016. The Steering Group has a clear vision of what is required of the system and current progress towards implementation.
DEP’s capacity building and development of partnerships with business and the community is now up to £70m investment. An announcement from BIS is expected on the first tranche of SEND funding very shortly (~£5m). The funding as a whole will support professional appointments, entrepreneurs in residence and Doctoral Training Centres.
There will be an internal audit of research support in the autumn; the precise nature of which is still to be formulated, but will most likely involve an appraisal of the contract approval process (central vs devolved processes). Ideally this audit will include an evaluation of how Keele compares to other institutions and will consider how we prioritise increasing research activity within constrained resources.
The RI Director for ISTM considered the entrepreneurs in residence idea an interesting scheme and enquired if there was further information about it at this stage. The Director noted that the initiative first originated in the US and there is an existing example in the UK at Newcastle University.
6. HEFCE QR funding 2016-17
The Chair reiterated that Keele has done very well as a result of its most recent HE-BCI submission, with a 50% increase in HEIF funding. Keele has done reasonably well with its QR funding; with mainstreaming funding increasing by 1.9%, but has seen a slight overall decrease.
The Deputy VC noted that Keele saw an 18% increase in mainstream QR last year (the first based on REF 2014). Keele improved the quality of its submission, in line with other HEIs, but didn’t reduce the volume of its submission hence its improved funding allocation. Going forward there won’t be significant changes in Keele’s mainstream QR until the next REF outcome.
Keele has seen reductions this year in its QR charity support funding and RDP supervision funding (which is based only on Home/EU students and not international PGRs). The biggest change in funding has been for PCHS (with an overall 8.4% decrease, £104k) which needs to be taken in the context of the huge uplift in funding it received the previous year.
The Deputy VC noted that it is encouraging that the Government is supporting research; although not the promised 2% increase, overall funding for the sector has increased by 1.25% and hasn’t been cut unlike the teaching allocation.
7. Research Excellence Framework
The Committee received Keele’s response to the recent call for evidence for the Stern review of the REF.
The RI Director for ISTM noted that multidisciplinary and early career researchers are key REF issues for Keele. The Deputy VC noted that the Russell Group appear to favour an aggregated submission. The date of the publication of the review is still unknown; it will possibly be released in July. The Deputy VC observed that the longer the report takes to come out, the simpler the exercise might be if a REF 2021 deadline is to be adhered to. The RI Director for ISTM noted the importance of getting Keele academics onto REF panels; this will need careful priming since panel involvement is often through nomination by Societies - Keele academics should be networking with a view to engaging with these Societies to ultimately gain panel places.
The Chair reported that the REF preparedness meetings are ongoing. To date all the Schools in the Faculty of Natural Sciences and the Faculty of HumSS have been visited, along with PCHS in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. A report of the findings of the visits will go to UEC and then Research Committee. The structure of Keele’s REF Steering Group and the nature of the REF dry run in summer 2017 will then be clarified.
8. Bridging the Gaps and Interdisciplinary Research
The Faculty Research Manager for HumSS reminded the Committee of the background to the proposed Bridging the Gaps scheme and updated on discussions that have been taking place between the Research Managers and the involvement of ILAS and the Grand Challenges lecture series. The intention is for invited speakers to be involved in Bridging the Gaps events and to ‘pump prime’ the programme.
The Dean of Natural Sciences noted that the speakers are not yet finalised for the next round of lectures. The Faculty Research Manager for HumSS reported that once the framework is in place for next academic year then the Research Managers will make suggestion for speakers and themes. The Dean noted that the quality of the speakers and their ability to engage will, for practical reasons, supersede themes. This autumn will see the first intake of undergraduates into Keele’s Liberal Arts degree. The Dean also reported that the ILAS postgraduate event was very successful and would like to see it become a regular event.
The Chair noted that there will be a VC Forum on interdisciplinary research on 2nd June 2016 and invited input from the Committee into this.
Action: Chair to report back on the VC forum
9. Updates from Faculty Research Directors and RI Directors
The Committee received updates from each of the Faculty Research / RI Directors summarising current activities, initiatives and opportunities.
Natural Sciences
Research Committees have been established and have met in all four Schools. Research planning documents are now in place and will include a forward 5 year REF cycle look.
A Natural Sciences REF Steering Group has been established and has met twice to date. It is scheduled to meet every two months. The Research Leads for each Centre have been tasked with undertaking a scoping exercise in preparation for the REF dry run in 2017, including tracking of publications, identification of potentially REF-submittable staff and identification of potential impact case studies.