Changes to maximise impact
During 2010 the ESRC is introducing changes to its internal structures and processes. These will increase the efficiency of the ESRC's grant refereeing and assessment process and align our decision-making structure and achievement of impact with the social science challenges set out in our recent Strategic Plan. We intend to have these changes in place by summer 2010 to coincide with the transfer of the administration of ESRC grants to the RCUK Shared Service Centre.
The main elements of the new arrangements are briefly described below.
You will hear more about the changes as they are implemented in the coming months via notices on eNews (our online newsletter), on the ESRC website, through learned societies and institutions, and through individual communications where relevant.
Changes to ESRC's Board and Committee structure
The ESRC's current four boards and four committees will from 1 April 2010 be restructured in order to ensure delivery on the new Strategic Plan. The new structure will offer a more integrated approach to our research and training portfolios and embed impact and international activity in all areas of our work. It will also enable us to deal more effectively with responsive mode applications.
The new structure will include three policy committees (the Research Committee, the Methods and Infrastructure Committee, and the Training and Skills Committee), two virtual networks (impact and international), an Evaluation Committee and an Audit Committee.
The three policy committees will work together to deliver the Strategic Plan objectives with an emphasis on delivering both scientific and economic impacts.
Grants assessment and processing
The ESRC will also be making improvements in 2010 to the structures which support the assessment of grant applications through its responsive mode schemes. In the new structure funding decisions will be taken by a Grants Delivery Group, supported by standing panels of expert assessors.
The new structure will amalgamate and streamline the multiple open schemes across research grants, training and skills, knowledge transfer and methods and infrastructure. Combining the administration of these schemes will allow assessors to make more informed decisions on funding across our schemes while reducing the workload for individuals and providing a more efficient and consistent decision-making process.
The Group will be supported by three standing panels of expert assessors which will meet three times a year. We will also be drawing on a pool of assessors (different to the peer review college below) to provide a source of expertise to refresh and supplement panel membership where required.
The panels will also be used to assess applications through the ESRC fast-track schemes such as small grants, post-doctoral fellowships and some knowledge transfer schemes. More detailed information on the Grant Delivery Group and the panels will be provided in due course.
Peer Review College
To support the new committee structure and grants assessment process we are creating a college of peer reviewers to referee grant proposals, which will be in place by summer 2010. Members of the Peer Review College will be asked to sign up to review a set number of proposals per year. This system will provide a more effective means for reviewing research applications by improving the overall response rate of reviewers and thus reducing processing times for proposals.
The College will have 1,500 to 2,000 members from academic and non-academic backgrounds and will cover most grants and awards (excluding fast track grants such as Small Grants, Post-Doctoral Fellowships and Knowledge Transfer Schemes). In addition to using members of the new College the Council will, of course, continue to draw upon the wider academic and user communities to act as referees on research proposals.
Recruitment
Nominations for college members closed in January 2010. Nominations were sought from the research community and a wide range of users and stakeholders. The majority of college members will be UK based but international members were also sought.
Applications for new committee and panel members closed in January 2010. Information for reference only can be found on the committee and panel recruitment page.