Peer Review College Newsletter

Winter 2014

Launch of New EPSRC Strategic plan CONTENTS

Over the last five years the national and international research landscape, and the 1. Launch of New EPSRC context in which EPSRC operates, have changed and continue to develop. To take Strategic plan – page 1 account of this new environment our Strategic Plan has been up-dated, with input from our partners and communities, recognising external influences including 2. EPSRC Policy on the Use the international research landscape, global economic situation and government of Animals in Research strategies. – page 1

We have developed our goals and strategies to reflect this changing landscape and 3. College Member On-line to ensure we maintain focus on our ambitious and unwavering vision: for the UK to Training – page 3 be the best place in the world to research, discover and innovate. Our Strategic Plan also recognises the importance of working in partnership if the UK is to maintain its 4. EPSRCs Peer Review position as a world-leading location for high quality research, and be equally renowned Extranet – page 4 for its innovation. 5. Return for Amendments EPSRC’s CEO, Professor Philip Nelson said: “Our Strategic Plan describes the – page 4 potential of UK science and engineering, its importance to addressing the global and 6. The importance of Pre- domestic challenges that range from energy security to healthcare, and the vital role scores – page 5 it plays in economic growth by fuelling technological progress. It sets out how EPSRC, in partnership with the academic community and industry partners, will unlock that 7. Membership Matters potential and deliver on our vision. I believe this is a powerful argument in making the – page 5 case for long-term investment.” 8. Editors End Piece Our Council is beginning its preparation for next year’s anticipated Spending Review – page 8 and subsequent Delivery Plan. As part of this work, we will be engaging with our partners and stakeholders in the first quarter of 2015 and will publish further details in the New Year.

EPSRC Policy on Use of Animals in Research

We have recently clarified our policy on the use of animals in research to ensure it aligns with recognised best practice and is harmonised with the other Research Councils. Full details of our policy can be found on the EPSRC website at http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/about/standards/animalresearchpolicy/.

Wherever possible, researchers must adopt procedures and techniques that avoid the use of animals. Where this is not possible, the research should be designed to conform to recognised best practice.

Best Practice Guidance We endorse guidance developed by the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement & Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) concerning the use of animals in research. We recommend that College members who work in areas where in vivo research may be undertaken should keep themselves aware of developments Peer Review College Newsletter

in best practice by familiarising themselves with publications and other resources accessible through the NC3Rs website. Key resources are referenced below:

• Responsibility in the use of animals in bioscience research (http://www.epsrc. ac.uk/links/centres/national-centre-for-the-replacement-refinement-reduction- of-animals-in-research-nc3rs/responsibility-in-the-use-of-animals-in- bioscience-research-nc3rs/) This document provides general guidance to researchers and associated staff using animals or animal research products in bioscience research. It sets out the expectations of the EPSRC for the use of such animals in research and is therefore also useful to those assessing applications for research funding. Implementation of the principles in this guidance is a condition of receiving funds from EPSRC.

• Animal research: Reporting of in vivo experiments (ARRIVE) (http://www.epsrc. ac.uk/links/centres/national-centre-for-the-replacement-refinement-reduction- of-animals-in-research-nc3rs/arrive-guidelines-nc3rs/) Researchers are encouraged to report animal-based studies in accordance with the ARRIVE guidelines. These guidelines are intended to improve standards of reporting and ensure that the data from animal experiments can be fully evaluated and utilised.

• Primate accommodation, care and use (http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/links/centres/ national-centre-for-the-replacement-refinement-reduction-of-animals-in- research-nc3rs/non-human-primate-accommodation-care-and-use-nc3rs/) Guidelines on the accommodation, care and use of non-human primates, produced by the NC3Rs. Implementation of the principles in this guidance is a condition of receiving funds from EPSRC.

Applicant and Reviewer Guidance We have published new guidance for applicants and reviewers on our website at http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/about/standards/animalresearchpolicy/. Important changes that we’d like to draw to the attention of College members include:

• An ‘Animal Species’ section has been added to the Je-S form. This section requires applicants to provide additional justification on the need to use animals, the choice of species, experimental approach and numbers required. The section was previously only used by BBSRC and MRC. Please note that this section must be completed whether or not the animals are to be purchased with funds requested within the proposal itself. College members are asked to assess the information in this section when reviewing proposals and include any relevant comments in the ‘Quality’ and ‘Resources and Management’ sections of the reviewer form.

• The NC3Rs will be involved in the review of any applications received by EPSRC proposing to use non-human primates, cats, dogs or equines, providing advice on the 3Rs and animal welfare. The animal use aspects of proposals requesting other species may also be subject to specific review during the assessment process, particularly if large numbers of animals are requested.

We continue to work with NC3Rs and the other Research Councils to ensure robust review of the animal use aspects of proposals. If any further changes to our review processes are recommended, these will be communicated to College members.

Contact: [email protected]

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College Member On-Line Training

The College Member training will shortly be moved to a new platform. This will enable EPSRC to save the cost of the training being hosted externally. The new package will be hosted entirely within the Research Councils systems. For this move to take place the training will be off-line for several weeks. We will email the new details to you once the move has completed.

Thank you to those members who have already completed the training – there are approximately 800 people who have completed or are currently carrying out the training. We have received positive feedback on the content and would encourage everyone to complete the training particularly when asked to review or attend a panel meeting.

Extracts from the feedback received to date:

How long have you been a member of the How useful did you find this training? EPSRC Peer Review College?

How engaging did you find the training?

How easy did you find it to navigate the training?

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EPSRC Peer Review Extranet

As you may be aware EPSRC started using a Cross Council Extranet for all standard research peer review meeting paperwork from 1 July 2014. We have received positive feedback from the community on their experience in using the system, with some suggestions on how to enhance it.

Professor Sarah Spurgeon, a recent chair at an Engineering prioritisation panel meeting said “As a panellist I found the Extranet very useful in preparing for the meeting. I was able to download all the files from the Extranet for all proposals electronically and save them within the directory structure of my pc. This option enabled me to prepare very conveniently and efficiently even when travelling and without internet access.”

A number of improvements were made to the system during October based on feedback we have received; this includes the ability to download documents as a combined single PDF, improvements to the Zip download encryption and changes to the document ordering. We will continue to listen to your feedback in order to make changes to the system in the future.

Return for amendments

On average EPSRC returns about a third of all proposals to universities to make changes to either format or content or in some cases both. The nature of these changes covers a wide range of issues including: exceeding required page length; wrong or missing attachment types; incomplete Pathways to Impact statements and insufficient justification of resources.

Ensuring proposals are prepared correctly saves time for applicants, universities, reviewers and EPSRC.

To assist applicants and reviewers with what a proposal should look like, EPSRC has updated the layout and content of our guidance for preparing a proposal, this can be found here: http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/howtoapply/preparing/

A quick check list to avoid a proposal being returned:

• Check the requirements for the funding route you are applying to;

• Check the required page length for each attachment type;

• Check all resources requested are eligible and justified in the Justification of Resources;

• Check project partner is listed in the proposal and Project Partner Letter of Support has correct format and content;

• Refer to EPSRC guidance on writing good Pathways to Impact;

• Refer to EPSRC guidance on applying for equipment.

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The Importance of Pre-Scores

Introducer pre-scores are very important to the running of panel meetings and we would like to remind our community of the importance of pre-scores being returned to the office (via the extranet) before the meeting. Pre-scores should be uploaded to the EPSRC Peer Review Extranet at least two working days before the meeting. It is essential that we receive pre-scores from all members of the panel so that we can upload an initial running order for the proposals to the EPSRC Peer Review Extranet ahead of the meeting. The running order of the meeting will be based on the collected pre-scores of the introducers, taking the average of the three introducers’ overall scores. Without a completed set of pre-scores, we will be unable to supply the running order in advance of the meeting.

Membership Matters

Congratulations EPSRC extends its warmest congratulations to our College members who have recently received awards from the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. The Royal Academy of Engineering Professor Peter Wells CBE FREng FRS FMedSci FLSW MAE, Cardiff University, who has received the Sir Frank Whittle medal for his outstanding achievements in medical engineering - http://www.raeng.org.uk/news/news-releases/2014/ september/ultrasound-imaging-pioneer-peter-wells-to-receive Congratulations to the following College members who were elected as Fellows of the Academy - http://www.raeng.org.uk/news/news-releases/2014/september/ stars-of-industry-and-academia-elected-to-the-roya Professor Muhammed Basheer FREng, University of Leeds Professor Alistair Borthwick FREng, University of Edinburgh Professor Anthony Bull FREng, Imperial College London Professor Steve Bull FREng, Newcastle University Professor Patricia Connolly FREng FRSE, University of Strathclyde Professor Steven Cowley FREng FRS, UK Atomic Energy Authority Dr Steve Denton FREng, Parsons Brinckerhoff Ltd Dr Andrew Fitzgibbon FREng, Microsoft Research Professor Michael Lowe FREng, Imperial College London Dr Malcolm Macleod FREng, QinetiQ Ltd and Visiting Professor, University of Strathclyde Professor Paul Newman FREng, University of Oxford Professor Constantinos Soutis FREng, University of Manchester Professor Nick Tyler CBE FREng, University College London The Royal Society We congratulate the following College members whose excellence in science and technology has been recognised by the Royal Society - https://royalsociety.org/awards/medallists/2014/

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Medals Professor John Sutherland, University of Cambridge Darwin Medal Professor Jeremy Baumberg FRS, University of Cambridge Rumford Medal Prizes Professor Ivan Parkin, UCL Royal Society Armourers & Brasiers’ Company Prize Professor Andrea Sella, UCL Michael Faraday Prize Lectures Professor Rachel McKendry, UCL Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award and Lecture Keeping in Touch We include a list of college members we have lost contact with in the ‘Gone Away’ section of the newsletter. This may be for a variety of reasons, so to avoid this we would remind you: · If your circumstances change please update your record, particularly your contact details on Je-S. · If you no longer wish to remain a college member then please let us know, at [email protected] so we don’t continue to send you reviews you may not wish to consider. · If you move organisations please do not create a new record on Je-S, but update your existing one. A new record will not include your college membership and reviewing history. · Some people are shown as ‘Gone Away’, even when they clearly haven’t moved. This is usually due to problems with email delivery, where our attempts to contact you fail, often by being blocked by your organisation’s firewall. As college members you can try to prevent this by identifying EPSRC as a recognised safe organisation, and also doing the same for the UK SBS who now issue many emails on our behalf.

Gone Away If you are still in contact with anyone listed below please could you ask them to check that their contact details on Je-S are correct and up to date. If they believe their details are correct so that we should be able to contact them, or if they no longer wish to remain a college member, they should contact us at [email protected] Mr Mark Andrew, BAE Systems Professor Paul Coleman, University of Bath Dr John Davies, QinetiQ Ltd Professor Vahid Nassehi, Loughborough University Professor Saeed Vaseghi, Brunel University Professor John Yates, The University of Manchester Mr P Osbourne, Plessey Semiconductors Ltd

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New College Members We wish to welcome the following new members to the College: Dr Dave Adams, University of Liverpool Dr Dmitry Belyaev, University of Oxford Professor Michael Benedikt, University of Oxford Dr Nigel Collier, European Bioinformatics Institute Dr Malcolm Connolly, University of Cambridge Dr Peter Glynne-Jones, University of Southampton Dr Tammy Kalber, University College London Dr Dmitry Kovirzhin, University of Cambridge Dr Rebecca Nichols, University of Oxford Dr Ioan Notingher, University of Nottingham Dr Tadahiro Oh, University of Edinburgh Dr Pietro Oliveto, University of Sheffield Professor Fabrice Pierron, University of Southampton Dr Laura Torrente Murciano, University of Bath Dr Bradley Treeby, University College London Dr Andrew Wheeler, University of Southampton Standing Down The following long-standing members have chosen to stand down from the College: Professor Richard Abram, Durham University Mr Paul Acarnley, Research Engineering Education Studies Professor Michael Allen, University of Warwick Professor Roger Bisby, University of Salford Professor Russ Bowman, Loughborough University Professor Michael Gibbs, University of Sheffield Professor Chris Glasbey, The James Hutton Institute Professor Michael Gordon, University of Cambridge Dr Kok Kwang Phoon, National University of Singapore Mr Iain Smith, The Welding Institute Professor Sarah Springman, ETH Zurich Professor Ken Turner, University of Stirling Professor Michael Weiss, University of Muenster Professor John Whitehead, The University of Manchester

We wish to record our grateful thanks for the important contribution they have made as members of the college and wish them well for the future.

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Editor’s End-Piece

Hello everyone, and yes it is me back again. I have been asked to resume responsibility for editing the Newsletter, although another colleague, Alison (Ali) Griffiths, will take the lead in managing all other college activity. If you wish to contact us about anything to do with the College or your membership of it please do so by email to college@ epsrc.ac.uk. This may seem slightly impersonal but is a shared address accessed by all members of the Peer Review Team here at EPSRC and will ensure that we are able to respond as quickly as possible to your request.

This was a landmark year for the EPSRC process where the implementation of the Peer Review Extranet meant that the process became for the first time wholly electronic and paper-free, the latest step in an evolutionary route that started almost 10 years ago when we first started accepting electronic submission of proposals. This is just a step as evolution does not stop so further development will occur over time. At the same time, over this past year, EPSRC has supported 620 new grants with a total announced value of £366 million and to achieve this we obtained approx. 5,800 expert reviews and involved around 800 individuals as members of over 130 peer review panels. The majority of this activity was undertaken by college members and I would like to thank all of you for your continued help and support – it is absolutely invaluable.

We continue to work within a changing landscape and this brings new challenges, but I have no doubt that together we will continue to rise to meet them. Closer to home the delivery of the response to the Review of Peer Review will lead to changes in the way the College is structured, populated and operates. We will ensure you are kept fully informed of changes as they develop and what they may mean to you.

As ever this newsletter is aimed to provide you with information that is both of interest and use. Any feedback on this issue, or any of the information contained in it is welcome. If there is anything else related to EPSRC peer review, or to the broader grants process, that you would be interested in learning more about then please let me know ([email protected]) and I will do my best to include it in a future issue.

Wishing you all the best for Christmas and the New Year

Paul

Further Information Details about EPSRC and the peer review process may be found at Polaris House http://www.epsrc.ac.uk. EPSRC’s current support may be found through the North Star Avenue easily searchable “Grants on the Web” facility at http://gow.epsrc.ac.uk Swindon SN2 1ET www.epsrc.ac.uk 8