As part of their Human Resources Strategy, universities have been tasked by the Funding Councils with devising and implementing a mechanism for identifying and supporting members of staff who are at the start of their research career.
The closing date for applications is Friday 28th June 2013. Any questions please email Elora Marston - e.marston@wlv.ac.uk or ring 01902 518768
In order to help you develop your ERAS fellowship application, you may wish to attend the short advice and guidance workshop:
You are invited to attend this year's New Researchers' Conference on Wednesday, 12th June 2013. This conference will combine presentations from the Early Researchers Award Scheme as well as the Research Student Poster Exhibition & Competition. Follow the link above for and more information about the day and to book your place.
There are two elements to our scheme:
Anyone in the University who can demonstrate that they are at postdoctoral level now and normally that they attained this level within the last 5 years.
Normally such evidence would include:
‘Early researcher’ is interpreted here as ‘at the beginning of a postdoctoral career’, and does not correlate to chronological age of the applicant. There is no maximum age limit.
Please note: If you have received the ERAS award before you are not eligible to apply a second time.
As part of the application process, you will need to ensure that your line manager is aware of your application and supportive of it. If you are engaged with one of the University’s Research Institutes, you should also secure the support and signature of the Director.
A review panel will assess the applications according to the quality and viability of the individual proposal, and a decision will be made from there. The panel does not intend to interview applicants, although it reserves the right to do so.
The panel is scheduled to meet on Tuesday 9th July 2013 and will inform you of their decision by Friday 12th July 2013.
As part of your application we ask that you 'please provide the name of an individual who has agreed to act as your ERAS mentor'. We would like to keep the mentoring informal for ERAS so we have left it up to individuals to approach someone personally. Ideally you should select someone who is an experienced or active researcher within a discipline that doesn't have to be the same but at least compliments your own. Your mentor needs to be someone who can give you constructive feedback on your research.
They should also be willing to and have time to meet or correspond with you but how often and to what extent will need to be agreed between yourselves.
If you have any questions please contact Debra Cureton, the University Mentoring Coordinator and she can advise with you further.
You will be given a budget of up to £5000 to support the completion of your project. You will be asked to provide an overview indication of how you would intend to spend the money as part of your application. ‘New Starters’ at the University will be able to use their allocation of time to participate in this programme and will still receive the funds to use in support of other aspects of their research programme such as data gathering and analysis, research visits, etc.
Normally, you may use your budget to cover research costs such as field work, research/library visits, consumables, research assistant time and specialist conference attendance (beyond that which would be supported through normal School procedures). You may also use your budget to provide teaching support through VL cover, in which case you should use rates (from UW9 point 32 to 38) per ‘teaching hour’ (i.e., one hour class contact plus one hour preparation/marking). Remember to factor in overheads, on-costs and any holiday entitlement. You should be able to obtain details from your School Manager or Finance Office. Because of recent changes in employment law relating to VLs and because of new procedures operating at University level, you must have your line-manager’s express approval for any proposed VL cover.
Because of the need to plan for maintenance and replacement costs, your budget cannot normally be used to purchase equipment.
Yes. On your part, you undertake to deliver the project outcomes within budget and on time. You also undertake to participate fully in the support programme. You should be aware that it will not be possible to defer either the uptake of the award or completion of it (apart from reasons of maternity or extended sick leave), and that the ERAS fellowship therefore represents a firm commitment. If you leave the University within 2 years of completion of the programme, the University reserves the right to reclaim all or part of its investment (in accordance with standard University practice).
You must be available to attend the mandatory ERAS Induction scheduled for Monday 23rd September 2013 from 1230 till 1630 and 5 other sessions and events spread across the year:
On our part, we undertake to honour your commitment to the programme so that you are fully able to complete it satisfactorily. We will endeavour to provide a genuinely valuable support programme that is tailored to meet the needs of the group as far as possible.
