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Schemes for Engineers in Research and Development
Research Chair in Emerging Technologies
Background
The Academy has a long
established programme of Research Chairs and Senior
Research Fellowships, funded jointly with industry.
These work well, not least because the company –
more often than not, a large company – is investing
in generic research in an area which is established
and recognised to be in the interests of the
business. The academic/industrial links established
through this programme have been widely acclaimed
and the Academy currently supports 24 such research
posts.
The Academy believes that
there is now a requirement for engineering research
in emerging technologies where, by definition, the
technology is immature and hence is unlikely to be
ready to be supported by industry.
This prestigious Research
Chair will enable a research professor to undertake
work at an ultra-precompetitive level and have the
freedom to develop an area of technology which would
ultimately grow into something that industry could
take forward, possibly as a conventional Research
Chair and associated research group.
Funding constraints will only
provide for one Professor in Emerging
Technology to be appointed at the outset.
The Chair will be established
for a period of ten years, and will be subject to an
annual review of achievement with a major review
after five years. By that stage, ideally, industrial
interest should have been registered and prospects
for the future should begin to emerge. From the
start, particular efforts would be taken to ensure
that the chair-holder is exposed to industrial
connections, thereby stimulating interest and
dialogue of mutual benefit.
This new scheme will be
administered as an extension of The Academy’s
existing schemes for Chairs and Fellowships.
However, it is suggested that it should be for
applicants to propose and justify their choice of
subject area, recognising that some may well be
regarded by peers as ‘risky’ or unconventional.
Example areas that have been suggested are Hybrid
electronics (organic-inorganic) &
(silicon-biological); Systems and synthetic biology;
Future generation materials and devices; BUT
it is for the university and the nominated candidate
to propose and justify any area of engineering in
which they consider there to be a technology
appropriate for this scheme.
Process
Applications will be invited
from the academic sector only. A key test in the
selection procedure will be the question ‘Could this
proposal have come forward under The Academy’s
Research Chair’s programme, co-funded by industry?’
If the answer is yes then the application would be
deemed inappropriate for this scheme.
Stage 1: Preliminary Proposal
The Academy will invite
universities to submit an outline case for support
(no more than 4 pages of A4) indicating what area of
emerging technology in any discipline of
“engineering” they wish to put forward under this
scheme.
The preliminary proposal
should come from an individual to be hosted by the
university and carry the written support of the
university.
The outline case for support
should pay particular attention to the originality
of the case in the context of “emerging technology”.
A full CV of the nominated candidate should be
appended to the preliminary proposal.
A cross-disciplinary sub-group
of The Academy’s Research and Secondments Committee
will be convened to assess the submissions and a
short list of proposals will be selected to be taken
to the next stage.
The closing date for these
initial submissions is Monday 7th January 2008.
Please note that we will only accept two
submissions per institution.
Please submit your
applications electronically to the Research team
or to Research Programmes, 3 Carlton House Terrace,
London SW1Y 5DG.
Stage 2: Full Proposal
Candidates selected from the
preliminary stage will be invited to submit a full
proposal. This should be no longer than 12 pages of
A4. This should build more substantially on the
areas covered in the outline case for support and
should, inter alia, include the following:
-
Basis for the area of
technology identified and how this is seen
as “emerging technology”
-
Outline plan for the
research programme
-
Qualities and capabilities
of the university department hosting the chair
and how this activity relates to the research
strategy of the Department
-
Outline of capabilities
and achievements of the nominated candidate (a
full CV should be appended to the proposal)
-
The candidate should
submit the names of two nominated referees in
support of the full proposal
-
The full proposal should
include three allowable costs under the full
economic costing (fEC) methodology, namely gross
salary, indirect and estate costs. The Academy
will meet 80% of the fEC costs as determined by
The Science & Innovation Group of DIUS.
The Academy will select three
of its Fellows to review each proposal.
A cross disciplinary sub-group
of The Academy’s Research and Secondments Committee
will be convened to assess the submissions and
select a shortlist of candidates for interview.
Short listed candidates will
be invited for interview by a panel of Academy
Fellows selected from our Research and Secondments
Committee and the wider Fellowship as appropriate.
Overall Summary of the Process:
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Invitation to all UK
universities
-
An initial submission (up
to 4 pages) with a nominated candidate is made
to The Academy
-
A sub-group (Lead
Assessors) of the Research and Secondments
Committee will assess the initial submissions
and identify a short list to be developed
further
-
Short listed universities
will be invited to make a full submission
-
Full submissions sent to 3
Fellows for review
-
Meeting of Selection Panel
to consider full submissions including the CV of
the candidate and Referees’ comments and to
select a short list of candidates for interview
-
Interview Panel convened
and a selection made for the Chair
For any queries please contact
Rob Barrett, Manager, Research Programmes.
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