New Collaborative Transport Research Centre Briefing Meeting 5 October 2006 Gary Grubb, Associate Di

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New Collaborative Transport Research Centre
Briefing Meeting 5 October 2006Gary Grubb,
Associate Director for Research, Training and
Development, ESRC
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Programme for the Day

• 11.00 -11.40 Presentations
• The TRC and ESRC Priorities - Gary Grubb
• TRC and DfT / Scottish Executive Priorities -
  Matthew White
• Role of the TRC Gary Grubb, Matthew White
  Hamish Clark (Scottish Executive)
• 12.00-12.30 QA session on Role and Scope of
  Centre
• 12.30-12.50 Presentation
• Application and Assessment process - Gary Grubb
• 12.50-1.20 QA Session application assessment
  processes closing remarks
• 1.30 lunch networking
• 1.30 5.00pm Breakout rooms available for
  participants use
• 1.30-3.30 Funders representatives available for
  questions

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Transport Research Centre and ESRC

• Structure of this Part of Presentation
• Origins of the Centre
• The Centre and ESRC Strategic Priorities
• Outcomes of Consultation

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ESRCS Guiding Principles

• Three guiding principles
• 1) Quality Funding research and training of
  the highest quality by world standards peer and
  merit review of research
• 2) Relevance Focusing on areas of major
  scientific national importance
• 3) Independence Ensuring independence from
  political, commercial or sectional interests

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Why a Transport Research Centre

• ESRC funding for Transport Studies Unit ended
  2004 other investments (e.g. Inland Surface
  Transport LINK) also completed
• Discussions with research community indicates
  strong interest in on-going research agenda
  ((e.g. ITS Leeds report 2002, Mobile Worlds
  Programme development, evaluation report TSU)
• Discussions with DfT identified a number of areas
  of common interest and potential synergy,
  building on DfT/ESRC studentships scheme
• Potential to contribute to a range of ESRCs
  strategic objectives and complement other ESRC /
  RC funded research

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Examples of Previous and Current Research
Supported by ESRC

• Research Councils Energy Programme eg UK Energy
  Research Centre (UKERC), Sussex Energy Group
• Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
• People at Centre of Communication and Information
  Technologies (PACCIT) Programme
• Centre for Economic Performance e.g. on costs of
  distance, transport costs trade, evaluating
  urban transport improvements etc.
• Responsive mode e.g. Habitable Cars the
  organisation of Collective Private Transport
  (Laurier, Edinburgh, 2005-07), Integrated Travel
  Emissions Profiles (Preston, Oxford, 2004-2005)

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Potential Contribution to ESRCs Strategic
Priorities

• Seizing new research opportunities and being
  responsive to both the social science research
  community and our wider stakeholders
• Continuing interest in transport research,
  particularly social science contributions e.g. in
  areas such as mobility, transport economic
  development, transport behavioural change etc.
  Areas of UK strength
• Addressing key research challenges relating to
  living in Britain today and Britain in the
  wider world
• Potential contribution to ESRCs Succeeding in
  the Global Economy, Energy, Environment and
  Climate Change Understanding Individual
  Behaviour key research challenges ( possibly
  others e.g. population change).

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Potential Contribution to ESRCs Strategic
Priorities

• Strengthening the social science research base
  people, disciplines, data, methods and
  infrastructure
• - Support for studentships, fellowships and
  other training and development activities
• - Contribution to ESRCs National Datasets
  Strategy, by improving quality, access and usage
  of UK transport and related data resources,
  exploring new sources of data, data linkage etc.
• - Development of theory and methods
• - Build on existing capacity and encouraging
  researchers from outside transport field to bring
  their expertise to bear on transport issues

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Potential Contribution to ESRCs Strategic
Priorities

• Engagement of stakeholders through research
  partnerships, knowledge transfer and
  communication activities
• - An area of high policy importance and
  potential to engage a wide range of stakeholders
• - A strategic funding partnership and
  collaboration supported through the new ESRC
  Ventures Fund
• - Collaborative studentships fellowships,
  placements, secondments
• - Knowledge exchange, communication and
  engagement activities and events
• - Links to short-term policy analysis research
  funded by DfT

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Potential Contribution to ESRCs Strategic
Priorities

• International dimension e.g. international
  collaborative and comparative research,
  international visiting fellows / exchanges etc
• Supporting multi-and inter-disciplinary research
  drawing on relevant insights and expertise from
  across the social sciences beyond
• Ability to draw on range of high quality
  expertise wherever it is located and whether or
  not currently working on transport issues.
• ESRC is a UK funding body, consideration given to
  transport issues across all parts of UK and
  drawing on expertise across UK

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ESRC Funding

• ESRC has allocated new funding of up to 2.5m for
  the Centre from its Ventures Fund over 5 years to
  match DfT core funding
• On-going opportunities under ESRCs enhanced
  responsive mode provision.
• Complement other potential developments e.g.
  under Research Councils Energy Programme (with
  other RCs), possible Spatial Economics Research
  Centre.

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Outcomes of the Consultation

• 73 agreed need for new centre (main concern over
  possible concentration of resources)
• Emphasis on synthesis of methods / approaches and
  disciplines / subject areas
• Support for all research areas outlined. Highest
  support for transport environment, social
  inclusion accessibility policy. Lowest
  international technology
• Support for all functions. Highest quality
  strategic longer-term research, access to, and
  use of data other resources co-ordinating hub
  research network. Lowest meeting place, focus for
  cross-national collaboration
• Mixed views on structure and form.

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Role and Scope of the Centre

• Long-term innovative strategic research
  addressing key research challenges
• Transport and Economic Competitiveness
• Transport and the Environment
• Transport, Social Inclusion and Accessibility
• Transport and Mobility
• Transport and Technology
• Transport and Policy
• Applicants expected to develop own coherent
  research programme in this context in
  applications

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Role and Scope of Centre

• Co-ordinating hub of a research network
• Drawing together leading transport researchers
  and key stakeholders
• Drawing in other researchers and experts from
  outside transport studies
• Possible meeting place or function
• Connections with international networking and
  stakeholder engagement roles

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Role and Scope of Centre

• Drawing together and disseminating research
  knowledge
• Synthesising and reviewing current research and
  knowledge (variety of approaches through
  individual expert or systematic reviews
  road-mapping, issue appraisal, seminar, working
  or expert groups, etc.)

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Role and Scope of Centre

• Focus for stakeholder engagement, knowledge
  exchange and transfer
• Welcome innovative proposals for how to engage
  users stakeholders in all stages of the
  research process and promote two way knowledge
  exchange e.g.
• co-production of knowledge,
• movement exchange of people,
• innovative forms of output and communication etc

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Role and Scope of Centre

• Supporting development of research capacity
• Training and development of centre staff and
  affiliated staff
• Linked studentships (taking forward DfT/ ESRC
  joint studentships), fellowships, mentoring etc
• Broader training for research expert
  communities
• Development of methods and approaches

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Role and Scope of Centre

• Facilitating access to and use of data and other
  resources
• Identifying gaps in data resources and potential
  new sources of data
• Exploring issues of access to data
• Exploring and promoting opportunities to make use
  of existing data, e.g. demonstration projects,
  novel data linkage
• Skills and training in data analysis

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Role and Scope of Centre

• Cross-national and international networking and
  collaboration
• Links with other international centres
• Possible cross-national collaborative projects /
  joint applications for further work e.g. to EU
• International networking (exchanges, visiting
  fellows, international conferences etc)

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Role and Scope of Centre

• Understanding of policy and political process
• knowledge necessary to inform research
• How tools and methodologies may assist the policy
  process
• secondments in and out of the Centre and
  Whitehall
• normally the Department for Transport

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Role and Scope of Centre

• Short-term policy analysis
• informing more immediate policy questions
• often of current interest to Ministers
• short term research projects
• original work
• synthesising and applying existing knowledge
• DfT will act as the direct customer
• Call off basis

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Structure of Centre

• Applicants will need to come up with structure
  they believe best able to deliver the role and
  functions but expected to have
• A clear core or hub(s) one or a smaller number of
  institutions, including one institution to
  administer overall award clear integrated
  external interface (website, contacts etc) and
  identity
• A distributed element affiliated nodes,
  centres, projects, fellowships etc undertaking
  particular roles or involved in particular
  research or networking activities, including
  external commissioning of research

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Structure of Centre

• The ability to draw in wider transport research
  community as a part of research network,
  contributing to synthesis, undertaking short-term
  policy analysis etc.
• Demonstrable plans for engaging broader
  inter-disciplinary research community in
  transport research, either as a part of bidding
  partners or through commissioning or other
  activities
• Clear plans for, and expertise in stakeholder
  engagement, knowledge exchange and communication
  (including access to specialist expertise e.g.
  media)

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Structure of Centre

• Awareness of, and potential strategy for
  developing links with, with other relevant
  initiatives
• Clear management structure and plans for working
  with partners
• Strategy for developing co-funding

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Management of Centre

• Applicants to come up with appropriate internal
  management structure
• Expect Director with overall leadership
  responsibilities for centre to be identified,
  normally to be based at administering institution
  (though may not currently be based there) and
  with a significant of time devoted to
  management of Centre (models which also involve
  co-directors with particular areas of
  responsibility, theme leaders etc possible -
  providing that the overall leadership is clear)

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Management of Centre

• Steering Committee, from research stakeholder
  communities, including funders representatives,
  established to advise on progress and strategic
  direction of Centre.
• Annual report to funders Steering Committee.
  Funding beyond three years subject to review of
  progress during first two years of operation.
• Research funded under the core programme must
  conform to ESRC core principles Quality
  Relevance Independence
• Policy Research Customers Group established by
  DfT to define and steer short-term policy
  analysis work

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Commissioning Timetable

• Stage 1 - Closing date for outline proposals 15
  Nov 2006.
• Stage 2 Selection of short listed proposal (mid
  December 2006). Feedback to shortlisted
  applicants
• Stage 3 Development of full proposals for the
  Centre (January February 2007).
• Stage 4 - Independent peer review (March 2007)
• Stage 5 Applicant response to reviewers
  Assessment and interview by Steering Group (April
  2007)
• Stage 6 - Announcement of the Centre (late April
  2007)
• Stage 7 - Formal launch event (summer 2007).

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Commissioning of Centre

• Outline applications assessed by Steering
  Committee which will advise funders on potential
  to achieve aims outlined in specification. Expect
  feedback to be given to shortlisted applicants.
  Expect to shortlist 2 or 3 but reserve right to
  adopt alternative approaches depending on bids
  received this may include recommended changes
  to proposed consortia etc
• Full proposals sent to external peer review. Peer
  Review and Committee will identify proposals of
  fundable quality. Stakeholder views critical in
  making final selection

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Commissioning of Centre

• There is no restriction on the number of
  proposals that institutions / research groups
  /individuals can be involved in at this stage
• Recognise that the need to build in flexibility
  means that not all elements can be defined at
  this stage, especially for later years, but
  processes and principles can be outlined
• Centre able to start September / October 2007
• Award for core (5.25m) issued managed by ESRC
  in accordance with ESRC Research Funding rules
• Short-term analysis work managed separately by
  DfT
• Hope some early start-up activities can get
  underway sooner.

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Completing the Je-S Application

• Read the guidance notes! Allow time for
  submission process!
• Following will be required
• Outline budget for core excluding, short term
  analysis. Costs should not exceed 6m FEC
  (funders contributions to these will not exceed
  5.25m after indexation). Where research is to be
  commissioned externally the anticipated total
  cost should be stated but detailed breakdown not
  required (though indication of number scale of
  commissions would be helpful)
• Section on institutional commitment

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Completing the Je-S Application

• Case for support now 8 pages, especially
• objectives, vision, strategy, outputs, added
  value,
• long-term strategic research programme, where
  elements of the programme are to be commissioned
  externally this should be indicated and the
  proposed areas for commissioning and fit to
  broader programme explained
• establishment of research network

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Completing the Je-S Application

• Appendices
• Stakeholder engagement, knowledge exchange (3
  pages)
• Management of centre (1 page)
• Short-term Policy analysis work (3 pages) -
  strategy for delivery, methods, approach etc
  example of initial programme under 3 key
  challenges, outline costings within 2.5m at 100
  FEC
• Capacity building (1 page)
• Research experience (4 pages)
• Use space wisely avoid duplication in case for
  support / appendices

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Other Points to Consider

• Consider explicitly the Scottish context and how
  elements focused on this might be built into the
  research programme and other activities
• Think about quick wins / early activities
• Institutional support welcome
• Long-term vision sustainability

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Conclusions

• Thank you for taking part today and your interest
  in the centre.
• Slides available on ESRC website
• If you have any further queries please contact me
  or my colleagues Oliver Moss (Oliver.Moss_at_esrc.ac.
  uk) Tel [phone] or Ann Jeffcott
  (Ann.Jeffcott_at_esrc.ac.uk) tel [phone]
• Good luck! hope to receive some excellent
  outline proposals by 15 November