The British Academy’s return as an ODA-research funder
A much-anticipated scheme for many researchers working on issues facing low- and middle-income countries, the first round of the British Academy’s Official Development Assistance International Interdisciplinary Research Projects programme has now launched.
The scheme offers up to £300,000 per project for UK-based early career researchers and international partners wishing to start ODA-eligible projects engaging both the humanities and social sciences. Projects may run for up to two years and the closing date for applications is 1 November. The academy hopes to fund at least 17 awards.
Each project must have at least one co-applicant who is an early career researcher based in a country on the UN list of least-developed countries and/or 11 other specified nations.
Philip Lewis, head of international at the British Academy, discusses how to make applicants’ bids shine.
What’s the call’s background?
This call is very much a further iteration of the ODA opportunities we’ve previously offered—in recent years through the Global Challenges Research Fund and the Newton Fund. We haven’t been able to put out as many ODA calls as previously, so we were really pleased to be able to do so now.
How is this call different to previous ODA calls?
One major difference is that although we are encouraging interdisciplinary research that is problem-focused and challenge-oriented, we aren’t setting the challenges ourselves. We haven’t specified a theme. It’s down to the early career researchers to take forward a certain problem or topic in an interdisciplinary way.
We are hopeful that the work can then be built on post award to facilitate further collaborations applying for other grants.
Can these be seen as career-development grants?
Yes, we are particularly looking for early career researchers to have the opportunity to lead and manage these projects, and to use it as a career-development opportunity. Therefore, we wouldn’t expect to support those who have already had significant opportunities in that respect.
Indeed, one of the assessment criteria that is different to other calls is the value of this award for the principal investigator and co-investigator for their career development. Applicants should think carefully about why this would be a great opportunity for them.
Define ‘interdisciplinary’.
What I would stress here is that we are looking for both humanities and the social sciences to be fundamentally involved and integrated in the project. It is not possible to have an interdisciplinary project that includes solely economics and political science, for example. We’re really trying to stretch people to work in an interdisciplinary way. We also welcome work with other disciplines, such as natural science, medical science or engineering.
What is your topline advice to applicants?
Applicants sometimes worry too much about ticking certain boxes that they think the funder might want, but I can assure you that all peer reviewers want to see is exciting, interesting, interdisciplinary, international, collaborative research. In essence, this is an open opportunity to pursue the ideas you want to.
In addition, this is a collaborative award and the academy places a strong emphasis on equitable partnerships. We are expecting that to come through in applications. We expect to be able to see evidence of how these partnerships come together, how the research agenda comes together, why the collaboration makes sense and how that will be achieved in an equitable way.
Which common mistakes should applicants avoid?
Often, applicants overpromise with these types of call. You’re not going to be publishing 10 books from this award, nor does the academy expect you to do so. So don’t promise it or the peer reviewers will immediately sense that your proposal is unrealistic. Think about what’s achievable.
What should applicants keep in mind about ODA guidelines?
We’ve included a link to additional ODA guidance in the call document, which I recommend people read. The application form includes a section where applicants must justify why and how they are ODA-eligible. You need to specify a particular problem for a particular country or countries listed in the call that your research is aiming to tackle, and you need to situate your research within that frame. You can’t simply say: “This is a great research area and topic, and I want to work with University X.”
Who assesses applications?
Once the call closes, an eligibility check will be done by the academy. Then all eligible applications will be looked at by three assessors. Through that process, a shortlist will be created that a panel will look at before making funding recommendations. The panel will have a variety of expertise, including humanities and social science scholars and practitioners.
What do you expect the success rate to be like?
In previous ODA calls, it’s usually 10-20 per cent. I would hope the success rate for this call would be in the higher half of that range.
This is an extract from an article in Research Professional’s Funding Insight service. To subscribe contact sales@researchresearch.com