Funder engagement and influence
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Arranging annual visits from major social sciences research funders.
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Share funding intelligence and insights.
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Facilitating academic engagement with strategic roles within funding bodies (Panel and Committee membership, attendance at Scoping Workshops).
Grant writing workshops and training
CRSO regularly organise researcher training events which are either focused on specific funders and schemes, or cover aspects of grant writing and proposal development. Please browse our Grant Writing Resources pages for templates, resources, and slides from past events. Upcoming dates for workshops and training are available here (CoSS staff are welcome to attend CAL training sessions as well).
Gathering and disseminating funding opportunities
A range of relevant social science funding opportunities are collated on our Grant Funding pages, with a calendar of standard open or recurring grants linked to career stages, and a page for calls with upcoming deadlines. Bespoke emails are sent out for schemes which have internal processes in operation, and listed on the Demand Managed Calls page. Internal funding opportunities are available on the Research Support Services web pages.
For external applicants wishing to apply for a Fellowship to be held at UoB, selection procedures for certain calls are detailed on our External Applicants page. For all other grants and Fellowships please contact CRSO Research Development Officers (contact details above).
Bid development, submission and award set up support
All research grant applications for the College of Social Sciences are supported by CRSO. We offer advice on funding routes and call-specific guidance, coordinate internal peer review and other grant-related processes, help generate budgets and assist with application finances, submit proposals on both internal (Worktribe) and external systems and portals, help with responses to external peer review comments, and arrange mock interviews. We also support with grant acceptance and set up of successful bids.
Additionally, we help secure match funding arrangements for applications where this is required, and provide guidance for letters of support (Head of School, PVC-level, from Project Partners). Obtaining match or letters can take several weeks and applicants are encouraged to advise CRSO at the earliest possible, should these be required.
Please read our Funding Guidance documents for more detail about applying for a research grant:
CONTACT US EARLY!
Please get in touch as soon as you have an idea for a project or have seen a scheme of interest. Bid development timelines can vary from 3-4 weeks to several months, depending on the size and complexity of applications. We manage a large volume of applications throughout the year and early engagement helps us set up the overall application process and prioritise support for bids.
To get in touch, please email our shared mailbox researchbids@contacts.bham.ac.uk or get in touch directly with your Research Development Officer using the contact details above, or via Teams or Zoom.