Interview with Mrs Claire Cox, Research Manager in Higher Education (UK)

My background is in arts and the arts sector, so I’ve worked for over twenty five years with creative people and with organizations. A constant strand through that has been fundraising, because if you want to do anything there you have to find money, either through sponsorship or grant applications. I thought Brookes was an interesting environment to work in, especially in terms of research in the Arts and Humanities. I thought I could offer an insight into how to develop and manage projects and get funding. Thankfully, Brookes thought my experience was something they wanted, so that’s how I started here, a year ago.

It’s translating people’s ideas into funding applications in order for them to get the money to deliver those ideas. It’s really interesting. Every day is different. Because it’s a School with a wide remit, I have a very privileged position. I work with colleagues from different Departments. For example, today I have just finished talking to someone in Modern Languages; I worked with someone else from Film Studies and I will be talking to someone from English next. It’s this fascinating mixture of academic interests which excites me. There are other aspects involved apart from fundraising such as supporting the Research and Knowledge Transfer Committee (one meeting per semester). My job is partly fundraising and partly making sure that links develop within the School and information circulates.

From my perspective I have always thought that if you have an important piece of work and there is no other way of supporting it except from external funding, then it is very important to try to get this funding. I work on an individual level helping people to make their applications as good as they can be. In terms of the wider picture, obviously funding represents an income stream for the University. It also has other implications such as research excellence and supporting ability. Although it is obviously to do with money, I tend to think that the most important aspect is the cutting-edge activity and ensuring excellent research is supported.

That’s the difficult part in terms of the application. I prefer to think of the mechanics of the application: the applicants can help themselves and increase their chances of success by thinking through it very clearly. I would never recommend beginning with filling in the application from. Some forms are complicated and it’s very difficult to get your idea across in the format they require. What I would recommend is to discuss your ideas with someone and examine every aspect of the research and how it will work, including the budget. This will give you a very clear idea, step by step, of the research you’re envisaging. Once that is clear in your head, write down the fundamentals: how, where, what, why, when. After you have done your thinking, it should be much easier to fill in the application form. And it will stand more chance of being successful. It is a very difficult line to tread because you have to be passionate about what you are applying for. You have to believe in your work and want it in order to make a convincing application. On the other hand, you also have to be realistic and acquire an ability to face the final answer, whatever it is.

It is confusing sometimes and you have to address the criticisms directly. You have to stand up for what you believe and get it across in a professional way.

There’s a great deal of support available for research. I am a “full-time resource” for the School. There is also the Chair of the Grants panel and the Departmental Research Directors who input into research planning and applications. The School has a system of mentors (colleagues experienced in applying for research grants). So that’s all available at School level. We also work closely with the Research Business and Development Office which is University-based. They do the full economic costing and help with any specific requirements for the various funding bodies such as Research Councils or charities and trusts.

It’s a time of considerable change. The Research Councils have recently announced their new 5 year Delivery Plans and strategic priorities. They are looking very much at innovation and collaborative work. On top of that, there are trusts and charities. Because they are independent and can be very rich (like the Wellcome Trust), they can do what they want with their own money within their charitable objectives. Their priorities might be different from the Research Councils’, for example they are less likely to be pushing the Impact agenda. So it’s important to know who you’re applying to.

The fundamental principle is that the government thinks that tax money should not be invisible. The question is how do we demonstrate this? I don’t think it’s something that we need to panic about. We should think about how we can develop working relationships with people and not work so much in isolation. If a researcher’s work does not lend itself to Impact, then in theory they have the right to explain why it’s not appropriate in their circumstances. Obviously, a lot depends on disciplines. Some scholar’s work is practice-led, which lends itself to exhibitions or performances, so you can begin to talk about audience and attendance figures. That is one sort of academic impact. Research networks might also be linked to that. Impact is a way of quantifying and evidencing what we do and we will need to get into the habit of evaluating as we go along. The results of the pilot exercise into Impact have been published and include Arts and Humanities subjects. There is no point in claiming research impact if we do not have the evidence to back it up. If we are quite honest about how we do it and make sure we are getting the evidence, then talking about impact makes sense. Before the start of a project, scholars should think about potential impact, the way in which they could achieve this and then at a midway point in their research check they are on course. We should just be aware of how to include mechanisms that show and measure impact (e.g. visitor’s book; sample approach to questionnaires). This all needs to be manageable, with appropriate amounts of time given to it.

I think personally that the most challenging thing is working with a variety of people who are hugely specialized. My work is to make sure that I have a sufficient insight into these specialisms to make sure that scholars feel that I am a safe pair of hands and guide their projects properly. Everybody is always very busy and stressed so I have to make sure that during the all process everybody feels comfortable. Research managers can offer an outside eye and sometimes I feel like the dragon at the gate! But it helps to have a second pair of eyes to pick things up before they get to the real assessors.

It is going to be tough. I personally think universities are going to have to be very strategic about their research profile because everybody will want research excellence and impact. We will need to be very self-aware in order to achieve this. Research is all about incredibly talented people and we have to support them. The university will have to make sure that appropriate support is offered to academics aiming to strengthen their profile.

I would study Poetry!

Interview by Sabine Chaouche