As part of the current ESRC IAA funding at University of Birmingham there is now an opportunity to join the ESRC IAA mentoring scheme, the first cohort of which commenced in 2019 and comes to an end in Summer 2020. The scheme has been designed to support social science researchers across all colleges to maximise the impact and influence of their research on non-academic beneficiaries.
We had an excellent standard of application for the scheme and funded mentees from the colleges of Social Science, Arts and Law, Life and Environmental Sciences, Engineering and Physical Sciences and Professional Services. Each participant was awarded £1,000 to support an engagement project, guided by their mentor.
Each duo arranged and are participating in three to four impact development meetings and/or training sessions in 2019-20. Participants are using their scheme allocation to plan and, if appropriate, deliver an engagement project during this period. The mentees will be presenting their work and lessons learned at the end of scheme event in June 2020.
Feedback from the mentors and mentees from the first cohort has been overwhelmingly positive: –
“You don’t have to be at a specific point in your career to be a mentor or mentee, the scheme is suitable for all and everyone can learn from it.”
“One of the best things about the scheme was hearing about mentor’s previous experiences/events/plans – things that worked or did not work and how can I relate this to my own research impact.”
“The scheme has provided further opportunities for identifying and applying for new grants and funding related to social sciences.”
We have now added even more mentors to the scheme and have launched a call for applications on 30 June 2020.
The nature of engagement activities participants may choose is not prescriptive, but examples of how funds may be used include: meetings, seminars and workshops with external research users; travel costs; attendance at conferences; and production of dissemination materials.
You will find details of our current mentors here. if you are interested in being involved in the programme you are encouraged to write to us at esrciaa@contacts.bham.ac.uk outlining what you would like to do with the money and the opportunity, together with details of which mentor you would like to be matched with by the end of August 2020 and we will allocate mentors/mentees in September 2020.