INFORMATION & UPDATES


UPDATES & INFORMATION


News briefs


WHERE DO I BELONG? PHOTO COMPETITION Almost 1,000 teenagers aged 14 to 18 from across the UK entered the ESRC’s photographic competition – giving their own artistic twist to the question of ‘Where Do I Belong?’ Social science affects us at work,


in school or college, within our communities, when exploring our identities and expressing our beliefs. We challenged young people for their take on society and the social sciences by asking them to take a picture of where they belong and feel at home. Over 2,000 images were entered from 332 schools across the UK. That number was whittled down to 500 images for the panel in January, where 46 images were shortlisted. An


NEW INITIATIVE TO SUPPORT THE RETAIL SECTOR The ESRC announced funding of the flagship Retail Sector Initiative to support a wide range of collaborative projects with businesses such as M&S and Waitrose, working alongside social and economic researchers to undertake research and knowledge exchange activities. Neighbourhoods rely on the retail


sector as a provider of employment and skills development, with the local town centre a focal point for community activity. But in recent years the sector has been through many changes caused by the speed and impact of technological innovation, the changing nature of the UK high street and the global economic slowdown.


CENTRES AND LARGE GRANTS 2014-15 The 2014-15 Centres and Large Grants competition will open in mid-April. As in previous years, in addition to the open route, the competition will feature steers in areas of strategic priority, as identified by the ESRC Council. These will be announced when the competition opens. The upper threshold for any single award is £10 million (100 per cent


exhibition of winning and shortlisted entries was held in March at the Strand Gallery in London. The judges included BBC journalist and TV presenter Ellie Crisell, Sophie Batterbury, Head of Pictures at The Independent and Ollie Smallwood, a freelance photographer. Picking the winners was hard, according to Ollie Smallwood: “The selection of winning images caused deliberation and debate among judges, which was largely instigated by the interpretations of the competition theme. It was fascinating to see how young people had used a visual art form to express their feelings on this subject,” he said. For one teacher, Dave Allen from North Halifax Grammar School, the


fEC) and it is anticipated that the budget for the next round will be £22 million. The ESRC Council expects to make around four awards. For more information about the competition see the ESRC website or email: centreslargegrants@esrc.ac.uk


ESRC LAUNCHES IMPACT ACCELERATION ACCOUNTS The current Knowledge Exchange Opportunities Scheme will close on 31 March 2014 due to falling demand. From summer 2014, the ESRC will


be providing funding for knowledge exchange activities through Impact Acceleration Accounts (IAAs). IAAs are block awards made to Research Organisations to accelerate the impact of research. Tried and tested by the ESRC and other Research Councils, IAAs allow Research Organisations to respond to knowledge exchange opportunities in more flexible, responsive and creative ways than centrally administered schemes. The IAA funding will be used flexibly and rapidly to support the


following key areas: n Building relationships and networks with potential users of research to facilitate co-production of knowledge and maximise impact;


main attraction of the competition was that it gave his pupils the chance to closely focus on society: “I routinely ignore calls for competition entries, but this seemed a good platform. The connections between photography, society and history are very important to us,” he said. See pages 16-17 for the winning images or visit: www. socialscienceforschools.org.uk/photography- competition


Leone Crick with his overall winning image ‘Be ready’


nMovement and secondment of people between Research Organisations and user stakeholders;


n Support for researchers to build networks with potential users of the products of their research, and further work to establish ‘proof of concept’ for their innovations;


n Drive culture change in Research Organisations to promote knowledge exchange and improve related skill sets and capabilities;


n Improve engagement with the public sector, civil society, industry (including SMEs, local business and the Technology Strategy Board) and publics. The support from IAAs will enable Research Organisations to provide funding for Knowledge Exchange (KE) activities in ways that best suit their institutional strategies and opportunities. Allocation of IAA funds is based on the size of Research Organisations’ ESRC recent research funding history. Those institutions which have been provisionally allocated IAAs will be required to submit business plans in order to release these funds. A specially convened panel will review the business plans to ensure they are of sufficient quality. n


SPRING 2014 SOCIETY NOW 29


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