[esocialaction] Happy New Year + future funding

[Dearden, Andrew M]

Happy New Year to one and all.


As you may be aware, the AHRC / EPSRC initial funding for the Technology & Social Action research cluster has now come to an end.
Personally, I think it has been a great success. 

But that does not mean that the project is over - "No ..... this is the end of the beginning" ;-)

The next important phase will be to secure further funding from AHRC / EPSRC to tackle some of the key research challenges that we
have identified.
 
On Monday (9th) they should be releasing a call for proposals. When we met in Glasgow, the assumption was that the size of the pot
would be of the order of £2m.

Below is all the pre-information I have available about that call:

"We had a meeting at the AHRC a week ago today. The call documentation will be released during week beginning 9 Jan 2006. So just
after Christmas. The AHRC and EPSRC will release a press release giving an overview of the call towards the end of this month.
Sorry the document could not be squeezed out earlier but it does have to jump quite a few hoops before it can go live."

"In brief it will be asking for research projects of between 12-24 month duration. There will be no lower limit on grants that can
be applied for. There will be an upper limit of £400,000 (FEC). Through this research call the AHRC & EPSRC hope to support a
portfolio of between 15-20 projects of different size and duration."

We would really like to put together some projects in the T & SA field that can tap into this money. I made some suggestions last
year of possible projects (which I'll circulate again) - but these are not the only options. It would be a strength if we could
build into these bids some funding that would help us keep our network working together.

So - keep Monday free for reading the call when it comes out, and keep in touch.



Andy