‘Breaking barriers in research funding applications: Evaluating narrative CVs and co-designing solutions for application processes’ led by Dr Fabio Fasoli from the University of Surrey, with co-investigators Dr Hannah Frith, Dr Noelia Noël, and Dr Susan Hutton of University of Surrey, with partners DORA (Declaration on Research Assessment) Group and the Institute for Sustainability at University of Surrey.

The project aims to investigate challenges and opportunities encountered by underrepresented individuals during the funding application preparation process, particularly focusing on Narrative CVs. Unlike traditional academic CVs, narrative CVs use a narrative approach to highlight the applicants’ achievements and strengths, aiming to reduce evaluation biases. The project has four main objectives.

1. Identify Barriers and Effective Practices: The project will identify barriers faced by underrepresented individuals in preparing funding applications and writing Narrative CVs, along with effective practices that support them. Interviews will be conducted to understand these barriers and facilitators, as well as how individuals navigate them.
2. Examine Writing and Evaluation of Narrative CVs. The project will examine how Narrative CVs are written and evaluated, specifically focusing on language. The project will collect Narrative CVs, conduct linguistic analyses, and have them scored by reviewers, which will then be tested to see which language features are associated with evaluation biases.
3. Provide Practical Solutions. Solutions to barriers faced by underrepresented researchers will be developed through a workshop where training materials for writing successful Narrative CVs and solutions to overcome grant preparation barriers will be identified and assessed. This will be done collaboratively by involving underrepresented researchers and professional service teams who support researchers and grant applications.
4. Disseminate Findings. The project will disseminate the results through various channels, targeting diverse audiences including academics, funding agencies, industry, and stakeholders. The project will deliver a map of barriers and facilitators, a summary report with tips for writing effective Narrative CVs, and evidence-based recommendations to improve the grant preparation process.

Ultimately, the project seeks to ensure equal opportunities for underrepresented researchers by promoting fair and unbiased funding application practices, aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 10 – Reducing Inequalities, see Target 10.2 and 10.3).

Full Economic Costing (FEC)   £83,926  (80% £67,140)

‘REPAIR: Redesigned Equitable Processes for Inclusive Research Funding’ led by Dr Christin Henein at University College London, with co-investigators Prof Aikaterini Fotopoulou, Prof Anna Cox, Dr Simona Aimar, Dr Naaheed Mukadam, and Dr Natalie Marchant all at UCL. With partners ALBA Network; the British Neuroscience Association; The European Society for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience; the British Academy’s Early Career Researcher Network; Voices of Colour; UCL’s Institute of Advanced Studies and Early Career Network in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences;  UCL’s Research Culture team; Centre for Equity Research, Faculty of Brain Sciences, UCL; Research Coordination Office for Life and Medical Sciences, UCL;  and the UCL Neuroscience Careers Network (NCN), supported by the UCL Neuroscience Domain, aims to promote the professional development of UCL’s Neuroscientists.

 The “REPAIR” project is an initiative aimed at addressing systemic inequities in the way academic research funding is awarded, with a particular focus on improving fairness for marginalised early career researchers (ECRs). By partnering with key academic and research communities, including the Faculty of Brain Sciences and the Faculty of Arts & Humanities at University College London (UCL), REPAIR leverages diverse perspectives to reshape the (pre) selection and nomination processes.

At the core of REPAIR is a commitment to mapping out and understanding the current funding system to identify where biases might occur. This involves using diagrams to visualize decision flows and analysing academic networks to spot patterns of unfairness, ensuring that the areas most in need of change are targeted effectively. ECRs and other underrepresented groups are central to this process. Through interviews and direct engagement, REPAIR will gather personal experiences and insights, making certain that the proposed changes address real-world challenges and lead to genuine improvements.

Collaborative efforts with partners like Voices of Colour, ALBA, the British Neuroscience Association ECR networks, and the UCL Research Culture Team will help develop new strategies to reduce bias. This includes creating workshops and innovative tools to make selection criteria fairer and using software to monitor the diversity and inclusiveness of the applicant pool in real-time. REPAIR will rigorously test these strategies in settings like the annual preselection process for UKRI fellowships, using both quantitative data and qualitative feedback to measure their effectiveness.

Full Economic Costing (FEC)   £104,973.54  (80% £83,330.83)

‘In Their Own Time: Challenging conventional funding structures to include intersectionally underrepresented casualised academics’ led by Dr Cecile Menard at the University of Edinburgh, with co-investigator Dr Lena Wånggren at University of Edinburgh with illustrator Maria Stoian and partners UCU (University & College Union) Anti-Casualisation Committee and UCU Edinburgh.

Academic staff on insecure contracts, many of whom are women and racially minoritized groups, are often expected to apply for the grants necessary for career progression ‘in their own time’. This expectation particularly disadvantages those who have extra demands on their time and who cannot exceed their working day beyond their contracted hours. These include women in part-time roles and/or with caring responsibilities or disability, i.e. intersectionally marginalised groups disproportionally represented among long-term casualized academics (LTCAs) who have been on insecure teaching-only or research-only contracts for more than eight years. Meanwhile, these groups are underrepresented among grant award holders. Working with intersectionally marginalised LTCAs, this project examines how current funding structures, expectations of a linear career, and gendered and ableist expectations of unpaid labour hinder access to career progression opportunities. It will shed light on the invisibilised labour, time required and expected, and obstacles encountered by these groups before and during the grant-writing process, revealing exclusions inherent in conventional funding structures. Based on scholarly expertise and lived experience, they will propose recommendations to address these disparities.

Full Economic Costing (FEC)   £95,870  (80% £76,696)

‘Is all publicity good publicity? Addressing Public Harassment in LGBT+ Research Impact’ led by Dr Tig Slater at Sheffield Hallam University with co-investigators Dr Charlotte Jones of Swansea University, Dr Rosie Nelson of University of Bristol, and Amy Ryall at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, with partners National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) and London Arts & Humanities Training Partnership (LAHP).

There is a growing expectation for academic researchers to publicly communicate their work and create change outside of universities. Whilst this shift in approach is valuable, an increasingly hostile climate towards LGBT+ people in the UK means that sharing LGBT+ research carries risk of harassment. Academics in LGBT+ studies have reported being the subject of derogatory media attention and victims of online and offline harassment, in some cases requiring new security measures in their homes. The potential for harassment is rarely recognised within the Higher Education sector, which means that academics doing LGBT+ research are left to make their own plans about safety, weighing up the benefits and perils of sharing their research. Through policy analysis, focus groups with LGBT+ researchers, and interviews with those facilitating and evaluating impact work, this project will explore and address consequences of LGBT+ researcher harassment at societal, sector and individual levels.

This project will have a lasting cultural impact through its development of a community of practice (CoP) which will continue beyond the project’s lifetime. The aims of the CoP are twofold: 1) to bring public engagement professionals, research support staff and policy makers into conversation with LGBT+ researchers to address researcher safety; and 2) to develop supportive communities for LGBT+ researchers to build solidarity. They will also develop outputs intended to transform practice, including a ‘training the trainers’ digital toolkit, aimed to help those working in research support roles to address the risks of harassment for LGBT+ researchers through their training and guidance.

Full Economic Costing (FEC)   £82,086  (80% £65,668)