Applications should be submitted through the Joint Electronic Submission (Je-S) system by 6 January 2022 at 16:00. They will need to go through the appropriate institution submission process prior to this.
Please make sure you leave sufficient time to create Je-S accounts if you don’t already have one, and that you gain any required approval from your organisation and ensure you submit before the deadline.
We recommend you start your application early. You can save completed details in Je-S at any time and return to continue your application later.
To prepare a proposal form in Je-S, log in to your account and choose ‘documents’ from the menu, then select:
- ‘create new document’
- council: AHRC
- document type: Fellowship Proposal
- scheme: AHRC Fellowships
- call, type or mode: AHRC DCMS Policy Fellowships 6 January 2022.
Je-S will then create a proposal form, displaying the relevant section headings. Using the blue question marks and the ‘help’ link at the top of each section will provide guidance relevant to that section of the form.
All investigators named on the Je-S application form must have a Je-S account. Where this doesn’t already exist, it can be easily set up, but please note that it can take a number of days so it is strongly recommended that the process be started well before the application deadline. Je-S accounts can be created on the Je-S site. During account set-up, an account type of ‘an applicant on a fellowship proposal’ must be selected.
Completing your proposal
Within the Je-S proposal document the following sections need to be completed by all applicants.
Project details
Application titles should be prefixed ‘AHRC DCMS Fellowship’ followed by the applicant’s name. The start date must be 1 June 2022 and the duration up to 13.5 months.
Applicants
Enter details of the fellow, their research organisation and department.
Summary
Please copy the following standard text into the summary section of your proposal.
Each fellowship will last up to 13.5 months to cover a three-month inception phase for set up activity, followed by a six to nine month placement with the Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS), and concluding with an impact phase lasting up to six weeks.
Fellows will co-design projects and activities with DCMS and produce analysis to inform government decision making across a range of policy priorities. Fellows will also engage across DCMS, building effective working relationships and supporting wider knowledge exchange with researchers. This will be supported through their embedded role within DCMS, including line management support.
Objectives
Please copy the following standard text into the objectives section of your proposal. Do not enter any additional text.
The AHRC-DCMS Policy Fellowships scheme aims to create deeper engagement between academia and policy by offering researchers the opportunity to undertake a secondment at the DCMS.
AHRC-DCMS policy fellows will:
- provide research and expert advice on the policy priority areas, including co-designing and delivering research projects and activities
- engage in knowledge exchange (KE) activities across government and academia
- build longer-term networks across research and policy.
Fellows will be uniquely positioned to build connections between the policymaking and research communities, as well as to generate and share new knowledge and insights on effective policy collaboration with the wider research community.
Academic beneficiaries
Please copy the following standard text into the academic beneficiaries section of your proposal. Do not enter any additional text.
The benefits from the fellowship for the UK research environment will include:
- opening up new research agendas across disciplines
- an understanding across UK academia of what impact is and how it is generated
- higher levels of mutual trust between government and academia that will lead to improved access to the extensive networks of government at home and abroad.
Proposal classifications
Please select up to five subject classifications that provide an indication of your disciplinary research interests, expertise and knowledge.
Staff
Please ask your research or finance office to assist you with completing this section. All staff involved must be included.
‘Directly allocated staff’ are those who will be working directly on the project, but whose involvement on the grant can only be based on an estimate of the time the work will take (for example mentorship costs).
‘Directly incurred staff’ are those whose time on the project is actual, auditable and verifiable (for example administrative support).
As your time commitment will vary depending on the phase of the fellowship you are in, you should include your average FTE in this section. You should then provide your time commitment for each phase of the fellowship within the case for support.
Resources
All resources must be fully justified in the ‘justification of resources’ attachment.
Travel and subsistence
Travel to and from the candidate’s base office will not be funded by DCMS and should therefore be factored into your application. In the application, please base your commuting costs on the location of your preferred hub.
Enter the details of your anticipated travel costs, noting the rules stated in the ‘eligible costs’ section. As well as your anticipated travel costs, please budget for three joint meetings with DCMS and AHRC (to be held in Swindon or London).
Other directly incurred costs
Eligible costs under this heading include any additional costs associated with the requirements of the inception and placement phases of the fellowship.
Please note that successful applicants will be able to apply for additional project related costs identified during their fellowship, up to a maximum value of £15,000 at 100% full economic cost and funded at 80% full economic cost.
This includes costs identified during the inception phase as required for successful completion of the placement phase of the fellowship (for example travel and subsistence costs linked to accessing data and additional project-specific mentorship requirements or specific data training requirements), as well as costs to support knowledge exchange and impact related activity during the placement and impact phases.
Full details on how these costs will be requested and approved will be shared with successful applicants. Therefore, such costs must not be requested at this stage.
Other directly allocated costs
Including support staff salaries and a share of the costs of departmental support staff.
Estates and indirect costs
Enter the estates and indirect costs associated with the fellow. As the fellow will be seconded to DCMS for the duration of the placement phase, this should be taken into consideration when calculating estates and indirect costs.
Attachments
As well as the Je-S application form, the following documents must be submitted, unless it is indicated they are optional:
- case for support
- justification of resources
- applicant CV
- mentor CV
- publication list
- head of department statement.
General guidance on attachments is provided in AHRC’s research funding guide. Any guidance specific to this opportunity is provided below and takes precedence.
You should attach your documents as PDFs to avoid errors. They should be completed in single-spaced Arial 11 font or similar-sized sans serif typeface.
Case for support attachment
Maximum five sides of A4. Please use the following headings to structure your case for support.
Opportunity applied for
In this section please state clearly the name of the fellowship you are applying for.
Motivation in applying for this opportunity
In this section please outline:
- why you are interested in becoming an AHRC-DCMS policy fellow
- what you would hope to gain from the opportunity
- how you see it fitting into your long-term research career.
Expertise relevant to the specific opportunity
In this section please outline your particular expertise in and experience relevant to what is listed as required for the specific opportunity you are applying for.
Communicating complex information and analysis
In this section please outline your experience and insights on translating complex information and analysis into meaningful narrative for a non-academic audience, verbally and in writing. For example:
- public policy engagement within or outside government and politics
- provision of expertise to non-academic users
- writing reports or giving presentations for the third sector.
The examples given are purely for illustrative purposes and are non-exhaustive.
Using expertise in a non-academic context
In this section please outline your experience and insights on using your expertise in a non-academic setting, including the challenges and opportunities of co-production and collaboration between research and non-academic partners (for example public policy, third sector and business).
Applicants are additionally invited to share their understanding of the analytical needs of the specific opportunity host and how research expertise may be relevant to these.
Designing and leading knowledge exchange activity
In this section please briefly outline:
- your experience or insights into the challenges of effective knowledge exchange between research, policy and funder communities
- your initial ideas for how to address the fellowship’s objectives through knowledge exchange activity during the placement and impact phases
- your initial thinking on how you would approach refining and prioritising knowledge exchange opportunities during the first half of your placement.
Early career researcher status and mentorship
Please provide a description of how you meet AHRC’s criteria for early career researcher status. It is a requirement that early career applicants are provided with appropriate mentorship by a more senior academic with relevant experience from within their institutions.
In this section the mentor should be identified and mentorship arrangements summarised, including support towards generic fellowship development, engagement and dissemination activity.
A CV should also be attached for any mentor included on the proposal.
Applicants are asked to note that mentors are not subject to government security clearance and will not be able to access all resources and documents available to the fellow.
Justification of resources attachment
Maximum two sides of A4. Please provide a justification for costs requested to undertake the fellowship.
Applicant CV attachment
A CV (maximum two sides of A4) must be provided for the applicant.
Mentor CV attachment
A CV (maximum two sides of A4) must be provided for the applicant’s proposed mentor.
Publications list
A summary list of publications (maximum one side of A4) must be provided for the applicant.
Head of department statement attachment
The head of department at the host research organisation must complete a statement in support of the proposal of no more than one side of A4. This statement must be on headed paper, signed and dated within the period that the opportunity is open.
The statement should:
- confirm that the applicant would be accepted into the department for the purpose of undertaking the fellowship (if the applicant is not currently hosted at the research organisation)
- explain how the proposed fellowship would fit in with the department’s wider research programme
- confirm commitment to provide (if applicable) appropriate mentorship support for early career researcher applicants, including but not limited to generic project development, engagement and dissemination support.
