Dear All
Jeff provides a good example of the ESRC Doctoral Training Centre
(DTC)allocations, there is for example on DTC anywhere in Northern Ireland
- presumably Northern Ireland has no social issues worthy of PhD research
funded by the ESRC!?!
Best wishes
Dave
--On 28 March 2011 10:32 +0100 Jeff Evans <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear Dave et al.
> I understand the ESRC is currently consulting on refining its strategic
> priorities - nicely summarised by Dave below.
>
> I believe anyone, including browbeaten social scientists, can comment
> till 31 March.
>
> At the same time, it is probably true that most (?) UK university social
> scientists, are feeling "browbeaten", since the ESRC awarded
> "accreditation" for SS doctoral training in January only to a minority
> (45) of UK Universities (or consortia) that applied for Doctoral training
> Centre or Unit status. Many of these Universities had "recognition" for
> their PhD training prior to the recent exercise.
>
> Paul Jump in THE has done a good job in keeping public the ongoing
> scepticism about the "concentration" of SS research training (and in
> other areas); see p13 of last Thurs. 24 March THE.
>
> This article reports the experience of one universities' consortium in
> appealing to ESRC. However, there will certainly be more. Jeff
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: email list for Radical Statistics [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of Professor David Gordon Sent: 27 March 2011 17:26
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: AHRC & "Big Society"
>
> Dear Ted
>
> Well at least there has been some academic fury at the Arts and
> Humanities Research Council priority change.
>
> The new ESRC Delivery Plan 2011-2015 has
>
> 'sharpened our focus with the introduction of three priorities:
>
> * Economic Performance and Sustainable Growth
> * Influencing Behaviour and Informing Interventions
> * A Vibrant and Fair Society'
>
> Or as I like to think of them as;
>
> Supporting Business
> Nudge, and
> Big Society
>
> No-one has complained about the ESRC's new research funding priorities -
> says something about how brow-beaten academic social science has become!?
>
> Best wishes
>
> Dave
>
> PS for more details on the new ESRC priorities see
>
> <http://www.esrc.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/14950/working-together-to-del
> iver-our-strategic-goals.aspx>
>
> --On 27 March 2011 10:41 +0000 Ted Harding <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> Greetings all.
>> In today's Observer/Guardian:
>>
>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/mar/27/academic-study-big-socie
>> ty
>>
>> Academic fury over order to study the big society.
>> Researchers 'over a barrel' after coalition threat to
>> cut £100m grant from Arts and Humanities Research Council
>>
>> Academics will study the "big society" as a priority,
>> following a deal with the government to secure funding
>> from cuts.
>>
>> The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) will spend
>> a "significant" amount of its funding on the prime minister's
>> vision for the country, after a government "clarification"
>> of the Haldane principle -- a convention that for 90 years
>> has protected the right of academics to decide where research
>> funds should be spent.
>>
>> Under the revised principle, research bodies must work
>> to the government's national objectives, although the
>> Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said that
>> ministers will not meddle in individual projects.
>>
>> It is claimed the AHRC was told that research into the
>> "big society" was non-negotiable if it wished to maintain
>> its funding at £100m a year.
>> [...]
>> A principal at an Oxford college, who did not want to be
>> named, said: "With breathtaking speed, a slogan for one
>> political party has become translated into a central
>> intellectual agenda for the academy."
>> [...]
>> One of the tasks of research, according to the AHRC's
>> delivery plan, will be to define "difficult to pin down"
>> values in "recent speeches on the big society", such as
>> "fairness, engagement, responsibility, mutuality,
>> individualism [and] selfishness".
>>
>> A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spoksman
>> insisted that the AHRC itself had proposed the "big society"
>> as a strategic priority.
>>
>> "Prioritisation of an individual research council's spending
>> within its allocation is not a decision for ministers," she added.
>>
>> "The government supports [the Haldane] principle as vital
>> for the protection of academic indpendence and excellence."
>>
>> Comments?
>> Ted.
>>
>> PS: Clearly the feminisation of the Business, Innovation and
>> Skills spoksman [sic] is evidence of the success of Gender Equality
>> research, no doubt undertaken by the SSRC under inspired direction
>> from the EHRC.
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>> E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <[log in to unmask]>
>> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861
>> Date: 27-Mar-11 Time: 10:41:11
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>
>
> ----------------------
> Dave Gordon
> Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research
> University of Bristol
> 8 Priory Road
> Bristol BS8 1TZ, UK
>
> E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
> Tel: +44-(0)117-954 6761
> Fax: +44-(0)117-954 6756
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----------------------
Dave Gordon
Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research
University of Bristol
8 Priory Road
Bristol BS8 1TZ, UK
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel: +44-(0)117-954 6761
Fax: +44-(0)117-954 6756
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