Cross Disciplinary Research for Discovery Science

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At Aberystwyth University (AU) we will allocate the Cross-disciplinary research in Discovery Science award via open competition for a suite of smaller activities. This will be achieved through an existing mechanism set up to award our internal University Research Fund, albeit the call will be tailored to specify the requirements of this cross-disciplinary award. This tailored approach has been used successfully in the past at AU to achieve the goals of the NERC Discipline-hopping scheme (2021/22). For the proposed NERC Cross-disciplinary research in Discovery Science scheme at AU, awards of up to £20k will be made to Research teams, although awards of a higher amount may be considered as an exception if a case can be made and there is a convincing plan to utilise the budget within the available timeframe. The internal call will be launched in late October with the aim of making awards in late November to start early December. Researchers from all disciplines will be eligible to apply as long as the primary focus is on cross-disciplinary research within NERC Discovery Science. Applications will be assessed by the University's Research and Innovation Task Group (RITG) and will be scored against criteria in-line with the purpose of the cross-disciplinary award. By making this scheme an open call, all academic staff who are eligible (academics and researchers employed by AU at lecturer (or equivalent) level or above and Post-Doctoral Research Assistants) will have the opportunity to apply. The call guidance will also explicitly state that applications involving Early Career Researchers and individuals from under-represented groups are particularly encouraged. Successful applicants who are Early Career Researchers will be allocated a mentor (a Senior Researcher from their Faculty) to provide additional support as required. The diversity of applicants to, and award recipients of, open call Cross-disciplinary research in Discovery Science funding will be monitored by RITG with the support of the AU Diversity and Inclusion Manager. Equality impact assessment results will be used to reflect on funding allocations and inform our AU evidence base to identify positive changes in the applicant diversity as well as opportunities to make further improvements in future processes, in accordance with the AU Strategic Equality Plan 2020-2024.