Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland Summary ......Carnegie Research Assessors are asked...

September 2019 Research Incentive Grant Summary Report

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Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland Summary report: Research Incentive Grants September 2019 Round

1. Submissions and review process

1.1. Summary data • 104 applications were received; • 4 applications were judged ineligible upon receipt; • 67 were short-listed (however one SET proposal was withdrawn by the applicant at the

panel review stage); • 36 awards were made, 20 of these were in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and 16

in Science, Engineering and Technology; • The total amount awarded was £405,724 and the average value of an award was

£11,270.

1.2. Ineligible applications On initial sift four applications were identified as not meeting the eligibility criteria or remit of the scheme for the following reasons:

• The proposed activities did not fit with the remit of the scheme, e.g. the proposed research would form an intrinsic component of, and therefore directly support, a PhD thesis;

• The applicant’s fixed-term contract did not extend for 3 months beyond the end date of the proposed project;

• The application did not contain a research component or provided insufficient detail/justification for the resources requested.

These applications were therefore not considered for peer review.

1.3. Peer review process In total, 312 assessors contributed to the review process, 175 in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, and 137 in the Science, Engineering, and Technology. In addition to existing Assessors, additional reviewers were recruited to fill gaps in expertise. These experts were recruited both from the UK and internationally.

Assessors were asked to review proposals against the following criteria:1

• Significance and originality; • Feasibility; • Outcomes and outputs; • Overall quality.

Two Selection Committees were formed to consider the short-listed proposals and the Assessors’ reports:

1 More details on the assessment process and criteria can be found on the Trust website: https://www.carnegie-trust.org/award-schemes/peer-review/

https://www.carnegie-trust.org/award-schemes/peer-review/


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Committee A: Science, Engineering and Technology met on 16th January 2020, chaired by Prof Alan Cooper (Glasgow), and including:

Prof Carol Mackintosh (Dundee), Dr Claire Garden (Edinburgh Napier), Dr Fiona Kerr (Glasgow Caledonian), Dr Peter Barlow (Edinburgh Napier), Dr Roger Whittaker (Newcastle), Prof Steve Woodward (Aberdeen), Prof Frank Sargent (Newcastle), Dr Brice Rea (Aberdeen), Dr Michele Zagnoni (Strathclyde), Prof Kenneth Dalgarno (Newcastle), Prof Erling Riis (Strathclyde) and Prof Andrew Walker (CTUS).

Supported by Dr John Thompson with Ms June Middleton (Business Development Officer, University of Aberdeen) acting as an observer.

Committee B: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences met on 24th January 2020, chaired by Prof Andrew Walker (CTUS) and including:

Prof Richard Sparks (Edinburgh), Prof Bernard Harris (Strathclyde), Dr Stuart Gillespie (Glasgow), Prof Christine Merrell (Durham), Dr Pontus Odmalm (Edinburgh), Dr Alison Cathcart (Stirling), Dr Annie Tindley (Newcastle), Prof Angus MacBeth (Edinburgh), Prof Peter Hancock (Stirling), Prof Andrew Roberts (Dundee), Prof Marjon van der Pol (Aberdeen), Prof Paul Jackson (Birmingham), Prof Paul Beaumont (Stirling), Prof Andrew McKinnon (Aberdeen), Dr Daniela Sime (Strathclyde) and Dr Andrew Manches (Edinburgh).

Supported by Dr Patricia Krus with Mr Ian Anderson (Research & Innovation Manager, Edinburgh Napier) acting as an observer.

2. Awards and success rate 2.1. Overall success rate

The overall success rate was 36.4%, when excluding ineligible and withdrawn applications. The table below shows the numbers of applications received and the awards made by university affiliation:

University Applied Ineligible Withdrawn Awarded Success rate Abertay University 2 0% Edinburgh Napier University 4 2 50% Glasgow Caledonian University 1 0% Heriot-Watt University 7 2 29% Robert Gordon University 3 0% University of Aberdeen 5 3 60% University of Dundee 3 0% University of Edinburgh 16 1 5 31% University of Glasgow 21 1 1 9 43% University of St Andrews 8 1 4 50% University of Stirling 13 1 4 31% University of Strathclyde 9 3 33% University of the Highlands & Islands 2 2 100% University of the West of Scotland 10 2 20% Total 104 4 1 36 35%


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The following chart displays the proportion of awards by university:

Aberdeen, 8%

Edinburgh, 14%

Edinburgh Napier, 6%

Glasgow, 25%

Heriot-Watt, 6%

Highlands & Islands, 6%

St Andrews, 11%

Stirling, 11%

Strathclyde, 8%

West of Scotland, 6%


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2.2. Success rate by field

The following table provides a breakdown of applications by panel and research area, excluding applications deemed ineligible or withdrawn. The Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences panel reviewed 34 applications and the Science, Engineering and Technology panel reviewed 33 applications. Within the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Panel, the Social Sciences research area attracted the highest number of applications (40). Within the Science, Engineering and Technology panel, Engineering attracted the highest number of applications (11) followed by Health and Human Sciences (8).

Breakdown by Panel and Research Area Applied Awarded

Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences 50 20

Arts and Humanities 10 4

Social sciences 40 16

Science, Engineering and Technology 50 16

Anatomy, Physiology and Neurosciences 3 0

Astronomy and Physics 2 1

Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology 4 3

Chemistry 4 1

Earth and Environmental Sciences 5 2

Engineering 11 2

Health and Human Sciences 8 2

Mathematics and Computer Science 4 0

Microbiology, Immunology and Developmental Biology 5 4

Organismal Biology, Evolution and Ecology 4 1

Grand Total 100 36


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The following doughnut charts display the percentage of applications and awards by panel and research area, excluding applications deemed ineligible or withdrawn. The inner ring displays the percentage of applications by panel while the outer ring shows the percentage of applications by research area. Research areas are shown on the outside of their respective panel.

Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, 50%

Science, Engineering and Technoloy, 50%

Arts and Humanities, 10%

Social sciences, 40%

Anatomy, Physiology and Neurosciences, 3%Astronomy and Physics, 2%

Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology, 4%

Chemistry, 4%

Earth and Environmental Sciences, 5%

Engineering, 11%

Health and Human Sciences, 8%

Mathematics and Computer Science, 4%

Microbiology, Immunology and Developmental Biology, 5%

Organismal Biology, Evolution and Ecology, 4%

Applications by Panel and Research Area


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The charts below display the success rate by panel and by research area, excluding applications deemed ineligible or withdrawn. 40 per cent of applications reviewed under the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences panel area were awarded, whereas only 32 per cent of Science, Engineering and Technology applications were successful.

Arts, Humaities and Social Sciences, 56%

Science, Engineering and Technology, 44%

Arts and Humanities, 11%

Social sciences, 44%

Astronomy and Physics, 3%

Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology, 8%

Chemistry, 3%

Earth and Environmental Sciences, 6%

Engineering, 6%

Health and Human Sciences, 6%

Microbiology, Immunology and Developmental Biology, 11%

Organismal Biology, Evolution and Ecology, 3%

Awards by Panel and Research Area

40%

32%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Science, Engineering and Technology

Success Rate by Panel Area


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2.3. Success rate by career stage

NOTE: As part of their application, applicants are asked to state the length of their research career, regardless of whether they considered themselves to be independent researchers or not during that time. As a result, the number of years stated may differ from the Trust’s definition of an Early Career Researcher as an individual who is within 7 years of commencing their independent research career.

The most successful career stage were applicants seven years into their academic career, who while representing only 9% of applicants, accounted for 17% of awards. This was followed by academics with three years experience who comprised 15% of applicants, and received 17% of the awards. Oddly the least successful were those applicants 10 years or more into their research careers who only received 3 per cent of awards, despite comprising 6 per cent of applicants. This data excludes applicants deemed ineligible or who withdrew their application.

40% 40%

0%

50%

75%

25%

40%

18%

25%

0%

80%

25%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Success Rate by Research Area


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The most successful group were applicants who received their PhD four years ago, despite this group comprising only 10% of applicants they accounted for 17% of awards made. This data excludes applicants deemed ineligible or who withdrew their application.

7%

12%

15% 15%

10%

13%

9%

0%

2%

6%

11%

8% 8%

17%

11% 11%

14%

17%

0%

3% 3%

8%

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

18%

1 year 2 years 3 years 4 years 5 years 6 years 7 years 8 years 9 years 10 years+

No data

Applied/Awarded by Years into Academic Career

AppliedAwarded

4%5%

13%

9%10%

12%

19%

10%

12%

5%

1%

8%

3%

11%

8%

17%

14%

17%

6%

8% 8%

0%0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

18%

20%

0 years 1 year 2 years 3 years 4 years 5 years 6 years 7 years 8-12years

13-16years

No data

Applied/Awarded by Years Since PhD Graduation

Applied

Awarded


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3. Scoring and Funding Cut-off

Carnegie Research Assessors are asked to score each proposal against 4 criteria on a scale of 0 to 6. During this round any proposal with an average score of 4.0 and above for AHSS and 4.3 for SET was short-listed, along with any proposals for which only one initial assessment was returned, or where the assessor scores diverged by 3 or more points. Each short-listed proposal was sent to two members of the relevant Selection Committee who each provided comments and an additional score. The Committee scores were then collated to create a preliminary ranking which formed the basis for discussion during the two panel meetings. From these meetings final ranked lists for each panel area were generated, with focus on the likely funding cut-off point. A final decision on the awards to be made is reached by the two Selection Committee Chairs, in concert with the Trust’s Secretary and Treasurer and Trust Manager, on the basis of the numbers and relative strengths of the applications as well as the available budget.

For this round, the funding cut off was 4.8 for SET applications and 4.6 for AHSS applications.

For each university, the spread of scores as concluded by the Assessors and the Selection Committees (grouped in bands) is illustrated by the chart below:

Band A - Average score: 6 Band B - Average score: 5 to 5.99

Band C - Average score: 4 to 4.99 Band D - Average score: 3 to 3.99

Band E - Average score: 2 to 2.99 Band F - Average score: 1 to 1.99

1

2

2

5

6

4

2

3

1

2

1

2

2

1

3

7

8

3

4

4

1

1

2

2

3

4

3

2

6

1

1

1

2

1

2

2

1

1

0 5 10 15 20

Abertay University

Edinburgh Napier University

Glasgow Caledonian University

Heriot-Watt University

Robert Gordon University

University of Aberdeen

University of Dundee

University of Edinburgh

University of Glasgow

University of St Andrews

University of Stirling

University of Strathclyde

University of the Highlands &…

University of the West of Scotland

A

B

C

D

E

F


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4. Equal opportunities

45%

54%

1%

53%47%

0%0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Female Male Prefer not tosay

Gender

Applied

Awarded

4%

94%

2%3%

97%

0%0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Yes No Prefer not tosay

Disability

Applied

Awarded

5% 5%3%

1% 1%

10%

34%

2%

39%

0% 0%

3%

0% 0%

8%

47%

0%

42%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Ethnicity

Applied

Awarded


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5. List of Awardees

Pre-fix First Name Surname Project Title University Awarded

Dr Deonie Allen Where in the world is the Atmospheric Microplastic Pollution? Searching from mountain-top to ocean air

University of Strathclyde £10,000

Dr Carmen Amador Exploiting omics to measure genome-by-diet interactions

University of Edinburgh £15,000

Dr Shirin Ashraf ArboScan: A high-throughput seroprevalence study of arbovirus exposure in Uganda

University of Glasgow £14,800

Dr Patrick Bayer The sectoral politics of climate policy: Domestic conflict and UK public support for ambitious climate action


Dr Simon Biddie Role of Apelin in lung epithelial cell inflammation and fibrogenesis


Dr Emma Cardwell "The nets, vibrant with life": fishing, culture and affective habitation in Scottish coastal communities


Dr Tanya Cheadle Adepts of Manhood: Masculinity and Power in Scotland's Occult Revival, 1880-1914


Dr Delma Childers Immune Evasion Tactics in an Antimicrobial-Resistant Pathogen

University of Aberdeen £12,997

15%

18%

40%

1%

1%

21%

1%

3%

14%

14%

44%

3%

22%

3%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Applied to the Trust before

Carnegie website

Colleague

Internet search engine

Other

Research office

Social media

Prefer not to say

Scheme Source

AppliedAwarded


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Dr Cosmin Chintoan-Uta

Development of a defined and improved medium for in vitro culture of Histomonas meleagridis using a metabolomic approach


Dr Nataliya Danilova

Military and Arts Collaborations in the Era of the Global War on Terror: Comparison of the US and the UK (2001-present)


Dr Sophia Dingli

Political and civic silence among 15-18 year olds in the Republic of Cyprus: examining existing attitudes and trajectories for change


Dr Claire Donald Investigating the role of the circadian rhythm in modulating arbovirus infection in mosquitoes


Dr Claire Eades

Breastfeeding frequency and incidence of type 2 diabetes in women who have had gestational diabetes: a record linkage study

University of Stirling £9,752

Dr Javier Escudero Data-driven anomaly detection in ICU signals with denoising autoencoders


Dr Sarah Frank Wrestling with Return: Demobilisation and the Family Unit in French West Africa, c1945-65

University of St Andrews £6,744

Dr Andrew Frayn Was there a Scottish War Books Boom? Edinburgh Napier University

£11,641

Dr Carlos Garcia Investigation of methods and materials to reduce coating thermal noise in gravitational waves detectors


£15,000

Dr Ewan Gibbs Energy Nationalisms: Fuel Economies and Scottish Independence since 1945


£12,695

Dr Owen Harrington Fernández

Children's Literature in Translation: Encouraging Children to Read

Heriot-Watt University £4,026

Dr Shane Horgan Hacked off: interrogating the viability of 'desistance' theorising for narratives of cyber-dependent criminal careers

Edinburgh Napier University

£9,322

Dr Eduardo Jimenez Fernandez

Does Reverse Electron Transfer play a role in heart formation?

University of the Highlands & Islands

£14,806

Dr Richard Johnson The mechanisms of national cyber capability development and their impact


Dr Craig Johnston Catalytic Asymmetric Benzylic Fluorination



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Dr Sharon Kessler Humans Care: The Evolution of Care-giving for the Sick


Dr Henry Lovat International Adjudication Under Pressure: The World Trade Organization Appellate Body


Dr Ilona MacDonald Cairns

An Erosion of Injustice? A Comprehensive Analysis of How the Corroboration Rule is Currently Operating in Scottish Sexual Offence Cases


Dr Margherita Mazzera New Platforms for Integrated Quantum Devices

Heriot-Watt University £14,872

Dr Rachel McPherson Scottish homicides: bridging the gap between the empirical and theoretical


Dr Maureen Michael Visual Study of Teacher Professional Learning in Closing the Attainment Gap


Dr Miza Moreau Citizen participation in residential alley programs: Small-scale changes with large-scale impacts


Dr David Morrison-Love

Developing a method and data gathering instruments to investigate learning progression in a National Curriculum


Dr Olivier Penacchio Auditory stress and the acoustic features of natural sounds


Dr Kevin Petrie Novel approaches to target MYC-driven cancer


Dr Chloe Stanton PRDM5 controls corneal thickness in health and disease


Dr Matthew Warke Did 'snowball Earth' glaciations trigger the Great Oxidation Event?


Dr Ania Zubala

Towards an online art therapy service for children with long-term medical conditions: Understanding art therapists? Perspective

University of the Highlands & Islands

£6,160

John Thompson, January 2020

Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland Summary ......Carnegie Research Assessors are asked...

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