Pipe Dream to Project:

planning digital research projects in the humanities

Matthew Kimberley and Ruth Kirkham

Exercise One:Take a look at the AHRC Digital Transformations funding call. In groups come up with a basic project idea. For the project, come up with a list of who and what you might need.

Make sure these items are driven by the research requirements of the project.

You might want to think about:• Staff• Travel and subsistence• Software/hardware• Research Data Management etc.

What next?

Digital Humanities Project Idea

Costing Creator/ Finance Officer

Departmental Administrator

Research Facilitators

Departmental Research Support

Within Department/

University

AHRC Project Showcase or

similar

Past Successful projects

Who should I talk to?

Programme Manager

Funder

Things tothink about

Ethical Review/

approvals

Intellectual Property

University GuidelinesWhere to store the project outputs

How much will it cost

Research Data Management

Selection Criteria

Page limits/Font

size/CV’s etc

Funder Guidelines/Requirements

Does you university provide

support?

Find out who and

what

Technical Appendix

Finding a FunderResearchProfessional.com

Major Funders

What is a Justification of Resources?• A Justification of Resources is a document that

describes the need for all of the funds requested for a project

• It’s not just a list (the application form should be the “list”)

• It’s a justification, which ideally will explain: “What you want, why you want it, and at which level”

Why do we need this?• As a Researcher, you will want to develop your career by applying

for grants and fellowships

• UK Research Councils, (also Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society) should be high on your list of potential funders for your research

• These organisations will require a good Justification of Resources

• Most of the proposals returned to Research Services, Departments and Investigators for corrections are due to Justification of Resources errors

• Avoiding the common errors and pitfalls will save you a lot of time and effort.

Exercise Two

In your group, take some time to write a short justification of some of the costs that you highlighted in exercise one

• NB. You do not need to justify salary for Principal Investigators, Co-Investigators or Estates and Indirect Costs. Directly incurred posts such as Postdoctoral Researchers will need to be justified

Who wants a Justification of Resources?• The Research Councils UK (EPSRC, BBSRC, STFC,

AHRC, ESRC, MRC, NERC) require a strong Justification of Resources in most cases

• The Research Councils will return the proposal if they think the Justification is not strong enough

• Or worse, they will accept the Justification, but then cut funds from the grant if the award is made

So how do I begin?

• Start with a list of everything you require (from the JES form or X5 costing if possible)

• For each item, name What it is, describe Why you need it, and explain Which/Why level is appropriate, and finish with a confirmation of the cost

• Now about that high performance computer....

My colleagues all have access to the department supercomputer, but this means it’s fully utilised and there’s no free time left...

How to justify a high performance computer...• A Bad Justification: “I require a supercomputer for

theoretical calculations.”

• A Good Justification: “The intensive density functional theory (DFT) calculations involved in this project require the full-time use of high performance computer. Preliminary study results suggest a 12-Core Apple Mac Pro will have suitable performance for this work. We have checked within the Department and in the University, and there are currently no suitable machines with spare capacity that we might use for this work. Therefore we request funds for a 12-Core Apple Mac Pro (£975).”

Example and previous/next slide courtesy of Nathan Davies – Oxford Research Services

Justification of Resources• The most common returns for

Justification of Resources according to RCUK are:

• Costs asked for in the JES form are not justified at all in the JoR

• Costs don’t match between JES form and JoR

• Justification is poor – JoR lists item, but doesn’t describe why the item is needed

Justification of Resources• If you remember to:

• Write down WHAT you want...• Explain WHY you need it...• Explain WHY the level of resource is

appropriate...• And list the price of each line item and a

summary of resources at the end...• Then you should be fine for most purposes...

Project Planning• Aims/Objectives• Scope (In/Out)• Work Packages• Schedule• Risks• Governance• Communication Plan

Aims/Objectives• What is the research project meant to achieve?• (This should be more than getting you publications!)

• What does the digital component add? Why?• There should be a clear necessity for it included

• What makes this project important and/or necessary to achieving the bigger objectives of the research?• Is your project part of wider endeavours in the field?

Scope• Projects of any kind should very clearly indicate from the

outset what they will and won’t attempt to address

• Failure to do so can mean projects go of course through ‘scope creep’

• Everything included in scope should be covered by the methods and tools used by the project

Work Packages• A work package is a defined piece of work which takes place

within a project

• Projects should always be broken down into their component work packages to work scheduling and order of work easier

• In a digital research project, work packages could include: requirements gathering, edit/search interface development, data modelling, data input/migration, UT, wireframing

Scheduling• Without proper planning, it is impossible to judge how long

completing a project will take

• Speak to experts about time and workload factors that you will need to factor in

• Dependencies: are some WPs dependent upon others to be achievable?

• You should plot and regularly update a Gantt chart before and during a project

Risk• Before beginning a project you should have a risk assessment

strategy or risk management plan

• What are the kinds of problems that could affect delivery of your project on time and to budget?

• What can you do to mitigate against these? Should you be building in additional considerations of budget and timescale accordingly?

• Are there potential technical challenges that need to be identified in advance? Ask the experts

Governance• It is critical to be clear on what the governance structure of the

project is, and what the governance structures are of the environment you are working in

• Who does the PI have to report to about progress? Does the project have a dedicated project manager?

• Which staff outside of the project are also involved (e.g. Research Services, departmental administrators, Libraries, Museums, IT Services, OeRC, etc.)?

• Do you know what documentation has to be completed and who it has to be shared with, and when?

Communication Plan• Be clear on who information needs to be disseminated to

before, during and after the project

• Who are your ‘stakeholders’ (investors, affected parties and audiences)?

• How often do you need/want to communicate to different groups and by what means?

• A good communication plan can make a huge difference to the Impact of a project