Faculty of Social Sciences News
Get Involved – Do you want to share your passion for Social Science with the public?
On Saturday 26 October, the Warwick Institute of Engagement will be heading to the Royal Pump Rooms in Leamington Spa for a collaborative event to celebrate Social Science. As part of a collaboration with the ESRC Festival of Social Science, staff and students are invited to deliver a range of drop-in activities linked to any Social Science discipline or related activity. Examples could include a hands-on tabletop activity, a workshop, a video, a read a-long for children in the library, or even a creative way to engage with the exhibitions at the venue. We can help you create your activity (for an audience of all ages, with many aged 5-11 years), rehearse and source any kit you might need. If you have a piece of research or knowledge you’d like to share, get in touch and we’ll help with the rest! Express your interest here.
We are pleased to announce the launch of the Policy Support Fund 2024-25, providing internal grants for strategic projects working towards enabling evidence-based policy making.
The University expects to receive an allocation of funding from Research England for its 2024-25 Policy Support Fund. Subject to confirmation of this allocation, awards of up to £50,000 are available for research and impact projects delivered in conjunction with external partners that can fully spend by 30 June 2025, with bids on a short application form invited by 17:00 on Monday 16 September 2024 to research_impact@warwick.ac.uk.This call is open to all faculties/departments.
Eligible projects should focus on contributing to policy change - whether this is at the local, regional, national, or international level - and might encompass work with parliament, central government, devolved administrations, local government, health and education bodies, the justice system, service providers or specific industry sectors, and a wide range of regulatory organisations.
There will be three streams of funding to apply to, depending on how developed the project is and the nature of the policy activity. PIs can select the stream they wish to apply to, or they can put in an open application and the committee will place them in the most appropriate stream.
Emerging/early-stage policy engagement, awards up to £25,000
This stream supports projects at an earlier stage in their policy engagement journey. Examples of fundable research and activity could include, but are not restricted to:
- New research activity working in partnership with policymakers - particularly to better understand local, regional or national challenges
- Policy engagement and networking events designed to build policy networks
- Primary data collection and/or analysis to inform policy
Follow-on policy funding, awards up to £50,000
This stream supports projects at a more developed stage in their policy engagement journey. The expectation is that these projects will have established partnerships in place and well-developed policy plans with clear impact outcomes. Applications from projects which have received previous Policy Support Funding, and which are ready to develop further, are encouraged.
Policy capacity building, awards up to £50,000
- Facilitating the use of existing research and the exchange of knowledge between universities and policymakers
- Activity and training to better equip academics - including postgraduate and early career researchers - to communicate effectively with policymakers
- The creation of resources to engage policy stakeholders with research and/or to improve their capacity to effectively utilise research
We recommend that prospective applicants reach out to their respective Research Impact Manager to discuss their proposals in advance of submission:
- Dr Rob Hollingworth - Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine (School of Life Sciences; Mathematical Sciences and Statistics; Psychology, and Warwick Medical School)
- Grace Prewett - Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine (Chemistry; Computer Science; Engineering; Physics, and WMG)
- Emma Roberts - Faculty of Arts
- Dr Helen Ackers - Faculty of Social Sciences (School of Education, Language and Communication Science; the Department of Sociology; the Institute for Employment Research, and Warwick Business School)
- Dr Kathryn van de Wiel - Faculty of Social Sciences (Economics; School of Law; Politics and International Studies; Philosophy)
Further information about the fund – including the application form – can be found on the webpage.
National Teaching Fellow success for FSS Colleagues Jane Bryan and Isabel Fischer
Advance HE have announced the winners of the National Teaching Fellowship - and we're thrilled to see colleagues Prof Jane Bryan and Dr Isabel Fischer recognised for their outstanding contribution to excellent teaching!
A Professor of Law and Principal Fellow of Advance HE, Jane Bryan has devoted her career to creating a more just and inclusive higher education, empowering all students, particularly those from marginalised communities, to find their voice and use this to drive change in HE and beyond.
Jane qualified as a solicitor in 1995, joining Warwick Law School in 2009. Jane’s belief in the transformative strength of dialogue to redress power imbalances, connect and develop others, and build and repair community bonds has driven her far beyond her formal roles. Jane has been a champion and change-maker for student voice, peer dialogue on teaching, and dialogue-based conflict resolution institutionally, nationally and internationally.
Isabel Fischer is an Associate Professor of Responsible Digital Innovation and Education at the University of Warwick Business School. Her teaching and research focus on the intersection of digital innovation, social inclusion and pedagogy. Isabel spent over 20 years working in technology innovation and digital transformation at American Express and Visa, and was a regular guest speaker at her local university before transitioning into academia full-time in 2015. Her teaching reflects this industry experience bridging the gap between classroom learning and real-world application to support engagement and employability. Her use of innovative assessment methods such as scholarly blogs, allow students to publish their work on LinkedIn and enhance their professional online presence. Isabel also collaborates with the Warwick incubator as part of her interdisciplinary modules to embed entrepreneurship.
Isabel is deeply committed to education as a tool for social change. By 2022 she had developed an AI-based formative feedback tool to provide personalised, formative feedback on students’ assessment drafts, enhancing their academic writing skills and overall learning experience. This personalised support levels the playing field for students who may not have a strong academic support network, e.g. first-in-family, care experienced students, or international students.
Call for early career researchers to join a workshop exploring wellbeing
We are inviting research assistants, PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers to register their interest for a workshop aiming to explore and prioritise the challenges related to the wellbeing of early career researchers. We want to gather your opinions that will help us to inform the development of a project that aims to address some of the identified challenges.
If you are interested, and available on Friday 14th June from 13:00 – 15:00hrs, please register your interest here.
Refreshments will be provided, and a £25 voucher given as a thank you for your time and participation. Due to the interactive nature of the workshop, places will be limited to 20 and will be confirmed via email.
If you have any questions, please contact Marie Sams, Head of NCRC, marie.sams@warwick.ac.uk
UKRI Funding Opportunity
|
|
|
|
Distinguished Africa Lecture
LMI for All Webinar Series: Predicting Future Skill Needs
Bookings are now open for the next webinar on Predicting Future Skill Needs. Tickets for the event on 7 May, 10-11.30 am are available via Eventbrite.
The webinar will commence with a presentation on quantitative skills forecasting from Ben KriechelLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window from the Economics & DataLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window. Ben is one of the leading skills forecasters in Europe. He will demonstrate the value of skills forecasting and how it can be used to deal with labour market uncertainties and disruptions.
This will be followed by a presentation from Effie AmanatidouLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Alliance Manchester Business School, who will draw on her extensive experience of conducting foresight studies to reveal how this type of approach can inform the identification of future skills demand and needs.
Each presentation will be around 20 minutes long with time for questions after each session and a Q&A session at the end. IER’s Terence Hogarth will introduce the participants to the topic and chair the webinar.
UKRI Funding Opportunity
|
|
|
|
ESRC IAA Posdoctoral Impact Fellowship
We are delighted to announce the first call for the ESRC IAA Postdoctoral Impact Fellowship, an opportunity for students at the conclusion of the doctoral studies to translate their PhD research into real-world impact.
The Fellowship:
As part of its activities, the Warwick ESRC IAA is funding up to six postdoctoral fellowships to support students at the conclusion of their PhD to explore how their research could be applied to the needs and challenges of organisations across different sectors, and to develop plans and programmes of activity to put this into practice.
Examples of fundable activities which fellows might undertake could include (but are not restricted to):
- The creation of resources to engage specific stakeholders with research and/or to improve their capacity to effectively utilise research in a specific area
- Collaborative activities for or with key stakeholders such as workshops, training programmes, or behaviour-change interventions
- Knowledge exchange events with non-academic stakeholders
- Activities to inform policy or to engage policymakers with research findings
- Activities to improve or strengthen research-user engagement
- Proof of concept and commercialisation activities
Applicants are encouraged to consider how the fellowship would enable them to utilise their PhD research to respond to clearly identified needs of specific, non-academic stakeholders. Non-academic partners or stakeholders might include (but are not limited to): policymakers; businesses and social enterprises; third sector organisations; schools, teachers, their students and communities; service providers and practitioners; community groups; creative practitioners; NGOs and advocacy groups.
Projects concerned with innovating or creating change in the following areas are particularly encouraged:
- Policy engagement - particularly that which aligns with University and UKRI/ESRC priorities
- Work looking to support regional growth and development or ‘levelling-up’
Further Information:
For more information about this scheme – including award details and eligibility criteria - please visit the webpage. Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the Social Sciences Impact Team to discuss their proposals. Email us on ESRCImpactAccount@warwick.ac.uk with any questions or to arrange a meeting.
Furthermore, the team will be holding information webinars on the following dates:
These webinars are for applicants and their supervisors/prospective mentors. Please click on the links to register your attendance.
The deadline for applications for the 2024/25 cohort of fellows (September 2024 start) is 22 March 2024.
We look forward to hearing from you!
With very best wishes,
The Social Sciences Impact Team
University of Warwick awarded £1.25 million to boost impact of Social Sciences research
The University of Warwick has received a share of £40 million which will support a range of social, economic and behavioural science research that can positively impact society.
Four social scientists conferred Fellowship of the Academy for Spring 2023
The University of Warwick is delighted to announce that four academics in the Faculty of Social Sciences have been conferred Fellowship of the Academy this spring.