All research activity requires time: time for meetings, time for thinking around the problem area and developing initial ideas into research problems. Early career academics will often have a number of other responsibilities, in addition to the expectation that they will secure external research funding. This can leave little opportunity for a busy researcher to build cross-disciplinary links, or develop the knowledge and skills that may be required to bid for a project that includes a discipline that they are not currently familiar with.

We are aiming to introduce a number of initiatives to ease these pressures on time:

• Money to “buy out” the teaching responsibilities of some of the researchers, freeing up the time that they would have spent teaching so that they can develop their research ideas.
  
  
• Funding to pay someone other than the researcher to draft part, or all, of the grant proposal, or to carry out a literature review to support the application. Space away from the researcher’s usual place of work in the University. This will not only provide desk space, but will also give the researcher an environment away from the day-to-day distractions.
  
  
• Meeting space to encourage cross-disciplinary discussions of the research issues.
  
  
• Funding for feasibility and scoping studies.
  
  
• Funding for literature reviews, employing research assistants on a short-term basis and other activities which will help explore the feasibility of project ideas.

Details of how to apply for this support will added to this website over the coming months.