Research

Supporting Early Career Researchers is a crucial pillar of the Institute's strategy. Many parts of our community have organised local activities to provide advice and support to those applying for fellowships

IEHC has an engaged postdoc forum IEHC has a highly active Early Careers Forum and runs a fortnightly journal club The FPHS Statistics network ran a workshop to support postdocs applying for fellowships

The Population Health Domain has developed an Early Careers Network which seeks to provide a platform for mentoring, careers advice and the dissemination of information about training, funding and job opportunities, as well as opportunities to meet their peers, to share ideas, experience and initiate collaborations.

For further information about any of the above, and to let us know what's been happening in your Institute to support postdocs, contact the Faculty Office: fphs@ucl.ac.uk

Research Services' pre-award page is designed to support Departments and Divisions/Institutes applying for external research funding. The information available at the following link covers a variety of pre-award topics including the Worktribe research management tool, costing your research and FAQs: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/research-services/apply

Research costing guidance document (pdf)

For further information on local time line and processes within IEHC please contact your local research costing office or administrative leads.

Applicants are advised to discuss their proposals with their group lead or Head of Research Department to ensure that applicants receive the appropriate support and guidance.

• http://www.ucl.ac.uk/research-services/managing

For information about upcoming research funding opportunities see the following sources:

• List of Fellowships and Personal Awards (doc): this very helpful resource outlines the many fellowship opportunities available for researchers at all levels of their career.  The prestigious schemes allow you to develop your area of interest and expertise, help you form a relationship with a funder, establish your independence and, for senior researchers can support programmes of research.  These benefits are just as relevant for those on secure academic contracts as for those seeking more security.

   

  Successful fellowship applications need preparation and forward planning.  If you are interested in any of these opportunities, please do discuss them with your group leads and, where relevant, with colleagues across the institute. 

• Research Coordination Office: The Research Coordination office is based at Maple House and provides support and guidance to Researchers both within Faculties and for cross-discipline projects.

  They can assist with:

  • Finding Funding opportunities for your staff's research
  • Writing and reviewing applications for staff's research
  • Practice interviews and grantsmanship workshops
  • Organising networking and support events
• Research Professional: Research Professional is a UCL driven, free-of-charge initiative for staff, students and affiliates of UCL aimed at keeping you up to date with the latest news and funding opportunities in their respective fields.

• 

  GRANTfinder: As member of University College London, you now have access to over 13,000 funding and policy opportunities via the University's subscription to Idox's GRANTfinder 4 Education package. Available services include:

  • GRANTfinder: Europe's leading professional funding tool, providing information on a breadth of funding opportunities for a wide range of projects.
  • RESEARCHconnect: a dedicated research funding facility, offering the latest from the UK, EU and international research funding landscapes.
  • POLICYfinder: a one-stop shop of UK and EU policy information, comprising thousands of documents to strengthen funding applications and track trends.

To access all of the features and benefits, users are required to log in at: www.idoxgrantfinder.co.uk/education

Contact Jacob Swiery (j.sweiry@ucl.ac.uk) with your First name, last name and UCL email address to register.

Internal competitions (funding opportunities coordinated by UCL): https://www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/neuroscience/neuroscience-careers-network/funding-opportunities/tabs/internal-funding-opportunities

A one-stop shop for research staff. It aims to keep researchers informed about the support and development opportunities available http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hr/od/research-hub/index.php

The UCL Researcher Staff Development Programme (RSDP) is a central programme open to all research staff from post-doc to research leaders and principal investigators. It aims to support the professional and career development of researchers, to enable them to make the most of their potential and to help ensure the ongoing creation of excellent research outcomes at UCL and beyond. This provision is intended to be in addition to the more discipline-based training which Faculties or Departments are able to offer locally.

To book a course, please click on the course title, which will then ask you register using the UCL Single Training Booking System.

Preparing for Leadership

If you are a research staff preparing for your first leadership role as a research leader, then this programme is for you. This two-day workshop will help you assess your current position, identify the areas of competency that are required for the next steps into a leadership position and create a vision and strategy to implement and achieve your goals. The focus is on personal development and action coaching tools and techniques; you will be better able to understand yourself and your preferences that will allow you to exercise leadership in a way that suits you.

Becoming a Principal Investigator/Research Leader Workshop

This workshop has been designed to help early career researchers with the transition of becoming a Principal Investigator and gain research independence. The workshop draws on the key findings of a recent research study, focusing on the journey of becoming a Principal Investigator in which 60 PIs (from three research intensive universities) were asked to share their experience of getting the grant and becoming Principal Investigators/research leaders. The workshop is highly interactive and includes a variety of techniques to ensure participants are engaged and can apply their learning.

Excellent Research Presentations

This course is suitable for all UCL researchers seeking to improve their academic presentations. This experiential one day course is focused on improving the presentations of UCL researchers, in particular within an academic context both for internal seminars and external conferences. By the end of this course participants will have received specific feedback on their presentation skills, create a personalised action plan for improving skills, and understand and apply key principles behind effective academic presentations.

Handling Difficult Behaviours and Having Courageous Conversations

For many of us, the pleasures and rewards of work are marred by our inability to handle the behaviours of those we work with on a daily, weekly and monthly basis - whatever our formal working relationship. Once we decide to tackle the difficult behaviours we are inevitably called upon to initiate what may be called a 'difficult" or courageous conversation. This highly interactive and pragmatic programme will give you the skills and knowledge to deal as effectively with the 'difficult' people as you do with those you find easy. The workshop will explore group dynamics, and how individuals and small groups can affect group performance. We will look at the power of communication to support or undermine, and how we are able to keep our focus on 'getting the job done'.

How to Use the General Media to Publicise Your Research

This is a one day Media Workshop designed specifically for early career researchers, principal investigators and academic staff who want to build their research profile in the non-specialist media. The workshop trainers prepare exercises and interviews tailored for each participant's area of interest, to make the training as relevant and realistic as possible.

Innovative Problem Solving

This highly interactive workshop has been designed to help postdocs and newly appointed PIs to develop their understanding of available tools and techniques which can aid with problem solving in a research-intensive environment. The main aim is to help participants focus on the process and techniques available and be more effective at problem solving. This workshop uses a variety of methods to encourage participants to use new techniques and share best practice in a supportive environment whilst actively increasing their ability to solve problems effectively (action learning).

Managing Research Relationships - Assertiveness and Collaboration

This practical communication-skills course is designed to help research staff establish and maintain effective working relationships - a cornerstone of success in academic environments. It has a particular focus on face-to-face communication between research staff / postdocs and their PIs. The course will equip you to work better as part of a team or academic community, and to deal confidently and constructively with the sensitive situations that sometimes crop up.

Specific Heat Capacity - Making Your Voice Heard

Specific Heat Capacity is a three-hour voice workshop based on theatrical as well as practical experience, and aimed towards anyone wishing to develop their vocal ability. Of all the body's tools for expression, the voice is the one that works perfectly at birth and slowly becomes hampered by habits, toxins and often our own thoughts. Specific Heat Capacity aims to equip participants with a framework and methodology that helps them set out on a journey back towards the time when their voice worked tirelessly, effortless and freely.

For more information on the support available for UCL research staff see the UCL Research Staff Hub

 For more information, visit: SLMS support for grant and fellowship applications

The Professional Network for Finance & Research Administration (FRA) is open to all members of staff within the Faculty of Population Health Sciences, whether working directly within finance and research administration, or those who simply have an interest in this area.

Designed to improve communication, provide training and development, and encourage interactive dialogue across the Faculty and with our collaborating partners in the central service departments.

Terms of Reference

For latest news and events, including joining the mailing list, please visit the Research and Finance Network intranet page.

Open access means making research publications freely available online. It access ensures that your work reaches the widest possible audience, and that your fellow researchers can use and share it easily.

UCL policy

All UCL research must be uploaded to UCL's Research Publications Service (RPS), to ensure that it complies with the REF open access policy and UCL's Publications Policy. 

It will be made open access through UCL Discovery according to the publisher's copyright permissions (usually after a delay period). 

If your research is funded by an external research funder, check our funder pages for details of their open access policy.

UCL authors are responsible for ensuring compliance by depositing their papers.

Further guidance and support is available via UCL Library Services: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/open-access

The Institutional Research Information System (IRIS) is the research portal for UCL.

University College London is the capital's research powerhouse, with a commitment to enhancing the lives of people in the capital, the UK and around the world. Our academics have breadth and depth of expertise across the entire range of academic disciplines.

IRIS contains profiles of all research staff at UCL. It is possible to filter staff by research groups for a full picture of research activity within the Institute.

IRIS is available at: http://iris.ucl.ac.uk/iris/home

ARE YOU WORKING WITH HUMAN TISSUE OR BLOOD?

1. If you plan to carry out any research with human samples your work MUST have received Ethical Approval from an appropriate body BEFORE you start.  In most cases, you also need to obtain approval from the Sponsor of the study.   For UCL sponsorship, contact the UCL/UCLH Joint Research Office. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/jro

It is the Principal Investigator's responsibility to ensure that all work performed under their direction has received ethical approval, and that they are aware of all those involved in executing the work, and all such persons are listed as investigators of the ethically approved research project. It is also each researcher's responsibility to ensure that the project on which they are working has received ethical approval

2. If your work involves storing human tissue in cellular form (i.e. any material consisting of human cells other than gametes and immortal cell lines, in a form where cells are still recognisably present), ethical approval and sponsor approval must be obtained to ensure that your work complies with the Human Tissue Act 2004. Details of this legislation can be found at http://www.hta.gov.uk/legislationpoliciesandcodesofpractice.cfm

3. In most cases using human samples, ethical approval requires the patient's consent. However, in some cases where samples, collected as part of routine clinical care, are surplus to clinical requirement, and are anonymised so that the researcher cannot identify the donor, the samples may be analysed without patient consent provided ethical approval is given.

4. All ethical approvals are time limited, and project restricted. When approval expires you will need to apply to the relevant ethics committee to extend the study.

Obtaining Ethical Approval. Approval for your study may be obtained via two routes:

a. If human tissue is to be stored within a UCL Biobank http://www.ucl.ac.uk/biobank, or an external biobank licensed by the Human Tissue Authority, you must obtain ethical approval from that Biobank ethics committee. Biobank ethics committees must be approved by the National Research Ethics Service. There are a number of Human Tissue Authority Licenced biobanks at UCL which have National Research Ethics Committee approval. Information about these UCL HTA Licenced biobanks can be found at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/biobank.  The Designated Individual for each licence can provide details on their Research Tissue Bank approvals and criteria for access.  

b. For research studies which are not covered by HTA licenced biobanks, ethical approval for your project will need to be obtained directly from a Research Ethics Committee authorised by the National Research Ethics Service (NRES) - see  http://www.nres.nhs.uk/

Students must provide evidence in their log book that they have undertaken training in the requirements of the Human Tissue Act,  if they are undertaking research involving human samples.  The MRC provides an e-learning course, http://www.byglearning.co.uk/mrcrsc-lms/course/category.php?id=1.   The names of students must be added to the list of investigators involved in ethically approved research projects.

View guidance to help prepare Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care staff and students for GDPR, which came into force across the EU on 25 May 2018.

View IEHC GDPR Guidance for staff and students

Research costing procedure via Worktribe guidance should be referred to by any member of staff/any students who will be applying for research grant funding within IEHC. View the gudiance