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The Regan-Smeed Travel fund was set up with a personal donation from Professor Amelia Regan, a Smeed Visiting Professor to UCL where she developed close ties to the Transport Institute. The fund is her way of helping other researchers travel for international research collaborations. The fund is named also for Rueben Smeed, a personal hero of hers. Smeed was the first Professor of Traffic Studies at UCL and founded the Centre for Transport Studies. He is known for chairing the Smeed report that recommended road congestion charging to the UK government in 1964, nearly 40 years before its introduction in 2003
- Background
More information about the Smeed Report here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/transport-institute/pdfs/UCL-smeed-memorial. More about Professor Regan's work here: http://faculty.sites.uci.edu/aregan/.
- What is the Regan-Smeed Travel Fund For?
The fund is to support UCL academics collaborating with overseas colleagues on transport and mobility research. Up to £1,500 is available for each new project/initiative.
The next deadline for applying for a Regan-Smeed Travel Fund grant is 31 July 2018.
- Who is the Regan-Smeed Travel Fund open to?
Applications are open to early and mid-career UCL academic staff members with the following roles:
Senior Lecturer/Principal Researcher/Principal Research Associate Lecturer/Senior Research Associate Post Doc/Researcher/Post Doc Fellow/Research Associate or equivalent - eligible provided the contract covers the spending and activity period.Applicants should have a doctorate to apply. PhD students are not eligible
In line with UCL's commitment to equality and diversity, we encourage applications from a range of backgrounds regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and religion
- What can be funded by the Regan-Smeed Travel fund?
Academic activity involving one or more UCL individuals and a 'global partner' that is, one or more colleague(s)/research team(s)/department(s), based at an overseas HEI, research institute or international public/corporate/charitable organisation. This could be collaborations initiated and run by individual academics or departments, e.g. by a PI and their research group with other individuals across the globe. Although applicants may have worked with the selected partners in the past, we are particularly interested in new collaborations.
Funds must be used for a specific and new activity (not one that has already happened or that can be covered using other funds). Activities could include:
Joint seminar(s) with international partners (venue, transport etc.). The objective of funded activities should align, as much as possible, with one or more of components of the mission of Transport Institute, by:
jump-starting innovative research projects and support inspirational ideas that produce research excellence in transport and mobility; Fostering pioneering research partnerships among UCL researchers and other researchers, practitioners, and end users in the UK and globally to gain new insights and ideas for tackling mobility and transportation challenges; improving UCL's global network in transport and mobility; enabling the next generation of transport and mobility research leaders¬
Site visits and tours related to specific research activity
Visits from an international partner to UCL (costs for flights, hotel, food etc.) for any of the above.- What cannot be funded by the Regan-Smeed Travel Fund?
Activity which does not involve a global partner; activities which are solely UK-based/focused; equipment; attending conferences; work for which there is already a significant existing funding stream; activity that has already happened. Staff time cannot be covered.
- When does the activity need to take place?
Funding must be for future activity where spending and activity takes place between 1 October 2018 and 1 October 2019. Funds will expire after this date.
- Assessment of Applications
Applications will be assessed by the Director of the Transport Institute, a senior academic and a member of the of the Transport Institute's Advisory Board..The scoring criteria will include:
Academic strength of the research and/or global partner Extent to which the application addresses a major transport/mobility challenge (interdisciplinary applications would be particularly welcome); Scale of impact and outcomes - this includes outcomes of the project (for example, number of people impacted short- and longer-term) as well as if funding would facilitate or accelerate a significant outcome like a publication or a more substantial funding application. Value for money (applications where funding is also provided by the global partner are particularly welcome)
- Timeline
Applications for the next round of funding are due by midnight on 31 July 2018. Winners will be announced before the end of September 2018.
- Final Reporting
Successful applicants must submit a short final report to the Transport Institute describing their actual activity, outcome and impact by a date specified in the call.
- The application process
All applications must be submitted via an application form, here, completed and emailed to transport-institute@ucl.ac.uk.
- Other notes
In order to escalate the reach and breadth of access across UCL, we will allocate one award per lead applicant.
Projects can be co-funded through other schemes internal to UCL (e.g. Grand Challenges and/or Knowledge Exchange funds) providing Regan-Smeed funds do not cover the same aspect of the activity. Funding from the global partner to complement UCL funding is particularly welcome and should be mentioned in the application. Successful recipients will receive funds using the internal UCL transfer process known as 'journal transfer' (a method of arranging batch transfers to multiple recipients). In order to facilitate such transfers, the project number, task number and award number is requested on the application form. Applicants should allow the time to obtain this information from departmental colleagues before submission. All expenses must be calculated according to UCL policy.
- Queries
If you have any questions about the Regan-Smeed Travel Fund, please contact Ann Thorpe: ann.thorpe @ ucl.ac.uk
- FAQ
Q: Can I submit more than one application?
An individual should submit only one application.
Q: Are researchers at the Institute of Education and UCL Qatar eligible to apply for this funding?
Yes, the funding is open to all faculties and departments, including the IoE and UCL Qatar.
Q: What is meant by 'global partner'?
All applications must involve activity with colleagues based at global partners. A 'global partner' just means one or more colleague(s)/research team(s)/department(s), based at an overseas higher education institution, research institute or international public/corporate body.
Q: Do I need to have a formal agreement in place?
You should gain a letter of support from your partner to include with your application.
Q: What is exactly covered in terms of expenses and how should I calculate the expected costs (should I get an exact quote for flight, hotel etc.)?
In terms of expenses, flights, hotels, other transport would be covered. You just need to provide an estimate as to how much you think the flights etc. will cost if you buy them early August 2017 (when you would be notified of the application outcome). You should provide a cost breakdown in the box provided. Please ensure you purchase your flights as early as possible to take advantage of reduced rates. We encourage you to build in some contingency for expense fluctuations (for example, flight costs and changes in currency exchange rates). The Regan-Smeed Travel Fund won't be able to cover any future fluctuations resulting in a shortfall of your budget. All expenses must be calculated according to UCL policy.
Q: What type of finance code do I need to provide?
The code is made up of 3 elements: project, task, award (PTA). In accordance with UCL financial regulations, only 'core' codes will be accepted - all others will be deemed invalid (including 'discretionary', 'primary purpose', 'sponsored research' etc.).
Q: Who is the best person to note receipt of the funds?
This can be an IDT administrator or Finance Manager but you need to check with them first.
Q: I cannot set-up the core code unless I know that I have won an award.
Your Finance Manager will be able to advise you on the most 'appropriate' core PTA to use. The funds can then be transferred to the relevant core PTA once it has been set up.
Q: When will I receive my funds?
Successful recipients and the person named in the application to note receipt of the funds will be notified approximately one month after the submission date. You will receive fund as soon as possible after that date.
Q: Can you give an estimate of the success rate for these applications?
This is a new fund so there is no success rate established as yet.
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