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Dr Anne Dean Assistant Director

The Trust and its schemes – opportunities for funding. Dr Anne Dean Assistant Director. William Hesketh Lever. …from 1922 Lord Leverhulme of the Western Isles (1851-1925). The man behind Port Sunlight and Unilever plc… …and The Leverhulme Trust. The Trust was established in 1925.

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Dr Anne Dean Assistant Director

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  1. The Trust and its schemes – opportunities for funding Dr Anne Dean Assistant Director

  2. William Hesketh Lever …from 1922 Lord Leverhulme of the Western Isles (1851-1925) The man behind Port Sunlight and Unilever plc… …and The Leverhulme Trust

  3. The Trust was established in 1925 A proportion of Lord Leverhulme’s interest in Lever Brothers (which later became Unilever plc) left in trust for specific beneficiaries: Certain trade charities (grocers, commercial travellers and chemists) – undergraduate bursaries Trade Charities Trust • …but the bulk of the money allocated to Scholarships for the purposes of research and education

  4. The Trustees Five Trustees All businessmen from diverse, international backgrounds All drawn from senior management of Unilever plc (Chairman or Director level) Extensive appraisal experience – spotting potential and quality Reliant on advice received by peer reviewers

  5. Scholarships for the purposes of research and education: • support for the gifted individual – excellence and originality of idea; compelling ability of applicant to undertake project; realising potential; individual vision… • normally postgraduate level • all subjects* • PhD studentships not supported unless fully justified as part of a Research Project Grant • The Trust is an almost exclusively ‘responsive mode’ organisation, the choice of topic always lying with the applicant

  6. The Trust tends to avoid funding bids in those disciplines which other Trusts or agencies (such as Wellcome, the MRC, Department for Education and Skills, ESRC etc. are disposed to support). In particular: Medicineandgeneral school education ….but might consider bids such as those which concentrate on the sociological, philosophical, economic, legal or psychological aspects of medicine or education…

  7. The suitability of the research for support by the Trust… • the originality of the proposed work • courageous research (avoidance of the incremental and the applicant’s ability to take informed risk/blue skies research) • a mixture of disciplines (blurring boundaries/lateral impact) • individual exploration (hesitation with data banks/cataloguing) • the impact of the research outcome on other fields of study and within the immediate field of research • the extent to which the research design transcends traditional boundaries • the extent to which a proposal represents a departure from the established working patterns either of the individual or of the discipline

  8. Trust’s view on bids rejected by research councils …depends very much on reasons for rejection Too ‘blue skies’/risky, multi-disciplinary or not within research council’s current interests? Might be worth applying. Trustees welcome exciting and challenging proposals. If proposal has been rejected on basis of lack of quality, then extremely unlikely to be considered by Trust. With c. £50M available each year, the Trust cannot act as funder of last resort for a government system with £4 billion p.a.

  9. Under the terms of the Founder’s Will, the Trust is unable to engage in FULL ECONOMIC COSTING Therefore, overheads and similar costs cannot be supported. The Trust supports research, travel and subsistence costs, salaries and bursaries…

  10. All awards made to institutions (such as universities, arts training organisations, galleries and museums) are made via a 2-stage process which involve an Outline and Full Application stage. Three deadlines each year for successful Outlines – 1 September, 1 Decemberand21 March. For awards made to individuals (such as most Fellowships and Studentships), a one-stage process applies.

  11. The following provides a brief summary of all awards offered by the Trust. Research Project Grants (majority of awards made by the Trust) Programme Grants (up to £1.75M for selected themes) – for 2008, the topics are: Tipping Points and Stress and Compromise. Various Fellowships (Early Career, Research, Emeritus) and Study Abroad – and Major Research Fellowships (MRFs) in the Humanities and Social Sciences Study Abroad Studentships Academic Collaboration – International Networks, Visiting Professorships Philip Leverhulme Prizes and…

  12. …Training and Professional Development in the Fine and Performing Arts…

  13. Training and Professional Development Scheme These awards are mainly to permit (normally young) people to obtain training or professional development and are based upon a combination of talent and need. Awards are made directly to institutions for provision of bursaries or scholarships for the maintenance of selected groups of students. Applications from individual students are not eligible. The Trust also supports (to a far lesser degree) innovative teaching activity, and research into various aspects of the Arts. Among the organisations we support are:

  14. We also offer residencies under our… Artist in Residence Scheme For artists of any kind, including musicians usually for one academic year up to £12,500 Contrasting disciplines – i.e. a poet in a university chemistry department, a playwright in a museum, a fine artist in a hospital environment…

  15. The application process ‘Institutional’ awards Each year, the Trust receives c. 1,500 Outline proposals for ResearchProject Grant(includingInternational Networks). A small proportion are deemed ineligible i.e. they fall within those areas generally not supported by the Trust, or are received from ineligible institutions. The great majority go forward for peer review - the Leverhulme Advisory Panel (LAP). Awards made to individuals For these grants, a one-stage process is used, and responsibility is devolved to the Research Awards Advisory Committee (RAAC) who make recommendations for awards. Once a year rounds – individual deadlines. Decisions for all Trust awards are made on advice received from peer reviewers.

  16. The process Outline Application Form There are no closing dates for the submission of Outline Applications to the Trust For awards made to institutions of any kind Up to 12 weeks – average 6 weeks Outline Application undergoes initial review Recommendation that applicant be invited to make a Full Application Outline Application rejected on grounds of eligibility or quality Applicant submits Full Application with two named referees. Closing dates for Full Applications: 21 March, 1 September, 1 December Three deadlines each year: 21 March, 1 September and 1December Independent referees and the applicant’s named referees are consulted by the Trust The proposal and the comments of referees are submitted to the Trustees for decision Application Rejected Application Approved

  17. Some recent Research Project and International Network topics • Ubiquinated suppressors of plant immunity • Pads vs claws in arboreal locomotion: mechanics of predator-prey relationships • Haida material culture in British museums; generating new forms of knowledge • Dwarf galaxies in the Hubble Space Telescope Coma Cluster treasury survey • Engineering protein fibres with nucleic acids • Sustainable management of water in the Pantanal (South American wetland) • Interdisciplinary perspectives on African language publishing for children • Ecological services by ants in rehabilitated coal mine sites of Guajira, Colombia • Music and dance science: optimising performance potential • Women and trade union leadership development in comparative context • Defects in 2D frustrated prototype spin ice systems • Networks, protests and students: the politicising effects of campus connections • Dynamics of world cinema: transnational channels of global film circulation • Transnational climate change governance • Regionalist vs Nationalist populists in power: actions and reactions

  18. To sum up… • The excellence of the proposed project is of paramount importance. • Clarity of expression, a good methodology and an idea of anticipated outcomes and dissemination strategy are all essential. • Really think about WHY you’re approaching the Trust – could your project be more appropriately funded elsewhere? • The Trustees favour applications which demonstrate both the ability of the applicant to undertake the work, and their excitement at the challenge this presents. • Demonstrate WHY the work is important, and why it should be funded. • Trust encourages creativity and the development of original and risky research which blurs disciplinary boundaries. • Wholly ‘within-discipline’ research projects are less likely to find favour, but might if they are of the highest quality.

  19. www.leverhulme.ac.uk or (in hard copy) in our Guide for Applicants, available upon request to: The Leverhulme Trust 1 Pemberton Row London EC4A 3BG Tel: 020 7822 5220 Full details of all schemes can be found on our website

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