Applying for Funding within Social Anthropology
The Schools of Arts and Humanities and Humanities and Social Sciences provides detailed guidance on the process of applying for research grants at the University of Cambridge, and on managing awarded grants both for aspiring and current PIs and postdoctoral/early career researchers. These resources should provide a basis for your discussions with the Research Grants Administrator (RGA) or your unit administrator within the Department to initiate the application process.
The notes below provide a brief guide to the key steps in applying for internal and external research funding via Social Anthropology. If you have any queries about these, or anything else in the course of an application, please contact the Research Grants Administrator or your unit administrator in due course.
Finding the right funding
- Internal funding opportunities and restricted calls can be found on the Research Strategy Office (RSO) website.
- Research Professional: an external portal and database where you can set up personalised searches and alerts for finding funding and funder news.
- The Arts & Humanities and Humanities & Social Sciences (AHSS) Research website contains a comprehensive list of funding resources for researchers at all career levels and a calendar of upcoming popular funding schemes.
- The School Research Grants Assistant (SRGA) will circulate monthly bulletins from AHSS on upcoming funding opportunities and events as well as localised bulletins from the RSO to internal Social Anthropology mailing lists.
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If you are a potential external applicant interested in a specific scheme, please reach out to get the latest information.
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Eligibility
Before reaching out to the SRGA, please make sure you:
- Fulfil the scheme’s eligibility requirements. Eligibility criteria are clearly outlined on the funder’s webpage.
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Have secured the support of a supervisor/mentor within the Department, where applicable.
a) It is the prospective applicant’s responsibility to find and approach a mentor.
b) Retired academics cannot be a mentor
If you have questions on whether or not you are eligible, do reach out to the SRGA.
Application and Approval Processes
Departmental approval
Department approval is mandatory to submit any grant application. Applicants will submit a Preliminary Form and supporting documents (brief summary, CV and confirmation of mentor support, where applicable) to the SRGA in line with the timeframes outlined above, including the six-week mandatory notice period. Preliminary Forms are reviewed at the Executive Committee meetings during Term and as Chair’s action out of Term.
Research Investigator Time Policy
Research grants must include at least 10% Investigator time for the duration of the project. This includes PI and all Co-Investigator time. An additional 5% Investigator time is mandatory for each additional staff.
|
Research Staff FTE |
Investigator Time (PI + Co-I) |
|
1 |
10% |
|
2 |
15% |
|
3 |
20% |
Refer here for the full University policy and here for the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences policy.
Collaborations and MillionFEC+ check
Participation in collaborations will require due-diligence background checks to be carried out on the project partners in order to ensure that there is no risk of reputational harm to the Department or the University.
An application with a combined Full Economic Costing (fEC) of over £1 million (including partner contributions) will need to be cleared at School level through the Million+ process. Submissions for this process must be made at least 4 weeks prior to the funder's deadline.
NB: The Million+ process is currently on pause.
Ethics approval
All prospective applicants are required to read and sign the ethics disclaimer on the preliminary application form. If your application is successful, you will be asked to undergo a full ethics review as part of the Departmental ethics approval before the start date of your project. In this case, the SRGA will be initiating the review and approval process two months before the start date. Therefore, it is important that you keep your unit admin and the SRGA informed about the outcome of your application.
Working abroad?
International Working is a developing area and essential consideration when planning research grant applications as there may be tax and costing implications.
You will need to confirm through the Preliminary Form whether the project will include overseas working exceeding 90 days (in one block, or as multiple trips in any rolling 12-month period to any one single country outside the UK). This will enable the Department – working with the Global Mobility HR team – to determine any tax implications.
You will need to complete a risk assessment (low, medium or high). University guidance can be found here, but please get in touch with your SRGA early.
Data storage requirements
You will need to consider the data storage requirements for your research. Consider the Funder’s requirements for data storage and the length of time for which it will need to be stored beyond the life of the project. You should then cost in data storage costs into your overall budget.
The University encourages use of its Apollo repository which is managed by the Open Research Systems team in the Cambridge University library.
Impact
Many awards require you to demonstrate the impact of your proposed research. See here for more information and resources.
Award Stage
After you’ve won your bid, the appropriate University Office will handle the set up through CUFS (Cambridge University Finance System).
You should not begin to spend any funding awarded until confirmation – and a finance code – is provided by the Research Operations Office post award team.
If you are awarded a research grant, please be sure to tell your SRGA who can coordinate set up with the ROO.
Where your project will involve hiring of staff, you should liaise with the Social Anthropology Department Administrator (DA) to discuss details and timing as soon as possible.
Useful Links
Social Anthropology Preliminary Form
Arts + Humanities and Humanities + Social Sciences (AHSS) Research