Awards - Eligibility
Eligibility: Who can apply?
Proposals are invited from newcomers to ageing research or established workers seeking to shift the focus of their research activities by changing their established research area or approach or methodology. Applicants must be employed (or expect to be employed) by a UK HE institution or equivalent organisation recognised by EPSRC or BBSRC as being eligible for responsive mode grants. They must be able to demonstrate that their term of employment will extend beyond the duration of the proposed research project.
An applicant is allowed to submit only one proposal to Call 2 as a Principal Investigator (PI), but someone who is a PI on one proposal may be named as a Co-investigator (CI) on other proposals.
Holders of Call 1 awards, that is the PIs, are not eligible to apply to Call 2 either as PIs or CIs, but CIs on Call 1 awards may apply to Call 2. This is in line with our objective, accepted by EPSRC and BBSRC, to support newcomers to the field.
SPARC support will be especially suitable for:
- Newly appointed academic staff (typically within the first five years of first appointment) and those who are about to be appointed, who have yet to secure a research council grant (or similar support from any other body which funds ageing research) as a Principal Investigator (PI).
- Research assistants with experience of ageing or related research (typically postdoctoral research assistants) who are either in receipt of a personal academic fellowship or for whom such support has been offered contingent upon a SPARC award or for whom an academic post is in prospect.
- Established academic staff who have received research council or similar support as a PI or CI but not for ageing or disability related research or for work in cognate areas.
Proposals may be submitted by individuals or small consortia.
Please note that the eligibility criteria apply to all applicants including CIs in joint proposals. It would be expected that experienced researchers would provide advice and act as mentors to newcomers but not be named co-investigators.
Those who are not Eligible
Those who are not eligible for awards can still play an important role within SPARC and benefit from it. For example:
- Researchers whose salaries are funded by research council and other awards. These can encourage and help, for example, their newly appointed academic colleagues to submit proposals.
- Experienced academics who are themselves ineligible can also actively encourage these staff as can those outside of the university system.
- Interested professionals and older people who are not members of academic staff can both encourage those intending to make proposals and improve the focus, viability and value of applications for support.
Special Considerations
- Funding of all projects will be contingent on the investigators being able to demonstrate that their employment will extend beyond the duration of the proposed research project. This should be borne in mind particularly by those on fixed-term employment contracts.
- Since a prime objective of SPARC is to build the national capacity for ageing, all proposals will also require a statement of how, by pursuing the proposed research, the national capacity for ageing research will be enhanced. Clearly these statements will need to relate to both the research topics and the applicants' likely development. See the next section for more discussion of this issue.
- SPARC funding will be helpful to those seeking to establish themselves as gerontologists but unambiguous institutional support is also necessary to build lasting capacity in ageing research. Thus, an applicant’s chances of success in obtaining a SPARC award will be greatly increased if their host institution provides appropriate support and, where appropriate, external organisations also provide support. This may take the form of relief from other duties, the provision of equipment or other facilities, travel funds, allocation of matching funds, or the offer of a contingent fellowship to current post doctoral researchers, or access to special facilities or communities. All proposals should detail any such arrangements. See the next main section for more discussion of this issue.
- Although proposals must have a predominately design, engineering, physical science, biology or biotechnology orientation there are no conditions relating to the disciplinary backgrounds or departmental affiliation of applicants. One of the reasons for establishing SPARC has been a recognition that interest in ageing research is spread across many disciplines and university departments and that ageing research is enriched by the involvement of a very wide range of disciplines.
- SPARC funding can only be awarded to Universities and similar institutions, and cannot be used to support the salary costs of the Investigator.
Capacity Building
Capacity Building is an important dimension of SPARC. However in Call 1 the Capacity Building potential of some proposals was unclear. For example, some proposals failed to provide a clear indication of the degree to which an institution was prepared to support an applicant both materially and in terms of encouragement. On the other hand some proposals clearly indicated support through additional resources such as partly funded research studentships, provision of advice from experienced ageing researchers based in other parts of the institution, the positioning of the proposed work within an institutional commitment to become more involved in ageing, the provision of laboratory, testing and field work resources (such as interviewers) beyond what would normally be expected by an established academic. We regard this type of support to be essential for relatively new academics and, of course, recognise that highly experienced academics moving across fields are more likely to have command of the appropriate resources. For some types of research Capacity Building also depends on an infrastructure of contacts and commitments from organisations outside of the researcher’s institution, this is particularly true of inclusive design work. So here too there is a need to make clear the degree of support from, for example, those organisations which represent or work with older people, commercial interests and central or local government departments.
To avoid misunderstanding about the level of institutional support, applicants from particularly well-resourced departments who are in situations where additional special facilities may not be required, should indicate the extent to which those resources will support their proposed project.
Capacity Building will be judged in terms of the degree of explicit support to applicants from institutions and other stakeholders as an input to a project. It will also be judged in terms of potential output, in the sense that if some projects succeed they are more likely open up new or rapidly expand some areas of research as well as develop the individual than others which whilst achieving individual development will contribute largely to mature areas of concern. Three key questions asked on the application form are:
- How will your institution support you? Are they offering any concrete contingent support in the way of, for example, matching funds, PhD students, teaching relief?
- How will this project contribute towards your personal professional development in the area of ageing research?
- How will the outcomes of the project increase capacity for ageing research? (for example, will it provide tools for use by the community, form new collaborations and partnerships, or provide pilot data to underpin a future research council application?)
Please contact the SPARC Secretariat if you have any eligibility queries.
SPARC Projects: Overview | Life in the Home | Streets, Buses and Cars | Care Systems | The Older Worker | Product and Interface Design | Cognition and Communication | Vision | Exercise and Diet | Chemical Biology of Ageing | Oxidative Stress and Ageing Mechanisms | SPARC Project downloads | SPARC Awards Background | Eligibility | Special Features | Resources | Review Process | FAQs about applications for SPARC Awards | Awards: Downloads | Funded Programmes |
