Following a successful year in 2007-8, WERN is able to offer the following opportunities for collaborative research activity in 2008-9.

TLRP IN WALES: A REVIEW

WERN and the Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) (UK’s largest and most influential educational research programme) are jointly funding an exciting opportunity for researchers from Welsh HEIs to build links with WAG.

We are funding a five month project (1st February 2009- 30th June 2009) and the amount that can be awarded is up to £20,000. Up to £10,000 is available to support a part-time Placement Fellowship with DCELLS. The role of the Placement Fellow will be to make links with the Assembly in order to facilitate a desk based review of the findings of the TLRP and their relevance for the education agenda in Wales. The remainder (£10,000) will fund a cross institutional Review Network

Expression of interest forms must be returned by Friday 16th January 2009 to f.thomas@trinity-cm.ac.uk.

APPLICATION PERIOD EXTENDED TO 23rd JANUARY 2009

• Invitation to apply
  

Collaborative Research with Local Authorities

As capacity grows WERN is interested in working with and meeting the research needs of policy makers and practitioners in the wider education community in Wales. Education Departments in Local Authorities (LAs) are potential users of educational research, and this is a possible market for educational research work that WERN would be well placed to supply.

It is proposed that WERN will allocate £38,750 to commission a small scale collaborative research project to explore how academic research can respond to the research needs of the education departments of LAs in Wales as they develop, implement and evaluate policy.

Applications must be submitted by October 30th 2008 and funding will be for the period 1st December 2008 to 30th June 2009.

• Invitation to apply
• Application form
• Guidance notes
• Frequently asked questions

Group Bursary Scheme

Following the success of this scheme in WERN’s first year, it has been decided to repeat it, and extend it into two categories:

Category 1: Writing a funding proposal. The funding available would be up to £12,000 per group but it is expected that this funding will be matched by institutions. Applications are invited from groups whose work will focus on strategic themes relevant to the Welsh Assembly Government research agenda (e.g. as suggested by the current School Effectiveness Framework, One Wales: A Progressive Agenda for Wales, or The Learning Country: Vision into Action

Category 2: Small project funding. Funding available will be up to £5,000 per group but this funding must be matched by institutions. The nature of the project will be specified by the applicant group but will be small scale substantive research activity such as piloting instruments, interrogating data sets, conducting a scoping study, co-authoring a publication/conference paper.

Applications must be submitted by October 30th 2008 and funding will be for the period 1st December 2008 to 30th June 2009.

• Invitation to apply
• Application form category 1
• Application form category 2
• Guidance notes
• Further guidance for category 2
• Frequently asked questions
• Terms and conditions

Collaborative Fellowship Scheme

A placement scheme is to be funded called the Collaborative Fellowship Scheme. Fellows will join a research project of a more experienced colleague (the mentor) for five days (in a block or five separate days) to learn about methodology, analysis, or other research issues. The proposed funding, which will be matched by the Fellow’s institution, will protect ten days of the Fellow’s time - five days to be spent on the research project and five days to carry out related development work in the Fellow’s own institution, or to develop the Fellow’s expertise e.g. through background reading, developing a research instrument, preparing ethics or access research documents, report writing etc. The mentor or mentor’s institution will receive an honorarium in acknowledgement of the time given to mentorship for the Fellow.

The amount of funding available will be up to £2,250, which includes the £1,000 honorarium to be paid to the Mentor. The remaining funding is expected to be dedicated to providing five days cover for the Fellow's time also any travel and subsistence costs. The Fellow's institution must match this and provide cover for a further five days.

• Application Form
• Guidance Notes
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Terms & Conditions
  

First Round

Applications must be submitted by the 12th December 2008. Placements will take place between 1st February 2009 and 30th May 2009.

Second Round

Applications must be submitted by 13th February 2009. Placements will take place between the 9th March and 30th May 2009.