Terms of Reference
1. The Research Development Panel exists primarily: i) to assist the Vice President and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research) in selecting bids to restricted calls (calls in which the School is restricted in the number of applications it may make); and ii) to manage Research Committee’s Research Investment Fund (RIF Fund), designing the RIF Fund criteria and allocating the RIF Funds, subject to annual report to Research Committee and to any guidance issued by Research Committee.
2. It will:
2.1 Identify the calls for which selection and oversight is needed by recommendation of the Research and Innovation Strategy Manager in order for the School to support the most promising applicants and projects;
2.2 Provide feedback to successful and unsuccessful applicants to further develop grant applications and in particular to provide a second round of review to the Schools most strategic demand managed schemes, such as the ESRC Centres;
2.3 Provide opinion and strategic advice, from time to time, on the strategy of the Research Development Team in Research and Innovation, including insight to external research funding opportunities and policy on which the Panel members have insight;
2.4 Provide advice and guidance to the Research and Innovation Strategy Manager in developing call strategies and decision-making criteria for applicants; and
2.5 Provide advice and guidance to the development of internal funding schemes aligned with the Schools Strategy and in keeping with best practice examples across the School.
3. ‘Research’ in this context includes knowledge exchange.
4. The Research Development Panel will be a sub-committee of Research Committee and is managed by the Research and Innovation Strategy Manager and chaired by the Vice President and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research).
Membership
5. Membership will comprise:
5.1 The Vice President and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research), who is the Convenor of the Panel.
5.2 A group of academic staff appointed by the Vice President and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research) based on their experience of grant-winning, of peer-reviewing grant applications, and of serving on research funders’ committees.
5.3 In the cases of specific funding calls, members will be called on as appropriate with respect to the relevance of their experience.
5.4 In attendance: The Head of Research Development, the Research and Innovation Strategy Manager and the Committees and Governance Manager. The Director of Research and Innovation may also attend.
5.5 The Head of Foundation Partnerships, Philanthropy and Global Engagement (PaGE), and members of their team, and the Director of LSE Consulting and members of their staff, may also attend as appropriate to the business of the Panel.