Duke-Exeter Initiator Grant

Guidelines

1. Background

Duke and Exeter have developed a growing number of collaborations advancing mutual interests in teaching, research, and public service. The Universities established joint funding mechanisms to facilitate research and education activities, entering an MoU in May 2019 and renewing with a 3-year agreement in February 2024.

The Universities are now offering grants designed to enable & support collaboration for Research & Education, inviting faculty-led collaboration with a focus on four thematic pillars:

  • Investing in Health: The increasing complexity of global health challenges requires significant investment of resources and energy to address. We aim to support innovative research into the health and life sciences, and bring together expertise in public health policy and medical humanities to explore how we can create the societal transformation required for a healthier world.
  • Sustainability and the Environment: Duke and Exeter are world leaders in addressing the climate emergency and ecological crisis. We aim to bring together leading climate scientists with those working in the humanities and social sciences, developing multi-disciplinary teams to generate impact for a more sustainable future.
  • Public Policy and Global Security: In a time of increasing conflict and global instability, this theme aims to bring together expertise in strategy, security, and public policy to understand the social, economic, and cultural complexities underpinning these challenges. Research conducted under this theme will provide an enhanced understanding of global cultures and seek to contribute to academic debates that directly influence policymakers or enhance societal understanding.
  • Digital Worlds; Approaches to Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Computational Social Sciences: This aims to bring together interdisciplinary academic teams to explore how digital approaches can help address major global challenges. From utilising digital humanities methods to preserve our histories and understand our cultures, to using big data to underpin social political decision making, this theme welcomes academics adopting novel approaches to how we use data, AI, and statistical techniques.

Through the Duke – Exeter Initiator Grant and Accelerator Grant opportunities we aim to support faculty in:

  • Increasing the impact of the research or education activities domestically and internationally.
  • The development of novel, interdisciplinary research and/or teaching and learning concepts to the point of implementation and submission of bid(s) for external funding.
  • Developing initiatives to the point of achieving high impact / high influence publications or equivalent.

The 2024/25 Initiator Grants are now open for applications, with a closing date of 6th September 2024.

2. Objectives

Following on from previous rounds of partnership development funding, awards of Fellowships and Project grants, the Initiator Grants aim to support pilot projects to establish or broaden collaboration. The key aims of the Initiator Grants are:

  • To develop and expand relationships between Exeter and Duke
  • To support both research and education initiatives
  • To enable grant holders to develop projects for Accelerator funding and/or competitive, larger scale external grant applications.

3. Funding details

Applications up to a maximum USD $5,000 / GBP £4,000 are invited.

Funding will be provided to the nominated lead applicant who will be responsible for the budget and for all arrangements for any events, activities, and participation.

All funded applications will be promoted via the websites of each University; and are expected to be completed by the end of July 2025.

4. Eligibility Criteria

Initiator Grants will be available to the whole academic community at Exeter and Duke. Eligible costs include:

  • travel and subsistence
  • external speakers/facilitators
  • meeting, venue and catering costs
  • equipment (small purchases in line with project deliverables)

The following items are not eligible for funding under this scheme:

  • academic salaries
  • third-party travel costs
  • publication costs
  • student fees / tuition
  • indirect costs, estates costs and overheads associated with internal research facilities.

5. Application Process

Applicants will need to complete the Initiator Grant application form in conjunction with their counterpart(s) at the partner institution. Both a lead applicant and co-applicant at the partner institution will need to be nominated for each application. Funding will be provided to the nominated lead applicant who will be responsible for all arrangements for any events, activities, and participation.

Applicants should ensure that activities are planned and scheduled so that in the event of an award, activities can be undertaken soon after. We expect projects to be completed within the stated timeframes.

Identical copies of the application should be submitted to both institutions at the below email addresses by 6th September 2024.

Applications will be jointly assessed by a panel of senior administrator and key academic leads for the Duke – Exeter partnership. Lead applicants will be notified within the specified timeframe (see Key Dates in section 8).

6. Assessment Criteria

Applications will be assessed via a competitive selection process based on the following criteria:

  • Quality of initiative / activity plan as outlined in the application.
  • Potential to expand upon existing or newly identified areas for collaboration.
  • Perceived value from the investment.
  • Contribution to advancing and sustaining the Duke – Exeter partnership.

7. Feedback and Submissions

Feedback is not usually provided for Initiator Grant applications. Resubmission is by invitation only.

8. Key Dates

DateActivity
27th June 2024Calls for applications issued
6th September 2024Application deadline
27th September 2024Applicants notified of outcome
31st July 2025Project completion deadline
30th August 2025Post-project report (part A) submission deadline

9. Grant acquittal and reporting

Awardees must agree to adhere to all requirements related to the receipt of funding including deadlines and procedures for acquittal of funds and reporting on outcomes.

Awardees will have up to a maximum of 10 months after the award date to utilise the funds for the project or initiative. Funds that are not utilised within the specified period will be withdrawn.

Upon completion of the project and within 12 months of the award date, awardees will be required to submit a brief impact report outlining the successes and outcomes of the project. Report forms will be provided to Project Leads.

This report will be utilised for the follow up of potential opportunities, reporting on outcomes and to highlight successes of the initiative between Duke and Exeter.

Awardees who embark on international travel are required to abide by official reporting, insurance and registration requirements as outlined in:

10. Contacts

Please consult your home institution contacts if you would like any additional information.

Exeter:

Duke:

Annex A: Assessment Criteria

This guidance has been drawn up to assist applicants when completing their Initiator and Accelerator Grant application forms. The purpose is to explain what type of information and evidence is required to satisfy the assessment criteria.

Assessment criteriaApplication form [section]Evidence Required
Strategic fit4Clear information on how the proposed project would enhance the development of one of the established themes and, if applicable, subthemes.
Quality of initiative/activity5, 6, 7How well the application has been considered and planned, and the strength of its potential for taking forward a development or collaboration. Are the goals stretching but achievable? Using data to substantiate, the bid should identify the need for and value of the proposed project and how this fits with UoE and Duke objectives. Include supporting details on how the project would be significantly enhanced by being undertaken through this initiative.
Anticipated outcomes and benefits7Specific reference to outcomes and benefits that are anticipated to be a direct result from this project, with approximate timescale. How likely are these? How significant might they be?
Leveraging funding7Clear details of how the project aims to leverage external funding as a direct result of this award.
Impact6, 7Communicate how this project will create (non-academic) impact in a way that will benefit and elevate the global reputations of Duke and Exeter through wider engagement and societal change. What is this potential impact and when, where and by whom might it be felt? Does the project show a capacity for change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment, or quality of life beyond academia?
Value for money8 / throughoutIs the proposal offering value for money? Is it communicating clear evidence of: – a unique opportunity that is in line with the initiative’s purpose – mobilising a new or already interested, but perhaps disparate, research group, or disciplines, to come together and collaborate for the purpose of step change quality research and teaching – project management capabilities of the proposers -reassurance that, if funded, the project will run on time, to budget and deliver against agreed aims, activities and outcomes – tangible and quantifiable outcomes and impact for the benefit of the institutions as well as the more immediate group – the potential to publish high quality papers, influence policy, and leverage external funding
Potential to expand upon existing or newly identified collaboration6, 7Evidence of strength and potential of the relationship. How can the group and its work develop beyond the project? What mechanisms will be used to ensure ongoing communications and interaction? Clear sense of potential trajectory for the project and the relationship.
Advancing and sustaining the partnership5, 6, 7Communicates how the project relationship would contribute to sustaining and strengthening the Duke – Exeter partnership.