Establishing your research

Insight and advice

Prof. Peter Haynes, former Head of Department, Materials, now Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience)

In the first 100 days you should have tried to have a conversation with every other member of academic staff in the Department, and I appreciate that that is tricky for you, because it should really be the other way round (the other academics should introduce themselves to you).  If you haven’t got a list of names, ask the head of department’s PA – they may even set up the meetings. 

I think you should just have a coffee and a free-flowing conversation rather than a particular thing you want to discuss – you just need to get to know them and join in the community.  You need to know them and roughly what they do, and everybody else needs to know you. So, that's what I’d do: lots of coffee.  Get a coffee budget coming out of the setup costs!

Prof. Neil Alford, Associate Provost (Academic Planning):

The first thing is to be developing a research portfolio. Often you will be on a fellowship anyway, so it is really important to develop that and to be looking at writing your first grant, getting mentored on grantsmanship and getting interview practice.  Mock interview performances can be shocking to start with, so give yourself time to practice and get feedback so you can knock an interview panel off their feet.   

Actions to take and questions to ask

• Get a list of names of all research staff in your department and work your way through informal meetings with them to share your research interests and plans and hear about theirs. Think about what it is that you offer them.  Look at our advice on connecting with peers locally and building visibility.
• Use our ‘starter’ list of topics in the FAQ:  I am new to the UK.  What can I do to better understand the research landscape in the UK? to familiarise yourself with the UK research landscape.  Speak to your academic advisor and ask them what else they would add that is specific to your discipline area or the College.  Ask yourself: 
  • Do I know what they are? 
  • What is important about them?
  • What might be relevant about them to me?
  • When in my career do I need to know or take initiative in relation to them? 
• As per the advice on the first 100 days of teaching, collate a portfolio of testimonials on all the things that you've done during probation that relate to research. Then you've got it: the evidence from peer reviews, presentations and so on. It will help build your confidence before probation reviews.
• Arrange to speak to a representative from your faculty research support team to discuss the funders to target in relation to your research vision and strategy. 
• Arrange mentoring on grant writing – either with your academic mentor or ask for recommendations on who can help you.  Your faculty research support team may be able to advise you on who can help.
• Arrange mock funding interviews – again, your research support teams will be able to help you, but you can also arrange a 1:1 mock interview via the PFDC.
• Talk to your head of department/line manager to get agreement on four things:
  • How do they see your role and challenges you may face?
  • What do they expect you to accomplish, in the first year and over the whole probation period?
  • Agree on resources you need and will have access to (including studentships) and if there is a time limit on any ‘set-up’ funding.
  • How they like to work, what they appreciate from their staff, what’s their style of leadership.

• On a more practical note: if your research is lab-based, arrange a conversation with the head technician to understand what they expect you to do to set up your group.  E.g. what are the risk assessments and standard operating procedures? How do you order consumables etc. 

“Each lab has to have their own standard operating procedures or risk assessments and there is an incredible amount of duplication of effort here if you are not careful.”  
- Dr Luke Allsopp, Lecturer, National Heart & Lung Institute 

“Health and safety colleagues were always very helpful to me.  You need to speak to them well in advance.” 
- Dr Mary Matthews, Lecturer, Department of Physics 

Insight and advice

Professor Anne Dell, former Head of Department, Life Sciences:

By the end of your probation period you should:

• Have established a research strategy, which is independent of what you were doing previously (which may have been with someone else)
• Have established an independent lab/group 
• Have made your research (and group) sustainable so that you can flourish after probation
• Be aiming for a professorship within 10-15 years’ time   
• Have at least one publication arising from independent research with primary research data in a high-quality journal- the evidence has to be very clear that it's from the work (or lab) you have set up since starting at the College
• Have the competency to be bringing in grant income from appropriate sources 

“Have an idea of your next three or four projects, mixing low risk and high risk. It’s very important to start doing something new quickly, otherwise it’s hard to feel you have anything to show and that things are working for you.”
- Dr Florian Bouville, Senior Lecturer, Department of Materials

“Do both long-term and short-term planning. Be strategic – focus on what’s urgent and what’s more strategic in the long term. Some things will feel like they’re getting in the way right now. Know that it’s ok to take a short term hit as long as you are able to tell a narrative and show the bigger strategy.”
- Dr Mary Matthews, Lecturer, Department of Physics

 Actions to take and questions to ask 

• Work on your long-term research strategy – see our advice on being strategic in your career (and research). 
• Make an appointment with your department or faculty director of research to discuss your initial thoughts about your research plans and get feedback on potential sources of funding. 
• Ask colleagues who have recently passed their probation if they can talk you through or show you their long-term research strategy and longer-term plans for maintaining and building their research group. 
• Ask your faculty research service if you can have a one-to-one discussion to discuss your emerging plans and get feedback and advice on funding sources to seek now and to aspire to in 3-5 or even 10 years’ time? 
• Which are the high-quality schemes?  
• What are the typical or preferred new investigator/ early career researcher funding schemes? 

Insight and advice

Prof. Peter Haynes, former Head of Department, Materials, now Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience)

Before your probation review, you need input from people who understand what is relevant and how your field works. The probation review panel should include someone who can comment on this, someone from the same broad research theme as you.

This is one of the things that your academic advisor is there to do: to give feedback and help you to benchmark yourself. Those conversations should be more regular so that there isn’t a panic by the mid-term or end probation reviews.

Franklin Allen, Vice-Dean (Research and Faculty), Business School:

There are some nuanced differences between disciplines but mostly there are high rejection rates from journals and it’s difficult to publish everywhere, so you just have to keep trying.

Actions to take and questions to ask

• Benchmark against others in your faculty who have recently passed probation and are in similar discipline areas to you.  Better still, speak to them and ask them about their successes and failures with grant income.
• Benchmark yourself against HESA research income benchmarking data in similar disciplines in Russell Group universities (document provided by the University of Glasgow).
• Get advice from your mentor or academic advisor: ask them whether your current income success, group size, publication record etc. compare favourably with others in similar areas. Tell them your plans and ask for feedback on what you should make a priority to fill any gaps that may hold your probation back. 

Insight and advice

Prof. Anne Dell, former Head of Department, Life Sciences

There is no specific answer to this question as it varies hugely according to discipline and also your experience prior to arriving at Imperial. 

What the probation panel really want to see as evidence is that:

• your grant income so far is from ‘approved’ sources;
• the amount and source of your funding enables your group and research to be sustainable in the long term i.e. not pieced together with small pots of money for consumables and travel.  Although these small pots may aggregate up, they are not sustainable long term e.g. would it be enough to employ a minimum of one research assistant for three years?

Edwin Chilvers, Head of Department, National Heart & Lung Institute

We would have an expectation that you would have one program funded within the three-year probation period. That's £100k plus. But if you have a portfolio of smaller grants and a very clear understanding of where you're heading and how you’re building the research and governance then that's fine. So, it's the strategy beyond, to be sustainable, that we are looking at.

Actions to take and questions to ask

• Identify what would be the norm in terms of research income for your research area.  Take a look at Russell Group income benchmarking data in a document provided by the University of Glasgow for your discipline and see how you match up.  
• Ask your head of department or mentor whether there are funders/schemes that your department wants you to target (or avoid). 
• If you haven’t won significant funding yet, consider preparing other evidence that shows that you are making progress. This might include having submitted a grant or expressions of interest, joined consortia, attended research sandpits etc.

Insight and advice

Prof. Anne Dell, former Head of Department, Life Sciences

"We understand that it may not have been possible for you to be the named PI on a grant proposal before the end of probation.  If so, use consortia grants to show you are meeting targets with funding income.  You do need to be a named co-investigator/work package lead and have the money coming to your own budget."

Prof. Peter Haynes, former Head of Department, Materials, now Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience) 

If you have submitted a competitive bid, but this one wasn’t successful, I do not think that it is reasonable to make you a hostage to fortune. We know there is a random element to the process, and that there could just be a very limited pot of money in a particular year with a particular funder.  So, quite frankly, I want to know (from your academic advisor, who will be on the probation panel) that they can testify that you made a good job of applying for a grant. If you've done that then that's enough and we will say, “Right, that’s fine: you’re through probation”. 

Actions to take and questions to ask

• Remember that the grant review panel feedback from rejected proposals might be good.  Make a note of it and include it as evidence of quality in your probation review. 
• Look to be building collaborations so that you also have consortia bids to be part of as well as independent ones. 

Insight and advice

There are three main functions of research support at Imperial College London:

• The Research Services Teams at Faculty Level
• The Research Office at College Level
• The Enterprise team at College level

Research Services Teams embedded in each faculty are responsible for the operational management of research and provide pre- and post-award activities that relate to the management of funding. e.g. costings, contract authorisations and negotiations, management of finances, employment contracts, partner agreements and research administration. They have the biggest role to play in supporting you as an individual researcher if you are preparing a proposal or managing an award.  

Other faculty research services provision will vary but may also offer: 

• Funding bulletins
• Mock interviews
• 1:1 feedback on proposals
• Research funding workshops
• Links to and events with major funders e.g. sandpits, networking, workshops

Within your departments there is another raft of support, and this could include: 

• Introduction sessions with research and finance managers
• Workshops on funding calls or grant costings
• Start-up funds and studentships
• Mentorship
• Peer review and peer idea development sessions
• Feedback sessions with senior faculty
• 1:1 support to find appropriate funding schemes
• 1:1 coaching on proposal writing
• Mock interviews
• Repositories of example applications
• Support for writing and reviewing proposals
• Review, advice on funding calls and grant writing.  The nature and level of faculty and departmental support will vary and there are obvious differences in your needs and the funding landscape depending on your discipline area.  

“We’re always happy to talk to people about their research plans and proposals.  We might not come to look for you, so remember help is available to those who seek it – just ask!”  
- member of faulty research services team 

The Research Office is responsible for funding policies, governance and assurance such as research integrity and governance, intellectual property, research systems support, funder relationship management and much more.  The office has a wealth of information on its web pages that will be of use to you as a new PI such as:

• Funder information (funding types and opportunities, policy updates, European funding)
• A research culture toolkit
• Research Policies (Codes of Practice)
• Research Governance and Integrity 
• Preparing a proposal (toolkit of advice)
• Managing projects (managing research, managing accounts, recruiting staff, audits, timesheets etc)
• Contracts (types, negotiation, terms and conditions)
• Research outcomes, outputs and impact (data management, open access)
• Other support (research admin, research facilities, research culture toolkit etc)

Enterprise are responsible for industrial partnerships and commercialisation and can support you with applying your research to industry, launching a start-up and managing projects.

 Action to take

• Familiarise yourself with the type and level of support offered by: 
  • your Faculty Research Service
  • the Central Research Office  
  • the Enterprise Team (if relevant to your work) 
• Look at the examples of departmental support listed above – find out if they are happening in your department.  If not, can you get a few people together and request or instigate them? 
• For an overview, refer to the Research Office’s ‘Supporting the Management of Research Funding (pdf)’ guide.   

Insight and advice

Prof. Peter Haynes, former Head of Department, Materials, now Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience)

In my department, I will fund an external coach to work with staff. It's not automatic. But if you are developing a significant fellowship, or an ERC grant, or if you are coming from overseas, I would definitely do it. It happens elsewhere around the College.

It certainly pays off. And I always say it doesn't really matter whether that particular grant succeeds or fails because you will have picked up, through the coaching, a healthy way to approach grant writing. It speeds up that process whereby you always start with a few rejections but end up winning funding. Coaching enables you to reflect on your experience and learn the lessons faster than you would if you did it on your own.

“Having mentors to show how proposals are written and the politics around it is really important.
- Dr Robert Hewson, Reader, Department of Aeronautics

Action to take

• Irrespective of whether your head of department will provide a grant-writing coach, find mentors and experienced peers who know the schemes you are interested in and who will share their experience, offer feedback to you and engage in peer review of your proposals. 
• Always seek feedback on draft proposals and find out what your department or faculty research services teams offer you in terms of a structured process of peer review.   
• Find consortia to be co-investigator and collaborate with, and learn from someone with more funding experience. 
• Ask your head of department who would be best placed in your department can to mentor you on or give specific advice or feedback on draft proposals or your ideas for particular schemes. 
• Ask your faculty research services for a conversation about your draft proposal ideas as soon as possible and give them advance warning that you would like their feedback on a proposal. 
• Follow blogs on grant writing to pick up general tips.  A great starting point is a blog by Andrew Derrington (author of the research funding toolkit), which is full of advice on grant writing. 
• Find out whether there are any writing retreats being organised by the College and sign up to attend them. This will focus your writing and help you to be productive.

Insight and advice

The central Research Office have information on the research funding landscape. There is a webpage as well as a presentation and slide deck.

This will give you an overview of the big picture, however, it is important to discuss the UK research landscape with your academic mentor, head of department and faculty research services representatives to determine what is relevant to your own research strategy and discipline.

Prof. Peter Haynes, former Head of Department, Materials, now Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience)

In the first few meetings I had with a recent cohort of newly appointed lecturers we talked through a list of research/academia related acronyms and abbreviations.  I went through and explained everything, which is particularly useful for any international academics.  We discussed what/where/why, and how much you need to be concerned about, and when you need to do anything.  That can open up more questions and useful discussion.  The next things we discuss are how to apply for and cost a grant (the golden rules), and then how to recruit a PhD or postdoc.

“Seeing what gets funded helped me to see where I needed to get to in order to be successful and know more about the sector. I found this out by talking to people, but also looking at the funding bodies and seeing (from the announcements) who is winning big grants.”
- Dr Robert Hewson, Reader, Department of Aeronautics

“The UK funding system can seem unclear: How/where should I apply? What is appropriate for me? Having someone to talk to and think of strategies was important. It helped me to understand the game and the criteria. It should be obvious who to talk to: the colleagues who have a lot of funding experience. You need to find experienced mentors.”
- Dr Florian Bouville, Senior Lecturer, Department of Materials

Action to take and questions to ask

If you are unfamiliar with being a researcher in the UK, raise this with your academic mentors and ask them what they think you ought to be aware of. In the meantime, here is a selection of suggested starting points to get a flavour of some of the ideas, expectations, and requirements of being a researcher in the UK: 

• A description of the academic career structure and system in the UK, described by the Academic Careers Observatory. 
• The Research Excellence Framework (REF) – the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. 
• The Knowledge Exchange Framework – the assessment that focuses on the wide range of activities that higher education institutions undertake with external partners for the benefit of the economy and society. 
• Research governance and integrity.  
• Research culture and researcher wellbeing. 
• The Concordat to support the career development of researchers -  an agreement between funders and employers of researchers in the UK. 
• Engaging with society – public and community engagement, schools outreach etc. 
• Policy engagement opportunities and programmes supported by ‘The Forum’. 
• Enterprise – entrepreneurship and commercialisation of research. 
• Open access policies and making your publications available in Spiral, the College’s repository. 
• Research data management responsibilities and expectations. 

Insight and advice

Each faculty and department will have its own process for disseminating funding opportunities. The College has an institutional subscription to Idox Research Connect, an online provider for research funding information offering a searchable database of funding opportunities with the option to subscribe to alerts. Your department may alert you about certain opportunities and there will also be advice at faculty level.

Actions to take and questions to ask

• Consider the lists of common pitfalls and challenges above. Make a list of which apply to you and speak to your mentor and faculty research service about them to clarify your understanding and take steps to resolve any lack of clarity.
• Sign up for an account with Idox ResearchConnect so that you can received tailored alerts about upcoming funding calls.
• Familiarise yourself with your faculty’s funding opportunities pages, e.g.:
  • Faculty of Engineering funding opportunities
  • Faculty of Natural Sciences support for funding
• Ask your faculty research service representatives and departmental research managers whether there are any newsletters or alerts for funding opportunities that they will send around. 

Insight and advice

Cindy Lai, Head of Research Support Services, Research Office 

"Some departments have an internal ‘peer review’ process, which could be as simple as asking another colleague to read through a grant application; providing a repository of successful grant applications; or setting up review panels or mock interview depending on the type of funding call. Since each department operates differently, it is important for you to speak to your department contact to get an overview of what each department currently offers or is planning to offer."  

Dr David Wilson, Head of Research Support, Business School 

Always arrange peer review and seek out experienced applicants.  

Some departments will not allow you to submit without peer review. 

We can direct you to someone to review and can find someone via our research committee. 

Faculty Research Manager 

"I’m happy to give advice on management plans, give mock interviews, proofread a draft.  But make sure you give me plenty enough of notice – the more the better!" 

Actions to take and questions to ask 

• Ask your head of department and/or your faculty research service representatives whether there is a formal peer review process in place for your draft proposals.  If so, make sure you are aware of the process and timelines so that you can make the most of it when the time comes.  If they do not arrange formal review, ask who the experienced applicants are and seek your own informal peer review with the support of your faculty research services. 

Insight and advice

Faculty Research Manager 

• Read and understand the eligibility criteria for funding calls – you’d be surprised how much even a seasoned academic still struggles with eligibility criteria. 
• Don’t be reluctant to ask for advice and be willing to admit you don’t know something. 
• Be willing to go through peer review – don’t be fearful about what your colleagues will think.

Dr Andrew Wright, Head of Research Strategy and Development, Faculty of Engineering

• Don’t put off or avoid initiating and engaging in conversations with your funders.  Speak to them, invite them to seminars or showcases in your department. For example, EPSRC can direct you to collaborators, or they have companies on their books that they can link you to.  Portfolio managers can help you to look at the international picture, companies, collaborators etc.   
• Make sure you have a clear research vision.  Don’t have all your eggs in one basket.  Your research vision should be ambitious, so make it ‘scalable’.  Know what you would do if you have £10k, £1M or £10M.  Be able to describe the transformative impact of your funding on the careers of the researchers involved (particularly early career researchers) as well as the transformative effect on the research field.

Dr David Wilson, Head of Research Support, Business School 

Common mistakes include: 

• Not understanding the costings detail in a grant proposal: make sure you speak to your research support team about costings.
• Thinking you have a brilliant idea and that that’s the main thing. The form-filling, box-ticking and guidelines are not to be underestimated. Make sure you address everything… and tick all the boxes.
• Not getting your case for support properly edited. You often need help with your writing, whether or not you are a native English speaker.  Often the case for support needs good editing: remember that the review panel will not be subject experts.   
• Not contacting your research support team early enough.  Make sure you contact them at least two months before the deadline to ensure you can get adequate support and peer review – especially if you are relatively junior. 

Actions to take and questions to ask

The following tips are based on common challenges that Faculty Research Teams have found that newly appointed academic staff often face: 

• Make sure you understand what a grant proposal in the UK looks like and the writing style needed – ask your local research services or successful applicants in your department to share successfully funded proposals with you – recognise their style and format.
• Get clarity from your Head of Department on what the research funding expectations criteria for your probation i.e. how you should interpret them specifically for your circumstances.
• If you are not aware of the Full Economic Costing (FEC) model and internal costing processes for research grants, ask for an explanation from your research services.
• If you will be collaborating with industry, make sure you speak to your research services team about their expectations of good practice in industry engagement and funding and the likely Intellectual Property and contractual terms.  

Insight and advice

Prof. Peter Haynes, former Head of Department, Materials, now Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience) 

Do not be hasty. I’ve seen too many early career academics stumble because their first PhD student struggled. They were just desperate to get someone in. 

Weak students need lots of support and this is hard work: it will take you twice as long to supervise these students so you could have done the project yourself.  If someone got to the end of probation without recruiting successfully, I would say, “Please don't worry, I would really rather you actually appoint somebody good and, to be honest, we'll help you find a good PhD student.” If you need help, be sure to raise it before that stage.

Prof. Edwin Chilvers, former Head of Department, National Heart & Lung Institute 

Fifty percent of the problems we have is because of a bad or wrong first appointment. The most important thing that you’ll ever do in that first year is appoint your first PhD students or postdoc and it's very hard if you don't get a strong shortlist. 

At the end probation review, I wouldn't be critical at all if you said to me, “I haven’t recruited yet. I'm using a new strategy to try and recruit as I wasn't happy with the first set of applicants. I didn't want to rush into this because I'd get the wrong person.” I think that would show maturity and a strategy. I think it would be quite appropriate, actually.  If, on the other hand, you haven't managed to recruit yet, and it’s because you’re not spending your money and you are not really engaged, then I'd be very worried. 

Involve others in your recruitment: some people, now they're branching out on their own, are too keen to show that they're independent. They feel they have to make their own decisions; they know their own mind and they don't want to ask for help because they want to be in charge. They don't want to be told who to appoint or what to do. But, when you are recruiting, these are such important appointments. You must get as many voices in the room as possible, and with as much experience as possible. It’s still your decision, it’s you leading the recruitment process.  But I think some people do silo themselves away trying just to prove their independence. 

Actions to take and questions to ask 

• Work through, understand and implement: 
  • The Graduate School guide to student recruitment and welcoming students  
  • HR guidance on how to recruit research staff 
• When recruiting a PhD or postdoc ask yourself: 
  • Is the project going to sustain them?  
  • Do they really show interest?  
  • Is it someone you can build a professional connection with?  
  • Do they actually want to live/work here? 
  • Are the postdocs bringing a skillset that you don’t have?
  • Do I have time to actively manage and train them? 
• Seek feedback from your mentor on your job specification and interview questions.
• Ask experienced supervisors and PIs what their most effective recruitment questions are and what lessons they have learnt.
• Don’t be afraid to include tests within the selection process. 
• Ask who would be available to help shadow you to conduct your first interviews and advise you on recruitment decisions. 
• If in doubt, don’t recruit! 

Insight and advice

Prof. Neil Alford, Associate Provost (Academic Planning)

Talk to your head of department in the first few days after arrival.  At the very beginning there is normally a honeymoon period when you negotiate the research space, PhD students, start-up money etc.  Once that’s agreed carry on the discussions about what is expected of you, how do you settle in?

All head of departments can handle these discussions and should be empathetic.  Your head of department should make it clear to you what is expected of you.  It’s very important to figure out what is expected, whether you agree, whether you should change anything, should you try and negotiate?   

Prof. Franklin Allen, Vice-Dean (Research and Faculty), Business School 

In the Business School everybody gets a £7.5K personal allowance and access to an internal school research fund. 

Insight and advice

Prof. Peter Haynes, former Head of Department, Materials, now Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience)

There may be a policy on this in your faculty but (for lab-based discipline) you ought to expect a funded studentship, money (with flexibility) to set up any starting equipment, lab space and an office.  Thereafter, it really is bespoke, depending on your needs and plans.  We may pay a percentage towards external funding you have brought in. We’re quite generous and we may buy equipment for you, but once you are established, we won’t be quite so generous so be proactive and self-starting and don’t expect everything to be handed to you on a plate.

Actions to take and questions to ask 

• Put together an estimate of set up costs for the first year so that you get what you need. 
• Ask your head of department: Is there a policy on set-up resources and funding? Is it negotiable?
• Ask peers whether there were unforeseen costs in their first year so that you are forewarned.
• Ask your head of department whether there is time limit on resources they will provide you with to get set up.