Welcome to the Spring Term edition of
The Sussex Researcher
Dear Researchers,
Happy 2023, we hope you had a good break and start to the year.
As of the new year Parveen Mungroo, RSO Officer, left for a new role elsewhere on campus. We would like to introduce Katy Stoddard as the interim manager. Katy has been working in the Doctoral School as the Researcher Development Officer for a number of years and is well placed to oversee the work of the Research Staff Office.
We have put some of our top highlights from this edition:
Our Research Staff monthly Coffee Mornings will be starting from 15 March, 11am–12pm, at the Meeting House. This is a great opportunity to meet other research staff from across the university and build a supportive researcher community. Alongside this we are working on a number of other projects, which we look forward to sharing with you in the near future.
As always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions of how we can improve your experiences and professional development. Please drop us an email at researchstaffoffice@sussex.ac.uk and we'll try our best to incorporate your suggestions.
Warmest regards,
The Research Staff Office Team
In this EditionRSO Training & Development workshops: Upcoming workshops & events News: Weekly Development Update: Upcoming ADR Workshops Academic Promotions Process 2023 Advice & Guidance session Research Staff Coffee Mornings Researcher wellbeing when working with difficult materials and subject areas Junior Research Scheme- Apply for being a supervisor Women at Sussex- International Women Day Sussex Researchers find pesticide use is linked to garden bird decline Sussex Researchers use Artificial Intelligence to personalise cancer patient treatments Your Research and Careers: Academic Promotions Process 2023 Soapbox Science 2023 speaker call is open now Research Funding: Seed Fund UKRI
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Workshops & Events
Research staff are expected to engage in a minimum of 10 days’ professional development pro rata, per year
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Weekly Development Update: Upcoming Achievement and Development Review Workshops
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Academic Promotion Process 2023
Advice & Guidance Session
If you are looking to apply to the Academic Promotions Process for 2023, please join the University-wide Advice and Guidance session on Monday 20th February 10:00-11:00, to find out how the process is run, along with key advice and tips for writing your application in relation to your career pathway and promotion criteria points.
Please email the Academic Promotions team at academic.promotions@sussex.ac.uk to confirm you would like to attend so an invitation to the online session via Zoom can be sent to you.
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Research Staff Monthly Coffee Mornings This is an informal space to meet and get to know other researchers across campus. So, if you need a little time out from your workspace to connect with others, why not pop along to the Meeting House for as little or long as you want? There will be hot and cold drinks and a selection of snacks to nibble on. We look forward to seeing you there. Run by Research Staff Office. First Coffee Morning will be taking place on Wednesday, 15th March 11-12pm at the Meeting House.
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Researcher wellbeing when working with difficult materials and subject areas
These panel sessions are for members of the Sussex community whose research involves distressing or problematic material; working with participants who have experienced trauma; and/or a subject area of which the researcher has had prior experience and may need to consider their own wellbeing when encountering the experiences of others.
Hear researchers discuss real-world experiences of working with difficult materials and share the practical steps they've taken to protect their own wellbeing.
Topics include: researcher loneliness and wellbeing, safeguarding vulnerable participants, the ethics of working with marginalized participants, researching the far-right. The Ethics team will also be on hand, and there will be time for questions. This event will take place simultaneously online and in person. Lunch will be provided for those attending in person. A recording of the presentations will be available after the session.
Date and Time:
Wednesday, 3 May 09:45 – 13:00
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Are you interested in becoming a supervisor for Junior Research Scheme 2023? The Junior Research Associate (JRA) scheme allows selected undergraduate students to take part in a summer research project under the guidance of an academic. It lasts eight weeks and gives them a taste of working in a research role at Sussex. If you'd like to be a supervisor, there are a few ways of getting involved. How you do so will depend on your subject, your students, and whether you have any pre-existing research projects. Early career researchers and those on non-permanent contracts are welcomed to become JRA supervisors, as long as the term of the contract covers the full duration of the JRA studentship. If you are grant funded you will need a supporting statement from the Principal Investigator on the grant. Applications open to 27th March 2023
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Women at Sussex
International Women Day
A new project will create portraits that showcase female role models that will help raise awareness amongst our students and recognise the many contributions that women make in Sussex.
The EDI unit is looking forward to creating a set of portraits of our female staff including a picture and an encouraging comment that will be shared on University EDI webpages and social media channels, these comments could be:
- a personal experience (i.e. proudest achievement at Sussex),
- advice for women wanting to get into your field,
- a reflection on a woman who has inspired you (mother/daughter/wife/partner),
- or simply a comment supporting our celebration of Women in Engineering at Sussex
If you are a female academic, researcher, teaching tutor, technician, professional services and support staff, or PhD student working at Sussex and would like to apply, please email @April Yeatman for the application template.
The deadline for application is the 27th February 2023.
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Sussex Researchers find pesticide use is linked to garden bird decline
Pesticide use by British gardeners is playing a significant role in the declining populations of our songbirds, as shown by the first study of its kind, published in Science Of The Total Environment. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Sussex, shows that gardeners who use pesticides can expect to see fewer birds. However, the research confirms positive news that providing bird-friendly habitats in gardens increased the number of species recorded, and the abundance of individual species.
Professor Goulson of the School of Life Sciences, at the University of Sussex explains:
“The UK has 22 million gardens, which collectively could be a fantastic refuge for wildlife, but not if they are overly tidy and sprayed with poisons. We just don’t need pesticides in our gardens. Many towns around the world are now pesticide free. We should simply ban use of these poisons in urban areas.”
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Sussex Researchers use Artificial Intelligence to personalise cancer patient treatments
Researchers at the University of Sussex are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to analyse different types of cancer cells to understand different gene dependencies, and to identify genes that are critical to a cell’s survival. This can be used to identify actionable targets that in time could guide oncologists to personalise cancer patient treatments.
Dr. Frances Pearl, Senior Lecturer in Bioinformatics in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Sussex says:
“This is an incredibly exciting step in our research which means that we can now work to improve the technology so that it can be offered to oncologists and help in the treatment pathways for their patients.”
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Academic Promotion Process 2023
Academic Promotions now open. All staff who wish to be considered for promotion through the Academic Promotion process should ensure their application form (and associated documentation) should be submitted to the academic.promotions@sussex.ac.uk inbox.
FAQ’s can all be found on the advice and guidance page for further assistance.
Deadline: 13th March 2023
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Soapbox Science's 2023 speaker call is open now! Soapbox Science is a public platform promoting women and non-binary scientists and their research. Their events around the world transform public areas into an arena for public learning and scientific debate.
They are looking for scientists in all areas of STEMM to take part in this grassroots science outreach project.
Deadline: 28th February 2023
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Research Funding
If applying for funding, remember to check funders' eligibility criteria carefully and discuss the opportunity with your host institution/department prior to preparing any applications.
Do look at Research Development webpages for guidance around applications
For more information about ECR Fellowships, check out our new webpage:
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/staff/research/researchstaff/funding/fellowship-opportunities
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Research Culture Seed Fund The funding is for creative ideas about building a inclusive and collaborative research culture at the university. There is a guidance limit of £2,500 but there is flexibility for more funding if the project warrants it. Deadline for Applications: 6th March 2023
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Sandpit- novel computing for UK defence and security Apply to attend a 5-day interactive interdisciplinary sandpit to develop novel low size, weight and power (SWaP) computing projects for UK defence and security applications. There will be a combination of days online and in-person. It is expected that 3 projects will be funded, sharing up to £3 million of total funding. Deadline for Applications: 28th February 2023
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Develop a UK digital twining research community with a NetworkPlus
The NetworkPlus will establish an inclusive, multidisciplinary research community to advance the UK’s position in developing a secure, ethical, and sustainable national capability in digital twinning. The full economic cost of your project can be up to £3.75 million. UKRI will fund 80% of the full economic cost.
Deadline for Applications: 4:00 PM UK time, 23 March 2023
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Pre-announcement: UKRI cross research council responsive mode pilot scheme
This pilot scheme will support breakthrough or disruptive interdisciplinary ideas not routinely funded through existing UKRI responsive mode schemes. The full economic cost of your project can be between £200,000 to £1.2 million. UKRI will fund 80% of the full economic cost.
Deadline for Applications: To be confirmed
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