King's College London

The Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy celebrated colleagues’ success on 17 April, bringing together all of those who have been awarded a grant over the past two years.

All of those who contributed to the successful funding bid were invited: Principal Investigators (PI) and their teams, including PhD students; Research Managers, Heads of School Administration and other professional services staff; and anyone across King’s whom the research team considered had been instrumental to the successful award. Grants large and small were celebrated, with over 40 colleagues joining the Faculty for a wine reception in The Exchange, Bush House.

The Faculty’s Vice-Dean for Research, Professor Christoph Meyer, introducing the event, was clear that celebrating colleagues’ awards publicly is just one element of the Faculty’s approach to congratulating and rewarding research success. The 17 April reception sits alongside the Faculty’s initiatives to reward PIs, through the Principal Investigator Incentivisation Scheme (a monetary reward equivalent to 10 per cent of the overheads on the grant award); the Faculty Research Fund and the Faculty’s Peer Review College (to apply internal expertise to enhance the success of grant applications).

Colleagues who attended welcomed the event as an excellent opportunity to ‘get people together who are all conducting research, to see what funded projects are being worked on’ and a chance to meet people across SSPP. They appreciated the recognition that the event provided, across the Faculty, beyond the usual recognition within individual departments. A researcher commented that: ‘it’s important to be recognised by your employers as grants take hard work and time’.  Acknowledging the contribution of research teams, as well as professional services staff, to grant success, was also important, colleagues agreed.

Finally, the opportunity that successful research grants provide for research training was acknowledged: ‘Research is not just about the money that is brought in but also about Post-Doctoral Research Associates and PhDs – the crossover of education and research is important’, in the words of one participant.

It is intended that there will be a second celebration of research success later this year, with the event then taking place annually.