Scope

One of the challenges digital Research Technical Professionals face (often early in their careers) is the lack of funding to attend external opportunities such as conferences, training courses, and other community and knowledge exchange events. The goal of this fund is to provide financial support for dRTPs who would not be able to take advantage of those opportunities otherwise. The examples of supported activities include but are not limited to:

  • Conference or event attendance;
  • Fees for training courses or certificates;
  • Visits to other institutions for knowledge exchange.

The fund is primarily for early career professionals and people transitioning into dRTP roles, regardless of their current role, technical or scientific background. The applicants need to clearly demonstrate how they will benefit from this activity and how they will engage with their local community afterwards to increase the impact of this award.

To maximise the effectiveness of this opportunity, the fund will be administered on a rolling basis, with the review process taking place towards the end of each month.

The total value of this fund is £150k to be administered throughout the duration of the CHARTED project, with the maximum award per individual being £5k. The eligibility criteria and the review process are described below.

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Rules and Eligibility

This fund is primarily for UK-based early career professionals and people transitioning into dRTP roles who need additional financial support to engage with the wider dRTP community or gain new skills. Applicants are expected to explore other sources of funding before applying for this opportunity, clearly demonstrate how this activity will help them at their career stage and how they will contribute to their local communities afterwards.

Applicants are expected to include the following in their applications:

  • Description of the event or activity for which the support is being requested, including the scope of their participation.
  • Motivation for your attendance and involvement, including suitability and benefits for their current career stage.
  • Well-formed plans on how you will connect with your local community to champion or disseminate what they have gained from the proposed activity
  • Details of other funding sources explored.
  • Detailed breakdown for the expected costs and justification for the requested funds.

The fund is designed to support specific activities and directly associated costs only. Requests for equipment or human effort are not eligible.

Applicants should therefore gain approval from their institutions to cover the time spent on the activities for which they seek support.

By default this award will be administered following the reimbursement model, applicants will therefore be expected to keep good records of all your expenses. Final reimbursement requests should be within 10% of the requested costs. If this model does not work for you, please indicate that clearly in your application. You must apply and be successful in your application before the activity you seek support for takes place.

The successful applicants commit to:

  • Booking travel with accordance to the University of Edinburgh Sustainable Travel policy - https://sustainability.ed.ac.uk/operations/travel/sustainable-travel-policy .
  • Being featured as growing dRTPs on the HUB, including reporting back after the funded activity.
  • Engaging with your local community and disseminating the outcomes on the dRTP skills HUB (e.g. writing blog posts, organising webinars, etc.)
  • Keeping receipts and other records of the relevant expenses.

Review Process

Applications will be assessed using a light-touch review process to ensure timeliness of the awards. The review committee will consist of two external reviewers, and two representatives from the projects.

Applications will be ranked according to the benefits to the individuals and their local community. Please see the previous section for details on what should be included in the applications.

The number of applications funded in each round will depend on the quality of the applications and the amount of funds requested.

If you have any questions about the application or review process please get in touch with us at: charted@drtp-skills.ac.uk