TORCH Interdisciplinary PER Scheme 22-23
A new strategic fund has been established to help researchers develop innovative PER (public engagement with research) projects in the priority areas of Environmental Humanities, Medical Humanities, Intersectional Humanities, and Race and Resistance. With funding from the Wellcome ISSF (Institutional Strategic Support Fund), this new scheme will support strategic interdisciplinary projects in key research areas.
The priority areas align with the four headline Programmes at TORCH. These Programmes focus on selected themes that bring together interdisciplinary clusters of researchers, often in collaboration with other parts of the University. Capacious intellectual spaces that invite collaboration with scholars in the UK and internationally, TORCH Programmes are points of synergy for cutting-edge, boundary-crossing research on political and cultural questions, which are central to the Humanities at Oxford.
Researchers in the Humanities are invited to apply for this open call with projects that connect to one or more of these interdisciplinary areas and are focused on public engagement with research. Applications from individuals and/or groups of researchers are welcome. Projects can include a partner organisation external to the University.
Purpose of this fund
The aim of this fund is to help researchers in the Humanities Division establish strategic projects that combine innovative public engagement with research approaches and practice. We invite applications from researchers collaborating with colleagues in other Divisions of the University. We also invite applications from researchers who are working with external partners in a mutually beneficial way.
Objectives for this fund
- Develop new, and/or significantly build on existing public engagement with research projects.
- Increase the number of researchers actively engaged in public engagement with research projects in these priority thematic research areas.
- Illustrate innovative and entrepreneurial practices within Humanities research engagement and collaboration.
- Provide an opportunity for researchers to trial and experiment ideas, develop collaborative projects, and demonstrate the breadth of collaborative opportunities across different disciplines.
Priority research areas:
The four priority areas in this call align with the Wellcome Trust’s vision and strategy in supporting science, innovation, and society. This includes Mental Health, Infectious Disease, and Climate and Health. We encourage applications that answer to each or several of the different research areas covered by our headline programmes, as outlined below.
This programme gathers researchers from across disciplines who are interested in past, current, and future relationships between humans and the natural world. Environmental Humanities welcomes applications that directly and innovatively address Humanities disciplines’ approach to the challenges posed by environmental change, and which imagine alternatives to current human attitudes to this phenomenon.
This programme fosters a wide range of research areas, from the ethics of care to the global trajectories of epidemics and their eradication. We encourage applications that offer unique humanistic perspective on the Wellcome Trust’s strategic topics.
The Intersectional Humanities programme explores the complex interactions of different markers of identity, among them gender, sexuality, racialisation, disability, ethnicity, class, and religion. We welcome applications that offer insights into the crossovers between health, wellbeing, and intersectionality.
Researchers in the Race and Resistance programme study historical and current forms of anti-racist activism in the UK and across the world. We seek applications that explore, among other things, the racial politics of healthcare and medicine across diverse geographies.
Funding
Funding can be requested to:
i. Develop or pilot new public engagement with research projects or
ii. Improve/enhance existing public engagement with research projects.
We will fund:
i. Travel and subsistence costs
ii. Research Assistance costs
iii. Partner costs (Technical development fees, artistic and creative fees, etc.)
iv. Event costs (venue hire, refreshments, and facilitation fees).
v. Filming and editing, Photography costs
vi. Evaluation costs (staff costs, materials, etc.)
vii. Other justifiable costs to facilitate the project (please clearly outline the justification in the application form)
We will not fund:
i. Teaching buy-out
ii. Applicants’ salaries
Timeframe
Successful applicants need to have completed their projects, and any approved budget expenditure, by 28 February 2023. Applicants will be asked to provide a clear project timeline in the application form.
Reporting
All awardees need to complete a post-project report within 1 month of their project end date.
Eligibility
We welcome applications from individuals with different levels of expertise in the area of public engagement with research. In addition to funding, some in-kind support will also be provided through TORCH.
The main applicant must be a Humanities researcher employed in the collegiate University (Early Career Researchers, teaching staff, and faculty members). DPhil applicants are also eligible as main applicants. Applications for interdisciplinary projects that include participants from different Divisions of the University are especially welcome. External organisations are also encouraged as partners in the application.
Faculty approval
All applications will need Faculty approval before the final deadline (see below). Applicants should note that Faculty approval normally precedes the final deadline by a week. We strongly advise applicants to discuss their application with Faculty Research Facilitators well before the deadline.
Application deadline
Friday 29 July 2022 | 12:00 noon (BST)
Available funding
Applicants may request up to £7,500 in funding. Requested funds and activity must be spent and complete by 28 February 2023.
Application submission
Online via IRAMS (SSO) webform only
Queries
Applicants with questions regarding the scheme or application process, including queries relating to eligibility, should email Sarah Clay (TORCH Operations Manager) at sarah.clay@humanities.ox.ac.uk and María del Pilar Blanco (TORCH Academic Champion) at maria.blanco@trinity.ox.ac.uk
