The WUN Leeds FIRC provides individual development grants of between £5,000 and £20,000 for use over an 18 months period. The aim is to provide vital seed funding to allow new, high quality, long term research collaborations led by individuals or groups from Leeds with a minimum of two international partners to develop into sustainable projects capable of attracting significant external funding. The latest call was announced on December 1st and will open on December 11th.
Previous FIRC holders from across a wide range of departments and discipline have used the WUN Leeds FIRC to concrete consortia and network building capacity and have been successful in accessing over £1.5 Million from both UK and international funding bodies including several successful EU FP7 bids. As a result vibrant international research projects have emerged including a large-scale International Criminal Justice Network supported by WUN Leeds FIRC and development funding from WUN partner, the University of Sydney. Another group, the Gender Studies Network have brought global specialists in the field together including WUN partners University’s of Toronto, Madison, Utrecht, Western Australia and Sydney. In addition to numerous funding applications, the group have also established a post-graduate student network, held numerous workshops and will be hosting an international conference Cosmetic Cultures: Beauty, globalisation,politics,practices in Leeds in 2009.
The FIRC call is open to individual academics or groups of academics from all faculties, departments and institutes within the University of Leeds. To be eligible the proposed project must involve collaboration with a minimum of two international partner institutions. If the proposed project includes UK partners their number has to be at least matched by the number of international partners. Applicants are very strongly encouraged to include WUN partners as this provide an additional level of support giving the grant holder the possibility to taking advantage of WUN resources such a bolstering their collaborations through virtual seminars and events and taking advantage of the Leeds WUN Research Mobility Programme (RMP). One of the guiding principles of the WUN Leeds FIRC is flexibility and as such there are no set formats for projects. Projects may include exploratory research initiatives, targeted workshops, or the formation of collaborative networks. Applications that incorporate a research mobility component for young researchers and postgraduate students are encouraged. For a full list of the assessment criteria see the guidance notes.
The call opens on December 8th 2008 and will close on 31st January 2009. If you would like any additional information or advice on links with WUN members please email Leeds WUN International Partnerships Officer Kirsty Mattinson k.a.mattinson@adm.leeds.ac.uk