ACU Early Career Researcher (ECR) Training Grants

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Applications are open for the second round of ACU Early Career Researcher (ECR) Training Grants. 10 grants are available to fund staff at ACU member universities to organise and deliver training for their early career researchers, including doctoral candidates. The training will equip researchers with essential skills to enable them to succeed in their careers, whether they remain in academia or utilise their skills in other professional fields. 

Who can apply?

Research offices staff at ACU member universities, or any other staff member who leads on providing training for early career researchers, can apply. Universities can use their internal criteria of what defines an ECR, but this must include doctoral candidates, and the training must be made available to ECRs from multiple disciplines.

Skills which are in scope of the training include:

• Presentation skills
• Networking
• Time management
• Public engagement and communicating with non-academic audiences
• Media training
• Social media
• Relationship/stakeholder management
• Grant writing
• Research data management
• Career training, including doctoral careers outside higher education

Please focus your training on ideally one topic or a maximum of two.

If your university has previously been awarded an Early Career Researcher Training Grant, you are not eligible to apply again.

Grant amount

The grant available is GBP 1,000.

Application requirements

As part of the application form, applicant institutions must:

• Describe the focus, goals and content of the training to be delivered. Training with practical aspects will be looked upon favourably.
• State the target audience and the number of people who will benefit, including whether any training will be accessible to other ACU members
• Give detailed information about the trainer
• Describe the training format and platforms you intend to use – if the training is planned to be delivered in-person, applicants must also provide plans for a virtual alternative. 
• Provide a detailed time plan, including preparation time and how much time is to be dedicated to each activity. The training must take place within the period of February to July 2022. Timelines that include gaps between sessions for participants to reflect, practice and come back to feedback will be looked upon favourably.
• State the planned outcomes, showing the connection between objectives and outcomes while ensuring outcomes are measurable.
• List the outputs – one output must be shareable with other ACU members
• Explain how the training will be evaluated and how success will be measured
• List the costs for which funding is to be claimed, these can include materials, trainer fees, staff time and data costs.
• Provide a letter of support from the institution’s Executive Head or another appropriate senior university leader that demonstrates buy-in from your university and how your university will support the training.

How to apply

If you already have a MyACU account, you can access the grant application form directly.

If you do not already have a MyACU account, please ensure that you:

1. First register for an account
2. Follow the instructions in the registration email to log in to the system before accessing the application form

Apply now

Closing date: Monday 8 November at 17:00 UTC

Reporting and sharing of outputs

Successful applicants will be required to submit a report on the training delivered which compares the outcomes to those projected as part of the application. One output from the training must also be made available to share with other ACU member universities.

If you have a query which is not answered on this page, please email ECRtraining@acu.ac.uk

These grants are delivered as part of one of the ACU Supporting Research Community’s aim to help the development of early career researchers across the Commonwealth.

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