The outline call for the next round of the Leverhulme Research Centres has been announced with submissions due by 16 April 2021. This scheme is limited to one application per institution, so an internal selection process is being run.
This scheme is designed to fund centres that conduct research of outstanding originality and aspire to achieve a significant step-change in scholarship. The Trust’s aim is to encourage new approaches that may establish or reshape a field of study and so transform our understanding of a significant contemporary topic. Leverhulme will fund £1 million per annum for 10 years. Applications should be ambitious with the capacity to become recognised internationally for excellence. Leverhulme encourages higher-risk research which is often therefore fundamental or curiosity-driven – so-called ‘blue skies’ – and pan-disciplinary. The expectation is that centres will draw upon a range of disciplinary perspectives and expertise, perhaps bringing new disciplinary mixes to bear on a particular topic.
Information session
The University currently has a centre, the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science (LCDS) led by Professor Melinda Mills. Having been successful in her application, Melinda has kindly agreed to share her experiences with those interested in applying to this round via an informal Teams session on Thursday 28 January at 11am. This session will include Melinda discussing how she prepared her successful application, experience she gained from others and lessons learnt along the way as well as chance for you to ask questions. If interested in attending please email Emma Nagel-Smith.
How to apply
Following this session anyone interested in submitting an application will need to submit a five-page description of their proposed centre to Emma Nagel-Smith in Research Services by 4pm on Monday 22 February 2021. An internal selection panel will then choose one proposal to go forward to submission. This five-page description forms part of the outline submission. More details about what to include can be found on the Leverhulme Trust website.
