The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has recently undertaken a consultation exercise to identify the social science research priorities that emerge from a holistic assessment of the interrelated challenges of energy, environment and food security. This exercise has identified an interconnected set of social science challenges - the Social Science of the Nexus - from which ESRC, working with a range of partners, will be taking forward a programme of research and capacity-building.
The first of these activities is designed to forge links between research activities addressing the challenges of the Social Science of the Nexus. ESRC wants to establish a Network Plus (NW+) to build connected ‘nexus thinking’ capacity and leadership for the social sciences in identifying and addressing the challenges of the Energy-Environment-Food Nexus. The call is for a single Network Plus (NW+) to last for 36 months that will bring together researchers from across the Nexus funded to the level of up to £1.875 million (100 per cent fEC)) over 36 months.
A Network Plus plays a strategic role in ensuring that research is both of excellent academic quality AND is aligned with user needs. It plays a key role in reaching out to potential users, interacting with them and providing them with access to research, ensuring research addresses questions that are relevant to them, and uses the concepts and language that users understand and can apply. This is intended to be very different to the traditional process of dissemination which occurs after the research has finished. Instead, with a Network Plus, the research communities’ engagement with research users is at its highest before the main body of research begins, and research users often play an active role in research design and its co-production. A Network Plus has a further strategic contribution in bringing together research teams working on different contributory areas, whether or not funded by ESRC, to foster the sharing and integration of research activities and findings, and to support the development of joined-up and usable new thinking.
The NW+ will have open, interdisciplinary membership, and will engage a wide range of relevant stakeholders, from academia, business, policy, civil society and other sectors. The NW+ will engage, build and support a new research community, drawing on existing and future investments both within and beyond ESRC's portfolio. To enable this, the funding for the NW+ includes placement and pilot project allocations.
ESRC is holding a meeting on 2 September 2013 in London at the Hooke Room, 76 Portland Place for researchers interested in responding to the call for proposals for a Nexus Network Plus.
Although attendance at the event is not mandatory, it will be an opportunity to hear more about the background to the Network Plus and the network ESRC wish to develop and how to formulate responses to the call.
To attend register your interest by responding to the call email: esrcnexusnetworkplus@esrc.ac.uk
The deadline for registration was 19 August. If demand is too high for the meeting, then ESRC will ask your organisation to prioritise who attends.
We would appreciate it if you also provide a short note on your research interests and expertise and how you feel you could contribute to the Network Plus. There will be a limit on audience numbers and this note, together with information on coverage across institutions and expertise, will be helpful if we do need to make any judgements on event allocations. The note will also be something we would want to share with other participants at the event to assist with the development of new relationships to address the agenda planned for the network.
Contact:
View the original article here
