In line with plans published in their 2010 Strategic Plan the EPSRC will now be focusing their portfolio in areas of international research excellence and national importance. Two key changes will be phased in to address these areas, with national importance being the first to be introduced. As of today, applicants will have to clearly identify the national importance of their proposed research project, over a 10-50 year time-frame. The new measure will take into account the potential impact of the research on the UK economy and whether it has the potential to enable an emerging industry, help meet society’s challenges and is important to promoting the health of other research disciples.

A series of workshops will take place to focus on advice for applicants and reviewers and a set of Frequently Asked Questions, also available on the website, has been produced to help applicants understand the changes related to national importance:

FAQs – Changes to Peer Review: National Importance

1. Why do you need to change Peer Review?Peer Review is central to achieving our aims and over time has evolved to meet changing requirements. In 2010 Council published its Strategic Plan articulating a clear goal to Shape Capabilities. To support this, all our investment decisions, in the future, will be based on the international excellence of the research and its national importance (set in a global context), while continuing to encourage the free generation of ideas and curiosity-based research. Therefore we need to adapt our current process to incorporate the new criteria.
2. What are the main changes to the process as a result of National Importance?Research Quality remains pre-eminent while National Importance is an additional major assessment criterion that will be applied across all EPSRC grant schemes. Expert peer review will be asked to comment on this criterion in addition to the existing criteria. Proposals will continue to be ranked on the basis of reviewer assessments, now including this additional criterion, at prioritisation panels.
3. What is National Importance?National importance looks over a 10 to 50 year time frame. It takes into account the national importance of the research in relation to other research in the area, how it aligns to national UK priorities, user/stakeholder pull or if it underpins priority areas for other research councils.When considering National Importance for research and training we take into account;
   • the potential impact of a research area on the current or future success of the UK economy,
   • whether it has been identified as an area that will enable the future development of key emerging industry(s),
   • if the area makes a clear contribution to meeting key societal challenges facing the UK,
   • If the area is key to the health of other research disciplines.

   We are asking applicants to demonstrate the importance of their proposed research project to the UK in relation to other research in that area. We do not expect applicants to be able to predict the impact of their research, nor do we expect reviewers to make assumptions about the probability of the benefits being fully delivered. The purpose of national importance is to encourage applicants to articulate how their research aligns to national UK priorities, user/stakeholder pull or if it underpins other research areas. We encourage and recognise the research we invest in has a global impact.

4. What is the relationship between National Importance and Impact?National Importance and Impact are complementary and both relate to the identified potential benefits expected to arise from the research. The introduction of National Importance as a major assessment criterion will help us to deliver impact.Pathways to Impact should be used to describe what will be done to ensure that potential beneficiaries have the opportunity to benefit from the research, and can cover a wide range of activities including for example public engagement.The Impact criterion focuses on the pathways to impact document and the national importance criterion focuses on the priority of the research to the UK over a 10-50 year timescale in the context of that research area.
5. Will National Importance have equal weighting to Research Excellence and how will this work at Panel?Research Quality remains pre-eminent and will be primary criteria for panel assessment. National Importance will be a major criterion with other secondary criterion; Pathways to Impact, applicant(s) ability and resource and management. As has always been the case, the relative weightings applied to each criterion will vary from project to project due to factors such as: the size and complexity of the project; disciplines involved; fundamental study compared to directly addressing a particular societal challenge. However National Importance will be expected to be a major factor for all proposals.At the panel meeting the panel members will need to agree the overall grade for each proposal based on all of the assessment criteria. This will be based on the reviewers’ assessments and the applicant’s response. This overall grade is then used to position the proposal in the overall rank ordered list.
6. When will the National Importance criterion be used in Panels?As proposals including the new criterion of National Importance will only begin to be received from 15th November we expect the first Panels to start assessing this criterion to be in February 2012.We will provide full briefing on this change to Panel Chairs, Panel Members and the College before February 2012.
7. Are any further changes to peer review planned by EPSRC?Fit to the EPSRC portfolio, using the information developed and published in the “Our Portfolio” section, will be considered as part of the peer review process at a later date. The details of this change will be developed with a group of key external stakeholders drawn from the wider research community including from our Council, Strategic Advisory Network, Strategic Advisory Teams and previous panel members. This change will take place in 2012 and the first panels to be affected will be in the Spring of 2012.
   

   Activity	Approximate Timescale
   Engage with Council, Strategic Advisory Network, Strategic Advisory Teams and previous panel members	Nov – Dec 2011
   Test peer review changes	Dec 11 – Jan 12
   Internal system changes	Jan 12 – Mar 12
   Regional Workshops	Nov 11 – Mar 12
   Information released on the changes	Mar 12
   Panels considering EPSRC’s portfolio, using the information developed and published in the “Our Portfolio” section.	Spring 2012

   We will be organising a series of regional workshops on National Importance. These will focus on advice for applicants and reviewers and discussion around what we mean by national importance.The workshops will take place on;

   • 12 December – London
   • 13 December – Manchester
   • 14 December – Edinburgh

   If you would like to register your interest for these events to receive further information please email EPSRCDSTHub@epsrc.ac.uk.

8. Who are you going to work with on the changes to the way panels operate?We will be working with a selection of key stakeholders including members of our Council, Strategic Advisory Network (SAN), Strategic Advisory Teams (SATs) and peer review Panel Chairs. We will publish the list of stakeholders we have worked with on our website.
9. How do the changes to the way panels operate fit with the Haldane Principle?It is important to draw a distinction between decisions about the relative merits of individual research projects and decisions about research funding policy.

   Decisions about overall priorities for investments in research and training are taken on the basis of strategic advice and are ultimately governed by EPSRC Council. All funding decisions will continue to be informed by independent expert peer review.

10. Where can I find further information on the EPSRC’s and TSB’s priorities?For further information please refer to EPSRC’s Delivery Plan and Implementing the Delivery Plan web pages and the TSB’s strategic documents.

The second key change will take place in Spring 2012 when applicants will be expected to align their proposal to the EPSRC portfolio, using the information developed and published in an “Our Portfolio” section, which will be considered as part of the peer review process. The details of this change are currently in development and additional information will be made available prior to implementation.