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University of Bath

Research Development

We support academic staff to secure grant funding and realise their research ambitions.

Working with academic research leaders, we are responsible for:

  • supporting academic staff and research communities to develop high quality research proposals
  • promoting targeted opportunities for research funding
  • providing grant expertise and funder intelligence
  • providing training and professional development opportunities for research staff

Further support:

Management

Dr Kate Charles is Head of Research Development and Project Management, RIS lead for the Bath Beacons initiative and GW4 Programme Manager for the University of Bath.

Team members

Research Development Managers

Dr Lotta Croft is a lead contact for engineering research funding applications to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). She is also the lead contact for Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Architecture and Civil Engineering.

Dr John Nightingale is the lead contact for social sciences research funding applications to the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), British Council, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Leverhulme Trust, and Nuffield Foundation. John is also the lead contact for Economics, Education, PoLIS, Social & Policy Sciences and the School of Management.

Dr Ceri-Wyn Thomas is the lead contact for Horizon Europe.

Dr Colin Waring is the lead contact for physical sciences research funding applications to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), and The Royal Society. Colin is also the lead research development contact for the Departments of Chemistry and Mathematical Sciences.

Dr Laura Wisby is the lead contact for research funding applications to the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Medical Research Council (MRC), Cancer Research UK, National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), and Wellcome Trust. Laura is also the lead contact for Health, Life Sciences, and Psychology.

Rachael Kennedy is the Research Project Officer supporting all aspects of administration for the Bath Beacons and the Research Development team.

Faculty-facing: Research Strategy Partners

Research Strategy Partners work closely with the Associate Deans Research and other research leads in each Faculty to develop and implement research funding strategies, as well as supporting the development of quality research proposals.

  • Diane Howard is the lead for the Faculty of Engineering and Design, and the research development lead for Chemical Engineering

  • Sarah Jones is the lead for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

  • Dr Andrew Staphnill is the lead for the Faculty of Science, and the lead research development contact for the Department of Physics and Computer Science

Researcher Development

Annali Bamber-Jones leads the Researcher Academy and the professional and career development of researchers and probationary academic research staff, including the Academic Career Academy, The LEAD Programme and GW4 Crucible.

General enquiries

You can also contact the team via: resdev@bath.ac.uk which is monitored daily.

For advice on developing budgets and compliance in research proposals, please contact the RIS Pre-Award Team pre-award@bath.ac.uk

For Innovate UK funding and business-led research please contact the Knowledge Exchange team partnerships@bath.ac.uk.

More on the other teams in Research and Innovation Services (RIS) we work with.