DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY - University of York



DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY

Departmental Research Committee

Minutes of Meeting held on Thursday 23rd May 2013

Present: Neil Bruce (NCB), Jane McCarthy (JM), Deborah Smith (DFS), John Pillmoor (JBP), Will Brackenbury (WB), Helen Price (HP), Betsy Pownall (MEP), Paul Kaye (PMK), Jennifer Potts (JRP), James Chong (JC), Jon Pitchford (JP), Michelle Squires (MS)

| | |Action |

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|13/24 |Apologies for absence | |

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| |Apologies were received from Chris Thomas and Simon McQueen-Mason. | |

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|13/25 |Minutes of the last meeting of 15th April 2013 | |

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| |These were agreed. | |

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|13/26 |Matters Arising | |

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| |From minute 13/14b – C2D2 Capital Spend Opportunity | |

| |NCB reported that the bid for the flow analyser upgrade had been successful. It was agreed | |

| |that the other two bids should be kept for the next available funding opportunity. | |

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| |From minute 13/19 – Independent Research Fellowships | |

| |NCB thanked HP for circulating a questionnaire to postdocs regarding fellowships. It was | |

| |noted that the general feeling of postdocs was that more departmental mentoring and support | |

| |should be available to those considering applying for a fellowship rather than holding a | |

| |Fellowship Day. To be revisited later in the year. | |

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| | |NCB/JM |

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|13/27 |TF Report | |

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| |JBP gave the following updates: | |

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| |1 Interviews had taken place for the Genomics technician post and an offer made with the | |

| |successful candidate to start in August. | |

| | | |

| |2 The 50L fermenter was now working again. | |

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| |3 A call for bids to the BBSRC Mid Range Research Equipment initiative is due to come out | |

| |very soon and there had been some initial ideas. It was agreed to email staff when the call | |

| |comes out, see how many applications were intended then take it from there regarding the | |

| |process of prioritising. | |

| | | |

| |4 The Biology Graduate School Board had decided that the PhD Credit System was to be changed | |

| |from 1st August 2013 and that each student would have their own A code. MS and Julie Knox to | |

| |meet next week to discuss the amount each student would receive. | |

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| |5 The budget performance at the end of April was looking positive. | |

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| |JBP noted that the third year projects are likely to overspend the budget by about £3k. It | |

| |was agreed not to go through complicated and time costly process to claw back the overspend | |

| |from PIs, subject to there being a reasonable spread of PIs involved. | |

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|13/28 |Equipment update | |

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| |JBP reported that details of the University Research Priming Fund scheme had been circulated | |

| |to the department. | |

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| |The research equipment update outlining new initiatives and the current grant equipment | |

| |support status was noted. | |

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|13/29 |TF Research Committee | |

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| |The proposed TF questionnaire was noted. HP commented that there was nowhere on the form to | |

| |comment on ongoing work rather than a project. JRP said that this was not the final draft and| |

| |comments could still be sent to her by email. | |

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|13/30 |Internal grant review | |

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| |NCB reported that the University had decided that all departments should adopt clear minimum | |

| |requirements for internal peer review of research applications over £20k. Biology’s Peer | |

| |Review College had now been running for two years and a meeting was to take place on 29th May | |

| |to review the process and to see how it can be improved. NCB to report back after the PRC | |

| |meeting. | |

| | |NCB |

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|13/31 |Grant application summary | |

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| |NCB outlined the department’s grant application success rates. It was agreed that there were | |

| |not enough applications, especially large ones, being submitted. There had been three BBSRC | |

| |sLOLA applications from the department earlier in the year which were to be reviewed soon but | |

| |staff need to be encouraged to apply for more. It was agreed that more support should be | |

| |given to staff and advice on how to go forward should they receive negative feedback on their | |

| |ideas at the discussion meetings. NCB to report back after the PRC meeting. | |

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| | |NCB |

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|13/32 |Outcomes of pump priming awards | |

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| |The staff who had received pump priming awards and the amounts awarded in the last five years | |

| |were noted. It was agreed that this should be reviewed annually. | |

| | |JM |

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|13/33 |Departmental bids | |

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| |These were discussed and funding agreed. | |

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|13/34 |Any other business | |

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| |There was no other business. | |

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|13/35 |Next meeting | |

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| |To be confirmed. | |

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