Russia and Georgia:
Individual Research visits- Notes for Applicants

Please print out these notes before completiing your application. Please also print out the e-GAP2 specific scheme notes.

The British Academy operates Agreements with the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Georgian Academy of Sciences. The quota is limited and is as follows:

Purpose of Visit

• The primary purpose of the Agreements is to facilitate scholarly research in the humanities and social sciences.
• The Agreements incorporate quota to allow:
  • research visits by British scholars in the receiving country
  • visits in connection with joint projects, including research visits, attendance at joint seminars or conferences in connection with joint projects, and support for workshops in connection with joint projects. For further details see Joint Projects with Russia and Georgia

Eligibility

• Grants are available for advanced research, at postdoctoral or equivalent level or beyond, in the fields of the humanities and social sciences.
• Applicants must be ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.
• Awards will not be made retrospectively; applications must be made in time for them to be considered, and the nomination to the receiving Academy accepted, well before the research is due to begin.

Level of award

Travel and maintenance expenses.

Closing dates and timing

Early April 2010. Applications are then considered by the British Academy, and the outcome is expected to be announced in July 2010.

• The British Academy is normally required to give at least three months' notice of a visit when making a nomination to the partner Academy. Consequently the entire process takes, usually, at least six months, although sometimes partner Academies are able to react more swiftly.
• No research visit should be of less than two weeks duration. Visits in August are often difficult to arrange.

Referees

All applications for Academy grants are considered in the light of referees' comments. No application will be considered without the required number of references, which must be submitted by the closing date for applications. One reference is required for this scheme. Your referee should be familiar with your project and able to comment on its significance and feasibility, and on your abilities. Please note that your referee should be drawn from outside your own employing institution and from outside the employing institution of your co-investigators. Failure to observe this rule will result in the application being ruled ineligible. (Scholars who have only very recently obtained postdoctoral status may, where necessary, be permitted to use an internal referee.)

Application procedure

• Before submitting an application, it is advisable to consult the International Relations Department of the British Academy by telephone or email to check the availability of quota and the timing of the application.

Further information

• It should be noted that, although nomination is usually a formality, the Academies involved reserve the right to refuse a nomination considered inappropriate, or to suggest amendments to the programme.
• For all visits, there should be some attachment, however nominal, to an institute of the relevant Academy. Generally a nomination is passed from the central Foreign Relations Department of the receiving Academy to the institute, which is then responsible for the arrangement of the programme.
• Where no attachment to an Academy institute is possible, applicants should consider whether other channels of support for the visit might be more appropriate.
• Dates Please note the information on timing given above.
• Knowledge of languages The Academy normally expects a nominated scholar to have sufficient knowledge of the language of the country in question for the purposes of the research programme, or to give evidence of how the research programme will be achieved if the scholar does not have this knowledge. It cannot be assumed that the receiving Academy will make available the services of an interpreter
• Research proposal Please give as much detail as possible of the research proposal and the scholars and institutions it is hoped to visit, since it may be difficult or impossible to make additions to the programme once the visit is under way.
• Funding The British Academy will meet the travel expenses, from home to the receiving Academy, of the British scholar. These should normally be the cheapest reasonable economy fare. The host institution will provide accommodation and a maintenance allowance, and will meet the travel expenses in the country concerned. Applicants should bear in mind that the maintenance allowance will not necessarily cover all expenses. The British Academy will not undertake to supplement the allowance, but applications may be made to other sources of support. No contribution can be made by either side towards the expenses of accompanying partners, although host institutions may be asked to facilitate their visit.
• Applicants applying to this programme may not submit simultaneous applications to the Academy's Small Research Grants scheme. Because the funding available under this programme is very limited, unsuccessful applications under this scheme may be referred to the Small Research Grants scheme for support.

Assessment criteria

Assessors will evaluate the proposal on the basis of its academic merit, taking into account its originality, its relationship to, and the volume of, research already in the field, the scholarly importance of the research proposed, the suitability of the methodology, the feasibility of the research programme, the specificity of the scheme of research, the presentation, and intended outcomes. Assessors will evaluate the ability of the investigator(s) to undertake the proposed research, taking into account their track record in terms of publication, their academic age and stage of career. Backlogs of publication (including any reasons given by applicants) may be taken into account in assessing the current proposal.

The primary assessment of quality will be based on the specific research objective of the proposal, and whether the methodology amd research programme outlined are likely to lead to the successful achievement of the objective. The details of how the objective will be achieved - whether through research visits, use of research assistance, workshops, or any combination of eligible activities/costs - will be assessed only in relation to each individual application.

Assessors may take into account evidence of language competence where the understanding of material in a foreign language is crucial to the achievement of the research objective.

Comparative judgements about value for money may be taken into account at the final stage of assessment.

Code of Practice

The Academy has adopted a Code of Practice for assessing research applications, setting out the principles of equity, integrity and confidentiality governing the treatment of all applications for research support. Information regarding Data Protection, the Ethics Policy and the Appeals Procedure are to be found in the Code of Practice.

With regard to Data Protection, please note that a copy of a successful applicant's completed application form will be sent to the partner Academy. While the British Academy passes on this information in the understanding that it will be used solely for the purpose of liaison with regard to the project, applicants should be aware that some countries outside the European Economic Area may not provide an individual's data with the same protection as in the UK.

Feedback is not a feature of this programme, and the Academy is, regretfully, unable to enter into correspondence regarding the decisions of the awarding Committee, which are governed by the Code of Practice.

Submission of the signed application form constitutes the applicant's agreement to all terms, conditions and notices contained in the Notes for Applicants.

Contact the International Relations Department for further advice.