EPSRC Peer Review Recognition

Professor John Bridgeman, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Transfer, Professor Hassan Ugail, Director of the Centre for Visual Computing and Dr Richard Holmes, Research Development Manager in RKTS, have been recognised for their exemplary contribution to the EPSRC Peer Review College.

All 3 colleagues were acknowledged as making an outstanding contribution by being ranked in the top 7% of College members for 2016/17. Bradford has 18 full College members and 4 associate members (member lists are available on their Website). The College is an important component to EPSRCs decision making on research bids.

Hassan said "Peer review is at the heart of all scientific research, bringing forth the necessary credibility and merit to it. I am glad to have the opportunity to be part of the EPSRC peer review college; it is indeed a badge of honour I wear. And it's a pleasure to learn that EPSRC has recognised my input to its peer review process in this manner."

John's commitment involves reviewing roughly one EPSRC proposal a month for three or four hours against key criteria. Although research quality is the primary assessment criterion for all proposals other criteria are considered such as quality, national importance, pathways to impact, ability of the applicant to deliver the research proposed, the resources requested, and the management procedures to be put in place. John also gets invited to sit on two or three assessment panels each year. Each panel of experts consider the reviews of a large batch of proposals and position each proposal on a rank order list that ultimately determines whether proposals are likely to be funded or not. John said "Overall, there is a significant time investment involved with peer reviewing and panels. This role represent tremendous opportunities to get involved with the workings of a research council and to be exposed to best practice and excellence in research. I would encourage anyone with an interest in research to get involved."

Professor Philip Nelson, CEO of EPSRC said “It is your willingness to honour your commitment to the College that ensures we can continue to provide robust and effective support for UK research. The community as a whole has greatly benefited from your participation.”