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Minutes of the two hundred and sixty-ninth meeting of
Council held on 28 November 2014 at the Medical Research
Council, London
Present:
Dr Alan Gillespie (Chair)
Professor Jane Elliott (Chief Executive and Deputy Chair)
Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell (Research Committee Chair)
Mr Martin Coleman (Audit Committee Chair)
Professor Tara Fenwick (Training and Skills Committee Chair)
Mr Paul Grice (Methods and Infrastructure Committee Chair)
Professor David Martin
Mr Martin Rosenbaum
Professor Judith Squires
Professor Linda Woodhead
Apologies:
Professor Simon Collinson (Evaluation Committee Chair)
Ms Jenny Dibden (Representing the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills)
Dr James Richardson
Office:
Mr Adrian Alsop (Director of Research, Partnerships and International)
Ms Marie Lloyd (Assistant Secretary, Policy Manager, Minutes)
Ms Julie McLaren (Head of Evaluation, Strategy and Analysis)
Mr Luke Moody (Secretary and Deputy Head of Evaluation, Strategy and Analysis)
Mr Jeremy Neathey (Deputy Director of Research, Partnerships and International)
Mr Phil Sooben (Director of Policy, Resources and Communications)
These minutes do not necessarily reflect the order in which items were discussed.
1.
Welcome and apologies
Oral
1.1
The Chair welcomed Council members.
It was noted that Professor Simon Collinson, Ms Jenny Dibden and Dr James
Richardson had sent their apologies.
2.
Minutes of the 268th Council Meeting held 5 September 2014
CP 37/14
2.1
The minutes were agreed as an accurate record of the previous meeting.
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3.
Matters arising
Oral
3.1
Members were updated on the status of the matters arising from the previous
meeting which were not covered elsewhere on the agenda.
4.
Chair’s Business
Oral
4.1
The Chair reminded members that they had responsibility to declare any conflicts of
interest that the Office may be unaware of.
4.2
Dr Gillespie also updated Council on progress in recruiting suitable new members for
the economics and third sector vacancies. Following interviews on 11 November, the
Appointments Panel had made recommendations to the Minister. If approved, it is
likely the two new members would be announced in the New Year.
4.3
Council noted that the public sector vacancy (which would become available in 2015)
had recently been announced. The deadline for applications is 5 January 2015.
5.
Chief Executive’s Business
CP 38/14
5.1
This item provided Council with information on the Interim Chief Executive’s (Mr
Phil Sooben) commitments since the last Council meeting on 5 September 2014 until
30 September 2014; and the new Chief Executive’s (Professor Jane Elliott)
commitments since she commenced her role on 1 October 2014.
Council noted these commitments.
5.2
Members received a presentation from Professor Elliott outlining her experiences as
CEO thus far and highlighting some of the initial issues and challenges. Council noted
Professor Elliott’s early engagement with a wide variety of stakeholders and the
CEO’s next steps and priorities for the coming months.
5.3
Council discussed the nomination for Honours process and agreed it was important
to raise the profile of the social sciences, and to help identify suitable candidates and
contribute to citations. It was suggested that lessons could be learned from
universities which have become very effective at writing excellent citations.
Action: Council members
6.
Office Report
CP 39/14
6.1
Council discussed the Office Report. Members were pleased with progress so far on
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the UK in a Changing Europe Initiative and noted that their points from the previous
meeting had been incorporated. Council commented that getting the right calibre of
Fellows (and not just from academia) would be key, and that the Office should
consider the period and length of these commitments, to ensure adequate flexibility
for the initiative.
Council reaffirmed its view this initiative should focus on the costs and benefits of the
United Kingdom remaining in, or leaving, the European Union.
It was agreed that the Office and appropriate Council members should continue to
manage this initiative closely, and a review of progress after 18 months was
recommended.
Action: Office and Council
6.2
Members discussed the update on Understanding Society and some concern was
expressed about the study being ‘locked in’ to only one Scientific Leadership Team and
one Research Organisation (RO). It was noted that this is on the radar of the
Methods and Infrastructure Committee which is discussing this as a generic issue.
Action: Methods and Infrastructure Committee
6.3
Council requested an update on ‘What Works’ to be brought to the February
meeting. Members also discussed the ESRC’s visibility as part of this initiative and
suggested that because wellbeing is easy for the public to understand and appreciate
the latest Centre, currently being commissioned, might be used as one way to raise
our profile in this initiative.
Action: Office
6.4
Council noted progress on the Framework for Research Ethics. It was commented
that a steer on work focusing on social networks would be welcomed by ROs.
Action: Office
6.5
Members were positive about the messages from the Interdisciplinary Impact
Evaluation study and noted that the Office was working on creative ways in which to
draw out and mobilise the findings from this and other studies.
Action: Office
6.6
Council briefly discussed the implementation of the new harmonised system to
collect outcomes of research grants (Researchfish), with some practical issues noted.
It is expected that these would be resolved as users become more familiar with the
system. A user survey will be conducted in early 2015.
6.7
Members noted that it is often difficult to find the right blend of skills required for
research/leaders and brokers, and Council suggested that it may be useful to look
outside of academia to help develop these skills. It was agreed that this should be
incorporated into the ESRC’s capability building strategy.
Action: Office and Training and Skills Committee
6.8
It was acknowledged that the communications expertise of some social scientists
could be improved. Some ‘topic experts’ could benefit enormously from media
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training, so that the best scientists represent the social sciences, not just the best
speakers (who may not necessarily be the real experts). Council noted the ESRC’s
media training and funding via IAAs are provided, in part, to meet these needs.
Action: Office
7.
Financial Report
CP 40/14
7.1
Mr Sooben introduced this paper which provided an overview of ESRC’s latest
forecast for the Financial Year 2014/15. Council noted the current outturn position
following Quarter 2 for 2014/15.
7.2
Mr Sooben reassured members that Quarter 3 figures indicate that the ESRC is on
track to achieve a break even outturn.
8.
Committee Reports
CP 41/14
8.1
Council noted the full copy of the minutes from the most recent Audit Committee
meeting and the short oral updates of the main headlines from the other committees.
8.2
Mr Coleman highlighted that there were some issues noted with the UKSBS and it
was agreed that a paper regarding this would be brought to the next meeting of
Council in February 2015.
Action: Office
8.3
The Audit Committee had also expressed some concern about the continued amber
risk rating for Understanding Society relating to formal data security accreditation and
would press for this rating to be lifted if the actual risk is minimal.
Acton: Office and Audit Committee
8.4
Professor Breakwell provided a brief overview of the recent Research Committee
meeting. It was the Committee’s view that the priority areas referred to in the
indicative Delivery Plan document were too health-focussed. Specifically, Research
Committee members proposed that social media should feature, and it was noted
that the Office is considering this.
The committee had also raised a concern that the introduction of Centres for
Doctoral Training (CDTs) may take away from overall studentship numbers and
potentially cause further concentration. Members noted that further concentration
was not the intention, rather to enable greater flexibility in the network to support
‘pockets of excellence’ in training to leverage additional funding for studentships. It
was further noted that Council would need to consider the balance of funding across
its different responsibilities as we head towards the Comprehensive Spending Review
in 2015.
8.5
Mr Grice reported on the recent meeting of the Methods and Infrastructure
Committee (MIC). The MIC had agreed that those applying to the recent Secondary
Data Analysis Initiative call would be specifically required to use at least one ESRC4
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funded dataset in their proposed work and these are listed in the specification.
MIC members showed strong support for the web-based probability panel pilot which
offers transformative potential for social science research and should reduce data
collection costs over time. The Committee was very interested to see the outcome.
8.6
Members noted the update from the Training and Skills Committee (TSC) provided
by Professor Fenwick. The Committee had discussed what the ESRC’s role should be
in sustaining the health of the social science disciplines, as it is believed that a couple
of disciplines may be particularly vulnerable. The TSC members therefore welcomed
the Demographic Review outcomes scheduled for early in 2015.
8.7
One Council member expressed concern about the uncertainty amongst committee
members caused by the proposed review of the ESRC governance structure and
members noted that the committee restructure would be discussed at Council’s
February meeting.
9.
ESRC Strategic Plan 2015
CP 42/14
9.1
Council received a presentation from Professor Elliott on the ESRC Strategic Plan.
Members noted the input gathered at the strategic lunch meetings with research
users in October and November 2014 which had further informed the Strategic Plan.
Professor Elliott outlined the key messages conveyed in the draft Strategic Plan; in
particular how the ESRC would maintain its direction of travel but increase the
momentum and the importance of ensuring resilience through continued austerity.
Council enjoyed the presentation and would welcome the way in which the Chief
Executive had portrayed the strategic approach to be captured/reflected more in the
finalised strategic plan document.
Members noted that the Office would be providing a written response to the
consultation as a separate document.
9.2
Council noted that the Delivery Plan document was provided as an exemplar, and
would not be finalised until late 2015 or early 2016. Members discussed and
commented on the draft Strategic Plan 2015 and indicative Delivery Plan 2016/17.
9.3
Members remarked that the draft of the Strategic Plan provided was much improved,
more coherent and overall shaping up well. However, Council advised that it lacked
excitement and recommended that a couple of paragraphs should be inserted, in
order to situate the Plan within a societal context; which would reflect the significant
contribution social science can make to address key issues and grand challenges. It
would be important however, not to make a commitment to tackle all societal issues,
as this would be misleading and limiting.
Action: Office
It was believed that adding context in this way would also serve to demonstrate why
interdisciplinarity is so important and would strengthen the connection to ‘science’.
Council suggested that the Office may wish to look at presenting the introductory
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paragraphs as a number of thought provoking questions which ‘add bite’.
9.4
Council wanted the Plan to inspire confidence in the ESRC, therefore making it clear
how social science had successfully tackled the big issues in the past, would be a
powerful indicator.
Members were not convinced by the case studies in the draft Plan and asked the
Office to consider removing these, elaborating them or substituting them for
stronger, more influential examples.
The Office was advised carefully to consider the needs of the different target
audiences that the Plan aims to reach/influence when making refinements. The
document should appeal strongly to academia and equally to other stakeholders such
as government.
Action: Office
9.5
Council recommended strengthening certain elements of the content such as:
interdisciplinarity; building capacity; collaborations; leadership (not just for ESRC
investments); and early career researchers should be more prominent.
The Office should also fine tune the language in the Strategic Plan.
Action: Office
9.6
Members were invited to send any drafting amendments to Ms McLaren as soon as
possible.
Council agreed the draft Strategic Plan, subject to the revisions outlined in the
discussion and noted plans for its publication.
Action: Council members
10.
Direction of Travel for Postgraduate Training
CP 43/14
10.1
Professor Fenwick introduced this item for discussion, outlining the direction of travel
for postgraduate training put forward by the Training and Skills Committee.
Council noted the high level strategic steers resulting from the independent
evaluation of the current Doctoral Training Centre Network.
10.2
Members considered the three models proposed in the paper and discussed the
extent to which these supported the wider ambitions and goals of the Strategic Plan.
Overall Council endorsed the mixed mode approach whereby the majority of funding
would be delivered through Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs) but where some
Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) could also be established in priority areas.
Council preferred this approach, in part, because many other Research Councils
operate a similar model, so ROs are already familiar with it.
Members also acknowledged that the addition of the CDTs better facilitated
interdisciplinarity, and would provide the opportunity to leverage co-funding, to
respond to emerging training needs.
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10.3
Council discussed some reservations, including that it could reduce the number of
studentships available through the DTPs, which compounded the perception of
concentration. Members were reassured that the mixed mode approach allowed for
more opportunities to fund studentships, either in collaboration with other partners
or via managed mode grants, such as Centres and Large Grants. Overall this would
facilitate the inclusion of pockets of excellence that are currently excluded from the
DTC Network.
Members also acknowledged that this approach has sufficient flexibility to still be
viable, in the event that the ESRC’s budget came under pressure following the
Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR).
Council noted that the timing of the proposed changes was better aligned with the
CSR schedule than the previous commissioning had been.
10.4
Council agreed the statement of direction, however it advised that communications
to the community should be very clear, particularly about how the new approach
could improve permeability.
Action: Office and Training and Skill Committee
11.0
ESRC International Strategy and the Newton Fund
CP 44/14
11.1
Mr Alsop presented an update to members on the current key aspects of the ESRC’s
International Strategy and the Newton Fund. The ESRC’s international development
framework was outlined, giving examples of its work and its important international
leadership role was also highlighted.
Members noted the objectives of the Newton Fund and the three pillars of activity;
and welcomed the support BIS had given in providing sufficient administrative
resource to facilitate delivery.
11.2
Council discussed the main points from the presentation and expressed its support
for the Newton Fund. However, members cautioned that the next parliament may be
more ‘inward looking’. As competition for funding gets tougher, support for
international research may become vulnerable. It was advised therefore that ESRC
should be very precise from the outset about the benefits for the UK in engaging and
collaborating internationally.
Action: Office
11.3
In addition, members noted that the countries targeted by the Newton Fund were
not the poorest of the developing nations, so a strong case to convince sceptics
would be needed.
Action: Office
11.4
The Chair warned against being ‘too granular’ with allocating the Newton funds and
suggested concentrating on issuing ‘bigger pots’ to tackle the biggest issues.
Action: Office
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11.5
Furthermore, Council requested a financial overview of the Newton Fund allocation
should be included in future finance papers.
Action: Office and PSU
12.
UK Constitutional Reform
CP 45/14
12.1
Professor Squires (Chair of the UK in a Changing Europe Programme Advisory
Committee) introduced this item for discussion. Council was updated on the ESRC’s
contributions to the post-referendum debates following the Scottish referendum
and on on-going activities. Professor Squires also outlined a number of proposed
activities which could inform the debate on UK constitutional reform.
12.2
Members discussed the proposals and commented that there was a good deal of
interest and excitement about constitutional reform among the research
community, particularly regarding the potential for a constitutional convention. It
was acknowledged that a number of the best researchers in this area would likely
want to be involved and would prioritise this.
12.3
Whilst Council was enthusiastic about the potential to contribute, there was also
some concern about how this would be funded, and what else might need to be
sacrificed in order to do so. Considering the pace of change in this area, Council
endorsed the proposal to fund a modest set of activities immediately to maintain
momentum, by refocusing existing programmes. However, members were reluctant
to commit funding in the longer term without considering this alongside other
opportunities/priorities.
Action: Office
12.4
It was agreed that a paper outlining the ESRC’s current funding portfolio would be
brought to the February meeting of Council. This would include analysis of funding
by broad topic and be more granular in giving context beyond that of four large
buckets.
Action: Office and PSU
13.
Updated ESRC Governance Documents 2014
CP 46/14
13.1
Mr Moody introduced this item which outlined recent changes made to the
governance documents by the cross-Council Risk and Assurance Network. Council
had been provided with updated versions of the Management Statement; the
Financial Memorandum; the Code of Practice and also a table outlining the changes
made.
13.2
Members agreed to send minor drafting points to Mr Moody, to be incorporated.
Council approved the documents, subject to the minor amendments, which did
not alter the key substance.
Action: Office and Council members
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13.3
The Chair proposed that Professor Elliott review the final versions on behalf of
Council, to ensure that the ESRC is compliant with the points contained in the
documentation.
Action: ESRC CEO
14.
ESRC 50th Anniversary Plan
CP 47/14
14.1
Council received updated information on the ESRC’s 50th Anniversary Plans.
Members noted the wide range of activities scheduled, in addition to the usual press
and media activity.
14.2
To augment the 50th celebrations, it was suggested that two or three high status
individuals could be invited to say something positive about ESRC principles and the
value of social science.
It was proposed that the Office also consider capturing some personal narrative
from social scientists that have gone on to have unusual careers.
Action: Office
14.3
Council was invited to give further input or ideas for the ‘50 things social science
has done for you’ publication, and also for suggestions of social scientists to be
included.
Action: Council members
15.
Life Study Project Update
CP 48/14
15.1
Council noted recent developments and progress on the Life Study Project. The
Chief Executive made Council aware of some delays in Phase 1 but assured
members that governance processes were in place to minimise reputational risk. A
report on progress will be given at the next meeting.
Action: Office
16.
Any Other Business
Oral
16.1
Professor Elliott notified members that the next Council workshop on 12 February
2015 would have a celebratory theme for the ESRC’s 50th anniversary, and Council
member, Professor Collinson had offered to help shape the programme of activities.
Members were requested to liaise directly with Professor Collinson regarding ideas
and suggestions for the workshop.
Action: Council members and Professor Collinson
17.
Date of the next meeting – 13 February 2015 in Swindon
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Oral
17.1
The Chair thanked members for attending and reminded members that Council
meets next for its annual Strategic Workshop, which is due to take place on the
afternoon and evening of Thursday 12 February 2015 in Swindon. Immediately
following this, Council will meet for its 270th meeting on Friday 13 February 2015, at
Polaris House, Swindon.
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