1. Peer Review and Research
Careers and Training
Sue Carver
Head of Research Careers, Training and Peer Review
8 November 2012

2. Peer Review College (PRC)
• Established 2004
• 2011 recruitment – Themes and specific subject
areas
• Currently around 1500 members
• Engagement

3. Membership of the PRC
Membership period
•Members appointed for 4yrs at a time, with reappointment considered based on
reviewer performance and subject coverage
•Members can resign at any point
Workload
•Review Quota of 8 per year, and no more than 4 per quarter (although some
exceptionally do more than this). Technical Reviewers have separate quota of 8
technical reviews per year.
Availability
•Members can make themselves unavailable (time off from review requests) to allow for
particularly busy periods, research leave, holiday, illness etc…
Performance
•Acceptance/Decline rate (including late responses, or where there has been no
response) and Requests to re-write (either due to lack of sufficient detail or
inappropriate content) are monitored

4. Engagement
• Induction for new members
• Website
www.ahrc.ac.uk/Peer-Review-College/Pages/Peer-
Review-College.aspx
• Newsletter
• Strategic Reviewer Events
• HEI visits
• Follow the Members

5. Benefits of PRC membership
For the individual
• Membership of the College is an indicator of esteem within the Arts and Humanities
Community
• Members gain insight into how to best frame their own research applications
• Opportunities to sit on Peer Review Panels and other bodies, and to engage with wider
work of AHRC
For their organisation
• Esteem indicator for Research Organisations and individual departments
• College members are well placed to advise on internal assessment of funding
applications prior to submission, and to mentor colleagues on peer review processes.
For the AHRC
• The College is a valuable vehicle for engaging and consulting with our subject
community
• The AHRC is provided with a professional and well motivated body of subject experts
to supply reviews.

6. Peer Review Process
• Non-standing panels
• Prioritisation and assessment panels
• Efficiency
• College Groups e.g. Strategic, Technical,
International

8. How Research Organisations can help
• High quality applications
• In-house Peer Review using AHRC guidance for Peer Review
College Members
• Follow the review headings set out in the Research Funding
Guide:
• Quality and Importance
• People
• Management of the Project
• Value for Money
• Outputs, Dissemination and Impact

9. Research Careers and Training
Direct support:
o BGP/BGP-CB/BGP2
o CDAs/CDPs
o Project students (incl KE Hubs)
o Fellows (incl ECR)
o Researchers supported through grants

10. Research Careers and Training
Training schemes:
o International Placement Scheme
o Collaborative Skills Development
Courses:
o Engaging with Government

11. Expectations
• Research Training Framework
o Minimum threshold of expected provision
o Generic and subject-specific training
o Needs-based approach
o Researcher Development Statement
• Concordat to support the Career Development of
Researchers
• Vitae

12. Research Careers and Training
Advisory Group
Aims:
• Provide advice on PG and researcher development
matters
• Advise on skills development needs
• Provide advice on existing or developing schemes