2010 NCRM Autumn School: registration now open

The National Centre for Research Methods will be holding its sixth residential training event for early career researchers between 3rd and 5th November 2010 on the theme of 'Five years of qualitative innovation: an NCRM showcase'. All places are free to UK-based early career researchers. Click on this link for further details and a downloadable application form:

http://www.ncrm.ac.uk/TandE/other/Autumn/

Research Methods Festival 2010 photographs online

Pictures from RMF2010 are now online:

Presentations from 4th ESRC Research Methods Festival are online

A large number of presentation slides from the 4th ESRC Research Methods Festival (5-8 July 2010, St Catherine's college Oxford) are available online. Later this summer we will put some of the filmed sessions online ("In conversation" sessions with Tom Cook, Michael Agar and Ann Oakley, and Session 61. Maximising the Impact of Social science Research).

You can view the available presentation slides by going into the session description in the festival programme.

Research methods training bursaries available from NCRM

The ESRC National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) is offering training bursaries up to £1000 to enable staff in the UK social science community engaged in research, teaching research methods or supervising research to update their skills. Contract researchers working in HEIs are also eligible for the bursaries. Please note that the bursary scheme is open for applications throughout the year i.e. there are no deadlines for applications.

Call for centre nodes: ESRC National Centre for Research Methods

The ESRC invites applications for a third round of nodes of the National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM). The overall mission of the Centre is to provide a strategic focal point for the identification, development and delivery of an integrated national research and training programme aimed at promoting a step change in the quality and range of methodological skills and techniques used by the UK social science community.

The Centre consists of a co-ordinating hub together with a series of sub-centres or nodes, distributed across a number of sites. The nodes focus on the development of leading edge research methods within the context of substantive research problems and also make a major contribution to the Centre's Training and Capacity Building (TCB) activities.

This call seeks to commission a third round of nodes for three-year terms between 1 April 2011 and 31 March 2014. Proposals are welcome from those who have not previously applied for a node, as well as those who have applied in the first and second rounds.

Bursaries available for social scientists based in India wishing to attend the ESRC Research Methods Festival

The Research Councils UK (RCUK) Office in India wishes to enhance international collaborations in social science research methodologies between the UK and India. RCUK are offering five bursaries for up to £2,000 (1,30,000 INR) each to attend the ESRC Research Methods Festival (5-8 July 2010 at St Catherine's College Oxford). The aim of the bursary scheme is to enable academics in the Indian social science community engaged in research, teaching research methods or supervising research to engage with UK academics in these areas.

4th ESRC Research Methods Festival: Bookings now closed

Bookings have now closed for the for the 4th NCRM Research Methods Festival (5-8 July 2010, St Catherine's College Oxford).

This is the biggest social science research methods event of the year in the UK, with over 60 sessions, more than 200 presenters and 830 delegates. As at previous festivals, an impressive line up of presenters will speak about issues at the cutting edge of developments in social science research methods. This biennial festival aims to engage social scientists across a wide range of disciplines and sectors and at different points in their research careers, and aims to stimulate interest, raise issues, highlight opportunities and showcase new developments.

Training bursaries available

The ESRC National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) is offering training bursaries up to £1000 to enable staff in the UK social science community engaged in research, teaching research methods or supervising research to update their skills. Contract researchers working in HEIs are also eligible for the bursaries. Please note that the bursary scheme is open for applications throughout the year i.e. there are no deadlines for applications. For further information and to apply, please read further.

Research methods training bursaries available - Deadline Fri 22 January 2010

The National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) is inviting applications for research methods training bursaries. The call is open from Tuesday 5 January until Friday 22 January 2010. The bursaries are available for UK social science community engaged in research, teaching research methods or supervising research to update their skills. Contract researchers working in HEIs are also eligible for the bursaries. This scheme cannot be used to fund masters or doctoral studies. For further information about the bursaries and to apply, please go to http://www.ncrm.ac.uk/about/funding/training/ . Deadline for training bursary applications is 5pm Friday 22 January 2010.

There is no prescribed list of accepted training courses. However, applicants may like to use the Training & Events database http://www.ncrm.ac.uk/training/ to help in locating a course.

From April 2010 the bursary scheme will be open for applications throughout the year i.e. there will not be deadlines for applications.

Final report: Consultation on Research Needs in Research Methods in the UK Social Sciences

One of the objectives of the National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) is to assess current national provision and national needs in research methods and training through consultation with key stakeholders.

An extensive consultation on the needs for research in research methods was undertaken in 2006. This report is an update of that exercise. Four groups of people participated in this consultation via interview or questionnaire: leading researchers working on research relating to the seven key ESRC Strategic Research Challenges identified in the ESRC strategic Plan 2009-2014; participants to the 2006 consultation; Directors of NCRM and National Centre for e-Social Science (NCeSS) Nodes; and, learned societies. An open call for responses from the broader social research community was also issued. A total of 32 responses from these various sources were received.

The findings of this consultation identify the perceived needs for research in research methods of a relatively small number of social and economic researchers. These may not be representative of the views of all social scientists but that was not our intention. Rather, they represent the considered views of, primarily, senior social scientists about key areas of future research need. The areas identified overlap to a considerable extent with the findings of the 2006 consultation.