Benjamin Meaker Visiting Professorships
The Benjamin Meaker Visiting Professorship (BMVP) scheme is open to application from any University school or faculty. The purpose of these awards is to bring distinguished researchers from overseas and elsewhere in the UK to Bristol in order to enhance the research activity of the University. The Meaker awards take three forms:
- ‘Medium-term’ visits of 1-3 months, up to a maximum award of £2,400 per month inclusive of all costs.
- ‘Fast-track’ visits of under one month, up to a maximum award of £800 towards travel and accommodation costs.
- Colston Research Fellowships, tenable for 2 months, up to a maximum award of £2,400 per month inclusive of all costs. Historically, the Colston Fellowships have been awarded to visitors pursuing a collaborative topic having particular relevance to the city/region of Bristol. We remain open to highest-quality bids of this kind, but in practice the Colston award is normally incorporated into the two Meaker schemes.
Conditions of award
Award holders are given the title IAS Benjamin Meaker Visiting Professor (IAS BMVP) or IAS Colston Research Fellow during their stay and should be referred to as such in all publicity. The Institute would be grateful for its logo (downloadable from the bottom of the left navigation) to be included in all publicity where possible.
All awards are made on the basis of single continuous visits, with no provision for partners or children, or additional travel whilst based in Bristol. All insurance and visa requirements are the responsibility of the visitor and/or host School, and the latter will also normally be expected to provide space for the BMVP (exceptionally, however, space may be available in IAS).
The award holder will be responsible for making their own accommodation arrangements. IAS does have a number of good quality suites (bedroom, study, en-suite bathroom) that might be available for rental (but no parking facilities). These flats are situated on the precinct at 1 University Walk. For further information, please contact ias-admin@bris.ac.uk.
Please note: As a condition of award, BMVPs are expected during their visits to give lectures/talks to relevant audiences beyond their immediate specialist collaborators. We are particularly keen to expose a range of postgraduate students to the visitor’s expertise, for example by way of seminars or ‘master classes’ (which may be held in IAS). These events should be widely advertised in the University by the host department/school to allow a broader University audience to learn about the work being conducted by the visitor. Details of all BMVP seminars and lectures should be forwarded to ias-admin@bris.ac.uk for the IAS events diary.
Please also note that ‘Fast-track’ Meakers will not be considered solely for the purposes of conference attendance, though conference attendance and delivery can legitimately form part of a rather larger programme of activities with Bristol staff and students.
Criteria for award
These are not fixed in stone, but normally include some or all of the following:
- intrinsic academic interest/importance of the proposed enquiry
- standing of the proposed visitor
- quality of the submitted proposal, and its anticipated synergies
- interest of the visit to a range of researchers and postgraduates
- interaction proposed in addition to the specialist research undertaken
- likelihood of significant outcomes - external funding, joint publications, potential long-term benefits
- relevance to University of Bristol priority research themes
- contribution to the University’s international research profile
- balance of disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity across the spread of Meaker awards
How to apply for funding
Medium-term Meaker Professor and Colston Research Fellow applications
Flowchart to illustrate the medium-term Meaker nomination process (MS Word, 36 KB).
Nominations must be submitted by the Head of Department/School using the BMVP nomination form (MS Word, 131 KB), to be received by the IAS Administrator, Laura Dean, at the IAS by 5pm Friday 1st March 2013, for visits in 2013/14.
Decisions are made by a panel that is chaired by the Director of IAS and composed of members of the IAS Academic Advisory Board and Faculty Research Directors. Outcomes of medium-term nominations will be announced mid-April 2013.
Please note: An electronic copy of nominations must also be submitted to ias-admin@bristol.ac.uk in addition to the hardcopy submissions (original hardcopy plus 6 photocopies).
Fast-track Meaker Professor applications
Using the fast-track BMVP nomination form (MS Word, 135 KB), these can be submitted at any time. Outcomes will depend partly on the number of awards already funded at the time of application.
Please note: An electronic copy of nominations must also be submitted to ias-admin@bristol.ac.uk, in addition to the original hardcopy plus 1 photocopy.
Feedback
Award holders must complete a BMVP report form at the end of their visit and forward this to their Head of Department/School for comment before submitting electronically to the Director of the IAS (Ralph.Pite@bris.ac.uk).