Present:
Dr Rosalind Mist (Chair) - Royal Society Dr Marek Kukula - Royal Observatory Greenwich Ms Anita Heward - Freelance Outreach Officer Dr Valerie Jamieson - New Scientist Dr Victoria Pearson - Open University Ms Helen Reynolds - Gosford Hill School
STFC:
Dr Neville Hollingworth Mr Chris Woolford
Apologies: Comments were provided and apologies noted for:
Professor Tim Greenshaw - University of Liverpool Dr David Jenkins - University of York Dr Becky Parker - Simon Langton Grammar School
The 2011A round had a closing date of the 14th April 2011. Applicants were invited to submit proposals for projects which required up to £10K of funding. The office received 52 applications requesting a total of £380k.
Prior to the judges' meeting each application was assessed three judges and a narrative on each provided. Proposals were scored in advance by using agreed scoring criteria on a scale of 1-10. Scores were then collated by the office in advance of the meeting and subsequently ranked by average score. Following detailed discussions by the panel and agreement of a ranked list, the total amount available for funding was allocated by the office.
Following discussion in the panel meeting, 22 applications were recommended for funding to the value of £134k. The success rate was 42% by number compared to 45% for the 2010B round.
The majority of the Small Awards submitted were again in the Astronomy, Space Science fields. A breakdown on the number of funded applications by subject area is below.
The Panel noted the high quality of applications to this round and found some of the applications highly innovative and interesting.
