ERIC Funding

The guidance below was developed with postdocs and early-career researchers in mind. Please consult ERIC Fund guidance pages for specific information about eligibilty and project scopes.

What kinds of projects get funded

• Events, opportunities, activity or series of activities that benefit postdocs or contribute to a sense of community amongst researchers and can also extend to benefit other researcher groups across the University
• Events or activity that will promote the launch of new postdoc groups across the University
• Funds can go towards the costs associated with running event(s) or activity (ies) for your pre-existing group so long as these contribute to the wider research community
• Events need to run (and awarded money spent) before the end of the academic year (July) - no exceptions

What is not likely to get funded

• Training and development activity that only benefits single or a limited group of individuals
• Activity that duplicates provision already available elsewhere at Queen Mary
• Direct and indirect costs associated with research
• Research symposia intended for discipline-specific audiences that do not benefit the wider Queen Mary research communities

This is a great opportunity to develop the activities/ events/ opportunities that you need to help support you as a postdoc

To develop leadership skills, learn how to put together a successful funding application/ business case, and gain familiarity with how events are planned and run at a univesity  

You'll get to meet and work with likeminded postdocs from across Queen Mary! 

Date flexibility

We encourage applicants to consider events throughout the whole funding window, and where possible, to coordinate planning with other efforts to avoid conflicts.

Indicate whether you can be flexible with your dates to help the Panel co-ordinate plans to ensure that we can fund as many projects as possible. 

Communications, enrolment, and reach

Planning an opportunity to bring together postdoc peers from different parts of the University? Consider how you will engage these groups and disseminate about your plans.

Consider how you're going to track enrolment with your event. Where possible, we encourage you to take attendance at your event and report this back afterwards.

Show evidence of good planning

If you are planning an event at Queen Mary you may need to engage other colleagues in order to book space to run the event, or book other types of support like porterage or catering. Consider things like venue access and accessibility.

NB: Proposals for events planned off-campus will need to demonstrate a good degree of preliminary planning, with evidence such as venue information and details, dates, contacts, plans for QM postdoc access and accessibility.

Support and training

The Queen Mary Academy will offer event planning and management training to those involved in the funded projects. You can indicate your interest about this on the application form.