ESRC Research Skills Strategic Leadership Hub

Funding to deliver a new strategic leadership hub that supports the development and delivery of research skills training and capacity building provision in the social sciences.

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has launched this opportunity to deliver a new strategic leadership hub that supports the development and delivery of research skills training and capacity building (TCB) provision in the social sciences. The hub will provide both leadership across the social science community and innovate in the way research skills TCB is both conceived and delivered.

This initiative seeks to support social scientists working across academia, government, business, third sector and beyond. It will provide leadership across the social science community in these sectors, innovating the way in which research skills TCB is both conceived and delivered.

The new strategic leadership hub will:

• Lead the development, availability and accessibility of training, ensuring it reflects needs across career stages and remains relevant and future-proofed, through collaboration with TCB providers.
• Create the mechanisms, partnerships and networks to co-ordinate research skills TCB delivered by ESRC’s existing and new investments (including specialist investments already funded to deliver a programme of TCB), and identify and address any gaps in TCB provision.
• Design and build an accessible and inclusive IT infrastructure to co-ordinate and make available TCB provision.
• Work with the social science community to promote the importance of research skills development, and to improve provision, access and uptake.
• Phase activity to expand delivery and impact beyond the academic social science community to other disciplines and sectors.

The hub will have three key areas of responsibility:

• Strategic development of research skills TCB opportunities.
• Strategic leadership, partnerships and collaboration.
• Innovation and culture change.

To effect real change the initiative will be a long-term venture with a phased approach to delivering activity. The funders will therefore initially fund the strategic leadership hub for five years (funding period one); the hub will be invited to apply for a further five years of funding (funding period two), subject to positive stage gate reviews.

Phase one grants last for five years and must start by 1 October 2025.