News Release

New centers and large grants funding announced

Grant and Award Announcement

Economic & Social Research Council

Following the latest call for the centres and large grants competition, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is pleased to announce overall funding of nearly £30m for eight new investments.

These investments will focus on a range of subjects:

  • the impact of welfare understanding human behaviour, including behaviour change and decision making
  • dynamics of ethnic identity and relations
  • the use and manipulation of language in society
  • applying quantitative method to complex social issues
  • the global economic crisis and risks to the UK's financial system.

The competition was for experienced researchers requiring longer term or extended support for research groups, inter-institutional research networks, linked-project programmes, medium-to-large surveys, other infrastructure or methodological developments, or any related larger scale projects. Applications ranged from £2 million to £5 million (at 100 per cent full economic cost).

ESRC Chief Executive Paul Boyle, welcomed the new centres saying: "Not only do the investments take forward an ambitious research agenda, they also add value by increasing infrastructure, building capacity, encouraging interdisciplinary working in social science and beyond, and enabling research collaboration in the UK and internationally. These centres will provide key research outcomes of the highest international standards."

The winning centres/large grants are:

  • Systemic Risk Centre - London School of Economics and political – Dr Jon Danielsson and Dr Pierre Zigrand
  • ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science (CASS) - Lancaster University – Professor Tony McEnery
  • Centre for the Study of Risk and Ambiguity - University of Exeter – Professor Zvi Safra
  • Network for Integrated Behavioural Science - University of Nottingham – Professor Chris Starmer
  • Centre for Macroeconomics (CfM) - London School of Economics and Political Science – Professor Wouter Den Haan
  • ESRC Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE) - University of Manchester – Professor James Nazroo
  • Applied Quantitative Methods Network: Phase ІІ - University of Edinburgh – Professor Susan Mcvie
  • Sanctions, support and behaviour change: understanding the role and impact of welfare conditionality - University of Salford – Professor Peter Dwyer

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For further information contact:

ESRC Press Office:

Sarah Nichols
Email: sarah.nichols@esrc.ac.uk
Telephone: 01793 413122

Jeanine Woolley
Email: jeanine.woolley@esrc.ac.uk
Telephone: 01793 413119

Notes for editors

1. The ESRC integrated its Centres and Large Grants competitions to provide greater flexibility for applicants. Research Centres and Large Grants are major ESRC strategic investments.

2. Applications ranged from £2 million to £5 million at 100 per cent full economic cost.

3. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues. It supports independent high quality research which has an impact on business, the public sector and the third sector. The ESRC's total budget for 2012/13 is £205 million. At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and independent research institutes.


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