| Skip to main content | Skip to navigation | Skip to Search |

[University home]

Faculty of Humanities

Simon and Hallsworth Funds

building
 

Simon and Hallsworth Research Fellowships 2012

The Simon and Hallsworth competition for 2011/12 is now closed.

Hallsworth Fellowships

The Hallsworth fellowships and Visiting Professorships were founded under the terms of a gift made by Professor H M Hallsworth in 1944 to asist and advance the study of Political Economy. A number of Research Fellows are appointed in the field of Political Economy each year. Political Economy is deemed to have a wider significance than Economics proper, including inter alia Public Administration, and to be concerned with the study of how economies work, have worked, and may be made to work better; of the social consequences of economic activity; of how government action influences the working of economies; and of the institutional structures of governance.

Hallsworth Research Fellowships are awarded to outstanding early career researchers who have completed a doctoral degree at the time of application.  Hence, the university will provide a package of salary level and research expenses which reflects that excellence.

Certain Schools in the Faculty of Humanities are suitable to be nominated as a Hallsworth Fellowship candidate's academic centre.

Simon Fellowships

The Simon Fellowships and Visiting Professorships were founded under the terms of a gift made by the Rt. Hon. Lord Simon of Wythenshawe, of Didsbury, in 1944 for the promotion of research and teaching in the Social Sciences. For the purposes of this Fellowship, following the definition used by the UK's Economic and Social Research Council, social science is considered to be the study of society and the ways in which people behave and influence the world.  Social science uses a range of approaches to the study of society - surveys, questionnaires, interviews and statistics, among others. Like all sciences, the social sciences evolve through the interplay of the ideas and theories of academics and the evidence that supports or refutes them.  A number of Research Fellows are appointed in any of the Social Sciences each year.

The Simon Research Fellowships are intended for outstanding researchers near the beginning of promising careers who have also completed a doctoral degree at the time of application.

Schools in the Faculty of Humanities, and certain Schools outside the Faculty of Humanities, are suitable to be nominated as a Simon Fellowship candidate's academic centre.

Simon and Hallsworth Visiting Professorships 2012 (nominations accepted until Friday 13th April)

Visiting Professorships are intended to enable eminent scholars with an international reputation to visit the University to assist in its research and teaching.

Visiting Professorships are not open for personal application but instead for nomination by relevant schools/discipline areas at the University of Manchester.

In making a VP nomination, the School should submit a letter of nomination which includes the following:

(i)    The name of an academic point of contact responsible for hosting the visit;

(ii)    Confirmation that the School can host the VP (including study space);

(iii)    A paragraph which outlines how the proposed visit relates to the School's research agenda;

(iv)    A list of the planned and provisional activities that the VP will undertake. This might include one or more of the following: presenting their research at an academic event (e.g. a high profile lecture, seminar or workshop to coincide with their visit); a masterclass or workshop for graduate students; being available for meetings with doctoral students; a contribution to undergraduate teaching; a public engagement event;

(v)    The budget plan and provisional dates of the visit;

(vi)    The CV of the proposed visitor should also be attached.

Funding is normally available for Simon Visiting Professorships to fund visits of 2-6 weeks duration and for Hallsworth Visiting Professorships to fund visits of 2-12 weeks duration. 

The School/discipline area should ensure that the cost of the visit can be met from the amount requested. Allocations will meet only the expenses of the VP(s) (i.e. his/her travel to UK, within UK, accommodation, meals and any other reasonable research expenses incurred during the visit). Guidance on the rates permissible for accommodation and a list of suggested accommodation providers is available upon request from the committee secretary: claire.stocks@manchester.ac.uk . Recurrent visits will be considered by the committees but the nomination cases must have an exceptional rationale for two years funding and should involve a key collaborative project.

Colleagues are advised to liaise with their School Research Offices to prepare the budget before submitting nominations for VPs to the secretary of the Simon/Hallsworth Committees ( claire.stocks@manchester.ac.uk ). If Schools are submitting more than one VP nomination they are asked to rank their nominations. Nominations should be submitted electronically by Friday 13th April 2012.

Post-award Administration (VPs)

Once nominations for VPs are approved by the fellowship committees, School contacts and research managers will be informed by the Secretary. The VP allocations are transferred to Schools once he/she has arrived and when the central investment office has been informed. All expenses must be claimed against, or charged to this School account (i.e. a School may book accommodation for the VP in advance). If the School wishes, the VP may be paid a fee for meals/local travel based on the £40 per diem rate (this may require a UK bank account).

Note : A Visiting Professor is not paid a salary for the tenure of the Professorship. In special circumstances an honorarium may be paid, but this will not be a charge against the funds made available for that Professorship, or on the Hallsworth/Simon Fund which provides for Professorships.

Once visits are confirmed by the committees, the Secretary sends all CVs and nomination statements to HR with a summary of VP allocations. HR then sends an offer letter (including information on the allowance for expenses, School contact - generally the Research Development Manager and the academic champion - and the requirement to write a brief report for the HoS/HoD and Secretary) for the VP to sign and return.

Faculty HR require confirmation of the name, address and start and end dates for the visits in order to add VPs to the HR system and subsequently produce a staff card (for library access). The staff card will then enable the VP to obtain an email account (staff ID).

Responsibility of the nominating member of staff (the 'academic champion') and host school

The academic champion nominating the Visiting Professor will be responsible for management of the visit throughout the duration of the award. Following the approval of the application he or she will:

In addition the committee secretary will keep a full schedule of the expected programme of visits for the forthcoming year and will contact the relevant academic champion and/or local research office two months prior to the commencement of the visit to ensure that planning is on track and to provide any additional advice to help the smooth running of the visit.

| Skip to main content | Skip to navigation | Skip to Search |