RESEARCHconnect is Idox’s new complementary service dedicated to the funding requirements of the research community. It provides a user-friendly database containing a global source of research opportunities, which cover a broad range of funders and disciplines. It coverage spans international and national programmes and includes authoritative and detailed information on each funding opportunity. RESEARCHconnect also allows you to maximise your chances of success through the use of tools, such as the ‘Comments from Colleagues’ feature, which enable you to connect with other research professionals in your institution, share content and comment on individual funding programmes. The information is constantly being updated in real time so that you have a head start in applying for funding opportunities and are kept up-to-date on the latest funding trends affecting the sector. In the current economic climate, there is increasing pressure to exploit alternative funding sources and RESEARCHconnect ensures that global funding opportunities will not be missed!
RESEARCHconnect’s database is intuitive and allows you to run both focused and speculative searches. Research funding opportunities are identified through searching on key criteria such as who you are, where you intend carry out the research, and the type of research activities you are looking to support. RESEARCHconnect’s advanced filtering system goes one step further in allowing you to filter your results at the results listing stage, according to funding amount, funding type, funding source, scheme status and those schemes that have been newly added or updated. Our Text and Organisation search facilities allow you to scan the research database quickly for a particular programme, or provider - or run more speculative searches using keywords and phrases.
In the same way, daily news articles, featuring the most recent research calls and funder news, open a further window on the latest funding opportunities and developments affecting the research community. Our email alert service ensures that you will keep on top of critical deadlines and any other important announcements of specific interest to you.
The funding sources we report on range from International to UK funders, including the European Commission, Government Departments, Research Councils and other public bodies, charitable trusts and foundations, corporate sponsors and membership societies and associations. Funding opportunities for both institutions and individuals include grants and loans as well as fellowships, studentships, scholarships, bursaries and prizes/competitions - across a broad range of disciplines.
Following an initial search, RESEARCHconnect presents you with information at two levels of detail:
Hyperlinks to e-mail and web addresses are provided in every detailed report, offering you a direct line of communication to each funding provider.
The information that we research is continually updated. We run two update processes – a reactive channel, and proactive. We are reactive to information published in news feeds, websites, document and policy releases, and on a weekly basis we track over 2,000 information sources. In addition, we have developed an in-house tool, which enables us to track changes to thousands of source websites on a nightly basis.
Proactive research ensures that all information is checked and refreshed on a continual basis – whether or not it is as a result of news or press changes. We run a series of different update cycles across our database: with the timescales of each cycle dependent on the nature of information within it. This means that all schemes are updated annually, and approximately 90% of our information is updated between 2 and 20 times a year.
In a number of ways, including:
News alerts
News alerts are sent out on a regular basis to bring your attention to the most imminent and newsworthy funding opportunities. Selecting the ‘My updates’ tab in the My Resources section will allow you to set up personalised alerts according to research disciplines and locations of interest.
Email alerts
Activating an email alert on a saved search means that you never have to search for funding for a research project more than once! Simply check the ‘receive email alerts’ box when saving a search in order to be sent an e-mail advising you of any updated or new funding programmes that match your criteria as and when they change. You can also specify the frequency of these alerts, with the option of receiving them daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly. (Email alerts can be de-activated at any time in the My Folders section of the site).
Personalising your homepage
RESEARCHconnect’s interface allows you to personalise your homepage according to your individual needs and purposes. Click on the ‘Personalise this page’ button in the top-right corner of the homepage and specify the content sections and the research disciplines and locations of interest to you. Clicking ‘save’ will ensure that all of the content featured on your homepage covers funding and policy news of relevance to you.
Reference library
The RESEARCHconnect reference library covers a number of articles which will help support you in applying for funding - whether you need general advice on how to make a successful grant application to applying to Europe. We are happy for you to distribute content from an article in order to inform others. Should you wish to do so, please contact grantfinder.research@idoxgroup.com to request permission.
Detailed funding report features
When you view a detailed funding report, there are two key features which allow you to obtain inside knowledge from colleagues:
Create a task list
Creating your own task list means that you can keep on top of the key upcoming funding activities affecting your work. Simply create a new task from your homepage or when viewing a particular scheme, or create and edit tasks in the My Tasks sub-folder of the My Resources section. You are able to set a due date and a reminder date and sign off tasks as and when they are completed. A great way to stay alert!
Produce a report
Once you have run a funding search, RESEARCHconnect provides the opportunity to produce a bespoke report. Simply select the schemes that you would like to include in the report, click the ‘Produce Report’ button on the search results page and select the required report template. The report is exported in Word and can be circulated to colleagues and third parties as an external funding service.
GRANTfinder blog
Subscription to RESEARCHconnect gives you access to the GRANTfinder blog, which is updated regularly by a team of dedicated funding researchers. Here, you can stay informed of the latest trends, and developments covering a range of topics in the funding and policy world, so that you can be confident that you are always informed of the funding climate across all sectors.
RESEARCHconnect Twitter feed
The funding and policy landscape changes at a rapid pace and we understand that you might not always have the time to return to the website and search for the latest funding opportunities. Our Twitter account @researchconn3ct allows you to view the very latest announcements and on-trend funding and policy information in bite-sized chunks.
Access to RESEARCHconnect is through subscription. To arrange a demonstration at your offices, contact our Sales Department on tel: 0870 333 7101, or visit the Contact Us page of the RESEARCHconnect site.
RESEARCHconnect’s reported funding opportunities are updated and maintained by a dedicated Research team. The team includes researchers with experience of post-doctoral research, bid writing and taking courses on making funding applications. Each team member concentrates on a particular area and regularly researches and writes content for the GRANTfinder blog.
Our in-house researchers are trained copywriters and editorial specialists who are able to take often complex funding guidelines and policy papers and present them in an easily digestible format. With many decades of funding experience, the Research team is solely dedicated to searching for new funding opportunities all day, every day.
Yes, there are two ways in which to do this:
Yes. Where the funding provider makes reference to a requirement for match funding, RESEARCHconnect will include this in a specific section of the detailed report entitled Match Funding Restrictions.
Anyone who works for your organisation and wishes to stay ahead in terms of research funding may access RESEARCHconnect once your organisation has purchased a licence.
In order for Idox to provide fully for the individual needs of our extensive range of clients, we have developed a wide range of products and services from which we are able to select the most appropriate to suit your particular organisation's needs. To request a no-obligation and completely free-of-charge assessment of your external funding requirements, please visit the Contact Us section of the website.
An account can be created for you by the person in your organisation who has responsibility for RESEARCHconnect. This person can be identified by contacting the Customer Service Team on tel: 0870 333 7101, or via our Contact Us page. This department will also be able to advise you on whether or not your organisation has a RESEARCHconnect subscription.
If you have forgotten your password, you can use the Password Reminder facility available at the log-in stage by clicking on the question ‘Forgotten your password?’ You will be asked to enter your e-mail address, after which you will be sent an email containing a link that will enable you to reset your password.
Before you undertake this procedure, it is worth double-checking that you are the only person within your organisation accessing RESEARCHconnect under this account.
From the homepage, click on the 'My Resources' tab. On the left-hand side of the screen, click on the tab 'My account details'. To change your password, click 'Reset password'. When entering a new password, you will be required to enter it in both the 'Password' and 'Confirm Password' boxes for accuracy. Click 'Yes' to save the new password. The new password will take effect immediately. Passwords are case sensitive.
The primary feature of RESEARCHconnect is the facility to search for funding initiatives which are of direct relevance to the information you enter. A funding search allows a user to enter key criteria relating to a particular research project to produce an applicable list of funding results.
Clicking on 'Search' and 'Start a New Search' brings up the three steps relating to a standard research funding search, as follows:
To conduct a research funding search, users are required to enter their criteria on each of the relevant steps. Please note that not every step has to be completed but it is recommended to be as concise as possible in order to generate the most applicable results.
Throughout the funding search, there are search tips on every page so that you can ensure that you are entering the correct information.
The ‘Who you are’ step involves selecting the most accurate description for you or your institution, depending on what you are seeking to fund. For Research Discipline, you can use the Search phrase box to search for words and phrases in order for the right option to be automatically generated for you. A ‘Glossary of Research Disciplines’ is also available on this screen to help you choose relevant options.
Select an option for the applicant’s nationality, and enter their place of residence. If the applicant is an organisation, you can waive nationality and add the location of the institution for residency i.e. where it is based.
If you are running a search on behalf of a third party, it may be necessary for you to go back to them for further information, or to waive any of the search criteria that you do not know the answer to.
The RESEARCHconnect free text search option enables you to include/exclude specific words or phrases from your search. Searching the whole RESEARCHconnect database, this advanced search option presents a quick and easy way to identify funding by allowing you to be more specific; searching for – or excluding from your search – multiple words, exact phrases or word stems in grant names or descriptions.
A text search can be used in combination with the step by step project search as a tool to further tailor or narrow down results or can be used independently as a quick search. If combining with other search features, click on the relevant tab and make additional selections.
In short, use a text search when you want to:
This search feature is useful when you are looking for schemes administered by a particular organisation e.g. Wellcome Trust as it enables you to search for all the funding organisations reported on the RESEARCHconnect website.
By beginning to type in a funding organisation, a drop-down menu of various organisations will be generated from which you can pick the relevant options. You can select more than one organisation if necessary.
This feature allows you to quickly access searches that you have previously saved, or access searches that your colleagues have shared with you.
To retrieve a saved search, you can do one of two things:
Any updates associated with your search criteria will be automatically refreshed each time the search is re-run.
Using a pre-defined template is a quick way to identify funding and support according to e.g. a particular academic, faculty or organisation. Templates are saved searches with automatically completed fields.
To view your saved search templates, you can do one of two things:
There are a number of ways in which you can run a funding search as a company: (1) at Step 1: Who you are, leave ‘What is your status?’ open (don’t select any fields) and simply select research activities such as Academic/ Industrial Collaboration, or Commercialisation of Research at Step 3: What you are doing; or (2) at Step 1: select either Research Consortium or Research Institute and select the activities of your choice at Step 3: What you are doing.
Although any search tab can be selected for a stand-alone search or combined with a number of other search criteria, it is sometimes the case that combining search tabs can restrict the search to the point where no matches are retrieved. This is most common when the Search tabs: who you are, where you are and what you are doing have been combined with a Text Search or an Organisation Search.
Measures to avoid this are as follows:
Further editing or refinement may be required if the search identifies a significant number of matches. Starting points for further editing are as follows:
Designated main users are able to share saved searches, saved templates and saved locations groups for use by others across the organisation.
When users in the organisation choose to run a saved search, search by template or enter a pre-defined location group when conducting a project search, they will see the option to choose from their own saved material (e.g. my saved searches) or choose from the organisation’s shared folders (e.g. organisational saved searches).
To edit or delete any of the shared options, the user who created the search must go into the appropriate subfolder in the ‘My Resources’ section and select edit/delete as appropriate. Once deleted, the saved material is irretrievable and will be removed as an option from all accounts.
Yes, designated administrators for your organisation can produce reports which outline individual and organisational activity and usage of RESEARCHconnect. Such statistics include: number of logins; number of searches; number of funds viewed; and reference library downloads.
To view this information, simply:
This facility is available to those users that have been granted administration rights.
Once an administrator has logged in, they can go to the Administration section of the website and select the ‘User administration’ sub-folder.
This section lists all users alphabetically along with their personal details including email addresses, telephone numbers and the date that they were registered to the site. New users can be added at any time by selecting the ‘Add a new user’ hyperlink. The registration process is straightforward; simply fill in the short form by entering the compulsory personal and log-in information, click ‘Save’ and the new user is supplied with an email address username and password to start using RESEARCHconnect immediately.
The top right-hand section of the screen indicates to the administrator how many licences are in use and how many are left as part of their subscription.
To delete a user from your organisation’s subscription, go to the Administration section of the website and select the ‘User administration’ sub-folder.
This section lists all users alphabetically along with their personal details including email addresses, telephone numbers and the date that they were registered to the service.
Find the user that you wish to delete and select the ‘delete’ action button. A pop-up screen will appear prompting you to confirm that you wish to delete that person. Simply click ‘Yes’ to action this request.
You can also choose to suspend a user’s account as opposed to deleting it by selecting the ‘suspend’ action button on the user administration page. This is useful if a user is expected to be away from their role for any lengthy period of time e.g. maternity leave.
Coordinating workflows and managing information for a project and/or department can be a time-consuming and resource-intensive task. Our latest ‘workgroups’ functionality represents an opportunity to create and manage designated groups of people within your funding community; ensuring information is both well-managed and only disseminated to those that need it.
All Site Administrators are granted full workgroup permissions by default. Site Administrators can allocate such permissions to other users within their organisation by visiting the Administration tab on the website and selecting the User administration option.
Click on the required user name, scroll down to the bottom and under User roles, check the Workgroup Manager box and click Save.
No, you can delegate Workgroup Manager rights to an unlimited number of users.
Of course! You can be a member of as many workgroups as you wish.
All workgroups to which you have administrative access will be listed in this Workgroup Administration area. Here, you can add, edit and delete workgroups as you require.
In the Workgroup Administration section, select the Manage members button, click ‘Add new members’ and begin typing names of the personnel you wish to add to the workgroup. Adding a person to a workgroup will automatically generate an email to that user requesting their approval.
A user’s status is set to Pending until they accept the invitation, at which point they will be listed as Accepted. If a user declines the invitation, you will receive an email notifying you of their response. You can send reminder emails and delete members as and when required.
Under the My Resources tab, select the My Workgroups option. You can see here a full list of your existing workgroup memberships. To leave a workgroup at any time, simply click the ‘Leave workgroup’ option.
The sophisticated functionality of the workgroups feature allows you to share information, resources and commentary with other users in the workgroup.
The workgroups feature enables you to account for any user absences swiftly. When a user that has shared items with a workgroup attempts to leave hat group, a warning message appears confirming that the Workgroup Manager will be emailed regarding their request. Upon receiving the email, the Workgroup Manager can go to the Workgroup administration tab, select the ‘manage users’ option and then delete the user from the group. The Workgroup Manager will then be prompted to re-allocate any shared items, ensuring that all workgroup information remains available.
Yes, the workgroups function is shared across all three services to enable consistency and ease of use.
We understand that the vast amount of funding and policy content available can be overwhelming when taken as a whole, diluting the valuable pieces of information that you need. The Interactive Update Bulletin functionality pulls together all funding and policy content and allows you to define the locations, topics and date ranges of most relevance to you, enabling you to create tailored communications.
The new functionality:
Yes, the new functionality is available to GRANTfinder, POLICYfinder and/or RESEARCHconnect clients.
Our step-by-step guide, Creating Interactive Update Bulletins, will help you navigate the new functionality – this is accessed in the My Resources section of the website (My toolkit sub-folder).
Yes, the Interactive Update Bulletin can be built from your GRANTfinder, POLICYfinder and RESEARCHconnect subscriptions. Combine your different bulletin searches into one document to create an all-encompassing grants, policy and research overview.
If your organisation subscribes to GRANTfinder and/or POLICYfinder and you would like to incorporate wider funding and policy items into a bulletin you have already created for research funding, you can do so by selecting the GRANTfinder or POLICYfinder – Search bulletins option from the Bulletins tab on the homepage and completing the criteria steps until you generate a list of applicable funding and policy news items.
By saving any relevant selected items, you are provided with the option to ‘update an existing bulletin’. Saving such items to an existing bulletin will ensure the selected funding and policy content is added to the saved RESEARCHconnect information, creating an all-encompassing bulletin.
For full instructions, view the Creating Interactive Update Bulletins instructional document housed in the My Resources section of the website (My toolkit sub-folder).
The email alerts are an automated process which you can set up for any search (done so by selecting this option when saving a search or enabling them in the My folders section of your account). You can also dictate the frequency of these alerts between daily, weekly, fortnightly and monthly.
If you wish to de-activate this facility once your project is up-and-running, simply follow either of the following processes:
There may be information on RESEARCHconnect that you wish to reproduce on your own website or circulate to organisations you work with. For example, many RESEARCHconnect clients wish to reproduce the articles found in our Reference Library.
We are happy for you to do this provided that both the author of the article and RESEARCHconnect are acknowledged. For further information contact the Research Department on tel: 0870 333 7101, or by visiting the Contact Us page on the RESEARCHconnect site.
The RESEARCHconnect User Manual and the Mini Guide each give step-by-step instructions on how to navigate from one screen to the next and how to ensure you are using the service to its full capacity. They are stored under the ‘my toolkit’ tab in the ‘My Resources’ section of the website.
Yes, we operate a Client Help Desk for queries ranging from the operational (e.g. talking a user through each step of a Search) to the investigative, such as tracing information on a funding programme that has yet to be launched.
The Help Desk may be contacted via email: rc.research@idoxgroup.com
You can also use the online query form, which can be accessed by visiting the Contact Us page on the RESEARCHconnect site.
Whether you are seeking training on how to identify the most relevant funds for your project; submit winning grant applications; or become more familiar with funding offered by the EC, Idox's team of knowledgeable trainers and consultants can help.
We run a number of different training courses:
Courses are conducted either at a client's own premises or at the Idox offices, the latter affording clients the opportunity to meet with other users of Idox products who are also trying to raise funds. Further information is available from our Training Department, tel: 0870 333 7101, email: training@idoxgroup.com.
Every organisation subscribing to RESEARCHconnect has its own dedicated Customer Service Executive who are here to help with issues such as marketing and developing the use of the service within your organisation. We also have dedicated staff in the field who are on hand to demonstrate RESEARCHconnect at a funding fair or other local event. Your Customer Service Executive will be in regular contact with your organisation to ensure that you are getting the best out of the service. Please contact our Customer Service Team on tel: 0870 333 7101.