Description
Securing research funding is increasingly competitive and strategically important across the academic landscape.
This online workshop is designed to:
- Demystify the grant application process
- Provide practical, experience-led insights
- Support researchers in developing stronger, more competitive proposals
- Bridge the gap between academic research ideas and funding expectations
Participants will gain both strategic understanding and practical tools to enhance their approach to funding applications.
What the Event Will Cover
The workshop brings together four experienced academics and research professionals — with backgrounds in research leadership, funding development, operations management, and research strategy — with collective expertise across UKRI, NIHR, Horizon Europe, and international funding bodies.
Provider Information
Staged by the BAM Performance Management Special Interest Group
Who Should Attend?
The event speaks to Sections A1, A2, A3, as detailed in the BAM Framework
Speakers
Dr Francesca Calò
Dr Francesca Calò, PhD is Interim Associate Dean for Research and Innovation and Senior Lecturer in Management at the Department of Public Leadership & Social Enterprise at The Open University. She leads and contributes to major international research, including serving as OU Investigator for the Horizon Europe ENCASE project on co-creation for green transition, and Co-Investigator on the ‘Supporting Diverse New Motherhoods for Work Inclusion’ project, which informed a Return-to-Work Toolkit for parents and employers.
Previously, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health (EU H2020 SIRIUS project) and a Research Fellow at CERGAS Bocconi University. She holds a PhD from Glasgow Caledonian University and a double MSc from Bocconi University and Fudan University.
Her research focuses on social enterprise, social innovation, co-creation, and migrant integration, with funding from the European Commission and Scottish Government. She actively contributes to policy and international research networks including EMES, ISIRC, and ISTR.
Prof Peter Ball
Prof Peter Ball holds a Chair in Operations Management in the School for Business and Society at the University of York, UK. He has expertise on how operations practices underpin performance, especially at a systems level of a company or a supply chain. He has been Principal and Co Investigator on numerous projects.
These range from smaller management discipline projects to larger interdisciplinary projects in which he contributes a social science perspective to food systems and engineering research. His funding as come from UKRI research or industry led projects as well as research councils including EPSRC and BBSRC.
The funded projects have ranged from agriculture to engineering to business systems demonstrating opportunities for social science contributions (and funding) across a broad spectrum of applications.
Dr Daniel Jameson
Dr Daniel Jameson is a Research Development Manager in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health at the University of Manchester. His academic background is in bioinformatics and systems biology, and his current role focuses on supporting the design, governance and delivery of complex, interdisciplinary research programmes spanning health, data science and international collaboration.
Daniel works closely with academic and professional services colleagues on fellowship and large‑scale grant development, with particular expertise in UKRI, NIHR, EU and global health funding. His work often sits at the interface between research, strategy and organisational capability, helping teams shape competitive proposals, navigate funding systems and build sustainable partnerships. This includes recent work on a British Academy–funded project with partners in Kenya, supporting research management capacity strengthening and long‑term institutional collaboration.
Alongside this, he contributes to faculty‑level activity on research strategy, funding intelligence and portfolio development, with a focus on enabling well‑governed, inclusive and impactful research partnerships that translate academic expertise into societal benefit.
Dr Karl Smith
Dr Karl Smith is Head of Research Excellence at the University of East London, with over sixteen years of post-doctoral experience in the UK higher education sector. He specialises in research strategy, impact development, and the coordination of large-scale institutional submissions to the Research Excellence Framework (REF).
Karl previously led London South Bank University’s REF 2021 submission, delivering significant improvements in both scale and performance. His expertise includes developing research and impact strategies, managing multi-stakeholder collaborations, and supporting high-quality grant applications and outputs.
He has extensive experience delivering training to academic staff and students on research impact, publication strategy, and funding development, and has chaired key institutional working groups.
Earlier in his career at Imperial College London, Karl managed a €3 million international sustainability project. His research interests include the circular economy and green infrastructure, supported by a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Nottingham.
Chaired by
Dr Jennifer Harper
Dr Jennifer Harper is a senior academic leader with cross-sector experience spanning higher education, further education, and partnership provision. Her expertise centres on strategic leadership, workforce development, academic quality, and student experience, underpinned by institutional leadership, postgraduate teaching, and applied research across complex, transdisciplinary environments.
She holds a faculty-level strategic leadership role at The Open University, working at the intersection of people strategy, academic delivery, policy implementation, and student outcomes. She collaborates with senior leaders to embed institutional change, strengthen workforce capability, and deliver inclusive, sustainable provision across the UK.
An active researcher, her work focuses on leadership development, educational policy, and technology-enabled innovation, examining how leadership practices shape organisational capability, student belonging, and sustainable change. She also teaches and supervises postgraduate programmes in leadership, education, and research methods, contributing to curriculum innovation, quality assurance, and partnership governance.
Dr Mouhamed Thiam
Dr Mouhamed Thiam has extensive experience as a Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Finance, with research interests in performance management, Financial Regulation and the role finance and accounting play in society.
Dr Thiam has contributed to the design of various modules at undergraduate and postgraduate levels’ including Compliance and Risk in Banking, Strategic Management Accounting, Contemporary Issues in Islamic Finance, Research Methodology, Investment Finance, Corporate Finance, and more. His dedication and service to higher education have led him to winning and being nominated for various awards, including the award for Inclusion and Diversity in Education.
He is currently the chair of the British Academy of Management’s Performance Management Special interest group as well as an editor at the International Journal of Business Performance Management.
Professor Jonathan Liu
Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Ming-Ai (London) Institute and is responsible for the strategic direction of Ming-Ai. He is a founding Dean of the School of Management and Leadership, and Vice Provost at Elite Innovation College Cambridge. He is an adjunct Professor with the University of Wales, Trinity St David where he supervises research students.
Benefits of attending
- Direct access to experience-led perspectives from academics and research professionals across a range of disciplines and funding bodies;
- Practical advice to strengthen the strategic planning and budgeting elements of your proposals;
- Awareness of common pitfalls and how to avoid them when developing funding applications;
- Understanding of how to build resilience into your funding strategy, including navigating feedback and resubmission;
- Opportunity to hear how social science and interdisciplinary approaches can open up a broader spectrum of funding opportunities.
Contact
Please contact the BAM Office at [email protected] with any queries.
Event Fee
BAM Members: Free
Non-Members: £60
If you are booking multiple paid events as a Non-Member, it may be cheaper for you to purchase a BAM Membership as nearly all BAM Events are free or at a discounted rate for Members.
For more information, please visit BAM Membership
Registration closes on 24th June 2026 at 23:59 BST.
Payment and Cancellation Policy
Payment for the event must be received before the start date of the event concerned. Access will not be permitted to the event if full payment has not been received.
Cancellations
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Cancellations received within 14 days of booking your place on the event will receive a full refund.
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Cancellations received after the 14-day cancellation period and later than 14 days before the start date of the event will not be eligible for a refund.
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Although we endeavour to run all events as advertised, BAM reserves the right to cancel any event if, for example, there are not enough people to justify running the event or if other significant unforeseen circumstances arise.
To cancel a booking a cancellation request must be submitted via your BAM Account, to do this:
- Go to your BAM Account
- Click 'My Events'
- Under 'Upcoming Events' will be the booking, please click Cancel Booking
- Follow the steps and complete the request