Becoming a member of the Peer Review College
From time to time we seek nominations for new College members. Candidates must be nominated by senior staff or representatives within Higher Education Institutions or other organisations, learned societies or professional associations and must meet the relevant eligibility criteria.
The AHRC categorises its peer reviewers into different groups to improve our ability to match reviewers’ expertise with proposals and to enable us to identify reviewers who can assess certain aspects of proposals.
The groupings are described below::
• Academic reviewers review proposals for academic research and postgraduate training within their area of subject expertise.
• International reviewers review research proposals of potentially international significance.
• Strategic reviewers review very complex proposals or proposals involving issues at an organiszational level.
• Knowledge exchange reviewers provide reviews of proposals to our KE schemes.
• Technical reviewers review the technical aspects of research proposals.
• Non-HEI reviewers provide a perspective from outside the academic community for reviews on the social, cultural or economic impact of proposals.
All new College members are expected to attend an Induction Event. The event provides members with the opportunity to learn about the AHRC peer review process and to participate in a mock panel. Those unable to attend will have the opportunity to attend a future induction event.
Peer Review College Members
College members are normally appointed for a term of four years and are expected to review up to 8 eight proposals to funding schemes or programmes during a 12-month period. This commitment is reduced for anyone acting as a panel member.
Review requests will be sent through Je-S and a due date for return specified. In completing the review, assessors need to act in accordance with the AHRC’s guidance. In all College work, members need to adhere to the Standards of Service.
The e-handbook provides PRC members with information essential to their role including:
• How the role of a PRC member fits into the overall peer review assessment process
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• Further information about how panels operate and the main stages of peer assessment
• Information about technical reviews
• Definitions of the new grading scales – both academic and technical
• Information on what to look out for with regard to conflicts of interest.