News and events Study Tours

Study Tours

ARMA has been working with the Research Councils and other research funders to develop a very popular series of short Study Tours to a number of research funding organisations offering members an opportunity to find out more about the way these funders work. These include:

Typically, Study Tours are held at the host institution, often in London or Swindon, in the format of a conference. Programmes are varied but would normally consist of examples of current and future grant opportunities, peer review processes, discussions on policy issues and on interaction with the HEI sector. More recent topics also included electronic submission systems and the impact of FEC. We are actively exploring the possibilities of extending these tours to other funders including NIHR (National Institute for Health Research), the British Academy, The Royal Academy, British Heart Foundation and Help the Aged.

Members and funders have reported that study tours provide a unique forum for funders to disseminate information aimed specifically to the interests and needs of research managers and administrators. At the same time, the arrangement facilitates a greater degree of interaction, debate and discussion which would not be possible with a larger, more diverse audience.

ARMA also co-organise occasional overseas study tours. In 2002, ARMA collaborated in the organisation of a study tour to the USA which included visits to the leading research funding agencies (NSF and NIH) and input from a number of other agencies and site visits to three leading universities (Yale, George Washington and Johns Hopkins). In November 2005 we offered a study tour to Brussels in conjunction with the UK Research Office, to increase participants' understanding of the seventh Framework Programme for research (FP7) and of the workings of the European Commission.  We hope to offer another overseas tour in 2011.

Notifications of forthcoming Study Tours are posted to the members-only email list about four weeks before the event. Due to the popularity of these events and the limited number of places available, early booking is essential as places are usually taken up within an hour of being advertised and are not transferable amongst colleagues or departments.

Study Tours held in 2010/11:

Check your members' emails regularly for forthcoming events!