Application Assessment Process

Application assessment process

For each round of our four funding schemes, a panel of three trustees is formed to consider applications. One trustee is appointed chair of the panel. Whenever possible, all three panel members independently review all applications made in that round, using a structured pro forma to help them assess each application against the criteria for the scheme in question. The chair is responsible for obtaining references (Mildred Blaxter Fellowships only), collating responses from the other panel members, and facilitating discussion among the panel. Once the panel has made its decision, this is passed on to the treasurer, who contacts successful and unsuccessful applicants.

Before seeing the applications, panel members are asked to review the names of applicants and host institutions for potential conflicts of interest. Conflicts of interest may include, but are not limited to, a current or recent collaboration with the applicant(s), affiliation with the host institution of the applicant(s), a familial or close personal relationship with the applicant(s), or a financial interest in the success of the application. Panel members are asked to declare substantive, potential or apparent conflicts of interest. Where conflicts of interest are identified, another trustee (without a conflict of interest) reviews the application in question, but the original panel member is not precluded from reviewing other applications in the same round.

Assessment criteria for each scheme can be found on the relevant page on this site.