AXA Research Fund

Background

The AXA Research Fund was created in 2008 to encourage scientific research that would contribute to understanding and preventing environmental, life, and socio-economic risks, (for further information on fields please see their website.) The Fund supports world class research in these areas by providing institutions with the means of attracting and retaining the leading scientists of today and of the next generation. The Fund seeks to support innovative and cutting-edge transdisciplinary projects, particularly as such projects may encounter difficulties in gaining support elsewhere. Its Research Fund includes a range of schemes/programs. Calls/invitations are sent to the designated program official in 'registered institutions' (Oxford is registered).

Need for coordination/pre-selection:

For the Chairs and Post-doctoral schemes, AXA limits the number of applications that may be made from any one institution and requires nominations to be submitted by the registered 'institutional official' (at Oxford, this is the Director of Research Services). Research Services liaises with the Academic Division Offices to agree on internal (Oxford) processes and timelines. Details are posted below.

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AXA Post-doctoral Fellowship Applications Process 2013 (EOI deadline closed on 25 February 2013)

The AXA Group has resolved to award 100 million Euros over five years to finance innovative research. There are a range of schemes/programs. Calls/invitations are sent to the designated program official in 'registered institutions' (Oxford is registered).  AXA intends to award a number of two-year postdoctoral fellowships worth €60,000/per annum.  Oxford has now  been approved by the Scientific Board to propose two candidates for this scheme, and requests that interested candidates complete a brief Expression of Interest/Nomination Form (94kb) and return it to their selected Department/Faculty no later than 25 February 2013. 

Internal Oxford timetable and process:

  1. 15 February 2013: Oxford call for expressions of interest.
  2. 25 February 2013: Expression of Interest/Nomination Form (94kb) due with University Departments/Faculties. Nominations must be made on the internal Oxford form (see 'Further Information' below). (Note: When filling in the internal nomination forms please keep the length of each section to under 100 words. Proposals do not go to AXA at this stage.)
  3. 1 March 2013: Departments/Faculties nominate a maximum of two (2) candidates each to the person below:
      1. Humanities - to Andrew Fairweather-Tall, Humanities Divisional Office
      2. Social Sciences - to Sharron Pleydell-Pearce, Social Sciences Divisional Office
      3. MPLS - to Keri Dexter, Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Divisional Office
      4. MSD – to Margareta Rorsman, MedSci Divisional Office
  4. 8 March 2013: Each Academic Division (where applicable) recommends to the PVC(R) (care of Ken Bedding, ken.bedding@admin.ox.ac.uk) up to two candidates, in priority order, to go forward for final selection.
  5. 8 -15 March 2013: PVC(R) considers candidates put forward by each division and selects two applicants to be submitted to AXA.
  6. 21 March 2013: The Director (Research Services), Dr Glenn Swafford shall lodge the names and emails of the two nominees with AXA.


AXA will then contact the nominees directly, who will have until the 18 April 2013 to provide more detailed information on their application. The outcomes are expected to be known by 26 July 2013. Please note these applications are not lodged through or administered by RS Divisional Teams. Nor are (Resolve) costings required at this stage.

Further Information:

Expression of Interest/Nomination Form (94kb)

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AXA Awards and AXA Outlooks: nominations by 4 pm on 29 April 2013

The University has been given just a few days' notice of a call from the AXA Research Fund to nominate academics/researchers who may then be invited by AXA to apply for two types of grants (Awards and Outlooks) in these areas:

  • in AXA’s Life risks cluster: an Award on "Malleability of Aging" and an Outlook on "Living longer, living better"
  • In AXA’s Environmental risks cluster: an Award on "Modeling Climate Change: spatial and temporal climate models at small and mid-scale level" and an Outlook on "Social and economic resilience of societies/communities, particularly in poorer parts of the world"
  • In AXA’s Socio-economic risks cluster: an Award on "Digital and privacy issues" and an Outlook on "Digital as a tool to revolutionize healthcare"

If departments would like to make a nomination, please could they complete the relevant section of the nomination form (AXA Nomination form for Awards and Outlooks (67kb)) and send it to Dr Glenn Swafford by 4 pm, Monday 29 April 2013. Apologies for the very tight deadline set by AXA.

AXA Awards

  • “To spur and accelerate the pace of academic innovation, the AXA Research Fund has created the Awards, designed to support mid-career researchers with extremely high potential for innovation in their fields with extremely high potential for innovation in their fields, ability to develop and lead excellent research centers and recognized skills and avowed interest in popularizing their research to the greater public.
  • Laureates will be awarded a grant to give them the means to develop and test their hypotheses.
  • Awarded projects can last for 1 to 2 years and funding amounts to 250 K€: it will be channelled through an academic institution, and can only be used to fund research or dissemination activities.”

AXA Outlooks

  • “To foster and reinforce discussions between the academic world and civil society stakeholders, the AXA Research Fund has created the Outlooks, designed to support innovative researchers with high potential for popularization on key topics and help them disseminate their findings to a wider audience through many possible formats.
  • Laureates will be awarded a grant to give them the means to facilitate dialogues between academic communities, policymakers, experts, and other opinion-leaders (journalists, NGOs, etc.) on topical issues on which science has provided new insights that have not yet been discussed in the public arena.
  • AXA Outlooks are aimed at giving excellent researchers the means to spread their discoveries. These academic leaders are expected to have great impact and legitimacy in public debate and sound large-scale projects management skills.
  • Awarded projects can last for 1 to 3 years and funding can range from 100 K€ up to 300 K€.”
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AXA Research Fund - 'Chairs' 2013 Application Process: (EOI Deadline: 3 May 2013)

The University may submit one (1) proposal only under AXA’s Chairs Program.  The University proposes to lodge its application for the 14 June 2013 deadline.  Chairs endowed by the AXA Research Fund aim at creating a position to attract one or more world-class researchers to the host institution. The chairs are AXA professorships.

The chair holder(s) may combine teaching activities with research work, in compliance with the policy of the hosting institution.

Scheme Information:

Institutions might apply for one of the following funding strands:

Endowed Chairs:

Endowed Distinguished Permanent Chair

  • The institution intends to attract on the long term a world-class researcher from another institution. His/her research program must be aligned with the long-term strategy of the institution
  • The Chair holder is expected to be of the highest calibre (publications in first-rate journals, international stature and network)
  • Institutions may apply for a maximum of € 4.000.000.  The Chair is to be funded using the interest from this capital, which is estimated to be around £132,800 perannum

Endowed Distinguished Visiting Chair

  • The institution intends to set up a research program on the long run where successive world class researchers will be attracted from abroad every two to three years
  • Chair holders are expected to be of the highest calibre (publications in first-rate     journals, international stature and network)
  • For endowed Distinguished Visiting Chairs, institutions may apply for a maximum of €3.000.000.  The Chair is to be funded using the interest from this capital, which is estimated to be around £99,600 per annum

Endowed Visiting Chair

  • The institution intends to strengthen a research program on the long run. Successive researchers will be attracted from abroad every three to five years. The Chair holder could also be internally chosen among the present academic faculty of the institution
  • Chair holders are expected to be tenure-track academics (PhD+10/15y)
  • For endowed Visiting Chairs, institutions may apply for a maximum of €2.000.000.  The Chair is to be funded using the interest from this capital, which is estimated to be around £66,400 per annum

 Non-endowed Chairs:

A non endowed fixed-term chair:

  • The institution intends to attract a world-class researcher from another institution, either to explore new avenues or significantly strengthen the research led in a department or laboratory
  • The Chair holder is expected to be of the highest calibre (publications in first-rate journals, international stature and network)
  • For non endowed fixed-term Chairs: the institutions may apply for a maximum of €100.000 per year. This Chair is to be funded using the capital of the award


Please note that the Endowed Distinguished Permanent Chair, the Endowed Distinguished Visiting Chair, and the Non-Endowed Fixed-Term Chair specify that the chair holder must be attracted from outside of the University. The Endowed Visiting Chair may be held by a current University employee.  

For all of these chairs, AXA requests that the University gives the name of the candidate or a short-list of prospective candidates.  We must be confident that, if the chair is awarded, the named candidate will take it up.

The budget is expected to be used to cover the chair holder’s salary. Please note the AXA Research Fund does not cover infrastructure or overhead costs. While AXA is amenable to other sources of funding being used to supplement their funds, they wish to ensure that the chairs retain the AXA Professor title.


Eligibility: Applications must be in one of AXA's research fields (see http://www.axa-research.org/areas-of-research-eligible-for-funding)


Selection Criteria:

The criteria used to make the scientific and academic assessment of your application are:

1.    The Institution

  • The institution’s reputation for academic excellence
  • Quality of its research: publications in scientific reviews, presence of internationally renowned researchers
  • Relationship to the international community: international impact of the research carried out, success in attracting top-tier foreign researchers
  • Quality of the research environment and working conditions offered to researchers through the Chair
  • The ambition and robustness of the institution’s long-term strategy
  • Quality of the prospection and recruitment process to hire faculty (this criterion is not relevant for non-endowed short-term chairs)

2.    The Chair Program

  •  The academic excellence of the Chair program
  • The scientific originality and innovative nature of the program
  • The Chair’s contribution to strengthening international networks
  • Consistency between the Chair program and the long-term development policy of the  institution
  • Operational strength and quality of the organization set up to support this Chair (including a realistic and coherent budget)

 3.    The Prospective Chair holder

  •  Academic excellence of Chair holder
  • Chairholders must have acquired an international reputation rate in their scientific field and possess an outstanding track record

 

Internal Oxford timetable and process:

 If your department is interested in applying for an AXA chair, please contact Ken Bedding (ken.bedding@admin.ox.ac.uk) as soon as possible with information on which strand you intend to apply for.

Initial departmental expressions of interest are due with the Director, Research Services (Dr Glenn Swafford), by 3 May 2013.  The expression of interest should include a letter of intent and information on the candidate (or shortlist of candidates) including CV(s).

If more than one expression of interest is received, the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) will convene an academic advisory group to review the expressions of interest, and to determine which proposals should be further developed.  It is possible that more than one expression of interest will be selected for further development, but only one application will be chosen for submission to the scheme (final deadline: 14 June 2013).


Research Services Contact: Dr Glenn Swafford, Director, 01865 (2) 80422


Further information

  • AXA Research Fund website
  • Direct link to the list of research fields financed by AXA
  • AXA Modus Operandi (Guidelines)
  • Comments on previous rounds
    • The University has submitted four proposals in the past five years to the Chairs Program, without success. On each occasion additional information was requested by AXA, indicating the proposal made it to the final stages of selection. AXA does not provide copies of referees’ reports, summary notes from Scientific Board discussions, or give scores or rankings to the institution or the PI.  Discussions with AXA representatives suggest that they seek to provide funding that will make a significant difference to the institution at which the chair is held. For this reason, please ensure that your application explains why this funding is important for the department, faculty, or institute at which it will be held.
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AXA Research Fund - Doctoral Fellowships Applications Process 2013

The AXA Group currently have no plans to open a call for applications for Doctoral Fellowships.
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AXA Research Fund - Projects Applications Process 2013

This Scheme is currently under revision by the AXA group.
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