THEME PANEL MEMBERS
Responsibilities:
1. Great Western Research Champion
2. Tracking Business Connections
3. Great Western Research Representative
Some Guidance for Theme Panel Meetings
Where to get help
Responsibilities of the Theme Panel Member 
As a Theme Panel Member, you have two main responsibilities:
- To act as Great Western Research representative and champion in your institution for the theme – informing other academics about the initiative, helping them to create links to other organisations and representing them on the Theme Panel.
- To evaluate research proposals for Great Western research funding.
So Theme Panel Members should:
- Ensure that all researchers with an interest in the theme area in your HEI are kept informed about Great Western Research possibilities. Theme Panel members should work across department and research group boundaries in order to help all researchers in their HEI to participate in Great Western Research. The institution coordinator will help with this.
- Represent all researchers in the theme area within their own HEI.
- Participate in Theme Panel meetings, discussions and events.
The sections below outline these responsibilities in more detail.
1. Great Western Research Champion
The goal of Great Western Research is to create lasting research collaborations between HEIs and to improve the connections between HEIs and external organisations. Great Western Research will have failed unless new and lasting links are created inside and outside the academic world. At the start, we will need to find ways to make sure that the right academic partners talk to each other. We might need to have seminars or workshops or visits to businesses. Some innovative ideas may be needed to break down institutional barriers and set the scene for new collaborations.
So you need to think about how you can help to create this collaborative research environment. You should use the Business Support Team in your own institution to help you create and manage links to businesses. Great Western Research staff will provide you and your institution coordinator with information and publicity materials to inform businesses about Great Western Research.
2. Tracking Business Connections
Everyone involved in generating Great Western Research proposals should keep their Institution Coordinator informed about what contacts they intend to make and have made with potential external partners. The Executive Director will keep a database of all these links. This is to avoid situations where two groups of academics independently contact a business with completing Great Western Research theme proposals. It will also help us to build a database of business links in the South West.
3. Great Western Research Representative
The Theme Panel member acts as a representative for the institution for your theme. This means that you should make sure that your colleagues are informed about Great Western Research and are aware of the opportunities. Your Institution coordinator and the Great Western Research staff can help you with this.
You should also act as representative for all departments in your institution on the GREAT WESTERN RESEARCH Theme Panel.
Some Guidance for Theme Panel Meetings
Here are some operational rules:
- The Panel Chair is responsible for calling the meeting, setting the agenda and acting as meeting chair.
- A member of the Great Western Research staff or nominee will act as secretary for the meeting
- A panel member may, in extremis, nominate a deputy to attend a meeting in their place. The nomination should be sent to the Panel Chair and the Secretary before the meeting.
- The Theme Chair is expected to attend all panel meetings in person. In an emergency, the Secretary will act as meeting chair.
- Decisions will be made by majority voting of the panel members. The Panel Chair has the casting vote.
- The panel members and the Theme Chair are allowed to submit proposals to the panel for funding. Individuals will not be required to leave the panel meeting when applications from themselves or their institutions are being discussed.
Where to get help
Great Western Research has Executive Director, Project Manager and Project Assistant (GWR team). Also the Bath, Bristol and Exeter Institution Coordinators will provide administrative support as well as your own Institution coordinator.
If you need help, the best people to ask are your Theme Panel Chair (listed on relevant Theme info page), your Institution Coordinator or GWR team.