Information and Applications

Department of Mathematics Cecilia Tanner Research Funding Schemes provide baseline funding in support of the department’s research strategy that revolves around the following main objectives:

• Talent: attract, develop and retain talent of the highest quality.
• Environment: provide excellent support and ambiance for high quality research.
• Balance: maintain a strong presence across the discipline.
• Impact: stimulate interactions with other sciences.

The Schemes

CTRF grant supports  Research Impulse, Research Support and Workshop Support  schemes and all staff will be able to apply for support within  these schemes:

• Research Impulse (RI): Mathematicians can make very efficient use of relatively small amounts of money: to support short-term research visits, to receive short-term visitors, to organise one-day meetings, or to attend conferences and workshops. In addition, there is a need to fund small pilot projects and sandpit meetings to address urgent or promising new research opportunities. The Research Impulse scheme operates on a running basis, so there are no specific deadlines, with a maximum of £1,500 per project. Support for activities should normally be sought at least 3 weeks in advance of expenditure.
  RI Application Form & Guide for RI applicants
  
  
• Research Support (RS): The Research Support scheme complements the Research Impulse scheme by providing support for research projects that are small in size but which exceed the £1,500 limit of the Research Impulse scheme, with a maximum value of £3,000 per project. The Research Support scheme operates on a running basis, so there are no specific deadlines. Support for activities should normally be sought at least two months in advance of expenditure. 
  RS Application Form & Guide for RS applicants
  
  
• Workshop Support (WS): This concerns funding for high profile research workshops, to sustain a consistent departmental workshop programme. The maximum award for a one week event will be £8,000. We have limited resources and hence cost-effectiveness and additional financial support will be appreciated and used as a selection criterion. The Workshop scheme operates on a running basis, so there are no specific deadlines. Support for activities should normally be sought at least two months in advance of expenditure.
  WS Application Form & Guide for WS applicants

Management 

CTRF grant is managed by the department’s Director of Research and the departmental Research Committee (that is chaired by the DoR). The broad expertise and department-wide representation of the Research Committee guarantees a transparent and rational allocation of resources. The Committee will solicit the assessment of proposals by experts in the department or elsewhere where needed. The Research Committee explicitly reserves the right to award grants at a lower value than what has been applied for.

All applications should be submitted by e-mail to ctrf@imperial.ac.uk.

Applicants are advised to carefully follow the scheme "Guide for applicants". In case of doubt, or any comments or suggestions, please contact Dr Eva-Maria Graefe, Director of Research (e.graefe@imperial.ac.uk).

Dr Rosalind Cecilia Hildegard Tanner

Cecilia Tanner was a lecturer in the Department of Mathematics at Imperial from 1933 until she retired in 1967. Born in Göttingen in 1900, she was the daughter of mathematicians Grace Chisholm Young (1868-1944) and William Henry Young (1863-1942). After aiding her father’s work at University College Wales Aberystwyth in the early 1920s, she earned her PhD at Girton College Cambridge in 1928 under Professor Hobson. Over the years, she devoted much attention to her study of the History of Mathematics, in particular to the Elizabethan mathematician Thomas Harriot. In 1967 she helped to set up (and in 1977 endowed) the Thomas Harriot Seminar that still meets alternatively between Durham and Cambridge. Dr Tanner died in 1992. 

These funding schemes were originally financed by a Platform Grant from the EPSRC that ran from 2011 to 2016. The Department continued funding the schemes when the grant ended and renamed them in honour of Dr Tanner in 2018 on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of her retirement. 

 

Dr R Cecilia H Young (later Tanner) at the International Congress of Mathematicians of 1932 (upper left).