BES Review College
The aim of the BES Review College is to build a community of individuals who have knowledge, experience and expertise within ecology and utilise their skills by being involved in the assessment stages of BES grant applications.
We call upon members of the Review College to read, comment and score applications according to their remit of expertise.
Our aim is that each application will be seen by 2 members of the Review College before the top percentage is discussed at a BES Grants Committee Meeting where the final decision is made.
Each member of the Review College will have chosen their relevant areas of expertise from a list of key words covering the breadth of the ecological science we fund, allowing us to link the ecological content of an application to the most appropriate reviewers.
Being a member of the BES Review College
The main role of a member of the BES Review College is to help decide which grant applications are successful in receiving BES funding.
Reviewing applications is an extremely important role. It is influencing which projects and individuals receive funds which could have a big impact on not only their individual research career but also the ecological community.
Being a member of the BES Review College will provide you with experience of reviewing grant applications which often gives a good impression on your CV and our reviewers are likely to have their profile raised via the BES website, the Bulletin(our quarterly magazine) and at the BES Annual Meeting.
Time Commitment
Applications will need to be reviewed twice a year – generally during March and October. The length and number of applications each member of the Review College is assigned will vary according to the scheme however the BES will aim to distribute the workload to limit high volumes of applications being assigned to one individual.
Members of the Review College can opt to end their membership at any time by notifying the BES Office.
What assessing grant applications involves
Applications will be matched to a member of the Review College with the relevant expertise using the key words they selected when applying to join the College. These key words will have also been chosen by the applicant when completing their application.
When an application has been assigned to a reviewer, they will receive an email containing a link to the BES Online Review website, login details, a copy of the application and a feedback document. The application and feedback document will be sent as an attachment to the email and the reviewer will be able to save the files to read and edit later, if they wish. Once the reviewer is ready to score and leave any comments for the application, they will need to log onto the Online Review site using the unique link in the email. If a reviewer has been assigned more than one application, they will receive an email per application and will need to submit each review separately using the details contained within the email in which it was sent.
The email will also contain a date when all reviews need to be returned by, it is vital that reviewers meet this deadline as it affects the next stage of the awarding process. If for any reason the reviewer cannot submit by this date or cannot complete the review for any other reason, they must notify the BES via the Online Review website (using the log in details provided and selecting ‘refuse’ from the drop down menu and then ‘submit’) as soon as possible so the application can be assigned to another member of the Review College.
Applications must be assessed using the BES Scoring Criteria which will be available on the BES website.
We know from experience that feedback is very important to applicants, therefore any comments that are provided using the Feedback template and uploaded via the Online Review website will be passed on to the applicant.
Reviewers need to complete this template even if they don’t wish to provide any feedback as it provides a breakdown of the overall score for the application.
Once all reviews have been submitted, they will be collated and the top percentage will be discussed at a BES Grants Committee Meeting where the final decision is made.
Those applications which are not included in the top percentage will be rejected so it is extremely important that each application is reviewed by a member of the Review College.
How do I become a member of the BES Review College?
Members are required to be post-PhD and can apply to join the Review College by completing a short application.
Through our application process we hope to achieve a wide variety of experience and expertise, therefore once an application has been received it will require endorsement from the BES Grants Committee.
We aim to process applications twice a year at the appropriate Grants Committee meeting (however you can apply at any time) so please allow up to 6 months for your application to be processed.
We aim to notify individuals by email once they become members of the Review College.