EPSCR Peer College Review - The OR Society

Find out how becoming a peer reviewer can further enhance your career

What is the EPSRC Peer Review College?

When an academic submits a funding application to EPSRC, the application is reviewed by experts in the field. Many of the experts used are members of the EPSRC Peer Review College.

Why join the College?

The EPSRC Peer Review college is interested in receiving more applications from academics with OR expertise to join the college.

At The OR Society, we are on a mission to address this, which is why we are calling on our community of OR academics to update their Je-S details to ensure Operational Research specifically is included as a specialism, and to also join the Peer Review College.

The government has recently announced an additional £300 million in funding to the EPSRC Mathematical Sciences, which means it’s now more important than ever that OR academics are available to peer review.

Dr Alain Zemkoho - Why I'm joining the EPSRC Peer Review College

Edmund Burke

" Joining the EPSRC Peer Review College provides OR specialists with the opportunity to engage with EPSRC’s research grant assessment process. A larger cohort of OR college members will raise the visibility of OR and facilitate greater OR involvement in determining future strategic direction. As a building block, it’s critical that more OR experts can be identified via their Je-S profile so that OR expertise can feed into the peer review process."

Edmund Burke – Past President of the OR Society, Member of EPSRC Peer Review College

Katie Blaney

" The EPSRC Peer Review College is an extremely valuable part of our peer review process. Becoming a member not only helps us to ensure reviews are undertaken by people with appropriate expertise, it can also provide valuable insight into EPSRC strategy and policy. With the announcement of the Additional Funding Programme for Mathematical Sciences, it is more crucial than ever that EPSRC and the mathematical sciences community engage with the peer review process."

Katie Blaney – Head of Mathematical Sciences at EPSRC

The benefits

Being involved in the EPSRC Peer Review College not only benefits the wider OR community but also gives you an opportunity to enhance your knowledge on research funding and UKRI/EPSRC strategy, boost your credibility, and network with your peers.

Although it is possible to take part in peer reviews as a member of the Associate College, those who belong to the Full College receive additional, important benefits.

As a full member of the EPSRC Peer Review College, you will receive:

training and guidance to help you better understand the funding and application review process, which you can also apply to your own applications
regular updates via newsletters and other means about changes to EPSRC policy and processes that may impact your role
opportunities to network with fellow academics via meetings and otherwise
recognition for the amount of proposals you have reviewed on your ORCID profile

Your responsibilities

Upon joining you will complete a 45-minute training course to ensure you understand the review process fully.

Following this, you are requested to:

provide informed, objective, and timely reviews via the online Joint electronic Submission (Je-S) system, ideally within 15 days of receiving the request
sit on assessment or moderation panels
keep your Je-S details up to date, particularly those elements relating to your availability to undertake reviews and describe your areas of expertise
keep up to date with developments that may affect your role as a member of the college, for example through attendance at EPSRC organised events, its website, and its newsletters

You will be asked to review a maximum of 8 applications within any 12-month period, yet you are in not obliged to review every application that comes your way.

If you are unable to fulfil a request, you simply need to notify EPSRC within 5 days of receiving the request.

Read the case studies

Below are three case studies that highlight real-life experiences of joining the EPSRC Peer Review College and how it can enhance your career. Click their names to read the case study.

Kerem Akartunali (of the University of Strathclyde) is a member of the college and shares his experience of this worthwhile opportunity.

We spoke to Dr Alain Zemkoho, an Associate Professor at the University of Southampton about his decision to join the EPSRC Peer Review College

Read why Kathy Kotiadis a Reader in Management Science/ Operational Research at Kent Business School joined the EPSRC Peer Review College.

How to get started

First and foremost, if you haven’t already, please create a J-es account here.
Already have an account? Update your J-es registration to highlight OR in your areas of interest, in addition to your specialisms (i.e. Simulation). You can do this via your online portal by adding OR to the “add research areas” section.
Finally, once you have updated J-es, you can apply to the EPSRC Peer Review College here. The application takes just 10-15 minutes to complete and you will hear back within weeks.

The Joint electronic Submission (Je-S) system

The Je-S system is an important tool for anyone interested in peer reviewing and it is recommended that anyone, whether or not they are a member of the college, updates their research areas in their account to highlight that they have OR expertise. Reviewers can now link their Je-S account to their Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) account, allowing them to keep a digital record of the reviews carried out for EPSRC. This new feature helps members receive more recognition and visibility for their work as peer reviewers.