Expression of Interest

Royal Society Te Apārangi is calling for expressions of interest (EOI) from experienced individuals wishing to assist with the assessment of proposals submitted to Catalyst: Leaders and Catalyst: Seeding.

Reviewers assist in the evaluation of proposals across all disciplines. For more detailed information on the review process and how to submit and expression of interest form, please see the Expression of Interest guidelines.

An EOI can be submitted to the Society at any time. However, in order to be considered for the current active call, your EOI must be received no later than 3 weeks prior to the closing date for the call.

To be considered for the next open Catalyst funding round (January call), the EOI must be received by the Society no later than Thursday 4 Paenga-whāwhā April 2024.

Submitting an Expression of Interest

All interested individuals are invited to submit the EOI. To do so, please complete the brief Expression of Interest Form and Statistical Information Form below, email the forms and your CV (on New Zealand RS&T format) to: International.Applications@royalsociety.org.nz

For more information on the Catalyst Fund Reviewer EOI, please read below or download the Catalyst Reviewers Expression of Interest Guidelines.

• Catalyst Reviewers Expression of Interest Guidelines
• Catalyst Reviewers Expression of Interest Form 
• Statistical Information
• NZ RST CV Template

Role of Reviewer

As a Reviewer, you will be asked to grade and comment on all proposals submitted to you as reviewer. All proposals will be reviewed remotely and there is no requirement to attend a meeting in person. Supporting materials, including scoring sheets, for the funding rounds will be supplied by the Society to help you complete the activity.

All Catalyst Fund reviewers used by the Society will be listed on our website, but are not expected to give feedback to applicants.

• The Society endeavours to ensure that each reviewer will review a maximum of 25 proposals. As the Fund in this from is new, the actual number could be significantly lower.
• Each proposal is between 15-20 pages long with the principal content contained within 3-5 pages depending on the programme applied for (excluding CVs, letters of support, etc.). Consequently, we expect few applications will take longer than 30 minutes to assess.
• Reviewers are responsible for carrying out the evaluation of the proposals. Delegating the work to another person is not permitted.

Requested Reviewer skills and experience

Independent Reviewers shall be chosen on the basis of skills, experience and knowledge appropriate to carry out the tasks assigned to them.

Prospective independent Reviewers are expected to have one or more of the following credentials:

• a high level of professional expertise in a relevant field of science, technology or the humanities, and accompanying capacity to assess applications from a broad variety of research disciplines;
• understanding the key attributes that underpin high-performing international research collaborations;
• understanding the Government’s strategic priorities for New Zealand research.

Timeline

Tabled below is the calendar of events for the 2024 Catalyst Fund ‘Request for Proposals’ (RFP) and associated review activities. Each call includes programme activities in both Catalyst: Leaders and Catalyst: Seeding. For more information on included programmes, please refer the Society’s Catalyst Fund website.

Table 1: Calendar of events for the 2024 Catalyst: Leaders and Catalyst: Seeding RFPs and review activities.

Appointment of reviewers

A pool of potential reviewers will be identified through an open call for EOIs. The Society will concurrently approach candidates to ensure the pool of candidates enables the review groups to appropriately cover the required skill sets.

In appointing reviewers, the Society will aim to achieve as far as possible:

• the highest quality of panel composition;
• reasonable spread across different skill-sets as outlined in the criteria;
• reasonable spread across different organization types;
• reasonable spread across different research specialties;
• minimal conflicts of interest in the review panels; and,
• consideration to equity and diversity.

Selected reviewers will be advised in writing no later than the closing date for each active RFP. An appointment letter will be issued, which will include a confidentiality agreement and conflict of interest declaration for signing.

More information

For submissions, related queries or further information, please contact Royal Society Te Apārangi (International) team at: International.Applications@royalsociety.org.nz