ABSTRACT
The idea of adding value to the academic community strongly influences a funder’s view of researchers’ worth. Spending money is not an unfortunate but unavoidable side effect of a funding organisation’s work: spending money is their work; it is what they do. The most important aspect of the research administrator’s role is to guide applicants through the sometimes messy maze of terminology and techniques involved in creating and monitoring a budget. The Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) explicitly links its work to creating a return on the investment from public funds. To be of value to the AHRB and its communities, the research must reflect the aims of the specific scheme within which an award is being sought, as well as the wider strategic aims of the AHRB. Assessing the comparative value of different kinds of funding and different kinds of award is by many seen as difficult either in terms of academic or other criteria.
