Last month, the Guardian announced that it's launching a new Web site for U.K. research news and funding, called Guardian Research. The site is still in its demonstration phase, and you need a subscription--or you need to be at a subscribing institution--to access it. Today, Gabriel Engelhard, field sales manager for Guardian Research, gave me a behind-the-scenes e-tour.
The funding agencies are worldwide: As long as U.K. scientists are eligible to apply, the Guardian will include the grant or award in its database. As Engelhard showed me the site, a test search even pulled up an entry for the AAAS award for international scientific cooperation. Behind the scenes, four people screen and vet each funding call, Engelhard says.
Once logged in, users can search or browse funding opportunities by a variety of means--keyword, deadline, discipline, funding agency, etc. The database seems to cover the full gamut of disciplines: arts and humanities, computer science, physical sciences, chemical sciences, computing, agriculture, social science, education, law, biomedicine, medical sciences, and beyond--some 4,000 discipline keywords, Engelhard says.
When a user sets up a profile, he or she can choose specific disciplines from that same list. Then, whenever the user runs a search, the results are filtered to include only the profile disciplines. This option is easily turned off if you'd like to broaden a search. The portal will also send a user e-mail alerts about new opportunities based on this profile.
The site also features research-related news from the newspaper and has original content available only to Guardian Research subscribers.
In the next couple of weeks, Guardian Research will launch its trial phase, offering free trials to institutions so they can see if it's a product they're willing to pay for. Once your institution has a subscription, you can register and set up a profile. Engelhard wouldn't disclose subscription costs but he did say that the costs will vary by institution size, and that subscriptions will be available for individuals if your institution won't subscribe, or chooses not to.
The site's closest competitor is ResearchResearch, another subscription-based database that offers U.K.-specific grants and research news. I found Guardian Research very easy to use, but I can't tell you how comprehensive the database is since I was looking at a demo version that's not yet fully stocked. You can look at the site's home page and register your interest at http://research.guardian.co.uk/.
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