Our peer review college consists of more than 6,000 members whose expertise helps to ensure that the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) supports the highest quality research across the remit of our portfolio.
Peer review is a fundamental part of our assessment process. The expert knowledge provided through this process allows our panel members to make appropriate, considered funding decisions. Our peer review college members are our preferred source of peer reviewers, as they have undertaken training on joining the college and will be committed to undertake a number of reviews per year, as well as attend prioritisation panels, where possible.
Benefits of becoming a college member
The benefits to you as a college member are in the training, the reviewing of EPSRC proposals, and panel attendance providing you with in-depth knowledge of our peer review processes and principles, helping you to further increase your knowledge of reviewing and proposal writing. You will be a part of the decision-making process and get a broad view of the novel ideas coming through the funding pipeline in your area. There is recognition for college members who make a significant contribution to the engineering and physical sciences (EPS) community peer review effort through letters to the member’s organisation and also on the EPSRC website.
In addition, completed reviews are recorded on your ORCID account. See ORCID reviewer recognition for UKRI reviewers.
For an insider view of the role of college members and its benefit to you and the EPS community, watch the YouTube video: Being a member of the EPSRC Peer Review College (video transcript). You can also read about the personal experience of college members.
EPSRC takes a proactive approach to maintaining an appropriate balance of members across the college to ensure it contains a spread of expertise covering the full breadth of EPSRC remit whilst upholding an appropriate balance of career stage, gender and ethnicity. This is necessary to reflect the wider research community, as well as a mix of academic and non-academic backgrounds, and geographic locations.
Are you interested in joining our peer review college? Our application process is always open. Find out how you can join the EPSRC Peer Review College.
Recent restructure of the college
Before 2022 the EPSRC Peer Review College consisted of a two-tier structure with an Associate and a Full College and biannual promotion rounds. To simplify the process and enable easier access and use for both college members and EPSRC staff, this has been changed to a single college structure in line with other research councils across UKRI. New college members will need to complete the online training and their Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system profile information before being added to the college.
Current full college members and associate members who have completed their training and Je-S expertise will automatically remain on the college. Associate members who have not yet completed the training or their Je-S profile will be asked to do so. You should have received email communication from EPSRC providing information on these changes but if you have any questions please contact us on college@epsrc.ukri.org.