Arts & Humanities Research Council

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Standards of Service

During your time as a Peer Review College Member, you will be required to abide by the AHRC Standards of Service. These Standards of Service describe what we expect of you as a college member and what you can expect of the AHRC.

The AHRC expects you to:

  1. Attend an AHRC induction event for college members.
  2. Keep your contact details in your Je-S account up to date at all times, including your primary email address, where we’ll send review requests, in accordance with the Je-S reviewer protocols that you as a reviewer must accept before completing your first review for the AHRC.
  3. Add and maintain details of your research expertise by selecting research classifications and entering free text keywords, to enable the AHRC to match you with grant applications submitted via Je-S.
  4. Provide the AHRC, when requested, with a review by the due date specified and in accordance with the reviewer guidance in the Je-S Helptext.
  5. Review up to 8 proposals during a 12 month period (normally no more than 4 in any quarter); in exceptional circumstances, you may be asked to review more proposals.
  6. Notify the AHRC when you are unable to meet a review request by declining via Je-S within 5 working days of the request, so that an alternative reviewer can be sought without delay.
  7. Be aware, that to ensure the efficient running of the College, if you decline 2 review requests in succession because you are too busy, we may terminate your College membership.
  8. Record any periods when you are unavailable to accept review requests in your Je-S account; this will ensure that you won’t be sent review requests while you are on leave, working as a panel member or busy with other commitments; if the period is for longer than 6 months, please also email the PRC team at peerreviewcollege@ahrc.ukri.org
  9. Keep up to date with developments that may affect your role as a College member, for example, by referring to the Peer Review Handbook and reading the PRC e-Newsletters; you are also encouraged to attend AHRC organised events and to visit the AHRC website regularly for updates that may impact your role.
  10. Agree to membership for a period of up to 4 years; continuation beyond this period or earlier withdrawals of membership are at the AHRC’s discretion; you may also resign your College Membership at any time.

The AHRC will:

  1. Ask you to review up to 8 proposals to its funding schemes or programmes during each 12-month period (normally no more than 4 in any quarter), although exceptionally you may be asked to review more.
  2. Reimburse your travel and subsistence expenses if you take part in a panel meeting, in accordance with the AHRC’s Non-Employee Travel and Subsistence Policy.
  3. Email you the PRC e-Newsletter four times a year, to update you on developments which may affect your role and responsibilities as a PRC member, including generic feedback from panel meetings.
  4. Invite you, if selected, to serve on its panels, which make grading and ranking decisions on grant proposals submitted to the AHRC.
  5. On occasion, forward your contact and subject expertise details to bodies with which the AHRC has:
    • A formal funding agreement or collaborative arrangement, for example, the UK Research Councils.
    • A formal agreement that has been drawn up as part of its international strategy, so that they may contact you to request a review.
  6. Publish your name, research or other organisation (where appropriate) and College group(s) on the AHRC website, including any panel meetings which you attend.
  7. Monitor the performance of all of its PRC members; the AHRC reserves the right to discontinue the membership of members who fail to observe these standards of service.