Call for Assessors: Swindon & Wiltshire Innovation 4 Growth

The University of the West of England (UWE Bristol), as part of it's Swindon & Wiltshire Innovation 4 Growth (SWI4G), is looking for Assessors to assess applications to its grant funding scheme.

About the scheme

SWI4G is an ERDF funded programme, providing grant funding and workshops to SMEs in Swindon & Wiltshire that want to scale and grow. As part of the grant funding workstream, businesses can apply for grants of £10,000 to £40,000 to cover 35% of total project costs. Projects must be innovation or R&D and create jobs, products and services as an outcome of the funding awarded.

The role of assessors

Assessors are required to review and score SME application forms that are submitted to the University. Each application form will be scored (given a score between 1 and 5) based on the content of the application form.

• Assessors will assess no more than 20 applications between the first and third assessments (see below).

•First assessment: This is when the bulk of assessments will be undertaken. We will send reviews out on Monday 21 June 2021 May, and these will need to be returned by 10am on Monday 5 July 2021.

•Third assessment: There are normally only a small number to review in this window and it typically spans 1 week. We will send these out on Wednesday 7 July, and require them to be returned by 10am on Wednesday 14 July.

• Each application takes a minimum of 2-3 hours to review.
• You will be required to attend a 30 minute training session prior to the undertaking any assessments. Further details will be provided once successful Assessors have been notified.
• We will provide you with a guidance document for assessing, and a template for providing your scores and comments.
• You will be required to let us know immediately if you have a conflict of interest with any of the companies you are assessing.
• All assessing will be done electronically. Documents will be shared via Microsoft's One Drive, and assessments returned as Microsoft Word documents.

Each application assessed is paid at £100. We will also pay £25 for the training session.

How to apply

• Prior experience assessing grant funding applications or similar is essential.
• Knowledge of the business landscape in Swindon & Wiltshire is highly desirable.

We are looking for assessors to have strength in one particular sector, or experience of scaling up businesses. Please ensure your specialism is clearly stated in your submission email.

Please submit your CV, detailing the information above, to Katy Sensier (kathryn2.sensier@uwe.ac.uk) no later than 11.59pm on 3 June 2021. Assessors will be selected to ensure we have a wide range of expertise.

The team will get in touch to let you know if you've been successful shortly afterwards. You will need to be set up as a supplier on the University systems and sign a contract prior to undertaking work.