date: Fri Aug 18 18:27:44 2006 from: Keith Briffa subject: CONFIDENTIAL to: mhughes@ltrr.arizona.edu,drdendro@ldeo.columbia.edu Malcolm and Ed forgive the cheek - though I know you will - but I am writing (confidentially) about the proposal I am now submitting The Leverhulme foundation. This is the follow up to the preliminary submission we made at the beginning of this year. I am writing to give a little background and to ask that you take a little time over the review that I really hope will be requested of you and that I know you will help us with. It turns out that the original request did not require referees and the fact that I asked you at the time was premature , the result of my lack of sufficient preparation. I have no idea whether the Trust saw you letters or not , but they made no mention of us needing to suggest different referees this time. Hence my naming you both again - sorry for the trouble. Needless to say I really do believe that there is a lot in this request otherwise I would not be so keen to push it . True , Tom's salary for the next three years pretty much depends on getting it but I nevertheless believe that this is really worth pursuing and I hope you will think so too. Colin Prentice and Ben Smith , as you will see , are happy to collaborate also and needless to say I would be delighted to get input and ongoing advice from you two also. Leverhulme , as Malcolm (but probably not Ed) is aware , are basically a pretty snobby lot. They are certainly influenced by reputation and rank. That is not to say that the proposal will not have to be good scientifically, but that this alone is not likely to impress their Committee. I have to ask (with admitted embarrassment) that beside reviewing the content , you do not stint on the personal recommendation.It might not hurt to say well qualified each of you is to give an opinion. There is no place for me to blow my own trumpet in this regard as they ask for only a one-page CV! I would be really grateful if you could push the line that I have made some innovatory contributions to the field and that I recognize the need ( and contribute in a practical way) to the use of our data in the wider scientific context. They look favourably on inter-disciplinary projects that are not well suited to a submission to the usual Research Council funding sources. They have , I suppose, to be convinced that this work could be of wider value than just a narrow dendro project and that we could be trusted to extend our work into the Tree-Growth Modelling area , despite a lack of any reputation in it!!!! It would be good to say something about Tom - that he is old (and odd) and came late to this stuff - but already is showing signs of introducing new (hopefully genuine) advances. I don't want to push it any further so I will leave it at that. One thing though - if they do contact you please be really strict about getting the review back in time - they are unbelievably anal about deadlines and rules and the like. I know we know each other well enough to know that you will realise I am writing this with the best of motives and how much I (and Tom) appreciate anything you can do to help. With very best wishes Keith -- Professor Keith Briffa, Climatic Research Unit University of East Anglia Norwich, NR4 7TJ, U.K. Phone: +44-1603-593909 Fax: +44-1603-507784