Yearly Archives / 2013

Latest major funding opportunities

BU research, Funding opportunities, Research news

The following opportunities have been announced. Please follow the links for more information:

 UK Funders:

  • The AHRC invites expressions of interest to attend a research development workshop addressing the challenges of Disconnection, Division and Exclusion, being held as a part of the cross-Council Connected Communities Programme on 18-20 March 2014 at the Novotel Sheffield Centre Hotel. This is part of the AHRC Connected Communities Programme. The deadline for applications to attend the workshop is 30/01/14.
  •  Action on Hearing Loss and BBSRC have issued a ‘highlight notice’ regarding Lifecourse of the Auditory System. Together they wish to encourage research that will increase our understanding of how the auditory system develops and ages and the processes that lead to age-related hearing loss. They also wish to encourage research that will apply this knowledge to prevent and treat hearing loss to ultimately improve quality of life. Applications are to be submitted by 31/01/14.
  • Network grants are available from the EPSRC to bring together researchers, industry and other groups to develop collaborations through workshops, visits and part-time coordinators. The grant award is not specified and there is no deadline given.
  • The EPSRC has a call for research that will support fundamental research in sensing and imaging targeted specifically at the diagnosis of Dementias and the quantitative measurement of disease progression. The total award is not specified. The closing date is 17/02/14
  • The EPSRC Engineering Theme wishes to develop collaborative projects between researchers from the UK and China in partnership with the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) in the area of ‘Sustainable Materials for Infrastructure’ under the following themes: Multi-functional materials; Energy efficient buildings; Novel concrete technologies and Materials 5R; Reduce, Recover, Reuse, Recycle and Retain. Registration closes 20/01/14 with proposals due by 19/02/14
  • Reflecting the aims of the National Cyber Security Programme, UK Government and its delivery partners are working to increase the UK’s academic capability in all fields of Cyber Security. Together BIS, the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI), EPSRC, GCHQ and the Office of Cyber Security and Information Assurance (OCSIA) have developed a joint approach and strategy for reaching this goal. As part of that strategy EPSRC and CPNI are inviting proposals from academic researchers who wish to be part of the Research Institute in Trustworthy Industrial Control Systems (ICS). Submissions to Phase Two must be received by 13/02/14 (it is not a pre-requisite to have submitted to Phase One).
  • End Use Energy Demand (EUED) Research Centres is an RCUK / EPSRC Energy Programme call to encourage researchers who are not in the centres to work with the centres. The proposed research should be on a topic relevant to one or more of the EUED Centres. Two types of proposal are invited: Smaller Standard Research proposals (limited to £300k) for individuals at an early stage of their career to work with the DEMAND centre at Lancaster University and standard Research Proposals (limited to £600k) to work with the other EUED Centres. Expressions of Interest must be submitted by 06/02/14 with full invited proposals to be with the funder by 16/04/14.
  • The Research Seminars Competition 2013-2014, supported by the ESRC, is now open. Funding is available for UK research organisations to hold Research Seminars for groups of academic researchers, postgraduate students and non-academic users from different organisations. Seminar groups meet regularly to exchange information and ideas with the aim of advancing research within their fields. There is a maximum of £30,000 available and proposal must be submitted by 28/01/14.
  • Do you want to have an impact on the future of the UK? The ESRC are inviting full proposals from eligible research organisations across the UK to conduct a study of the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum. The maximum amount available is £312,500. The deadline for submissions is 06/02/14.
  • ESRC and DFID are pleased to invite applications for Evidence Synthesis Research Awards (ESRA) under the ESRC-DFID Joint Fund for Poverty Alleviation Research. The five themes are: Research methods, Gender, Children and young people, Governance and Health. Awards are up to £30,000 and must be completed within six months of the start of the award. All awards will commence between 1 April and 1 June 2014. Applications are due on 28/01/14.
  • Biomedical Catalyst: Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS) is a £180 million integrated translational funding programme jointly operated by the MRC and the Technology Strategy Board providing responsive and effective support for the best life science opportunities arising in the UK. There are various deadline dates in early 2014 depending on theme – please check website for details.
  • The Alexander Fleming dissemination scheme support the dissemination of MRC and Medical Research Foundation-funded research results beyond the scientific peer reviewed press, to patients, participants, practitioners and policy makers. Up to £30,000 is available and there is no given closing date.
  • The MRC are offering Programme Grants. These provide larger, longer term (five years) and renewable programme funding and aim to help the medical science community to ‘think bigger’ in the themes – Molecular and Cellular Medicine,Infections and Immunity, Population and Systems Medicine Board and Neurosciences and Mental Health. Applications are to be submitted in January 2014. Please check the website for details of each theme.
  • The MRC wishes to understand better the link between research and wider economic and societal impacts, and to use this understanding to improve strategies for the future support of research. As such, there is a call for studies which address all areas if impact, such as economic, societal, cultural, public policy or services, health, or quality of life. Applications must be submitted 27/03/14.
  • Do your research interests consider the impact of the harm caused by alcohol to drinking behaviours? MRC, ESRC and Alcohol Research UK wish to continue making key contributions to this field, in this case through providing authoritative evidence on the link between the specific harms caused directly by a distinct pattern, level and duration of alcohol drinking at key stages in the life-course. Work packages between £750,000 and £1.5m are expected. The closing date is 04/02/14.
  • The MRC and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) invite proposals to the UK-China Stem Cell Partnership Initiative from high quality research teams based in the UK and China. The initiative will provide funding for collaborative research projects, focussed on basic and preclinical research of relevance to the longer term development of stem cell based therapies for human disease and disorders. Up to £2m is available and the closing date is 07/05/14.
  • Natural Resources Wales with support from Welsh Government and the Technology Strategy Board (SBRI) are seeking innovative (Fenceless Fencing Solution) measures to control livestock access around watercourses and riparian zones to reduce the impact of agriculture. The small business research initiative (SBRI) process is being used to find innovative alternatives to traditional wood and wire fencing. Application submissions for Phase One are due on 06/01/14.
  • NERC’s Large Grants support adventurous, large-scale and complex research tackling big environmental science questions that cannot be addressed through other NERC funding opportunities. Grants are available between £1·2m and £3.7m, 100% (Full Economic Cost) with a duration of up to five years. Outline proposals are due by 20/03/14 and full proposals by 11/11/14.
  • Royal Society-DFID Africa Capacity Building Initiative is a programme is for scientists who want to develop collaborative research consortia between scientists in sub-Saharan Africa and a research institution in the UK. The overall aim of the scheme is to strengthen the research capacity of universities and research institution in sub-Saharan Africa by supporting the development of sustainable research networks. Up to £1.243m is on offer. Applications are to be submitted by 09/04/14.
  • Have you written a science book which makes your field more accessible to public adult audiences? Then consider the 2014 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books. The deadline to enter a book is Friday 28 February 2014.
  • The Technology Strategy Board is supporting, with an investment of up to £1.5m, feasibility studies to stimulate innovation in networked intelligent sensor systems, and new applications of them. Proposals must be collaborative and business-led. Applicants must register by 22/01/14 and submit by 29/01/14.
  • The Technology Strategy Board, together with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and China’s Ministry of Science and Technology are offering UK-China partnerships in sustainable manufacturing. Through this scheme there is investment of up to £3m in collaborative R&D projects that make manufacturing processes more sustainable. Applicants must register by 19/03/14 with the proposal to be submitted by 26/03/14.
  • Are you a postdoctoral scientist who has recently decided to recommence a scientific research career after a continuous break of at least two years? Then The Wellcome Trust may be able to help you with a Career Re-entry Fellowship. It gives such scientists the opportunity to return to high-quality research, with the potential to undertake refresher or further training and is particularly suitable for applicants wishing to return to research after a break for family commitments. Applications must be submitted by 08/05/14.
  • Through The Wellcome Trust, the Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowships provide a unique opportunity for the most promising newly qualified postdoctoral researchers to make an early start in developing their independent research careers, working in the best laboratories in the UK and overseas. Up to £250,000 is on offer. The Preliminary application deadline is 08/05/14 with the invited full application deadline being 18/07/14.
  • The Wellcome Trust’s Research Career Development Fellowships in Basic Biomedical Science provides an opportunity for postdoctoral scientists from across the remits of the Trust’s funding streams to become independent research scientists and undertake high-quality research in an eligible Republic of Ireland institution. Closing date 16/04/14.
  • The Sir Henry Dale Fellowships, offered via The Wellcome Trust is for outstanding postdoctoral scientists wishing to build their own UK-based independent research career addressing an important biomedical question. The closing date for this call is 16/04/14.
  • The Wellcome Trust is offeringPrincipal Research Fellowships.  This is the most prestigious of our personal awards and provides long-term support for researchers of international standing. Successful candidates will have an established track record in research at the highest level. This award is particularly suitable for exceptional senior research scientists currently based overseas who wish to work in the UK or ROI. There is no closing date given.
  • Biomedical Vacation Scholarships are offered by The Wellcome Trust. These awards provide promising undergraduates with hands-on experience of research during the summer vacation, with the aim of encouraging them to consider a career in research. Scholarship holders in the past have included students of biological sciences (including biology, sports science and pharmacy) and medics, vets, dentists and optometrists. Up to £1,520 is available and the call closes on 14/02/14.
  • Are you working at the edge of your discipline? The Wellcome Trust – Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Postdoctoral Fellowships provide four years’ support for recently qualified postdoctoral researchers to gain experience of research at the interfaces between biology/medicine and mathematics, engineering, computer, physical or chemical sciences. Closing date 07/07/14.
  • The Welsh Government is supporting research to enable nurses to spend 10% more time with patients in direct value adding care. This is an exciting opportunity for businesses and innovative organisations to work with BCU HB over the next 2/3 years to improve patient care, enabling staff to spend more time with their patients and also to support business to develop innovative technology which will be marketable for the future. This is an open competition and will be run in 2 phases, with businesses able to bid for development contracts of up to £40k in phase 1 (proof of concept) and up to £400k in phase 2 (demonstrator projects). There will be a Briefing Event /Supplier Day on 17/01/4 and submissions are due on 31/01/14.

 

European Funded Research:

  • The Second ERA-CAPS joint call has been pre-announced. In the UK, BBSRC will be the participating agency. For more information please refer to the ERA-CAPS website. The call is expected to be announced on 14/01/14.
  • The ERA-Net `Network of European Funding for Neuroscience Research‘ (NEURON) has been established to coordinate the research efforts and funding programmes of European countries, Israel and Canada in the field of disease related neuroscience.The aim of the call is to facilitate multi-national, collaborative research projects that will address important questions relating to neuroinflammation. Closing date 19/03/14.
  • Under the ERA-NET MARTEC Consortium, there is a call for collaborative research projects in different areas of maritime technologies. Please refer to the call website for details of the MARTEC II Call priorities. The call will close on 20/04/14.
  • The principal objective of the ERA-NET BESTF call is to fund public-private projects that de-risk bioenergy technologies at demonstration scale and to encourage further private exploitation. Amongst other conditions, the project must be at an appropriate stage of development to deliver a pre-commercial demonstration during the timescale of the project. Closing date 10/02/14.

 Please note that some funders specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your RKE Support Officer.

You can set up your own personalised alerts on ResearchProfessional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s RKE Officer in RKE Operations or see the recent post on this topic.

The next post on this topic is expected week commencing 06/01/14.

Finding Partners for Horizon 2020

EU

Now that the calls for Horizon 2020 have been released, I have been asked by several people how to find partners to participate in the calls. I always recommend partnering with at least one person you already know, either through previous projects, publications or simply having met at a conference. The lifespan of a project can be many years and you need to be confident that your approach to work is complementary and that you feel you can trust your partners to deliver.

It’s not always possible to partner up with people you already know and below are some of the resources you can utilise to help for all subject areas:

  • National Contact Points – these figures are the main contacts who can provide guidance, practical information and assistance on all aspects of participation in Horizon 2020 including searching for partners. There is an NCP for each subject area and also one for Marie Curie Fellowships.
  • CORDIS Partner Service – one of the largest databases of partner profiles (self-registered profiles). It has a list of Partnership Requests and you can also launch your own.
  • UKRO– BU subscribes to the UKRO service which is a fantastic information resource and which can help you find partners.
  • Previously awarded bids: all proposals funded under FP7 are available to view on line and have the PI listed. Many people have found emailing the PI from a relevant project to outline their own area of expertise and request a collaboration, very successful.

There are also several subject specific searches, such as:

  • ICT Idealist Partner Search – the service includes advice on creating your profile by your local National Contact Point and there is a quality control of all the published data.
  • Net4Society – this features partner search requests in the socio-economic sciences and humanities
  • Nanosciences and nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production technologies Partner search – this lists those looking for partners and also allows you to launch a partner search
  • Fit for Health – this is a  quality checked database contains expertise profiles of researchers and SMEs acting in the Health / Life sciences sector. The service includes partner search activities advice on all aspects related to a research project, starting with help in first orientation and strategy development to proposal preparation, implementation, exploitation and promotion.
  • Innovative Medicines Initiative Partner Search  – the IMI supports collaborative research projects and builds networks of industrial and academic experts to boost pharmaceutical innovation and this site displays the partner searches which includes SMEs, large organizations and Universities.
  • Enterprise Europe Network Cooperation Opportunities Database – this site publishes an extensive number of innovation and technology profiles from international companies and research organisations to help identify suitable partners for bilateral business, innovation and technology cooperation.

Dr. Anna Feigenbaum Wins AAG Enrichment Grant

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, Research news

The Association of American Geographers (AAG) has awarded an annual meeting grant to Dr. Anna Feigenbaum, lecturer in Media and Politics at the Media School. AAG Enrichment Funds “support participation of distinguished non-geographers in the annual meeting,” helping to promote cross-disciplinary knowledge exchange between geography and other fields of study. Dr. Feigenbaum will travel to Tampa, Florida in April 2014 to deliver a presentation on her Tear Gas project in preparation for her monograph on the subject due out with Verso in 2015. She will also participate in the ‘subconference’–a set of meetings within the meeting focused on collaboration and skill-sharing. As part of the ‘Professional and intellectual triage for emerging and early career scholars’ panel, Dr. Feigenbaum will offer guidance on moving through the first years of academia in these times of precarity and change in the HE sector.

Password? Not another one!

BU research, Publishing, Uncategorized

The increasing volume of academic activity on the internet coupled with a growing obsession about privacy and data protection means for many academics a rapidly expanding number of online accounts and associated passwords. This is, of course, over and above our regular dose of accounts and passwords as citizens of the virtual world. The average adult in the UK must have at least 25 internet accounts, for the bank/building society, supermarkets, phone companies, social media, airlines, trains, insurance companies, eBay, the website of the parents’ council of your children’s school, your electricity provider, the council tax, etc.

I feel as an academic, the burden is even worse. Every single time another scientific journal invites me to review a paper it opens an on-line account for me. Every time I apply for a grant from a funding body to which I have not previously applied, I am required to set up an account with a new password. When you apply for 20-odd grants every year and review manuscripts for a similar number of different journals the number of accounts and passwords add up rapidly. Then there are the other accounts and passwords related to work for sites such as this BU Research Blog, BRIAN, Survey Monkey, for the university for whom you act as external examiner, for Drop Box, the British Library, ORCIC, ACADEMIA.EDU, ResearchGate, Researchfish, Linkedin, and the list goes on.

These last few months I was reminded how non user friendly some systems are. First, I received new secure email account for my part on a REF sub-panel. The account name chosen for me is different from what I would have chosen and what I am used to at Bournemouth University. The importance of confidentiality for the REF work is clear so my password has to be different from anything I use elsewhere. Secondly, a few weeks later I attempted to put my name done for the tri-annual conference of the International Congress of Midwifery in Prague next year. It turns out you cannot join the conference without opening an on-line account first. The account name was automatically chosen for me and so was the password. Unfortunately, both are impossible to remember, neither the account name nor the password (which was case sensitive) were ones I would have selected personally.

There is some hope as some journals allow you to choose your own account name and password. Elsevier has brought most of its journals into one account, with your own email as the account name and all with the same password. Similarly a group of English-language journals in Nepal called Nepal Journals OnLine (NepJOL) use one account name for all participating journals. For the rest of my account names and passwords I can only follow the advice given by Stephen Fry on an episode of QI: “Write it down somewhere on a piece of paper”. The underlying idea is that the people who try to steal your internet account details sit in a bedsit in London or Hong Kong and won’t come to your office or living room to steal a piece of paper with computer addresses. The people who try to break into your house or office are looking for objects with a street value, such as your TV, phone or laptop, they are generally not interested in a piece of paper with some scribbles on it.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health

Information Days for Horizon 2020 calls!

EU

An information day organised by Defra, BBSRC, NERC and FSA is open for registration – places are allocated on a first come, first served basis.

The day is aimed at academic and business organisations interested in exploring funding opportunities in two key areas of the new European Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme – climate change and society & culture.

The event will feature presentations from the European Commission’s DG Research and Innovation on funding opportunities in the 2014 work programmes for the Societal Challenges; information on the opportunities available in other Horizon 2020 and European Research Area activities, including under the ‘Excellent Science’ and ‘Industrial Leadership’ Pillars; and a presentation by the Technology Strategy Board on European funding sources for business organisations (SME Instrument) and business-academia collaboration opportunities under Horizon 2020.

UK National Contact Points will be available on the day to provide advice and support for business and academic organisations on participation in Horizon 2020.  This event is also an excellent opportunity to network with others interested in EU collaborative projects.

The application form is here: Info Day registration. The deadline for registration is January 14, but as the places are allocated on a first come first served basis, I would submit asap!

Have your say in shaping BU’s RKE strategy

BU research

As part of the delivery planning process in 2013, a draft institutional development plan for research and knowledge exchange (RKE) at BU was produced. The aim of the document was to set out a long-term plan for developing and supporting RKE activity to meet the objectives of the BU2018 strategy. The aim is to instigate the plan from early 2014.

The plan has been drafted and has been road tested with UET, URKEC and around 20 academics to date. We are now seeking views from the academic community on the plan as a whole and on specific elements of the plan. Your feedback, comments and ideas will feed into the final version which will be the blueprint for how RKE activity is supported and developed in the long-term.

Feedback and discussion will be facilitated online. Upon accessing the site you will be able to read the plan in its entirety and see the key elements on which we are seeking views and suggestions.

Click on one of the topics and you will be presented with a brief summary of what is being proposed as part of the institutional development plan. Beneath this text you will see the previous comments that have been left by colleagues. You are strongly encouraged to add a reply stating your own views and suggestions. This is especially important and will ensure that the academic community has shaped the support and development mechanism put in place. If you wish to feedback confidentially then please send your comments to Julie Northam.

The aim of this website is to provide a forum to facilitate the discussion of the plan as a whole and the identified key elements. Providing feedback works in the same way as adding a comment to the Research Blog, i.e. you can add a comment and this will be visible to all other viewers. The site is password protected and the password is only available to BU staff from the Staff Intranet.

This feedback exercise will run from 28 November until 10 January. A final version of the plan will be circulated to all staff in early 2014.

The site is password protected to ensure only BU staff are able to contribute.  To access the password please see the story on the Staff Intranet: https://staffintranet.bournemouth.ac.uk/news/news/thismonth/rkefeedbackneeded.php

EC promotes Open Access as part of €15 billion Horizon 2020 fund

EU, Research news

This week the European Commission outlined its support for Open Access (OA) as part of its Horizon 2020 fund launch.  Worth more than €15 billion over the first two years, the funding is intended to help boost Europe’s knowledge-driven economy, and tackle issues that will make a difference in people’s lives.

The Horizon 2020 model agreement (p.58, Section 29.2) requires researchers to ensure open access (free of charge, online access for any user) to all peer-reviewed scientific publications.  Researchers must either:-

  1. deposit an electronic copy of the published version or final peer-reviewed manuscript in a repository e.g. BURO (Green OA)
  2. ensure open access — via the repository — to the bibliographic metadata that identifies the deposited publication on a publisher website (Gold OA)

There is also a useful Open Access Factsheet which summarises expectations for Green and Gold Open Access and suggests that there will be some kind of mechanism for paying some of the Article Processing Costs (APCs) incurred after the end of a grant.

Jib Acharya awarded funded place on Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) workshop in Morocco

BU research, PG research, Research news, Training, Uncategorized


Congratulations to Health & Social Care PhD student Mr. Jib Acharya who has been offered a funded place at the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) workshop. The SUN workshop will be held in Morocco in early February 2014. The British Council and CNRST have launched a new five-year programme to encourage international research collaboration between ambitious young researchers from the UK and eighteen countries around the world. The forthcoming SUN workshop is a part of this programme. One leading team of researchers from the University of Southampton and from Morocco proposed this bilateral workshop to be held in Morocco to bring together early career researchers to discuss their research and start to build international relationships.

The selection committee wrote to Mr. Acharya: “the selection was challenging. The selection panel (UK and Moroccan coordinators and mentors), has chosen 16 applications that would contribute to and benefit from the workshop most”. The British Council and CNRST will cover the costs related to the participation to the workshop, including: travel (both international and local), visa, accommodation and meals.
Jib is delighted with his award. He commented: “It will give me a chance to build up networks with participants at this workshop. It will help to establish personal and institutional relationships.”

Jib’s PhD thesis is based on A comparative Study on Nutritional Problems in Preschool Aged Children of Kaski District of Nepal. His research applies a mixed-methods approach and he is supervised by a team of three BU supervisors: Dr. Jane Murphy, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, and Dr. Martin Hind.

It’s deadline day for Fusion Investment Fund applications

Funding opportunities, Fusion

If you would like to apply to any strands of the FIF please make sure you submit your application by the deadline which is 2pm today! No exceptions will be made to this deadline.

For all the updated strand policy documents, Fund FAQ’s and information about applying, please visit the FIF intranet pages.

 The Fusion Investment Fund is managed by Samantha Leahy-Harland. Please direct all initial enquiries to the Interim Fusion Administrator, Dianne Goodman, at Fusion Fund.

Congratulations and Good Luck

BU research

November saw a steady level of activity for bids being submitted and a number of awards were won with congratulations due to Schools for winning research grants, consultancy contracts and organising Short Courses. 

The most notable success for this month was in the Media School and congratulations go to Jian Jun Zhang and the Centre for Digital Entertainment (a joint Centre for Doctoral Training run in collaboration with the University of Bath), which has received 8.5 years additional funding for 50 new doctoral students from the EPSRC.

For ApSci, congratulations are due to Richard Stillman for his contract with Natural England, to Adrian Pinder for his consultancy with Beacon Hill Touring Park, to Anita Diaz for her contract with the Higher Education Academy, and to Jonathan Monteith for his consultancies with SolarTech Ltd and Mark Sanderson.  Good luck to Richard Stillman for his consultancy to HR Wallingford, to Emma Jenkins for her short course on ‘Outreach Archaeology’, and to Jonathan Monteith for his consultancy to T Ingram Building Contractors Ltd.

For the Business School, congratulations are due to Grants Academy member Dinusha Mendis and Davide Secchi for their contract with the Intellectual Property Office, and to Chris Chapleo for his consultancies with DevelopMyPlan Ltd and Nigel Reed Smith Ltd.  Good luck to George Filis for his ESRC application on ‘Modelling the efficient allocation of marketing and trade expenditure in the UK firms’, and to Lukman Aroean for his application to the British Council.

For DEC, congratulations to Grants Academy member Christopher Richardson and Hongnian Yu for their KTP with TDSi.  Good luck to Lai Xu, Paul de Vrieze and Keith Phalp for their application to the European Commission – ‘FITMAN – Business Process Servers in the Virtual Factory’.

For HSC, congratulations are due to Caroline Ellis-Hill for her research with The Stroke Association, to Ahmed Khattab for his award with Weill Medical College of Cornell University – Qatar, to Anthea Innes for her consultancy with Shelbourne Senior Living Ltd, and to Vanora Hundley, Zoe Sheppard and Edwin van Teijlingen for their conference on Midwifery and the post MDG agenda.  Congratulations are due for a number of short courses to Keith Brown with Cheshire West and Chester Council, to Luisa Cescutti-Butler with Great Western Hospital NHS Trust and with Eastbourne District General Hospital, to Grants Academy member Michele Board with Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, to Clive Andrewes and Sarah Gallimore with the University of Iceland, and to Vanora Hundley, Grants Academy member Marilyn Cash and Edwin van Teijlingen for their Masterclass in Systematic Reviews.  Good luck to Lee-Ann Fenge for her application to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and to Anthea Innes and Clare Cutler for their application also to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, to Jaqui Hewitt-Taylor for her KTP to Five Rivers Child Care Trust, and to Maggie Hutchings for her contract to the Department of Health.

As mentioned above, congratulations to the Media School for Jian Jun Zhang’s continued funding for the Centre for Digital Entertainment from the EPSRC.  Congratulation are also due to Tom Watson for his contract with the British Council, to Melanie Gray for her consultancy with Captec Ltd, to Liam Toms for his consultancy with WISH (Women in Social Housing), to Stephanie Farmer for her consultancy with THAT Bournemouth Company Ltd, and to Anthony Minto for his consultancy with the iHeed Institute.  Good luck to Stephanie Farmer for her consultancy with 4com, to Anna Feigenbaum for her application to the Wellcome Trust, to Jian Chang and Jian Jun Zhang for their European Commission application on ‘Animated platform for closed-loop virtual experiments of neurobots’, to Liam Toms for his consultancy to Craft Realities Ltd and for his joint consultancy, together with Mike Molesworth, to Cammegh Davies Flemming.

For School of Tourism, congratulations to Richard Gordon for his consultancy with the British High Commission, to Ehren Milner for his contract with Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (NHS) and his consultancy with Bath Museum Partnership, and to Heather Hartwell, Katherine Appleton (DEC), Ann Hemingway (HSC) and Ann Bevan (HSC) for their European Commission project ‘VeggieEAT’.  Good luck to Janet Dickinson for her application to the AHRC and her contract to Dorset County Council, and to Richard Gordon for his consultancy to the Royal Office of Oman.

Best wishes

Matthew

Erasmus Mundus call released

EU

Erasmus+ is the EU’s largest programme of support for education and training worth a mega €14.7bn. Projects usually run 2-3 years and they all have the aim of  improving the level of key competencies and skills, improving the innovation and internationalisatoon of education and supporting the modernisation of education and training.

There are 11 programmes of funding available:

  1. Asylum & Migration: People flows and management of migration
  2. Creative Europe: Support for European cinema and the cultural and creative sectors
  3. EaSI: Programme for social change and innovation
  4. Erasmus+: Programme for education, training, youth and sport
  5. Europe for Citizens: Strengthen remembrance and enhance capacity for civic participation at Union level
  6. Health for Growth: Improving the quality, efficiency and sustainability of health systems
  7. Internal Security Fund: Support for the EU’s Internal Security Strategy
  8. Justice: Ensuring proper access to justice in cross-border legal cases
  9. COSME: Improving the business environment and the competitiveness of European enterprises.
  10. LIFE: Environmental and climate change action projects
  11. Rights, Equality & Citizenship: Promote the rights deriving from European citizen

The most generically applicable programme sunder the new organisation for BU staff is the Erasmus Mundus programme which is now found under Erasmus+ under :

  • Key Action 1 ‘Learning Mobility of Individuals’
  • Key Action 2 ‘Cooperation for Innovation & Exchange of Good Practice’

If you wish to make an Erasmus Mundus Action 2 submission, please get in touch with Paul Lynch or Sarah Katon a minimum of 5 weeks before the deadline of 3 March 2014 as Partners must be reviewed as part of our internal processes.

The 5 ‘Golden Rules’ for e-submission of bid applications

Funding opportunities, Guidance, R & KE Operations

For all standard RCUK bids (for example AHRC, ESRC, EPSRC, MRC, NERC, etc), the requirement is for the completed application to be submitted on J-es (J-es is the Research Councils’ web-based Joint Electronic Submission system for grant applications and award administration) by the Principal Investigator at least 5 working days before the application deadline.

The flowchart below illustrates the basic steps involved in the  ‘behind-the-scenes’ administration of  J-es bid applications before they are finally submitted to the councils.

As demonstrated in the flowchart, bid applications submitted through J-es are not exactly straightforward and quite often can be time-consuming and frustrating in some cases. Even when a bid application is ‘perfect’ in the eyes of the J-es checkers and institutional approvers, the process will still take up at least two working days, depending on the length of the application, and the availability of both J-es checkers and institutional approvers. Therefore, the 5-working-day turnaround will allow just enough time for potential changes and alterations to be made to the applications in order to maximise chances of success.  

When asked about the most common factors which delay the submission of a bid to J-es, institutional approvers and J-es checkers have collectively identified the following:

EligibilityThe eligibility of the PI is the first thing which you need to check, before embarking on the roller coaster ride of a bid application. The variety of funding bids from numerous research councils available out there means that each bid will come with a different guidance note. Even within the same research councils, guidance can sometimes differ between two separate funding opportunities.

Start date and duration of projectThe start date and the duration of the project should be planned in accordance with the funding guidance. For example, most of the times, funding councils require a minimum of 24 weeks between the bid submission date and the project start date but this can be different for each council. When there is a last minute change on J-es for the project start date or duration, this often involves a lengthy process as all previous costing figures provided for the project would have changed too.

AttachmentsAlthough providing a comprehensive CV or showing proof of all previous track records can be beneficial to your application, it is important to bear in mind that this is not always required. RKEO cannot stress enough times, the importance of reading the guidance and only attaching the required documents.  We have had applications returned to us due to attachments that were not specifically required and this will inevitably have an impact on the success of the application. 

Letter of supportThis is a major contributing factor to the delays in bid submission as quite often, letters of support come from external organisations or people and can take time to come back if there is missing or incorrect information that needs to be changed. And quite often, the most important and yet common missing information on a letter of support can be as simple as the date or signature.

 

FormatThe formatting on bid application documents is a constant bugbear for J-es checkers and institutional approvers. In the attempt to squeeze in as many words as possible onto the application document, the minimum margins, font size and page limit as stipulated by the council is quite often overlooked by PIs and this can cause unnecessary delays in the submission of the bid application.

These are just a few examples of cases which can cause unnecessary delay and angst in the process of submitting a bid application. Although they may seem obvious, knowing these factors may end up saving you time in the long run!

If you are interested in applying for a funding bid and would like to speak to one of us, do get in touch with us at the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office at 01202 961200.