Tagged / horizon 2020

Public databases related to EU funding

The European Commission maintains a large number of publicly available databases with details about Horizon 2020 and other EU projects. The UK Research Office (UKRO) have recently prepared a summary of sources where data related to both submitted and funded EU projects may be found; these may be useful for academics considering applying for EU funding and searching for experienced partners for future applications.

Horizon 2020 Dashboard – This is the most comprehensive and up-to-date of all databases provided by the Commission. It is very interactive and allows users to modify and export the relevant data in various formats. Since its launch on November 2017, the database has grown immensely.

UKRO maintains a dedicated website with information on how to best utilise available data (BU is UKRO subscriber – our academics have access to subscribers’ part of this website).

EU Open Data Portal (ODP) – In a way, the EUODP is the Dashboard’s predecessor and allows users to download various datasets in .xls and .csv formats. While it initially only included details of projects and organisations participating in H2020, it has been expanded in recent years and now includes details such as project deliverables, PIs in ERC projects and researchers in H2020 MSCA projects, which cannot be found on the H2020 Dashboard. Information about FP7 projects is also available.

CORDIS – This database has been the main repository for EU research results since 1990s and includes information about projects funded under the current and past EU Framework Programmes (FP6, FP5, etc.). Apart from basic project data, it also includes information about project deliverables and summary reports, as well as project-related events.

European Research Council’s (ERC) Funded Projects – This basic database provides generic information about ERC projects (including the PIs’ names) and allows searching by scheme (Starting Grant, Consolidator Grant, Advanced Grant, etc.), year and country of the host institution, which is also possible in other databases.

For more details, you may read full article on UKRO portal (login details required). If you have difficulties in accessing information on UKRO portal, feel free to contact Research Facilitator – International Ainar Blaudums.

Save the date – 18 November 2019 – UKRO Annual Visit to BU

As usual, RDS will host annual UK Research Office visit to BU in 2019. This year’s event has been scheduled for November; the reason is obvious – Brexit. All academic staff interested in EU funding are invited to attend the event starting from noon.

Provisionally, the event will take place in FG04 seminar room; sessions will be delivered by Dr Andreas Kontogeorgos, European Advisor of the UK Research Office.
Agenda will include such topics as post-Brexit situation, remaining Horizon 2020 calls available for UK’s researchers in 2020 and development of the next EU framework programme Horizon Europe.

More information on agenda will be provided in early November. Academics are welcome to submit any other EU funding related topics for discussion to Ainar Blaudums at RDS Funding Development Team by the end of October.

UKRO delivers subscription-based advisory service for research organisations and provides MSCA and ERC National Contact Point services in the UK. As part of UKRO services, BU members of staff may sign up to receive personalised email alerts and get early access to EU funding related publications on UKRO portal.

Update on Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe

The European Commission published the updated 2018-2020 Work Programme of Horizon 2020, which includes details of the last calls for proposals launched under the programme. The last Work Programme is intended to be a bridge between Horizon 2020 and the next EU framework programme for research and innovation – Horizon Europe, which will start on 1 January 2021.

This Work Programme, with a total budget of more than €11 billion, will support the Commission’s political priorities in the following areas:

  • A low-carbon, climate resilient future: €3.7 billion;
  • Circular economy: €1 billion;
  • Digitising and transforming European industry and services: €1.8 billion; and
  • Security Union: €1 billion.

The updated Work Programme parts can be found in the ‘Reference documents‘ section of the Funding & Tenders Portal (to find necessary Work Programme part, use filter ‘Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (H2020)’ and select ‘Work Programmes’ from the menu).

The UK and the EU have agreed a flexible Brexit extension for six months to 31 October 2019. During the extension period, the UK will remain a member of the EU with all the relevant rights and obligations. This means that UK organisations can continue to participate in Horizon 2020 as a Member State, and remain eligible to apply for Horizon 2020 funding. This includes requesting the relevant part of the project’s budget as an EU contribution.

The government’s no deal guarantees remain in place to ensure continuity of funding in a no-deal scenario. The UK government has committed to underwrite competitive UK bids to EU funding submitted before exit, even if they are notified of their success after exit, for the lifetime of the projects.

The UK government Post EU Exit Guarantee Extension would cover funding for successful UK bids to EU calls open to third country participants from the date of exit until end of 2020. The guarantee would cover the lifetime of their projects, even if these last beyond 2020.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has been appointed to manage the UK government’s guarantee and post-EU exit extension.

H2020 Societal Challenge 5 Information Days in September

The Information Days on H2020 Societal Challenge five: “Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency & Raw Materials” will take place on 16 and 17 September 2019 in Brussels. It targets applicants to the 2020 calls for project proposals; two individuals per organisation are allowed to register.

Registration closes on 8 September 2019. Once registered, attendees have the opportunity to design their own programme agenda as well as utilise a match-making facility that will enable them to schedule bilateral meetings and to present their interests, expertise and/or project ideas to possible project partners.

Further information is available on the Information Days website.

Horizon 2020 information / brokerage events – SC1 & LEIT

A number of EU-wide information events have been announced recently.

LEIT: ICT, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing

The Enterprise Europe Network, in partnership with Enterprise Ireland and the Spanish, Portuguese, Greek and British National Contract Points (NCPs), is organising an international partnering event on ICT, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing.

The event will take place on 4 July 2019 in Dublin and participation is free. The programme will include presentations from the European Commission, National Contact Points, CEO of the Irish Manufacturing Research Centre (IMR), and will provide a unique opportunity to pitch ideas and expertise in front of leading research organisations and cutting-edge innovators from across industry.

Registration will be open until 1 July 2019 and more information is available on the event’s webpage.

Societal Challenge 1 ‘Health, demographic change and wellbeing’

On 3 July in Brussels, the European Commission is holding an Open Info Day for the Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 1 ‘Health, demographic change and wellbeing’. It will be a free, all-day event focusing on upcoming SC1 2020 calls for proposals, with an overall budget of €650 Million.

Draft agenda and registration are available on the event’s website.

Related to the Open Info Day, a free brokerage event is taking place on 4 July in Brussels. It is organised by the Health NCP Net 2.0 to provide the applicants with partnering opportunities. It is a separate event and requires registration by 31 May.

BU papers on academic writing are getting read

Yesterday ResearchGate announced that the paper ‘Academic authorship: who, why and in what order?’ [1] has been read 1000 times.  The paper addresses two related issues in academic writing: (a) authorship; and (b) order of authors. The issue of authorship centres on the notion of who can be an author, who should be an author and who definitely should not be an author.  The paper reminds the reader that this is partly discipline specific. The second issue, the order of authors, is usually dictated by the academic tradition from which the work comes. One can immediately envisage disagreements within a multi-disciplinary team of researchers where members of the team may have different approaches to authorship order.   Prof. Vanora Hundley is the lead author and the paper is co-authored with Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, both in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH), and BU Visiting Professor Padam Simkhada.  Padam is Professor of International Public Health in the Public Health Institute at Liverpool John Moores University.

Authorship differs between disciplines

Paper by Hundley et al. published 2013

This paper is part of a larger set of papers by academic in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences addressing various aspects of academic writing and publishing.  Many of these papers are in Open Access journals, hence easily available across the globe for anybody with an internet connection.  The series has covered papers on selecting an appropriate title for an academic paper, the role of the journal editor, the publication process and many more [2-9].

 

 

References

  1. Hundley, V, van Teijlingen, E, Simkhada, P (2013) Academic authorship: who, why and in what order? Health Renaissance 11(2):98-101 www.healthrenaissance.org.np/uploads/Download/vol-11-2/Page_99_101_Editorial.pdf
  2. Pitchforth, E, Porter M, Teijlingen van E, Keenan Forrest, K.. (2005) Writing up & presenting qualitative research in family planning & reproductive health care, J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 31(2): 132-135.
  3. Hall, J., Hundley, V., van Teijlingen, E. (2015) The journal editor: friend or foe? Women & Birth 28(2): e26-e29.
  4. Simkhada P, van Teijlingen E, Hundley V. (2013) Writing an academic paper for publication, Health Renaissance 11(1):1-5. www.healthrenaissance.org.np/uploads/Pp_1_5_Guest_Editorial.pdf
  5. van Teijlingen, E., Ireland, J., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P., Sathian, B. (2014) Finding the right title for your article: Advice for academic authors, Nepal J Epidemiol 4(1): 344-347.
  6. van Teijlingen E., Hundley, V., Bick, D. (2014) Who should be an author on your academic paper? Midwifery 30: 385-386.
  7. van Teijlingen, E, Simkhada, PP, Rizyal A (2012) Submitting a paper to an academic peer-reviewed journal, where to start? (Guest Editorial) Health Renaissance 10(1): 1-4.
  8. van Teijlingen, E, Simkhada. PP, Simkhada, B, Ireland J. (2012) The long & winding road to publication, Nepal J Epidemiol 2(4): 213-215 http://nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/7093/6388
  9. Pradhan, AK, van Teijlingen, ER. (2017) Predatory publishing: a great concern for authors, Med Sci 5(4): 43.

Update on Brexit preparations

The UK Government has produced a number of technical notices and provided details of the governmental Departments responsible for specific sectors and EU programmes. This has been done as part of no-deal Brexit preparations.

A number of Departments have drafted documents detailing plans to support UK researchers, universities and businesses who benefit from EU funding schemes, if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. Where applicable, the notices also set out how the Underwrite Guarantee, and the Post-EU Exit Guarantee Extension will operate if there is no deal.

More details are available on the ‘The Government’s Guarantee for EU-funded Programmes if the UK Leaves the EU Without a Withdrawal Agreement (No Deal)’ website. Website provides links to individual technical notices related to such programmes as Horizon 2020, Erasmus+, European Social Fund, European Regional Development Fund, Creative Europe, Europe for Citizens and some others. These are in addition to a wide range of other technical notices and announcements for specific sectors, which are available on the GOV.UK website.

Several submission portals have been developed by the UK Government to collect data of EU-funded projects. For example, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) launched a portal to collect basic information from UK beneficiaries of on-going Horizon 2020/FP7 projects (the RDS have populated this on behalf of all awarded projects to BU); the UK Cabinet Office has set up a portal for recipients of funds under such programmes as Health for Growth, Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme, Erasmus+, Competitiveness of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Europe for Citizens and Creative Europe; the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport has a dedicated portal for recipients of funds under Creative Europe and Europe for Citizens.

With regards to applying for new Horizon 2020 grants, in a no deal scenario the UK will automatically be assigned a third country status. With calls open to the third country participation, those will also be open to the UK applicants to participate and even coordinate collaborative projects. However, this may not be a case for European Research Council (ERC) and Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) applications – there are restrictions for third country participation in these actions, for example, as regards ERC grants, the PI has to be hosted by an institution in a Member State/Associated Country (MS/AC) and 50% of their total working time has to be spent in MS/AC.

If a no-deal scenario takes place shortly after a call deadline, the approach that the European Commission will follow regarding eligibility and evaluation of ERC and MSCA proposals is currently unknown. The Government and involved institutions are aware of potential issues that could arise and are working closely in seeking a solution.

BU academics having concerns regarding their research funding after Brexit or questions before applying for a new EU grant are welcome to contact Ainar Blaudums, International Research Facilitator, Research Development & Support directly, or ask your Research Facilitator/Funding Development Officer for advice.

Update on Horizon Europe and Brexit

Horizon Europe

 According to the Research Professional, Governments in the Council of the EU reached an agreement on the specific programme for Horizon Europe on 15 April. Agreement describes the rules for the structure of new instruments such as the European Innovation Council, areas for R&D missions and the process of “strategic planning” that will produce detailed work programmes for allocating funding.

Much of the content of the specific programme had already been covered by the more overarching partial political agreement on Horizon Europe reached between the Commission, Council and Parliament in March. However, some areas remain to be decided, in particular those setting out the budget for Horizon Europe and the rules of association for non-EU countries.

Brexit

According to the information available on UKRO portal, the UK and the EU have agreed to extend Article 50 until 31 October 2019. During the extension, the UK is an EU Member State, and UK organisations can continue to participate in and submit bids to Horizon 2020 on a Member State basis. This includes requesting the relevant part of the project’s budget as an EU contribution.

If an agreement between the UK and the EU is reached, projects approved during this period will be able to continue with an uninterrupted flow of EU funding. In no-deal scenario, the UK Government has committed to underwrite competitive UK bids to the EU funding submitted before exit, even if they are notified of their success after leaving the EU.

The government is seeking discussions with the European Commission to agree the details of our continued participation in Horizon 2020 as a third country after the exit. BU has informed the UK Government and provided basic data about all on-going Horizon 2020 projects. This will support the continuity of funding flow in case the UK Government’s underwrite mechanism should be implemented.

Please send your questions and other queries related to BU participation in the EU funded grant applications over to Research Development and Support.

 

2019 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowships call opens

The 2019 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowships (MSCA IF) call is now open. The call documents, including the Guide for Applicants, are available on the Funding and Tenders Opportunities Portal (formerly ECAS). The call deadline is 11 September 2019, 4 PM UK time. Individual Fellowships are aimed at individual researchers who possess doctoral degree or equivalent research experience; scheme involves international and intersectoral mobility.

There are MSCA IF bid writing support activities planned within the BU – more details will follow in due course. Please get in touch with International Research Facilitator Ainar Blaudums or any other member of Research and Development Support staff supporting your faculty. We would appreciate early expression of interest to help us in providing more focussed and efficient support.

The indicative call budget in 2019 is €294.49 million (compared to €273 million in the 2018 call) and it is distributed as follows:

  • €50 million is reserved for the Global Fellowships, and is distributed between the scientific areas based on the number of eligible proposals received in each of these areas.
  • €236.49 million is reserved for the European Fellowships, and is distributed between its panels (except for the Society and Enterprise panel) based on the number of eligible proposals received by each one. During the budget distribution, the Career Restart (CAR) panel will have a weighting of 2 times the weighting of the eligible proposals in the other panels. For the Reintegration Panel (RI) the weighting will be 1.5 times higher.
  • €8 million is reserved for the Society and Enterprise panel of the European Fellowships.

The general Individual Fellowship rules remain unchanged in comparison to previous calls. Applicants are reminded that there is now the option for part-time working arrangements on Individual Fellowships for professional reasons (starting a company, pursuing other funded projects or advanced study). However, that should only be requested at the implementation stage.

This article has been prepared based on information received from UK Research Office (UKRO). UKRO, in its capacity as UK National Contact Point for the MSCA, will be holding information sessions on the 2019 Individual Fellowships call. Participation is free of charge, but registration will be mandatory. We will share further information when the dates and locations are confirmed.

HE Policy update for the w/e 5th April 2019

A week is a long time at the moment.  We have a mixed bag this week but we lead with Brexit to get it over with.

Brexit

In the Westminster Brexit bubble things can turn upside down several times in the space of a week.  And even though many more people are watching Parliament live on TV or on the internet, it really is a bubble.  The speaker in the House of Commons has had to keep reminding MPs that people are watching, as they make a spectacle of themselves being as rude and rowdy as it is possible to be within the rules about behaviour in the House (i.e. pretty rude and rowdy).  And yesterday it was the turn of the Lords, where there was lengthy filibustering aimed at obstructing the debate on the Bill which seeks to force the PM to get an extension to Article 50 to avoid no deal.  There was quite a lot of shouting and rudeness there as well, which is not what would usually be expected.

So when the House of Commons proceedings had to be suspended because of a huge leak in the roof, it was probably a bit of a relief.  MPs will not get much of a rest, though, as some of the Easter recess has been cancelled and the rest might be too.  As the February recess was also cancelled there will be some pretty cross people around.

Anyway, what next?  The Bill carries on in the Lords on Monday.  While it might seem irrelevant as the PM has today written to the EU to request an extension to 30th June, in these days of rapid policy reversals, it might still be needed.  No deal exit is still on the table as the EU and the UK fight about the terms of an extension and the deadline for calling EU elections nears.

The PM’s letter is here.  It says that she will not be asking for further changes to the Withdrawal Agreement.  It looks forward to the Withdrawal Agreement being approved (although that seems vanishingly unlikely, despite ongoing meetings with Jeremy Corbyn and others).  It therefore asks for an extension to 30th June so that once the WA is passed, the rest of the implementation can be done.  In the meantime “lawful and responsible” preparations will be made for the EU elections.  But the government would like to be able to withdraw from them before 23rd May if they are ready with everything in time.

As usual, writing this on a Friday, we have to say that everything could have changed if you are reading it on Monday.  Right now it looks like we’ll be having EU elections and staying in the EU for a long time.  But it is still possible we could be leaving on Friday 12th April with no deal.  And least likely of all is the chance that the current deal will be approved by Friday and we then leave in May.  Let’s see what next week brings.

Investment in research – a good news story?

Research Professional ran what might have sounded like a good news story against the endless doom and gloom of Brexit and specifically, the implications for research:

Writing for HE’s Sunday Reading, universities and science minister Chris Skidmore described himself as the minister for 2.4 per cent. He was referring … to the government’s pledge to raise expenditure on R&D in the UK to the equivalent of 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027. We’ve said this before under previous science ministers, so we’ll say it again in light of Skidmore’s comments. The government does not plan to spend 2.4 per cent of GDP on research: funding and expenditure are not the same thing.  The money earmarked by the government—£7 billion over five years, £4bn of which is as yet unallocated—amounts to about 0.3 per cent of GDP and much less when broken down by annual spend. The actual policy is to leverage that public spending to encourage greater private investment in R&D to bring the UK in line with the average for OECD countries…

Skidmore’s predecessor self-identified as the minister for students. Along with being the minister for the arts and humanities, Skidmore has picked up the challenge of being the minister for 2.4 per cent. He almost certainly won’t be the minister who delivers on reaching the summit of 2.4 per cent. It is to be hoped that when the time comes to pass on the baton, Skidmore will be remembered as the minister who was able to point the way to base camp.”

HE-BCI – the results

If you have been following the discussion on the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) you’ll know that the HE-BCI data provides many of the metrics that sit behind the latest proposals.  So it is interesting to look at this year’s outcomes.

The survey includes details of spin-off and start-up companies associated with HE providers. In 2017/18 140 new spin-off companies were formed from university-owned intellectual property. A further 4129 start-ups were formed by staff and graduates of HE providers.

Over the 2017/18 academic year HE providers were granted 1707 patents2 and generated over £207 million of revenue from intellectual property3 in 2017/18.

Business and community engagement measured by the survey includes income generated from collaborative research (£1.4 billion), contract research (£1.3 billion), consultancy (£471 million), facilities and equipment hire (£228 million), CPD and continuing education (£698 million) and regeneration and development programmes (£224 million).

The survey also measures social, community and cultural engagement, with HE providers recording over 25 million attendees at free lectures, performances and exhibitions over the academic year.

Investment by the OfS

At the end of last week the OfS announced their teaching grant allocations for 2019/20:

A total of £1.45 billion will be allocated across a range of activities for academic year 2019-20, including:

  • £713 million for high-cost subject funding. This funding is provided to help with the extra costs associated with teaching subjects such as medicine, science, technology and engineering.
  • £337 million to promote greater choice and boost equality of opportunity in higher education. This includes £60 million for the National Collaborative Outreach Programme (NCOP), which funds partnerships of universities, colleges and others across the country to increase the proportion of young people from disadvantaged areas going into higher education; and £277 million of student premium funding for students who may need additional support to achieve successful outcomes.
  • £40 million for national facilities and initiatives. This includes support for higher education digital infrastructure through Jisc, OfS Challenge Competitions, which target priority issues affecting students, and a new ‘what works’ centre to help universities cut equality gaps.
  • £100 million in financial year 2019-20 of capital funding to help universities and colleges to invest in their physical infrastructure so it remains fit for purpose for students.

As announced last year, the introduction of postgraduate masters’ loans means the postgraduate taught funding supplement, set at £8 million, now only supports students that are not eligible for these loans.

Realising the potential of technology in education

The Department for Education issued their “strategy for education providers and the technology industry” this week.

There’s a helpful summary“Our aim is to support the education sector in England to develop and embed technology in a way that cuts workload, fosters efficiencies, supports inclusion and ultimately drives improvements in educational outcomes. Schools, colleges, universities and other providers face a range of barriers to supporting and integrating the good use of technology. This strategy aims to help address these barriers.”

There’s a lot about schools but some things for universities too.  The Department’s Commitments are:

  • Get the connectivity right – many education providers struggle with slow internet connections and outdated internal networking and devices.
  • Set a vision, know the outcomes you want to achieve and ensure staff have the right skills – it can be hard to know where to start and to get the implementation right.
    • …[we].. Have worked with the Chartered College of Teaching to publish an EdTech research journal to highlight and disseminate key research findings.
  • Get the right tools, solutions and services, at the best price – it can be challenging to understand what technology to buy to meet specific needs and to get the best price. So we:
    • Recommend pre-negotiated buying deals for technology and trial regional buying hubs in the South West and the North West.
    • Support an online lending library allowing educators to ‘try before they buy’ through BESA’s online LendEd service.
    • Will explore how to facilitate a better online marketplace for education technology to help educators to connect with trusted providers.
  • Stay safe – it can be daunting to navigate the responsibilities around privacy, security and data.
    • Provide guidance on monitoring, filtering, data security and cyber security.
    • Support Jisc to provide training, guidance and consultancy for colleges, universities and other providers.
    • Encourage EdTech suppliers to follow ‘Cyber Essentials’ minimum standards and the Code of Practice for Consumer Internet of Things Security

So far so obvious.  The second lot of commitments is to the education technology industry.  Under the Industrial Strategy Banner, the summary says that: Supporting the development of the UK’s innovative EdTech businesses will be key to the success of our EdTech strategy. Our aim is to stimulate a vibrant and growing sector of EdTech businesses: generating ideas, innovation, and providing high-quality, effective technology for education providers to chose from. Businesses face a range of barriers to starting and growing in the EdTech market and this strategy aims to help tackle those, including by supporting access to the investment and business assistance set out in the government’s Industrial Strategy.

And linked to the story above, the Minster launched the long heralded “money supermarket for universities” apps (thanks to Sam Gyimah for that analogy). But don’t click on the links, because one of them has never worked since the announcement was made, and the other takes you to the corporate website but there is no sign of any app. We’ll keep checking and let you know when they do go live.

  • Two contracts were awarded to the winners of the Open Data Competition, one to AccessEd for ThinkUni, which offers students a ‘personalised digital assistant’ bringing together data on universities, courses and financial outcomes that are easy to explore and compare.
  • While The Profs have created TheWayUp!, a game for students to simulate different graduate career paths to help them make better choices about their future. It also aims to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds set aspirational educational and career goals to increase their chances of achieving them.
  • Both apps are in open beta and are available online from April 2, operating with the latest information on universities in the UK.

Participation in EU funding schemes

While the House of Commons is fighting over Brexit, the House of Lords debated a report from the EU committee on Erasmus and H2020.  Many thanks to Dods for the summary.  Lord Jay of Ewelme (CB) moved that the House take note of the Report from the European Union.  Committee Brexit: the Erasmus and Horizon programmes (28th Report, HL Paper 283)…

  • …he reminded members that associate membership would not give the UK voting rights on the budget and strategic direction of the programmes “association is also the only option that would allow the UK to access the key European Research Council and Marie Skłodowska-Curie schemes, which currently account for 44% of the total UK receipts from Horizon 2020”.
  • He called on the Government to confirm their intention to seek association agreements for 2021-2027 as soon as possible but recognised this could not be achieved whilst the UK was a member state.
  • …Government Spokesperson for Higher Education, Viscount Younger of Leckie confirmed that the Government would publish a formal response to the committees report shortly and recognised the important role both schemes had played.
  • On Horizon, he confirmed that the UKRI would use existing payment systems to ensure continuity for UK beneficiaries, and that in a no-deal scenario, the UKRI would contact UK beneficiaries who have registered on the portal with further information on how the guarantee would operate in practice.
  • On Erasmus, Viscount Younger highlighted that UK institutions had a strong track record of partnering with overseas institutions. “UK evidence suggests that around half of mobilities already take place outside Erasmus+”, he outlined.
  • He stated that the Government were preparing for every eventuality and were very interested in exploring future participation in the Erasmus+ successor scheme. “I understand that the successor scheme will include increased school exchange opportunities and a greater emphasis on widening participation. The Government have welcomed proposals on this and will continue to participate in discussions while we remain in the EU”.
  • On the question of associated membership, the Minister intimated his belief that all such countries should be treated as partners rather than competitors, arguing that, “the benefits that associated countries bring to the programme must be recognised and welcomed”.
  • On potential alternatives to Horizon Europe, the Minister confirmed that BEIS were “working closely with the national academies and UKRI to develop ambitious and credible alternatives to association to Horizon Europe which could also enable world-class collaborative research”.
  • The Minister also argued that the immigration white paper went further than MAC recommendations for international students, extending post-study work to six months for undergraduate students attending institutions with degree-awarding powers, six months for all master’s students and 12 months for PhD students.

Access and Participation

The Government have tabled the Higher Education (Monetary Penalties and Refusal to Renew an Access and Participation Plan) (England) Regulations 2019 statutory instrument, under the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 powers. Key points:

  • where a registered higher education provider has an access and participation plan approved by the OfS, that provider may charge fees at the higher limit.
  • The OfS may impose a monetary penalty on a registered higher education provider for breach of one of its ongoing registration conditions.

It also establishes the procedure for:

  • When the OfS intends to give such a notification and provides for the OfS’s notification of a refusal to renew an access and participation plan to be treated as a provisional decision in the first instance and the procedure for the review of that decision. It also provides for the procedure when the OfS’s decision becomes final.

This statutory instrument will need to be approved by both House of Commons and House of Lords.

Cyber resilience of HE sector

HEPI and Jisc have released a paper on the cyber-resilience of universities claiming hackers are able to infiltrate systems within two hours. The paper has been picked up by the media and was mentioned on the Radio 4 Today programme on Thursday.  Key points:

  • Under penetration testing, there was 100% success in gaining access to high-value data within two hours;
  • 173 HEIs engaged with Jisc’s Computer Security Incident Response Team in 2018 (12% increase);
  • During 2018, there were 1,000+ Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks detected at 241 different UK education and research institutions.

The report recommends swift action, including the adoption of a new British Standard on cyber risk and resilience. The report comes a day after the Government urged businesses and charities to take action to prevent cyber-attacks following the publication of the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2019.

Digital Minister Margot James commented: We know that tackling cyber threats is not always at the top of business and charities list of things to do, but with the rising costs of attacks, it’s not something organisations can choose to ignore any longer.”

Responding to the Government’s annual Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2019, Josh Hardie, CBI Deputy-Director General, said: “There’s been a real shift amongst businesses when it comes to cyber security – it’s clear to see that it’s now a top priority with concrete action being taken. But businesses can’t be complacent. Unfortunately, cyber threats lurk around every corner. The widespread attack to both public and charities sector entities underlines the importance of having robust cyber incidence response plans. Firms pro-actively assessing the risks out there and taking action to protect themselves and their customers is essential. It’s important to recognise there are opportunities for our world-leading digital economy. The cyber security sector is another example of where the UK can build a competitive advantage.”

Financial stability of the sector

The OfS have issued their first report into the financial stability of the sector, as we noted last week.

  • Key findings on the sector’s performance over the latest financial year show that:
  • The sector reported an income of £33 billion, a 7.4 per cent increase on the previous year. However, surpluses fell from £1.12 billion in 2016-17, to £1.02 billion in 2017-18.
  • At the end of 2017-18, the sector had net liquidity of £11.2 billion (equivalent to 138 days’ expenditure). This is £1.3 billion higher than the previous year.
  • At the end of 2017-18, the sector reported borrowing of £12 billion – equivalent to 36.8 per cent of income and £2.1 billion more than the previous year.

Commenting on the report, Sir Michael Barber, chair of the Office for Students, said:

  • ‘The English higher education sector is in reasonable financial shape, although as this report shows performance does vary between providers. We have registered 337 universities and other higher education providers, and each must demonstrate they are financially viable and sustainable.
  • ‘Our analysis suggests that the sector has made over-optimistic student recruitment forecasts – both nationally and internationally. With the number of 18-year-olds in the population falling significantly between now and 2022, not every university will be able to recruit the number of students they had hoped to. Universities should be wary of relying on over-ambitious recruitment targets, and look at student numbers realistically rather than over-optimistically.
  • ‘This is particularly important at a challenging time for the sector overall. Uncertainties ahead include the UK’s future relationship with the EU, possible policy changes resulting from the Augar Review, and increased pension costs. Universities need to have a good grip on costs and base their actions on realistic forecasts.
  • ‘It remains our position that we will not bail out universities or other higher education providers facing financial failure. However we are ready to work creatively with any provider facing challenges – especially if they come to us with any difficulties early. Were problems to develop, we would seek to intervene to protect the interests of students.’

Conditional unconditional offers

The Department for Education has made a splash about unconditional offers.  It’s all a bit odd – the data they are using was published in January.  And the story looks out of date: “The Education Secretary will be asking the OfS to take a comprehensive look at university admissions procedures, in guidance sent to the regulator setting out his priorities for the financial year.”  This letter was published in February.  Have they forgotten to update a draft press release they have been sitting on since January?  Or is another set of instructions for the OfS planned?

The Minister has tweeted that he is “launching a review”, but the OfS had already announced a review – in January.

Aside from the strange timing (I guess it’s a quiet news week), there are some concerns about the allegations being made here.  Jim Dickinson on Wonkhe asks:

  • what’s interesting is Hinds’ repeating of the assertion that conditional unconditionals count as “pressure selling”. It’s a legal term with legal meaning and legal consequences – Smita Jamdar does a much better job than I ever could on reviewing the legal definitions in this area elsewhere on the site, but OfS and now Hinds must surely believe they are legally right.
  • When a university offers guaranteed accommodation in exchange for a firm acceptance, is that “pressure selling” the university, the accommodation, or both? And even if just the standard “firm us up and your offer becomes unconditional” tactic really is “pressure selling”, why are Hinds and the OfS not threatening legal action over what is, in law, criminal behaviour?

And has anyone asked students what they think?

Free speech

And in a world dominated by Brexit and criticism of the sector, it is nice to some good news.  We reported last week that the new Minister has backed away from the regular (and as regularly debunked) statements of his predecessor on freedom of speech at universities.

This week Dr Julian Lewis MP (New Forest East) quoted a recent story in a written question to the Minister:  “To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Daily Telegraph article entitled University cancels talk on extremist speakers, published on 26 March 2019, if he will commission an inquiry into (a) the circumstances in which the free speech society at Bristol University was prevented from hosting a meeting featuring the author of Extreme Speakers league table; (b) the nine occasions listed in that league table when allegedly extreme speakers were hosted at Bristol University; (c) the criteria applied by the University in deciding to ban meetings on security grounds; and if he will make a statement.”

And the reply from the Minister:

  • Free speech plays a vital and important role in our society, and universities should be places where students are exposed to a range of issues, including those which may be controversial, and are encouraged to debate and challenge them.
  • It is right that extremist views should be exposed and challenged. That is why, under the Prevent duty, (to have due regard to prevent people being drawn into terrorism), Higher Education (HE) providers must have policies in place around the management of speakers. This means ensuring the right steps are taken to contest extremist narratives and to make sure that those wishing spread hatred do not go unchallenged.
  • However, challenging extremism does not mean banning lawful speech, and the Prevent duty also explicitly requires further and higher education institutions have regard to their duty to secure freedom of speech. It is up to individual institutions to determine who they deem appropriate to invite to speak on their campuses on a case-by-case basis; government does not dictate who should and should not be invited to speak in higher education providers, providing their speech is within the law.
  • We do not routinely comment on individual cases. However, monitoring of the Prevent duty by the Office for Students shows us that HE providers are navigating the balance between freedom of speech and challenging extremism pragmatically and effectively. We recognise that these are complex issues, which is why the government supports the sector on Prevent implementation through our network of Further and HE Regional Prevent Co-ordinators on the ground. We have also worked alongside the Equalities and Human Rights Commission and wider stakeholders to produce the recently published Freedom of Expression guidance. This will enable universities and student unions to understand their obligations for protecting and supporting free speech, and sets out where speech may be unlawful, alongside relevant case studies to support providers in balancing their duties.

Consultations

Click here to view the latest consultation tracker. Email us on policy@bournemouth.ac.uk if you’d like to contribute to any of the current consultations.

Other news

Careers Education: Founders4Schools have published a report on Making Careers Education Age-Appropriate. They say that Schools and Colleges should:

  • Begin age-appropriate, careers-related learning early, as soon as children and young people join the setting
  • Ensure curriculum and middle leaders work with their teams to identify opportunities to include appropriately sequenced and age-appropriate careers-focused learning in lessons.
  • Work with parents from the beginning of primary school and throughout schooling, for example by inviting parents into school to hear careers talks alongside their children, or even talk about their own careers.
  • Use labour market information to help align the setting’s provision with employers’ needs locally and regionally

And that the Government should:

  • Provide funding for transport costs to help pupils in rural areas or areas lacking transport infrastructure to access opportunities to work with employers
  • Tailor existing support and guidance so that it is age-appropriate, for example providing resources and guidance to help speakers and employers plan age appropriate presentations and projects.

And after outrage that Ministerial posts have remained unfilled following Brexit related resignations (and other things), a few were announced this week:

  • Justin Tomlinson has been appointed Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work, Department for Work and Pensions. He also held the role in 2015-16.
  • Will Quince has taken on Tomlinson’s vacated Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Family Support, Housing and Child Maintenance, Department for Work and Pensions role.
  • In the Department of Health Theresa May’s former PPS, Seema Kennedy, takes Steve Brine’s  Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Primary Care role.
  • In DEXEU James Cleverly MP has been appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union
  • Kevin Foster MP as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Wales Office
  • Andrew Stephenson MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

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JANE FORSTER                                            |                       SARAH CARTER

Policy Advisor                                                                     Policy & Public Affairs Officer

Follow: @PolicyBU on Twitter                   |                       policy@bournemouth.ac.uk

Save the date – Horizon 2020 Health Partnering Day 2019

In connection to the Open Info Day of the European Commission, the Health NCP Net 2.0 will hold an international brokerage event on Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 1 (SC1) calls in Brussels, on 4th of July 2019.

This international brokerage event will provide networking opportunities for applicants interested in the 2020 updated calls under SC1. One day before, on the 3rd of July 2019, the European Commission is organizing an Open Info Day dedicated to “Health, Demographic Change & Wellbeing (SC1)” challenge in Horizon 2020 and focusing on the 2020 call.

It is expected that participants will:

  • Get all information needed on the upcoming Horizon 2020 calls in the “Health, Demographic change and Wellbeing” work programme,
  • Be able to present own innovative project idea, or competence, to an international audience and discover new opportunities,
  • Meet potential partners from Europe and beyond to start building consortium.

The partnering event targets a wide spectrum of stakeholders from companies (including SMEs), universities, research organizations, public sector, NGOs and others from Europe and beyond interested in sharing new project ideas and in finding collaboration partners for the 2020 calls of SC1 in Horizon 2020. Registration will open on 29th of April.

Societal Challenge 6 Call 2019 – Information Days in the UK

UKRO recently announced that the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), in its capacity as the UK National Contact Point (NCP) for Societal Challenge 6 – ‘Europe in changing world’, is organising a series of UK information events discussing SC6 2019 call, as well as wider research funding opportunities for social sciences and humanities (SSH) available in Horizon 2020.

Events will take place in British Academy on 14 January and in Newcastle University on 17 January.

Detailed agenda is available on the ESRC website. Although, less than 10 days remain, registration for these events is still open. For more information, the UK SC6 NCP can be contacted at Challenge6NCP@esrc.ac.uk.

The European Commission’s SC6 information and brokerage event took place on November 2018 and video recording and presentation slides are available. The info day consisted of a number of presentations, during which speakers from the European Commission and the Research Executive Agency presented the 2019 topics and the evaluation process. The second part of the day was dedicated to networking; the list of participants (includes nearly 400 names) may be useful source of information for academics interested to find partners in their research area.

Blue Economy call 2018 Info day in Brussels

The following event may be of interest for BU academics considering applying for EU grants.

The European Commission invites to join the Info day of the new Blue Economy call. The event will be held in Brussels on Thursday 22 November 2018 from 9:30 to 15:30 (a draft programme of the event has been published).

Blue Economy call 2018: Blue Careers, Blue Labs and Grants for the Blue Economy aims to accelerate the implementation of the EU Maritime Policy and the sustainable development of the blue economy across Europe. The call has a focus on three topics – Blue Labs: innovative solutions for maritime challenges, Blue Careers in Europe, and Grants for the Blue Economy: investing in innovation.

EASME and DG MARE will then provide useful information about the new call and the application process. For more details and registration please refer to the event’s web page.

ERC Consolidator Grant 2019 call published

The European Research Council (ERC) has published its 2019 Consolidator Grant call; applicants have to submit their proposals before 4 PM (UK time) 7 February 2019 (104 days left until closure from now).

The fundamental activity of the ERC is to provide attractive, long-term funding to support excellent investigators and their research teams to pursue ground-breaking, high-gain/high-risk research.

ERC Consolidator Grants are designed to support excellent Principal Investigators at the career stage at which they may still be consolidating their own independent research team or programme. Applicant Principal Investigators must demonstrate the ground-breaking nature, ambition and feasibility of their scientific proposal.

Consolidator Grants may be awarded up to a maximum of EUR 2 000 000 for a period of 5 years. The Principal Investigator shall have been awarded their first PhD over 7 and up to 12 years prior to 1 January 2019. The effective elapsed time since the award of the first PhD can be reduced in certain properly documented circumstances.

A competitive Consolidator Grant Principal Investigator must have already shown research independence and evidence of maturity, for example by having produced several important publications as main author or without the participation of their PhD supervisor.

For more information please refer to Guide for Applicants. There also are great support opportunities available at BU for academics planning to apply for EU and International funding. If you are considering applying for international funding, contact international research facilitator or any member of RKEO Funding Development Team at your faculty to individually discuss your ideas and the ways we could support you.

UKRO annual visit – presentations available on Brightspace

On Wednesday, 10th October 2018, BU staff had an opportunity to find out more about current EU funding opportunities. Delivered by BU institutional representative in Brussels, Andreas Kontogeorgos, presentations covered such topics as Brexit, forthcoming ICT calls, COST Actions and MSCA Innovative Training Networks.

Presentations are now available on Brightspace. Please navigate to UKRO 2018 section to access all presentations.

If you have an interest in applying to Horizon 2020 and other European funding, please make full use of BU’s subscription by registering to receive updates from UKRO. On UKRO website, you can access subscriber-exclusive support materials including news, call fact-sheets and UKRO events.

BU staff considering applying for any of these calls and other international funding, should contact international research facilitator Ainar Blaudums or other RKEO’s representatives at their faculties, for further information and support.

EU funding opportunities – reminder to register

As previously announced, RKEO will host seminar on EU funding opportunities (FG06, Talbot Campus, Fusion Building) on 10th October 2018. Sessions will be delivered by European Advisor of the UK Research Office Dr Andreas Kontogeorgos.
Please register to allow us to order lunch and refreshments for all attendees this week.

Sessions will commence at 11:30 with an update on Brexit, followed by a networking lunch. In the afternoon there will be a review of future ICT-related calls and more detailed overview of the COST Actions and Marie Curie training networks (MSCA ITN) funding schemes.

Everybody is welcome to choose to attend any of the sessions below:

11:30 – 12:00 – Brexit News, Q&A (to be continued during lunch if necessary)
12:00 – 13:00 – Networking Lunch
13:00 – 14:15 – Cross-disciplinary nature of ICT – forthcoming Horizon 2020 calls and topics under pillars of Industrial Leadership and Societal Challenges
14:15 – 14:30 – Comfort break / over-run time / time for people to come and in and out
14:30 – 15:15 – COST Actions – bottom-up driven networks for expanding European Cooperation in Science and Technology
15:15 – 16:30 – Overview of MSCA ITN funding scheme, followed by Q&A session

P.S. If you were unable to register, (quiet) drop-in to any separate session will be accepted.

Horizon 2020 news and upcoming events – September 2018

MSCA Individual Fellowships 2018 Call Submission Rates

According to UKRO, the European Commission has released the submission rates for the 2018 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Individual Fellowships (IF) call, which closed on 12 September; a total of 9,830 proposals were submitted.

This represents a slight increase in comparison to the previous MSCA IF call under Horizon 2020 in 2017, which received 9,089 proposals. The results can be expected by mid-February 2019.

Open registration for MSCA Innovative Training Networks UK Information Events

UKRO in it’s capacity as National Contact Point for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) will hold two free information days focussing on the 2019 MSCA Innovative Training Networks (ITN) call for proposals (deadline for the submission of applications on 15 January 2019). Registration can be accessed through the following links: Wednesday 10 October, London; Friday 12 October, York.

Participation in the events is free, but registration is mandatory for attendance; places will be offered on a first come first served basis.

Open registration for Societal Challenge 6 Information Day

An information and brokerage event for the Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 6: ‘Europe in a changing world – Inclusive, innovative and reflective societies’ will take place in Warsaw, Poland on 8 November. It is organised by the European Commission (DG RTD) and Net4Society, a network of SC6 National Contacts Points.

The event is free of charge but limited to 2 persons representing the same department/organization. Online registration is obligatory.

EU Partnering event on the use of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence for monitoring health status and quality of life after cancer treatment

Academics are invited to submit an expression of interest to participate in this partnering event.

The aim of the event is to foster and facilitate the development of R&D project consortia for Horizon 2020 EU funded projects in the Healthtech themes. The event is aimed to provide a platform for new commercial and technological collaborations, especially between business and research organisations.

Open registration for UKRO Annual Visit to BU

RKEO will host annual UK Research Office visit to BU on 10th October 2018. The event will take place in FG06 seminar room with the sessions for BU academics commencing at 11:30.

 

To find more about Horizon 2020 programme and available funding in your area, visit Horizon 2020 website. More details on projects funded under FP6, FP7 and Horizon 2020 may be found on CORDIS website.

For further details on EU and international funding opportunities please contact international research facilitator or any member of RKEO Funding Development Team to individually discuss your ideas and the ways we could support you.