BU Research Blog

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

The EPSRC Platform Grants are a flexible mechanism of providing underpinning funding to well established, world leading research groups. Platform Grant funding provides a baseline of flexible support (a platform) that can be used for the retention of key staff, feasibility studies, longer-term research and International Networking. This flexibility should enable the group to take a strategic view of their research which will be enhanced by the submission of standard research applications during the lifetime of the Platform Grant. EPSRC must receive your application the last working Friday in the month preceding the batch meeting.

The Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) Research and Knowledge Exchange (RAKE) fund is an initiative supported by Barclays Bank and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) administered through ISBE. This initiative aims to encourage and support research activities from academics, third sector organisations, consultants and practitioners with the ambition of drawing together and generating an entrepreneurial community of practice to facilitate knowledge exchange and transfer. Applications are invited from individuals or teams. Collaborative bids which draw together any combination of third sector organisations, academic researchers, consultants and practitioners are particularly welcome. For this round of funding, the funder envisages awarding one grant of around £8,000 – £12,000. Closing date 25/07/14 at 17:00.

The MRC are inviting proposals regarding three aspects of Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance: Understanding resistant bacteria in context of the host (Collaborative and innovation grants), with outline applications are to be submitted by 02/09/14 with the full application to be submitted by 05/12/14 and Accelerating therapeutic and diagnostics development with EOI to be submitted by 02/09/14, networking workshops between November 2014 and March 2015, outline for consortia bid in May 2015 and full invited applications expected c. September / October 2015.

The MRC Industry Collaboration Agreement  (MICA) encourages and supports collaborative research projects between academic and industry researchers. It is an agreement between the commercial and academic partners to undertake collaborative research. The key feature of the MICA is its flexibility, allowing the level and nature of the industry contribution to vary according to scientific needs, from cash and time input to sharing compounds and staff. Companies of any size may participate, from spin-outs and SMEs to major pharma. There is no deadline for this call.

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME), (a NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies (NETS) programme, is an ongoing research funding opportunity funded by the MRC. The remit of the EME Programme includes clinical trials and evaluative studies of novel and repurposed interventions.  The term intervention is meant in the broadest sense and includes any method used to promote health, prevent and treat disease and improve rehabilitation or long-term care. There is a webinar on 22/07/14, from 15:00-15:45. The Research-led scheme will close on 30/10/14 at 13:oo

The Royal Society‘s International Scientific Seminars scheme is for Royal Society Research Fellows who want to organise a small two-day scientific seminar at the Royal Society at Chicheley Hall. The scheme provides funding for international airfares, UK travel costs, accommodation at the centre, hire of the meeting rooms and all meals at the Royal Society at Chicheley Hall, home of the Kavli Royal Society International Centre, for up to 20 participants. The maximum amount that may be requested for travel is £5,000. The scientific meeting may be specific to a particular field of science or cross disciplinary in nature. The award holders are responsible for all aspects of organising and delivering the scientific content of the meetings, although guidance and support is available from the Royal Society. Closing date: 31/07/14. Researchers who are ineligible for this scheme might consider submitting a proposal for a scientific discussion meeting instead.

The Technology Strategy Board, with Tech City UK Ltd and Cambridge Wireless, are to invest up to £1m to support micro, small and medium-sized businesses working on the Internet of Things (IoT). This competition will support innovative research projects centred in and around the clusters in Cambridge (equipment and communications) and London (software and services). A briefing event will be held in Cambridge on 08/07/14 and in London on 21/07/14. The deadline for video submissions is at noon on 03/09/14.

Through the Technology Strategy Board, IC tomorrow with the Entertainment on the move – Innovation Contest, is offering four businesses up to £25k each to encourage digital innovation in the area of entertainment on the move in music, book and magazine publishing and games/interactive entertainment: music on the move with the British Recorded Music Industry (BPI); books on the move with the Publishers Association (PA); magazine content on the move with the Professional Publishers Association (PPA) and interactive entertainment/games on the move with UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie). The call closes on 29/07/14.

The Wellcome Trust Research Fellowships for Health Professionals scheme is intended for practising health professionals who wish to carry out research in any area within the remit of the Society and Ethics Programme, either full-time or part-time, while maintaining their work commitments. The research should address a real-life issue in the candidate’s professional practice that is relevant to the Programme. An award will not normally exceed £250,000, exclusive of any standard Wellcome Trust allowances. The fellow’s salary is provided, plus appropriate employer’s contributions. Essential research expenses, including travel and fieldwork, are available, as is a set amount for travel to conferences, seminars and other meetings of a scholarly nature. Closing dates: 18/07/14 for preliminary applications and 26/09/14 for full invited applications

The Wellcome Trust Research Fellowships scheme is for individuals not yet in established academic posts, who wish to undertake a period of postdoctoral research. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of research on the social and ethical aspects of biomedicine and healthcare, Research Fellowships may provide postdoctoral researchers with support to enable them to obtain research training, either in a new discipline or in a new aspect of their own field, e.g. a humanities scholar who wishes to be trained in social science. Closing dates: 18/07/14 for preliminary applications and 26/09/14 for full invited applications.

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, which includes forthcoming training dates up to November 2014.

If thinking of applying, why not add notification of your interest on ResearchProfessional’s record of the bid so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.