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Everything has to be excellent!

Fusion Investment Fund, Research news

In 2015, I was awarded a prestigious Visiting Fellowship at the University of Oxford- Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ). The next question was how do I fund such an initiative? Having looked at the various Fusion Investment Fund strands, the Santander Scheme appeared to be the most appropriate since it provides BU staff with travel and subsistence funds to support individual staff mobility and networking in the development of research, education and or professional practice.

During the fellowship period I conducted British Academy/Leverhulme funded research into the successful digital transformations of media firms. This work integrated three primary areas: business models, organisational strategy and dynamic capabilities in a longitudinal analysis (1995-2015).

Being able to conduct this research at one of the world’s greatest institutions has been an incredible experience. Whilst I have undertaken small project work with the RISJ over the past few years, there was a world of difference in living and working at the University. Academic work at the University of Oxford is a ‘lifestyle’ and one based on the pursuit of academic excellence. The work doesn’t stop at 5pm as there are numerous talks and lectures by distinguished people every night of the week!

The RISJ is a part of Green Templeton College which is a postgraduate college whose provision centres on health and management disciplines. At first, one might think that this is a strange combination, but their researchers were able to help with me some innovative work that I’m currently doing with the Boston Consulting Group in New York.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of my stay was the university’s focus on conducting research that aims to produce both conceptual and instrumental impact (vanity based research is clearly not on their radar). There is also a real ‘simplicity’ about the University of Oxford. You can see it everywhere, from the clean toilets, the pristine gardens, the student dress codes and the quality of their research. That ‘simplicity’ can be summed by saying that “everything they do has to be excellent!”

 

Dr John Oliver

Associate Professor of Media Management

Faculty of Media & Communication

Friday 16th September: Professor Christoph Teller presents ‘Why consumers shop where they do’

BU research, Events, Research news

Image result for christoph teller

Professor Christoph Teller, Chair in Retailing and Marketing at the University of Surrey, will discuss why shoppers shop where they do through a presentation of a meta-analyses study.  The study he presents aims to identify the major antecedents of offline and online retail patronage. In his talk he will outline the retail patronage work of Pan and Zinkhan (2006) and discuss how he extends their view and develops conceptual models of offline and online retail patronage based on Sheth’s (1999) integrated theory of patronage behaviour and Finn and Louviere’s (1996) specification in a retail patronage context. The models he identifies proposes direct effects between antecedents (stimuli), i.e., mainly manageable attributes of retailers, and the retail patronage (response or shopping predisposition). The study is based upon a meta-analysis of more than 300 empirical studies and makes a theoretical as well as practical contribution to the topic area as it provides an overview on, and detailed insights into, patronage research in an offline as well as online context.

This free event, hosted by the Influences on Consumer Behaviour Research Cluster, will take place on Friday 16th September 2016, 2-3.30pm in the Inspire Lecture Theatre.  Please book your place through Eventbrite: ‘Why consumers shop where they do’

Innovation defined? Outcomes and connections – Industrial strategy

innovation, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team

So how do you use industrial strategy to make effective connections between what might otherwise be disparate forces and how do you then use those connections to deliver better outcomes?

(This blog post the final in a series of blog posts on Innovation : Blog post 1/ Blog post 2  / Blog post 3 /Blog post 4)

Success = research + innovate + scale

Fortunately, in the automotive sector, we have an outstanding example of how research, innovation, industry and government connects together and aligns through an industrial strategy, to deliver record results.

At the heart of the automotive industrial strategy for technology is an integrated end-to-end ecosystem, which is aligned to its shared ambitions and “The Low Carbon Vehicles Innovation Platform” is a great example of how the entire auto sector, proactively supported by government, was able to respond successfully to the challenge ahead of them.

The end-to-end ecosystem (pre-manufacture) of our auto industry
The end-to-end ecosystem (pre-manufacture) of our auto industry

It’s a powerful model, which aligns everyone around progressing the most promising technologies: from the early stages of research; through the mid stages of innovation; to the later stages focused on the capability to scale.

Read the blog post in full on Innovate UK’s website.

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities, Uncategorized

The following funding opportunities have been announced. Please follow the links for more information. money and cogs

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, via the Global Challenges Research Fund, invites applications for its call on Tackling global development challenges through engineering and digital technology research. The aim of this activity is to support an internationally leading programme of research, centred around engineering and digital technologies, to tackle the challenges faced by the developing world. Exemplar areas are given under each heading below, but these should not be seen as exclusive. Proposals may also span both headings: 1) Tackling global development challenges through engineering research- Sustainable infrastructure development, Engineering for disaster resilience, Engineering for humanitarian aid; 2) Tackling global development challenges through digital technology research- Access to digital services, Use of data for vital services, Secure and trusted digital infrastructures. The proposed research must be predominantly in EPSRC remit, although interdisciplinary and/or multidisciplinary proposals are welcomed.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 15/11/16.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council invites applications for its First Grant scheme. The scheme helps new academics apply for research funding at the start of their careers. Applicants must have been appointed to their first academic lecturing appointment, which involves lecturing and administration alongside research, in a UK university within the previous 36 months, or still be in the probation period of their new appointment. They must also have completed their PhD or an equivalent professional qualification within the last 10 years.

Maximum award: £100,000. Closing date: No deadline.

Innovate UK

Innovate UK invites applications for its connected and autonomous vehicles competition 2. Projects must be business led and should provide technical solutions for connected and autonomous vehicle features that provide real-world benefits to users. This includes how these vehicles will work as part of a wider transport system. The commercial benefit should clear in proposals. This competition is in 4 streams: Stream 1 will fund a large-scale challenge to develop and demonstrate a vehicle operating at SAE level 4 automation. It is expected that the fund will support a single project or 2 projects maximum of between £15 million and £30 million each. Projects should last between 18 and 30 months. Streams 2, 3 and 4 will fund feasibility studies and industrial research and development projects on connected and autonomous vehicles. Projects are expected to range in size from total costs of £250,000 to £5 million. Projects should last between 12 and 30 months.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 02/11/16.

Medical Research Council

The Medical Research Council invites applications for its Confidence in Concept scheme. This scheme aims to accelerate the transition from discovery science to the early stages of therapeutic/biomarker development by providing locally-administered, responsive and flexible funding to support preliminary translational work. The award can be used flexibly by the institution to support a number of preliminary-stage translational projects. The projects supported should aim to provide sufficient preliminary data to establish the viability of an approach –– before seeking more substantive funding

Maximum award: £1.2 million. Closing date: 15/11/16.

The Medical Research Council invites applications for its Proximity to Discovery – Industry Engagement Fund. The scheme is designed to provide flexible funding for innovative ways to enable the initial development of academic-industry collaborations. Short term people exchanges between industry and academia are seen as a key way of exchanging skills and knowledge and developing a longer term working relationship. Proximity to Discovery: Industry Engagement Fund can be used for people and knowledge exchange at the very earliest stage of a collaboration and may not necessarily be aligned to a specific project objective. Examples of potential uses include: People exchange that allow for an exchange of skills or knowledge which will enable new collaborative projects to develop; People exchanges between Technology Transfer Offices in Universities and Business Development teams in industry, where the placement will enhance the understanding of each other’s business model and allow them to better support their organisation to develop medical research collaborations with industrial partners; Other creative ways to encourage new collaborations or two-way people exchange to increase the permeability between industry and academia; Projects that would enhance academic understanding of industry or vice versa; Showcases/workshops which enabling Universities to develop relationships with potential industry partners.

Maximum award: £250,000. Closing date: 15/11/16.

Royal Academy of Engineering

The Royal Academy of Engineering, in partnership with the Leverhulme Trust, invites applications for its Senior Research Fellowships. The fellowships allow academics to concentrate on full-time research and be relieved of teaching and administrative responsibilities. The purpose of the Fellowships is to cover the salary costs of a replacement academic who will take over the awardee’s teaching and administration duties for up to one year. A support fund of up to £2,500 is also available to the awardee to cover miscellaneous research costs, such as conference attendance and public engagement activities.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 19/10/16.

Royal Society

The Royal Society invites proposals for its scientific meetings, which offer the opportunity to present an international, two day conference. The call is open to UK based researchers in any field and the discussion throughout the meeting should allow everyone, at any stage of their career, to be involved in the conversation. The award will cover administrative support, a contribution towards speaker, organiser and chair travel expenses and accommodation, logistical support, materials for the meeting, venue, facilities and catering.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 30/9/16.

The Royal Society invites proposals for its Science+ and Fast Track Discussion meetings. These meetings Bring together scientists from around the world to present and discuss new research in all areas of science. Each meeting is organised by leaders in the field, using their expertise to ensure the key topics are covered. The focus on discussion throughout the meeting allows everyone, at any stage of their scientific career, to get involved in the conversation. The programme offers a unique opportunity  to present an international, two-day conference, with the chance for publication in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society following the event.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date:  30/09/16.

Royal Society of Edinburgh

The Royal Society of Edinburgh, in collaboration with the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, invites applications for the BBSRC Enterprise Fellowships. The aim of this scheme is to increase exploitation of ideas with commercial potential from BBSRC supported research. The Enterprise Fellowships are designed to enable an individual to advance the commercialisation of existing research results or technological developments and are tenable for a period of one year within a UK HE or similar academic institution. The Fellowships enable the holder to concentrate on developing the commercial potential of their research, whilst also receiving formal training in relevant business skills.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 19/11/16.

Wellcome Trust

The Wellcome Trust and the National Institutes of Health invite applications for their Four-year PhD Studentships. This scheme offers postgraduate students collaborative PhD training at academic laboratories in the UK or Republic of Ireland and at the National Institutes of Health in the USA. Students usually spend half their time at an academic organisation in the UK/Republic of Ireland and the other half of their time at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus at Bethesda (Maryland, USA). Applicants should have a first class degree or 2:1 (or the European Economic Area equivalent), or be in their final year and predicted to get a first class degree or 2:1. Applicants must also be UK or EEA nationals.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 07/11/16.

If you are interested in submitting to any of the above calls you must contact RKEO with adequate notice before the deadline. Please note that some funding bodies specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your RKEO Funding Development Officer.

You can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s/Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in RKEO or view the recent blog post here. If you are thinking of applying, why not add an expression of interest on Research Professional so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.

International approaches to the investigation of juvenile crime.

Uncategorized

Youth Crime PhotoWorking with researchers, policy makers, police and judiciaries in the UK, U.S.A, Belgium, Netherlands, Singapore, Thailand and Israel, Lesley Laver in SciTech Psychology has been developing provisions for the interviewing of juvenile suspects of crime. As part of the project, she has established links with a number of global institutions to work collaboratively on the improvement of youth interviewing techniques.

The manner in which our young people are interviewed by police is of societal importance because, of the 1 million arrests for criminal offences in the UK each year, around 12% are of children aged 10-17 (Youth Justice Annual Statistics: 2013/2014, Ministry of Justice). Most of these 126,809 juvenile arrests are followed by a police interview. Evidence taken from these interviews contributes to charging, prosecution and custody decisions for young people and plays a role in nearly 100,000 juvenile convictions and cautions a year. The police interview therefore plays a substantial role in a child’s criminal record, future inclusion in the criminal justice system and long-term well-being. However, there is little research or guidance informing the interview process for child suspects of crime. BU plans to be a significant proponent in the development of such guidance and this has begun through work with interested institutions from a variety of cultures.

Child Behind Bars

 

 

Those who are interested in learning about or contributing to this work are urged to contact Lesley Laver to learn about ongoing developments.

Proximity to discovery – industry engagement fund

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team

andrew archery

Medical Research Council, GB

This enables a small number of research organisations to use creative approaches to building relationships with industry partners.

Short term people exchanges between industry and academia are seen as a key way of exchanging skills and knowledge and developing a longer term working relationship. Proximity to Discovery: Industry Engagement Fund can be used for people and knowledge exchange at the very earliest stage of a collaboration and may not necessarily be aligned to a specific project objective.

Funding for individual applications is not expected to exceed £250,000 and it should be spent within 18 months.

Closing date 15 November 2016.

Click here for further information

If you are interested in submitting to this call you must contact your  RKEO Funding Development Officer with adequate notice before the deadline.

For more funding opportunities that are most relevant to you, you can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s/Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in  RKEO or view the recent blog post here.

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

 

Innovation defined? Outcomes and connections ….

EU, Funding opportunities, innovation, international, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team

Innovate 2011v4

Following on from the blog posts (Blog post 1/ Blog post 2  / Blog post 3  last week  on  Innovation the next set of outcomes and connections introduces the concept:

Game changer 4 = UK innovators + Europe and the World

There is of course one set of relationships that will now be redefined, following the referendum decision to leave the European Union.

As reported to the House of Commons inquiry, the current EU programmes, are incredibly important to the UK, providing us with connections to both European collaborators and supply chains.

UK industry, RTOs and Catapult Centres currently win approximately 340 million euros a year of funding from Horizon 2020. It is about one third (31%) of the total funding for the UK and our SMEs win more funding than any other country.

Industry, like science, is a global endeavour and whilst it is critical that we successfully manage the transition of our relationship with the EU, we must also seize the opportunity to build new global connections and to redefine our collaborations and partnerships around the world.

RCUK Policy Internships Scheme

Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team, PG research

PhD students! An exciting internship opportunity has come up. RCUK Policy are looking for PhD students, funded by the UK Research Councils, to work for three months in one of a selected group of highly influential organisations relevant to UK policy. Successful applicants will have the opportunity to work on one or more policy topics of interest. This will give you the chance to participate in a policy inquiry, organise a policy event and produce at least one briefing paper.

The internship is open to all Research Council-funded students. All applicants must be funded until 31 December 2017, to be eligible for the scheme.

Interested? All applications must be submitted by 4pm on Tuesday 1 September 2016. You’ll be notified by the end of September 2016 on the success of your application. If you’re successful, then you’ll be interviewed sometime in October or November.

Click here to find out more information and submit your application.

Fieldwork on Spiritual Tourism and Meditation, Chiang Mai.

Uncategorized

An update from Jaeyeon Choe, Phd (Department of Events & Leisure).

Having explored religious tourism and meditation for over 7 years in the United States, I was excited to collect data on spiritual tourism and outcomes of meditation in Chiang Mai, Thailand in August 2016 so as to incorporate a new geographical context. I was also invited as a visiting researcher at the Centre for Asian Tourism Research at Chiang Mai University, where a working space and library access were kidndly provided for my research activity.

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While my Ph.D., had focused on the nature and outcomes of meditation in the United States, I always wanted to replicate it in a more ‘authentic’ Buddhist destination to see if/how the meditation practices and benefits differ from the U.S. Four years after my PhD, I finally found myself ‘stalking’ research informants in the Old City, Chiang Mai, where the Buddhist temples are concentrated!
The first week of data collection was tough. Approaching the right people at right time and place to build rapport with them was a challenge. I started going to meditation sessions, which led me to hanging out and chatting with particiapnts. This finally lead to formal interviews. Being a participant was key, even though I did not officially do participant observation. My history of meditation practice was also a good ice-breaker. I ended up meditating every day with my ‘potential’ informants and after a few weeks, I was able to finish my in-depth interviews. I learned a lot about the phenomenon.
image (14)      image (12)
One striking thing, was that informants shared more interesting stories when my digital recorder was off, as informants shared sensitive issues and some life events. Many of the western travellers who engaged in meditation in Chiang Mai wouldn’t call themselves tourists, nor Buddhist! In fact, many of them have even moved to Chiang Mai to meditate ‘full-time’. However, the movement wasn’t fully about “authencity.” An informant who moved to Chiang Mai from San Diego argued that the meditation experiences in Chiang Mai is not more authentic than the American meditation experiences. Explaining, the motivations to move to Chiang Mai is an area I am still exploring.
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I met several Thai Buddhist monks who helped my research, and who speak fluent English. I asked them, “Monk, why and how do you speak English fleuntly?” They said, becase of the number of western travellers having been bothering them with questions about meditation! A monk told me that approximately 15 years ago, he was tired of being approached by random western travellers asking him about meditation and monastic life, etc. He decided to create a ‘monk chat’ program and free meditation retreats for western tourists/travellers. He now has 5000 meditation visitors every year! There are also several centers in Chiang Mai who offer one month, two months long meditation retreats and attract many westerners. Why? I think I have found some of the answers from my data collection journey.
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I like to express my appreciation to Chiang Mai University, Wat Suan Dok temple, local monks and all other informants. Some informants were too kind being interviewed for more than two hours, and some have voluntered for follow-up interviews via Skype. If they are doing all this voluntarily, meidtation must have helped them to develop compassionate minds, right? 🙂

CqEJ6KSUMAAFl8G

HE Policy Update

Uncategorized

UCAS

UCAS is considering a clearing overhaul which would allow students to reject their offers and throw their name back into the hat for a better course. The changes would apply to those applicants who have performed better than expected or changed their minds about where they want to study. Major changes to clearing could see students ‘throw their name back into the hat’ after A-level results. (The Telegraph).

Graduate tax

A blog on Wonkhe highlights the disadvantages of a graduate tax, including that many students would pay much more under this system. The post comes after Owen Smith, Labour leadership contender, proposed he would fund university education through a graduate tax system.  The graduate tax: higher education’s zombie idea (Wonkhe).

NSS

A post on Wonkhe looks into what we know about the new NSS. The post discusses the nine new questions on student engagement, optional banks, and the question on student unions. Information, information, information: how is the new NSS shaping up? (Wonkhe).

French universities

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has outlined the higher education reforms he would make if elected president in 2017. He has said that universities should be selective in choosing candidates for undergraduate and masters courses as well as being able to set their tuition fees without any limit imposed by government. Sarkozy proposes ‘explosive’ university reforms (Research Professional).

Recession

A HEFCE blog post looks at what it is like to graduate in a recession. The last recession in the UK resulted in the proportion of 2007-08 graduates in professional roles falling by 3 percentage points compared to the previous year. However, after a further 12 months of economic contraction, the impact on the graduates of 2008-09 was worse as the rate fell by 4 percentage points. What happens if you graduate in a recession? (HEFCE).

Visa applications

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics there has been a fall in the number of students from outside the European Union applying for visas to study at UK universities. Number of visa applications for university study falls (THE).

Brexit

The Times Higher reports that British universities will not immediately press the government to seek associated country status in European Union research programmes after Brexit, but will instead explore all options to find a politically acceptable solution. Brexit: UK considers alternative options to EU research association (THE).

NCCPE Engage Conference – Could you submit anything

Uncategorized

The NCCPE’s Engage conference will be running 29th/ 30th November 2016 and they’re currently looking for content under the following key themes:

• Culture change: creating a culture where engagement is valued and supported
• Effective practice: sharing insights into high quality engagement practice
• Engaged research: creating impactful research
• Engaged students: the role of engagement within teaching and learning
• New ideas: taking our thinking forward about the role of engagement within higher education

If you think you could offer something take a look at the full call here and contact Naomi Kay in RKEO if you would like financial support to fund travel/ accommodation for the conference.

Widening Participation Fieldnotes: Emotional Work

BU research, Centre for Excellence in Learning, Knowledge Exchange

20160826_092210

BU’s Fair Access Research project concentrates on the idea of learning and working together to transform higher education. We are interested in how widening participation works differently in different institutions.

With this in mind, Maggie Hutchings and Alex Wardrop have been doing some fieldwork with colleagues in the north of England.

Widening participation is emerging as emotional work.  It is an emotional labour which sees personal stories intersect with and sometimes rub up against complex economic and political landscapes.

You can join us in this collective reflection and learning exercise by contributing to our survey. For more information about the organisational learning project, email Maggie on mhutchings@bournemouth.ac.uk

For more information about BU’s innovative Fair Access Research, email the Principal Investigators, Dr Vanessa Heaslip (vheaslip@bournemouth.ac.uk) and Dr Clive Hunt (chunt@bournemouth.ac.uk)

Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team Summer Sucesses

Research news

Over the past month or two the Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team (KEIT) have had quite a few successes we’re #BUProud of so we thought we’d share them.

Firstly we’re delighted that HEIF5+1 has been extended to HEIF5+1+1 and that there will be a further 12 projects funded until August 2017  – to find out more take a look at Jayne’s post about it here

In case you haven’t spotted it Rachel has also been working hard with the PR team to do some comms around our Olympic themed research. This content was shared internally, externally & on social media and had some good engagement which led to Bryce Dyer and Osman Ahmed being interviewed on Wave 105 & Tim Rees being featured in the Independent.

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She’s also been working with Alex Wardrop to have her research on how to improve access to higher education featured in Times Higher.

Thanks to Charlene’s hard work the Student Project Bank is almost up and running! We will be launching to students in October and are planning a pilot event for September/October – more information to follow soon!

I’ve also been working hard with Genna to finish the wash up report for Festival of Learning and we’re pleased to say that event with less events we still had over 4,500 visits over the course of 5 days compared to 5,000 over a week with an additional 50 activities in 2015.  We’re already planning madly for next year when we’ll be running FoL from 8-12th July, mark the date in your diary and start thinking of your event ideas!

We’re also hugely proud to announce we’ve launched our impact toolkit aiming at supporting the academic community to develop and record impactful research.  This is available here on the blog and contains helpful tips and examples of case studies.  There is also a handy mini-guide available in a printed format floating around the campus or available from anyone in the team.

Finally we’re very pleased to greet our two newest members of the team, Joanna Pawlik and Hannah Jones who will be working as the Event Coordinator/ Student Engagement Coordinator (respectively) for the next 12 months.

 

Innovation defined? Outcomes and connections …

innovation, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team

Innovate 2011v4

Following on from the  2 blog posts (Blog post 1/ Blog post 2)  earlier this week on  Innovation the next set of outcomes and connections introduces the concept:

Game changer 3 = UK innovators + crowding forward investment

A key criterion for public sector investment is that it is “additional”, that it doesn’t crowd out willing private sector investment.

Indeed, the goal of Innovate UK is quite the opposite – to crowd in private sector investment by building private sector confidence in tackling the markets of the future.

We shouldn’t, though, be satisfied with just simply crowding-in private sector investment; we should be proactively crowding it forward.

Leveraging the structure and robustness of Innovate UK’s competitions as a strategic platform through which the private sector (commercial and 3rd sector) can gain the confidence it needs to invest both earlier and more widely.

Game changing new connections to the ecosystem
Game changing new connections to the ecosystem

Read the blog post in full on Innovate UK’s website.

The Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellowships – funding available for post docs and recent graduates

Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team

money and cogs

The Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellowships scheme is now open for applications. The scheme supports both post-doctoral academics and recent graduates.

Enterprise Fellowships stimulate excellence and encourage creativity and innovation in engineering by supporting the founders and leaders of tomorrow’s high-tech companies, be they spin outs or start-ups. The awards provide money-can’t-buy bespoke support and one-to-one mentoring from the Academy’s Fellowship, which is composed of some of the country’s most successful engineers from across academia and industry. Support is provided to both university-based academics wishing to spin-out a company, and also to recent graduates wishing to create a company.

Prior experience of commercialisation activities is not required, the desire and capability to succeed is more important and we will equip you with the necessary skills through a programme of training and mentoring.

Awardees receive up to £60,000 funding, 12 months expert mentoring from successful entrepreneurs, bespoke training and membership of the Enterprise Hub.

The Academy is a charity and does not take any equity stake in the companies formed.

So if you are a postdoctoral researcher at a UK-based university with an innovation or technology you wish to develop through a spin-out, or you have graduated within the last five years and are seeking to run a startup in the UK, then this scheme will be of interest to you.

The application deadline is Monday 17 October, and more details are available on the website, or contact the enterprise team.

Funding Competition: Commercialisation of Quantum Technologies (Innovate UK & EPSRC)

Funding opportunities, Info Days, innovation, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Team

money

Innovate UK and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are to invest a total of £19.5 million to support projects in Quantum Technologies. Projects may involve technologies belonging to one of the core groups defined in the UK’s roadmap for quantum technologies: clocks, sensors, imaging, communications or computing.

The call is now open, the registration deadline is 28th September and the call closes at noon on the 5th October.

Projects must be industry-led, but projects involving academics as partners are welcome, provided academic costs do not exceed 50% of the total.

Up to £6 million will be available for Feasibility Studies, which will fund the development of early stage devices, component technologies and for marketing studies. Projects will last up to 12 months and have total costs of £50k- £400k.

The Collaborative R&D call will seek to connect the supply chain, to deliver a demonstrator technology and must include an end user. A fund of £13.5 million is available. Total project values should be £500k – £2 million, but an addition 10% is available which can only be used for capital equipment, taking the maximum project value to £2.2 million.

The call brief is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/funding-competition-commercialisation-of-quantum-technologies

Networking and briefing events – click on the links for more information  as dates, times, venues and content of the events do vary.

6 September

8 September

13 September

If you are interested in this call  you must contact RKEO with adequate notice before the deadline. Please note that some funding bodies specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your RKEO Funding Development Officer.

You can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s/Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in RKEO or view the recent blog post here. If you are thinking of applying, why not add an expression of interest on Research Professional so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.