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Defence Academic Pathways – Validation and verification of intelligent systems

Business Engagement, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

events
PraxisUnico is working with the Defence Academic Pathways (DAP) group on this free event for the research community to explore research needs in the validation and verification of intelligent systems.

Intelligent systems may offer great benefits in being able to adapt to a changing environment and offer complex, rapid decision making made beyond human reach. Research into intelligent systems is needed to enable and improve confidence in their safe and secure employment in the public space. There is a clear need to ensure that intelligent systems will operate as expected, exhibit desirable behaviours and deliver the required outcomes in rapidly changing environments.

This workshop hopes to identify those future research themes required for the correct validation and verification of intelligent systems whilst ensuring that potentially autonomous behaviour remains under human control, and will employ a number of scenarios where the use of an intelligent system or groups of intelligent systems would provide value. Breakout groups will explore each scenario to determine the evidence required to sufficiently validate and verify safe and secure intelligent systems.

The workshop aims and objectives are;

  • To understand the validation and verification challenges raised by each scenario.
  • To determine the research themes required to meet these validation and verification challenges.
  • To inform legislative bodies on any necessary verification and validation solutions to ensure safe and secure employment of intelligent systems.
  • To provide a forum that can be used to strengthen research applications submitted to the EPSRC via the Standard Mode.

DAP is a partnership directed by Dstl and includes major industrial partners BAE Systems, GE, MBDA, Leonardo UK, NPL, QinetiQ and Thales, together with representatives from EPSRC, Innovate UK and a University liaison advisor.

The DAP partnership represents a significant number of the 15 most frequently cited companies from the Research Excellence Framework (REF) impact case study analysis and the data on collaborative projects compiled by the Dowling Review. The companies represented by DAP have a proven track record for effective university-business collaboration; DAP was created to facilitate this process through e.g. assigning IP rights arising from collaborations to the university partner as standard.

This event, supported by DAP, is free of charge, and will feature workshops to explore research needs in the validation and verification of intelligent systems. The event will take place at the UK’s technology and innovation centre for intelligent mobility, the Transport Systems Catapult (Milton Keynes)on Thursday 8 September 2016.

Who should attend and why:

The workshop should be attended by research professionals involved with intelligent systems, machine learning, robotics, or the validation and verification of software systems. The intention of this workshop is to scrutinise potential exploitation paths to support the definition of future research themes. For further information please contact DAP@mail.dstl.gov.uk

About PraxisUnico

supports KEC in the UK, and works with key stakeholders and partners to promote best practice in the sector

Successful Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation (KEC) is essential to the economic growth of the UK.

PraxisUnico develops knowledge exchange and technology transfer professionals with our world-leading training, connect members and stakeholders at our events and promote best practice for our sector. We facilitate interactions between the public sector research base, business and government; bringing together key stakeholders to debate, educate and inform.

 

Working with Students’ Unions for Widening Participation

Centre for Excellence in Learning

SUBU1

The Fair Access Research project is having a busy summer! Hot on the heals of the powerful workshop Visible Students/Invisible Needs, we’ve been working with SUBU on the Partnerships for Widening Participation project.

This week we filmed some video clips with our new full-time officers and colleagues from across the university. Next week we’ve invited experts from the HE sector to come and participate in a workshop exploring why working with Students’ Unions matters for widening participation.

We are trying to nurture a culture of solidarity, trust and care to help transform what higher education looks like. 

invisible students

We want to explore how the sector is working and learning together for widening participation research, policy and practice. We’ve designed a survey to find out how the policies and ideas of widening participation are being learnt and lived in different organisations.

Feel free to share this survey with colleagues working in all areas of higher education. If you want to know more about the survey, get in touch with Maggie  or Alex.

Thank you to everyone who has supported the Fair Access Research project through the year.

For more information about the Fair Access Research project please email the Principle Investigators, Dr Vanessa Heaslip and Dr Clive Hunt.

 

 

Big data – helping cities solving planning challenges

Business Engagement, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

Data-science-history

A data platform developed with support of Innovate UK is helping big cities to plan services such as transport, education and housing.

A data science business is helping London to plan its services thanks to a new decision-making platform. Mastodon C won a £2 million SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) contract in a ‘future cities’ competition to find ways of meeting the challenges faced by urban areas.

Mastodon C is working with the Greater London Authority to develop and test its Witan platform in a project supported by Innovate UK.

Witan provides modelling tools and data management processes to help solve real challenges faced by cities and their partners, and is already being used by 33 London boroughs. Witan is being used by the London boroughs to see how latest housing projections will affect the spread of population up to 2041. The work used to take specialist staff weeks to do but can now be generated in minutes. The results will help council officials to plan many services including where the demand is likely to be for services such as school places, waste disposal, and housing.

Francine Bennett, chief executive and co-founder of Mastodon C, said: “Our motto is ‘big data done better’. That has two meanings. What we do with big data, we do very well technically. We are also interested in better applications of big data and data science, building applications that improve people’s lives as well as work for the business.”

Click here for the full story.

 

 

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Robotics and autonomous systems: apply for innovation funding

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

robot_in_tomorrows_world

Competiton is open now!

There will be a briefing webinar on 27 July 2016

Find out more about this competition and apply

In brief:

Innovate UK is inviting businesses to apply for a share of £5 million to develop innovative applications of robotics and autonomous systems. Innovate UK and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are to invest up to £5 million in robotics and autonomous systems (RAS) projects.

The aim of this competition is to help UK companies explore new RAS opportunities. It will enable them to develop capabilities for applications in many sectors of the UK economy.

We are looking for proposals that will speed up the development of RAS technologies towards demonstration and commercialisation.

Proposals can be for systems that are physical, for example a next generation robot. They can also be digital only, for example an automated decision-making system.

Robots that are independent of human control can learn, adapt and take decisions. These could revolutionise our economy and society over the next 20 years. Disruptive technologies related to RAS include mobile internet, automation of knowledge work, advanced robotics, and automated and autonomous vehicles.

These technologies have the potential for an annual economic impact of US$9.8 to US$19.3 trillion in 2025. The UK has world-leading strengths in the underlying science and engineering that contributes to RAS. It also has access to the markets that could exploit them.

Key information:

  • There will be a briefing webinar on 27 July 2016
  • The registration deadline is noon on 19 October 2016
  • The application deadline is noon on 26 October 2016
  • Projects should range in size from total costs of £50,000 to £500,000
  • Projects should last between 6 and 15 months
  • You must complete the work and incur, pay and claim for all costs before the end of March 2018
  • A business must lead the project
  • Projects with costs of £100,000 or above must be collaborative

Find out more about this competition and apply.

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.

IFOMPT 2016

conferences, PG research

ifmopt-2016

I was delighted to present this month at a large international conference, IFOMPT 2016, in Glasgow. The International Federation of Orthopaedic Manipulative Physical Therapists (IFOMPT) is an international body composed of many national groups specialising in post-graduate musculoskeletal physiotherapy. This is the first time the IFOMPT Conference, which is held every four years, has been hosted in the UK since 1988. This conference presented an ideal opportunity to promote the reputation of BU, the new Orthopaedic Research Institute, and AECC (where the research was undertaken).
I gave a poster presentation on work related to my PhD research into the mechanism of spinal manipulation in the treatment of neck pain. I was really pleased that there was a good bit of interest in the poster and I made useful contacts in Japan, China, USA – and Bournemouth! I was able to tempt some people I admire to my poster by posting the picture below on Twitter and sending to the Twitterati I knew were at the conference – social media works (I was not begging for attention, honest).

Come and see my poster!

Come and see my poster!

The other cool bit of technology I used for the first time at this conference was the conference app – no conference abstract booklet to have to carry around in a tacky conference bag for a couple of days.

Is a paper copy of conference proceedings now a thing of the past?

Is a paper copy of conference proceedings now a thing of the past?

The app had everything – the full itinerary, abstracts (including those of the 190 posters), and there were biographies and contact details for all the speakers and most of the delegates too. Networking can be exhausting and intimidating – this enabled me to contact people directly whom I wanted to discuss my research with and contributed to an excellent conference experience.
If you’d like to know more about the conference, or my research into the mechanism of spinal manipulation, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. (You can get a copy of my poster by clicking here).

Dr Jonny Branney
Faculty of Health and Social Sciences
jbranney@bournemouth.ac.uk

Public engagement opportunity for conservation researchers

Public engagement opportunity for academics and PGRS!

On September 14th we are running a lecture day in the EBC with a conservation theme, open to the public and members of the U3a (University of the 3rd Age). We are looking for speakers to present an hour long lecture. It’s a brilliant opportunity to share your research/area of expertise to the public and can open some thought provoking discussion.

If you’re interested in being a part of the lecture day, please contact Katie Breadmore: kbreadmore@bournemouth.ac.uk/61356

Call For Contributions: Engage 2016

Knowledge Exchange

Engage is the NCCPE’s annual conference, held in Bristol each year and providing an opportunity for all those interested in HEI public engagement to come together, to be inspired, challenged and refreshed.

Engage 2016 will be taking place on the 29th & 30th November, and they are now inviting expressions of interest from anyone who would like to make a contribution to the programme.

Featuring the finalists for this year’s Engage competition, the conference will celebrate the diversity of engaged practice across the UK. The conference will provide an opportunity both to take stock and to move forwards with our engagement work. Encouraging new ways of thinking about engagement and how to support it, the conference will provide stimulation and challenge, inspiring us to develop quality practice. What are the opportunities and challenges going forward? How can we draw on expertise inside and outside the sector to inform our thinking and our approach?

The NCCPE are looking for workshops, interactive experiences, dialogue events, performances, and conversations that catalyse new ways of thinking.

Contributions can be formatted as either a 1 hour workshop or a 10 minute interactive contribution, and must contribute to one or more of the following 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

For more details, and to submit a session proposal, please see their website. The deadline for submissions is 13th September.

For more information, please contact Naomi Kay – nkay@bournemouth.ac.uk

Making the Most of Writing Week Part 3: Research grant applications – choosing a funder

Guidance, writing

Since next week (25-29 July) is Writing Week in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences (but anyone interested in health research can come and see us), we’ll be giving you some tips on ways to make the most of the dedicated writing time as well as letting you know which members of the BU Clinical Research Unit team can help you and when they are available (see table below).

availability

In yesterday’s post we covered how we can help you build a research team. Step 3 focuses on choosing a suitable funder for your research project. You may be an established researcher with several grants already under your belt and a fair idea about the funders that are appropriate for your area of research. Whatever stage you’re at it’s important to target the right funder. Ensure your research idea fits with the funder’s strategic aims and priorities. Do they fund solely quantitative research, or do they prefer a mixed-methods approach? Do they have open investigator-led calls or commissioned calls only? Although it’s not all about the money, ensure the funder has a sufficient funding limit for your project – an under-costed project will be obvious to a funder and is unlikely to be successful.

If you’re not sure where to start Lisa Gale-Andrews (lgaleandrews@bournemouth.ac.uk) can help identify suitable health research funders for your project. She will be available all day Monday-Thursday during Writing Week if you’d like to pop in (R506).

There’s more to come on grant applications over the next few days including research design, and the importance of patient and public involvement (PPI).

Making the Most of Writing Week Part 2: Research grant applications – building a team

Guidance, writing

Next week (25-29 July) is Writing Week in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences. A whole week dedicated to freeing up some time for academic writing. So, how can you make the most of this opportunity? Over the next few days, we’ll give you some tips on ways to spend your Writing Week as well as letting you know which members of the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) team can help you and when they are available.

Writing Week is not just about writing papers – it also provides an opportunity to finally start thinking about that piece of research you’ve been dying to do. In BUCRU we have a wealth of expertise to support health research, and several members of our team are also members of the NIHR Research Design Service (more to come on that in a later blog). The next few posts cover our speciality subject – research grant applications.

Step 2 is thinking about your research team. You might have a great idea for a research project, but do you have the right people to ensure a strong, supportive team who can deliver the research? Depending on your research question, you might need a multi/interdisciplinary team of academics from different disciplines, clinicians, nurses, Allied Health Professionals etc. You may have a good network around you already, but what do you do if you don’t? Lisa Gale-Andrews is Clinical Research Co-ordinator in BUCRU, and can help facilitate research collaborations particularly with clinicians in the local health service and with academics across Faculties. Please contact Lisa (lgaleandrews@bournemouth.ac.uk) if you’re looking for contacts and for support in building your research team. She will be available all day Mon-Thurs during Writing Week if you’d like to pop in (R506).

There’s more to come on grant applications over the next few days including choosing a funder, research design, and the importance of patient and public involvement (PPI).

NERC Peer Review College call for membership 2016

ANERCpplication deadline: 15 August 2016

NERC is recruiting for Peer Review College (PRC) members, core panel members and panel chairs to refresh its current membership and support its peer review processes. College members have a vitally important role in the peer review of discovery science grants and provide specialist advice, either by reviewing individual grant applications or by acting as panel members and panel chairs. College membership provides an excellent opportunity to represent the NERC community and hold a critical position, providing the subject expertise which is essential to the effectiveness of the NERC’s decision-making processes.

NERC are looking for members with experience in all types of environmental sciences, including observational sciences. Those selected will play a vital role in determining the research that NERC funds and in maintaining its quality.

In particular, NERC would like to enhance membership with the following areas of expertise:

  • Aerosol science
  • Argon-argon dating
  • Atmospheric convection
  • Atmospheric modelling
  • Climate modelling
  • Geo-dynamo
  • Geological carbon storage
  • Marine biology
  • Meteorology (weather prediction / extreme events / techniques)
  • Multiphase fluid flow
  • Physical oceanography
  • Plant biology
  • Population modelling
  • Satellite retrievals
  • Science based archaeology
  • Sea ice
  • Solar terrestrial physics
  • Statistical ecology
  • Theoretical ecology

NERC is committed to the principle of providing equal opportunities for all. NERC are keen to attain more diversity in our public appointments, so would welcome applications from a range of candidates from all backgrounds and from across all sectors of our diverse communities.

All appointments would start from 1 January 2017.

We are seeking candidates for the following roles:

Panel chairs

Nine exceptional individuals are required to take on the key role of chairing our discovery science moderating panels and fellowship sift and interview panels in each of our panel portfolio areas.

In the first year of appointment, successful applicants will act as deputy to the existing chairs, before taking up the post of chair themselves in January 2018. Chairs will be recruited for four years (one year as a deputy plus three as a chair). They will be required to attend an annual chairs meeting and must be prepared to hold the dates that will be provided for future moderating panel meetings.

PRC chair application form (Word, 56KB)

Core panel members

Individuals are required to join the core membership of each of our panel portfolios areas.

Core members are needed to join the existing panel portfolios. These members will be asked to complete reviews in the same way as other Peer Review College members but will have lead responsibility for attending moderating panel meetings to ensure consistency within and between different panel areas and funding schemes.

PRC core application form (Word, 56KB)

Peer Review College members

New college members with a high level of expertise and experience.

PRC members will have a lead responsibility for completing reviews as part of the peer review process but will be asked to attend moderating panels meetings where their expertise is required, according to the proposals submitted.

PRC member application form (Word, 54KB)

Conditions of membership

In accepting the invitation to join the college, all members are expected to agree to NERC’s terms and conditions for membership.

College terms and conditions (PDF, 71KB)

Application process

All roles are open to any members of the environmental sciences community who meet the criteria for membership. Recruitment to the core membership will be focused on members of the PRC who have performed well with reviewing and on panels, and who meet any extra criteria for the PRC core. Recruitment to the chair roles will be mainly from the core membership. In exceptional cases, there may also be a case for inviting other individuals, who have previously contributed significantly to NERC peer review, to cover particular expertise needs or to help address the current gender imbalance.

NERC require detailed information about each candidate’s expertise, experience and suitability for the roles on offer, as detailed in the membership criteria.

Criteria for membership (PDF, 73KB)

Each application must be supported by a senior colleague within a higher education institution or other research organisation. The supporting statement can be associated with different organisations if appropriate.

Email the completed form to by 15 August 2016, along with a CV (maximum two sides A4 including a list of publications).

Applicants will be informed of decisions in October 2016.

Selection process and criteria

NERC welcome UK-based applicants / nominees from all research backgrounds who are ready to make the necessary commitment to the peer review process. NERC will consider how applicants / nominees fit our criteria for membership for each role.

They also need to ensure coverage of NERC’s wide remit and to avoid over-representation from any single department or organisation. Therefore they cannot always invite even excellent candidates to join the college when they apply.

NERC Peer Review College chairs and members of Science Board will be involved in the selection of Peer Review College members. Membership will be posted on the NERC Peer Review College website when the recruitment has been finalised.

Further information

Further information on college membership is available online or by contacting:

Andy Adams
Peer review college manager
01793 442503

Emma Devine
Peer review college co-ordinator
01793 411792

Making the Most of Writing Week Part 1: Be Prepared!

writing

Next week (25-29 July) is Writing Week in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences. A whole week dedicated to freeing up some time for academic writing. So, how can you make the most of this opportunity? Over the next few days, we’ll give you some tips on ways to spend your Writing Week.

Step 1 is to set a goal for the week… but make it realistic. Unless you are one of the lucky people who find it easy to write, you won’t be able to produce a whole grant proposal/manuscript in that time but you can make a start. Go through that list of jobs you’ve been putting off until you “have more time” and decide how you will spend your week.

Don’t forget the BU Clinical Research Unit team are here to help not only HSS researchers but anyone involved in health research. Below is a list of who is available and how each of us can help.

availability

Royal Academy of Engineering Public Engagement Awards

Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange

If you have an imaginative idea that helps engineers to communicate their expertise and passion to a wider audience – The Royal Academy of Engineering invites applications for its public engagement awards. These support projects that engage the public with engineers and engineering. Projects should aim to achieve the following:

•inspire public engagement with engineering;

•stimulate engineers to share their stories, passion and expertise in innovative ways with wider audiences;

•develop engineers’ communication and engagement skills;

•create debate between engineers and people of all ages to raise awareness of the diversity, nature and impact of engineering.

Awards are worth between £3,000 to £30,000 per project.

 

The latest round of the Ingenious scheme is now open to applications, and the closing date is 4pm on Monday 17 October 2016.

Find out more at: http://www.raeng.org.uk/grants-and-prizes/ingenious-grant or contact Naomi Kay for more details: nkay@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

UKRO – ERC Starting Grant Information and Proposal Writing Events

Funding opportunities

UKRO logo​​​In its capacity as UK National Contact Point for the European Research Council (ERC), the UK Research Office, in partnership with the hosting institutions, is holding two events for researchers who are interested in applying for the next ERC Starting Grants call. The events are scheduled as follows:

•University of York, Monday 5 September 2016, 13:30 – 17:00

•King’s College London​, Tuesday 6 September 2016, 10:00 – 13:00

​​The scheme is designed to support Principal Investigators (PIs) at the stage at which they are starting their own independent research team or programme. To be eligible for the 2017 call, the PI must have been awarded their PhD between two and seven years prior to 1 January 2017 (extendable in certain strict cases).

The next ERC Starting Grant call is not yet available on the Participant Portal but please refer to the ERC website for all information about this and other ERC calls.

BU staff can also register, via BU subscription, on the UKRO website to receive announcements concerning EU funding direct to your own inbox – make sure that you hear first!

If you are considering applying, please contact Emily Cieciura, REKO’s Research Facilitator: EU & International, in the first instance.

British Academy announce call closing dates

Funding opportunities

british_academy_logoThe British Academy have released their latest call closing date information for various schemes.  Details of these can be found on the ‘Standard Funder Calls’ page of the research blog.

More detail on each of the calls is shown below:

  • Mid-Career Fellowships Outline Stage
  • http://www.britac.ac.uk/british-academy-mid-career-fellowships
  • Scheme Opens: 10th August 2016
  • Deadline for Applicants: 14th September 2016
  • Deadline for Institutional Approval: 15th September 2016
  • Deadline for Referees: 22nd September 2016
  • Result of Outline Stage Announcement: December 2016

 

  • BA/Leverhulme Senior Research Fellowships
  • http://www.britac.ac.uk/baleverhulme-senior-research-fellowships
  • Scheme Opens: 12th October 2016
  • Deadline for Applicants: 16th November 2016
  • Deadline for Institutional Approval: 17th November 2016
  • Deadline for Referees: 24th November 2016
  • Final Award Announcement expected: 31st March 2017
  • Earliest Award Start Date: 1st September 2017
  • Latest Award Start Date: 1st January 2018

 

  • Wolfson Research Professorships
  • http://www.britac.ac.uk/wolfson-research-professorships
  • Scheme Opens: 28th September 2016
  • Deadline for Applicants: 23rd November 2016
  • Deadline for Institutional Approval: 24th November 2016
  • Deadline for Referees: 1st December 2016
  • Final Award Announcement expected: 31st March 2017
  • Earliest Award Start Date: 1st September 2017
  • Latest Award Start Date: 1st January 2018

 

  • Postdoctoral Fellowships Outline Stage
  • http://www.britac.ac.uk/british-academy-postdoctoral-fellowships
  • Scheme Opens: 24th August 2016
  • Deadline for Applicants: 5th October 2016
  • Deadline for Institutional Approval: 6th October 2016
  • Deadline for Referees: 13th October 2016
  • Result of Outline Stage Announcement: January 2017

 

  • BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants (Autumn 2016)
  • http://www.britac.ac.uk/baleverhulme-small-research-grants-0
  • Scheme Opens: 1st September 2016
  • Deadline for Applicants: 12th October 2016
  • Deadline for Institutional Approval: 13th October 2016
  • Deadline for Referees: 27th October 2016
  • Final Award Announcement expected: 31st March 2017
  • Earliest Award Start Date: 1st April 2017
  • Latest Award Start Date: 31st August 2017

 

  • BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants (Spring 2017)
  • http://www.britac.ac.uk/baleverhulme-small-research-grants-0
  • Scheme Opens: 12th April 2017
  • Deadline for Applicants: 24th May 2017
  • Deadline for Institutional Approval: 25th May 2017
  • Deadline for Referees: 8th June 2017
  • Final Award Announcement expected: 31st August 2017
  • Earliest Award Start Date: 1st September 2017
  • Latest Award Start Date: 31st March 2018

Please note that this is not a final list of all the schemes that will be opening this year.  Timetables for other schemes are being finalised by the British Academy.  If you are interested in applying for any of these calls then please contact your RKEO Funding Development Officer in the first instance.