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Visible Students/Invisible Needs: Fair Access Event

Centre for Excellence in Learning

I Extend My Arms 1931 or 1932 Claude Cahun 1894-1954 Purchased 2007 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/P79319

I Extend My Arms 1931 or 1932 by Claude Cahun 

Monday 11th July

10:00-14:00 

EBC 202 and 203

We are living through a time of great change and discontent the sector and the country. Finding spaces for hope, solace and respect seem even more important then they usually do.

Members of the Fair Access Research project are trying to make just such a space on Monday 11th July.

We are extending our arms to you to invite you all to an event where we share with you our research and find ways work and learn together at a time when partnership is so vital.

During the workshop we will engage in debates and participate in group activities as we work together to make visible the invisible needs of all of our students.

There will be a poster exhibition showcasing the variety of widening participation activities happening across the university.

The workshop is open to staff across all faculties and for professional service staff interested in this area. We want to collectively work to make the university and higher education a more equitable, more socially just place for our students, our selves and our society.

Lunch will be provided.

Here is our invitation. To book a place email awardrop@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

 

 

 

Your Research: Science for Global Good

Funding opportunities

UKCDSUKCDS have launched  ‘Your Research: Science for Global Good’ a new researcher hub with information for researchers who want to use their knowledge and skills to help tackle global development challenges. The hub includes inspiring case studies from nanotechnology to behavioural science, a new funding hub with an overview of the main programmes within the UK, such as the Newton Fund and Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), and tips for building partnerships.

This is an excellent source of information for anyone interested in applying for funding, particularly those who want to tap into the £1.5bn funding available from GCRF (see my blog article on this fund for more information).

UK Collaborative on Development Sciences (UKCDS) is a group of 14 UK government departments and research funders working in international development.

The Graduate School @ ARMA

PG research

CaptureEvery year the Association of Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA) Conference welcomes research professionals from all over the country to share the latest knowledge, experience and best practice around professional research support. This year the Graduate School attended the ARMA conference hosted in my home city of Birmingham. It was great that our paper entitled ‘A New Model of Training for Doctoral Supervisors at Bournemouth University’ was accepted to be presented at the conference (which attracted over 300 delegates) as it gave us a great opportunity to showcase some of the innovative work being done by the Graduate School. The paper, which highlighted our commitment to the ongoing enhancement of postgraduate supervisory training, was extremely well received and stimulated interesting discussion around the topic. Since the conference, Dr Julia Taylor (Graduate School Academic Manager) has been asked to join the ARMA PGR Special Interest Group as well as provide additional presentations on this topic at future ARMA events. We look forward to our next conference at the UKCGE where we will also be presenting a conference paper.

Brexit: The future for UK Higher Education

Since the announcement last Friday 24th June that the UK had voted to leave the EU, some light has been shed on the implications for UK universities.

The Minister for Universities and Science, Jo Johnson MP released a statement on 28th June on higher education and research following the EU referendum.

  • He confirmed that EU citizens currently studying in the UK or starting their courses in September 2016 will continue to receive loans until they finish their courses.
  • There will be no immediate changes concerning immigration rules of British students living in the EU, and European students living in the UK.
  • There are no changes to students studying in the EU, beneficiaries of Erasmus+ or those considering applying in 2017.
  • There will be no immediate effect on those applying to or participating in Horizon 2020.

Brexit should therefore not result in any immediate changes. However, there could be significant changes in the years to come, although this will depend on the arrangements negotiated between the UK and EU. The negotiations could begin when a new Prime Minister is announced, this will definitely be by October 2016, but could be as early as September with the conservative contenders due to launch their leadership bids imminently.    They could take up to two years, or even longer (if the EU partners all agree).

Although there is uncertainty ahead about the impact of Brexit for UK higher education, there have been some positive reports about the possible future of the sector’s relationship with the EU. On the 28th June, the Italian Prime Minister said he wanted to find a way for UK students to gain passports while they studied for degree courses. Additionally, the Independent has outlined some reasons to be optimistic about the future relationship of the UK universities and the EU, and states that as long as the UK government commits to higher education, and recognises the role it plays, the future for the sector could remain bright.   An article including quotes from the Minister in the THE is also interesting.

Our Vice-Chancellor has commented in an updated statement and Jane Forster has written a blog on what happens in HE after the vote.

Update on EU funding and the HE and Research Bill

BIS logoBIS have issued a statement on the HE and Research Bill.  Do click on the link to view the statement in full.  In terms of the Bill, BIS has said “As the prime minister set out last week, the government will continue taking forward the important legislation that was set before Parliament in the Queen’s speech, including the higher education and research bill,”.

Speaking at a House of Commons debate on 27 June, David Cameron said that all Horizon 2020 contracts “will be honoured for their duration”. “Science is an area in which we get more out from Europe than we put in and we’ll certainly want to safeguard that for the future,” Cameron said.  An article explaining this further can be read on the Research Professional site.

The European Commission has also published the following statement: ‘Following the referendum result in the United Kingdom, DG Education and Culture, which is responsible for EU programmes such as Erasmus+, Creative Europe and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions, has received many questions from partners and participants.  According to the Treaties which the United Kingdom has ratified, EU law continues to apply to the full to and in the United Kingdom until it is no longer a Member. This therefore also applies to the projects financed through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions.’

Please do keep writing your funding applications to the EU and get in touch with the RKEO Funding Development Team for support.

Would you like to test the new research council grants system?

Je-S logoThe research councils are replacing their electronic grants submission service, Je-S, in 2017.  More information about this project can be found here http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/funding/2017update/

They are looking for more people to get involved in user research. Can you help?

Initially they are looking for researchers; they need to test with both people who have never applied for a research grant through the Je-S system before as well as those who are more frequent applicants.  At this stage they will predominantly be testing prototypes with users.  User testing will be carried out throughout the year in a number of formats, such as site visits, remotely over Skype, or through labs where users go to a central location nearby.

Test sessions will take between half an hour to an hour.  If you are interested in being a tester then please can you let me, Jo Garrad, know by 15th July 2016.  You will need to provide me with the following information:

  1. Name
  2. Organisation
  3. Academic Discipline (high level)
  4. Email address and telephone number
  5. Have you got experience of applying for grants? yes/no
  6. Are you likely to apply for grants in the future but haven’t done so to date? yes/no
  7. Do you work in a research development, finance or other research office role? yes/no
  8. Have you conducted peer reviews for the Research Councils or any other funder before? yes/no
  9. Have you sat on an assessment or moderating panel for the Research Councils or any funder before? yes/no

What’s been happening at the research councils?

Funding opportunities

RCUKlogoAs you will know, the Government has published a White Paper which details its planned policy to reform support for higher education and research, including proposals on the future of the Research Councils. ‘Success as a Knowledge Economy’ outlines how Government intends to take forward the implementation of the recommendations of Sir Paul Nurse’s Review.  What does this mean for the research councils, and more importantly, how will this affect the pots of money available for funding?

The quick facts on the over-arching changes are as follows:

  • New organisation to be formed: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI replaces RCUK (can you spot the difference?)) with John Kingman (HM Treasury) being appointed as interim Chair of the board for UKRIJohn Kingman
  • This will include the seven research councils plus Innovate UK and part of HEFCE (Research England)
  • New organisation to be headed by a single Chief Executive/Accounting Officer with existing RC Chief Executives to become ‘Executive Chairs’
  • Councils will retain names and will each have a council of 7-10 individuals (Council members will no longer be ministerial appointments)

The role of the UKRI will be as follows:

  • UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a new research and innovation funding body that will allocate funding for research and innovation and act as a champion for the UK’s world class system.
  • The names and brands of the Research Councils and Innovate UK will be retained.
  • UKRI will have a strong board with responsibility for leading on overall strategic direction, cross-cutting decision making and advising the Secretary of State on the balance of funding between research disciplines.
  • The board will manage funds with cross-disciplinary impact and a ‘common research fund’ as proposed by Sir Paul Nurse.
  • They will retain and strengthen leadership in specific research discipline areas, innovation and England only research funding by establishing nine Councils within UKRI with delegated autonomy and authority.
  • The Councils will be responsible for the strategic leadership of their disciplines and on scientific, research and innovation matters.
  • The Secretary of State will set budgets for each of the nine Councils through an annual grant letter.
  • There would be a new legislative protection for the dual support system in England and they are formally restating the Government’s commitment to the Haldane principle.

The second reading of the Bill is likely to be in July and it will then go to the ‘Commons Committee’ for intensive work for 6-8 weeks.  However, given the current uncertainty of who will be running the country and which MPs will form a new cabinet, this could change (see the latest Research Professional article on the uncertainty of the HE and research Bill).

If the Bill does go through, the RCUK Change Programme will move to centrally led corporate functions, such as HR and Finance, but this will also include the grant funding platform.  They are aiming for a (much welcome) single common approach as the default for all activities.  The overall aim is for better ways of working and responding to new challenges, such as the Global Challenges Research Fund (see by blog post on what this is).

You may also have heard that the research councils are replacing their electronic grants submission service, Je-S, in 2017.  Please see my other blog post on how you can be part of the testing group for the new system.

Applying for research funding post EU referendum

Funding opportunities

European IPR webinarsAcademics who are applying for external funding from the EU, such as Marie Skłodowska Curie Fellowships, have been asking whether the EU referendum results will impact on funding available. The RKEO advise that at this stage, there has been no confirmation received that funding will not be available to UK HEIs. As we are unsure how things are going to pan out and it potentially could take 2 years for us to leave the EU from when they operationalise article 50, we would suggest you continue as planned. We should operate on the basis of business as usual and continue to develop high quality bids.

For internal staff, please see the notification to staff from Professor John Vinney.

Innovation knowledge sharing event for Social Science and Humanities commercialisation professionals

innovation, Knowledge Exchange

events

An open-door event for commercialisation professionals to share information relating to good practice and successful case studies in the Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities.

There seems a drive within the community of commercialisation professionals to engage more with the Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities in a practical and meaningful way.  Some of this emanates from the drive for more impact within the research funding sphere where Knowledge Exchange has led the way, but carrying this through to tangible commercialisation opportunities for which standard Technology Transfer Office approaches have little traction is proving much more challenging.

Isis Innovation will host and facilitate an event for commercialisation professionals to come together and share knowledge about their successes and good practice in commercialisation from the Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities.  This is open to staff in all Universities who may have an interest in this nascent area.

This is expected to be a highly interactive event.  This event is FREE.

 Programme will include:

·        Facilitated discussion on the subject of  incubators and different approaches

·        Facilitated discussion on the subject of Social Entrepreneurship and different approaches

·        Facilitated discussion on licensing and more traditional venture development approaches

·        Morning and afternoon refreshments and lunch will be provided

Venue

This knowledge sharing event will be held at the offices of Isis Innovation Limited, Buxton Court, 3 West Way, Oxford OX2 0SZ. Map.

Date: 27th September 2016 between 10.00 and 16.00

Please register for the event

Click here for or more information on this event and PraxisUnico.

Impact funding available

Funding opportunities

ahrc

 

The Arts and Humanities Research Council invites applications for its follow-on funding for impact and engagement scheme: connected communities highlight notice on creating living knowledge.

This supports new and unanticipated pathways to impact which have emerged or evolved from the connected communities programme on participatory research processes and practices.

Proposals must be based on either previous or current research directly funded by the AHRC, or on research that has been co-funded with another UK research council.

Grants are worth up to £100,000 over a maximum period of one year. Smaller grants of up to £30,000 may be awarded for shorter or higher risk activities.

Click here for further information.

If you are interested in submitting to any of the above calls 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.

 

HE Policy Update

EU referendum

With the UK having voted to leave the EU, the higher education sector has responded with lots of material about what it means for universities.

THE has reported that a Brexit will have sparked a huge amount of uncertainty for the future of research funding, student fees and hiring of staff from the European Union.

The Independent reports academic’s fears around a new form of Brexit – a brain exit or brain drain –  that could hit Britain’s universities and the wider scientific community.

Wonkhe comments that universities must find a way to argue for the importance of higher education in the UK inside or outside of the EU.

At present, what we do know is that the immigration status of EU students and staff based at BU and in other European countries has not yet changed. We are likely to find out more about the implications when the two-year negotiation process between the UK and other Member States begins- we do not yet know exactly when this will be, but it could be this Autumn with the appointment of a new Prime Minister.

Work experience

The National Centre for Universities and Businesses has published a report exploring business practices and processes around work experience offers. The report highlighted that work experience is used heavily as a recruitment tool, however where work experience is gained is of less importance to employers than the development of transferable skills that the experience of work fosters. You can view the report here.

HE & Research Bill

The Vice-Chancellor of Regent’s University London has warned the Higher Education and Research Bill will meet with “substantial opposition” and may not make it through the House of Commons in its current form. HE bill ‘will face substantial opposition in Parliament’ (THE).

TEF

The TEF could radically reshape the hierarchy of UK higher education, with small campus universities and post-92s outperforming many of the elite Russell Group. TEF ‘set to reshape hierarchy of UK higher education’ (TEF).

If you would like to provide any direct feedback on any of the consultation workshops we have been running, please have a look at the consultation intranet page for more information and links to the relevant documents.