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Mission Accomplished – Establishment of research collaboration, student and staff exchanges with the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

 Back in April this year I reported that I had been awarded Fusion Investment funding to establish a research, staff and student exchange partnership with the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. As part of that mission, I visited the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) from the 22nd April to the 26th April, 2014. The visit involved a number of meetings with the lead UKZN academic contact (Professor Lesley Stainbank), the Dean of the School of Accounting, Finance and Economics and the Acting Vice Chancellor of the University. I was also able to meet with the students at UKZN’s campuses in Durban and Pietermaritzburg. In addition, I presented an academic paper on the effect of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) guidance on greenhouse gas disclosure by UK firms.

 

On my return to BU, I submitted a proposal for the establishment of research, staff and student exchange to the BU International and UK Partnerships Committee (IUPC). The proposal was approved at the committee’s meeting in July 2014. Professor Lesley Stainbank then visited BU for familiarisation from the 27th to the 29th October 2014 as proposed in the fusion fund application. While at BU, Professor Stainbank had a number of meetings with, among others, the Acting Dean of the Business School (Professor Keith Wilkes), Director of International partnerships (Kerry Berry), the Associate Dean for Student Experience (Mark Ridolfo) and other academic members of staff who would like to visit UKZN. The visit by Professor Stainbank to BU brought to an end the project and in that respect I consider that the mission to establish research, student and staff exchange has been accomplished.

 

I am also happy to report that the paper I presented at UKZN has now been accepted for publication by the British Accounting Review which is a 3* Association of Business Schools (ABS) rated journal. BU has kindly paid for the paper to be published as open access. The paper can be accessed at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890838914000560. The other outcome of the project is that I have now started working with Professor Lesley Stainbank on research projects.  Professor Andy Mullineux (Faculty of Management) will be visiting UKZN next April as part of the partnership agreement and other staff members from the Business School (now part of Faculty of Management) have also expressed an interest in going to UKZN.

Dr Ven Tauringana

 Associate Professor of Accounting

Faculty of Management

 

Autumn Statement: funding announced to help businesses create the next generation of products

Funding opportunities

New funding announced in the Autumn Statement will help businesses create the next generation of products in innovative areas from robotic tools and printable electronics to carbon fibre composites.

  • £61 million will be invested across the High Value Manufacturing Catapult centres whose cutting-edge equipment and expertise is helping around 2,250 manufacturers create innovative technologies and products
  • a £28 million investment will create a new world-class research and development centre – the National Formulation Centre – specialising in the development of formulated products such as medicines and chemicals

For the full news story click here. 

 

£210K available for Wearable Technologies Innovation

Funding opportunities, Knowledge Transfer

 

 

 

 

The IC tomorrow Wearable Technologies Innovation contest will offer six businesses up to £35k each, to encourage innovation in wearable technology across the themes of hospitality, accessibility, entertainment, design, sport and wellbeing, health and safety. Winners will benefit from the contest funding as well as the opportunity collaborate with the one of the contest challenge partners, which include Disney, Amey and Network Rail, Atos, Queen Mary University London, Loughborough University and McLaren, and glh Hotels.

Click below to   register your place:

London: 28 January 2015

Manchester: 29 January 2015

Have your say on an a 2015 Cyber Security Innovate UK funding competition scope

Funding opportunities

Innovate UK is committing up to £4M to fund novel and innovative ideas in ways to counter cyber threats in industries such as healthcare, transport, energy and smart cities through a competition opening in March 2015.  

Attend the workshop in London on 15 January 2015 and have the chance to help identify challenge areas to be addressed that will feed into the scope of the competition brief. Also your knowledge can help shape the competition by providing insights and observations around cyber threat challenges facing our digital economy.

Click here to register your place.

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

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

Arts and Humanities Research Council

Applications are being can be made to the International Placement Scheme for  short term fellowships to the Yale Center for British Art, The Huntington Library, The Smithsonian Institution, The Harry Ransom Center, National Institutes for the Humanities Japan, The Library of Congress and the Shanghai Theatre Academy. Scholars receive a contribution of up to towards their travel, their visa costs paid,  plus a monthly allowance. Closing Date: 15/01/15 at 16:00

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

BBSRC/EMBRAPA joint wheat call – pump-priming awards. Together with the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation ( Embrapa) a joint call for collaborative research proposals in wheat research. Up to £75k over a maximum duration of 12 months will be provided to the UK partners. Closing Date: 24/2/15

Economic and Social Research Council

There will be up to six fellowships available as part of the UK in a Changing Europe Senior Fellowships. The aim of the Fellowship programme is to provide evidence and analysis across the broad range of issues and policy areas affected by the UK’s position in a changing European Union (EU). The maximum amount available for each Fellowship is £200,000.  Closing Date: 22/1/15

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

The SUPERGEN WIND CHALLENGE 2015 invites proposals for collaborative research projects to undertake fundamental research that will underpin the development of Wind Energy technologies.  Up to £3m will be available and anyone intending to submit a proposal must register their intent by e-mail.  Registration of intent: 20/1/15 at 16:00; Closing Date: 26/2/15 at 16:00

European Union

Transnational SOLAR-ERA.NET. The objective of the SEII is to boost the development of the PV and CSP sector beyond “business-as-usual” in the areas of Research and Development, Demonstration and Deployment with €12M available between 17 countries.   Closing Date: 27/3/15 at 17:00 CET

Innovate UK

Agri-Tech Catalyst – round 4. The Agri-Tech Catalyst, run by Innovate UK and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, offers funding to innovative businesses and researchers to develop solutions to global agricultural challenges.  Early and Late Stage Projects will have a typical project size between £150K and £500K. Closing Date: 17/6/15

The Industrial research awards for the Agri-Tech Catalyst fund can have a duration up to three years and a budget up to £3M.  Closing Date: 1/4/15

Building whole-life performance. There are funds of £4M for collaborative R&D projects that can lead to better whole-life performance of buildings. Closing Date 1/4/15

Integrated supply chains for energy systems. Investment up to £9.5m in innovations that will address the need for a diverse mix of energy sources and systems over the next three decades and beyond. Closing Date: 11/2/15

Natural Environment Research Council

Sustaining Water Resources for Food, Energy & Ecosystem Services in India- Scoping workshop. NERC is inviting applications from UK scientists to attend a jointly organised workshop with the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), in India on 11-12 March 2015. Applications from researchers working in the fields of water security, ecosystem services, hydrological processes, hydrogeology, freshwater ecology, water quality and related disciplines are welcome. Closing Date: 12/1/15 at 16:00

Royal Society

International Exchanges Scheme. This scheme is for scientists in the UK who want to stimulate new collaborations with leading scientists overseas through either a one-off visit or bilateral travel with up to £12000 available. Closing Dates: 10/2/15 (cost-share round with Russia/RFBR) or 17/2/15 (standard round).

Wellcome Trust

Principal Research Fellowships are available for seven years in the first instance, and provide both a personal salary and research programme funding in full. Closing Date: Open

Research Resources grant,s forming part of the Medical Humanities grants portfolio, are available between £10 000 and £100 000. Small grants of up to £10 000 may be awarded to assess the content, condition and research potential of collections in preparation for a full application. Closing Date: 15/4/15

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 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.

European Funding Opportunities for SMEs – Webinar 12/1/15

Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange, Training

Join the Knowledge Transfer Network for a lunchtime webinar on 12th January 2015 to hear more about European funding opportunities and initiatives available to UK registered SME’s.

Although, universities cannot always bid directly to all calls (some must be submitted by the company), knowing what is available may enhance your conversations with business contacts.

Find out more about the Horizon 2020 SME instrument from the UK National Contact Point, Jane Watkins, who will also introduce the new ‘Fast Track to Innovation’ instrument to be launched in January 2015.

SME Instrument

  • A new-dedicated SME scheme to fill gaps in funding for early stage, high-risk research and development. It targets all types of SMEs and provides support across all areas of innovation, science and technology

Fast Track to Innovation Instrument

  • Fast Track to Innovation instrument aiming to speed up the time from idea to market and to increase the participation of industry, SMEs and first time applicants. It will support small consortia of three to five organisations with strong business participation to give promising ideas the last push before entering the market. It is open to ideas in any area of technology or application and to any legal entity established in the EU or in a country associated to Horizon 2020

In addition, Graham Mobbs (European Operations Manager – Innovate UK) will discuss the Eurostars Initiative.

Eurostars

  • The Eurostars programme is targeted at innovative SMEs wanting to take part in collaborative research with partners across Europe and associated countries. The SME takes the lead in a transnational consortium, with the aim to develop innovative products, processes and services, ultimately to gain a competitive advantage.

If you can’t wait until January please take a look at the dedicated UK SME Horizon 2020 and European Initiatives webpage: www.h2020uk.org/smes

The webinar will be on the 12th January 2015 at 12 noon. To book your place please register via the eventbrite link below:

http://ktnsmeeuropeanfunding.eventbrite.com

marc.burke@ktn-uk.org

07515334818

Introducing Alice Brown, your Funding Development Officer (SciTech)

R & KE Operations

I am a Funding Development Officer supporting the endeavours of the Faculty of Science & Technology to succeed in being awarded research funding. I am here to provide assistance in the pre-award process. My work days are Tuesdays to Fridays. I will either be at Melbury House or in Christchurch House (phone number 01202 68247). Please do not hesitate to leave me emails any time and I will attend to them as soon as possible.

As a brief background to myself, just before commencing in this role, I was the Senior Research & Knowledge Exchange Officer at the Arts University Bournemouth as secondment cover. During that time, I managed research degree students and academic research, under which there was funding development work. Before that, I have relocated with my family from Australia, having worked for 7 years in the Western Australian State Government in legal, policy and research roles.

My interests are travelling, hiking, painting and fine dining.

HE Policy Update

Monday

UUK report

In the first year of the new charging regime (2012-13), UUK report Patterns and trends in UK higher education confirms that the number of first year undergraduates enrolled in UK institutions fell by 16.7% compared with the previous year. The number of first year postgraduates also dropped, by 3.8%. Impact of higher fees on HE laid out in UUK report (Times Higher Education).

Tuesday

Overseas influence of UK universities

William Hague gave a speech at Greenwich University in which he described the international impact of the UK’s universities and their role in promoting democratic values in a time of growing authoritarianism.  He also highlighted the importance of universities as places for exchanges of ideas and cultures and the long-term influence of attracting overseas students. Hague says UK universities deliver overseas influence (BBC News Online).

Private Colleges

MPs on the Public Accounts Committee held a hearing on controls over public-backed funding at private colleges, following a report by the National Audit Office. Martin Donnelly, Permanent Secretary at BIS, who appeared at the hearing faced particular criticism. Going on to call the private provider situation a “complete scandal”, Ms Hodge said HEFCE had warned BIS about the potential for problems in 2010. Hodge tears into government over private colleges (Times Higher Education).

Wednesday

Nick Clegg

The Deputy Prime Minister has said he has learned his lesson over the tuition fee U-turn and has made an impassioned plea to young voters alienated by the Liberal Democrats’ broken tuition fee pledge. In a question and answer session with young people organised by the Bite the Ballot voter engagement drive, he argued that the coalition had introduced a fairer fees system. Nick Clegg ‘has learned lesson’ from breaking tuition fees pledge (The Daily Telegraph).

Postgraduate study

New HEFCE research based on the Intentions After Graduation Survey (IAGS) 2013 shows that over half of graduates who plan to go onto postgraduate study end up not doing so because of finance issues.  Intentions after Graduation Survey (HEFCE).

Thursday

REF2014 Results

The REF results revealed that 30% of the research submitted was classed as world-leading (4*), 46% was internationally excellent (3*), 20% was nationally recognised (2*) and 3% was nationally recognised (1*). Mark Leach, founder of Wonkhe said that the results clearly demonstrate a substantial grade inflation which while positive, may undermine the sector’s credibility and bargaining power with an austerity Treasury that simply will not buy it. Despite this, he argues that the REF shows how a mature society can find reasonable ways to fund and support the creation of new knowledge and the individuals that power it – fairly and with accountability to the taxpayers. The REF: fascinating, flawed and essential (Wonkhe).

Friday

UCAS Report

In its End of Cycle report for 2014, UCAS says the number of students who secured places in UK universities broke through the 500,000 barrier for the first time in 2014, rising 3.4 per cent to 512,000. However, when it came to actual results, the proportion of English 18-year-old students entering higher tariff universities having achieved the equivalent of ABB or better at A level fell to 82 per cent in 2014, after a high point of 89 per cent in 2011. Ucas report suggests fall in entrance grades at selective universities (Times Higher Education).

REF Results-London

London universities are breaking up the traditional dominance of Oxford and Cambridge, according to official figures on research excellence. Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said that unless there was an increase in overall budgets, funding would increasingly be concentrated in fewer places, such as the so-called “golden triangle” of London, Oxford and Cambridge. London overtaking Oxbridge domination (BBC News).

 

FIF Santander funding awarded

Santander funded networking and conference visit to Spain Dec 14

Dr Daniel Franklin from the Faculty of Science and Technology has been awarded funding from the Santander strand of the Fusion Investment Fund to establish working relationships and collaborations with the University of Malaga, Spain, a Santander Partner University.

The Department of Ecology and Geography at the University of Malaga hosts an active group of researchers interested in the response of aquatic ecosystems to increased CO2. Members of the Malaga research group have recently worked at the prestigious international mesocosm facility at the University of Bergen (Norway) which allows large-scale experimental manipulation of the aquatic environment to test research hypotheses. They have also used this powerful approach in their work in the Mediterranean. The Malaga group have just (late 2014) published a series of papers on the effects of CO2 enrichment on aquatic ecosystems.

Dan applied for and was awarded funding to visit the group in February 2015 in order to facilitate networking with the aim of establishing joint EU research proposals in the future and also researcher visits to BU. In addition to these activities, there is an international meeting of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) in nearby Granada (22-27 February 2015) for which two BU PhD students have had abstracts accepted and Dan will now also be attending the conference.

Open for registration – Up to £2m funding for feasibility studies available

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities

Innovate UK  has launched a funding competition for feasibility studies with up to two million pounds funding available.

The competition is open only to small and micro companies (click here for eligibility) across the following technology sectors:

Advanced materials
Biosciences 
Electronics, Sensors & Photonics
Information & Communications Technology 

A briefing event for this competition was held on 25 November.  You can view the webinar recording here. 

For any queries on this competition, please contact support@innovateuk.org.

Latest Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

 

 

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

 

 

Medical Research Council GB – Tackling antimicrobial resistance theme one: understanding resistant bacteria in context of the host – Innovation grants

Innovative Medicines Initiative invites proposals for its call on The Medical Research Council and partners have delayed the expected opening and closing date for proposals for their innovation grants within the theme tackling antimicrobial resistance – understanding resistant bacteria in context of the host. The expected opening date has been delayed from 3 November 2014 to 19 January 2015, and the expected closing date has been delayed from 13 January to 17 March 2015. Award amount – up to £250,000. Closing date 17/03/2015

Natural Environment Research Council – NERC – Large Grants

Large Grants replaced the consortium grant scheme in 2012.

They support adventurous, large-scale and complex research tackling big science questions that cannot be addressed through other NERC funding opportunities.

The minimum funding level for large grant proposals is £1·2m. The maximum funding level for large grant proposals is £3·7m, with a duration of up to five years. Closing date for outline proposals is 10/03/15

Innovate UK, GB – Urban Living – integrated products and services

Innovate UK is to invest up to £7m in collaborative R&D projects that develop products and services from integrated data generated by cities.

The aim of this competition is to stimulate innovations that can help cities meet the challenges of achieving sustainable growth and other pressures.

Ultimately, the goal is to make the lives of the people who live and work in them happier, healthier and more harmonious.

They are seeking proposals to prototype, develop and evaluate products and services. Specifically, these will need to use data from an integrated city management system to solve problems around the management and operation of cities.

They expect to fund projects of £350k to £700k. Closing dates – please note this is a two-stage competition that opens for applicants on 15 December 2014. The deadline for registration is at noon on 4 February 2015 and the deadline for expressions of interest is at noon on 11 February 2015.

 

British Academy, GB – International Partnership and Mobility Scheme

Wellcome Trust, GB The International Partnership and Mobility Scheme aims to support the development of partnerships between the UK and other areas of the world where research excellence would be strengthened by new, innovative initiatives and links.

The Scheme intends to strengthen research capacity/capability, with all partners gaining from the collaboration, and to initiate the development of long-term, links between the UK and overseas scholars whilst also encouraging an intra-regional exchange of expertise and knowledge sharing.

In this round the Scheme is open to three-year and one-year awards for research partnerships between scholars in the UK and scholars in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, Eurasia, South Asia, East and South-East Asia. Grants are offered up to a maximum of £10,000 per year for a period of one year or three years (£30,000) Closing date 11/02/2015

 

The Wellcome Trust, GB – Senior research fellowships in basic biomedical science

The Wellcome Trust invites applications for its senior research fellowships in basic biomedical science These support outstanding postdoctoral scientists based in academic institutions in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Fellowships are tenable for five years in the first instance, and provide a basic salary, normally of up to £55,000 per year, with an additional trust supplement of £12,500 per year.

Closing date 08/05/2015

The Wellcome Trust, GB – Senior research fellowships in clinical science

This scheme provides support for clinical investigators to further develop their research potential and to establish themselves as leading investigators in clinical science

The fellowship is for five years in the first instance, and provides:

  • a basic salary, as determined by the host institution
  • research expenses essential to the research programme
  • provision for public engagement costs.

Closing date 08/05/2015

Leverhulme Trust, GB – Philip Leverhulme Prizes

Philip Leverhulme Prizes recognise the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising. The prize scheme makes up to thirty awards of £100,000 a year, across a range of academic disciplines. The 2015 round opens on 5 January 2015 and closes to nominations on 14 May 2015

Please note that some funders 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 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.

 

Funding Opportunity: The International Partnership and Mobility Scheme

Funding opportunities

The International Partnership and Mobility Scheme aims to support the development of partnerships between the UK and other areas of the world where research excellence would be strengthened by new and innovative initiatives and links.

In this round the Scheme is open to three-year and one-year awards for research partnerships between scholars in the UK and scholars in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, Eurasia, South Asia, East and South-East Asia.  Please note that  applicants must be of postdoctoral or equivalent status. Research must be in the field of the humanities or social sciences.

 Both a principal applicant and co-applicant are required for this scheme. The principal applicant must be ‘ordinarily resident’ in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands and must be able to demonstrate that they will be based at their present employing research-active institution in the UK for the duration of the award.  The co-applicant must be an academic based in a research-active institution in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, Eurasia, South Asia, East or South-East Asia and must also be able to demonstrate that they will be based at their present employing institution for the duration of the award.

 The 2015 round is now open for applications. The deadline for applying will be Wednesday, 11 February 2015 (17:00 pm UK time).

Applications must be submitted via e-GAP2, the Academy’s electronic grant application system, but please note that preliminary enquiries should be directed through the RKEO Funding Development Team.

Applicants are asked to read the International Partnership and Mobility Scheme Notes before beginning an application.  For further information about the scheme, please follow the link.