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Apply for the Undergraduate Research Assistantship programme now!

Last week we announced the launch of the Undergraduate Research Assistantship (URA) programme and opened the call for applications for positions to run in semester 2 (see Launch of the BU URA programme). The deadline is fast approaching (14th November) so you will need to get your applications in soon (apply here).

Having a URA working with you has many benefits to both you and the student. These include:

  • Increased opportunity for co-creation between you and the student
  • Increased satisfaction for you and the student
  • Promotion of careers in academia and research to the student
  • Promotion of opportunities for postgraduate study to the student
  • The student will support you with your research

Picking up on this last point, this could include supporting you with undertaking a pilot study which could then be used to strengthen your application for external research funding. Typical duties of a URA include (but are not restricted to):

  • performing experiments and analysing the results
  • disseminating new knowledge orally or in written outputs
  • literature searches
  • presenting results at conferences
  • providing general research support to academics

You can apply for a URA position to run in semester 2 by competing this short application form and submitting it by 14th November.

BU Lecturer appointed CoE regional expert for media and reconciliation in South East Europe

The Council of Europe appointed Dr Argyro Karanasiou, Lecturer in Law and CIPPM member, as the regional expert for media and reconciliation in South-East Europe.

The conference “Media Impact in Reconciliation Process and Dialogue” held in Pristina, Kosovo in October brought together all project experts to discuss with the local community, journalists and civil society. Norway’s Ambassador to Kosovo and Albania, Jan Braathu opened the event, followed by Ambassador Rocco Antonio Cangelosi and Professor Nita Luci. Argyro delivered a keynote about the role of online media in reconciliation for post-conflict societies focusing on the potential new technologies hold for conflict transformation.

For more details see here 

Weekly HE Policy Update

Monday

Global competition

Key East Asian nations are emerging as ‘powerhouses’ in global higher education and research, leaving countries such as the UK, Canada and the US at risk. UK universities under increasing threat from Asian institutions  (The Financial Times)

Innovation and funding

An article by the BBC discusses how innovation is funded and how a mix of state and private funding is something academics should welcome, particularly to ensure that taxpayer funding research is able to translate into the commercial world.  Oxford’s robots and the funding of innovation (BBC News)

Tuesday

University Donations

The total value of donations worth £1 million or more to British universities fell last year, however, higher education remains the UK’s biggest recipient of major gifts. The annual Million Pound Donors Report from the bank Coutts, puts the total value of seven- and eight-figure donations to the sector during 2013 at £552.1 million, compared with £570 million during the previous year. The drop followed the end of the government’s three-year match-funding scheme for university donations. Overall value of big donations to universities falls (THE), Multi-million pound giving to universities increases (Telegraph)

Inequality

A study from the Institute for Fiscal Studies has found that pupils from less affluent backgrounds do not perform as well at universities compared to their peers from more affluent backgrounds, despite arriving at university with similar A-level grades. Institute for Fiscal Studies 

Wednesday

Fees

With “huge reluctance and regret”, the NUS has pulled its backing from this month’s ‘free education’ demonstration due to issues around access and liability insurance. NUS pulls support for ‘free education’ march (THE)

Thursday

Marking boycott

University lecturers have begun a marking boycott. The dispute is concentrated in 69 older institutions, where academics face having their pensions cut. Students may not see an immediate impact but the effect is likely to escalate, especially in universities that normally schedule end-of-term exams. Lecturers stop marking in pensions dispute (The Times), Universities warned over boycott pay docking (BBC News)

Friday

Student loans

Ministers have ruled out an urgent review of the sustainability of the student loans system despite being advised to do so by the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee. Government rules out student loans review (THE)

UCAS analysis

New analysis asserts that demand for studying at university is now at a record high. UCAS entry rates to higher education for 18 year-olds from the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods in England have now reached 17 per cent.  One explanation for this is that a combination of the economic crisis and wider socioeconomic trends mean that young people believe it has never been more difficult to find a good job without a degree.  Additionally, the analysis shows that getting a place at a selective university has become around one A-level grade easier since the trebling of tuition fees. Rise in fees has made university entry easier (The Times) What’s behind the surprising success of raising tuition fees? (New Statesman)

Kickstart Your European Funding Ambitions

Training

 

 

The EU Academic Development Scheme (EUADS) is a unique scheme developed to kick start your career in EU research; it’s open to all BU academic staff seeking to gain EU funding.  The EUADS will help you build up to submitting a proposal to any of the H2020 schemes by providing unlimited 1-2-1 support from an expert EU bid writer, group mentoring and unlimited assistance with writing your application over a 12 month period.
 
The scheme involves four separate development workshops over a one year period starting in February 2015 and ongoing assistance and support in developing EU proposals during that period.   A useful budget of £3K  per participant is provided to fund activities supporting bid development, such as:
 

• Travel with the intent of networking
• Conference attendance with the intent of networking
• Pilot research work
• Fieldwork
• Attendance at external networking events leading to collaborative research proposals
• Meetings with external organisations to establish collaborations
• Preparation of specialist material or data
• Replacement teaching

The workshops will all take place in 2015 on 18th February, 18th March, 24th June and 4th November.  Application forms are available below and must include endorsement from your school/faculty Deputy Dean for Research who should be approached before beginning a submission.  Places are limited and applications may be reviewed internally to decide on the final cohort; please complete the form with enthusiasm and care.

We are seeking individual applications but applicants may collaborate within and across Schools and pool their individual budgets where appropriate – please indicate in your application if you would like to be considered as a ‘team’ along with other applicants.

The deadline for applications is Friday 19th December 2014.  Applications and any questions should be submitted to the Funding Development Co-ordinator, Giles Ashton, gashton@bournemouth.ac.uk

APPLICATION FORM

EUADS POLICY

Look our for further posts on EUADS in the coming weeks

 

 

 

PG Reseacher Development Programme – New Workshops

PG research

A number of workshops have now been added to the PG Researcher Development Programme for 2015.  Highlights include:

  • Peer Mentoring Training
  • Imposter Syndrome
  • Managing Pressure Positively
  • Developing Researcher Networks
  • Brand new to the Programme – Saying No Positively

To register for these and many more workshops, please log on to myBU Graduate School PGR Community and click on Programme of PG Researcher Development Workshops

European News – Evolving Work Programmes for 2016-17

Funding opportunities

The European Commission has announced intentions to bring in three major funding streams into Horizon 2020.  In relation to 2016 and 2017 work programmes, these will comprise: the Internet of Things, automated road transport and an approach to sustainable industrial production called “the circular economy”, according to the draft plan. Specific reference is given to social sciences and humanities, following a recommendation from the European Forum on Forward Looking Activities, or Effla, that non-technical solutions to problems should be given more emphasis. 

Further details can be found in Research Fortnight: https://www.researchprofessional.com/0/rr/news/europe/horizon-2020/2014/11/Horizon-2020-s-second-phase-takes-shape.html

New EU Funding Guide for Tourism

A new guide for EU funding in the tourism sector has been published in line with a European Commission drive to promote competitiveness in the European tourism sector.  The guide provides details of: type of tourism-related actions eligible for funding; type and level of funding; who can apply and how to apply. The guide is updated periodically and gives specific funding examples from previous projects. 

 

For further details, please follow the link: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=7843

HEFCE are looking for views on a potential international REF in future…

Research assessment

HEFCE has published a survey inviting views on an internationalised system of research assessment.

This survey forms part of a project exploring the benefits and challenges of expanding the UK’s research assessment system, the Research Excellence Framework (REF), on an international basis. At the broadest level, this means an extension of the assessment to incorporate submissions from universities overseas.

This follows an invitation earlier this year from the then Minister of State for Universities and Science, David Willetts, for HEFCE to provide an opinion on the feasibility of an international REF. The project belongs in a wider context of international interest in the exercise, on which HEFCE frequently provides information and advice to higher education policymakers and university senior management from overseas.

The THE ran a story about this in April 2014: HEFCE looks at overseas links for research excellence 

Responses are invited from any organisation or individual with an interest in higher education research or its assessment. The survey will be open until Wednesday 12 November 2014.

The survey only has four questions –

1. What do you think the key benefits would be of expanding the REF internationally?

2. What do you think the key challenges would be in expanding the REF internationally?

3. In view of the potential benefits and challenges overall, how supportive would you be of further work to explore the issues in more depth?

4. Have you got any further comments relating to internationalisation of REF?

To complete the survey visit: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/refinternationalisation

Third time lucky in Bangkok

Post-award

 

Group photo of the delegates at the opening of the Researcher Links Workshop in Bangkok on November 2

Working with partners at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, a team from BU led and participated in a British Council Researcher Links Workshop in Bangkok from November 2 to 4.

For Professor Tom Watson of the Media School and Associate Professor Jirayudh Sinthuphan of Chula’s Faculty of Communication Arts, it was ‘mission accomplished’, as the Workshop had been postponed twice in February and May because of Thailand’s febrile politics.

“This time, there were no problems as Bangkok was about as quiet as it will ever be,” said Professor Watson. “As a result, the Workshop was attended by representatives of four UK and seven Thai universities who worked very well together”.

From the three days of collaborative working, four projects related the Workshop theme of ‘the impact of social media upon corporate and marketing communication in Thailand and UK’ emerged. They will be developed over the coming months into research actions, bids for funding and publications.

With Professor Watson were Associate Professor John Oliver (Senior Researcher), Dr Ana Adi (Deputy Workshop Coordinator), Dr Tauheed Ramjaun and Mona Esfahani, all from the Corporate & Marketing Communications academic group. Among the Thai participants was Dr Waraporn Chatratichart of the University of the Thailand Chamber of Commerce, who is a PhD alumna from the Media School.

“The Workshop also reinforced the existing relationship between BU and Chulalongkorn University as the Dean of the Faculty of Communication Arts, Dr Duangkamol Chartprasert, and Professor Parichart Sthapitanonda both took part as Senior Researchers,” said Professor Watson. “The BU-Chula relationship has great potential for research collaboration and staff exchanges. I hope that other BU staff will follow the opportunity that the Workshop has opened up.”

 

NIHR Public Health Research Funding Board

Dear colleagues,

We would like to bring to your attention that the NIHR Public Health Research Funding Board is currently recruiting new members.

You can find out more information about the positions on the NIHR website here: http://us7.campaign-archive1.com/?u=5959c256494563d480b887fce&id=956d9306c8&e=19509b734a

The deadline for applications is 1pm, 17 November 2014.

Best wishes,

Jason Edwards

BU Cyber Security Unit attends Business Crime Conference

The BU Cyber Security Unit attended and presented at the annual business crime conference hosted by the Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner, Martyn Underhill. The Conference, titled ‘Putting Crime out of Business’ hosted a number of workshops including; online fraud, counterfeit goods and business scams, rural crime, counter terrorism and shoplifting. Dr Christopher Richardson, the Head of the BU Cyber Security Unit, held two workshops on online fraud. Attendees were enamored with the facts of online fraud and a number of the local businesses inquired as to how the Unit could help them counter online fraud. The Unit’s stand was also quite popular, most likely leading to the very intriguing Norse Live Attack map, which visualizes a tiny portion (<1%) of the data processed by the Norse DarkMatter™ platform every day.

Additionally this week, the Unit attended the Christchurch and East Dorset Growth Plan Launch and the Ferndown and Uddens Business meeting to discuss business support opportunities provided by the Unit and the University as a whole.

Later in the month, the BU Cyber Security Unit will attend the National Cyber Security Summit 2014 in London. The Summit will bring together over 350 cyber security experts, senior officials and policy-makers from across public sector and industry to discuss the ever-changing threats posed by cyber-crime and share best practice strategies to help the UK effectively combat these threats. Central to the discussion will be:

  • Ensuring Businesses are Safe in Cyberspace by 2016
  • Protecting the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure
  • Collaboration to Identify & Tackle the Cyber Crime Threat
  • Investing in Tomorrow’s Cyber Security Workforce
  • Successfully Managing Cyber Security as part of the Digital Transformation

 

British Council – Newton Institutional Links Opportunity

Funding opportunities

Newton Institutional Links are grants for the development of research and innovation collaborations between the UK and partner country institutions at the group, departmental or institutional level, as well as the commercial and not-for-profit sector. The countries included in this call are: Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Egypt, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Turkey and Vietnam. In addition to this general Newton Institutional Links call, which includes Chile, there is a UK-Chile FONDEF IDeA call (formerly called Chile-specific CONICYT call) with separate guidelines and a different closing date.

Grants will be £30,000 to £300,000 over two years (depending on the country) and will cover collaborations between the UK and partner country. Grants can cover costs which support research and innovation collaboration, including:

  • research-related costs
  • the exchange of researchers, students and industry staff (including SMEs and not-for-profit organisations)
  • the costs of organising meetings, seminars, training
  • other activities to establish and strengthen collaborative links.

Other activities can also be funded. For a full list of eligible and ineligible costs, please read the guidelines document on the website link given above.

Under this Institutional Links call the British Council can commit up to £6 million, depending on matched funding from partner organisations and institutions.

Key Dates:

Deadline for applications: 16.00 UK time on Thursday 20 November 2014. Applications with Chile and Turkey (general Newton Institutional Links) close 27 November 2014.

Deadline for applications for the UK-Chile FONDEF IDeA call: Tuesday 18 November 2014

Please contact RKEO if you wish to apply.

See the website for other Newton Fund opportunties.

 

National Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) Week – KTP benefits for academics

Yesterday marked the start of the first National KTP Week.  The idea behind this week is to publicise KTP to academics, business and graduates alike.

So with this in mind, I would like to take this opportunity to highlight the benefits of KTP for academics after giving a brief overview of KTP.

What is KTP?

KTP is a part-funded scheme that encourages collaboration on projects between businesses and academics.  KTPs are managed by Innovate UK (formerly the Technology Strategy Board) and provide benefits to all parties involved – this scheme offers a fusion of academic and industrial collaboration supported by an associate (graduate).

How does this benefit you?

KTP has a clear pathway to impact through knowledge exchange and also is a fantastic way of bringing in income.

Key benefits of KTP are:

  • Contributes to the REF
  • Improve links with industrial partners
  • Increases research funding
  • Raise academic profile among colleagues
  • Apply knowledge to an innovate and business-critical project
  • Develop new teaching materials
  • Potential route to further industrial collaborations

If this scheme is of interest to you and you would like to find out more, please contact Rachel Clarke, Knowledge Exchange Adviser (KTP) – clarker@bournemouth.ac.uk or 01202 961347

Innovate UK widens the appeal of £5,000 vouchers

Funding opportunities

Are you working with business?

Innovation Vouchers are open to all kinds of small businesses from 10 November 2014.  Businesses  can claim up to £5,000 towards the cost of expert advice if they classify as a start-up, micro or  SME . The funding encourages SMEs and start-ups to seek out fresh knowledge that can help their business to grow and develop. This could include advice on an innovative idea, learning more about using design within the  business or how to make the most of intellectual property.

The first round of applications for Innovation Vouchers under the new rules opens on 10 November.

Business challenge

Innovation Vouchers had been available only to those working in specific technology areas. Now a business can apply if  they  just meet these simple tests:

• you need specialist help to meet a business challenge

• it’s the first time you have worked with the university (a great first rung on the ladder before a KTP  perhaps?)

For more information, visit Innovation Vouchers .

 

BU 7th Annual Postgraduate Conference – Call for Abstracts

PG research

The BU 7th Annual Postgraduate Conference is a fantastic opportunity for postgraduate students to present their work via an abstract for oral presentation, poster or photo.

The submission deadline for all abstracts is Monday 10 November 2014. Find out more >>

The Conference will be held on:

Date: Tuesday 20 and Wednesday 21 January 2015
Venue: Allsebrook Lecture Theatre & The Retreat Talbot Campus

Alternatively, if you’d like to just attend please register online >>

We hope to see you there

Best wishes

The Graduate School team