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Latest Major Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

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

The AAL Association is pleased to launch the 2014 call Care for the future. The 2014 Call Challenge of the AAL Programme aims at funding the development and testing of ICT-based solutions in real life situations which enable and support sustainable care models for older adults. The scope and the application modalities will be presented during the Info Day of the Call, which will take place on 16 April in Brussels. Closing date 26/06/14, 17:00 (CET)

AHRC has announced an open call inviting Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) to attend the Connected Communities Festival on 1st and 2nd July and a Research Development Workshop on 3rd July aimed at supporting ECR-led co-produced research projects of relevance to the Connected Communities Programme.  Please note, attendees are normally expected to attend for at least three days, 1-3 July 2014, of the Festival in Cardiff. This call is open to early career researchers of post-doctoral (or equivalent) standing from a range of disciplines both within the arts and humanities and beyond, interested in contributing to the development of the Connected Communities Programme. Closing date 16:00 on 25/04/14

AHRC and the Design Council have been working in partnership over the past two years to demonstrate the key role design plays in creating economic benefits and social value in the UK, and to explore design research in UK universities and its connections with businesses and policymakers. They now wish to test some of these ideas in a study which will examine how businesses and public sector organisations in a particular location use design in their work, and what the impact of this is on their ability to innovate and their economic performance in the Bristol and Bath design research project. Funding of up to £750,000 is available on full economic costs basis with the AHRC meeting 80% of the FEC.  Awards should last between 12 to 24 months and will be overseen by an independent steering group, established by the AHRC and the Design Council.  Closing date 22/05/14.

As part of the BBSRC‘s 20th anniversary programme, the BBSRC is seeking to recognise the excellence of the UK bioscience research base as supported and championed by BBSRC  and to provide a platform to demonstrate their support and pride for the research community. As such the  BBSRC Anniversary Awards for Excellence in Bioscience and Bioscience Communication call is now open. These two awards will be awarded to up to four individual researchers, in recognition of outstanding scientific contributions to UK bioscience in fields within the BBSRC remit. An additional award will be made to an individual scientist or professional science communicator who has made a significant contribution by raising the level of debate about our bioscience research with the public. Up to £2,000 is available. Closing date 15/07/14 at 16:00.

BBSRC‘s FLexible Interchange Programme (FLIP) supports the movement of people from one environment to a different one to exchange knowledge/technology/skills, developing bioscience research/researchers and addressing our strategic priorities. FLIP awards provide flexible opportunities for individuals (“the interchangers”) moving between different organisations, disciplines and sectors at all stages in their career beyond the PhD (or equivalent). Closing date 16/07/14.

The EPSRC are supporting a number of Fellowships. From April 2013, a biannual process has been introduced with guidance in place to publicise the on-going refresh of thematic priority areas, aligned to fellowship start dates and the peer review process. Please refer to the Guidance for further details.

 NERC has announced an opportunity within the UK International Ocean Discovery Program (UKIODP) for Site Survey Investigations (SSIs) and requests outline proposals from the UK science community for Ship-borne Site Survey Investigations (SSIs) and ‘Virtual’ SSIs (desk-based SSIs using already collected geophysical data requiring no extra ship-time). Full proposals will be invited following outline proposal evaluation. Closing date for outline proposals: 02/09/14 and for full proposals: 02/012/14.

The Royal Society‘s Brian Mercer Award for Innovation scheme is for scientists who wish to develop an already proven concept or prototype into a near-market product ready for commercial exploitation. The scheme provides an award of up to £250,000 (including VAT where applicable). Awards are not expected to exceed 24 months in duration. Closing date 23/04/14.

Linked to this is the Royal Society‘s Brian Mercer Feasibility Award, which is a scheme is for scientists who wish to investigate the feasibility of commercialising an aspect of their research. The scheme provides an award of up to £30,000 (including VAT where applicable). Awards are not expected to exceed 12 months in duration. This scheme is currently open to applications.

The Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize 2014, in association with the ‘Guardian’ and the ‘Observer’, is now open. The winning articles from each category will be published in the ‘Guardian’ or the ‘Observer’. Winners will also receive a £1000 cash prize. Closing date 11/05/14.

Please note that some funders specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your RKE Support Officer.

You can set up your own personalised alerts on ResearchProfessional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s RKE Officer in RKE Operations or see the recent post on this topic, which includes forthcoming training dates up to November 2014.

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

Last week’s HE headlines

Monday

Labour’s manifesto for next year’s election will include a pledge to scrap the coalition’s £9,000-a-year tuition fees and may replace it with a maximum of £6,000, Douglas Alexander has confirmed. Labour is still, however, to agree a long-term policy.

Information and guidance

A study by the consumer group Which? finds that tens of thousands of students did not attend any university open days before completing applications and half failed to consult lecturers about their course. Thousands of students do not research university before applying (Telegraph)

Private schools

Senior politicians are peddling “ignorant” myths about private schools and creating false barriers between the independent and state education system, the former headmaster of Harrow has warned. Private schools being undermined by ‘lazy stereotypes’ (Telegraph)

Tuesday

The pick of today is a piece in the THE, written by Liam Byrne (Shadow Minister for Universities and Skills). In the comment piece, Liam says that he will be setting out Labour’s funding plan in due course but “Ed Miliband has articulated a clear direction of travel on this: a core goal must be to bring down the levels of debt cancellation that are making the current system unsustainable.” Liam Byrne: ‘Funding system combines worst of a free-for-all and a money pit’ (THE)

Possible Conservative policy

Universities would have to apply new aptitude tests and cut the number of drop-outs in plans for a shake-up of the student loans system. Senior Conservatives are considering reforms that would reduce its cost and crack down on poor quality degrees. They include a new minimum qualification for students who qualify for taxpayer-backed loans and an end to the right to charge fees at institutions which see large numbers of students fail to finish courses or find well-paid jobs. Crackdown on dropouts to cut student loans: Tories consider reforms to reduce costs and tackle poor quality degrees (Daily Mail)

How have tuition fees affected students?

The Telegraph look at what affect the rise in tuition fees has had on students. The article says “fears that the higher rate of fees would put students off applying – particularly the very poorest – appear not to have materialised as degrees retain their value in the jobs market.” The final comment is somewhat surprising given the Telegraph rhetoric on graduate unemployment. How have tuition fees affected students? (Telegraph)

System reform 

Peter Scott argues that tinkering with the tuition fees system will not fix its problems. He says there “should be a fundamental rethink. The high-fees funding regime in higher education is sadly likely to be patched and mended rather than changed.” Opinion: Tinkering isn’t going to fix the failing fees system (THE)

Student representation

A report by NUS – on the changing nature of student leadership and its impact on the student experience – finds student officers now put their role as representatives far above their role as activists. Student union reps- happier in the boardroom than at the sit-in? (Guardian)

Best April Fool of the day (well hopefully it’s an April Fool) 

Students could be asked to wear gowns and mortarboards on campus in plans by education secretary Michael Gove to “restore rigour” to higher education, the THE has learned. Gowns and mortarboards ‘could be compulsory’ under Gove (THE)

Wednesday

As the debate on how we fund higher education continues to rumble on, University Alliance feature in two pieces setting out an alternative vision.
In the Guardian, and responding to the current controversy over the RAB charge, Libby Hackett says, “this is a really important issue that people tend to avoid because it is both technical and highly politicised. We need to consider some intelligent solutions that will deliver a more sustainable funding platform.” Tuition fees blunder: ‘there’s no need for this spiralling public cost’ (Guardian)
Writing in the Times, and responding to Labour’s £6,000 plan, Libby says, “fees of £6,000 may end up as a credible position but it is deeply worrying that Labour sees this as its starting point rather than the result of calculations based on a well-designed student finance and university funding system.” Big picture, small print in student loan jungle (Times)

Design&

Rob Law, Founder of Trunki and graduate of Northumbria University, features in an article promoting our Design& project. Northumbria University hailed as shining example in call for design focus (The Journal)

International students

A new analysis from HEFCE has found that the number of foreign students, recruited by universities, has dropped for the first time in three decades. We have today called for a reintroduction of two-year post study work visas.

Student satisfaction

Student satisfaction does not say much about the quality of education, says Joanna Williams. Labour’s manifesto needs to be more radical and push for intellectual challenge. Students are made to believe that ‘university is all about them’ (Guardian)

HE ‘errors’

Almost one in 10 university degrees claimed by graduates have “errors”, such as wrong grades or subjects, according to the agency which carries out checks for employers. The Higher Education Degree Datacheck (HEDD) says they also see degree certificates from bogus universities. Some errors could be honest mistakes, but there is also clear evidence of fraud, says HEDD’s Jayne Rowley. Degree checks ‘uncover grade fraud’ (BBC)

Skills and employability

John Longworth, DG of the BCC, has accused some universities of ‘losing the plot’ when it comes to preparing the future workforce. Britain told to prepare for ‘real austerity’: Warning over future from business leaders (This is Money)

Thursday

In the news today, figures published by UUK today reveal that Universities’ contribution to the UK’s economy has increased by 24%. UK higher education generates £73 billion for the economy and contributes 2.8 per cent of the UK’s total gross domestic product. This is reported in the Times Higher Education (THE), where Sir Christopher Snowden is quoted, “with the 2015 general election on the horizon, this report serves as a timely reminder to policymakers of universities’ growing impact on local communities, jobs and the wider economy” (THE).

University funding                                                       

  • UK universities should be allowed to charge higher tuition fees to students with wealthier backgrounds according to the Morton Schapiro, president of Northwestern University in Illinois (THE).
  • The London Evening Standard features journalist and economist Ann McElvoy criticising Labour’s policy proposal to charge £6,000 tuition fees saying, “everything speaks for the idea – except the facts”.

International students

  • An opinion piece by Ross Clark in The Times criticises the government for pursuing policies which have led to a decrease in the numbers of foreign students coming to Britain to study (The Times).
  • The Times reports that fees from Chinese students are being used by British universities to pay for new campuses and expansions. Vice Chancellors are reported to have said that the popularity of British universities amongst Chinese students is enabling growth during a time of austerity (The Times).

Research Assessment

HEFCE has been asked by David Willetts to review the role of metrics in research assessment. Professor James Wilsdon of the University of Sussex will chair the review, which will look at the role of metric based assessment in determining the quality, impact and other key characteristics of research undertaken in higher education. THE reports that the review could lead to research excellence framework assessments being less frequent (THE).

A report published yesterday by HEFCE looking at decision making has revealed that greater amounts of information does not necessarily mean that people will be better informed or be able to make better decisions. This is reported in THE, overwhelmed university applicants filter out information to cope (THE).

Friday

The main stories from Friday centred on the UUK report on the economic contribution of universities. British universities contribute £73bn to the economy in a year (Independent)

Also, the call by David Willetts to create university campuses in “cold spots”.

Minister proposes university campuses to revive towns (FT) 

N.B. All information is provided by University Alliance.

 

Visit to BU from Linkoping University in Sweden to Learn about TEL

This week the Centre for Excellence in Learning (CEL) Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) theme, hosted a two day visit for ten senior academics from Linkoping University to share our ideas, progress and examples of good practice in TEL at BU. The visit was facilitated by the UK Leadership Foundation for Higher Education who are working with us on a project to enhance our TEL provision. Linkoping supports a large team of senior colleagues to undertake annual study visits and this year there were three groups, one visiting us, one going to University of Essex and one to Southampton Solent. They will then share the learning they did across the three HEIs and integrate it into their delivery plans for the next year.

It was an excellent visit and they were impressed by a number of projects they heard about including the CEL theme approach to meeting objectives from the BU2018 strategic plan, the iBU app for new students, the online case studies and ‘heart, head and hands’ approach to teaching about evidence based practice in HSC and the enthusiasm of the students they met along with John Gusman, SUVP from SUBU. It would appear that they have adopted a new E learning platform, having moved on from Black Board, and have an opt-in model to using technology in their teaching.  It seems certain that we can learn from them about how we might take our E learning platform forward in future and we feel a staff mobility fusion bid coming on to provide support for some interested volunteers to investigate further!

Professor B Gail Thomas, Director of CEL & Dr Geli Roushan, TEL Theme Leader

EXON by the sea!

Training

 

After many months of negotiation I packed my weekend bag and set off to Eastbourne to provide the first of a six day programme spread over three months on newborn examination, to a select cohort of nine midwives who work for the East Sussex NHS Healthcare Trust. The nearest university (Brighton) does not provide the module and I regularly have midwives travelling up from Brighton to attend the two courses provided annually at the Lansdowne Campus.

Midwives from the midwife led unit (EMU as it is fondly referred to) at Eastbourne Hospital, the acute trust at Hastings and Crowbridge Birthing Unit all joined the module at the beginning of January 2014. Some of the midwives were undertaking the unit in work time and some during their annual leave, but all were enthusiastic and very excited to be finally learning the skills and competencies necessary to become newborn examiners. Currently no midwives in the combined trusts undertake newborn examination and all babies are either examined by junior doctors in training or general practitioners (GPs) in the community setting. For a number of years there have been concerns expressed in the literature around the quality of the newborn examination when undertaken by junior doctors and GPs mainly around training and on-going education. Traditionally doctors in NHS hospitals were taught newborn examination under the mantra ‘see one – do one – teach one’, midwives on the other hand, have had to undergo many months of extra training and are required to undertake between 40 & 60 newborn examinations before being deemed competent. These conditions became onerous for midwives as it became difficult for them to find mentors and assessors to support them in practice. Many requested extensions and in some cases took almost two years to complete. This model of learning was not sustainable in the long run for both the clinical workplace and for university processes. Therefore an opportunity arose to change how BU provided examination of the newborn (EXON) when the post registration framework was re-validated in 2012, with the main difference being in relation to the examinations.

Midwifery is a self-regulating profession; therefore it is up to individual practitioners to judge whether they are component when providing midwifery care. The philosophy of self-regulation underpinning competency guided the provision of the new EXON course in relation to the number of examinations required. Midwives have to carry out a minimum of 10 mentored newborn checks, with five examinations being directly supervised. Once 10 examinations have been carried out midwives can undertake as many self-assessed newborn checks until they feel competent. Once they have reached this point they put themselves forward for one summative assessment which is a newborn examination evaluated in practice.  Midwives have nine months to complete the module. In addition, to further support midwives in training for this role, experienced midwives around the BU patch and as far as West Wiltshire have been provided with a half day update focusing on mentoring/assessing and understanding the EXON paperwork. These midwives have now taken on the role of mentoring and assessing midwives through EXON.

Now having delivered the six day programme the midwives in Eastbourne have successfully completed the academic requirement,s with all passing their ‘enquiry-based learning’ presentations which focused on an aspect of newborn physiology/pathology. The presentations were of an extremely high standard and feedback from the unit leader recommended writing up their work for publication in the British Journal of Midwifery. Their unit evaluations were 100% positive. One of the main benefits centered on the midwives forming a cohesive group and getting to know each other better.  These midwives are leading the way at East Sussex Healthcare. Once they qualify, they in turn, can become mentors and assessors for the next cohort. Perhaps even more importantly, evidence demonstrates that when midwives undertake this expanded role, women’s satisfaction and midwifery autonomy is increased and crucially, there is continuity of care for the woman and her baby and for the midwife herself.

 

For further information on the EXON module please contact Luisa Cescutti-Butler, Senior Lecturer, Lansdowne Campus: lcbutler@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

ESRC: Grant Assessment Panel Recruitment

The ESRC is inviting applications from suitably experienced persons to act as members of the Grant Assessment Panels (GAP). Panel membership is drawn from all areas of the social sciences, representing a broad range of expertise, skills and approaches. However, following the retirement of some current GAP members they are currently looking for applications in the following disciplinary areas: 

.         Demography

.         Macro-economics

.         Economic and Social History

.         Environmental Planning

.         Human Geography

.         Linguistics

.         Political and International Relations

.         Psychology

.         Social Policy

.         Social Work

.         Socio-Legal Studies

.         Political Sociology

Further details about the role of GAP members can be found on the ESRC website along with a link to the vacancy notice and application form.

http://www.esrc.ac.uk/about-esrc/governance/committees/responsive-mode.aspx

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Vicky.Dunstan@esrc.ac.uk.

Protecting BGP Message Communication from Man-In-The-Middle using AIS

We would like to invite you to the next research seminar of the Creative Technology Research Centre that will be delivered by Hayder Mammood.

 Title: Protecting BGP Message Communication from Man-In-The-Middle using AIS

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM

Date: Wednesday 9th April 2014

Room: P302 (Poole House, Talbot Campus)

 Abstract:

The internet consist number of Autonomous Systems (ASes). Each AS consists of many routers. The main protocol that facilitates the communications between designated routers in different ASes is Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). BGP evolved to version four (the currently used one); this evolution made BGP scalable to handle the growing traffic of the internet. However, BGP is still lacking the appropriate security to protect against intrusions. Successful security breaches range from communication disruption up to losing the integrity of sensitive routing information or receiving falsified routing information.

In this seminar the application of Artificial Immune Systems (AIS) to protect communication of BGP messages is discussed. The focus of the discussion will be around protection against intruders such as Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) attack. An algorithm has been developed and tested in a simulation environment. The results show successful isolation of malicious routers. 

 

We hope to see you there, 

Dr. David John

NIHR Research Design Service Grant Applications Workshop

The Research Design Service South West (RDS SW) is running a free one-day grant applications workshop on Thursday 10 July 2014 at Taunton Racecourse, Somerset.

The grant applications workshop is directed at researchers who are considering applying to peer-reviewed funding competitions for applied health or social care research, and is intended to allow them to turn good applications into excellent ones.

If you are interested in attending the workshop you will need to submit an application form and the latest draft of your research proposal by 1pm Monday 9 June 2014.

For more information and to download an application form please go to http://www.rds-sw.nihr.ac.uk/gaw.htm.

Don’t forget, your local branch of the Research Design Service is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) on the 5th floor of Royal London House. Feel free to pop in and see us or send us an email.

CoPMRE celebrates joint PhDs

 

Thirty-five clinicians and academics crammed into the Centre of Postgraduate Medical Research and Education’s (CoPMRE) meeting room on the 5th Floor of Royal London House for this Spring’s Visiting Faculty workshop brilliantly organised by Audrey Dixon.  Five excellent presentations from PhD students, with supervisors from BU and local NHS clinicians, showcased the breadth and depth of research from risk stratification for early detection of heart attacks in ED to using the Nintendo Wii to increase activity levels and quality of life in people with multiple sclerosis. Fiona Knight from the Graduate School explained process and policy, Alan Breen from the Anglo European Chiropractic College mused on the benefits of being a PhD supervisor, Zoe Sheppard briefed on HSC’s plan to enhance research impact and Tony Markus called for a special interest group to explore human factors in patient safety. All washed down by plenty of fresh coffee and a buffet lunch. Thanks to all who took part.

Paul Thompson MD FRCP

Director CoPMRE

Tuesday 8 April – Lunch time seminar with Associate Professor Elaine Wiersma

BUDI welcome 
Associate Professor Elaine Wiersma to deliver a lunch time seminar

Date:     Tuesday 8 April
Time:     12 Noon until 13.00
Venue:   EB203

Limited places available:  email mobrien@bournemouth.ac.uk to reserve your place.

Engaging People Living with Dementia in the Development of Services: Lessons Learned from a Canadian Context
This presentation will explore the ways that a Canadian research team is engaging people living with dementia in the development of services. Specifically, two projects will be discussed—the development of a self-management program for people living with dementia, and a dementia journey mapping project. The engagement of health and social care providers with researchers and people living with dementia will be described within those two projects. Lessons learned about people, relationships, and process will be described and discussed.

Bio:
Elaine Wiersma is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. She is the Advisor for the Interdisciplinary Certificate in Dementia Studies, the lead of re-THINKing dEMENTIA, the division of Dementia and Seniors’ Mental Health at the Centre for Education and Research on Aging & Health, Lakehead University, and the chair of the North West Dementia Network. Her work has spanned community and long-term care sectors, using qualitative and participatory methodologies to examine the social dimensions of aging and dementia. Currently, her work is focusing on the development of self-management in dementia and exploring the context of aging and dementia in rural northern communities in Ontario. Elaine is engaged in a number of initiatives, both research and community initiatives, that seek to engage people living with dementia and care partners as equal partners, recognizing that the involvement of these groups is vital to creating more effective services and programs.

Visit by Professor Catherine Cassell – Thursday 3rd April 2014

Professor Catherine Cassell will be visiting Bournemouth University on Thursday 3rd April to deliver two events.  Professor Cassell was the founding chair of British Academy of Management’s Research Methodology group and is currently a member of the Association of Business School’s Research Policy Committee. Catherine is an Associate Editor of the ‘British Journal of Management’, a Fellow of the British Academy of Management and an Academic Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Event 1: Developing an Academic Career, 12.30 – 13.30

Event 2: The State of Qualitative Management Research and Future Challenges for Qualitative Researchers, 14.00 – 16.00

There are still places available on both events.  For more information and to book a place please visit Staff Development and Engagement

 

 

Come along to the first RKEO coffee morning!

R & KE Operations

You said in our recent survey that you would like to see a quarterly coffee morning where you could have a chat with people from the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office. So we’ve organised some! The first event is on 22 May 2014, starting at 9.30am in the Retreat (Talbot campus). You’re welcome to come along and have a chat with us, or just to enjoy a coffee and cake. The next event (please note the change of date) will take place on 19 June in R303, Royal London House between 9am and 10am.

If you can’t make either of these dates, we have several more coffee mornings arranged for the next academic year; the first event of 2014-15 will be in the Retreat on 30 October.

We look forward to seeing you on 22 May!

Hot beverage and cupcake

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

 My application to the Fusion Investment Fund (FIF) has been successful.  The funds will be used to establish research collaboration, student and staff exchanges with the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa. I will be travelling to the UKZN during Easter this month for an exploratory visit. While at UKZN, I will present a paper to the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance. This will be followed by a series of meetings with students and staff. On my return, I will apply to Bournemouth University to put in place the three relationships.

 A successful establishment of the three aforesaid relationships will have many enormous benefits to the students and staff of BU and UKZN. For example, students should benefit culturally in terms of spending sometime in South Africa and UK respectively due to differences in the two countries’ cultures. In addition to cultural awareness, the staff exchange will benefit the staff involved through observing how lecturers in a different country deliver lectures. Apart from co-authoring academic journal articles, research collaboration between BU and UKZN staff should be beneficial where the research call (e.g. Horizon 2020) requires that researchers from Europe collaborate with a partner from South Africa.

 At an institution level, the relationships should help BU in two main ways. Firstly, student exchange should increase awareness of BU in Africa which may translate into increase in percentage of African students enrolled at BU. Increasing the percentage of students from Africa is important for BU because currently less than 4% of our students are from Africa compared to 8% UK universities average. Secondly, the increase in student population from Africa will also help BU achieve the strategic plan objective of increasing overseas students’ recruitment by 15% by 2015.

 UKNZ is the third largest university in South Africa and a very good university and also shares great similarities in university teaching, research and enterprise activities with those of the Business School, School of Tourism, Design, Engineering and Computing, School of Health and Social Care. Further information about the university can be found on: http://www.ukzn.ac.za/.

 Dr Ven Tauringana, Associate Professor of Accounting – The Business School

HEFCE’s Open Access Policy for the next REF Published

Guidance, Info Days, Post-award, Publishing, REF Subjects, Research assessment, Training

HEFCE and the other three UK funding bodies have published details of a new policy for open access relating to future research assessments after the current 2014 REF.

The policy describes new eligibility requirements for outputs submitted to the post-2014 REF (commonly referred to REF2020). These requirements apply to all journal articles and conference proceedings accepted for publication after 1 April 2016. They do not apply to monographs, other long-form publications, creative or non-text outputs, or data.

 open access logo, Public Library of ScienceThe requirements state that peer-reviewed manuscripts must be deposited in an institutional (BURO) or subject repository on acceptance for publication. The title and author of these deposits, and other descriptive information, must be discoverable straight away by anyone with a search engine. The manuscripts must then be accessible for anyone to read and download once any embargo period has elapsed.

There are limited exceptions to the policy, where depositing and arranging access to the manuscript is not achievable.

This policy was developed following an extensive two-stage consultation during 2013, to which they received over 460 written responses.

 To read this item in full visit: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/news/newsarchive/2014/news86805.html

If you would like to know more about Open Access, Bournemouth University are hosting asector-wide Open Access Event on the 7th May with Ben Johnson from HEFCE presenting on the policy, places are limited so if you’re interested, please register here.

In the meantime, if you would like to deposit your full text articles into BURO you can do this easily via BRIAN, full guidance can be found on the staff intranet pages. Alternatively, there are two BRIAN training sessions scheduled which you can book on to here.

 

Deadline! Panic. Click Submit: Grants Academy Diary Part 3

Grants Academy, R & KE Operations, Training

Email flurries. Cut-and-paste frenzies. Forgetting if draft v3.1.5 is most recent despite diligent attempts to effectively dropbox. Sound familiar? Grant deadline time demands we are at our sharpest, but more often finds us high on caffeine and flung headlong into chaos. Whether one clicks submit with confidence, hesitation or blind faith, when the closing hour comes, we breathe a sigh of relief. It’s out of our hands and into the 1 in 12 success rate abyss.

Like many colleagues, I’ve been on grant teams where ‘click submit’ was done with varying shades of satisfaction. But this time, something felt different. This wasn’t any ordinary bid. This was my Grants Academy bid. A bid that had gone through three days of extensive surgery via R&KE OP’s staff development programme on bid writing run by expert consultant Dr. Martin Pickard. It benefited from Martin’s expertise, as well as the critical eyes of five interdisciplinary BU colleagues also attending the workshop. Further developed by two CI collaborators,  two external peer reviewers,  BU Quality Approver Richard Berger and the devoted attention of my research officer Pengpeng Ooi, never before had I been on a grant handled with so much personalised and professional care.  This time when I clicked submit, there wasn’t a sentence worth changing.

In two earlier diary posts I discussed the daunting task of getting started with bid writing and my (somewhat unfounded) fears of impact agendas. After the first two workshops we each went off, brains buzzing with new tips and tricks, to independently work on our bid drafts. But rather than spend hours crafting confident cases for support, those two weeks during the start of spring semester saw little time to devote to redrafting. Like the students we sometimes bemoan, most of us ended up in a last minute ‘meet the deadline’ whirlwind, turning in work we were only half proud of.

Building on session one’s tips about project formulation and session two’s insights on expressing the wider value of our research, session three provided a simulated peer review process to help us better understand how bids are evaluated and scored.  This final stage of the Grants Academy began with a discussion of review criteria, followed by a tally of the scores we gave fellow academy members, and then individual rounds of feedback on each of our six draft bid submissions. While none of us broke most research funder’s thresholds of 70% approval, few of us felt we deserved to, at least not yet.

Offering a supportive environment to watch our work get torn apart — a necessary if uncomfortable part of the bid enhancement process — day three of Grants Academy proved as beneficial as the first two. Rather than disheartening, the patterns and repetition of criticism shared across our cross-disciplinary colleagues’ reviews helped us to hone in on what desperately needed fixing. This peer review process was topped off with one-to-one feedback from Martin on where to go next with our bid’s development.

After the session a few of us stayed behind, manically typing away, not wanting to forget any of our colleagues’ sage advice. I knew my deadline was only a few weeks away and I wanted that 60 up to a 90, to fill the gap of the 1 in 12 success rate with sure-fire reasons why we deserved funding. Over the next two weeks my CIs and I racked up 57 emails, 3 hours of skype meetings and 5 budget drafts — all for just a £10,000 bid. In the words of our Grants Academy Guru, “To compete, we train.”

My biggest takeaway tip for colleagues registered in an upcoming Grants Academy session, or those thinking about enrolling, would be to come with a bid in the early to mid-stages of development. (NOT something either brand new or nearly finished.) This will allow you to get the most out of the developmental process of the workshops. Attending the sessions forces you to make time for drafting by providing structured deadlines and feedback to carry forward. I chose to develop a small Fusion Funded pilot project. 

Anna Feigenbaum is a Lecturer in CMC group at the Media School. As part of her CEMP Fellowship she created this diary of her time at the Grants Academy.  You can read her Day One Diary post here and Day Two here.  

 

Research Professional – all you need to know

Funding opportunities

Every BU academic has a Research Professional account which delivers weekly emails detailing funding opportunities in their broad subject area. To really make the most of your Research Professional account, you should tailor it further by establishing additional alerts based on your specific area of expertise.

Research Professional have created several guides to help introduce users to ResearchProfessional. These can be downloaded here.

Quick Start Guide: Explains to users their first steps with the website, from creating an account to searching for content and setting up email alerts, all in the space of a single page.

User Guide: More detailed information covering all the key aspects of using ResearchProfessional.

Administrator Guide: A detailed description of the administrator functionality.

In addition to the above, there are a set of 2-3 minute videos online, designed to take a user through all the key features of ResearchProfessional.  To access the videos, please use the following link: http://www.youtube.com/researchprofessional 

Research Professional are running a series of online training broadcasts aimed at introducing users to the basics of creating and configuring their accounts on ResearchProfessional.  They are holding monthly sessions, covering everything you need to get started with ResearchProfessional.  The broadcast sessions will run for no more than 60 minutes, with the opportunity to ask questions via text chat.  Each session will cover:

  • Self registration and logging in
  • Building searches
  • Setting personalised alerts
  • Saving and bookmarking items
  • Subscribing to news alerts
  • Configuring your personal profile

Each session will run between 10.00am and 11.00am (UK) on the fourth Tuesday of each month.  You can register here for your preferred date:

22 April 2014

27 May 2014

24 June 2014

22 July 2014

26 August 2014

23 September 2014

28 October 2014

25 November 2014

These are free and comprehensive training sessions and so this is a good opportunity to get to grips with how Research Professional can work for you.

CEMP Success: Three BU Colleagues approved as Higher Education Academy Associates

Fusion

Last week colleagues from BU’s Centre for Excellence in Media Practice (CEMP) and Centre for Excellence in Learning (CEL) won appointments to the newly approved Higher Education Academy (HEA) Associates programme. CEMP’s Director Julian McDougall, Head of CEMP’s Postgraduate Research Richard Berger, and CEMP Fellow Anna Feigenbaum from the Media School’s CMC will join the re-developed Academic Associates community. As Associates they will take part in research projects, event programming and developing the HEA’s UK and International consultancy.  The HEA is the UK’s main provider of resources, events and workshops relating to learning and teaching in higher education, servicing 28 different disciplines. In addition to running its professional recognition Fellowship programme–that many BU staff are a part of–the Higher Education Academy also offers a robust funding scheme for education research and practice.  Through their Academic Associate roles, Julian, Richard and Anna look forward to strengthening CEL and BU’s relationship with the HEA.  Continuing CEMP’s track record of internationally recognised higher education research, this role will enhance the centre’s engagement in media education research consultancy, shaping innovative teaching practice and influencing HE policy.

Fusion Investment Fund – Bournemouth Bio-Beach

Awarded & submitted bids, Fusion

Dr Roger Herbert from the Faculty of Science and Technology has been successfully awarded Fusion Investment Funding for the Bio-Beach project, in collaboration with Bournemouth Borough Council’s Coastal Activity Park.

The project will see academics from the Faculty of Science and Technology combining their ecological and engineering knowledge in order to pump-prime research on sustainable coastal development and improve public engagement in the marine environment. The team (made up of Dr Roger Herbert, Dr Bob Eves, Dr Ben Thomas, Dr Rick Stafford, Dr Genoveva Esteban, Dr Luciana Esteves & Ben Thornes) will be designing, making and installing novel structures to selected groynes and other structures on Boscombe Beach to provide refugia for marine organisms and to fulfil a variety of research aims.

Potentially, these structures will transform the groynes into intertidal reefs, with features designed to increase biodiversity; extending the intertidal range of marine organisms up the beach for the public to see. Next month we will be working with the AspireBU team and two local schools, Avonbourne School and Harewood College, who will be getting involved with the project. They will be designing and making their own structures to increase biodiversity on the groynes and will be monitoring their creations after installation to see how many organisms have colonised them.