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BU Studentships Competition 2013 – Project Proposal Writing Workshop

PG research

The 2013 BU Studentships internal competition will be launched next term with opportunities for up to 40 matched funded PhD projects. As in previous years, the studentships will be awarded to supervisory teams on the basis of a competitive process across the whole of BU. In selecting proposals for funding, emphasis will be placed on the excellence of the research and quality of proposal in the first instance. Strategic fit with REF, societal impact and opportunity for public engagement will also be assessed.

To support academics in seeking matched funding and in preparation of their project proposals, the Graduate School will be running a series of events over the next few months, starting with two project proposal writing workshops facilitated by John Wakeford from the Missenden Centre.

There will be two workshops on Tuesday 24th July (am and pm) to help Supervisors to develop and strengthen their project proposal applications to the internal competition. Peter Delgado (RDU Commercialisation and KTP Officer) will also be available to provide advice and support in securing matched funding.  Participants should have some initial proposal ideas in preparation to focus discussion on the day.

Tuesday 24th July, Morning Session (09:00-13:30) – Venue tbc (Draft Agenda)

09:00 Arrival & Coffee

09:15 Studentship Proposal Writing Workshop (part I) – John Wakeford

  • Agenda sharing (participant introductions and identifying concerns and priorities to be covered).
  • Reviewing good research bid.
  • What to do before applying.
  • Writing a good application.

10:45 Institutional Context (information on the BU PhD Studentship Competition 2013 and the support of the Graduate School) – Professor Tiantian Zhang

11:00 Coffee Break

11:15 Studentship Proposal Writing Workshop (part II) – John Wakeford

  • Advising colleagues on draft applications.
  • Plenary feedback.
  • Questions and discussion.
  • Reflecting after having an application turned down.
  • Action planning: individual participants draw up plans for progressing own research.
  • Participants make suggestions to the university to help those bidding for funds.

12:30 Lunch

13:00 Engaging Matched Funders – Peter Delgado

13:30 Close

 

Tuesday 24th July, Afternoon Session (12:30 – 17:00) – Venue tbc (Draft Agenda)

12:30 Arrival & Lunch

13:00 Engaging Matched Funders – Peter Delgado

13:30 Studentship Context incl 2013 Competition – Professor Tiantian Zhang

13:45 Studentship Proposal Writing Workshop (part I) – John Wakeford

  • Agenda sharing (participant introductions and identifying concerns and priorities to be covered).
  • Reviewing good research bid.
  • What to do before applying.
  • Writing a good application.

15:15 Tea Break

15:30 Studentship Proposal Writing Workshop (part II) – John Wakeford

  • Advising colleagues on draft applications.
  • Plenary feedback.
  • Questions and discussion.
  • Reflecting after having an application turned down.
  • Action planning: individual participants draw up plans for progressing own research.
  • Participants make suggestions to the university to help those bidding for funds.

17:00 Close

Similar sessions have been very well attended previously and spaces are limited. To book a place on either session, please email the Graduate School (graduateschool@bournemouth.ac.uk).

What is the ERC?

I tend not to blog too much about the European Research Council (ERC) grants within FP7 as they are so competitive and not really applicable for the overwhelming majority of researchers throughout the world, bit as I’m giving an update on Horizon 2020 and because the ERC budget is expected to go up massively, it seems important to cover it. The ERC is designed for the crème de la crème of the world’s researchers. This scheme has a budget of €7.5 billion which is used to fund frontier research projects, focusing in excellence and takes a bottom up approach. The scheme is open to researchers from anywhere in the world and they don’t have to have any partners or can have a whole team. There are 4 types of grant under the ERC:

1. Starting Grants: for researchers 2-7 years post-PhD looking for up to €2m funding for a maximum of 5 years

2. Advanced Grants: for researchers with a ‘significant track record’ of research achievements over a 10 year period looking for up to €3.5m over a maximum of 5 years

3. Synergy Grants: for 2-4 Principal Investigators looking for up to €15m for a maximum of 6 years

4. Proof-of-Concept: for ERC grant holders looking to bridge the gap between research and the earliest stage of marketable innovation, up to €150k

The budgets are high for individual projects and the topic flexible so on paper seems like a great scheme.  Indeed more than 2, 600 Principal Investigators based in 480 Host Institutions in 26 countries have received funds under this scheme since 2007. And the UK is in the top 5 in terms of success rates and we are the country where  the majority of ERC is hosted; with Cambridge and Oxford as the top 2 host institutions in the whole programme.

However the scheme is super competitive; it has an average 12% success rate. All schemes have reduced in their success rates over the last 2 years. It is also biased towards certain institutions, with 50% of Principal Investigators being based in just 50 institutions. And lastly, it is mostly geared towards the physical sciences, life sciences and engineering as it funds ‘risky’ research and is looking for competitiveness which social sciences and humanities often can’t offer.

So overall, despite the fact that for Horizon 2020 the budget will increase (as will the number of applications) unless you are one of the best researchers in the world (and can prove it), working in a uni popular with the ERC and if you have a truly blue skies research project based in the hard sciences and don’t mind a low success rate  then this scheme isn’t for you. If you do match this description then you will be pleased to hear there are no major reshaping plans for the scheme under Horizon 2020, just a recognition that the scientific governance of the scheme needs to be strengthened and links between this and other schemes also strengthened.

How will Marie Curie Actions look in Horizon 2020?

Regular readers of this EU section of the BU research blog will know how pleased I am that so many of you engage in Marie Curie under FP7. The great news is that it is here to stay for Horizon 2020 although it will be known as Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. For some unknown reason Marie Curie’s Polish maiden name has been incorporated in to this (possibly due to a previously rather senior Polish Presidency overseeing this!). The other good news is that it is set to get even bigger with an increase of funding by 20% and will incorporate the doctoral fellowships currently offered in the Erasmus Mundus Programme.   The bad news is that it is also getting much more competitive. Two years ago the average success rate of Marie Curie was over 30%, now average is 14%. The good news is the UK is the second highest recipient of the funding with the second highest success rate so we are still in a good position.

For those of you unfamiliar with Marie Curie, they are fellowships to support great researchers from anywhere in the world (and include those in industry) to increase their research experience and expertise. You can read more on what Marie Curie actions exist here  and the range of support mechanisms we have for those interested in applying hereIf you know a researcher who would be suitable for a Marie Curie Incoming Fellowship, then do approach them: the UK is the number one destination for the 130 nationality, 60, 000 Marie Curie Fellowship holders, so we are an attractive proposition and if you want to travel to another country, then you can do so with confidence; the UK is the seventh largest participant in this scheme who travel elsewhere in the world. The UK has attracted in the following fellows under the various schemes:

Intra-European Fellowships 894
Initial Training Networks 730
International Incoming Fellowships 279
Industry-Academia Partnerships 241
Co-funding of Regional, National and International Programmes 111
Reintegration Grants 73
International Outgoing Fellowships 73
Career Integration Grants 42
International Reintegration Grants 37
European Reintegration Grants 18

Under Horizon 2020, Marie Curie actions will have a proposed €5.75 billion and all current schemes within the programme will remain pretty much the same, although they have been ‘simplified’ into 4 actions :

1. Early Stage Researcher Fellowships (which will include ITN)

2. Experienced Researcher Fellowships (which will include IEF, IOF, IIF, CIG)

3. Exchange of Staff Fellowships (which will include IAPP, IRSES)

4. Co-Funding Fellowships (which will be COFUND) 

It’s great to see that the EC recognise that if it ain’t broke….

New QAA Chapter on Research Degrees Published

PG research

Following its recent consultation exercise, the QAA has published the UK Quality Code for Higher Education – Chapter B11: Research Degrees.

This Chapter of the UK Quality Code for Higher Education (the Quality Code) sets out the expectation that research degrees are awarded in a research environment that provides a secure academic standard for doing research and learning about research approaches, methods, procedures and protocols. This environment offers students equality of opportunity and the support they need to achieve successful academic, personal and professional outcomes from research degrees. It is informed by a wider context in which UK research degrees are offered, including an environment of continuous improvement and the desire to learn from others’ experiences in research education. It replaces Section 1 of the Code of Practice: Postgraduate research programmes, published in 2004.

The BU Code of Practice for Research Degrees reflects the best practice set out in this Chapter and the version for 2012/13 is currently being updated to reflect the enhanced expectations set out in this new Chapter B11:  Research Degrees.

The chapter includes references to the Vitae Researcher Development Statement/Framework (www.vitae.ac.uk/rdf; www.vitae.ac.uk/rds) and the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers. The Vitae Researcher Development Framework represents a major new approach to researcher development and provides a unique professional development framework for researchers in higher education.  Vitae welcomes the aspects of the Quality Code relating to career and personal development of students undertaking doctoral and research master’s degrees. In particular, the guidance to the following sections makes reference to the Vitae Researcher Development Statement/Framework:

  • The research environment
  • Selection, admission and induction of students
  • Supervision
  • Development of research and other skills

The Graduate School is working closely with Academic Schools to develop a comprehensive framework of generic and subject specific development opportunities for PGR students in 2012/13.

Higher Education Academy (HEA) Teaching Development Grants

Funding opportunities, Guidance

Over the next 6 months the HEA will be launching two teaching development grant schemes, the first of which opens on the 28th August.

If you are interested in putting forward a proposal, please contact your RKE Operations Officer.

1.     Departmental Scheme

The Departmental grant scheme invites proposals from single departments in HEIs that encourage cooperation between colleagues to support the enhancement of learning and teaching.  Successful applications will demonstrate team impact across a department; there will be scope for long-term impact, and provision for evaluation and dissemination will be clearly defined. The hosting institution will be expected to contribute funds towards the project.  Proposals submitted under the Departmental scheme may request up to £30,000 from the Higher Education Academy. Projects will run for fifteen months.

The key themes for the 2012/13 round are assessment and feedback and flexible learning. 75 per cent of funding will be allocated to projects in these two thematic areas. 25 per cent of funding will be dedicated to an open call for innovative pedagogic projects. These projects could build on previous pedagogic work, or they could seek to develop a new area of work entirely.

Call opens – Tuesday 28 August 2012

Deadline for submissions – 5:00pm on Thursday 27 September 2012

Further information is available at http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/tdg/departmental

 2.     Collaborative Scheme

The Collaborative grant scheme invites proposals from two or more departments or other groupings within or between HEIs that support the enhancement of learning and teaching. Successful applications will demonstrate scope for long-term impact, and provision for evaluation and dissemination will be clearly defined. The hosting institution will be expected to contribute towards the project in the form of match funding. The project lead must be a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and the lead institution must be a subscriber to the Higher Education Academy. Proposals submitted under the Collaborative scheme may request up to £60,000 from the Higher Education Academy. Projects will run for eighteen months.

The key themes for the 2012/13 round are assessment and feedback and flexible learning. 75 per cent of funding will be allocated to projects in these two thematic areas. 25 per cent of funding will be dedicated to an open call for innovative pedagogic projects. These projects could build on previous pedagogic work, or they could seek to develop a new area of work entirely.

Call opens – Monday 7 January 2013

Deadline for submissions – 5:00pm on Thursday 28 February 2013

Further information is available at http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/tdg/collaborative

EPSRC call for UK and India Partnership in Advanced Manufacturing Research Challenges

Funding opportunities

Summary

Twenty-first century manufacturing is an increasingly global endeavour, driven by the rapid pace of technological change. High-value manufacturing processes are increasingly moving towards flexible, intelligent production systems that involve the inter-play of novel technologies, advanced materials, in-line analysis and ICT, dual working of people and automated systems, and precision engineered products and systems. Vital to all industrial sectors, modern manufacturing is more than merely production – it encompasses R&D, design, prototyping, production, distribution, service and support provision, and end-of-life repair, recycle or reuse.

Manufacturing is a top priority in both UK and Indian plans for economic growth. In 2011, India launched a National Manufacturing Policy that aims to increase manufacturing activity from a current 16% GDP to 25% by 2022. This equates to a growth rate of 12 14% per year, and aims to generate 100 million new jobs. The UK’s coalition government has also placed manufacturing at the heart of the economic recovery, and has published a series of policy announcements and reviews on the subject.

EPSRC and the Department of Science & Technology (DST) expect to commit up to £3M (Rs 23 crore) each on research programmes of up to three years in length. The funded programmes are expected to vary in size according to the demands of the proposed research, up to a maximum of £1M total, and will involve both UK and Indian researchers. This call invites applicants to submit a proposal for funding.

The proposal will be assessed by expert postal peer review, and those that are sufficiently supported will be advanced to a funding decision panel in February 2013. Funding decisions are expected to be made in March 2013.

Key dates

Activity Date
India and UK announcement date          02 July 2012
Call opens in Je-S for proposals 2 July 2012
Closing date for proposals 27 September 2012
UK (Je-S submission) deadline 16:00 GMT
India (DST receipt) deadline 20:30 Indian time
Postal peer review Early October 2012
Prioritisation panel for proposals February 2013
Grants announced March 2013
Funded projects to start January 2014 onwards
 

Documents to download

 
Contacts:
 
The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Royal Geographical Society Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

The Royal Geographical Society have announced several funding opportunities.  They are as follows:

Gilchrist Fieldwork Award

The Gilchrist Educational Trust offers an award of £15,000 to support original and challenging overseas fieldwork carried out by small teams of university academics and researchers.

The research should include a single field session of at least six weeks. There should be strong links with the host country and preferably the research should be of applied benefit to the host nation. 

The Award was created by the Gilchrist Educational Trust in 1990 and is judged in conjunction with the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG).

Deadline: 21 February 2014. The award is run biennially in even years.

Apply: Gilchrist Fieldwork Award guidelines (PDF) 

 

Slawson Awards

By the kind generosity of Fellows Paul and Mary Slawson, the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) offers two to three awards annually, each between £1,000 – £3,000, for PhD students intending to carry out geographical field research.

The awards, which have been given since 2001, support geographical fieldwork involving development issues with a high social and economic value.

Deadline: 22 February 2013

Apply: Slawson Award guidelines (PDF) 

 

Neville Shulman Challenge Award

2011 Neville Shulman Challenge Award recipients Paul Howard and Tanzin Norbu travel to the Himilayan Kingdom of Zanskar in winterThe Neville Shulman Challenge Award, first given in 2001, is an annual award of £10,000, established for the Society by Neville Shulman CBE and his associates.

The Neville Shulman Challenge Award aims to further the understanding and exploration of the planet: its cultures, peoples and environments, while promoting personal development through the intellectual or physical challenges involved in undertaking the research and/or expeditions.

Applications are invited from both individuals and groups.

Deadline: 21 September 2012

Apply: Neville Shulman Challenge Award Guidelines (PDF)

 

Peter Fleming Award

2007 Peter Fleming Award recipient Dr Pete Langdon cored lake sediments in Patagonia in order to reconstruct climatic variability over the last 500 years

The Peter Fleming Award is an award of up to £9,000 for a geographical research project that seeks to advance geographical science. It is one of the senior awards that the Society offers to support the development of geographical knowledge and understanding.

Applications can be made in any field of geography provided the project can demonstrate genuine advancement of current knowledge.

Deadline: 23 November 2012

Apply: Peter Fleming Award guidelines (PDF)

The Research Ethics and Code of Practice for RGS applies to all of the above calls:
Research Ethics and Code of Practice (PDF)

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

AHRC presentation – slides now available

Last week, Professor Mark Llewellyn – Head of Research for the AHRC came to BU.  

He spent the day with us, meeting with our AHRC peer reviewers,  Arts and Humanities Profs, Deputy Deans and AHRC grant holders.  Professor Llewellyn also addressed a well-attended public meeting.    We gave Professor Llewellyn a good introduction to BU and our work – and I’m delighted to say he found the day extremely informative.

The slides from the open meeting can be accessed here: AHRC presentation 2012

If you are thinking about applying to the AHRC for research funding please contact Caroline O’Kane, to ensure you have access to all the support that is available for grant development.

How your International Cooperation Country contacts can participate in Horizon 2020….

 I heard John Claxton from the European Commission speaking last week on the participation on International Cooperation Countries (ICCs) in Horizon 2020 (These countries include Brazil, the USA, China and so on).

ICCs have been able to participate as EU members in the FP7 schemes most relevant to us at BU and indeed some calls for proposals have actually targeted these countries for participation. This targeted approach has reduced over the last 2 years of FP7, with instead just a general encouragement to engage with these countries which may be an indication for Horizon 2020. Figures show that 2.5% of the total budget goes to third countries, and one in 5 accepted proposals has a third country participant.

The 5 ICCs which participate most in FP7 in highest to lowest are Russia, the USA, India, South Africa and Brazil. And the programme which has a huge number of ICC participants is Marie Curie, with a whopping 12,000 researchers coming into the EU from ICCs.

The EU is currently revising the international cooperation policy between Member States and the rest of the European Union through committees such as the Strategic Forum for International Science and Technology Cooperation. These groups are trying to develop more coherence and synergies between ICCs and the EU Member States and have already launched pilot work with India, China, Latin America, Africa, the Caribbean and the USA and will be working on Brazil and Russia over the following year.

So what has sparked this change? Well most societal challenges are global in nature, especially those under focus in the proposed Horizon 2020. The EU needs to get access to ICCs working in similar areas and we need access to their markets. We also need to build a critical mass for tackling global challenges through resource pooling and risk sharing in order to lead to more possibilities for breakthroughs and innovations.

And what is the EC doing about it?  The EC has recognised that the EU needs to engage more strategically and actively in international cooperation so has been developing more targeted approach. For Horizon 2020, the EC are aligning their societal challenges and enabling technologies with the rest of the world, looking at issues such as infrastructures, patents, publications, access to markets etc. More specifically there will be funding opportunities for ICCs within the proposed Horizon 2020. Under Societal Challenges and Industrial Leadership there will be the targeting of specific countries or regions based on common interiors and joint calls and co-funding of programmes with Third Countries. Under Excellent Science the will be specific fellowships designed to stimulate innovation, the development of global research infrastructures and of course the European Research Council and Marie Curie programmes will remain open to all countries globally. Finally under dedicated cross-cutting actions there will be support for bilateral, multilateral and bi-regional policy dialogue, network and twinning activities and other policy initiatives.

The final stages of ICC development under Horizon 2020 includes reinforcing partnerships between the EC and Member States, strengthening implementation, governance and evaluation, identifying areas for targeting and developing roadmaps with key partners.

So it looks as though ICCs will be incorporated even further into Horizon 2020 which is great for those of you with partners outside of the EU!

BU’s 100+ Media Directory Launch

In May 2012 Bournemouth University launched the BU 100+ Media Directory to highlight the wide range of research carried out at the university. The directory contains a selection of our top academics with their fields of expertise and contact details. Journalists can then call upon them for informed comment, news analysis or education insight for any article or broadcast they might be working on. We have a version online and also printed the directory.

There was a launch party for the printed directory in London and copies were sent out to journalists across the land. A copy landed on the desk of Edward Fennell from The Times. He wrote in the paper on 28 June: “As insiders know, the media school at Bournemouth University is outstanding. It’s full of ex-pros and recently won a Queen’s Anniversary Award. In short, it’s very cool all round.”

He then went on to describe the Media Directory as a thick, retro reporter’s notebook saying that is was “an interesting (albeit risky) shift away from reliance on its website. Every page features one of the university’s ‘Top 100’ experts, with all their credentials attractively laid out.” He pointed out that included among them were lawyers such as Dr Dinusha Mendis, Senior Lecturer in Law and the co-director of the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management.”

He continued that this was when he realised that the directory might be suitable for law firms as well to help promote their partners, ending the article: “If you are confident enough then this is a lovely chunky way of telling your clients about your partners. It’s counterintuitive, but sometimes that is where you want to be.”

If you want a copy to land on your desk, please contact James Donald 01202 961032.

How does the UK influence Horizon 2020?

I heard a very interesting presentation by Scott Hudson from the UK Representation to the EU Brussels (UKREP)  last week who discussed how decisions on funding are made in Brussels.  UKREP exists to present the UK government views to the EU in order to try and influence legislation to make it more beneficial to the UK. They also get involved with UK representative groups in Brussels such as UKRO and  in lobbying etc.

UKREP get involved with the 80 or so Council Working Groups. These groups have representatives fro  all 27 Member States and meet twice a  week to discuss legislation.  One of these councils is responsible for Horizon 2020 and UKREP attend these discussions to present the UK view in order to to stop/ push certain legislation. UKREP work closely with the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to represent the UK view. A rather terrfiyingly complex diagran was shown demonstrating the process in creating legislation.

But back to Horizon 2020. The UK have agreed with most of the proposals for this in particular the 3 pillars  and the greater initiatives to include SMEs as well as the focus on excellence.  They also agree with simplification. But want to be clear on who is benefitting from this,  and ensuring it’s us who is benefiting and not the European Commission.

UKREP also broadly support flat rates of reimbursement but on the back of David Willetts push, have  called for a reintroduction of an option for the recovery of actual indirect costs occurred.

Finally UKREP are continuing to push for a clear role of social sciences and humanities within Horizon 2020. They call for social sciences and humanities throughout all major themes such as green cars etc and not for it to be just seen as something distinct.

Given that UKREP have such great links with BIS it’s important to ensure we have good communication with them too. A key contact within BU for liaising with BIS is Mark Painter so do get in touch with him if you want to learn more about how you can influence BIS.

BU summer mock REF exercise gets underway

Research assessment

The fourth in a series of mock Research Excellence Framework (REF) exercises is currently underway at BU, with the paperwork now on its way to the external reviewers who have been specially recruited for their expertise in their subject area. The reviewers will spend the next month or so going through all the forms and submitted outputs and will provide feedback on each submission.

After reviewing the forms, the reviewers will also be involved in a meeting involving the BU Unit of Assessment (UOA) Leader and three or four nominated BU academics from each UOA to discuss the submissions and the feedback given. These meetings are due to take place during the early autumn. Once all the review meetings have taken place, the reviewers’ comments and the outcomes from the meetings will be compiled – this information will then be fed back to academics by the relevant UOA Leaders to help in the further development of the REF submissions.

The next (and final) REF mock exercise is due to take place during February to April 2013; it will be a full dry run and will be the last chance for you to receive external feedback on your outputs before the final REF submission deadline on 29th November 2013.

In the meantime, I’d like to thank all the BU academics who have been involved in the current mock exercise for taking part and for responding promptly to any queries. Thanks also to the UOA Leaders for collating the information and submitting it on time, particularly as the deadlines were quite tight. Your joint cooperation is much appreciated!

For all previous REF postings on the BU Research Blog, click here.

An Introduction to Research Administration & Management

Awarded & submitted bids, Guidance, Post-award, R & KE Operations, Training

The Research & Knowledge Exchange Operations (RKE Ops) team will be hosting a lunchtime staff development session on ‘An Introduction to Research Administration and Management’ geared towards professional and support staff on the 11th July 2012 at 12.30pm.

The session will explore the basics around research administration and management, including an overview of full Economic Costing (fEC), the prominent research funders and general good practice in research project management.

Further details can be found below:

  • What? Introduction to Research Administration & Management
  • When? Wednesday 11th July, 12.30 to 13.30pm
  • Where? The Octagon, Library, Talbot Campus
  • Who? Professional and support staff interested in research administration.
  • How?  To book a place please click here