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The PHD Movie – screening at BU on Monday 5 December

Love PHD Comics? Then come to the screening of The PHD Movie, hosted at BU on Monday 5 December!

The PHD Movie is being shown at universities around the world and premiered at UCLA in Los Angeles in September. It has also been shown at Harvard University, Yale University, University of Sydney, CERN, and multiple screenings at the Max Planck Institute.

In the UK the movie is only scheduled to be screened at UCL, Oxford, Glasgow, Cranfield, Bristol, Imperial College, York, Newcastle, Liverpool, Birmingham, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Brunel and Bournemouth!

The PHD Movie is a live-action adaptation of the popular online comic strip by Jorge Cham (www.phdcomics.com). It was filmed on location at and was produced in partnership with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

The film introduces audiences to the unique and funny culture of Academia and follows four graduate students (Cecilia, Mike, Tajel and the “Nameless Grad Student”) as they struggle to find balance between research, teaching and their personal lives with humor and heart.

The Movie was produced and directed by and stars real PhD students and researchers.

The Bournemouth screening will be held on Monday 5 December between 5pm-7pm in the Screening Room (W241), Weymouth House on the Talbot Campus.

It is free to attend!

Places at the screening are limited so complete the booking form below if you’d like to come along.

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Vijay Reddy attends the United Nations Conference on Green Economy and Sustainable Development

    Dr Maharaj Vijay Reddy was invited to attend the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development’s conference on ‘Green Economy and Sustainable Development’ at the European headquarters of the United Nations Office in Geneva UNOG (10-11 Oct 2011).   The aim of this cutting-edge conference was to debate and identify the sustainability and green economy priorities and to prepare and shape subsequent social policy discussions before the Rio+20 global summit next year.

    The UNOG conference received invited attendees from different parts of the world from several international organisations (e.g. UNDESA, UNESCAP, UNEP, UNESCO, and UNDP), many national and international funding agencies (e.g. World Bank, DFID, AUSAid), research institutes and leading universities. Key areas covered in the discussions include: the Global Economic Crisis, Nature in the Market-World, The Social Dimensions of Carbon Trading, Economic Growth, Social Divides and Sustainable Development, Climate Change, Double Injustice and Social Policy, The Global Political Economy, Governance in Environmental Policy, Realizing Pro-Poor Development in the Carbon Commodity Chain, The Potential and Constraints on the Payment for Ecosystem Services Markets, Agriculture and Rural Development, An Institutional Analysis of Biofuel Policies and their Social Implications in Developing Countries, and Future Research and Directions for Rio+20.

    PGR students – interested in some funding to travel?

    PG research

    Santander provides BU with funding for research students or staff to travel to universities in the Santander overseas network to work on a specific piece of work and develop links.  There are 4 x £5000 scholarships available with a deadline of 9th December.

    This is an excellent opportunity to travel to other countries such as the USA or South America and enhance your PhD by working with international researchers in your field and potentially enhancing your future career by developing international networks.  Priority is given to research students and early career researchers.

    Details on how to apply are available in this earlier blog post.

    Phew – Marie Curie here to stay til 2020!

    I am delighted to announce that Marie Curie Actions (which normally sit in the People Programme of FP7) looks like it is here to stay!

    The goal of Marie Curie in Horizon 2020 is to ensure optimum development and dynamic use of Europe’s  intellectual capital in order to generate new skills and innovation and, thus, to realise its  full potential across all sectors and regions. The EC sees well-trained, dynamic and creative researchers as the vital raw material for the best science and the most productive research-based innovation.

    THE EC feels that Europe hosts a large and diversified pool of skilled academics and l this needs to be constantly replenished, improved and adapted to the rapidly evolving needs of the labour market; particularly as a disproportionate number of researchers will hit retirement over the next few years and the research intensity of the EU economy is increasing.  

    The goal is, by leveraging additional funds, to increase the numerical and structural impact of this scheme and to foster excellence at national level in researchers training, mobility and career development. Additional goals are to monitor progress, identify gaps and to increase their impact. Indicators shall be developed and data related to researchers‘ mobility, skills and careers analysed, seeking synergies and close coordination with the policy support actions on researchers, their employers and funders carried out under the ” Inclusive, innovative and secure societies” challenge.

    The EC will target early career researchers – either doctoral or postdoc – and call for EU to develop state-of-the-art, innovative training schemes, consistent with the highly competitive and increasingly inter-disciplinary requirements of research and innovation. Strong involvement of businesses, including SMEs and other socio-economic actors, will be needed to equip researchers with the innovation skills demanded by the jobs of tomorrow. It will also be important to enhance the mobility of these researchers, as it currently remains at too modest a level: in 2008, only 7 % of European doctoral candidates were trained in another Member State, whereas the target is 20 % by 2030. Mid-career mobility will also be targeted not only between countries, but also between the public and private sectors as this creates a strong stimulus for learning and developing new skills and is a key factor in cooperation between academics, research centres and industry across countries.

    Former Marie Curie schemes have fostered some excellent results and this will continue with future Marie Curie Actions which will encourage new, creative and innovative types of training such as industrial doctorates, involving education, research and innovation players who will have to compete globally for a reputation of excellence. By providing Union funding for the best research and training programmes following the Principles for Innovative Doctoral Training in Europe, they will also promote wider dissemination and take-up, moving towards more structured doctoral training. Marie Curie grants will also be extended to the temporary mobility of experienced researchers and engineers from public institutions to the private sector or vice versa, thereby encouraging and supporting universities, research centres and businesses to cooperate with one another on a European and international scale.

    Funding will most likely be around the following 4 areas:

    1. Fostering new skills by means of excellent initial training of researchers: The goal is to train a new generation of creative and innovative researchers, able to convert knowledge and ideas into products and services for economic and social benefit in the Union. Key activities shall be to provide excellent and innovative training to early-stage researchers at post-graduate level via interdisciplinary projects or doctoral programmes involving universities, research institutions, businesses, SMEs and other socio-economic groups from different countries. This will improve career prospects for young post-graduate researchers in both the public and private sectors.
    2. Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility: The goal is to enhance the creative and innovative potential of experienced researchers at all career levels by creating opportunities for cross-border and cross-sector mobility. Key activities shall be to encourage experienced researchers to broaden or deepen their skills by means of mobility by opening attractive career opportunities in universities, research institutions, businesses, SMEs and other socio-economic groups all over Europe and beyond. Opportunities to restart a research career after a break shall also be supported.
    3. Stimulating innovation by means of cross-fertilisation of knowledge:  Key activities shall be to support short-term exchanges of research and innovation staff among a partnership of universities, research institutions, businesses, SMEs and other socio-economic groups, both within Europe and worldwide. This will include fostering cooperation with third countries.
    4. Increasing the structural impact by co-funding the activities:  Key activities shall be, with the aid of a co-funding mechanism, to encourage regional, national and international organisations to create new programmes and to open existing ones to international and intersectoral training, mobility and career development. This will increase the quality of research training in Europe at all career stages, including at doctoral level, will foster free circulation of researchers and scientific knowledge in Europe, will promote attractive research careers by offering open recruitment and attractive working conditions and will support research and innovation cooperation between universities, research institutions and enterprises and cooperation with third countries and international organisations.

    Santander Research and Travel Grants Fund – Open until 9th Dec

    Funding opportunities

    In the second round of funding we have 4 x £5000 scholarships from Santander for BU staff or research students to undertake a specific project that builds on or develops links with at least one university from the Santander overseas network.  This call is only open to applications until 9th December so get your applications in fast.

    Awards will be announced in January 2012, and funds must be spent before the end of July 2012. Preference will be given to applications received from postgraduate research students and early career researchers.

    Funds can only be used to cover direct costs (i.e. not salary costs or overheads).

    To apply complete the Santander application form and submit it by email to Susan Dowdle: sdowdle@bournemouth.ac.uk

    Successful applicants will be expected to participate in general PR activities about their research.  This may involve attending events and promoting the benefits of the funding.

    The closing date for applications is Friday 9 December 2011.

    Unsuccessful submissions from the last round of the Santander Scholarship funding cannot be resubmitted to this round. Previous unsuccessful applicants can submit new projects/ideas to this round.

    Tackling Europe’s Societal Challenges

    Yesterday’s blog post highlighted that a draft document we have obtained from the European Commission on Horizon 2020 has indicated that a major area of focus for research funding will be on Societal Challenges. This theme will incorporate EU policy and will focus on bringing together a critical mass of resources and knowledge across different fields, technologies and scientific disciplines. Societal Challenges will be addressed through activities which cover the full cycle from research to market, with a focus on innovation-related activities, such as piloting, demonstration, test-beds, support for public procurement, social innovation and market take-up of innovations.

     

     

     Six thematic areas are included:

    1. Health, demographic change and well-being;
    2. Food security, sustainable agriculture and the bio-economy;
    3. Secure, clean and efficient energy;
    4. Smart, green and integrated transport;
    5. Climate action, resource efficiency and raw materials;
    6. Inclusive, innovative and secure societies

    I have summarised information contained in the draft Horizon 2020 document for you on each of these areas. Information includes the focus of the thematic area, the rationale behind it and likely areas and activities to be funded. This is a draft document so nothing is set in stone as yet, but it is definitely worth preparing for this now so you and your partners are ready for calls being released in 2013/14.

     This information is highly confidential and not to be circulated outside of BU and can therefore be found on the I Drive:  I:\CRKT\Public\Horizon 2020

    Find out how BU research is helping councils improve the delivery of the Olympics and Paralympics

    Watch this excellent short video from BU’s Dr Richard Shipway who discusses the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games and how his research has been used by local councils to improve the delivery of the games in the area.

    To see other BU videos on YouTube go to the BU YouTube page!

     

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy_B4Nbzvv4

    Dorset LEP

    In looking at Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth we cannot ignore recent regional evidence, links to 2 documents which set the scene

    The LEP prospectus   http://www.dorsetforyou.com/media.jsp?mediaid=164554&filetype=pdf

    The South West Regional Economic Indicators http://economy.swo.org.uk/publications/economic-indicators/south-west-regional-economic-indicators/

    Funding with a Media Flavour – UK

    Funding opportunities, Guidance

    At a recent Media School meeting attendees asked us to outline some of the common funders, so here is a general overview of those funders with a Media flavour both domestic and further a field.  Part One concentrates on the key UK funders and in the next few days we’ll post information on potential EU funders and schemes.

     

    Research Councils

    The two primary research councils for media-focused research are the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) which are responsible for funding the vast majority of arts and humanities in the UK. The success rates for the AHRC are the highest of all RC’s (see the recent blog article) and it offers standard grants,  networking grants, collaborative doctoral awards and early career research grants.

    The RCs also focus on particular initiatives to address issues of intellectual and wider cultural, social or economic urgency, these schemes tend to have higher success rates than the standard grants so are always worth consideration. Information on AHRC initiatives can be found here.

    An overview  – AHRC Early Career Research Grants:

    Early Career Research Grants are intended to assist new researchers at the start of their careers in gaining experience of managing and leading research projects. They look to support well-defined research projects enabling individual researchers to collaborate with, and bring benefits to, other individuals and organisations through the conduct of research.

    They also enjoy higher success rates than standard grants, there are no set submission dates, projects can last up to 60 months and should cost between £20,000 and £200,000 fEC.

    To be eligible as an early career researcher you must be within eight years of the award of your PhD or equivalent professional training or within six years of your first academic appointment.

    Further information on all opportunities can be found here – AHRC ESRCs

    British Academy

    The British Academy supports excellent ideas, individuals and intellectual resources in the humanities and social sciences.  In particular, the Academy enables UK researchers to work with scholars and resources in other countries, sustain a British research presence in various parts of the world and help to attract overseas scholars to the UK.

    An overview  – International Partnership and Mobility Scheme:

    Aims to support the development of partnerships between the UK and other areas of the world where research excellence would be strengthened by new, innovative initiatives and links. Awards are for research partnerships between scholars in the UK and scholars in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East, South Asia, or East Asia.

    Partnerships might include a range of related activities, and mobility should form an integral part of proposals. Workshops and seminars should form an integral part of the programme. The main purpose of the funding is to cover travel and maintenance costs, although costs related to other eligible activities will be considered. Partnerships including a training element and involving scholars in the early stages in their career will be looked on favourably.

    Grants are offered up to a maximum of £10,000 per year for a period of one year or three years. The submission deadline is 8th February 2012.

    Further information can be found here – British Academy International Partnerships

    In addition to these big UK funders, there are also some smaller more focused funders which may appeal to the interests of specific research groups within the school. For instance conference grants offered by the The Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA) could be of interest to the Narrative Research Group – information can be found here MHRA.

     

    Special issue on Green Economy and Sustainable development

    This issue of Natural Resources Forum considers the relations between sustainable development and the “green economy” and it matches our Green Economy & Sustainability research theme (isn’t that great?)

     http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/narf.2011.35.issue-3/issuetoc

     It features seven articles which provide an insight to the following questions. ‘Under what constraints will a green economy have to take place if we are serious on addressing climate change? What can past technological transitions teach us about the feasibility of a green energy transition? How can institutions (in a broad sense) foster more sustainable outcomes? What types of financial instruments could be mobilized to promote greener economies?’ (Le Blanc, 2011).

     A previous issue of Natural Resources Forum (Fulai et al. 2011) addresses another interesting the question “Is the concept of a green economy a useful way of framing policy discussions and policymaking to promote sustainable development?”

    For those interested and passionate about the Green Economy like me, it provides great ideas and suggestions for further debate.

    Enjoy the reading and feel free to email me for discussion.

    Elena

    The blog has been accessed by over 16,000 unique visitors in 4 months!

    Wow! We’ve been monitoring engagement with the blog now for four months using the fabulous Google Analytics tool. The stats below are based on the period 25 July to 29 November 2011 (128 days).

    On average during this period the blog received 16,017 unique visitors, each spending approximately 1.42 minutes on the site. The blog is generally much busier on weekdays attracting between 250 and 500 unique visitors each day. In total there have been over 40,000 page views.

    53% of visitors find us via internet search engines. The top search terms led readers to our blog over the past four months are:

    • culture
    • transport
    • innovation
    • santander
    • ocean waves
    • security
    • ocean
    • bournemouth
    • graphene
    • racism
    • human rights
    • bournemouth university research blog
    • health
    • humanities
    • poverty
    • ict
    • bu research blog
    • bu logo
    • hefce ref training events
    • bu

    37% of visitors are direct traffic, i.e. via the web address, the BU Staff Portal, or the Daily Digest email. This is excellent as it shows that you lovely people who work at Bournemouth University are using the blog – hooray!

    10% of visitors are referred to our blog by external sites. Our top referring sites are:

    At present 32% of visits to the blog are made by returning visitors and 68% are made by new visitors.

    Our visitors to date have come from 142 different countries (see the map below). The top ten countries viewing the blog are:

    • UK
    • USA
    • India
    • Spain
    • Germany
    • Belgium
    • France
    • Canada
    • Australia
    • Greece

    Within the UK most visitors are based in:

    • Bournemouth
    • London
    • Poole
    • Southampton
    • Bristol
    • Leeds
    • Manchester
    • Edinburgh
    • Nottingham
    • Birmingham

    Our 10 most accessed pages to date are:

    This is all excellent news 🙂 We’re always open to receiving feedback about the blog – please email us at any time with any comments, suggestions, etc, or add a comment to this blog post.

    If you would like access to add your own stories and posts to the blog then email me (jnortham@bournemouth.ac.uk) and I’ll get you started!

    We last reviewed the visitor stats on the Blog in August – you can read that previous post here: Does Anybody Read this Blog? Yes!

    So 3 really is the magic number for the EC: The objectives of Horizon 2020

    As highlighted in yesterday’s blogpost, funding for Horizon 2020 will now be structured around three priority areas. Below outlines in more detail the areas included in this:

    I. Societal Challenges

    This will be in response to EU policy and will focus on 6 areas:

     

    1. Health, demographic change and well-being;
    2. Food security, sustainable agriculture and the bio-economy;
    3. Secure, clean and efficient energy;
    4. Smart, green and integrated transport;
    5. Climate action, resource efficiency and raw materials;
    6. Inclusive, innovative and secure societies.

     The emphasis will be on bringing together a critical mass of resources and knowledge across different fields, technologies and scientific disciplines in order to address challenges and activities will cover the full cycle from research to market, with a focus on innovation-related activities, such as piloting, demonstration, test-beds, support for public procurement, social innovation and market take-up of innovations. Finally, social sciences and humanities shall be an integral part of the activities to address all the challenges.

     

     

    II. Excellent Science

    This will reinforce and extend the excellence of the EUs science base in order to make the EU research and innovation system more competitive on a global scale. This will be funded under 4 programmes:

     

    • Marie Curie actions will provide excellent and innovative research training plus attractive career and knowledge-exchange opportunities through cross-border and cross-sector mobility of researchers to best prepare them to face current and future societal challenges.
    • European Research Council (ERC) will provide attractive and flexible funding to enable talented and creative individual researchers and their teams to pursue the most promising avenues at the frontier of science;
    • Future and Emerging Technologies will support collaborative research in order to extend Europe‘s capacity for advanced and paradigm-changing innovation. They foster scientific collaboration across disciplines on radically new, high-risk ideas and accelerate development of the most promising emerging areas of science and technology as well as the EU-wide structuring of the corresponding scientific communities.
    • Research Infrastructures will develop European research infrastructure for 2020 and beyond, foster their innovation potential and human capital, and add the related European Union policy and international cooperation.

    These activities are focused on building skills in the long term and on the next generation of science, technology, researchers and innovations and providing support for emerging talent from across the whole of the European Union and associated countries, as well as worldwide.

     

    III. Industrial Leadership

    This aims to speed up development of the technologies and innovations that will underpin future businesses and help innovative SMEs to grow into world-leading companies. It consists of three specific objectives:

    1. Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies which will provide dedicated support for research, development and demonstration on ICT, nanotechnology, advanced materials, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing and processing and space. Emphasis will be placed on interactions and convergence across and between the different technologies.
    2. Access to risk finance in order to overcome deficits in the availability of debt and equity finance for innovative companies and projects at all stages of development  (including supporting the development of Union-level venture capital)
    3. Innovation in SMEs which will stimulate all forms of innovation in SMEs, targeting those with the potential to grow and internationalise across the single market and beyond.

    Horizon 2020 will take an integrated approach to the participation of SMEs, which could lead to around 15% of the total combined budgets for all specific objectives on societal challenges and the specific objective on ‘Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies’ being devoted to SMEs.

     

    The ‘Societal Challenges ‘ theme and Marie Curie Actions found in the ‘Excellent Science’ theme are most relevant to BU staff and therefore Wednesday and Thursday’s blog posts will focus on these respectively.

     

    New round of the BU Fusion Fund now open!

    This week BU is proud to launch a new round of the BU Fusion Fund to support staff innovation around the fusion of education, research and professional practice. Details and the application process for the fund are set out in the attached documents and the fund forms part of BU’s Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) Strategy.

    The idea is to support innovative ideas which lead to employer, business or industry engagement enhancing core BU activity of research and education. Availability of funds are modest in the first year (although build in subsequent years) but the key is to provide an opportunity for staff to explore innovative ideas around Fusion. Ideas for new courses, enterprise ventures, industry secondments, or employer engagements can all be explored by this fund.

    It is designed to enable staff to develop new ideas and innovations around FUSION!

    The deadline for the next call is 13 January 2012 – good luck!

    Available documents:

     You can access the BU2018 Vision and Values website here: BU2018 website

    Reminder of 2 great BU EU funds!

    Just a reminder to you all about our fantastic two EU funding opportunities which were launched last week and already generated much interest.

    The BU EU Academic Development Scheme (EUADS) is for all newbie’s in EU research, comprising of an amazing training and mentorship programme and a personal budget to help you create a proposal. The deadline for this scheme is 13.01.12

    The BU EU Networking Fund (EUNF) is for anyone who wants to travel to network with potential partners. There isn’t a deadline for this but the funds are limited so be quick and don’t miss out!

    More details on both schemes as well as application forms can be found in my previous blogpost.

    Tags:

    Fusion event 14 December – draft agenda now available!

    On the afternoon of the 14 December 2011 we will be launching the Fusion Seminar series with an event focused around launching the eight BU Research Themes.

    The event will combine time for cross-BU networking within these themes, with sessions led by theme champions focusing on defining the challenges in education, research & practice within each theme.

    The draft programme is now available here: Fusion event 14/12/11 DRAFT programme

    You can register for the event and sign-up for the themes most relevant to you using the form below.

      Your Name (required)

      Your Email (required)

      Your School / Professional Service (required)

      Staff or PGR student? (required)

      StaffPGR

      Please select the themes that you are interested in (required)

       

      PHD Comics the Movie comes to BU!

      Love PHD Comics? Then come to the screening of The PHD Movie, hosted at BU on Monday 5 December!

      The PHD Movie is being shown at universities around the world and premiered at UCLA in Los Angeles in September. It has also been shown at Harvard University, Yale University, University of Sydney, CERN, and multiple screenings at the Max Planck Institute.

      In the UK the movie is only scheduled to be screened at UCL, Oxford, Glasgow, Cranfield, Bristol, Imperial College, York, Newcastle, Liverpool, Birmingham, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Brunel and Bournemouth!

      The PHD Movie is a live-action adaptation of the popular online comic strip by Jorge Cham (www.phdcomics.com). It was filmed on location at and was produced in partnership with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

      The film introduces audiences to the unique and funny culture of Academia and follows four graduate students (Cecilia, Mike, Tajel and the “Nameless Grad Student”) as they struggle to find balance between research, teaching and their personal lives with humor and heart.

      The Movie was produced and directed by and stars real PhD students and researchers.

      The Bournemouth screening will be held on Monday 5 December between 5pm-7pm in the Screening Room (W241), Weymouth House on the Talbot Campus.

      It is free to attend!

      Places at the screening are limited so complete the booking form below if you’d like to come along.

        Your Name (required)

        Your Email (required)

         

        The focus of FP7s replacement, Horizon 2020

        This week I will be bringing you a summary of the most important information contained in the draft Horizon 2020 proposal (FP7s replacement).  Today focuses on the background to Horizon 2020 and its overall objectives and aims, which will help you to understand the rationale behind the new funding structures which will be detailed throughout this week on the blog.

        Horizon 2020 has an arching overall primary objective to generate excellent science in order to strengthen the EU’s world-class excellence in science whilst fostering industrial leadership to support business and tackling societal challenges, in order to respond directly to the challenges identified in the Europe 2020 strategy by supporting activities covering the entire spectrum from research to market.

        Funding will complement these three primary aims, but each will incorporate at least one of the more specific aims outlined in Horizon 2020. These are to:

        • tackle the major societal challenges identified in Europe 2020 and its flagship initiatives
        • create industrial leadership in Europe increase excellence in the science base
        • achieve a European research area in which researchers, scientific knowledge and  technology circulate freely, and encouraging the Union to become more competitive (including in its industry)
        • ensure  the conditions necessary for the competitiveness of the Union’s industry exist by fostering better exploitation of the industrial potential of policies of innovation, research and technological development
        • contribute to the role of research and innovation as key drivers of social and economic prosperity and of environmental sustainability (to achieve the goal of increasing spending on R&D to reach 3 % of GDP by 2020)
        • support all stages in the innovation chain, especially activities closer to the market including innovative financial instruments
        • satisfy the research needs of a broad spectrum of EU policies by placing emphasis on the widest possible use and dissemination of knowledge generated by the supported activities up to its commercial exploitation
        • develop closer synergies with national and regional programmes that support  research and innovation as well as other Union programmes
        • address the  underlying causes of gender imbalance in science and research by integrating the gender dimension into the content of  projects
        • contribute to the attractiveness of the research profession in the EU
        • favour an informed  engagement of citizens and civil society on research and innovation matters by  promoting science education, by making scientific knowledge more accessible, by  developing responsible research and innovation agendas that meet citizens’ and civil  society’s concerns and expectations and by facilitating their participation in Horizon  2020 activities
        • have strong participation of SMEs
        • promote cooperation with third countries
        • develop a new approach to control and risk management in research  funding; readdressing the balance between trust and control and between risk-taking and risk avoidance
        • promote dissemination of information and as an integral task of research

         

        Tomorrow’s blog post will detail the areas of funding proposed within Horizon 2020….

        Grant writing – an art or a science?

        Guidance

        Martin Pickard from GrantCraft came to the university last week to deliver grant writing workshops focusing on applying to the research councils. Martin has an excellent track record of helping universities win funding and provided some top tips on how to prepare a better application.  His main aim was to encourage participants to start thinking of applications as a sales document – how to make an impact with every part of the application and convince the funder to ‘buy’ the research.  Fundamentally your research doesn’t change but it’s how you package it that matters.

        One of the things that Martin advised was that when you give your applications to colleagues to review ask them to give you 10 reasons why they wouldn’t fund it.  You may not agree with everything they say but it gives you some constructive feedback and can help you think about whether you have fully defended your project.  The people reviewing your application for the funder may not be as close to the field as you and everyone has had those comments from reviewers where you wonder if they have a clue.  Don’t give your reviewers a chance to think, give them all the answers even if you think it’s obvious.

        The other big message from Martin’s sessions was that you need to think about what the overarching problem is that your research is addressing and make that clear from the start.  This is bigger that just the research need that you are addressing and you need to think outside the box!  Once you start to think bigger, about where your research fits within other research, with practitioners and within society, it makes the section on impact much simpler because the message is there throughout your application.

        And finally give yourself enough time…to think about it, prepare several drafts and get feedback from colleagues.

        Martin is coming back in the new year to deliver a few more sessions. In January he is running a session aimed at staff preparing their first research grant and in February he is running two sessions on EU funding – one particularly looking at the Marie Curie scheme and the other at EU funding in general. If you’re interested in attending these sessions please contact Susan Dowdle from the Research Development Unit.