/ Full archive

Funding released: social solidarity and also materials research

EC Pilot project on social solidarity for social integration: This call is for proposals which will support the constitution of a network for mutual learning and exchange of best practices on minimum income, including members of national, regional and local administrations, trade unions and associations, including non-governmental organizations. Funding is worth up to €1 million over 24 months and the closing date is 30.09.11

NSF Materials World Network: cooperative activity in materials research between US investigators and their counterparts abroad: This proposal will include joint activities between NSF and funding organizations in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Proposals must have clear relevance to research supported by the NSF division of materials research. The anticipated total funding amount is from $2.5 million to $4m in fiscal year 2012 and the deadline is 10.11.11

BU Open Access Publication Fund launch event – 26 October

open access logo, Public Library of ScienceCome and find out all about open access publishing!

To celebrate the launch of BU’s new Open Access Publication Fund we’re holding an open access (OA) publishing event on 26 October between 10am-12:30pm in the EBC (7th floor).

The aim of the event is to dispell some of the myths surrounding OA publishing and alleviate concerns about publishing through this route, whilst discussing the benefits and opportunities of making your work freely available.

The programme is still being finalised but the event will open with a keynote presentation from Dr Alma Swan, and will also feature a talk from Prof Edwin van Teijlingen (HSC) who has published via OA journals and is an OA journal editor. There will also be the opportunity to find out more information about the new BU Open Access Publication Fund, and how you can get involved.

Dr Alma Swan is one of the leading figures in the field of OA publishing. She is the co-founder and director of Key Perspectives Ltd, a consultancy firm specialising in scholarly communication, and holds honorary positions with the University of Southampton and the University of Warwick. Alma is Convenor for Enabling Open Scholarship, the global organisation of universities promoting the principles of open scholarship in the academic community. It is a great honour to welcome her to BU!

The event will take place on Wednesday 26 October; refreshments and lunch will be provided.

To reserve a place at the event please contact Anita Somner by email.

We look forward to seeing you there! 😀

Good luck & Congratulations!

Awarded & submitted bids

There was only one bid submitted last week – good luck to Rob Britton (ApSci) for submitting a bid to Southern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority to undertake the 2012 sea angling survey.

Congratulations are due to Ian Jones (ST) for securing a contract with Bournemouth Indoor Bowls Centre to undertake some consultancy work, Jane Murphy (HSC) for winning a contract with Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals to deliver nutrition education and training for health professionals in cancer care, Clive Andrewes (HSC) for securing a PDU Accreditation with Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation, and to Richard Scullion (MS) who will be running the Dorset Days Out Seminar in September. Well done and keep up the good work!

Professor Matthew Bennett

PVC (Research, Enterprise & Internationalisation)

BU’s keywords for research – is everything included? Part 2

Guidance

A couple of weeks ago I added version 3 of the BU research ontology to the blog and asked for your advice as to whether this adequately reflected the breadth of your disciplines and expertise (see BU’s keywords for research – is everything included?). Thank you to everyone who responded to this – all of your comments and suggestions have been incorporated into version 4.

Rather than using the rigid 3-level structure, Version 4 includes the first attempt of mapping the keywords to the four broad areas of:

  • Business & Management
  • Media & Culture
  • Health & Society
  • Science & Technology

These areas will then map to the 8 emerging BU research themes. The aim of this is to provide a more flexible ontology that is adaptable to the complexities of inter- and multi-disciplinary research and that can be used to make relationships between people and disciplines (and therefore news stories, projects, outputs, etc) internally and also via the new external research webpages.

You can access Version 4 here: Research ontology v4

We’re very interested in your feedback as to whether the mapping in Version 4 is fit for purpose or whether any changes need to be made. Please add your comments to this post by Friday 2 September 🙂

Thanks to Katarzyna Musial for her help in visualising how this could work.

Research Council Success Rates

The Research Councils have created central web-hubs with all the key data on success rates in addition to other useful data on funded grants and overall budgets.

The data for each council can be accessed from the following links:

The ESRC seems to have one of the lowest success rates.  In the Nov/Dec 2010 round of their responsive mode grants there was only an 8% success rate.

The success rates for NERC varied by the scheme, in the last round of the Consortium grants only 1 was funded.  If your research falls within the remit of NERC and you are within 3 years of your first academic post I would encourage you to consider putting together an application for the new investigator scheme as this had the highest success rate of 23% in the last round.  Unfortunately their small grants scheme is about to be withdrawn after the September 2011 deadline.

For the AHRC the schemes with the highest success rates were the fellowship schemes and the research networking scheme.  The success rates were 40% and 50% for the fellowships and early career fellowships, and 48% for the research networking in 2010-11.

If you would like guidance on which funder and scheme to apply to then our internal peer review service can provide this along with feedback on your application.

SME involvement in Horizon 2020: new report from EC

The EC has published a report of two recent workshops on Innovation in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) within Horizon 2020. The workshops were held to gather ideas and feedback on how Horizon 2020 could benefit and be accessible to the widest range of SMEs in their efforts to innovate and be competitive. The first workshop looked at which type of support SMEs need from the EU and the second on options for implementing an SME strategy which would facilitate their involvement Horizon 2020.  Key messages from the workshops are below:
  • Overwhelming support exists for SMEs as important players within Horizon 2020
  • All innovative SMEs should be able to benefit from support at EU level
  • Adequate SME involvement should be ensured  through dedicated actions corresponding to SME needs (including all forms of innovation and the entire innovation cycle from idea to market)
  • This innovation capacity of SMEs should be strengthened 
  • Strong support for a bottom-up approach of the SME specific measures exists
  • Support  exists for more demonstration and market replication activities and links to financial instruments which close the gap to the market
  • For SME’s, simple rules and administrative procedures (e.g. open calls) and a short time-to-grant corresponding to the short innovation cycles of smaller companies should be in place
  • It is important to ensure a clear delimitation and definition of EU action based on European added-value
  • Proliferation and overlaps of programmes should be avoided; but cooperation and pooling of resources needs to be continued and reinforced

Funding available for the assessment of EU climate policies and for healthy ageing

Funding is available for an evaluation of the performance of EU climate policy, in particular phase II of the EU’s Emission Trading Scheme in relation to the implementation of the Renewable Electricity Directive. This will include the assessment of: implementation problems; the interaction between the Trading Scheme and the Directive (and interactions with other policies as far as relevant); their effectiveness in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and their costs. The deadline is 26.09.11

Funding is also available for innovative policies to support healthy, active and dignified ageing and raise the effectiveness and efficiency of spending on social, health and long-term care services and benefits. Proposals should promote the sustainability and quality of health and long-term care provision for the elderly through healthy and active ageing, with a focus on different stages of policy development. The budget for this call is €2 million and grants are expected to fall between €100,000 and €500,000. The deadline is 26.09.11 

Smart, Green & Integrated Transport: Report from Horizon 2020 Stakeholder Workshop

The EU’s proposed Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation will run from 2014-2020, replacing FP7. Over the coming months, the EC is preparing the proposals for the Programme and as part of this, holding stakeholder workshops on the proposed ‘societal challenges’ of Horizon 2020.  The workshops took place in order to gather input from more than 100 stakeholders on what they would like from the next Transport programme; the first meeting was for stakeholders from all sectors including industry and academia and the second event was for national representatives, in order to get the view of Member States. Delegates were happy with Transport having its own ‘societal challenge’, but recognition is needed that it still contributes to excellence in the science base and to innovation and competitiveness. The next Programme should create effective transfer paths from research to industry, and act as an ‘integrator’, enabling technological development in other fields like ICT, energy and materials. Stakeholders agreed with the proposal of having the transport challenge built around ‘solution paths’: ‘Green transport’; ‘Integrated transport’; and ‘Competitive transport’. Delegates were also happy with the challenge focusing more on ‘research for industry’ and on electric vehicles but also stressed that the next Programme should still keep options open for other technological developments like hydrogen and fuel cells.

Call for Expressions of Interest to join EU Institutional Human Resources Strategy Group

The ‘Institutional Human Resources Strategy Group’ was launched in 2009 to support the take-up of Charter and Code principles by employers and funders of researchers in Europe. The aim of the group is to provide a platform for the exchange of experiences and mutual support in the implementation of the ‘HR Strategy for Researchers incorporating the Charter and Code.’   So far, two cohorts incorporating 95 organisations has participated in the group. The Commission is now drawing up a list of candidates for the third cohort. It will have its first meeting in January 2012. This is expected to be followed by two more meetings in 2013.  
The HR Strategy comprises five steps:  

  • An internal gap analysis by the individual organisation involving key stakeholders and in particular researchers;
  • The development and publication of an institutional HR strategy for researchers and an action plan detailing how the institution will respond to the gaps identified;
  • Acknowledgement of progress by the Commission
  • Self-assessment of progress after at most two years;
  • External analysis after at most four years.  

If you are  interested in joining the group, contact the Commission giving contact details and a short paragraph explaining the motivation for joining the group by September 29th.

The Holburne Museum, Bath

The mrg is currently completing a research project for the Holburne Museum in Bath (managed by N Pretty), a project that extends back to 2006 and builds on earlier museum studies conducted since 1998.

During 2002 a methodology was developed for research at the V&A Museum in London which was to inform the redevelopment and arrangement of the British Galleries and then later the Sculpture and Ceramics collections. The research was extended to include an evaluation of the representation of Black and Ethnic History at the V&A.  The methodology developed for this research was based on a number of previous studies but notably the work of Eilean Hooper-Greenhill who has published widely on the topic of art and interpretation including ‘Changing Values in the Art Museum: rethinking communication and learning’ (2000), a particularly influential paper.

In 2006 The Holburne Museum commissioned the mrg to conduct research to inform the development of their galleries and collection of mainly 18th century art. This research offered the opportunity to refine the methodology developed for the V&A and other museums. The work was completed in 2011 and the mrg is currently undertaking a review study, to test some of the assumptions and recommendations of the earlier research.

An interesting connection has developed from this research with the countryside research portfolio developed by the mrg over the past 15 years. The Holburne Museum is about to present an exhibition of Gainsborough paintings from which the museum wishes to gain a better understanding of the emotional response to the English countryside or how people imagine it. This has been  a key theme of the mrg’s countryside research and the subject of a recent book ‘Visions of England‘ by Roy Strong.

This work will form the basis of an AHRC bid this Autumn to fund a research project that ties together the key themes of art, countryside and leisure currently supported by a number of museums and collections.

Inclusive, Innovative & Secure Societies: Report from Horizon 2020 Stakeholder Workshop

Horizon 2020 will replace FP7 in 2014. Stakeholder workshops on the proposed ‘societal challenges’ have been held, including one on Inclusive, Innovative and Secure Societies. The workshops confirmed that the strand will encompass research currently funded under the Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities (SSH) and Security themes of the FP7 Co-operation programme, as well as the Science in Society and Coherent Policy Development strands of FP7 Capacities and the ICT for society aspects of the ICT theme. 

The overarching conclusion from the two workshops was that although most of these areas could work together together to make a cohesive social sciences theme, the security element was a less comfortable fit (felt by both the security and the social sciences and humanities community). A new challenge entitled ‘Protecting the freedom of Europe and its citizens’ was suggested.

Your Project Budget

 

We would really appreciate your feedback on the new budget screen that we are designing for RED. 

With this screen you will be able to go in and view the project expenditure against your budget.  This should enable you to keep track of the spending on the project.

We would really like some input on what budget headings you would find useful.  We want to keep it simple so that you can have a quick overview of the project.   You will be able to query any figures with your CRE Ops Officer and obtain a more detailed breakdown on request if necessary. 

Currently the headings are:

  • Total
  • Academic Staff
  • Consultants
  • Part time hourly paid staff
  • Travel and subsistence
  • Consumables

Click on this link to view the example RED Budget Screen.

If you have any thoughts on what should be included please add a comment below or email me.

 

Resource Efficiency & Climate Action and Raw Materials Challenges: Report from Horizon 2020 Stakeholder Workshop

The EU’s proposed Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation will run from 2014-2020, replacing FP7. The EC is preparing the proposals for the Programme by holding stakeholder workshops. Two workshops with 50 representatives from the scientific community and government representatives were held on the Resource Efficiency and Climate Action Challenge. Key points that emerged from the discussions are:

  • More clarity is needed on how the transition from FP7 to Horizon 2020 will work; it will be important to identify new and emerging needs as the situation will change up to 2020.
  • Innovation which promotes societal change should be supported as it should be driven by technology and regulations as well as stakeholders and policy makers. There should be co-operation with non-EU countries to address common concerns.
  • Cultural heritage; urban environment; natural hazards; earth observation systems; air quality; and land use and landscape were areas all missing from the proposals but which should be included.
  • A balance between covering a comprehensive range of themes and focussing on a reduced number of priorities needs to be implemented. Stakeholder involvement and the indirect/intangible impacts should also be part of the peer review criteria.

Marie Curie Actions: Report from Horizon 2020 Stakeholder Workshop

Horizon 2020 will replace FP7 in 2014. Stakeholder workshops on the proposed ‘societal challenges’ of Horizon 2020 have been held, including one on Marie Curie Actions. The new structure will comprise of four strands:

  • Initial Training of Researchers
  • Career Development of Experienced Researchers
  • Research and Innovation Staff Exchanges
  • Co-funding of Regional, National and International Programmes.

The majority of participants welcomed the streamlining of the programme down to four actions, and supported the proposed extension of co-funding across the three other programmes. They also emphasised the importance of simplification and consistency of rules.

BU REF preparations – next mock exercise underway

Hot on the heels of our REF light-touch review of outputs last winter, our subsequent mini-mock exercise in two UOAs, and the release of the final REF Guidance on Submissions and draft panel criteria documentation, BU’s next mock REF exercise is now underway.

The BU winter 2011 mock will concentrate solely on the impact and environment elements of the submissions (i.e. individual outputs will not be reviewed). During the autumn term BU Unit of Assessment (UOA) Leaders have been asked to produce 2-3 impact case studies, an impact statement and an environment statement for each UOA. These will be sent to the external reviewers (at least 2 per UOA) in early December, and feedback will be shared with the UOA Leaders in February 2012.

The next review of outputs is planned for spring 2012.

These mock exercises are intended to shape and craft our submissions to REF2014 to ensure we put forward the strongest submissions possible.

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding our internal preparations for the REF then send me an email 🙂

BU research themes – volunteers wanted!

In May/June this year there was a lot of discussion on the Research Themes section of the blog about the shape, scope and structure of the emerging BU research themes. Thank you to everyone who contributed to these discussions – your input to date is hugely appreciated.

Based on the feedback and comments received it is proposed to reduce the number of themes from 10 to 8, with the themes of Ageing and Learning and Public Engagement becoming part the other 8 themes.

Summaries of the 10 themes, including all of the comments received, are available here:

Your research themes need you! – we are now looking for a volunteer(s) for each theme to be responsible for coordinating the discussions and developing a definitive description of the theme by early September.

If you are interested in leading one of the themes please could you let me know by email as soon as possible.