Category / EU

Welcome to the EU section of the blog! Emily Cieciura (BU’s Research Facilitator – EU and International), Jo Garrad (Funding Development Manager) and Dianne Goodman (Funding Development Co-ordinator) together try to take the pain out of finding and applying for EU funding by horizon scanning many sources and placing the most important information on this page.

We blog as often as possible on everything from calls for proposals and partner searches, to networking event opportunities, all the latest on Horizon 2020 and international funding. We also use the blog to disseminate information on EUADS (BU’s EU academic training initiative), how to write brilliant proposals, how to find partners and other top tips!

Opportunity: Publish your European Project in the Research*eu Results Magazine

CORDIS research euThe research*eu results magazine published by the Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) is looking for European projects to feature in its publications. Research*eu results is published 10 times a year, featuring results from the most successful EU-funded research and development projects. The magazine covers projects in Biology and Medicine, Social Sciences and Humanities, Energy and transport, Environment and society, IT and telecommunications, Industrial technologies, and Space.

If you have a completed EU-funded project and would like to get your results published please contact the CORDIS editorial team at editorial@cordis.europa.eu. Priority is given to those projects which have resulted in the development of a new technology with potential for commercialisation over the next few years, or in potentially game-changing research for a specific field of science.

Interreg Visit Next Week: Last chance to sign up!

interreg

Tuesday 21st February, 10.30-16.00 at the EBC

Next week Interreg are coming to BU to run sessions on their funding application process and how to develop a successful application.

Interreg is an economic development programme that funds research and innovation, social inclusion, employment, climate change and resource efficiency projects which take place across EU countries and regions. These projects aim to find common solutions to common problems which exist in multiple countries. BU has been awarded and is involved in projects from the Channel, 2 Seas and Atlantic schemes.

The event will include a number of sessions including;

  • An Introduction to Interreg: The Interreg programmes, how they are different from each other and from other EU funds. This will also cover the types of project that are funded.
  • Tips on How to Develop a Good Interreg Project: Lessons from the selection process by Sallyann Stephen from The Department for Communities and Local Government, based on her experience on the Interreg project selection panel.
  • How to Apply: the two stage process going through the selection criteria and the key documents involved.
  • The opportunity to discuss your own ideas and get advice on how to develop them.

This event is open to staff from other universities and company’s across the south, if you have a network or partner that you think would be interested please invite them to book onto the event.

For further information on this event please contact: RKEDevFramework@bournemouth.ac.uk

Interreg visit BU on 21st February, sign up now

interreg

There’s still time to sign up for the Interreg visit on Tuesday the 21st February 2017 10.30-16.00 at the EBC.

If you are unsure about Interreg here are a few reasons why you should come along to find out more.

  1. It funds coastal regions in Europe with Bournemouth eligible for several schemes. Regional funding means BU can be a participant for funding that other UK universities can’t.
  2. If you have networks or partners (academic or industrial), in coastal areas of the UK, France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal or Ireland, your research could be eligible for funding.
  3. If you have potential partners who are strongly placed to strategically lead a regional consortium, in which BU can play the role of academic expert, you could invite these partners along.
  4. BU has been awarded funding as the academic participant/non-Lead Partner for projects from the Channel, 2 Seas and Atlantic schemes.
  5. Interreg funds projects on all the following areas;
  • Research and Innovation
  • Competitiveness of SMEs
  • Employment and mobility
  • Better education and training
  • Low-Carbon economy
  • Combating climate change
  • Environment and resource efficiency
  • Sustainable transport
  • Social inclusion
  • Information and Communication Technologies

After Brexit we may not have this opportunity so get it before it’s gone!

This day has the rare opportunity to ask advice from experts that sit on the decision panel. Book now so you don’t miss out.

For more information about what the day involves, click here.

Erasmus+ Key Action 2 – Online Info Day on 16th Febraury

If you are interested in finding out more and applying to the Erasmus+ Key Action 2: “Cooperation for Innovation and Exchange of Good Practices” – Sector Skills Alliances (SSA) call, theerasmusn why not sign up to this online info day?

This INFODAY will focus on:

  • Sector Skills Alliances for Skills needs identification (Lot 1)
  • Sector Skills Alliances for Design and delivery of VET (Lot 2)
  • Sector Skills Alliances for Implementing a new strategic approach  a “Blueprint” for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills” (Lot 3)

Find out more about this call. Registration will soon be opened on the event webpage.

Secure Societies Brokerage Event

horizon 2020The Network of Secure Societies National Contact Points – SEREN3, in collaboration with the European Commission is organising this brokageage event, which will give details of the calls for proposals H2020-CIP 2017, H2020-SEC 2017 and H2020-DS-2017, which will be published on 1 March 2017 under the Societal Challenge – Secure Societies: Protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens.

The event will take place on 6 & 7 March 2017, at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Brussels. The event is free but you must register by 4th March 2017.

Main Topics

  • Critical Infrastructure Protection
  • Disaster Resilience: Safeguarding and securing society
  • Fight Against Crime and Terrorism
  • Border Security and External Security
  • General Matters on Security
  • Digital Security

Why to participate?

  • Information about the calls
  • Networking possibilities
  • Answers to your questions linked to call areas
  • Details on the legal and procedural conditions

Find out more and register.

Introduction to IP – European IPR Helpdesk Webinar

The European IPR Helpdesk is running a number of webinars over the next few months and RKEO are registering and promoting those relevant to BU’s activities.

The next webinar Introduction to IP will be next Wednesday:

dev_framework08/2/17     9:30 AM     Location:  Fusion Building F106

Duration: 60 minutes (presentation) + 15 minutes (Q&As)

Please arrive at 9:15am for a prompt 9:30 start with the webinar duration being one hour. We have the room booked for a longer time so that we can have a post-webinar discussion afterwards, if appropriate. Please only register on the European IPR Helpdesk link if you will be joining the webinar from your own desk rather than joining us.

You can also check the European IPR Helpdesk Calendar for all their events. RKEO will be attempting to secure one of the limited webinar slots for each one which is relevant to BU – details of future webinars, where BU is registered, will be posted on this blog. In the meantime, please find out more about the work of the European IPR Helpdesk.

If you would like to attend this event, please do so via the Organisation Development page for this event.

Catering is not provided, but do feel free to arrive coffee in hand.rkeo-rke-working-with-business

The event is delivered as part of the RKE Development Framework.

 

HE policy update w/e 27th January 2017

Industrial Strategy Green Paper

The Government launched the Industrial Strategy Green Paper and consultation this week. The paper focuses on improving Britain’s innovation and productivity in key areas alongside upskilling the workforce to become world leading. The government suggest a number of areas of industry specialism that should be supported:

  • clean energy
  • robotics
  • healthcare
  • space technology
  • quantum technology
  • advanced computing and communications

The document frequently references the role of Universities as innovation leaders pushing for commercialisation and greater productive cooperation with business. It states that the ‘neglect of technical education’ should be redressed and insinuates that higher-level technical education will be pushed towards the new Institutes of Technology (£170 government investment announced – see below). There is an emphasis on rebalancing the difference in Britain’s economic geography through infrastructure investment. In addition, it criticises how UK research funding is currently heavily invested in the ‘golden triangle’ (Oxford, Cambridge, London) and calls to build on research strengths in businesses as well as other universities. The strategy has a strong focus on STEM and Wonkhe have reported that The British Academy are urging the government not to forget investment in social sciences and humanities teaching and research, which they argue are vital to the continued development of the UK’s services sectors.

The consultation ends in April, we’ll be in touch shortly about how you can contribute to a BU response.

While the strategy has only just been launched it was preceded by the announcement of the new Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (Nov 2016) and consultative workshops. The workshops aimed to ensure that the challenges identified match UK business capability and are based on the best available evidence for scientific and commercial success on the global stage. The challenges mirror the industry specialisms proposed in the green paper but also mention the creative industries and integrated cities. The workshops conclude this week, implementation plans are expected to follow from the government and the first challenge is expected to be announced in March.

In an interesting article in The Conversation Graham Galbraith, VC at Portsmouth, urges Universities to shun new institutions for innovation and instead form a network of hubs building on relationships with employers, skills organisations and FE colleges. Furthermore he resists the government’s distinction between academic and technical education, seeing the productivity answer through flexible routes to university study and developing skills courses that employers need in accessible ways. He believes the university sector would deliver this far more quickly than new Institutes of Technology. Galbraith also criticises REF 2021: “The government wants the UK to be better at commercialising its world-class, basic research. But the… require[ment]…to include all academic staff…will have the effect of making universities re-balance their staff’s priorities so that there is more focus only on peer-reviewed research and less on outward-facing activities like business collaborations.”

Brexit –The Supreme Court has ruled that Parliament must vote to trigger Article 50 which begins the Brexit process. The government timescale is to trigger Article 50 by end of March and to this end they have introduced a European Withdrawal Bill (EWB). The European Withdrawal Bill gives the PM the power to notify the European Council of the UK’s intention to withdrawn from the EU through the required Act of Parliament. It is being fast tracked through Parliament. Parliamentary time is scheduled for 31 Jan, 1 Feb, 6-8 Feb.  The House of Commons Education Select Committee continues visits to Universities (Oxford, UCL) to examine impact of Brexit on HE. At the UCL visit (Wednesday) Michael Arthur (Provost) broke the UCAS data embargo revealing a 7% drop in EU applicants in the current cycle. The Guardian leads with ‘first decrease after almost a decade of unbroken growth blamed on… Brexit’. Committee Chair, Neil Carmichael is reported on Twitter as asking whether HE needs a sector-specific Brexit deal – panel response ‘yes absolutely!’

Higher Education and Research Bill (HERB) – The Lords continue to scrutinise the HERB carefully with the long list of amendments.  The list has stopped growing quite so quickly but new amendments proposed this week include one to set up a new UKRI visa department that will sponsor academics (507ZA). So far apart form the first one, no amendments other than government amendments have been passed, but the level of debate and the length of the list suggests that there may have to be some concessions by the government. James Younger, the government lead on the Bill in the Lords, wrote to Peers on 25th January about the bill.

Given the timing of the Brexit discussions, Wonkhe speculate that to achieve the timescales for the Bill and to clear sufficient parliamentary time for the European Withdrawal Bill to be passed the government may make concessions on HERB.  Key discussions this week:

  • NSS statistically unfit for TEF – Lord Lipsey discussed the statistical inadequacies of NSS and the implication for this as a TEF metric. The NSS in the TEF is using—or rather, abusing—statistics for a purpose for which the NSS was never designed.” Lipsey acknowledged that the Government have gently retreated from the emphasis on NSS scores – in their latest instructions to assessors they stated: “assessors should be careful not to overweight information coming from the NSS“. This was reinforced by Chris Husbands, Chair of TEF, who informed a meeting at the House of Commons this week that his team would “not be overweighting the NSS” when awarding ratings this year.  The proposed amendment was withdrawn after Viscount Younger: stressed the NSS was not the primary source of information for the TEF and that the framework was about much more than metrics. “Providers submit additional evidence alongside their metrics, and this evidence will be given significant weight by the panel”. HE continued: “we cannot ignore the only credible, widely used metrics that captures students’ views”.
  • There were also debates about the gold/silver/bronze ratings and the government provided reassurance that Bronze was “above a high quality baseline”. This contradicts statements made by some in DfE before the final specification was agreed about Bronze institutions “needing improvement”. The panel have praised positive communication on this subject.
  • Validation – The government have issued a factsheet for the Lords on Validation which provides explanation from the perspective of an alternative provider seeking to enter a validation arrangement. It describes Clause 46 of HERB, which gives the Office for Students (OfS) power to commission authorised HE providers to provide validation if other providers decline. It states such authorised providers are free to choose whether they wish offer this service, however once an arrangement is in place the OfS could require them to validate award) delivered by other registered HE providers. The commissioned arrangement would be made public.  The controversial Clause 47 which appoints OfS as the validator of last resort was also discussed. The controversy arises as OfS isn’t an academic institution and doesn’t hold Degree Awarding Powers. The OfS will advise the Secretary of State (SoS) if intervention is required (likely through an evidence based report and stakeholder consultation) and the SoS would then authorise the intervention through regulation which is subject to parliamentary scrutiny.
  • Contract Cheating – The amendment proposed by Lord Storey on contract cheating was withdrawn following Government reassurance. Lord Storey provided a passionate discourse including detailed sector information and cheating statistics. Baroness Goldie confirmed that the Government were addressing cheating referencing the (Aug 2016 published) QAA investigation and Jo Johnson’s commitment to close working to progress the recommendations. She revealed that the Minster would shortly announce a new initiative to tackle cheating in conjunction with QAA, Universities UK, NUS and HEFCE.

TEF

The 15 page written submissions for year 2 of the TEF were finalised and submitted this week, and this was the final opportunity for institutions to opt out of the TEF. Although there may have been others who have not published their positions, most Scottish Universities have opted out, as well as the Open University. Given the difference in the Scottish funding system they have less to gain from the TEF – but the 4 who have opted in have noted international reputation as a crucial factor. The OU explain their non-participation is due to the poor fit of the metrics with their social mobility demographic.

And the future of the TEF? According to Research Professional, a German academic has criticised the way that teaching excellence funding is being used in Germany.

“Whereas lower-ranked universities have tended to spread their funding from the programme thinly across faculties and courses, higher-ranked institutions have had the luxury of being able to focus on priority areas, the analysis found.

“You are starting to see emerging differences between disciplines taught at different universities,” Bloch told Times Higher Education on 17 January. For the first time, elite universities are starting to build up strong institutional identities when it comes to teaching, in an effort to get further ahead.

“It will be a long time before we reach the stratification that you see in the American system [around teaching], but we are seeing a difference for the first time in how resources in teaching are distributed,” he said.

UCAS 2016 entrants report – this data includes applications, offers and placed rates by sex, area background (LPN-polar 3), and ethnicity. BU’s report can be selected from the drop down menu towards the end of the webpage. The Guardian reports on the lower offer rates to black applicants. Wonkhe covers the HEIs that have a significant upward or downward trend in acceptances

Research Impact training: Parliament are running a Research, Impact and the UK Parliament event in Bristol on Wednesday 1 March. It covers the basics of the Parliamentary process and how academics can engage with parliament through their knowledge and research to inform scrutiny and legislation, including the impact of influencing policy to support REF submissions.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships briefing session

Logo_Marie-CurieDo you want to invite the best of the best to work with you at BU?

Are you at that point in your career where an international fellowship will enhance your options?

Then, take a look at the MSCA Individual Fellowship scheme!

You are invited to come along to next week’s session introducing the MSCA Fellowships. The session will cover:

  • Where these fit within the Horizon 2020 landscape
  • Your options (incoming and outgoing)
  • Eligibility and structure of the call
  • The basics of putting together your application

You can book on the OD webpage for this event, taking place on Thursday, 2nd February from 10-12 at the Lansdowne Campus.

Additionally, the next MSCA IF Bid Writing Retreat is taking place on 18th and 19th April, which will review and expand on the topics covered in next week’s short introductory session, with a structured programme and supported writing time designed to support your bid writing. Booking is already open.

This event is part of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework

 

 

Post-Doc Researcher on VeggiEAT Project

 

We are happy to welcome our new post-doc on the VeggiEAT project Dr Vanessa Mello-Rodrigues.

Vanessa MelloRodriguesVanessa is a Registered Nutritionist and holds both a Ph.D. and Master degree in Nutrition from Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Vanessa’s research interests are mainly related to policy aspects of health promotion and nutrition, with attention to the prevention of childhood overweight and obesity through the promotion of healthy eating. She has been involved in projects related to different aspects of food and menu labelling, which were supported by the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) and by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).

Funding competition: EUREKA Eurostars

InnovateUK_LogoA_Interim_RGBx320govuk[1]

EUREKA Eurostars is a European programme for SMEs that supports and funds international collaborative research and development projects.  This funding competion is aimed at innovative SMEs wanting to take part in collaborative research with partners across Europe and associated countries. Innovate UK manage UK applications. Small businesses working on high-quality research and development projects across national borders often find it difficult to attract public-sector funding. Eurostars was set up to overcome this barrier to innovation. (The guidance has been updated to refelect  a change to UK eligibility criteria for the competition.)

Academics/universities, Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) and large companies can participate, but must fund their own participation or use funds from other sources.
Click here for more information including details on the latest funding call criteria and  competition guidance.
The closing dates for proposals are 2 March 2017 and 14 September 2017.

Interreg Visit BU 21st February

interreg

On Tuesday the 21st February 2017 Interreg will be visiting BU 10.30-16.00 at the EBC.

Interreg is an economic development programme that funds innovation, low carbon, climate change and resource efficiency projects which take place across EU countries and regions. These projects aim to find common solutions to common problems which exist in multiple countries. BU has been awarded and is involved in projects from the Channel, 2 Seas and Atlantic schemes.

The event will be split into two parts.

The first part will include;

  • An introduction to Interreg: The Interreg programmes, how they are different from each other and from other EU funds. This will also cover the types of project that are funded.
  • Tips on how to develop a good Interreg project: Lessons from the selection process by Sallyann Stephen from The Department for Communities and Local Government, based on her experience on the Interreg project selection panel.
  • How to apply: the two stage process going through the selection criteria and the key documents involved.

The second part will have a more informal set up aimed to get you thinking, collaborating and developing project ideas.

Throughout the afternoon there will also be one to one appointments on specific project ideas with one of the Interreg facilitators. This is an excellent opportunity to develop a project and get feedback from the experts. If you would like to book a one to one session you will need to email Dianne Goodman at dgoodman@bournemouth.ac.uk. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis, if you have specific preferences on the time we recommend contact as soon as possible so your request can be accommodated.

Please note that to attend the one to one session you are required to send a 1 page project summary to Paula MacLachlan, 2 Seas Territorial Facilitator p.maclachlan@interreg2seas.eu no later than 14th February. Apologies, without this ahead of time they will be unable to prepare adequately for your personal one to one session.

We have also invited the the M3 group, which includes: AUB, Bournemouth, Brighton, Portsmouth, Reading, Southampton, Southampton Solent, Surrey, Sussex and Winchester. BU will host a networking lunch for all attendees. This is a great opportunity to learn about Interreg and how you can strengthen your applications for funding. If you would like to attend, then please book through Eventbrite.

For further information on this event please contact: RKEDevFramework@bournemouth.ac.uk

Wanted! External Bid Writers

rkeo-dev-logo-banner

 

As part of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework, Bournemouth University is expanding its pool of external bid writing expertise, through a tendering process.

If you have worked with a good bid writer or, as an external subscriber to this blog, you have written successful research funding applications, please contactus in the Research & Knowledge Exchange Office

We are particularly interested in those who can provide short courses, one-to-one support, bid writing retreats, application review or a range of these and related activities.

Examples of key funders include:

  • British Academy
  • European Commission funds including Horizon 2020
  • Innovate UK
  • Leverhulme Trust
  • National Institutes of Health and other US Federal funders
  • Research Councils
  • Royal Society
  • Wellcome Trust
  • etc.

We look forward to hearing from you.