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!

New EU Funding Guide for Tourism

BU research, EU, Research news

A new guide for EU funding in the tourism sector has been published in line with a European Commission drive to promote competitiveness in the European tourism sector.  The guide provides details of: type of tourism-related actions eligible for funding; type and level of funding; who can apply and how to apply. The guide is updated periodically and gives specific funding examples from previous projects. 

 

For further details, please follow the link: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=7843

Shaping European Social Work: BU Hosts Erasmus SOCNET 98

BU research, EU, Publishing, student research, Women's Academic Network

Sara Ashencaen Crabtree & Jill Davey

 

For the first time in April 2013 BU hosted the SOCNET International University Week (IUW). This is a high profile international event held rotationally at host European universities drawn from across the 19 Higher Education Institution (HEI) members of the SOCNET community. This important annual event brings together a wide range of European academics and students with an interest in social work and social welfare.

It also provides an opportunity for HSC Social Work and Sociology & Social Policy students to interact with international academics and accompanying European students with educational, cultural and social aims in mind. During the IUW a busy series of workshops and lectures are offered based on a particular chosen theme, to which both academics and students contribute as pedagogic peers. Learning through active scholarly participation is the pedagogic approach that has proved very popular and successful over the years.

The theme of each IUW, alongside other organisational business vital to the continuation and the expansion of Erasmus SOCNET initiative, is managed at each host university in the month of October.  Consequently, the Centre of Social Work, Sociology & Social Policy was proud to host this year’s organisational event, represented by HSC Erasmus Coordinator, Jill Davey, and Sara Ashencaen Crabtree, Deputy Director of the Centre.

Attendees included academic representatives from across the SocNet-work at St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, Austria; School of Social Work, Leuven, Belgium; University College Lillebaelt, Denmark; Hochschule Bremen – University of Applied Sciences, School of Social Work, Germany; Ernst-Abbe Fachhochschule University of Applied Sciences Jena, Germany; Department of Social Science and Care Social Work and Nursing Management, University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic; Faculty of Social and Health Studies, Telemark, Denmark;  University College, Department of Social Studies, Faculty of Health and Social Studies, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen, Netherlands; Humak University of applied sciences, Finland; University of Malaga, and finally, Bournemouth University.

A highly productive and sociable set of meetings took place over the course of several days, where, alongside discussing the European Masters in Social Work (where a UK partner is currently being identified for collaboration), the issues of venue and theme for this year’s International University Week were discussed. Since then invitations from the following four universities have been issued to academics and their students across the SOCNET community to attend the IUW (April 20th – 24th 2015) hosted by four international HEIs:

  • University College Lillebaelt – Department of Social Work. Theme: Trends in social work in the year 2015.
  • Ernst-Abbe Hochschule, University of Applied Sciences Jena. Theme:  Diversity and Innovation in European Social Work and Welfare States.
  • Telemark University College – Department of Social Studies. Theme: Diversity in Social Work.
  • Hochschule Bremen. Theme: Methods and Methodologies of Social Work – Reflecting Professional Interventions.

While the IUW clearly emphasises teaching and learning initiatives, together with internationalisation, the research element has been less publicly evident; although scholarship has always fed into the programme through the synergies between education and research.

However, over the past few years BU has altered the SOCNET landscape and is influencing the development of future trends here; where BU academics advocated for the need for high quality publications to be developed from the important lectures and workshops being annually produced in the IUW events.

Accordingly BU input has been instrumental towards developing robust academic output, which also serves to meet the BU Fusion agenda and KPIs. Thus, from the 2012 IUW at the University of Malaga, which carried the theme of ‘Active Ageing’, Professor Maria Luisa Gómez Jiménez and Professor Jonathan Parker developed the first edited SOCNET publication under London publishers, Whiting & Birch’s innovative social science monograph series, ‘Critical Studies in Socio-cultural Diversity’.

Following fast on the heels of this success, in 2013 Dr Sara Ashencaen Crabtree, proposed and developed the second edited volume from the BU event.  Moreover, in Volume II, and in keeping with the sprit of SOCNET, strong chapter contributions have featured from students from Bremen and BU (Samineh Richardson neé Hall, BA Sociology & Social Policy and PhD candidate, David Galley).

The next SOCNET publication will be forthcoming from the IUW held at Hochschule Bremen under our esteemed colleague, Professor Christian Spatscheck and colleagues. This will continue an exciting precedence, first initiated and supported to-date by BU under the Centre for Social Work, Sociology & Social Policy; a fact that we are quietly very proud of.

Making connections to improve your EU bidding

BU research, EU, Funding opportunities, Research news

You can add an extra edge to your EU funding applications by understanding the background to the call or by being part of a network – sometimes it is not just what you know but also who you know….

The European Documentation Centre (Cardiff EDC) provides information on their website so that you can find the policies that may impact upon your research. Linking your research bid to the funder’s policies is always a good idea! You can also sign up to email alerts so that you receive documentation tailored to your information needs direct to your inbox. 

There are a number of email discussion lists on Linked In, including many for Horizon 2020. Some are for finding collaborative partners but also provide general information, an indication of trends and the opportunity for your to network with colleagues in the same field. Lists include Horizon 2020, Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Group, Horizon 2020 Society & Culture – Societal Challenges, Horizon 2020 Information and Communication Technologies – Industrial Leadership and Horizon 2020 Marie-Curie – Excellent Science. Why not make use of these groups?

You may find others in your field making use of the internet and you can join them. For example, a Linked In post took me to a site Health (IT) Space, where I found links relevant to the use of ICT in Health Care. Although you have to use discernment when signing up to any service, it is an example of what fellow researchers are doing. Join them? Emulate them in your field?

You can sign up to relevant email lists on JISCmail. Once such list is EUROtalk but there are many others aimed at the research community in the UK. Please make sure that you check the instructions for signing up (and unsubscribing) carefully.

There are, of course, more formal ways to enhance your presence within the EU. Make use of briefing and training events and consider signing up to be an EU Expert. Participating in this scheme will give you an insight into how the EU funding works, facilitate networking and allow you to make a positive contribution to the funding process.

Last, but not least, is the European Commission website, where you can find out about policies, calls, tenders and priorities. You can follow the EU via Linked In, Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms.

These are just a few of the connections that you can make. Yes, part of bidding is about conveying your research to the funder, but it is also about knowing the funder, their context and how your research fits with their aims and objectives.

To find out more about how the Funding Development Team can help you with your bidding, please get in touch! Keep watching the Research Blog for further help.

 

 

Introducing Mr Lynch – Research Facilitator EU and International

BU research, EU

Hello comrades.  For those of you who don’t know me I’m Paul Lynch, Research Facilitator for EU and International bids.  I work as part of the newly formed but amply able Funding Development Team. I job share with Emily Cieciura who covers Monday to Wednesday and I do Wednesday to Friday.  Although we may individually lead with particular academics, groups or projects we will be working as a seamless team!

I have worked in research in universities (Warwick, Imperial and BU) for over 20 years and can still remember when both impact and open access were more health and safety issues than research related.  Our recent team restructure is responding to the ever-changing landscape of research funding and the need to support academics with the wide range of demands funders make. I intend through the facilitator role to be able to offer greater support in the crucial early stages of proposal development, collaboration and quality assurance and in a wider context to also contribute to the infrastructure of learning, development and support that underpins a successful research university.  If you see me out and about feel free to express your opinions to, and ideas for, the new team.

Consulting my blog post guide – at this point I’m supposed to humanise myself with some light information – so here goes.  I have recently cured myself of an obsession with prime numbers that had led to me spending many hours, days and weeks writing out hundreds of numbers, charts, spreadsheets etc.  I am still uncertain if this is a cure or a bereavement.  Though previously resistant (#Luddite) I shall, in my new role, be seeing you on a social media platform shortly.  My cats are called Billy and Beryl.  Social highlight of the year stroke decade IS Kate Bush opening night Hammersmith Apollo 26th August 2014.  Jane Austen is King.  Toni Morrison is Queen. They are, obviously, equal.  If you build it they will come.

You can find out more about the FDT Team in Jo’s post and from other blog entries from my colleagues.

So, if you have an idea that might have potential for bidding via an EU scheme or working with international funders, please give Emily or me a call.

TTFN

 

P

Emily Cieciura: Research Facilitator – EU and International

BU research, EU, Guidance

Hello!

I am Emily Cieciura, new Research Facilitator for EU and International bids, as part of the Funding Development Team. I am part time, but job share with Paul Lynch, so there is help and support available throughout the working week. I am here Monday to Wednesday and Paul is available from Wednesday to Friday.

I have been at BU since 2001, in a number of roles. I started out as an Assistant Librarian, then, taking a change in career direction, relocated to the Business School as Co-ordinator for the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM) and then moved in what is now the Research & Knowledge Exchange Office at the end of 2009. I have supported a number of schools during my time in this team,  but have spent the last two years supporting Knowledge Transfer Partnerships throughout BU. I enjoyed providing dedicated pre and post award support through this scheme and the relationships developed both within and outside BU. Although I  miss this role, I am very keen to make new connections within the world of EU and International funding. As part of our role, Paul and I are reviewing the EUADS scheme and will shortly be contacting schools to set up the fourth cohort for this BU initiative, which has contributed to a significant increase in bidding to EU funding streams.

I am a Chartered Librarian with both a BA (Hons) – First Class – and MLib in Librarianship. I have worked in a number of sectors including industry, further education, law and higher education. I have also undertaken further studies to enhance my professional skills, including the Advanced Certificate of  Marketing (CIM), the Further & Adult Education Teaching Certificate and  BU’s Postgraduate Certificate in HR. I am currently undertaking the Associate of Research Managers and Administrators’ (ARMA) Certificate in Research Management.  I believe that my varied background allows a rounded approach to my current role.

Outside work, I am a member of my local library’s ‘friends’ group, so keep in touch with my original profession through this volunteering. As part of this, I lead one of Kinson Library’s reading groups and participate in their family history group. I have a wide circle of friends throughout the UK, so enjoy making the most of weekend visits. With two children, I also run an excellent taxi service! In discussing my blog post with Jo Garrad, my line manager, she has challenged me to ‘get more of a life’ as my children are now quite grown up and independent. So, within reason and legality, suggestions are gratefully received….

You can find out more about the FDT Team in Jo’s post and from other blog entries from my colleagues.

So, if you have an idea that might have potential for bidding via an EU scheme or working with international funders, please give me or Paul a call. We look forward to supporting you as you develop your funding portfolio.

 

 

Fusion Investment Fund (Santander) — BU research and collaboration visits to Universitat de València

EU, Fusion

"Universitat valència vella" by Felivet - Own work. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

 

Dr Bernhard Angele from the Faculty of Science and Technology has been awarded funding from the Santander strand of the Fusion Investment Fund to establish working relationships and collaborations with the Universitat de València (UV), Spain, a Santander Partner University. Bernhard has accepted an invitation by Professor Manuel Perea of the Faculty of Psychology and he will travel to Valencia on the September 15th for an initial three-day visit to give a talk, meet the members of Professor Perea’s research group, and set up a number of pilot studies.

 

Professor Perea will make a return visit to BU at the start of next year in order to present a talk here and meet with BU staff and postgraduates. Bernhard will make a second visit to Valencia in July 2015 and attend a symposium on Psycholinguistics hosted by the Faculty of Psychology. The primary goal of these visits will be to set up a research partnership and to initiate a number of pilot collaborative projects, which will involve both staff and postgraduate students at BU and UV. These pilot collaborations will establish a foundation for jointly seeking grant funding from the national and European research councils. Ultimately, these projects are hoped to lead to a long-term collaboration between the two universities, opening up possibilities for staff and student exchange as well as joint PhD supervision and making Universitat de València a partner in BU’s internationalisation effort.

UV is one of Spain’s leading academic institutions and was founded more than 500 years ago. Its 55,000 students are distributed across three campuses. The Faculty of Psychology is consistently ranked as one of the top three Psychology research centres nationally and one of the top 50 research centres in Europe. UV has a strong international orientation and participates in many international exchange programmes and networks.
For more information, please contact Bernhard Angele (bangele@bournemouth.ac.uk)
Image credit: “Universitat valència vella” by Felivet – Own work. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Yawning In Paris – Dr Simon Thompson

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, EU, Featured academics, Fusion, Grants Academy, Post-award, REF Subjects, Research assessment, Research Ethics, Research Integritiy, Research news, Research themes

I have taught at Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense on a number of occasions but I continue to be impressed by the enthusiasm and challenging questions the Master’s level students pose. Paris is rich with culture and the education system has many benefits. I am privileged to be part of a growing French research culture that respects skills and knowledge with cutting edge technology in neuroscience.

Sacre Coeur, roof-top; Gare du Nord, r.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eiffel Tower, roof-top.

This complements my experience at Bournemouth University and has enabled me to collaborate on projects that face difficult challenges with respect to ethics and use of expensive technology, namely fMRI scanning. Functional Magnetic Resonance Scanning is notoriously expensive yet the benefits to clinical research are potentially huge.

Modernism - or the Aliens have landed!

 

My study on yawning and cortisol at Bournemouth University [1] has now includes collaboration with three prestigious centres in France: Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, Amiens University Hospital, University of Picardy Jules Verne.

I hope to continue my Anglo-French meetings with the assistance of the Erasmus Travel Scholarship scheme in the future, as well as with funding from the French Embassy and the French Multiple Sclerosis Society.

 

[1] Thompson, S.B.N., 2014. Yawning, fatigue and cortisol: expanding the Thompson Cortisol Hypothesis. Medical Hypotheses. Doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2014.08.009.

Horizon 2020: 2015 Health Call Now Open!

BU research, EU, Funding opportunities

The European Commission has launched the 2015 call for projects under the Horizon 2020 Health, demographic change and wellbeing challenge. The Health work programme is available here: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2014_2015/main/h2020-wp1415-health_en.pdf 

The 2015 Health call is made of 4 different sub-calls, depending on the submission procedure (single stage or two stage), the final deadline for the submission and the funding scheme (research and innovation actions, and coordination and support actions). Specific information for each call can be found below:

1) Personalising Health and Care – Single Stage 

Budget: (€ Mn): 104.50

Deadline: 21st April 2015

Topics (PHC):  21, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30

2) Personalising Health and Care – Single Stage RTD

Budget (€ Mn): 88.00

Deadline: 24th February 2015

Topics (PHC): 9, 15, 33

3) Personalising Health and Care – Two Stage

Budget (€ Mn): 306.00

Deadline (stage 1): 14th October 2014

Deadline (stage 2): 21st April 2015

Topics (PHC): 2, 3, 4, 11, 14, 16, 18, 22, 24

4) Health Co-ordination Activities 

Budget (€ Mn): 40.00

Deadline: 15th April 2014

Topics (HCO): 3, 6, 11, 12, 13, 17

 

Horizon 2020 Funding Available for SMEs!

BU research, EU

Through Horizon 2020 there is a pot of EU money available for small to medium size enterprises to tap into, so a couple Business Consultants within the BU Cyber Security Unit thought it would be beneficial to head out to Brussels to find out how we can help SMEs get their hands on the money!

We attended a 2-day intensive workshop on ‘Business in Horizon 2020: The SME Instrument in detail’, which was organised by Octopux Consulting and conducted by its CEO Daniela Gomes.  The main objective of this workshop was to provide an in depth overview of the Horizon 2020 SME Instrument along with other funding schemes available to businesses.

Horizon 2020’s SME Instrument aims to fund Europe’s innovation leaders. As part of the Horizon 2020 programme, the European Commission is selecting potentially disruptive businesses to invest in and support. SMEs with a strong growth potential and the ambition to become world-market leaders could receive up to 2.5 million EURO in funding and world-class business support and mentoring. The EC is looking for high growth, highly innovative SMEs with global ambitions. SMEs interested in applying should be actively investing in innovation and looking to grow.

If this sounds like something you’re interested in, or know SMEs who fit the bill, get in touch with Julia Taylor or Lucy Rossiter in the BU Cyber Security Unit!

Horizon 2020: Forthcoming Funding Opportunities for Creative Businesses

EU, Research themes

The Horizon 2020 programme is the major funding opportunity for research and innovation initiatives across Europe, and in 2015 there is nearly 600 million Euros available. If this is an area that interests you, it’s worth bookmarking the European Creative Business Network website .

Save the date!

Creative industries will benefit from some of this funding in the next round of calls published on the 15 October 2014, as the topics have already been announced. Here are some of the highlights for creative businesses:

ICT 19: Technologies for creative industries, social media and convergence
This funding aims to support Research and Innovation Actions, or Support for the development of, new or emerging technologies for digital content creation and to unlock complex information and media and interacting with them.

ICT 20: Technologies for better human learning and teaching
The development of digital technologies for learning are crucial to boosting innovation in education. This call will therefore focus on innovative technologies for learning, on underpinning interoperability standards and on the integration of different components into smart learning environments.

ICT 10: Collective Awareness Platforms for Sustainability and Social Innovation – Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies.
By Collective Awareness Platform, the call basically means website or ‘portal’. They are interested in calls that pioneer crowdsourcing/crowdfunding or other forms of social innovation. They want to fund technological solutions to real world problems and are looking beyond the financial impact of the project towards the difference it makes to society.

More details of all of these calls are in the Draft Work Programme.

Visiting Spanish historian researches PR archives

EU, Uncategorized

Since June 30, Professor Natalia Rodriguez Salcedo of the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain has been a visiting scholar at BU, based in the Corporate & Marketing Communications academic group in The Media School.

During a four-week period, she has undertaken detailed research in the archive of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA), which was the first major PR association established in Europe in 1955. The IPRA archive was developed by Professor Tom Watson in 2011.

It is an important source of information about PR’s evolution in the immediate post-World War 2 world and the field’s international expansion in the second half of the 20th century.

“Archives like that of IPRA are always difficult to find and provide essential material for PR historians,” said Professor Rodriguez Salcedo. She has also undertaken research at BU’s Library, including its special collection of historic PR books. As a result of her research, she and Professor Watson are exploring future research collaboration on the development of the PR sector in Europe, especially philosophical and practices approaches that evolved separately from the US.

Professor Rodriguez Salcedo also observed Professor Watson’s editorial and reviewing roles in developing a six-book series, ‘National Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations’ which is being published by Palgrave-Macmillan. She will be a contributor to the fifth book of the series, ‘Western Europe Perspectives’, with a chapter on the history of public relations in Spain.

During her stay Professor Rodriguez Salcedo, who is a member of the European Public Relations History Network, attended the 5th International History of Public Relations Conference at BU on July 2-3, at which she delivered a paper on the formation of the first Spanish PR consultancy and chaired a conference session.

Professor Natalia Rodriguez Salcedo discusses the IPRA archive with its founder, Professor Tom Watson

 

UKRO Annual Conference 2014 – a newcomer’s view

EU, Funding opportunities, Research news

UK Research OfficeAs my new role within RKEO will concentrate on supporting academics with EU and international applications, I was very pleased to attend the recent UKRO Annual Conference.

Having provided dedicated support to Knowledge Transfer Partnerships for nearly three years, I have grown used to the friendliness and knowledge of my professional colleagues in the UK KTP world. I need not have worried as I found the EU funding community just as welcoming and knowledgeable. With Horizon 2020 ahead, most of the conference focused on initial findings, preparing for future bids and highlighting updated practice and opportunities since FP7.

 Christina Miller (Director, UKRO) opened the conference then Tim Willis (Head, International Relations, BBSRC) led a session reviewing the start of H2020 and where the UK should be going.

David Wilson (BIS), outlined the role of the Technology Strategy Board and how H2020 links to the UK’s agenda for growth and innovation. Within H2020, innovation is ‘mainstreamed’ as are the social sciences and humanities. The difficulty SMEs have in engaging with EU funds was acknowledged but it was stressed that H2020 provides the framework for trust and tools to manage IP etc. We were left with a call to arms to help SMEs navigate this complex funding stream and to actively encourage such collaboration, with government support. Keith Sequeira (Member of Cabinet – Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn) focused on how H2020 is integrated, simplified and challenge based, with the removal of disciplinary boundaries. The scheme also provides a stronger mechanism to ensure outcomes showing impact. Shearer West (Head of Humanities Division, University of Oxford) considered the implications of the mainstreaming of arts and humanities. Their role in supporting global challenges by providing context and perspective was shown as vital to the process of embedding innovation within policy development, ethics and economic growth. The example of the humanities in the H2020 Climate action Advisory Group, one of many EU expert groups, was explored.

Following this session there followed a lively debate from the floor, where the importance of EU funding to the UK and the engagement by UK HEIs were both evident.

The next session, presented by Dirk Beernaert (Adviser to the DG Connect), considered the routes available via H2020, in preparation for the digital revolution. Dirk gave an excellent overview of the funding topology and key themes – smart objects / platforms, human-centric and cyber security. The session ended with a question – will HEIs define or just participate? We were encouraged to be pro-active in influencing the funding roadmap.

I then attended a useful breakout session on IPR given by Lea Montesse of the European IPR Help desk. This outlined the processes to be undertaken in managing IP within the life of an EU project, from inception through to eventual exploitation.  The key message here was to make more use of this service. My second breakout session was presented by Mathias Reddmann (Policy and Project Officer DG Connect) considered the focus area of Smart Cities and Communities. Unlike many other streams, the UK is not in the top three funding recipients here. The session outlined the European Innovation Partnership, which is not a funding instrument but a mechanism for collaboration. The application is a ‘light touch’ Invitation to Commitment for HEIs and SMEs.

The first day ended with a celebratory meal as this conference coincided with 30 years of UKRO. This was preceded by a reception hosted by the University of Bristol.

The second day dawned with a consideration of the annotated Model Grant Agreement, which included detailed discussion of costing, budgets, third parties vs. subcontractors, staff costs, payments, reporting and audits. Given some detailed questioning by some HEIs, David Mejuto Gayoso (Legal Officer, DG RTD), made a strong defence regarding some controversial issues in the changes from FP7 to H2020.

Alejandro Martin-Hobdey (Head of Unit, ERC) gave a fascinating and statistically-rich presentation of how the EU countries are responding to EU funding and the challenges and opportunities that this presents to the European Research Council. For BU, the Standard Grant appeared an attractive route into this funding. In terms of priories for ERA, these are gender, wider EU participation, international participation (with S. Korea and NSF mentioned), interdisciplinary proposals and clear impact evaluation. In questioning, Alejandro reported that 50% of grants are made to c. 50 institutions s with the UK dominated by the Russell Group members. During the Q and A, the potential of using companies and leverage and embedding the scheme within PDP for academics was aired.

Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, in terms of building successful partnerships with the non-academic sector, was explored by Kamila Partyka (Policy Officer, DG EAC). A key message from this session was that, in the EU, 45% of Post-Doc researchers work in the private sector, so EU funding needs to be used to prepare the best candidates to work in industry, not just in academia. The structure of these actions within H2020 was described, with particular reference to Innovative Training Networks (ITN). I noted that on the slide giving the top 20 participating HEIs in the UK that no post ’92 HEIs were listed… 

Alan Cross (Head of Unit, DG RTD) then gave a revelatory review of the H2020 evaluation processes. This including scoring, key points for assessment (challenge based, impact, close to market and cross disciplinary), the role of the assessors who use the principles of independence, impartiality, objectivity, accuracy and consistency, eligibility, operational capacity, panel review processes and ensuring quality in terms of the panel.

The conference ended with Professor Jackie Hunt CBE (BBSRC) and David Golding (Head of EU and International Strategy, TSB) inspiring us all to go back and make better use of IP to promote business and academic research within innovation partnerships. The Innovative Medicines Initiative was used as a key example, along with BBSRC Research Industry Clubs, ELIXIR, ERA-NETS, EPI and KIC. The value of the TSB in supporting innovation was enthusiastically presented with the Enterprise Europe Network noted. Using other agencies, such as LEPs, trade associations and professional bodies was encouraged, as was the TSB’s desire to build real relationships, not just being a funder for x months.

 By the end of the very full two days, my head was buzzing with potential opportunities for BU. Over the coming months, as Paul Lynch and I move to our new role in facilitating EU and International bidding at BU, we hope to inspire you with our enthusiasm for the over 400 schemes within the EU funding arena.

Dr. Inventor – next generation “Google” search for researchers

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, EU, Research assessment, Research news, Uncategorized

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you eager to have innovative ideas?  Are you keen to find an effective method to solve your research problems? Do you want to speed up your research information collection? Cooperated among eight universities and companies around Europe, we are developing a virtual personal research assistant in our new European Commission funded project “Dr. Inventor – Promoting Scientific Creativity by Utilising Web-based Research Objects”. 

DrInventorDr Inventor aims to develop an intelligent software system utilising machine-empowered search and computation to bring researchers extended perspectives for scientific innovation. By informing researchers of a broad spectrum of relevant research concepts and approaches, this system will help assess the novelty of research ideas and offer suggestions of new concepts and workflows for new scientific discovery. Dr Inventor will be the first web-based system that supports the exploration of scientific creativity via a computational approach, which will overcome a lot of human limitations.

If you would like our system to work the way you envisage to do, please join our user requirement study by finishing a short survey (taking about 5 minutes) at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/drinventor. You can tell us how you perform your research tasks, what is the most difficult part in your research, what you wish our system to do to help you. Your feedback will guide our design; your suggestions may steer the way how people undertake research in the next few decades.

          

 Jian J Zhang & Xiaosong Yang

National Centre for Computer Animation, The Media School, Bournemouth University

 

New Horizon 2020 calls for August 2014 Deadline – GV – 2014 Green Vehicles

EU, Funding opportunities, Research news

Funder Deadline Date: 28/08/14

Award Budget Total : €129,000.00. (Each successful proposal is expected to receive between €3m and €20m although proposals for other amounts will be considered)

Main Pillar: Societal Challenges

Link To Call Details: https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/calls/h2020-gv-2014.html#tab1

As part of the Societal Challenges pillar for the new Horizon 2020 programme, the European Commission have released a call on ‘Green Vehicles’ (H2020-GV-2014) within the Smart, Green and Integrated transport programme.

The commission’s objective in this call is ‘’to promote research, technological development, innovation and demonstration in support of improvements in energy efficiency of road transport vehicles including the use of new types of non-conventional energies into road transport such as electricity, CNG and LNG, renewable and tailored fuels.’’

Proposals are invited against the following topics:

Dependent on which topic is addressed a proposal may take the form of a research and innovation action or just an innovation action. The call details the action type that is relevant.

For more information please contact Paul Lynch, plynch@bournemouth.ac.uk or Eva Papadopoulou, epapadopoulou@bournemouth.ac.uk.

International Early Labour Research Group – 2014 meeting

BU research, EU, Featured academics, Research news

Photo (L to R): Mechthild Gross (Germany), Marie Nott (UK), Tine Eri (Norway), Helen Spiby (UK)., Viola Nyman (Sweden), Vanora Hundley (UK), Patti Janssen (Canada), Mary-Ann Davey (Australia).

Researchers from across the globe met in Prague recently to discuss early labour research and to plan an international collaborative study. The group has been meeting regularly since 2008 and produced a number of collaborative papers, including a special issue of Midwifery dedicated to early labour and guest edited by two of the team. The meeting was timely given the recent ACOG guideline, related to re-framing established labour at 6cm cervical dilatation.

Presentations included:

  • Meta-synthesis on women’s experiences of early labour – Tine Eri (Vestfold University College, Norway)
  • Clinical midwives and early labour – Viola Nyman (University of Gotherberg, Sweden)
  • Role of media and women’s behaviours in early labour – Vanora Hundley (Bournemouth University, UK) also on behalf of Helen Cheyne (University of Stirling, UK)
  • Early labour triage service on the experiences of women, partners and midwives – Marie Nott (University of Southampton, UK)
  • Scoping Review of definitions of early labour onset and validation of the prediction tool – Patti Janssen  (University of British Colombia, Canada) 
  • Women’s perceptions of pre-hospital labour duration – Patti Janssen  (University of British Colombia, Canada) 

Opportunities for future collaboration were discussed and projects were identified that could involve a number of settings.  The potential for a fit with European Union funding will be explored.  Virtual collaboration will continue with the next face to face meeting to be held at Grange-over-Sands, immediately prior to the Normal Birth Conference 2015.

BUDI presents at the 2014 meeting of the North Sea European dementia group

BU research, EU

 

I recently had the pleasure of attending the 2014 meeting of the North Sea European dementia group, held in Dijon, France. This was an unusual meeting in that it was not a large formal scientific conference attracting only researchers, but a small and informal meeting that attracted researchers, practitioners, private care directors, and a research funder. Around 25 were in attendance and over three days we got to know each other, exchange ideas, and make important connections for potential future pan-European collaborations.

Days 1 and 2 – the meeting

The first two days was a series of presentations with discussion. This began with a representative of each European country providing an introduction of their organisation and an update on work in progress. We then had a series of presentations, and of note, some was of work that was just starting or half way through, and some presented service improvement initiatives yet to be evaluated using research methodology. This was good as it afforded the sharing of ideas at their initial stages when changes can be made, rather than at the end when already completed. I presented a qualitative paper on our NIHR-funded project on the social care and support needs of people with dementia and sight loss. This was well received and as suspected, not been given much consideration before. It led to an interesting discussion around diagnosis, given that tests to indicate dementia symptoms often rely on good vision (e.g. to the clock drawing task).

Perhaps the most useful aspect of these two days, during the presentations and informal discussions over meals, was the sharing of what current dementia care looks like in each other’s countries, the limitations to such care, and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in driving forward improvement. The mix of researchers and those directly involved in managing services provided a useful forum for the identification of the challenges and opportunities to working together. In particular, to make sure that research is grounded in the real-world constraints practitioners work within, and to make sure that the novel initiatives practitioners try out are formally and systematically evaluated in order to demonstrate benefit to people with dementia and cost-effectiveness. In particular, fidelity of interventions was raised as an issue, in ensuring that those who claim to deliver best practice actually do deliver it and in the way specified.

Day 3 – the visits

Before heading back, we spent the last morning visiting local services for older people with dementia. I was with the group that visited a day care centre and an intergenerational area. The day centre was a relatively large space and so caters for up to 20 older people per day, much more than the average day centre. They had several rooms for different activities (rest room, computer room, physical activity room, etc.), along with a garden. This was on the same site as a care home, and so for those that eventually need to move into a care home, the day centre provides a nice source of continuity for those that become residents. It was pleasing to see a lot of the creative work that the older people there as this was on display all over. One display that caught my eye was one of the older people helping children with their art work.

We then went on to an initiative that is rare in France and one that I had not come across before. Over ten years ago a plot of land was allocated for providing services for people in the city. At the time it was decided that the same space be used not only for catering for older people to live independently but with support (like sheltered housing), but also to provide for children under five (pre-school) and social housing for the general adult population who need it. In this same plot we got to see the living spaces for older people with dementia, social housing, and could see the pre-school right next to it. I unfortunately had to cut this visit short to head back for my flight, but it was great to see an initiative that at its heart was trying to re-connect the generations. We know from classic theories of the psychology of ageing that intergenerational relationships provides benefits for all, whereby the older person shares their wisdom and perspective to the benefit of the younger person, let alone connection with everyday family life. It would be interesting to see what activities best bring these groups together to facilitate social interactions between the generations.

In sum, the meeting was a useful learning experience of what is happening in other European countries and provided an important set of connections for potential future collaborations. I can recommend attending such meetings, even if they do not have the prestige of large scientific conferences. The more intimate and informal environment was useful for learning about work in its early stages and to learn more about the contexts in which our European collaborators operate within.

Dr Samuel Nyman

BUDI and Psychology Department, SciTech