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!

EC and Research Data Open Access Consultation – see one of the responses

EU

Earlier this month, the EC held a public consultation on open access to research data in Brussels inviting statements from a range of stakeholders, who will play some role in revising the ECs policy and will help shape Horizon 2020. Five questions formed the basis of the discussion:

  1. How we can define research data and what types of research data should be open?
  2. When and how does openness need to be limited?
  3. How should the issue of data re-use be addressed?
  4. Where should research data be stored and made accessible?
  5. How can we enhance “data awareness” and a “culture of sharing”?

These are key questions every researcher should have an interest in. You can see the responses of the Open Knowledge Foundation here and learn more about the EC debates around research data open access mandates.

Have your say on the EU

EU, Research news

BIS have asked BU to participate in a consultation focussing around the EU’s competences.  This is an opportunity for us to provide evidence to an informed and objective analysis.

If you would like to contribute to this consultation then the questions to be addressed, and more information about the consultation, can be found here: Balance of Competences Research and Development

Please send your response to the questions to Jo Garrad by c.o.p. 19th July.  In order to help me combine the institutional response, please clearly identify which questions you are addressing.

Many thanks for your cooperation and vital input.

Erasmus, Lifelong Learning Programme, Leonardo… – will they exist in Horizon 2020?

EU

The short answer is ‘Yes’! BU holds a number of these awards and I am delighted they will be staying in Horizon 2020 with a huge budget of €19bn. To make things simpler, the EC has streamlined several programmes into one ‘Erasmus for All’ which contains three action strands.

1. Learning mobility of individuals: This is focused on Staff mobility (in particular teachers and trainers); mobility for higher education students; a Master degree scheme and volunteering and youth exchanges.  This is where Erasmus Mundus and Erasmus Staff Mobility as you know it will sit.

2. Cooperation for innovation and best practices: This focuses on strategic partnerships between youth organisations and other relevant actors; Large-scale partnerships between education and  training establishments  and business; IT-Platforms; and cooperation with third countries. Also included in here are the existing Sector Skills Alliances and Knowledge Alliances (the latter is a structured partnership between a  university and enterprise to promote an active 2 way knowledge exchange  with a focus in partnership, innovation and long term impact; an example is here).

3. Support for policy reform: This includes an open method of Coordination; valorisation and implementation of EU tools; and policy dialogue with stakeholders, third countries and international organisations.

More details on Erasmus for All will be posted as I get them and you may wish to read this leaflet produced by the EC in the meantime.

Fusion supports Euro PR History Network advance

BU research, EU, Uncategorized

Delegates to the EPRHN Planning Meeting

With financial support from the Fusion Investment Fund, the European Public Relations History Network (EPRHN) held its first planning meeting at BU on Wednesday June 26.

The network was founded virtually in 2012 by Prof Tom Watson of the Media School and drew interest from 33 academics and practitioners in 11 European countries. It was approved.as a project by EUPRERA (Europe’s PR education and research association) in autumn last year.

Its aims are to develop and produce information about the history and historiography of public relations in Europe through the identification and formation of archives, transnational research, joint research bids and the production of publications in print and online formats.

The meeting of EPRHN’s core group brought seven historical researchers from Germany, Romania, Spain, Scotland, Turkey and Bournemouth. Fusion assisted their attendance through travel bursaries.

Among the actions to be progressed are a bid to the EU’s COST (Cooperation in Science and Technology) scheme, which was facilitated on Wednesday by Paul Lynch of RKE; a second edition of its Archives Record publication; and a panel session on ‘developing the history of European public relations’ at EUPRERA’s annual conference in October.

Prof Watson, who was supported by Dr Tasos Theofilou in the organisation of the meeting, said it had been highly productive. “There’s a limit to what we can achieve by email and Skype. The EPRHN made a big forward step because FIF helped bring key members together”. It will also assist Prof Watson and Dr Theofilou to fully launch the group at the October conference.

“At present, 13 countries are represented in the network. We hope to widen that base and engage many more historical researchers in its activities”, said Prof Watson.

For more information about EPRHN and BU’s contribution to the burgeoning field of PR history, go to: http://historyofpr.com.

Marie Curie 2014-2020: The new structure

EU

I know many of you are preparing your Marie Curie applications for August and can’t bear to think about 2014! For those of you who are interested in making an application to the Marie Curie scheme in 2014 and beyond, an insight into how these will look will be helpful.

So far Britain has had the most success with the scheme so far receiving  almost €800m in funding covering almost 3, 000 successful applications in a range of subjects.  BU is amongst this number and we hold more than 10 Marie Curie grants.  We have seen the benefits of Marie Curie Fellowships, just as other successful award holders have; with a recent study finding that 95% of Marie Curie fellows stay in touch with their international hosts actively after 5+ years.  86% confirmed that participating in Marie Curie projects had strengthen existing collaborations with the international partner organisation, so this scheme really is a great one to be involved in.

The  good news is that the strands will pretty much exist as they are, although the overarching labels and title are changing slightly which may leave you confused! The Marie Curie Scheme will be called Marie Skłodowska- Curie Actions in 2014 and will fall under the ‘Excellent Science’ pillar of Horizon 2020; this represents a new increased focus on the excellence of the host and candidate in Marie Curie actions moving forward. The aims of the scheme will remain the same and the budget is a healthy €5.75b (2014-2020).

The COFUND and ITN schemes will remain unchanged and the other schemes will be condensed into two – Individual Fellowships and RISE.

  • The ITN scheme is dedicated to early-stage researchers and involves a wide partnership of institutions from academic and non-academic sectors. It addresses the triple ‘I’ dimension of mobility – international, innovative, interdisciplinary – and combines scientific excellence with an innovation orientated approach. It focuses on developing entrepreneurship and skills matching research and innovation labour market needs and aims to enhance the employability of researchers in their chosen career.
  • Individual Fellowships will provide opportunities’ for international and intersector mobility of researchers to facilitate career moves. It encompasses intra-European, incoming, outgoing mobility as well as re-intergration and under Horizon 2020 there will the opportunity to undertake inter-sector secondments.
  •  The Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) scheme is a new type of exchange action to stimulate knowledge transfer. The scheme will be flexible allowing European and international exchanges of highly skilled research and innovation staff based on a common research project.
  • COFUND has regional, national and international programmes designed to foster excellence by spreading best practices of Marie Curie actions in terms of international mobility, research training and career development. It will be extended to doctoral training and will build on the experience of FP7 COFUND.

When I receive more information on this scheme, I will share it but in the meantime if you have any questions on the Marie Curie scheme, do get in touch.

1-2-1s with Martin Pickard now available 10th July 2013 – Book Now!

BU research, EU, Grants Academy, Research news, Training

 

A few spaces are still available for 1-2-1 appointments with Martin Pickard on Wednesday the 10th of July 2013 – *Please note: these are being held at the Talbot Campus in DL104 (opposite the Octagon in the Library).

If you feel you would benefit from a ‘face to face’ meeting with Martin either in relation to any bid/proposal or Marie Curie application you are currently working on please contact me Dianne Goodman ASAP with your time preferences.

Appointments are approx 45 minutes long. You will also have unlimited telephone and email support to progress your application after meeting with Martin.

With a career background in both Academia and Industry Dr. Martin Pickard of Grantcraft is a specialist in writing and supporting research grant applications and tenders as well as providing administrative and management support services for ongoing projects. During the last 20 years Martin has worked extensively across Europe with a large number of universities, and research institutes as well as industrial firms, ranging from small SME’s to major international companies.

Martin is providing individual 1-2-1 surgeries with any BU academic staff member and works individually and confidentiality with each Principal Investigator as the project is structured and prepared in order to optimize the application documentation from every aspect of the Funders perspective; guiding, steering and showing how to optimize the application throughout the bid process.

Academics at BU who have undertaken his guidance have stated his ‘support and direction was invaluable – Martin gave me some pragmatic suggestions which really helped to shape the bid. His eye for detail made the document much easier to read and the message much clearer. I was very grateful for his input’  Assoc. Prof Heather Hartwell, School of Tourism.

The process, although labour intensive, works; with a proven historical average success rates of close to 1 in 2 against norms of 1 in 8 to 1 in 10.

Martin is at BU on the following dates and times:

  • 10th July 2013, 9:15am- 5pm (Talbot Campus) – some afternoon appointments available
  • 4th September 2013, 9:15- 5 (Lansdowne Campus)

 

Insight into what will be funded under ‘Health’ in Horizon 2020

EU

Focus of Funding – what’s different? : Europe 2020 marks out the goal to increase the number of healthy life years by 24 months by 2020 and Horizon 29020 funding will be geared towards this, focusing on health and quality of European citizens, the growth and expansion of EU industry in this area and long-term sustainability and efficiency in health and social care systems. The health focus   of Horizon 2020 will therefore be the challenge of an ageing population across Europe and in particular the health inequalities within this. Horizon 2020 will seek to transform the challenges into opportunities, focusing on active ageing, integrated care, large efficiency gains of new care modules and looks at the financial aspect that the health care market is worth €3000bn and has 85 million consumers which is ever increasing. Horizon 2020 marks a paradigm shift of ageing from a societal challenge to a major opportunity; from a burden to an asset; from acute reactive care to preventative, proactive care; and from a focus on curing diseases to improving functioning. There will be an increased focus on dissemination; not just discovering new ways to help people live longer, but getting this to ordinary EU citizens so they can begin to change their lifestyle. Involving end users will be key.

 

Types of funding: The main areas of funding are addressing major age-prevalent chronic diseases; innovation in integrated care delivery systems and innovation in independent living and social inclusion. The approach to health care will be focused on combining demand and supply sides of innovation; building on existing instruments and new ones where necessary; ownership of key stakeholder willing to invest; large-scale deployment and awareness and best-practice sharing across Europe.   It looks as though calls will be issued under 6 themes:

  • Better adherence to medical treatment
  • Prevention of falls
  • Prevention of functional decline and frailty
  • Integrated care models
  • Independent living and active ageing
  • Age-friendly buildings, cities and environments

 

How can I prepare – finding Partners: The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing is the first attempt to bring together interested parties from public and private sectors to deliver innovative solutions for an ageing society. The EIP website is currently being revamped, but this is a key time to sell your research expertise to others through this virtual marketplace. Advertising your areas of knowledge and skills can help you gain partners to submit for calls under Horizon 2020.

 

Fund an EU meeting with COST

EU

COST  funds pan-European, bottom-up networks of scientists and researchers across all science and technology fields. These networks, called ‘COST Actions’, promote international coordination of nationally-funded research, but mot the research itself. Proposals for actions are now open and those which play a precursor role for other European programmes and/or initiated by early-stage researchers are favoured.
COST is organised in nine broad domains (Biomedicine and Molecular Biosciences; Chemistry and Molecular Sciences and Technologies; Earth System Science and Environmental Management; Food and Agriculture; Forests, their Products and Services; Individuals, Societies, Cultures and Health; Information and Communi­ation Technologies; Materials, Physics and Nanosciences; Transport and Urban Development). To make a submission, you must have a minimum of five EU countries involved and you should choose one domain where possible or if it is truly interdisciplinary then there is a possibility of a trans-domain proposal application.  All info on the current call can be found here.

ELOs and Sponsors

 

Contacts in Brazil? Funding is available but you need to act super fast!

EU

The Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) and the British Council are jointly funding a series of workshops to promote research collaboration between Sao Paulo Estate and the UK with a deadline of 14 July 2013 .

The main themes for the workshops are in the areas of Natural Sciences, Social Sciences and Arts & Humanities (Sports Events and their legacy for the local community could be one of interest at the moment). Each workshop must be coordinated by two leading researchers, one from each country, and target up to 20 early career researchers from each country. Detailed information on the call can be found here .

Wondering what Erasmus Mundus, Erasmus Mobility and other schemes will look like in Horizon 2020

EU

Well, wonder no more!  You will know from my previous blogposts that the ‘Erasmus for All’ Programme will combine schemes under the Lifelong Learning Programme such as Erasmus and Erasmus Mundus, as well as Youth in Action, Sport and others.

The EC has published updated its webpages on this programme and you can find a very helpful Erasmus for All factsheet  as well FAQs

Researching ICT? This EU conference could be VERY beneficial for you

EU

More than 4000 researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, industry representatives, young people and politicians are expected to attend ICT 2013 in November.The event will focus on Horizon 2020 and includes conference presentations, networking sessions, investment forums. This is a key way to gather more info on what to expect under ICT Horizon 2020 calls and to network and gain a collaborative group. You can register for the event here.

Fantastic British Council funding for international research collaboration – but with a fast approaching deadline!

EU

I was really excited to see this week the British Council have launched a new five-year programme to encourage international research collaboration between ambitious young researchers from the UK and eighteen countries around the world. Initially the countries involved are Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Morocco, Egypt, Qatar, South Africa, Nigeria, Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, Vietnam and Bangladesh.

The call is aimed at ‘leading researchers’ who can propose themes for bilateral workshops to be held in one of these countries which will bring together early career researchers to discuss research and start to build international relationships. The call guidelines and application form can be found here and the deadline is 14 July.

Auditors declare EU English is ‘a vocabulary that differs from that of any recognised form of English’!

EU

The EU Auditors recent publication ‘Brief list of misused English terms in EU publications’ it is recognised that the EU uses a rather unique blend of English terms, not actually used by many folks with English as their first language. Indeed it begins by stating the EU and EC uses ‘a vocabulary that differs from that of any recognised form of English. It includes words that do not exist or are relatively unknown to Native English speakers…and often even to standard spellcheckers/ grammar checkers’. So if you ever feel like you need a dictionary when reading an EU paper or call for proposals, then  this list of translated ‘English’ terms may be very useful.

CEMP Research & Innovation Funding Bulletin

BU research, EU, Funding opportunities

Here is the latest CEMP Research & Innovation Funding Bulletin. CEMP Cluster bulletin and agenda 30.5.13

The next R&I cluster meeting – where we will review these opportunities and monitor current projects – is on Thursday 6th June 10-12 in the CEMP office.

All are very welcome – just drop in – and if you can’t make the meeting but would like to discuss any of the funding opportunities here, or another research proposal, please let me know.

For info – the ‘think-tank’ part of the cluster meetings will now take place separately, under the re-brand ‘CEMP conversations’ and the next one will be Thursday 13th June. More information to follow.

BU EU template wording available

EU

I’m often told that generic BU and School information would be helpful when drafting EU proposals. I am pleased to inform you that some generic and School specific information is now available on our I drive which we hope will be useful as a starting place for you I:\R&KEO\Public\RDU\European Related\General Templates

Life after FP7… what’s next?

EU

All has been rather quiet on the EC front for the last few months as we eagerly await the close down of FP7 and see what changes will be made for EC funding 2014- 2020. I have put together a very brief outline of the changes – EC funding 2014-2020 – which we know for definite will happen so far and what the new programmes will look like; including Horizon 2020, Erasmus, Marie Curie, etc.

More information will be given as it is confirmed by the EC over the next few months so watch this space!

 

 

Yawning in France

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, EU, Funding opportunities, Post-award, Research news, Uncategorized

My recent visit to Paris via the Erasmus Teaching Mobility scheme has been most useful, not only as it continues to strengthen the links I have made with like-minded researchers and clinicians, but also because it exposes you to raw student talent. This is important to help you keep up to date with current views and research with the assistance of an eager and interrogative French audience! Such visits are quite intellectually challenging, partly because my level of French is constantly under scrutiny! The collaborative research links I have made are invaluable and I hope to submit some reasrch bids in the area of Multiple Sclerosis and yawning soon.