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!

Innovation Vouchers – work with local businesses, receive EU funds and get funding within a couple of weeks

BU research, EU

The European Regional Development Fund ‘Innovation Vouchers’ provide funding for a business to work with an expert from BU, to gain new knowledge in order to help their business innovate, develop and grow.

There only conditions to obtaining this voucher is that the business:

  • Must not have worked with you previously
  • Must be a start-up, micro, small and medium-sized business (defined by the EC)
  • Must be located in the South West England Competitiveness Area
  • Must trade in an ERDF-eligible sector (i.e. not agri-food, textiles or retail)
  • Must have an innovative idea

The business will receive 40% support for projects ranging from £3,000 to £10,000 for the business to buy in external expertise from you to develop ideas and improve performance. The work must be undertaken between now and early 2015 and the best part is there is around a 2 week turnaround to tell you whether you have been successful. This truly is a great scheme.  

We have a visit from the ERDF representative who will give tips on applying and more details on the scheme in K101, 2-3 on Friday 1st February. There is also individual one to one time with the presenter 3-4pm. To book a place, simply email Emily Cieciura, RKE Operations.

 

 N.B. The Innovation Voucher  project is part financed by the Competitiveness European Regional Development Fund Programme 2007 to 2013. The Department for Communities and Local Government is the managing authority for the European Regional Development Fund Programme, which is one of the funds established by the European Commission to help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support local businesses and create jobs. For more information visit www.communities.gov.uk/erdf.

Erasmus Mundus call out!

EU

This is a reminder that the Erasmus Mundus 2013 call for proposals has been released!  Full details of the call can be found here and this year’s call is for Action 2 and 3 proposals only. The British Council plans to hold an Erasmus Mundus Information Day on 8 February 2012 in order to support institutions who are currently participating in Erasmus Mundus projects and those who are interested in submitting proposals under the current call. Further details of how to register for this event will be circulated in the near future.

Erasmus Mundus Funding Available

EU

 The Erasmus Mundus 2013 call for proposals is now open!  Full details of the call can be found here and please note that this year’s call is for Action 2 and 3 proposals only.

The British Council plans to hold an Erasmus Mundus Information Day on 8 February 2012 in order to support institutions who are currently participating in Erasmus Mundus projects and those who are interested in submitting proposals under the current call. Further details of how to register for this event will be circulated in the near future….

Erasmus Conference in May

EU

A key conference on Erasmus is taking place in Poland during May and will feature information on what will be in the Erasmus programme under Horizon 2020.

Anyone with an interest in the Erasmus Programme can attend or present at ERACON 2013 which features delegates from universities and industry across Europe.

Erasmus Intensive Programme funding available

EU

Erasmus Intensive Programmes (IP) are short programmes of study which bring together students and teaching staff from higher education institutions of at least three participating countries. They can last from 10 continuous full days to 6 weeks of subject related work.

The application for this funding can be found on the British Council webpage which also has guidance for completing this. The deadline for applications is 8 March 2013. Should you have any queries on completing your application contact the Erasmus Helpdesk .

 

A clue as to what Environment funding will be in Horizon 2020

EU

The EC have published their proposal for the Environment Action Programme ‘Living well, within the limits of our planet’ which is likely to be the base of calls issued under Horizon 2020. It features budget info as well as the outcome of the various consultations to shape this document.  Most importantly, this paper outlines a programme of action for 2020… reading this will give you the key clues as to what will be funded under Horizon 2020.

Erasmus Preparatory Visit Applications scheme open until January

EU

Just a reminder that the deadline for this is coming up at the end of January 2013  if colleagues are interested in visiting potential partner universities in Europe.  The main objective of the action is to help higher education institutions (HEI) to establish contacts with prospective partner institutions with a view to establishing:

•             New inter-institutional agreements (not renewals) relating to student and/or staff mobility

•             Erasmus Intensive Programmes;

•             Erasmus student placements;

•             Erasmus networks;

•             Erasmus multilateral projects;

•             Erasmus accompanying measures.

 

The preparatory visit grant may be used to visit:

•             Either one or more prospective partner higher education institutions (the visited HEIs do not need to have an EUC);

•             Or an enterprise or organisation.

Preparatory visit grants may also be used to participate in a partner-finding “contact seminar” organised by a National Agency. In addition, preparatory visit grants may be awarded to enterprises or other organisations for the purpose of helping them to establish consortia for the organisation of Erasmus student placements.  Usually a grant is awarded to just one person per visit, but in exceptional cases two staff from the same institution can be awarded a grant to undertake a visit together.  Only one visit per potential project will be funded. 

  • PV mobilities can take place any time from now up until April 2013
  • The British Council must receive the application 6 weeks prior to the date of departure.
  • Minimum duration – 1 day
  • Maximum Duration – 5 days
  • All activities must end by 30 April 2013 at the latest.
  • Application deadline – 31 January

To apply, you need to complete the Erasmus PV Application Form. There is also a Erasmus PV Resource Pack to help you and more information is available on the British Council website . You can send also any queries relating to Preparatory visits by email.

Erasmus Preparatory Visit Applications scheme still open!

EU

Just a reminder that the deadline for this is coming up at the end of December 2012 if colleagues are interested in visiting potential partner universities in Europe.  The main objective of the action is to help higher education institutions (HEI) to establish contacts with prospective partner institutions with a view to establishing:

•             New inter-institutional agreements (not renewals) relating to student and/or staff mobility

•             Erasmus Intensive Programmes;

•             Erasmus student placements;

•             Erasmus networks;

•             Erasmus multilateral projects;

•             Erasmus accompanying measures.

 

The preparatory visit grant may be used to visit:

•             Either one or more prospective partner higher education institutions (the visited HEIs do not need to have an EUC);

•             Or an enterprise or organisation.

Preparatory visit grants may also be used to participate in a partner-finding “contact seminar” organised by a National Agency. In addition, preparatory visit grants may be awarded to enterprises or other organisations for the purpose of helping them to establish consortia for the organisation of Erasmus student placements.  Usually a grant is awarded to just one person per visit, but in exceptional cases two staff from the same institution can be awarded a grant to undertake a visit together.  Only one visit per potential project will be funded. 

  • PV mobilities can take place any time from now up until April 2013
  • The British Council must receive the application 6 weeks prior to the date of departure.
  • Minimum duration – 1 day
  • Maximum Duration – 5 days
  • All activities must end by 30 April 2013 at the latest.
  • Application deadline – 31 December 2012 and 6 weeks before the date of travel

To apply, you need to complete the Erasmus PV Application Form. There is also a Erasmus PV Resource Pack to help you and more information is available on the British Council website . You can send also any queries relating to Preparatory visits by email.

Innovation Vouchers – BU joins Universities South West scheme

EU

BU has joined with other institutes in the South West to offer businesses help. Innovation Vouchers are supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) South West Competitiveness Programme 2007 to 2013.  

 

In a nut-shell, an Innovation Voucher provides funding for a business to work with an external expert from a University, College or Public Sector Research Establishment for the first time, gaining new knowledge to help their business innovate, develop and grow.

 

Are you in early conversations with a company with whom you have not worked before? Is the company a start-up, micro, small and medium-sized business (as defined by the EC*) located anywhere in the South West England Competitiveness Area (not Cornwall) with an an innovative idea? Do they trade in an ERDF-eligible sector (i.e. not agri-food, textiles or retail)? Would they benefit from up to 40% support for projects with a total value ranging from £3,000 to £10,000 for the business to buy in external expertise to develop ideas and improve performance? Do they need help during the application period – 1 October 2012 to early in 2015?

If so, Innovation Vouchers may be the way to introduce them to what BU has to offer? More information is available on the USW website.

Within BU, please contact your School’s BRO or Emily Cieciura (ecieciura@bournemouth.ac.uk)

____________________________________________________________________

 N.B. The Innovation Voucher  project is part financed by the Competitiveness European Regional Development Fund Programme 2007 to 2013. The Department for Communities and Local Government is the managing authority for the European Regional Development Fund Programme, which is one of the funds established by the European Commission to help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support local businesses and create jobs. For more information visit www.communities.gov.uk/erdf.

Its not too late to apply for our 2 great EU internal funding schemes!

EU

The EU Academic Development Scheme (EUADS) is a unique scheme developed to kick start your career in EU research; it’s open to all BU academic staff relatively inexperienced in gaining EU funding.  The EUADS will help you build up to making a submission by providing unlimited 1-2-1 support from an expert EU bid writer, group mentoring and unlimited assistance in actually writing your application over a 12 month period. As if this training wasn’t fantastic in itself, and the supportive culture of being a cohort undertaking the journey of EU funding extremely appealing, the EUADS also includes an individual fund. Each successful participant will be provided with grants as requested totalling up to a whopping £3k each by to spend on activities supporting bid development, such as:
• Travel with the intent of networking
• Conference attendance with the intent of networking
• Pilot research work
• Fieldwork
• Attendance at external networking events leading to collaborative research proposals
• Meetings with external organisations to establish collaborations
• Preparation of specialist material or data
• Replacement teaching 

You can read more on this scheme in the EUADS Policy Document  and make a submission using the  EUADS Application Form; the deadline is 18.12.12

The EU Networking Fund (EUNF) is open to any BU academics who want to network across Europe with a view to finding collaborators. We have a pot of money to support this scheme, and the fund will end when the pot is empty.
You can apply for support for a range of activities relating directly to networking, such as:
• Travel with the intent of networking
• Conference attendance with the intent of networking
• Attendance at external networking events leading to collaborative research proposals
• Meetings with external organisations to establish collaborations.

You can read more on this scheme in the EUNF Policy Document and make a submission using the EUNF Application Form; there is no deadline.

There are plenty of EU initiatives to support you here at BU, so don’t miss out!

 

UK Research Office (UKRO) visit to BU on 27th November 2012

BU research, EU, Funding opportunities, Guidance, R & KE Operations, Research news, Research themes

BU welcomed Jo Frost, BU’s named contact for the UK Research Office (UKRO). Jo’s presentation was wide-ranging and hugely informative, outlining the current FP7 scheme and the forthcoming Horizon 2020 scheme, which is still going through the consultation process. It is expected that Horizon 2020 will focus on three priorities: ‘Excellent Science’, ‘Industrial Leadership’ and ‘Societal Challenges’. Jo also introduced the new Erasmus for All scheme.

All the slides from the day are available to BU staff only. These slides include many links to useful sources of information, if you would like to take part in the Horizon 2020 consultation or are planning ahead and want to prepare a submission to the many funding streams within this framework. Jo stressed the need to build networks and many suggestions are included in her presentation. These slides also give detailed information on the proposed budget allocations and themes within the three priority areas.

If you would like to enhance your knowledge of changes to EU funding, please refer to Jo’s slides. You can also contact Corrina Dickson, Paul Lynch, Sarah Katon or Emily Cieciura, who can help you develop your EU submissions.

BU staff can view the slides at: I:\R&KEO\Public\RDU\European Related\UKRO 2012 Presentation.

Two internal EU funding schemes launched today!

EU

 The BU EU Showcase event today is providing the platform to launch the second round of our EUADS and EUNF schemes!

The EU Academic Development Scheme (EUADS) is a unique scheme developed to kick start your career in EU research; it’s open to all BU academic staff relatively inexperienced in gaining EU funding.  The EUADS will help you build up to making a submission by providing unlimited 1-2-1 support from an expert EU bid writer, group mentoring and unlimited assistance in actually writing your application over a 12 month period. As if this training wasn’t fantastic in itself, and the supportive culture of being a cohort undertaking the journey of EU funding extremely appealing, the EUADS also includes an individual fund. Each successful participant will be provided with grants as requested totalling up to a whopping £3k each by to spend on activities supporting bid development, such as:
• Travel with the intent of networking
• Conference attendance with the intent of networking
• Pilot research work
• Fieldwork
• Attendance at external networking events leading to collaborative research proposals
• Meetings with external organisations to establish collaborations
• Preparation of specialist material or data
• Replacement teaching 

You can read more on this scheme in the EUADS Policy Document  and make a submission using the  EUADS Application Form; the deadline is 18.12.12

The EU Networking Fund (EUNF) is open to any BU academics who want to network across Europe with a view to finding collaborators. We have a pot of money to support this scheme, and the fund will end when the pot is empty.
You can apply for support for a range of activities relating directly to networking, such as:
• Travel with the intent of networking
• Conference attendance with the intent of networking
• Attendance at external networking events leading to collaborative research proposals
• Meetings with external organisations to establish collaborations.

You can read more on this scheme in the EUNF Policy Document and make a submission using the EUNF Application Form; there is no deadline.

You can search the blog for many wonderful stories from our academics who have received support from these schemes. And don’t forget we also currently have the BU in Brussels scheme open until 28.11.12 and the Fusion Investment Fund Erasmus Staff Mobility scheme open until 01.12.12.

There are plenty of EU initiatives to support you here at BU, so don’t miss out!

 

Last chance to book for some cake and EU time!

EU

What better way to find out more about EU funding than with lunch, cake and hearing your colleagues’ first hand experiences? Today is your last day to book your place at this event

We all know the importance of getting involved in EU funding as national funds dwindle, greater importance is placed on international collaborations and of BUs strategic focus on internationalisation. The EU Showcase event will celebrate our successful EU award holders who will share their tips for engaging in EU funding.

We have presentations on schemes to help you start your EU career (Christos Gatzidis on the Leonardo scheme of the Lifelong Learning Programme and Bogdan Gabrys and Rob Britton on Marie Curie schemes) and schemes for those already engaged (Anthea Innes on applying for an FP7 grant and Adrian Newton on being a Partner in an FP7 consortium). We also have top tips on how to network effectively to become involved in EU funding (from the very experienced Dimitrios Buhalis and Cornelius Ncube). Finally I will be launching 3 very exciting internal EU focused funding competitions at this event to help you engage in EU funding and we have presentations from those who won funding through 2 of these schemes last year.

The informal and informative event will be opened by Matthew Bennett in Kimmeridge House  on 14th November. Plenty of coffee, tea, lunch and cake provided and due to the restriction of room size, registration is essential. This takes only 10 seconds on the Staff Development website.

The event will be finished in plenty of time for you to drive/ catch the uni bus to the Executive Business Centre (EBC) to hear the Inaugural Lecture Dementia: personal journey to policy priority by HSC’s Prof. Anthea Innes.

Want to know how YOU can get some EU funding?

EU

We all know the importance of getting involved in EU funding as national funds dwindle, greater importance is placed on international collaborations and of BUs strategic focus on internationalisation. The EU showcase event will celebrate our successful EU award holders who will share their tips for engaging in EU funding.

We have presentations on schemes to help you start your EU career (Christos Gatzidis on the Leonardo scheme of the Lifelong Learning Programme and Bogdan Gabrys and Rob Britton on Marie Curie schemes) and schemes for those already engaged (Anthea Innes on applying for an FP7 grant and Adrian Newton on being a Partner in an FP7 consortium). We also have top tips on how to network effectively to become involved in EU funding (from the very experienced Dimitrios Buhalis and Cornelius Ncube). Finally I will be launching 3 very exciting internal EU focused funding competitions at this event to help you engage in EU funding and we have presentations from those who won funding through 2 of these schemes last year.

The informal and informative event will be opened by Matthew Bennett in Kimmeridge House  on 14th November. Plenty of coffee, tea, lunch and cake provided and due to the restriction of room size, registration is essential. This takes only 10 seconds on the Staff Development website.

The event will be finished in plenty of time for you to drive/ catch the uni bus to the Executive Business Centre (EBC) to hear the Inaugural Lecture Dementia: personal journey to policy priority by HSC’s Prof. Anthea Innes.

Voice your concens about EU research budget cuts

EU

The next summit of the European Union is on November 22nd. It is at this summit the EU research budget for the next seven years will be determined.  Several Member States are demanding severe cuts on the total EU budget and research will have to compete with other policy priorities.

An open letter signed by European Nobel laureates has been published in top European newspapers and a mobilization of the national scientific communities is underway to object to these cuts. To help contribute to this, an online petition coordinated by the Initiative for Science in Europe has been launched which you can sign.

EU Showcase time is nearly here!

EU

Last year’s event was a tremendous success and this year’s will be even bigger and better so it is little wonder I am very excited for the EU Showcase Event in a couple of weeks time.

We all know the importance of getting involved in EU funding as national funds dwindle, greater importance is placed on international collaborations and of BUs strategic focus on internationalisation. This event will celebrate our successful EU award holders who will share their tips for engaging in EU funding.

We have presentations on schemes to help you start your EU career (Christos Gatzidis on the Leonardo scheme of the Lifelong Learning Programme and Bogdan Gabrys and Rob Britton on Marie Curie schemes) and schemes for those already engaged (Anthea Innes on applying for an FP7 grant and Adrian Newton on being a Partner in an FP7 consortium). We also have top tips on how to network effectively to become involved in EU funding (from the very experienced Dimitrios Buhalis and Cornelius Ncube). Finally I will be launching 3 very exciting internal EU focused funding competitions at this event to help you engage in EU funding and we have presentations from those who won funding through 2 of these schemes last year.

The informal and informative event will be opened by Matthew Bennett in Kimmeridge House  on 14th November. Plenty of coffee, tea, lunch and cake provided and due to the restriction of room size, registration is essential. This takes only 10 seconds on the Staff Development website.

The event will be finished in plenty of time for you to drive/ catch the uni bus to the Executive Business Centre (EBC) to hear the Inaugural Lecture Dementia: personal journey to policy priority by HSC’s Prof. Anthea Innes.

Marie Curie in Horizon 2020 – what will it look like?

EU

As regular EU blog readers will know, I think Marie Curie Fellowships are the perfect way to start your EU career. You can bring a shining talent over from anywhere in the world, from academia or industry to undertake research and you can visit an organisation/ university anywhere in the world to undertake research. Needing only one other partner to be involved, it allows for the establishment of a great contact who can help branch out to networks and also enables you to have some research you are interested in, done.

The final calls for Marie Curie under FP7 are in January 2013 and the scheme is definitely here to stay for Horizon 2020, albeit with  a slightly amended name Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.

 

The programme will contain similar schemes, but these will be banded together and made more simple.

*Innovative Training Networks (ITN) will be aimed at training early stage researchers

*Individual Fellowships (IF) will be aimed at experienced researchers

*Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) will be aimed at the exchange of staff and knowledge transfer

*COFUND will be aimed at stimulating excellence in regional, national and international programmes.

There may also be a pilot strand under the first set of calls released in 2014 within the IF scheme; the Dual Careers Strand. This would enable an applicant with a spouse working in research to apply for funding for their spouse to hold a fellowship either in the host institution or an institution in the host country. This is still in development but is an exciting possible development.