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!

Support your colleagues at the EU Showcase Event

EU

As the time grows closer to this event, I am getting more excited!  Last year’s event was a tremendous success and this year’s looks like it will be even bigger and better!

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.

EU Showcase Event – hear some great tips, experiences and eat some cake!

EU

I am very excited to for this years EU Showcase Event! Last year’s event was a tremendous success and this year’s looks like it will be even bigger and better!

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.

Erasmus Staff Mobility Funding Competition for BU launches today!

EU

You may or may not have heard of the Erasmus Staff Mobility scheme which BU has run for the last few years. If you have, then you will know it is a great scheme. If you haven’t then now is a great chance to learn more. Grants are available for BU staff to visit an enterprise or university in Europe and undertake teaching or training. This is not only a fantastic experience in itself but also a really great way to start to develop your networks. Your visit can be between 5 days and 6 weeks and non-academic staff can apply to the teaching strand too.

This year, I have taken over the gauntlet from Deborah Velay and incorporated the Erasmus Staff Mobility fund into the Fusion Investment Staff Mobility and Networking Fund. There is a really short application form to complete and the deadline is December 1st. The processes have been combined to improve our efficiency in delivering this scheme to you.

The Fusion Investment Fund was launched today and you can find out more on this absolutely brilliant scheme by following the link posted on the blog.

 

Fusion Investment Fund – 2012/13 December Round opens today!

EU, Funding opportunities, Fusion, Guidance, R & KE Operations, Uncategorized

The Fusion Investment Fund (FIF) is again opening the three strands currently available to staff!

At c. £3m per annum for the first three years the FIF represents the significant investment that BU is making in the development of staff and students, and the embedding of the Fusion philosophy. 

New Fusion Investment Fund online application form and general FAQ’s can be viewed on the FIF website www.bournemouth.ac.uk/FIF   

Also launching today is the Erasmus Staff Mobility scheme which has been merged into the Existing Staff Mobility and Networking strand, please see Erasmus Application and Guidance (Word 2010) 

 Follow the links below to be directed to the new strand policy documents as well as the new Application Form:

 Details of the intervention sessions can be seen here. Apply before the deadline on 1st December!

 If you have any questions about the fund do not hesitate to contact Sam Furr FIF Administrator.

2 EU Partner searches

EU

CETMA is seeking partners to get involved in a project regarding training platform for civil security intelligence analysis community. The aim is to train law enforcement agents on virtual civil scenarios, using training paths based on virtual learning that is related to user’s skills (advanced, medium, beginner) which will improve both agents deduction and induction ability.

ENEA,Italian agency for energy, environment and sustainable economic development, is seeking partners to join two projects, topic NMP.2013.1.3-1 ‘Safety in nanoscale production and products’ and topic SST.2013.1-2 ‘Towards the zero emission ship’.

ENEA develops research activities aiming to provide support for public policies and decision making processes, and it contributes to the development of innovative technologies stemming from research performed in public/private partnership. ENEA has a long experience in European projects, both as co-ordinator and as partner.

University’s need to invest more in culture and creative art according to LERU

EU

The League of European Research Universities (LERU) has released a briefing paper which states research institutes could benefit from investing more in culture and creative art  “developing and implementing a solid university cultural policy plan is not to be considered a redundant luxury”.

The paper states that arts can improve the quality of education, help an institution and its relate to society and further improve scientific insight and provides examples of success stories.

To further this point, it is also pertinent to note that the first ever artist-in-residence at CERN completed his residency recently. Julius von Bismarck gave a lecture and presented his installation, Versuch unter Kreisen (Experiment among Circles) with praise from senior officials at CERN who valued his involvement.

Need some funding to forge a relationship with a university, enterprise or organisation in Europe but don’t want to complete a long application form?

EU

If the answer to the above is ‘Yes!’ then have I got good news for you! The Erasmus Preparatory Visit Fund was developed with this in mind and is open for applications right now. The main objective of the funding 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, enterprise or organisation. You can also use the funding to participate in a partner-finding “contact seminar” organised by a National Agency. 

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.

The duration must be between 1 and 5 days and all activity must be undertaken by 30.04.13. The deadline for applications is 31.12.12 and all forms are available on the British Council website. You can send any queries relating to Preparatory visits by email.

I am pleased to announce that the Erasmus Staff Mobility scheme will now fall under the Fusion Investment Staff Mobility & Networking strand and this will be launched next week! I will blog more about this when the funding is announced but it is important to note that the Erasmus Staff Mobility scheme focuses on making connections with those institutions with whom you already have some contact with.  If you need to build up relationships with blossoming contacts then please do complete the really short Erasmus Preparatory Visit application form. You will need to enterthe Erasmus ID for BU when making the application, our fantastic RKE Operations EU specialist Paul Lynch will provide you with this when you contact him to say you will be making an application.

Don’t forget that you can also use our fantastic internal peer review process the RPRS and I can also give you access to an expert bid writer if you let me know you are interested in applying before the end of October!

Want to get in to EU funding? Then book your place at our Showcase Event

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. This years 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.

Energy FP7 free expert help available!

EU

If  you are applying for one of the FP7 Energy calls, then the UK National Contact Points (NCP) for the FP7 Energy Themecan help you!  They are holding proposal clinics (one to one meetings of one hour with a member of their team to discuss your proposal) and proposal review services prior to the deadlines. Bookings are now open for those applying to:

  • the FP7-ENERGY-2013-1 call (the main long-term research call which closes on 28th November 2012); and
  • the FP7-SMARTCITIES-2013 Smart Cities call (which has a deadline is 4th December 2012).

Proposal clinic sessions are available in London on Wednesday 17th October and Manchester on Thursday 18th October.  The Energy NCP will be also be offering a proposal review service between Monday 5th November and the proposal deadlines.  For either service you need to register by emailing the NCPs
All proposals will be treated as confidential.

New publication on EU innovation which may help you shape your EU proposal impact section

EU

Innovation Landscapes explores the approaches to innovation in the UK, Germany and Finland. The document collects, describes, analyses and compares the national innovation schemes and policies of these countries in order to detect similarities, links or divergences between national and European innovation policies, measures and instruments. 

The document will be used to  inform future initiatives at the EU level but is really relevant for any of you developing the impact section of your EU proposals.

Have your say about funding areas in Horizon 2020

EU

So you want a say in how Horizon 2020 will be but not sure how? Well, there are a number of consultations open for you to have your say – participate and start to shape EC funding for the future.

Opening up Education through New Technologies: The objective of the consultation is to explore the need for EU action to promote the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) and of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in education. The consultation is carried out in the context of a Commission Communication on “Rethinking Skills” planned for the end of 2012 which will announce a new EU initiative on exploiting the potential contribution of ICTs and OERs to education and skills development. A further Commission Communication on this is expected in mid-2013.

Marine Knowledge 2020: From Seabed Mapping to Ocean Forecasting: The European Commission is proposing to create a digital seabed map of European waters by 2020 by collecting all existing data into one coherent database accessible to everyone. The consultation closes on 15 December 2012.

Fuel Cells and Hydrogen JTI under Horizon 2020: The Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU), a Public Private Partnership (PPP) set up between the European Commission and industry, was established in 2008. The research community also later joined the initiative. Its objective was to significantly accelerate the market introduction of the fuel cell and hydrogen technologies, in order to realise their potential as way to achieve a lower carbon energy system. The consultation aims at collecting the views of the wider public on the fuel cells and hydrogen sector, on research and innovation in this field in Europe, and in particular on the possible continuation of the FCH JU for the implementation of FCH research in Horizon 2020.

Cake, Lunch and EU Funding… What better way to spend a work day?

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.

EC asks ICT firms why they don’t participate in funding programmes

EU

Regular readers of the EU section of this blog will know that I harp on all the time about the importance of company engagement as partners in Horizon 2020. Well, this is becoming more and more apparent as time draws near to the first set of drafts for the new Horizon 2020 programme.

It was announced this month that the EC is funding a survey as part of a drive to increase the participation of companies from the information and communications technologies in future research programmes.

The survey aims to identify and characterise highly innovative ICT companies that do not participate in Framework projects, and assess why. The knowledge gained will be used to improve firms’ participation in Horizon 2020.

Now is the time to start making links with industry as much as you can!

EC trial ‘scientist friendly’ selection process

EU

The European Commission is trailing a scientist-friendly selection process for its Future and Emerging Technologies Open scheme until January 2013. The pilot study involves a two-stage evaluation of proposals that are at most 10 pages long; this two-stage process means less time is spent by researchers completing a full application that may not be funded by the EC. If successful, the process will be implemented in the FET-Open calls under Horizon 2020.

Exciting new ‘BU in Brussels’ fund launching soon!

EU

 

For the last year, many of the events I have attended have emphasised the value of face to face meetings with those in Europe to getting ahead in EU funding. And many BU staff I have met with, have said how they would love to find out more from policy makers and key industry leaders in their field in Brussels.

Over the summer I designed a funding scheme which would help achieve just that and I am delighted to announce that the BU in Brussels fund will be officially launched on October 1st.

More details will be available on the blog on the 1st but to whet your appetite, this fund offers a group of BU academics an invaluable experience. The prearranged trip to Brussels will include meeting relevant MEPs at the European Parliament and key groups such as the UK Representation to the EU will help you get an insight into relevant EU policy to your research area.

You will also have a personal meeting the relevant Programme officers at the European Commission which will help give you the insight in to what funding you can bid for.  

Finally, you can select 2 key industry/ organisations you want to work with who have offices in Brussels and you will have a private, facilitated meeting with them to discuss potential collaborative areas.

EC proposes to clamp down on funding to Brazil, China and India in Horizon 2020

EU

The EC has proposed to restrict the number of non-EU countries which will be automatically eligible for funding under Horizon 2020. They published a strategy document yesterday, which said that like FP7, Horizon 2020 will have similar general conditions with regards to eligibility however the list of countries eligible for automatic funding will be restricted by introducing a new threshold on total GDP. This has been proposed in order to exclude large, emerging economies including, perhaps, China, India and Brazil. Funding for participants from these countries will still be possible in some cases. such as those where a reciprocal agreement is in place.

Forthcoming event on Older People and one on Bioeconomy in the EU

EU

Older People in an Inclusive Europe Event: Coventry University is organising an event entitled ‘Older People in an Inclusive Europe’, which will take place in Brussels on 8 October 2012.The event will include presentations and debates within the broad context of research related to the ageing society, including a presentation from the European Commission on ‘Horizon 2020: Delivering a Better Society for Older People in Europe’. The event will also launch Coventry University’s Age Research Centre and its Ageing Society initiative.
Conference on Partnering for the Bioeconomy in European Regions: The EC is hosting a conference on the role of EU regions in implementing the EU’s Bioeconomy Strategy (published in February 2012). This will take place in Brussels on 12 October 2012. The event is intended to provide information and highlight the opportunities for regional stakeholders on the local initiatives and investment possibilities in the EU bioeconomy research and innovation areas.