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!

Be part of the UK-Taiwan Academic-Industry & Technology Transfer Collaboration Forum

EU

The UK-Taiwan Academic-Industry & Technology Transfer Collaboration Forum, organised by the Science and Innovation Network Taipei and the British Council Taipei, will take place on 14 September 2012 at the Royal Society of Chemistry in London.    The Forum is designed for:

  •     Researchers interested in building academic-industry links with top HEIs from Taiwan.
  •     Academics operating in technology transfer wishing to access manufacturers in Taiwan.
  •     Practitioners involved in university-business collaborations looking to expand networks in greater China.
  •     Administrators experienced in facilitating academics working with commercial sectors willing to exchange views with Taiwanese counterparts.

With support from the National Science Council in Taiwan, the forum provides an opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience of academic-industry cooperation and technology transfer, to generate ideas and forge partnerships. It also aims to identify opportunities for university-business collaborations, develop potential working models and schemes, and explore possible strategies for collaboration in technology transfer between the UK and Taiwan.

Confirmed participants from Taiwan include approximately 20 representatives from the Taiwan Top Universities Alliance, Academia Sinica, Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan (ITRI), National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL) and the National Science Council (NSC).

To participate, read over the Indicative Programme and send the UK-TW Forum Reply Form to Ms Amy Chung at  by 4 September 2012.

Start your EU career with a Leonardo grant!

EU

Funding is available under the Lifelong Learning Programme for Leonardo da Vinci transfer of innovation multilateral projects. The aim of this funding is to improve the quality and attractiveness of vocational education and training in participating countries by transferring existing innovations to new legal, systemic, sector, linguistic, socio-cultural and geographic environments through working with transnational partners. Funding is worth a maximum of €150,000 per year for one to two years, and the closing date is 31.01.13.

Don’t forget from my blogpost last week, that there is an info day in November which will cover the Lifelong Learning Programme and that we also have a successful Leonardo award holder here at BU, who is a great fan of the scheme; read Christos Gatzidis’ first Leonardoblogpost  and second Leonardo blogpost for inspiration!

Success for a second time under the Leonardo Programme: GameWise

EU

   Following the completion of the EU funded GameiT Leonardo Transfer of Innovation project (which attracted funding of 250,000 Euros in total) which focused on identifying, collecting, testing and distributing good practice in game-based learning thus producing a framework of game-based learning pedagogy targeted at teachers and trainers, running between 2009 and 2011, I was involved in another Leonardo bid this winter led by the same PI from Denmark (CV2).

The new project proposed was titled GameWise and concentrates on the European Commission’s recent acknowledgment of the  need to pay more attention to new ways of unlocking Europe’s potentials of cultural and creative industries (CCIs). For Europe and other parts of the world, the rapid rollout of new technologies and increased globalisation has meant a striking shift away from traditional manufacturing towards services and innovation. Factory floors are progressively being replaced by creative communities, whose raw material is their ability to imagine, create and innovate. In this new digital economy, immaterial value increasingly determines material value, as consumers are looking for new and enriching “experiences”. The ability to create social experiences and networking is now a factor of competitiveness.

The production of video games is central in this relation. These last years, the game industry has been on a fast track to become the world’s leading entertainment business. The majority of the production is, however, placed primarily in North America – and the focus is on games designed only for entertainment purposes. But a new way of doing business is on the rise: games made for other purposes than mere entertainment – e.g. learning, training, recruiting etc. The general term for this category of games is ‘serious games’, although also often referred to as applied gaming or gamification.

This project is then set to attempt to transfer the related to the above results that have been made under individual partners involved to the rest of the partnership and thus, via the exchange of practices amongst the consortium, explore the creation of new jobs in Europe by the transfer and adaptation of a model for closer cooperation between VET (Vocational Education and Training) institutions and the surrounding world of work.

The GameWise project I am happy to inform has now been successful in attracting funding and is set to run from the 1st of September 2012 to the 1st of September 2014. The total funds attracted are 250,000 Euros with 37,900 of that allocated to BU. Partners include institutions from a range of countries such as Spain, the Netherlands and Norway.

I will post updates on GameWise occasionally once the project officially begins; meanwhile, I would definitely recommend colleagues look into the Leonardo calls for next year (the next one is I believe for January 31st 2013), these are part of the Lifelong Learning Programme and squarely focused on vocational education (as you can probably surmise from the GameWise project description above). As vocational teaching has traditionally been a BU strength, schemes such as the Leonardo one are an obvious EU funding avenue which could lead to successful results.

Erasmus opportunities

EU

 Erasmus intensive programmes facilitate student mobility for studies and placements and staff mobility. Projects funded under this programme will encourage education, vocational education and training. The Erasmus programme enables students to study abroad and supports collaboration between higher education institutions. The following are available with a closing date of March 2013:

•intensive programmes: lasting for between 10 continuous days and six weeks, to bring together students and teaching staff from higher education institutions of at least three participating countries

•student mobility for studies: lasting for between three and 12 months, enabling students at higher education institutions to spend an integrated study period in another participating country (see BU website for Erasmus student exchanges)

•student mobility for placements: lasting for between two and 12 months, enabling students at higher education institutions to spend a placement period in an enterprise or organisation in another participating country  (see BU website forErasmus work placements)

•staff mobility: lasting from one day to six weeks, enabling staff to spend a teaching period at a higher education institution in another participating country  (see BU website for Erasmus staff mobility)

 •staff mobility: lasting from five working days to six weeks, enabling teaching and other staff of higher education institutions to spend a period of training in an enterprise or organisation, such as an HEI, in another participating country  (see BU website for Erasmus staff mobility)

Engineering Research Exchanges with China and India – funding available now!

EU

The Royal Academy of Engineering have announced their next round of Research Exchanges with China and India scheme funding. The scheme promotes collaboration between high quality engineering researchers in the UK and China/India and facilitates the expansion of networks of excellence in engineering research between the UK and China/India. It enables academic engineering researchers at Universities to travel to a Chinese or Indian academic Institution, and for China/India-based academic researchers to spend between 3 and 12 months at a UK Institution. Visits should be part of longer-term efforts to build UK-China/India relationships and to advance joint research. Funding of up to £24,000 per annum is provided (or part thereof for shorter visits). The deadline for applications is 12 October 2012.

EU tenders announced for tourism, mental health, digital agenda and globalisation

EU

Transnational Tourism Products Based on Cultural and Industrial Heritage: DG Enterprise and Industry, has launched a call for proposals with a deadline of 28.09.12 for the provision of co-operation projects to create transnational tourism products based on cultural and industrial heritage. The final goal of the present call for proposals is to complement regional and national policies by supporting transnational cooperation and joint initiatives aiming at designing innovative transnational products in the fields of cultural and/or industrial tourism, with a view to:

  • Contributing to differentiate the European tourism offer by capitalising on and giving value to the shared cultural heritage; and
  • Contributing to economic regeneration and job creation in declining (post) industrial regions through interregional and transnational cooperation projects in the field of tourism.

Mental Health in the Workplace: DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, has published a call for tenders for the provision of a study on mental health in the workplace with a deadline of 24.08.12. The study envisaged under this call for tenders has three main objectives:

  • To provide the European Commission with information on the situation in the EU and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries of Mental Health in the workplace. This will require an in depth checking of the current EU legal framework on workers health and safety protection;
  • To develop a range of scenarios, and identify the pros and cons of each with the ultimate objective of providing a robust information base on which the Commission may rely in order to consider policy options aiming to ensure that workers are effectively protected from risks to their mental health arising from workplace related conditions and/or factors; and
  • Produce a guidance document to help employers and workers alike fulfil their obligations and to include mental health considerations in occupational safety and health implementation.

Digital Agenda for Europe – Engagement for Growth and Jobs: DG Information and Society, has published a call for tenders regarding the Digital Agenda for Europe and the engagement for growth and jobs. The overall purpose of this call for tenders is to mobilise efforts and stimulate commitment around the use of ICT to deliver growth and jobs in Europe and to promote the digital single market. Deadline 19.08.12

International Dimension and Impact of Globalisation: DG Enterprise and Industry, has published a call for tenders regarding the international dimension and the impact of globalisation. The objective of this service contract is to study the international dimension of the e-skills strategy (especially the efforts to promote ICT professionalism) and to assess the impact of globalisation on high-level e-skills requirements (ICT practitioners’ skills and e-leadership skills), as well as to analyse major policy initiatives and best practices in the world. This should help to understand better the international dimension of e-skills in order to better anticipate change, envisage possible future co-operation and improve efforts to develop e-skills for Europe. Deadline 28.09.12

Work in Social Sciences? Have contacts in India and the EU? Then this could be for you!

EU

The first awards under the India-Europe research grants scheme for the social sciences have been made.

The Open Research Area (ORA) scheme is a multi-funded (including the ESRC) EU focused programme which supports collaborations between researchers in India and Europe. This year, the three-year research projects will each include an Indian partner alongside researchers from UK, French, German or the Netherlands. They will study areas such as ageing and wellbeing, the global accessibility of medicine and the cultural authority of science. You can read about the funded projects on the DFG (German funders) website.

The funding scheme is designed to provide top-up resources to established working groups, to enhance collaborative efforts as part of a cross-continent social sciences network. A new call for proposals will be launched in September and close in January 2013.

Find out more about the Lifelong Learning Programme

EU

The Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) is a great way to launch your EU career. It is run by the EC and provides opportunities for organisations, staff and learners involved in education and training across Europe to work together, learn from each other’s’ expertise, and widen their experience of other cultures and languages. The LLP is made up of several programmes, each aimed at a specific target group. The most relevant for BU staff are:

  • Erasmus (focused on Higher Educaution)
  • Leonardo (focused on Vocational Education and Training)
  • Grundtvig (focused on non-Vocational Adult Education)
  • Transversal (focused on Learning Professionals)

There is a useful free infoday being held in Brussels on November 12th which will provide info on the 2013 call for proposals and give practical advice on proposal preparation and submission. There will also be presentations from successful award holders and the infodays are always a key opportunity for networking with other interested academics from around the world so is a very valuable experience.

However, you may not be able to take time out of your schedule to attend so very helpfully the EC are also broadcasting this live online. You will also have an online ‘chat’ facility to search and get in touch with other people looking for partners to participate. If you aren’t free on the 12th of November, you will also be able to access the videos online afterwards.

Registration for both attending and receiving the webstream will be available in September; you can keep an eye on the EACEA webpage for this opening.  You can also whet your appetite for this funding programme by reading our successful Leonardo grant holder Dr Christos Gatzidis’ experience of participating in his excellent blogpost.

The deadlines for the programme this year are 03/12/2012, 16/01/2013, 31/01/2013, 01/02/2013, 15/02/2013, 21/02/2013, 28/02/2013, 08/03/2013, 28/03/2013, 30/04/2013, 17/09/2013

Marie Curie Info and Proposal Writing Events

EU

Registration is now open for the ‘Marie Curie Initial Training Networks (ITN) and Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways (IAPP) General Information and Proposal Writing’ events, organised by the Marie Curie National Contact Point. One is in Edinburgh on 17th September and the other in Warwick on September 27th.

The aim of the sessions is to provide participants with an overview of the Marie Curie Initial Training Networks scheme (ITNs), including the European Industrial Doctorate (EID) Programme and the Innovative Doctoral Programme (IDP), and Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways scheme (IAPP), and with a deeper understanding of the key issues they are required to address in planning and writing a proposal. The Marie Curie ITN call closes on 22 November 2012  and the IAPPs will open on 2 October 2012 and close on 16 January 2013.

Accessibility in Tourism funding available

EU

The Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry has issued a  call for proposals on mapping skills and training needs to improve accessibility in tourism services. The project must map the staff skills needed to improve accessibility and safety in tourism services, and analyse the availability of the corresponding training, either in EU states and Croatia or available for transference from other regions. The project must also produce a collection of best practices through a selection of case studies. Funding is worth an estimated €100,000 over 12 months.

Erasmus for All update

EU

You may remember that earlier this month I posted an update you on the latest Erasmus for All plans. Last week, the official draft of the Erasmus for All programme was published. It pretty much confirms what my previous blogpost suggested, but in case you want to read it in all its glory, you can do so here: Erasmus For All draft report 20.07.12

Finally just a reminder that the Erasmus Student Network survey is still open for responses until the end of the month if you wish to get involved, as per my previous blogpost.

 

 

FP7 ICT Internet of Things and Digital Enterprise UK Info Day

EU

An free to attend infoday on funding opportunities under ICT Call  in the areas of the Internet of Things and digital enterprise will be held in London on 12 September 10am-4pm. It will  offer attendees the opportunity to network and share ideas as well as providing an overview of funding available in ICT Call 10 and future calls, including ongoing research, road mapping activities and collaborative groupings in Europe. While the event is free, you have to register in advance on the  the event webpage.

FP7 Social Science application top tips

EU

If you are thinking about applying for a Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) related call under FP7 and missed the info day, fear not I have some useful tips from the day to share with you. The European Commission SSH Unit representative said that proposals should:

  • include a range of partners from different countries and show added value for each of these
  • use both qualitative and quantitative methods
  • look at projects funded on the website between 2007-10
  • not replicate previously funded projects
  • pay attention to dissemination plans (give specific info on the journals, conferences, etc)
  • demonstrate interaction between the different Work Packages
  • support Policy.

There were several other presentations on the day which you can access using via UKRO the links below:

Applying for FP7 Transport? Then read on …

EU

Attending info days are a key way to meet potential partners and to find out more about a call, but for some busy academics there just isn’t enough time to go.  Thankfully if you missed the FP7 Transport infoday, you can download the presentations, see minutes of the Q&A for surface transport and air transport and also take a peek at the Brokerage session presentations and partner profiles.

There is also a lunchtime webinar tomorrow on the Transport Systems Catapult.  Join the live, interactive webinar chaired by Andrew Everett , Head of Transport at the Technology Strategy Board and hear an update from Daniel Ruiz , Project Manager for the Transport Systems Catapult, on the analysis of the survey results of a study to inform the enhanced business casefor the Transport System Catapult and explaining what the next steps in the process will be.

Fancy applying for FP7 Security? Need some Partners? Then you need this!

EU

If you have been having a scan over my summarised Security Work Programme and a call has caught your eye, you can find people looking for Partners on this fantastic Security Research Projects Database, developed by the European Commission National Contact Points. A total of 251 legal entities from across Europe have so far registered on the Database, which includes 15 organisations from the UK, so it is a great opportunity for you to get your foot in the door for a FP7 Cooperation call!

 

You can also sign up to attend the free Infoday in Brussels in September on the EC website.

 

Commission seeks views on access to research infrastructure

EU

If you get a bit cheesed off with the EC and want to have your say, then consultations are definately a great opportunity for you. There is one currently running on the follow-up to Framework 7’s “integrating activities” for research infrastructure which aims to widen access and enhance the use of research facilities that are already running in Europe and beyond. The consultation is gathering input until 22 October on possible specific topics for these activities under Horizon 2020 in 2014-20. Now’s the chance to have your say