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!

Update on the Culture and MEDIA programme replacement ‘Creative Europe’

EU

The EC has released five short videos where questions on the Creative Europe (the successor to the current Culture and Media programmes, starting in 2014) are answered.  The videos cover questions such as why the proposal for the new programme combines the current Culture and Media programmes, the planned budget increase, the new focus on audience development, the new finance facility and the new programme objectives and are answered by Ann Branch, Head of the Culture Programme and Actions Unit from the Directorate General for Education and Culture (DG EAC).

These videos give you a great insight into what may come under this Programme and will allow you to really make plans for applying. You can also read this very helpful UKRO article on the Creative Europe Info Day to get even more insight.

 

FP7 FAFB and Environment UK Information Day for 2013 Calls open for bookings!

EU

DEFRA, BBSRC, NERC and the Food Standards Agency are co-hosting a UK Info Day the 2013 FP7 Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnologies (FAFB) and Environment (including climate change) calls on Friday 6 July. The venue is the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in London.  Registration for the event is now open, simply complete and return this Registration Form. There is no charge for this event, and places are limited and will be on a first-come first-served basis.

The information day is designed for everyone interested in these two FP7 thematic areas, in particular those considering submitting a proposal for the 2013 work programme calls. These are scheduled to be published on around 10 July, and will be the last such calls under FP7. The information day will feature:

  • Presentations from the European Commission’s DG Research and Innovation on the 2013 work programmes for the FAFB and Environment themes;
  • Information on the opportunities available in other FP7 schemes, including the “Ideas” (the European Research Council) and “People” (the Marie Curie Actions) programmes;
  • Presentations by FP7 project participants in the FAFB and Environment areas, along with lessons learned about participating in the programme; and
  • An update on Horizon 2020.

The UK National Contact Point for the FAFB and Environment themes will be available all day to provide information and advice on participation in FP7. The event will also provide an opportunity to network with others interested in EU collaborative research.

EC Launches Initiative on Sustainable Energy for All Initiative

EU

The EC announced at the high-level EU Sustainable Energy for All summit a new EU energy initiative which will provide access to sustainable energy for an additional 500 million people in developing countries by 2030.
The proposed EU Technical Assistance Facility will provide EU expertise in the sustainable energy field. This will promote sustainable development and inclusive growth and will include a new EU Technical Assistance Facility, worth EUR 50 million over the next two years.

The future of EU Energy funding

EU

Two exciting developments related to EU Energy funding are now in the public domain.
 
The European Commission has recently published an illustrated brochure on its “Energy Roadmap 2050” which is intended to be the basis for developing a long-term EU framework for energy policy.
 
The Smart Grids European Technology Platform, a stakeholder platform relating to smart grids, had published an updated version of its Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) entitled “SmartGrids SRA 2035”. This updates their previous research agenda from 2007. The presentations and conference summary from the Smart Grids 4th General Assembly, in March 2012, are also now available. The SRA of European Technology Platforms, such as the Smart Grids Technology Platform, are likely to influence future European Commission research calls.  This is because they represent the views of a large stakeholder group on what future research priorities should be. The updated SRA should therefore be of interest to researchers interested in applying to European research funding in this area.

Thinking of applying for a FP7 Health call? UKRO has some good advice…

EU

The final version of the FP7 2013 Health Work Programme will be published in early July 2012, and at the same time two calls for proposals (INNOVATION 1 and 2) are expected to be launched with deadlines in late September and early October 2012. These calls will mark the last opportunity to bid for FP7 funding under the Health theme and no further calls are expected to be issued until the start of Horizon 2020 in 2014.

UKRO have provided some excellent tips for  those interested in taking up this last opportunity under FP7 with some hints and tips for preparing for their submissions on their website.

 

FP7 Security Partner Brokerage Event

EU

Potential applicants to the 2013 FP7 Security call are invited to attend a brokerage event organized by the Security Mission Information & Innovation Group (SMI2G) on 22-23 May in Brussels.

 The meeting will be an opportunity to exchange information on the 2013 call of the FP7 Security programme and to stimulate networking for the creation of potential ideas and consortia. All stakeholders interested in the participation in a topic for this call as co-ordinator or partner are invited to this meeting.

The goals of the  meetings are to:

  • provide information on the 2013 Security call (6th call) and provide potential partners with information on what is expected by the European Commission;
  • exchange information on specific contributions to proposals as partners or co-ordinator; and
  • provide a networking opportunity to find partners in proposals.

Forthcoming info days and key networking conferences…

EU

FP7 Information Day on The Ocean of Tomorrow 
Brussels, 6th June
The European Commission will be holding an information day on “The Ocean of Tomorrow 2013” call on 6 June 2012 in Brussels. The information day will be aimed at those interested in the applying to “The Ocean of Tomorrow 2013” cross-thematic call. The event is the day before the information day for the 2013 Environment calls, which will allow people to attend both information days, if desired.
Registration is not open yet; more information is available on this leaflet.

2012 European Industrial Bioenergy Initiative Conference
Brussels, 5th June
The aim of the conference is to make the EIBI better known to the various biofuels stakeholders. Stakeholders along the whole biofuels value chains will be invited to attend the conference. Details will be published on the EBTP website as soon as they are available. Registration will begin in early May.

Conference on Energy Efficient Buildings and Districts: Research to Accelerate Innovation
Brussels, 15th May
The Energy Efficient Buildings Association (E2BA) is promoting an industry driven research, demonstration and innovation (RDI) programme for energy-efficient buildings and districts, with the ambitious vision that all European buildings and districts will be designed, built or renovated to high energy efficiency standards by 2050. Its 150 members come from industry, research organisations, SMEs, public promoters and agencies. E2BA is currently developing a new Roadmap for RDI priorities in the energy efficient built environment field for the period 2014-2020 and beyond.

Seventh European Photovoltaic Technology Platform 
Amsterdam, 19th June
The conference will zoom into the challenges and opportunities of the European photovoltaic (PV) industry sector related to manufacturing as well as large-scale deployment. It will show how PV can continue to contribute to innovation and economic development in Europe when supported by adequate policies and measures.Innovation approaches, transition from incentive-driven to self-sustained markets for PV as well as long term scenarios will be analysed by selected representatives of the European Parliament, the Dutch government and world leading players of the PV industry.

EU funding available in the hard sciences for research, networking, visits and conference attendance

EU

FP7 Artemis call for proposals: Funding supports industry-driven research projects in the field of embedded computing systems which aim to design, develop and deploy interoperable, cost-effective, powerful safe and secure electronics and software systems. The budget for this call is approximately €138.73 million and the financial contribution of the programme will be 16.7 per cent of eligible costs. Projects are expected to last for up to three years. Closing date 06.09.12

ESF Research conferences scheme: Grants support high-level research conferences lasting for three to four days in ESF member organisation countries. Closing date 15.09.12

 ESF Earthtime – the European contribution short visit and exchange grants: Grants should foster collaboration between European researchers working on topics relevant to geochronology and stratigraphy. Short visit grants provide €85 per day over a maximum of two weeks. Exchange grants provide €400 per week over a maximum of three months. Both awards provide actual travel expenses, worth up to €500. No deadline.

Autism as a priority for Horizon 2020?

EU

The French government is to call for research into autism to be listed as a priority area in Horizon 2020, the successor to the EU’s Framework programme for research. The French minister for social cohesion, presented an outline of the plan at a recent cabinet meeting and will produce a detailed set of goals by the end of this year, following a decision to make the condition France’s ‘national cause’ for 2012.

The government intends to ‘intensify’ research in biology, physiology and the social sciences to expand knowledge of autism. This is likely to include an interdisciplinary research stream supported by the National Research Agency. The plan highlights the need to reinforce the rights of citizens with autism and to increase public awareness of the condition in order to support social inclusion. If you are interested in autism research and want to get in to EU funding, now would be a great time to start building links with French researchers in this area.

EU-Canada Study Tour and Internship Programme – opportunity for students

EU

This EU-funded programme offers students from EU Member States a unique in-depth experience of Canada and of EU-Canada relations during September 2012.

The intensive four-week programme begins in Brussels at the European Institutions and then moves to Canada, with study visits in Ottawa, Québec, Montréal, Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria. In addition, nine two-month internships will be offered to participants immediately following the end of the tour. These will take place at leading think tanks, foundations and cultural institutions across Canada. This immersion in Canada will offer a unique opportunity for an academic experience in a non-academic setting.
Participation in the tour is open to university students who, at the time of application, are in their third year of studies (or equivalent) or higher and are citizens of the European Union. Third-country nationals who have been legal residents in the European Union for at least three years (and for purposes other than study) before the start of the tour are also eligible; they must be enrolled at a university in an EU member state. A maximum of 33 students will take part in the tour.
 

Students will only be required to pay a participation fee of 750 EUR, plus pay for their food and other incremental costs during the programme. Further information and application forms are available here. The deadline for applications is Monday 30 April, and an academic reference will also be required.

Partner searches for water and energy research

EU

UKWaterResearchDirectory: An online directory of UK researchers has just been developed to support the Living With Environmental Change (LWEC) UK Water Research and Innovation Framework (UKWRIF) and the UK Natural Environment Research Council’s (NERC) Water Security Knowledge Exchange Programme (WSKEP). It covers all disciplines with interests in water and could be used to find partners for EU funded, and other, projects. Researchers who are not already on the database can add their details. It is also possible to keep up to date with additions and updates by subscribing to a mailing list. The main purpose of the Directory is to improve the ease by which government and industry can find research skills that they may be interested in, trade associations knowing who to invite to meetings/workshops for their members, and for the research community to have a better way of finding complementary research partners. The database has only just been launched and still being actively populated with researchers. It is also possible to keep up to date with additions and updates by subscribing to a mailing list. If so, you will receive no more than one update email per month.

Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic:The Department for Adaptation Strategies Research is looking for partners, who are interested in similar research fields and who are willing to be a part of newly created networks in the following fields:

  • climate variability and its impact on social and economic systems, including adaptation strategies and mechanisms;
  • adaptation measures with a wide multidisciplinary nature with regard to development interventions;
  • natural hazards (climate extremes) and their impact on society from the regional, national and global points of view;
  • research methods oriented to mitigate vulnerability of society and improve its resilience towards climatic extremes, natural hazards and environmental risks;
  • environmental limits of social and economic development from the environmental geography perspective;
  • climate change and its impact on migration and environmental security;
  • environmental changes (risks) and their impact on population processes, theoretical conceptualisation, drawing case studies;
  • estimates of people vulnerable to climate variability carried out on the basis of climate modeling and simulations (regional and nation-wide level);
  • analysis of the the relationship between the environment, economic growth, financial flows and population aspect (migration and development);
  • relationships and impacts of interactions between the environment and society and the reflection of theoretical trends of environmental sociology;
  • dissemination of environmental risks and understanding interest groups’ standpoints with regard to environmental risks (climate change);
  • analysis and evaluation of economic benefits of adaptation strategies in selected sectors and applying suitable methods for optimal combination of these measures; and
  • analysis of adaptation measures in bioenergy and agricultural sectors.

Intelligent Energy Europe free online support session next week

EU

The excellent service providers Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) will be holding  online support sessions on Wednesday 25th April at 2.30pm and Friday 27th April at 2.30pm. 

The session on Wednesday 25th April will be on the subject of Costing your IEE Proposal and the session on Friday 27th April will be on the IEE Award Criteria – and how to address them effectively.

If you would like to join one or both of these sessions please email indicating which session/s you would like to join and you will be sent the telephone conference call dial in details and the weblink where you will be able to view the slides. 

The online support sessions will provide you with a comprehensive and interactive presentation on key aspects of the IEE proposal preparation and submission process and an opportunity to ask questions.   The feedback from those that have taken part in the sessions has been very positive and it only takes a small amount of time away from your proposal preparation work which should save you time in the long run.  They will be referring to the material from these sessions when they undertake the proposal review process so it is recommended that you take part in the sessions in order to understand the messages fully.  

Please contact the EU Energy Focus team with your questions on IEE and refer to the IEE factsheets on subjects including costing your IEE proposal and impact.

Creative Industries Alliance Seeking Members

EU

The European Creative Industries Alliance (ECIA) is recruiting new members for its Policy Learning Platform.

The Policy Learning Platform of the European Creative Industries Alliance has been set up with the view to pull together regional and national policy-makers in order to develop “better practice” in support of creative industries.

The main task of the platform is to steer and further promote the ECIA through an open method of coordination. In order to draw upon a wider stakeholder community and build upon the best regional, national and European expertise and knowledge across Europe, an open call for new members for the Policy Learning Platform has been published.

The deadline for submissions is 17 April 2012 and submissions to the open call can be made through this website Policy Learning Platform open call submissions.

Some EU funding calls released – from water to social dialogue!

EU

MEDIA 2007 The Sales Agent Scheme 2012: One of the objectives of the programme is to encourage and support the wider transnational distribution of recent European films by providing funds to distributors, based upon their performance on the market, for further reinvestment in new non-national European films.  The scheme also aims to encourage the development of links between the production and distribution sectors thus improving the market share of European films and the competitiveness of European companies. Deadline 18.06.12

 

Europe for Citizens: The European Commission, Education, Audiovisual and Culture Agency (EACEA), has launched a call for proposals (deadline 01.06.12) under the Europe for Citizens Programme. The Programme has five priorities and all projects are required to address at least one of these priorities:

  • the future of the EU and its basic values;
  • active European Citizenship: civic participation and democracy in Europe;
  • inter-cultural dialogue;
  • people’s wellbeing in Europe: employment, social cohesion and sustainable development; and
  • impact of EU policies on societies.

 

Industrial Relations and Social Dialogue: The European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, has launched a call for proposals to promote industrial relations and social dialogue. This call is aimed at measures and initiatives designed to facilitate the adaptation of social dialogue to changes in employment and work-related challenges such as:

  • addressing the modernisation of the labour market;
  • quality of work;
  • anticipation, preparation and management of change and restructuring;
  • flexicurity;
  • skills;
  • mobility and migration;
  • youth employment;
  • contributions to health and safety;
  • reconciliation of work and family life;
  • gender equality;
  • anti-discrimination;
  • active ageing;
  • active inclusion; and
  • decent work.

Please note that there is a second deadline set to 4 September 2012 for actions commencing no earlier than 4 November 2012 and no later than 21 December 2012.

 

EDULINK II: EDULINK, the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group (ACP) – European Union (EU) Co-operation Programme in Higher Education, has launched a call for proposals. Proposals will have to address one of the following two priority areas: Energy access and efficiency; or  Agriculture and food security. The specific objectives are to increase the capacity of ACP HEIs at two levels: Management /Administration and Academic. Proposals will aim at supporting HEIs in ACP States to create new and upgrade existing curricula and teaching methods, reinforce links between teaching, modern technologies, lifelong learning and research, as well as strengthening their management and administration capacity. Deadline 30.07.12

 

Sustainable Industry Low Carbon scheme (SILC): The European Commission, Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry, has launched a call for proposals regarding the Sustainable Industry Low Carbon scheme (SILC).The objective of this call is to support actions that will enable energy-intensive manufacturing and process industries covered by the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) to cope with the challenges of a low carbon economy and to maintain their competitiveness.
More specifically it seeks to identify and select sector-specific or cross-sectoral industrial projects that will develop and deploy cost-efficient technological or non-technological innovation measures, or a combination of both, for improving the GHG (greenhouse gas) emission performance of installations under the EU ETS. Deadline 25.06.12

 

Support of the European Innovation Partnership on Water: The Commission intends to award a contract to establish a secretariat for the EIP on Water. The secretariat will support the European Commission with the establishment and operational phase of the EIP on water. The activities will vary in nature, and will include secretarial tasks, contact with stakeholders at various levels, support in the development of a strategic implementation plan, co-ordination of the (outcomes of) innovation sites and development of a Web-based market place for water innovations. Deadline 23.05.12

 

ERA-NET Bioenergy Joint Call: The sixth Joint Call for Research and Development Proposals of the ERA-NET Bioenergy is now open in the areas of biogas and energy crops.The call topics are:

  • Innovative biogas production. Focal points include e.g. pre-treatment technologies, unexploited substrates, measurement/control, upgrading, management of digestate; and
  • Sustainable biomass for energy purposes. Focal points include e.g. optimisation of existing and new crops by way of plant breeding or cultivation techniques, breeding and cultivation for cascading uses, harvesting/storage technologies.

Please note that calls for proposals run by ERA-Net projects have their own funding rules and reimbursement rates. Applicants should check the call documentation for further details.

 

FP7 JTI Clean Sky Call for Proposals: Via the Calls for Proposal, Clean Sky aims to incorporate Partners to address very specific tasks which fit into the overall technical Work Programme and time schedule. Due to the nature of these tasks, the Call is not set up using a set of themes, but it is conceived as a collection of very detailed Topics which can be viewed on the Participant Portal webpage. Deadline is 10th July.

Want to help direct the topic of future EC funding? Then get involved in consultations

EU

The European Commission has recently launched various consultations on a range of topics including policy options to safeguard Europe’s waters; interoperability of digital products and services state aid for films and other audiovisual work; protecting the EU’s financial interest and enhancing prosecutions; financial support for energy efficiency in buildings; and on gender imbalance in corporate boards.
The Consultation on Environment Policy Priorities for 2020, Consultation on Future Network Technologies and Consultation on Blue Growth – Sustainable Growth from the Oceans, Seas and Coasts are all directly related to deciding funding priorities for Horizon 2020. 

This is your chance to get involved and start shaping the future of EU funded research. Have a look on the Your Voice website and get your voice heard.

Find Partners for NNMP in FP7 at this event!

EU

A transnational brokerage event is being organised for participants looking for partners for Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Material and new Production technologies (NMP) Public-Private Partnership (PPP) calls under the 2013 NMP Work Programme.

The  event aims to include presentations from Commission officials about the content of the NMP-PPP 2013 calls (which will be published in July 2012), as well as opportunities to meet other potential participants from a range of sectors to discuss project ideas, during pre-arranged bilateral meetings.

The main topics will be:

  • Nanosciences and nanotechnologies;
  • Materials, new forms of production, integration;
  • Factories of the Future PPP;
  • Energy efficient Buildings PPP; and
  • Green Cars PPP.

The event will be held in Lyon, France on 12 June 2012. It is free of charge but you will need to register and submit your profile by 22 May 2012.