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!

I have a top secret FP7 Security document – oh the irony!

EU

Yep, I have summarised the draft FP7 Security Work Programme to save you having to read the mammoth work programme and try to find the info you need (and I am proud to say we are the only uni who does this!). I have placed the summary document on our I drive as it is highly confidential and absolutely not for dissemination outside of BU. You will find hyperlinks taking you to each of the themes, and the calls expected to be released within this. The final work programme will be released in July, so this gives you a great headstart. Find the Security and other draft work programmes at I:\R&KEO\Public\RDU\Draft Work Programmes for 2012-13

Various latest calls for funding from the EU

EU

DG Enterprise and Industry third party liability studies: The Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry invites proposals for a study evaluating the status quo and the legal implications of third party liability for the European security industry. The tenderer will collect, analyse and assess data from various legal sources and actual best practices in this field, provide a comprehensive overview of related implications for the security industry, as well as feasible policy options to address these implications, and present the results in an accessible and comprehensible way. Funding is worth up to €800,000 over 12 months.

Eureka EUMINAfab user access call: Eureka invites proposals, through the EUMINAfab initiative, for user access. Investigators from research and industry alike may apply to gain fee-free access to one or more of 37 micro- and nanotechnology fabrication and characterisation installations across Europe. Each researcher must be based in an EU member or associated state.

DG Home Affairs immigration policy: The Directorate-General for Home Affairs invites proposals for the monitoring of the implementation by the member states of the European refugee fund, the European fund for the integration of third-country nationals, the external border fund and the return fund. The tenderer will undertake between 36 and 72 monitoring missions over a three-year period, in order to ensure the correct implementation of funds pursuant to the basic acts and implementing rules in member states. Funding is worth between €100,000 and €200,000 per year over a maximum of three years.

DG Enterprise and Industry electric vehicle promotion:The Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry invites proposals for the promotion of electric vehicles technologies. Projects should raise social awareness about the high performance of electric vehicles and the benefits of their utilisation, while addressing specific aspects that may have created public reluctance about the purchase of vehicles based on electric powertrains. Proposals may be submitted for the following lots: complete construction of an electric car designed for competition, for which funding is worth up to €2 million; organisation of a demonstration event with the presence of the electric car built in lot one, for which funding is worth up to €300,000.

Europe for citizens networking of twinned towns: Each project must foresee at least three events, involving municipalities from at least four participating countries, of which at least one is an EU member state. Grants are worth between €10,000 and €150,000 over a period of 21 days to 24 months. Deadline 01.09.12

Continuous training: Grants support the development of the capacity of audiovisual professionals to understand and integrate a European dimension to their work, through the following measures: training in economic, financial and commercial management; training in new audiovisual technologies; training in script project development. The budget for this call is €7 million. Deadline 16.04.12

Sneak preview of the Energy FP7 Calls for Proposals

EU

I have managed to obtain a draft of the EC FP7 Energy Work Programme. This is highly sensitive information and as the final document isn’t released until July, should give you a great head start to plan your proposal.

I’ve summarised the very dull document with easy to use hyperlinks to take you straight to areas you are interested in, and placed on the I drive along with our other summary FP7 documents. Please note that these are absolutely not to be circulated outside of BU – not even to your prospective partners!  I:\R&KEO\Public\RDU\Draft Work Programmes for 2012-13

Reflecting on a fantastic 6 months of EU activity at BU

EU

I wanted to use the blog today to say how proud I am of all the exciting EU initiatives we have recently had at BU and to get your suggestions for even more!

We started this year with a fantastic EU showcase event where some of our most EU active academics presented their work with some excellent stories, videos and of course plenty of cake.

We have had 2 fantastic competitions for funding. The first was the EU Academic Development Scheme where nine brilliant BU academics were awarded a place on a scheme set to really launch their EU career. The second saw us support 6 academics in pursuing their networking endeavours through the unique EU Networking Fund.

I have tried to deliver information in a more engaging way, through writing and distributing the Simple Guide to EC Funding which many of you have provided really positive feedback on, and also by making use of this blog space.

We have held specialist sessions from an external expert grant writer on EU Funding & Grant Writing and Marie Curie Fellowships, with amazing feedback and I’ve worked with many of our academics on finding appropriate funding, identifying partners and writing proposals (and I look forward to doing this with many more of you).

I am currently pulling together a plan of what the 12 months of EU focused activities will look like, which will all be designed to help you engage more effectively in EU funding. If you have any suggestions for the kind of activities you would find helpful, or what training would be best for you, then leave a comment at the end of this post. I can’t guarantee I will be able to implement it but I will give it a good go J

What’s coming up in the Marie Curie calls? I can tell you….

EU

Last week on the back of our Marie Curie Fellowship training, I posted the forthcoming deadlines for the Marie Curie calls.  I am pleased to reveal that I have managed to obtain a draft copy of the Marie Curie Work Programme which gives a little more detail about this scheme. This document is highly confidential and contains sensitive information which is why I have placed it on our I drive … I:\R&KEO\Public\RDU\Draft Work Programmes for 2012-13

It is not for circulation outside of BU at all (not even your potential partners!). The final Work Programme will be released in July so I am giving you a great 4 month head start with this. Contact your RKE Operations Team straight away to let them know you are planning to submit in order to prevent any delays and to make full use of all the resources we have at BU to help you with your submission.

Interested in Media or IT? Then these new Calls for Proposals may be of interest…

EU

MEDIA 2007: The EC  has launched a call for proposals for the provision of training under the MEDIA 2007 Programme. One of the measures to be implemented under this Decision involves improving the continuous vocational training of professionals in the audiovisual sector, so as to give them the know-how and skills needed to create competitive products on the European and other markets.  The call for proposals EACEA/5/12 is the last continuous training call to be launched under MEDIA 2007 and offers a two-year framework partnership agreement. The deadline is 16 April 2012.

CIP-ICT PSP: The EC has launched the 2012 CIP-ICT PSP call under the Information and Communication Technologies Policy Support Programme (ICT PSP) which is part of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (2007 to 2013). There are a number of funding opportunities available including pilot work and thematic networks. The deadline is 15.05.12 and the indicative budget is 127m Euros.

EUNF scheme now closed

EU

It gives me great pleasure to inform you that our EUNF pot has now been emptied! Well done to our 6 successful applicants who have been awarded a total of over £11, 000 to help support thei networking activities across Europe aimed at making a grant submission. You can read their accounts over the next couple of weeks on the blog (and a few are on here already) of how they will use funding and what happened after they visited their potential collaborators.

Thanks to all of you who have shown your interest and engagement in developing relationships with your EU partners and well done to our successful applicants.

New EC website with listings of current projects

EU

The EC has set up a new page on its Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) website with an overview of projects funded under the Framework Programme. 

The new webpage shows which projects have been funded both under FP7 and previous Framework programmes and will provide a broader range of material to a wider audience. The new depository will include:

  • project details such as description, funding, programme;
  • project results such as documents, reports, summaries;
  • links;
  • publications;
  • multimedia; and
  • information and details on project participants.

This will be a key resource for you to find future collaborators – take a look at who has been funded before and get in contact with them 🙂

Likely calls to be released under Health, Environment and Science in Society FP7 themes

EU

top secretThe Work Programmes are still being finalised and due for release in July, but I have obtained information about some of the likely calls that may come out.

I am excited that one of the areas I have info on is the new Science in Society theme. I also have updated information on the FP7 Health theme and also an update on the FP7 Environment theme which also has the anticipated date for the Information Day- the key opportunity to find partners and discover more about the calls for proposals. 

This information is highly confidential and for this reason has been placed on our I drive. You can access this and info on the other likely calls in different thematic areas here: I:\R&KEO\Public\RDU\Draft Work Programmes for 2012-13 . The information is to be treated with caution as it is based on draft documentation and is for BU staff only; this is not for circulation.

Reading likely areas of funding in FP7 is critical as it gives you months of extra preparatory time and a fantastic head start on writing your proposal. If you are thinking of making a submission, send me an email and I can help you pull your application together.

My EUNF success

EU

My EUNF application relates to one aspect of a program of research that is in the early stages of development. Over the past few years I have been working with a colleague on the development a theoretical framework that describes how people adapt to living with HIV.  Named the ‘Theory of Negotiating Uncertainty’, it is a potentially important clinical assessment theory that promises significant social benefit for people living with a wide variety of chronic conditions (such as HIV, sickle cell disease, multiple sclerosis, hepatitis, congestive cardiac failure, asymptomatic genetic predispositions to a variety of disorders such as breast cancer). Concurrent developments of the theory include multi- and cross-cultural testing and the construction of an assessment tool that can be used to assess how people cope with clinical uncertainty that in turn creates significant threats to wellbeing and quality of life. Psychological and other therapeutic interventions can be initiated for those who are found to be unable to effectively negotiate the uncertainty of their lives, thus ultimately improving wellbeing and quality of life.

Being the recipient of an EU Network Fund award will allow me to explore the possibility of replicating the initial study in a different cultural environment. To this end, I will be meeting with a wide range of potential collaborators and key university and hospital contacts in Crete and Athens, Greece. In May of this year I will travel to meet Dr A Stavropoulou (Assistant Professor, TEI Crete), Dr T Stroubouki (Senior Lecturer, TEI, Athens) and P Papatheodorou (Deputy Head Nurse, Andreas Syggros Hospital, Athens; the clinical base for the project). Meetings with key administrative and support personnel in TEI Athens and Crete will include representatives from the Departments of Public & International Relations, Departments of Research and Development Projects, the Presidents of TEI in Crete and Athens and the Directors of the Departments of Nursing; and finally the Directors of Medicine, Nursing and Research, Syggros Hospital, Athens. Having the opportunity to meet face-to-face will strengthen the research team and collaborative possibilities and facilitate the subsequent research activity by creating trusting working relationships in which decisions can be taken and research conducted with confidence.

This project sits firmly in the Health, Well-being and Ageing ‘BU Research Theme’ and is solidly placed to contribute towards the HSC research sub-themes. There may also be scope to ultimately involve individuals from other schools in BU.

Marie Curie deadline dates for 2012 & 2013

EU

I am delighted so many of you found our workshop on submitting a Marie Curie proposal today so useful; the feedback I have already received has been great. I wanted to remind you of the deadline for 2012 calls under this scheme and to prewarn you about call dates anticipated for next year.

  • Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways: 19.04.12 & 15.01.13
  • Intra-European Fellowships: 16.08.12 & 14.08.13
  • International Incoming Fellowships: 16.08.12 & 14.08.13
  • International Outgoing Fellowships: 16.08.12 & 14.08.13
  • COFUND: 05.12.12
  • International Research Staff Exchange Scheme: 17.01.13
  • Career Integration Grants: 18.09.12 & 07.03.13 & 05.09.13
  • Initial Training Networks: 22.11.13
  • Researchers’ Night: 10.01.13

For details about all of these schemes, please consult your Simple Guide to EC Funding (and get in touch with me if you haven’t received your copy). Remember to all of you who attended Martin’s Marie Curie training workshop last week, you are entitled to have him review your submission for this on one occasion. He is in very high demand so to ensure you don’t miss out on this great offer, get your draft to him early and let him know you will be contacting him for a review as early as possible.

Also, as we have had several successes with Marie Curie Fellowships at BU, we will be hosting a special RPRS review service for you, so make sure you take full advantage of all the services we can offer you to help you be successful.

Fancy working in Brazil?

EU

 Science without Borders is a Brazilian scholarship programme which aims to provide mobility opportunities between Brazil and Europe, for undergraduates, postgraduates, postdoctoral and senior research fellows in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

The programme aims to:

  • Increase the presence of Brazilian students, scientists and industry personnel in international institutions of excellence;
  • Attract young investigators and internationally recognised research leaders to Brazil to work with local researchers in joint projects; and
  • Encourage the internationalisation of universities and research centres in Brazil through international partnerships.

There are a number of ways of getting involved:

  1. Host Brazilian undergraduates and postgraduates – with a view to start hosting for the 2012/13 academic year. A bilateral agreement between the UK and Brazil has been signed, Universities UK (UUK) is the UK partner organisation.
  2. Apply for a research grant to work in Brazil:
  3. Young post-doctoral researchers can apply under the ‘Attraction of Talented Youth’ programme for a two to three year long research project in Brazil;
  4. Science leaders can apply under the ‘Special Visiting Researcher’ grants that will fund joint projects with research groups in Brazil and fund work in Brazil for up to three months every year.

 
2012 call deadlines for the ‘Attraction of Talented Youth’ programme and ‘Special Visiting Researcher’ grants are 15 February, 4 June and 1 October.

BU to Host European Prestigious Conference

EU

I am pleased to announce that we’ve just been informed that our bid to host the European Media Management Association (EMMA) Conference 2013 has been successful.

Myself and the rest of the team – from BU’s Advances in Media Management (AiMM) research group – are delighted with the news as the EMMA Conference is normally hosted by universities in European capital cities.  The conference will provide a great opportunity to showcase BU and provide a unique opportunity to develop collaborative relationships with a number of universities spread across Europe. The European Media Management Education Association provides a forum for academics reseaching and teaching media management in higher education and industry training programmes in 24 European countries.  I want to extend my congratulations  to the rest of my bid team Dr Sukhpreet Singh, Dr Kris Erikson and Conor O’Kane.

FP7 ICT: Ambient Assisted Living Call Pre-Announcement and Info Day

EU

The Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) Association has announced that it expects the fifth Call for proposals of the AAL Joint Programme to open at the end of February. The fifth Call for proposals of the AAL Joint Programme: ICT-based Solutions for (Self) Management of Daily Life Activities of Older Adults at Home is expected to open at the end of February with a submission deadline of the end of May. AAL JP Call 5 aims to support development of ICT-based solutions which enable and sustain older adults to continue managing their daily activities in their home, as well as ICT-based solutions which support informal carers in their assistance.

An information day is planned to take place on 13 March 2012 in Brussels. Potential proposers who wish to attend should  register their interest by sending an e-mail to Jacqueline.Teller@aal-europe.eu before 24 February 2012.
The AAL association also offers an online partner search facility for those seeking partners for potential projects.

My EUNF success!

EU

I delighted to hear the news that my application to the EU Network Fund was successful. I aim to attend the 2012 Media Economics & Management Conference, Greece in order to network and develop collaborative relationships with academics from EU universities. The conference is a biennial meeting of the global community of media business scholars who reflect on contemporary issues in the economics and management of media industries and firms. It aims to provide to a platform for academics who research in this area to meet and network.

Some of the key themes of the conference relate directly to my area of research (Management in 21st Century Media Companies, Finance and Media Performance, Strategies, Competition and Multiple Business Models).

The conference also has a special session on the Creative and Cultural Industries which is of particular interest to me in my capacity as programme director of the Media School’s Professional Doctorate programme. The EU has just completed a consultation on various issues impacting the cultural and creative industries in Europe.  The responses to the consultation will inform the Commission and help it ensure that EU programmes and policies involving cultural and creative industries are fit for purpose. So there is the potential for EU funded programmes in this area.

I would also like to explore the potential for developing collaborative projects from the MEDIA 2007 programme  (2007-2013) which has a budget of € 755 million.