Category / Funding opportunities

HEIF Proof of Concept Strand: Open for Applications

Funding opportunities, HEIF, Knowledge Exchange

HEIF Proof of Concept Strand: Open for Applications

BU actively supports staff turning their research into technology opportunities or businesses and is offering awards of a maximum of £5,000. The principal objective of the Proof of Concept Strand is to accelerate the BU research pathway, supporting the maturation of innovations towards commercial exploitation.

This funding is designed to progress BU research projects such that the individual project can attract further funding and/or provide support to expedite the exploitation of the target opportunity.

Eligibility

The HEIF Proof of Concept Strand is open to academic staff across BU.

Due to the nature of this fund, we particularly welcome applications from the following:

  • Early Career Researchers (ECRs)
  • Proposals that incorporate social sciences and humanities
  • Proposal that demonstrate interdisciplinarity research approaches and/or include collaborations with other departments.

In line with BU2025, we will positively encourage applications from under-represented groups.

What we can and cannot fund

The HEIF Proof of Concept Strand will only support development of innovations that have arisen from BU research.

Funding will be available to support activities including but not limited to the following:

  • Key translational activities that cannot proceed with current funding such as prototyping, specific market research, accreditation attainment, IP protection, IP strategy/landscaping, equipment purchases, demonstration events for marketing and connection to later stage investment.
  • Development of the project such that it addresses a specific barrier that is preventing the attainment of translational funds or will run in parallel to existing translational funds, adding value to the overall development of the project.
  • Further develop existing technology/acquire new data to identify other routes for exploitation or obtain additional data or information to determine a specific capacity.
  • General early market assessment activities to value the innovation/technology position and determine the most optimal routes for exploitation.
  • Focussed market assessment to provide guidance on how to refine the position of an innovation/technology.

Application Process

Please read the following documents before completing the application form:

All applicants are also advised to familiarise themselves with BU2025 strategy as part of the application process.

Applications must be submitted to heif@bournemouth.ac.uk.

The HEIF panel will assess all applications received. Applications are initially subject to a pre-screen check. Applications that pass the pre-screen will be forwarded to the HEIF Funding panel to review. Following the panel assessment process, the HEIF Funding panel will make recommendations for funding to RPMC. RPMC will review these recommendations, check alignment with internal/external strategies and make final decisions.

PoC Strand Closing Date

Applications will be regularly evaluated by the HEIF Panel until 16 June 2021, provided funds remain available until that date.

BU’s Funding Panels and Research Principles

The following funding panels operate to prioritise applications for funding and make recommendations to the Research Performance and Management Committee (RPMC).

There are eight funding panels:

  1. HEIF Funding Panel
  2. GCRF Funding Panel
  3. Research Impact Funding Panel
  4. Doctoral Studentship Funding Panel
  5. ACORN Funding Panel
  6. Research Fellowships Funding Panel
  7. Charity Impact Funding Panel
  8. SIA Funding panel.

These panels align with the BU2025 focus on research, including BU’s Research Principles.

The following BU2025 Principles are most relevant to the HEIF Panel:

  • Principle 1 – which recognises the need to develop teams
  • Principle 5 – which sets of the context for such funding panels

If you have any questions about your application, the process or requirements, then please email heif@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Funding Development Briefing – Spotlight on Innovate UK Smart Grants

Funding opportunities

The RDS Funding Development Briefings occur weekly, on a Wednesday at 12 noon.

Each session covers the latest major funding opportunities, followed by a brief Q&A session. Some sessions also include a spotlight on a particular funding opportunity of strategic importance to BU.

Next Wednesday 19th May, there will be a spotlight on Innovate UK Smart Grants.

We will cover:

  • Overview of the scheme
  • How to apply
  • Q & A

For those unable to attend, the session will be recorded and shared on Brightspace here.

Please email RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk to receive the Teams invite for these sessions.

HEIF Small Fund Reminder: Applications for Third Round Closes Wednesday 12 May

Funding opportunities, HEIF, Knowledge Exchange

The third round for applications closes on Wednesday 12 May.

Bournemouth University has a small amount of funding available to facilitate and enhance research and development collaboration with external partners.

The purpose of the funding is to:

  • Enhance external collaborative engagements with industry partners to further the development of innovative projects
  • Increase the amount of available funds for research undertaken collaboratively with external partners to patent innovations, enhance technology readiness levels and/or commercialisation
  • Encourage future funding bids (such as from Innovate UK) with external partners

There is flexibility in the way that the fund can be used, provided that a strong case can be made, and the assessment criteria are met. Funding could be used in various ways, for example for consumables, staff, and for travel/events/meetings, where restrictions allow.

All funding will need to be spent by 31 July 2021.

Eligibility/What we can fund

The HEIF Small Fund is open to all researchers across Bournemouth University, including those who are already working with industry partners and those who would like to build up new networks. In particular, the panel would welcome the following types of applications:

  • Projects of up to £5,000 which will either facilitate new relationships with external partners or build on existing research collaborations with external partners, support initial prototyping, project/product feasibility and/or market research.
  • Subject to the lifting of current restrictions, small travel grants of up to £500 to help facilitate relationship development with organisations. This could be travelling to potential partner sites or networking/funding briefing events Please note, the HEIF Funding Panel will not fund applications relating to conferences.

Due to the nature of this fund, we particularly welcome applications;

  • from Early Career Researchers (ECRs)
  • that incorporate social sciences and humanities
  • that demonstrate research interdisciplinarity

In line with BU2025, we will positively encourage applications from under-represented groups.

Application process

To apply, please read the guidance and complete the application form

Applications must be submitted to heif@bournemouth.ac.uk

Applications will be reviewed by the HEIF Funding Panel (see Panel Information below), with recommendations submitted to the Research Performance and Management Committee (RPMC) monthly. Once a decision has been made, this will be communicated to applicants. We aim to confirm the outcomes within two to three weeks of the closing date for that month.

The closing dates for each monthly assessment are as follows:

  • Wednesday 12 May
  • Wednesday 16 June

BU’s Funding Panels and Research Principles

The following funding panels operate to prioritise applications for funding and make recommendations to the Research Performance and Management Committee (RPMC).

There are eight funding panels:

  1. HEIF Funding Panel
  2. GCRF Funding Panel
  3. Research Impact Funding Panel
  4. Doctoral Studentship Funding Panel
  5. ACORN Funding Panel
  6. Research Fellowships Funding Panel
  7. Charity Impact Funding Panel
  8. SIA Funding panel

These panels align with the BU2025 focus on research, including BU’s Research Principles

The following BU2025 Principles are most relevant to the HEIF Panel:

  • Principle 1 – which recognises the need to develop teams
  • Principle 5 – which sets of the context for such funding panels

If you have any questions please email heif@bournemouth.ac.uk

Internal competition now open: Develop digital economy research communities with NetworkPlus

Funding opportunities

Further to the major funding opportunity alert regarding this call, UKRI/EPSRC: Develop digital economy research communities with NetworkPlus, published here on 21 April 2021, RDS is now opening the internal competition for EoIs.

The timeline to be observed is as follows:

  • Appplicants to register for the UKRI/EPSRC call webinar by Wednesday,  12 May (while this is not a prerequisite for the EPSRC, you must please register for and attend this event. You may nominate a suitable representative to attend on your behalf if you are unable).
  • Webinar: Thursday, 27 May;
  • Deadline for submission of internal EoI: Tuesday, 1 June;
  • Decision of panel (and short-form feedback): Friday, 4 June;
  • The chosen application to be submitted internally by Tuesday, 20 July (to give the FDO/RDS/UET procedures a full 7 working days);
  • JeS submission: Monday, 26 July;
  • Final submission: Thursday, 29 July.

If you have decided you and your collaborators (and it is STRONGLY recommended that you have both internal and external partners with whom you are currently in contact and/or already working). then kindly contact Nicolette nbliebchen@bournemouth.ac.uk for the EoI template.

NB: Please ensure that you scrutinise the call as to the funders requirements and the assessment criteria (which will inform BU’s own decision-making process).

If you have any queries or are unsure as to whether you ought to proceed, kindly email or contact Nicolette on MS teams.

 

 

MSCA 2021 Postdoctoral Fellowships Information Sessions – Slides Available

Funding opportunities, Info Days

​The UK Research Office (UKRO), in its capacity as UK National Contact Point for the Horizon Europe 2021 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), were holding a series of information webinars to support potential applicants applying for the 2021 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships call (expected call opening 18 May 2021, proposed call deadline 15 September 2021).

The webinar series aimed to provide participants with comprehensive overview of the scheme, including the budget, how to develop your proposal, the submission process, and tips on how to address the evaluation criteria. UKRO have kindly provided the presentation slides from those webinars; staff of UKRO subscribing organisations may access them on UKRO website (registration is required). Please follow the links below to see more:

Session 1: Overview and Eligibility Rules

Session 2: MSCA PF: Practical Matters

Session 3: MSCA PF: Process for Submission and Evaluation and Expert Evaluator Presentation

BU is one of the UKRO’s subscriber organisations and every BU employee may use their  services – sign up to the UKRO portal and subscribe for email newsletters to receive the latest information on EU funding and policy directly to your inbox; for more information visit UKRO website.

If you have any further queries related to either EU/international funding in general, Horizon Europe Framework Programme or MSCA scheme specifically, please contact BU Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums.

Update on Horizon Europe

Funding opportunities

This blog post is prepared based on an article published by UKRO.

The European Parliament has adopted the legal basis of Horizon Europe. MEPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of both the Horizon Europe Regulation and the Specific Programme on Tuesday night last week. This paves the way for the final adoption and publication of the legislation – followed by the publication of the first Horizon Europe Work Programme with calls for proposals, budgets and deadlines.

Following the Parliament’s consent, the Specific Programme for Horizon Europe and the Euratom Regulation will now need to be adopted by the Council of Ministers within the next two weeks. The Horizon Europe Regulation, the Specific Programme and the Euratom Regulation are then expected to be published in the Official Journal of the EU on 12 May and become law, allowing for the first Horizon Europe Work Programme to be published once the drafting process is completed. The Regulation will apply retroactively from 1 January 2021, thus covering the early Horizon Europe calls launched so far.

UKRO understands that due to a further delay in the drafting process, unusually, the main Work Programme will not be published on the same day the programme’s legal basis enters into force – its publication and launch of the first calls is now expected to take place in late May, with the possibility that some of the first deadlines may need to be adjusted accordingly.

The Parliament’s approval of Horizon Europe also brings the formal UK association process a step closer to completion. In the meantime, UK entities can be included in consortia, as if the UK were already associated to the programme, in accordance with the Commission’s guidance.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions: Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021

Funding opportunities

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) are part of the First Pillar within Horizon Europe (HEU) framework programme. They operate on a completely bottom-up basis, with no pre-defined priority areas.

These actions are open to all research areas and support fundamental research through to near market activities. In HEU, MSCA will continue to provide grants for all stages of researchers’ careers with a strong emphasis on encouraging international, intersectoral and interdisciplinary mobility.

Postdoctoral Fellowships (formerly Individual Fellowships) are aimed at individual fellows who already have a doctoral degree and wish to enhance the creative and innovative potential of researchers holding a PhD, wishing to acquire new skills through further research.

The MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships call 2021 is expected to open on 18 May 2021; proposal submission deadline – 15 September 2021. RDS is prepared to support BU academics wishing to supervise incoming fellows as usual. We encourage to get in touch with RDS Funding Development Team as soon as possible; we will not require submitting Intention to Bid form before August, however it will allow us to efficiently plan resources for supporting academics.

This article has been prepared based on information prepared by UK Research Office (UKRO). UKRO, in its capacity as UK National Contact Point for the MSCA, provides useful and up to date information to their subscribers. UKRO supports the R&I community in the UK and Europe.

BU is one of the UKRO subscriber organisations and every BU employee may use their  services – sign up to the UKRO portal and subscribe for email newsletters to receive the latest information on EU funding and policy directly to your inbox; for more information visit UKRO website.

In a case of further queries related to either EU funding in general, Horizon Europe Framework Programme or MSCA scheme specifically, please contact BU Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums.

AT Virtual STEAMLab on Wednesday, 12 May 2021

BU Challenges, Business Engagement, Funding opportunities

This is a reminder that on Wednesday, 12 May 2021 from 11.30am to 1pm, RDS will be hosting Virtual STEAMLab event under the strategic investment area of Assistive Technology.

Please booking your place by the end of Wednesday, 5 May 2021.

We ask all participants to download and complete the AT STEAMLab Application Form and return this to Ainar Blaudums and/or Theresa McManus.

For more information please read our previous AT STEAMLab blog post.

If you have any queries prior to submitting your application, please contact RDS Research Facilitators Ainar Blaudums or Ehren Milner.

We are looking forward to meeting you at the STEAMLab next week.

Research Professional – all you need to know

Funding opportunities

Every BU academic has a Research Professional account which delivers weekly emails detailing funding opportunities in their broad subject area. To really make the most of your Research Professional account, you should tailor it further by establishing additional alerts based on your specific area of expertise. The Funding Development Team Officers can assist you with this, if required.

Research Professional have created several guides to help introduce users to Research Professional. These can be downloaded here.

Quick Start Guide: Explains to users their first steps with the website, from creating an account to searching for content and setting up email alerts, all in the space of a single page.

User Guide: More detailed information covering all the key aspects of using Research Professional.

Administrator Guide: A detailed description of the administrator functionality.

In addition to the above, there are a set of 2-3 minute videos online, designed to take a user through all the key features of Research Professional. To access the videos, please use the following link: http://www.youtube.com/researchprofessional

Research Professional are running a series of online training broadcasts aimed at introducing users to the basics of creating and configuring their accounts on Research Professional. They are holding monthly sessions, covering everything you need to get started with Research Professional. The broadcast sessions will run for no more than 60 minutes, with the opportunity to ask questions via text chat. Each session will cover:

  • Self registration and logging in
  • Building searches
  • Setting personalised alerts
  • Saving and bookmarking items
  • Subscribing to news alerts
  • Configuring your personal profile

Each session will run between 10.00am and 11.00am (UK) on the second Tuesday of each month. You can register here for your preferred date:

11th May 2021

13th July 2021

14th September 2021

9th November 2021

These are free and comprehensive training sessions and so this is a good opportunity to get to grips with how Research Professional can work for you.

Have you noticed the pink box on the BU Research Blog homepage?

By clicking on this box, on the left of the Research Blog home page just under the text ‘Funding Opportunities‘, you access a Research Professional real-time search of the calls announced by the Major UK Funders. Use this feature to stay up to date with funding calls. Please note that you will have to be on campus or connecting to your desktop via our VPN to fully access this service.

The ACORN Fund Additional Round is Closing Soon

Funding opportunities

As advertised earlier, the ACORN Fund (Acceleration Of Research & Networking) for Early Career Researchers is open for applications  for projects that can be delivered before the end of July 2021. This round differs from previous rounds due to the short turnaround time, smaller budget and limited activities eligible for funding.

The  closing date is Tuesday, 4th May 2021 (5pm) and all applications must be submitted to the email account: acorn@bournemouth.ac.uk. Please use only this email address for submitting your applications.

On BU OneDrive, you can find out more by reading the updated ACORN Fund Policy (the guidance document) and apply using the Application Form for this round. In addition, to assist with the budget section, please refer to the RKE Internal Funding Sample Costs. As this does not require Full Economic Costing, you should not contact your faculty’s Funding Development Officer to complete the costing for you.

This scheme will provide c. five awards, of up to £3,000 each, to support BU’s ECRs, with the most promising talent, to gain experience of managing and leading their own pilot research projects.

EU RD and space programmes signed off

Funding opportunities

According to the latest news published on Research Professional, Members of European Parliament (MEPs) have formally signed off on the EU’s 2021-27 R&D and space programmes, as well as the post-Brexit EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement through which the UK will associate to the R&D programme, Horizon Europe.

Horizon Europe and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, which draws funding from the R&D programme to support innovation but has separate legislation, were both approved by enormous majorities in European Parliament votes on 27 April.

Horizon Europe will have a budget of €95.5 billion, of which the EIT will get about €3bn. The legislation for both programmes was designed so they could start working from 1 January, although their formal sign-off will pave the way for grants to start being awarded.

The Parliament also voted by 660 votes to five in favour of the trade and cooperation agreement that defines the terms for the future EU-UK relationship. It was agreed by negotiators in December and had already provisionally entered into force.

Only the formality of a further behind-the-scenes sign-off is now needed to complete UK association to Horizon Europe, which will grant the country near-full participation rights in exchange for full provision of the funding for any grants won, as well as an administration fee.

Funding Development Briefing – Spotlight on British Academy Mid-Career Fellowships

Funding opportunities

The RDS Funding Development Briefings occur weekly, on a Wednesday at 12 noon.

Each session covers the latest major funding opportunities, followed by a brief Q&A session. Some sessions also include a spotlight on a particular funding opportunity of strategic importance to BU.

Next Wednesday 5th May, there will be a spotlight on British Academy Mid-Career Fellowships.

We will cover:

  • Overview of the programme
  • How to apply
  • Q & A

For those unable to attend, the session will be recorded and shared on Brightspace here.

Please email RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk to receive the Teams invite for these sessions.

 

The call for game-changing research concepts now closes on Tuesday 4th May 5pm (deadline extended)

Funding opportunities

The call for game-changing research concepts to enable the growth of BU’s Strategic Investment Areas has been extended to Tue 4th May 5pm. 

This is your opportunity to put forward the concepts for which BU will be known in the years to come. Concepts that are prioritised for development by the SIA Steering Groups, will benefit from tailored institutional support to turn your idea into a reality.  This could include identification of match-funding, support from estates, personalised funding development support and much more – you tell us what you need!

 Game-changing research concepts are welcomed from all of our academic community across all career stages. 

To learn more about the SIAs, the open call and to discuss what you could do, read further details on the staff intranet The Teams links for each of the sesisons are here below for you to save in your calendars. For enquiries, please email sia@bournemouth.ac.uk. 

Briefing Events

Briefing events have all now taken place but if you have any questions regarding these, please email sia@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

General drop-in sessions

General drop in-sessions for any queries, to discuss potential ideas or to identify potential BU partners are taking place on the following dates/times supported by SIA Steering Group members and RDS staff:

  • 29 April 2pm

If you would like to join the meeting, please save this link in your diary and click on the link to join the meeting on the day: Click here to join the meeting

 

BU Studentship Funding Panel

Funding opportunities, PG research

This week, the BU Research Blog has focussed on the different internal funding panels. This final post focusses on the BU Studentship Funding Panel, which oversees the allocation of central funding for postgraduate research (PGR) studentships. The BU Studentship Funding panel consists of thirteen panel members from across Faculties and Professional Services, is chaired by Professor Katherine Appleton (FMC), with the support of Associate Professor Dan Jackson (FMC), Deputy Chair.

BU has been awarding PhD Studentships since 2006 when, to help realise its then research vision, the University created an unprecedented 80 fully funded PhD studentships to support outstanding students. The most significant development of the scheme was the introduction of matched funding in 2009, which not only maximised the use of internal funds but also helped academics, and PGRs, develop specialised research collaborations with local, national and international organisations (including other HEIs), businesses and communities.

The continued focus on matched funding fulfils a number of BU priorities including:

  • increasing the number of Studentships available;
  • increasing the opportunities within QR and other funding allocations; and
  • the building and strengthening of a greater number of external relationships.

In addition, most importantly the inclusion of external partnerships also provides a stronger Fusion learning experience for our PGRs. Where possible, the allocation of the BU Studentships is aligned to BU’s Research Principles particularly in encouraging interdisciplinary research, building critical mass and the mentoring of ECRs through the professoriate.

Over the last 5 years alone, the scheme has provided funding for more than 150 PGRs across BU. Projects in recent years have been wide ranging  and include:

  • Type 1 diabetes and eating disorders: developing best practice communication guidelines for healthcare professionals supervised by Dr Janet James in collaboration with Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch in collaboration with Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • The impact of the current delivery models of care for older patients at Christchurch Day Hospital supervised by Dr Michele Board in collaboration with Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Waterloo Uncovered: Using large-scale geophysical survey to investigate the world’s most famous battlefield supervised by Dr Stuart Eve in collaboration with Waterloo Uncovered
  • Modelling, prediction and control of the spread of aquaculture diseases supervised by Dr Marcin Budka in collaboration with Centre for Environments, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science
  • Phenology and ecology of the critically endangered European eel during their marine to freshwater transition supervised by Robert Britton in collaboration with Environment Agency
  • Injury risk and performance: Towards a better understanding of the complexities and intricacies of load monitoring within an elite football club supervised by Professor Tim Rees in collaboration with AFC Bournemouth
  • Intellectual property, information rights and the regulation of the Digital Single Market supervised by Professor Maurizio Borghi in collaboration with Erasmus + Programme
  • Artificial Intelligence Based Approaches for Game Design and Development supervised by Professor Feng Tian in collaboration with Shenzhen University, China
  • Reducing free sugar intakes: Evidence for effective dietary recommendations supervised by Professor Katherine Appleton in collaboration with International Sweeteners Association

Not surprisingly however, the impact of COVID-19 has been challenging for all involved in the BU Studentships. Recruitment of new PGRs was put on hold whilst BU focussed on supporting our existing studentships holders through these unusual and difficult times. Going forward, BU is working on reviewing the BU Studentships scheme to ensure a more equitable allocation of projects across all Faculties and developing a sustainable financial model prior to announcing the next competition for projects to start in September 2022.

Charity Impact Funding Panel

Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange

This week, our series of blog posts focus on the internal funding panels. Today’s post shares some insights from the Charity Impact Funding Panel.

 

About the Charity Impact Funding Panel

 

The Charity Impact Funding Panel was established in Spring 2019 to support the development of collaborations with charities and associated impact development as documented in the BU2025 Research Principles.

 

Over 30 projects have been awarded funding during this time where the purpose of the funding is to:

  • Increase engagement with charities in order to further the impact of BU’s research
  • To increase the amount of research undertaken collaboratively with charities
  • Encourage future funding bids with charitable partners.

 

The Panel is Chaired by Professor Lee-Ann Fenge, with Dr Fiona Cownie as Deputy Chair.

 

Funded Projects

The Charity Impact Funding Panel have funded a wide variety of projects including small scale travel budgets to visit charity partners.

 

Here are excellent examples of research in action with charity partners from funded projects:

 

  • Catherine Gutmann Roberts (FST) and her team created a report titled “Fish movements in the River Severn basin, a multi species approach in an era of restoration”. This report was sent to the charity partner, Severn Rivers Trust. The report brings together movement analysis of 5 fish species that has been carried out by 3 PhD students over the last 5 years. The funding enabled Catherine and her team to hire one of the post-PhD students to create code to analyse all 5 species and to format the large datasets into a comparable format. This was the first collaborative grant that Catherine had managed with both internal and external partners and she learnt about leadership during the process. Due to Covid-19 and the shutdown of campus at a critical time in the project, the team were not able to deliver the digital animations that they had hoped BU students would create. However, they have since secured external funding to carry this out.

 

  • Dr Anna Feigenbaum (FST) adapted her original project plan due to Covid19 and with complementary Research Impact funding, Anna and her team delivered a number of projects including; Care in the time of COVID-19. This project produced a series of graphics with design partners, community partners and academic partners.

 

  • Professor Amanda Korstjens (FST) and her team completed a project titled Monitoring Tropical Forest Wildlife Recovery. The project changed a lot due to the pandemic, however despite this, the team still delivered excellent outcomes, including working in partnership with a charity partner to develop acoustic recording systems suitable for high quality bioacoustics recordings under the demanding conditions of the Indonesian Forest. Hardware & software details have been published open access.

 

Future of the Charity Impact Fund

The Panel are expecting to launch an open call in the 2021/22 academic year subject to funding. The planned open call for this year was unfortunately postponed due to Covid19 delays, however if you do have an idea of working with a charity and want to develop this further before the summer, please do contact us to discuss your idea as it may fit in with the HEIF small fund.

 

Research Impact Funding Panel

Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange

This week, our series of blog posts focus on the internal funding panels. Today’s post shares some insights from the Research Impact Funding Panel.

About the Research Impact Funding Panel

The Research Impact Funding Panel was established in Spring 2019 to support the development of impact and to gather evidence of the impact of BU’s research, in line with the BU2025 Research Principles.

Over 50 projects have been funded across three strands:

  1. To support the development of new research partnerships and networks, to lay the groundwork for future research projects.
  2. To provide support for emerging impact from existing underpinning research.
  3. For the development of impact case studies for REF2021.

The Panel is chaired by Professor Dinusha Mendis, with Dr John Oliver as Deputy Chair.

Funded projects

The Research Impact Funding Panel have funded a wide variety of projects, ranging from £10,000 for larger scale activities to just a hundred pounds for travel and networking.

Team based approaches

Successful projects have embodied BU’s research principle of developing teams, with 94% of funded projects including internal and/or external partners. For example, Amanda Korstjens (FST) worked with colleagues from BU’s Department of Life and Environmental Sciences and Department for Creative Technology, BU MRes and PhD students, as well as charities and community groups in Indonesia to create science-based artworks to assist local communities to curtail forest degradation and wildlife killing, and develop tourism engagement activities. You can read more about the project here.

Impact development

Almost half of the funded projects have contributed to impact case studies for BU’s REF 2021 submission, and the funding received has helped to increase the quality of the case studies. Here are just a few examples of how research impact funding has supported our REF impact case studies:

  • Ann Luce from FMC used funding to create the Suicide Reporting Toolkit for Journalists and Journalism Educators which is now used by journalists worldwide.
  • Jane Murphy from FHSS used funding to incorporate her research findings into a new resource developed by the National Association of Care Catering (NACC), and to disseminate at the NACC Training and Development Forum.  As a result, the recommendations from Jane’s research are now being used by the catering sector in the provision of food and nutritional care.
  • Vasilis Katos from FST and Maurizio Borghi from FMC used funding in to work with colleagues from the EU Intellectual Property Office to produce software tools to complement and accompany the Law Enforcement Guide for Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) investigations, resulting in increased visibility and use of the guide.

The Research Impact Fund has also supported many fantastic examples of emerging impact. Anita Diaz (FST) and her interdisciplinary team, have used funding to work collaboratively with the National Trust to create a Habitat Management Spatial Database for the Purbeck Heaths National Nature Reserve (NNR). Relationships were built with Purbeck Heaths NNR Management Steering Group and the Wild Purbeck Partnership to facilitate use of the database among the wider community of conservation organisations and land managers. Over the coming years, this will benefit the conservation management and monitoring of the nationally important Purbeck Heath’s NNR.

External funding

Several of the funded projects have been successfully awarded external funding, following initial internal funding from the Research Impact Fund. For example, Anna Feigenbaum (FMC) was awarded UKRI/AHRC funding for a project entitled “Comics in the time of COVID-19” which built on the initial projects enabled by the Research Impact fund.

 Future of the Research Impact Fund

The Research Impact Fund has now reached the end of its agreed three-year funding. This continuation of the Fund will be considered as part of the development of the next three-year plan for research development (2021-2024).

Digital Society Research: a major funding opportunity alert

Funding opportunities

An Animation, Simulation, Visualisation “scramble” event will be held on Wednesday, 28 April, 1 – 1.45 pm (see Zoom meeting link below) around the following cross-disciplinary funding opportunity: UKRI (EPSRC): Develop digital economy research communities with NetworkPlus. These are the basic details:

  • Total Fund: £16,250,000
  • Maximum award: £3,250,000, but one can only apply for up to £2.6 million
  • Project duration: 5 years
  • Dates: opened 15 April, closes 29 July 2021 (Registration closes on 12 May for Webinar on 27 May)
  • Proposal must address one of the core priority areas:
    • Trust, Identity, Privacy and Security
    • Beyond a Data Driven Economy
    • Sustainable Digital Society
    • Equitable Digital Society
    • Content Creation and Consumption

There can only be one application per institution with max. 5 investigators (all must be UK-based).

As you can see, this is a highly competitive opportunity, and only 7 or 8 bids will be awarded. If you have an entirely novel, trail-blazing idea which speaks to one or more of these core themes under the ASV aegis, and you seek collaborators from other disciplines which complement yours and are necessary for the realisation of your research idea, do come along: you may well find your next BU collaborator and bidding partner. For more information on the grant, see https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/develop-digital-economy-research-communities-with-networkplus/

Zoom meeting link:

https://us05web.zoom.us/j/85854390228?pwd=MFZNVnpMTVJZK2I0dUpaMUxiaWpsUT09

Meeting ID: 858 5439 0228

Passcode: HSq1Te

If you are interested in attending this event, kindly email Nicolette at nbliebchen@bournemouth.ac.uk

Funding Development Briefing – Spotlight on Horizon Europe – Digital, Climate and Food Work Programmes

Funding opportunities

The RDS Funding Development Briefings occur weekly, on a Wednesday at 12 noon.

Each session covers the latest major funding opportunities, followed by a brief Q&A session. Some sessions also include a spotlight on a particular funding opportunity of strategic importance to BU.

Next Wednesday 28th April, there will be a spotlight on Horizon Europe Work Programmes – Digital, Climate and Food (EU).

We will cover:

  • Overview of the programme
  • How to apply
  • Q & A

For those unable to attend, the session will be recorded and shared on Brightspace here.

Please email RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk to receive the Teams invite for these sessions.