Category / Funding opportunities

Invitation to VIRTUAL STEAMlab

BU Challenges, Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, Fusion

On Wednesday, 24 February 2021, BU’s Research, Support & Development Office will be hosting our very first, pilot Virtual STEAMlab (Science/Tech/Engineering/Arts/Maths lab) event under the aegis of the strategic investment area (SIA) of Animation, Simulation & Visualisation (ASV). It will also be the first of a series of 2-hour long virtual ASV STEAMlabs to be held in the course of 2021.

This first STEAMlab will introduce and address four core priority areas for the strategic development of ASV cross-faculty, multi-disciplinary collaborations across BU in conjunction with external partners. These 4 areas are:

Virtual Production

Digital Health

Environment in Crisis

Virtual Heritage

This first STEAMlab will focus on these ASV themes in break-out rooms to target specific funding opportunities.

The ideas generated at this event may also be used to help select colleagues for Scramble events at short notice.

Booking onto this event

To take part in this exciting opportunity, all participants should complete the ASV Virtual STEAMLab Application Form V2 and return this to Nicolette Barsdorf-Liebchen at nbliebchen@bournemouth.ac.uk by Friday, 5 February 2021.

By applying, you agree to attend for the full duration of the event on 24 February 2021, 1 – 3 pm. Places are strictly limited and you will be contacted to confirm your “virtual space” by 12 February 2021.

If you have any queries prior to submitting your application, please contact Nicolette Barsdorf-Liebchen.

 

The Brief

We’re seeking to come up with highly innovative and urgently required research which is ambitious in scope and will require a high level of expertise, commitment and funding. The research must address challenges in the above-mentioned areas, and seek to deploy BU’s considerable ASV expertise and assets.

In short, we anticipate the development of innovative, ground-breaking and ambitious projects which have the capacity to attract significant, high value funding from the public and private sectors.

Who should attend?

We welcome those who wish to contribute to having a positive impact through addressing these challenges, but in particular, we are specifically targeting the following:

  1. Those academics whose research aligns with one or more of these core areas, or whose research would benefit from the multidisciplinary, collaborative engagement supported by the ASV SIA;
  2. Who has experience of involvement in medium to large research projects, and finally;
  3. Who either has the capacity to lead as PI on ideas arising from the STEAMlab in a working group towards development of a substantial grant application of close to or above £1 million, or has the ambition, research track record and commitment to be involved in the same.

We will also be inviting relevant external attendees, such as digital technology companies, to contribute on the day.

Some Answers to your FAQs:

Do I need to do anything in advance?

No, you do not. During the STEAMLab, you’ll be guided through a process which results in the development of research ideas. The process facilitates creativity, potentially leading to grand, innovative and interdisciplinary research ideas. These ideas will be explored with other attendees, and further developed based on the feedback received.

 

What is the immediate objective?

The objective by the end of the STEAMlab is to have scoped some leading and grand ideas around which a working group or cluster can be formed to take forward towards the development of a large grant application.

What do I need to do afterwards?

Your project idea may be “oven-ready”, but it is more likely than not that, given the level of pioneering innovation sought, you/your group’s project idea/s will require some time to crystallise fully, and for the optimum partners to be found for the bidding consortium, and bringing to fruition a fully-fledged grant application. To this end, it is envisaged that you and your potential collaborators will be committed to meeting on a regular basis, with a firm timetable. Substantial administrative support will be available from both RDS as a whole and the ASV Research Facilitator, Dr Nicolette Barsdorf-Liebchen, to advance your project development and manage working groups.

What if my topic area is very specialised, within fields such as medical diagnostics or environmental science?

Your contribution will be very welcome! One of the main benefits of a STEAMlab event is to bring together individuals with a range of backgrounds and specialisms who are able to see things just that bit differently to one another.

RKEDF: Research Training Events on Wednesday

Funding opportunities, Guidance, international

The following events are coming up on Wednesday this week. These are all online events, and it’s not too late to book!

Wednesday 3rd February 10:00 – 12:00

Developing a Search Strategy

Fundamentals of database searching, citations and library resources
Wednesday 3rd February 13:00 – 15:00

Introduction to EndNote Desktop Research Tool

How to manage your search results and build a library of references using EndNote Desktop and Word. (Some IT set up may be required in advance.)

 
Wednesday 3rd February 12:00 – 13:00

National Institute of Health (US)

This is the theme for this week’s Funding Development Briefing.

To book, please email OD@bournemouth.ac.uk with evidence of approval from your Head of Department or Deputy Head of Department.

You can see all the Organisational Development and Research Knowledge Development Framework (RKEDF) events in one place on the handy calendar of events.

If you have any queries, please get in touch!

Funding Development Briefing – Spotlight on: EPSRC

Funding opportunities

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

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

Next Wednesday 10th February, there will be a spotlight on the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

We will cover:

  • Aims and scope of EPSRC
  • Schemes available
  • Q & A

For those unable to attend, the session will be recorded and shared on the Teams site under the ‘Files’ section, and also saved on the I Drive at I:\RDS\Public\Funding Pipeline\Funding Development Briefings.

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

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:

9th March 2021

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.

Funding Development Briefing – Spotlight on: MSCA Individual Fellowships (EU)

Funding opportunities

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

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

Next Wednesday 3rd February, there will be a spotlight on Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowships.

We will cover:

  • Aims and scope of the programme
  • Eligibility criteria
  • The application process
  • Q & A

For those unable to attend, the session will be recorded and shared on the Teams site under the ‘Files’ section, and also saved on the I Drive at I:\RDS\Public\Funding Pipeline\Funding Development Briefings.

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

Big Grant Briefing (ASV)

Funding opportunities, PG research

This is a special briefing session to look at 5 funds for large projects that could be useful for ASV projects. Most of these are open now! This will be an opportunity to find out more and meet potential collaborators.

There are two iterations of the event and it will be recorded.

Wednesday 27th January 13:00 – 14:00

Wednesday 3rd February 13:00 – 14:00

Call Details Call Start Call Close
UKRI uk-ireland-collaboration-in-digital-humanities 08/01/2021 18/03/2021
For large, innovative and multidisciplinary projects involving the collaboration of both UK and Ireland-based researchers . Up to £320K.
Horizon 2020: Excellent Science 21/01/2021 20/04/2021
These grants support principal investigators in establishing a research team.
Enhancing Learning and Research for Humanitarian Assistance (ELRH) 22/04/2021
For collaborative research that has the potential to create transformative change to health response within the humanitarian sector. £1 – £3M.
AHRC/SBE(US National Science Foundation (NSF)) open open
A transatlantic collaborative research which allows US and UK researchers to submit a single collaborative proposal that will undergo a single review process. It must be led by a US PI. Up to £1M.
Wellcome Trust: Ideas Fund late Jan 21 01/10/2023
A new grants programme to think about, develop and test new ideas related to areas of mental wellbeing that are relevant to the UK public. Focused initially on four localities – more information on these to be announced.

To book onto one of these briefings, please email RKEDF@bournemouth.ac.uk

Funding Development Briefing – Spotlight on: Philip Leverhulme Prizes

Funding opportunities

From 20th January 2021, the RDS Funding Development Briefings will occur weekly, on a Wednesday at 12 noon.

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

Next Wednesday 27th January, there will be a spotlight on Philip Leverhulme Prizes. We will cover:

  • Aims and scope of the programme
  • Eligibility criteria including subject areas for 2021
  • The nomination process
  • Q & A

For those unable to attend, the session will be recorded and shared on the Teams site under the ‘Files’ section, and also saved on the I Drive at I:\RDS\Public\Funding Pipeline\Funding Development Briefings.

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

UK’s participation in Horizon Europe

Funding opportunities, international

There was an earlier blog regarding UK participation in EU programmes for research, innovation and higher education last week. As promised, here is more information related to Horizon Europe (HE) Framework Programme.

Based on UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (the TCA) the UK will be HE Associated Country. The association secures participation of UK and EU entities in Horizon Europe Programme on equivalent terms. This will ensure that via the Horizon Europe Programme UK organisations have access to R&I funding, infrastructure and markets; according to the TCA, UK organisations can lead projects and UK experts can take part in evaluations. It also provides association to COST programme and the UK plays an active role in the ongoing governance and development of the HE programme.

UK entities will be able to access grant funding from all parts of HE, including European Research Council and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, and all application and grant management process will be the same as for Horizon 2020, unless any changes are made for the whole HE programme.

There are certain steps to be completed before the UK formally associates to the HE Programme – EU to ratify HE Regulation (expected in January/February) and to finalise Protocol between UK and EU, which sets out all terms of UK participation.

I believe, this is fantastic news for the whole UK academic community and wish you success in applying for research funding.

For EU funding related questions, contact RDS Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums. I will post further information as soon as new information regarding EU programmes becomes available and important decisions are reached.

Funding Development Briefing – Spotlight on: Newton International Fellowships

Funding opportunities

 

From 20th January 2021, the RDS Funding Development Briefings will occur weekly, on a Wednesday at 12 noon.

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

Next Wednesday 20th January, there will be a spotlight on Newton International Fellowships. We will cover:

  • Aims and scope of the programme
  • Eligibility criteria
  • Q & A

The session will be recorded and uploaded to Brightspace for those who cannot attend the session.

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

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:

9th March 2021

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.

RKEDF: Research Training Events in January

Funding opportunities, Training

The following events are coming up this month. These are all online events.

Tuesday 19th January 10:00 – 12:00

Impact Basics

An introduction to impact for ECRs, post-docs and those new to impact.

This workshop will discuss impact, the various types of impact, and how to plan for and incorporate impact into your research project from the start. It will also look at the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and its requirements regarding impact case studies.
Wednesday 20th January 15:00 – 16:00

ECR Network Meeting

Calling all ECRs, this is an opportunity to meet other Early Career Researchers and to get advice and support for any research-related queries and concerns.
Wednesday 20th January 12:00 – 13:00

Newton International Fellowships (British Academy & Royal Society)

This is the theme for this week’s Funding Development Briefing, providing an introduction to and overview of the Newton International Fellowships.
Thursday 21st January 13:00 – 14:00

Impact and Funding Bids

This training session is useful for researchers at all stages of their careers, to help them describe fully their project’s impact goals and pathways in their funding bids. Within this workshop, there will be time to look at your own funding bid and an opportunity to get 1-2-1 advice and support from the facilitators.
Wednesday 27th January 12:00 – 13:00

Phillip Leverhulme Prizes

This is the theme for this week’s Funding Development Briefing, providing an introduction to and overview of the Phillip Leverhulme Prizes.

To book, please email OD@bournemouth.ac.uk with evidence of approval from your Head of Department or Deputy Head of Department.

You can see all the Organisational Development and Research Knowledge Development Framework (RKEDF) events in one place on the handy calendar of events.

If you have any queries, please get in touch!

Applying for Interreg funding from January 2021

Funding opportunities, international

Interreg has been one of the funding sources where BU academics have been successful during previous years. RDS have had a number of enquiries from academics regarding our eligibility to apply for Interreg funding after the UK has left the EU. The answer may be both – yes and no.

According to the Withdrawal Agreement, the UK continues participation in all EU programmes funded from the 2014-2020 EU budget. There are final calls for proposals under the 2014-2020 programmes which are ongoing and will close in 2021. The UK continues to be eligible to apply for these, including Interreg, and EU funding will be provided for the whole lifetime of the project.

The next EU budget period is designed for 2021-2027; if Interreg calls for proposals are to be funded from the EU 2021-2027 budget, UK participants will not be eligible for EU funding.

Theoretically there may be a situation that there are two open Interreg calls for proposals with different eligibility criteria for UK participants. Our advice to academics would be to check first if funding for the particular call comes either from the EU 2014-2020 or the 2021-2027 budget.

There will be another blog post in the coming days, providing more details regarding our participation in the Horizon Europe Framework Programme. In the meantime, do not hesitate to contact Research Facilitator – International, Ainar Blaudums, if you have specific questions regarding EU funding.

Funding development briefings are changing…

Funding opportunities

From 20th January 2021, the RDS Funding Development Briefings will occur weekly, on a Wednesday at 12 noon.

Each session will cover the latest major funding opportunities, followed by a brief Q&A session. Sessions will also include a spotlight on a particular funding opportunity of strategic importance to BU. The timetable for January & February 2021 is below. Further details will be available on the BU Research Blog a week in advance of the session. Sessions will be recorded and made available after the session for those who cannot attend.

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

Here is your January & February timetable, with details for March, April & May to follow shortly:

Date Spotlight Funding Opportunity
Wednesday 20th Jan 12pm Newton International Fellowships (British Academy & Royal Society)
Wednesday 27th Jan 12pm Phillip Leverhulme Prizes
Wednesday 3rd February 12pm National Institute of Health (US)
Wednesday 10th February 12pm EPSRC Overview including EPSRC Fellowships
Wednesday 17th February 12pm ESRC Overview
Wednesday 24th February Horizon Europe (EU)

Leverhulme Research Centres – Internal Expressions of Interest

Funding opportunities

The next round of the Leverhulme Research Centres Competition will open in January 2021 with a deadline of 16th April 2021. As BU is permitted to submit only one application as an institution, we are holding an internal competition for Expressions of Interest (EoI).

Those who are interested in making an application to the Leverhulme Research Centres Competition are invited to submit an Expression of Interest to researchdev@bournemouth.ac.uk , by Tuesday 19th January 2021. Application and guidance can be found here (I:\RDS\Public\Leverhulme Research Centres Competition 2021\EOI Documents). If you have further questions or queries please contact Alexandra Pekalski (apekalski@bournemouth.ac.uk), or Lisa Andrews (andrewsl@bournemouth.ac.uk).

Scope of call

The Leverhulme Trust invites applications for Research Centres that will not only conduct research of outstanding originality but also aspire to achieve a significant step-change in scholarship. The Trust’s aim is to encourage new approaches that may establish or reshape a field of study and so transform our understanding of a significant contemporary topic. Applicants are therefore invited to be bold in compiling their bids.

The Trust has a reputation for encouraging higher-risk research which is often therefore fundamental or curiosity-driven – so-called ‘blue skies’ – and pan-disciplinary. The expectation is that Centres will draw upon a range of disciplinary perspectives and expertise, perhaps bringing new disciplinary mixes to bear on a particular topic. The hope is for bids that fold the social sciences and humanities authentically into the mix, rather than being framed primarily in physical and life science terms.

£1 million a year for between 5 – 10 years is available.

Further information is available from the Leverhulme Trust website, and interested applicants are advised to consider the eligibility criteria carefully.

Timeline

An indicative timeline is below for the submission of the EOI. A more detailed timeline can be found (I:\RDS\Public\Leverhulme Research Centres Competition 2021\EOI Documents).

08/12/2020 RDS advertise Expression of Interest (EoI) competition for call
19/01/2021 EoI deadline (EoIs to be sent to RDS)
19/01/2021 Papers (applications) sent to review panel (RDS to administer)
w/c 25/01/2021 Review panel meeting (virtual)
by 29/01/2021 Review panel decision and feedback disseminated to applicants
29/01/2020 RDS to contact Leverhulme to provide the Trust with the principal applicant’s name, departmental affiliation and email address. Access will then be granted to the Leverhulme Trust Grants Management System
Feb / March / April 2021 Applicants develop proposals with the support of RDS
16/04/2021 Leverhulme Research Centres Competition deadline

If you have further questions or queries please contact Alexandra Pekalski (apekalski@bournemouth.ac.uk), or Lisa Andrews (andrewsl@bournemouth.ac.uk).

Writing a Data Management Plan – Steps for a successful application

Funding opportunities

This is an image that displays an infographic of connected aspects of the research life cycle. The text that is part of the image reads as: Plan to make data work for you; Data Management Plans that meet institutional funder requirements. DMPonline helps you to create, review, and share data management plans that meet institutional and funder requirements. It is provided by the Digital Curation Centre (DCC).

Image captured from the official website of DMP Online (Accessed 27 November 2020).

What is a Data Management Plan? 

Data Management Plans (DMPs) document how data generated during a research project will be managed and preserved for reuse. Funders are taking this increasingly seriously and are evaluating the strength of DMPs when assessing bids for research funding. 

Who does it apply to? 

Staff undertaking research and PGRs. 

What is DMP Online? 

DMP Online is a data management planning tool. Created by the Digital Curation Centre (DCC), it enables researchers to write DMPs using funder templates. It also benefits from: 

  • Integrated guidance 
  • Tools to enable collaboration with colleagues/supervisors/library support 

DMP Online is highly recommended, helping researchers to meet funder expectations. There is also a BU template for all other projects. 

Where to go for more information and support 

The Library has developed an extensive Research Data Management (RDM) guide, which includes guidance for DMPs. 

Email bordar@bournemouth.ac.uk for additional support. 

 

Image credit:

Digital Curation Centre, 2020. DMPonline [online]. Available at: https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk/ [Accessed 27 November 2020].

‌