Category / Funding opportunities

European Innovation Partnerships

Funding opportunities

Do you want to work collaboratively with researchers across Europe?

If so, take a look at the European Innovation Partnerships!

EIPs act across the whole research and innovation chain, bringing together all relevant actors at EU, national and regional levels in order to: (i) step up research and development efforts; (ii) coordinate investments in demonstration and pilots; (iii) anticipate and fast-track any necessary regulation and standards; and (iv) mobilise ‘demand’ in particular through better coordinated public procurement to ensure that any breakthroughs are quickly brought to market.

The current EIPs are:

But what if your discipline is not within one of these topics?

Then take a look at CORDIS.

Here you can search for your topic of interest and find out, amongst other important project information, what has been funded before, results from this previous research and who was involved in the project, which may direct you towards potential partners for future collaborative working. For certain topics, there are also thematic Results Packs, including Securing cyberspace and Independent Living.

If you are thinking of applying to a funding call, from the EU or otherwise, CORDIS might assist by sparking a idea based on a previous project, help you assess the state-of-the-art or inform your choice of potential partners.

Whatever your research interests, check out CORDIS!

Help is also available to BU staff – please contact Emily Cieciura in RKEO to discuss your EU and International funding requirements.

 

 

 

MSCA Individual Fellowships Seal of Excellence Holders

Funding opportunities, Guidance, international

Were you awarded a Seal of Excellence in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions​ (MSCA) 2016 Individual Fellowships scheme and planning to resubmit to this round?

If so the European Commission and Research Executive Agency (REA) have advised that you should not mention the Seal of Excellence in the main body of the proposal to ensure equal treatment of proposals. If you would like to mention the Seal of Excellence, it can be included in the CV under section 4 of Part B-2. Note this is only for resubmissions where the Fellow, Supervisor and Host Organisation all remain the same.

Research Professional – all you need to know

Funding opportunities

Research-Professional-logoEvery 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 ResearchProfessional. 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 ResearchProfessional.

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 ResearchProfessional. 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 ResearchProfessional. They are holding monthly sessions, covering everything you need to get started with ResearchProfessional. 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 fourth Tuesday of each month. You can register here for your preferred date:

22nd August 2017

26th September 2017

24th October 2017

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.

Participant Portal Updates

Funding opportunities

Changes are being made to the European Commission’s Participant Portal over the coming months with major changes due to be finalised by 2020.

One of the first updates is a Partner Search facility. This allows you to find potential partners for your research project, based on organisations already registered on the Portal and are in receipt of funding. As part of this, there is a useful overview of the organisation and its interaction with European funding schemes. Access is also given to top level information about funded projects. This complements the other partner searches already available. Why not use this feature to find out who else is being funded in your research area?

Going forwards, the Portal will provide access to more than Horizon 2020 and a few other schemes. It is planned to become a single-point of entry to EU funding.

More news will be posted on the Participant Portal and by UKRO  – sign up to receive alerts through BU’s membership.

 

 

Creative Europe – current calls and tenders

Funding opportunities, international

Open microbusiness models for innovation in European family-owned heritage houses

The objective of the action is to strengthen the capacity of private owners of heritage houses and equip them with innovative business models.

The preparatory action will map the existing business models used by family-owned heritage houses in the EU, compare them, identify and share best practices and potential innovations.

It will also quantify and qualify the economic value of family-owned heritage houses in the EU and identify their potential to contribute to various EU policies, including innovation, social inclusion, education, youth work and intercultural dialogue. Added value will derive from the synergies with current EU actions dedicated to cultural heritage (European Heritage Days, EU Prize for Cultural Heritage, European Heritage Label).

Finally the action will contribute to the objectives of the European Year of Cultural Heritage through dissemination and awareness raising of European value of heritage.

Deadline: 13/09/17

Proposals to design innovative interdisciplinary modules for Master degrees, combining arts and ICT with entrepreneurial skills and business exposure

The action will be implemented through the design and implementation of innovative modules that will be included in existing arts, culture, science, engineering, technology and/or other relevant masters.

Deadline: 10/10/17

If you are considering applying, please contact Emily Cieciura, RKEO’s Research Facilitator: EU and International.

Innovate UK announce Digital Technology for Healthcare call

Funding opportunities, innovation

Innovate UK is to invest up to £8 million in projects that develop new digital technology solutions to healthcare challenges.

This competition is being run under the digital health technology catalyst, which is part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. The aim is to support the development of digital health products that meet NHS needs. It is a new £35 million funding programme over 4 years.

Innovate UK are seeking feasibility or development projects that advance digital health or digitally-enabled medical technologies. These should:

  • improve patient outcomes, such as through better clinical decision-making and supporting them to manage their own care
  • offer new approaches to healthcare that transform its delivery
  • reduce the demand on the health system, make it more efficient and create savings

Competition information

  • the competition opens on 31 July 2017, and the deadline for registrations is 4 October 2017
  • feasibility studies can range from £50,000 to £75,000 and last up to one year
  • industrial research and experimental development projects can range from £500,000 to £1 million and last up to 3 years
  • you can work alone or in collaboration with other organisations, but projects must be led by a UK-based SME
  • you could get up to 70% of your eligible project costs
  • projects must start by 1 February 2018

You can find more information and apply to the call here.

Innovate UK are holding a briefing webinar for applicants on Tuesday 1st August at 10:00am. To register click here.

Horizon 2020 – Health, demographic change and wellbeing Information Day – 2018-2020

Funding opportunities, Info Days

The above event is bring hosted by the Welsh Government, Innovate UK, the Enterprise Europe Network, and the Knowledge Transfer Network which is aimed at supporting collaboration in Wales, across the UK and in Europe.

They will be promoting funding opportunities available for health, demographic change and wellbeing through Horizon 2020, the EU’s largest research and innovation funding programme, with over 1 billion Euros earmarked for calls in 2018/2019.

Delegates can expect:

  • pointers and tips on achieving success in Horizon 2020 valuable insights on topics around health, demographic change and wellbeing to be funded by the EU in 2018
  • an overview of the support available locally and nationally to develop applications
 brokerage sessions throughout the day
  • brokerage sessions throughout the day
  • consortium building and proposal development on specific calls

Registration is open, with places free but limited.

Emily Cieciura (RKEO’s Research Facilitator: EU & International) has provisionally booked to attend (confirmation of places will be given later, so do not book travel until then, if you register). If BU Staff are a unable to attend but would like to receive an update after this meeting, please contact Emily.

 

GCRF – Funding Update

Funding opportunities, international

The second GCRF Research Councils UK Collective Fund call “Growing Research Capability grants” worth £225m is due to come out soon. Keep an eye out and watch this space for more information.

The BEIS Global challenges Research Fund Strategy is now live on GOV.UK website. For the full strategy see here.

The Global Challenges Research Fund has a couple of calls open now. In each case, please refer to the call website for full details including eligibility requirements and thematic priorities:

Interdisciplinary Research Hubs to Address Intractable Challenges Faced by Developing Countries

This RCUK call invites proposals from UK research organisations to establish challenge-led and impact-focused GCRF Interdisciplinary Research Hubs. Between £8M – £20M (full economic cost) will be available for each Hub, provided over a 5 year period starting on 1st December 2018. RCUK are looking to award 12-15 Hubs.

Each Hub is required to demonstrate:

  • Challenge and impact focus – address a specific currently intractable development challenge(s) with realistic pathways with the potential to deliver a broad range of  measurable impacts, and a clear plan for sustaining and further developing the work undertaken during the lifetime of the Hub.
  • Interdisciplinary research excellence – anchored by well-integrated interdisciplinary approach which demonstrates both underpinning research excellence and the ability to think across, between and within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and that adds significant value to existing global research efforts.
  • Global partnerships – a commitment to capacity building and a programme of research and supporting activities which is co-developed with international partners, through genuine and equitable partnerships with researchers and relevant development agencies; third sector and Civil Society Organisations; industry and other private sector organisations; policy makers.
  • Organisation and leadership – strong research and operational leadership which incorporates robust financial and risk management, assurance, governance and effective monitoring and evaluation, and facilitates the ability to learn and adapt over the lifetime of the Hub.

If interested an Intention to Submit survey must be completed by 29th September 2017. Outline proposals must be submitted by 16:00 on 9th November 2017.  For more information see here.

Resilient and sustainable energy networks for developing countries

This call aims to support an internationally leading programme of research, centred on energy networks, to tackle the challenges faced by developing countries.  Proposals to this call must focus on energy distribution in off-grid locations or locations with sporadic grid connection. A particular emphasis should be placed on energy distribution which is maintainable, has good longevity, has low cost and addresses a range of energy uses beyond home lighting. EPSRC invite attention to the robustness of a local grid or micro-grid to natural hazards, with an emphasis on the vulnerability of physical assets.  Projects which aim to tackle the energy distribution issues faced by low-income countries are particularly welcome. Please be aware that proposals primarily focused on advancing renewable energy sources, including solar energy, will not be considered through this call. £7.5 million is available from the EPSRC for this call to fund 6-8 projects up to 36 months in duration. Deadline for submission of an expression of interest is 16:00 on 17 August 2017, the call for full proposals closes 16:00 on 21st September 2017. For more information see here.

If you are planning to apply to any of these schemes, please contact your Research Facilitator for help and support.

Altiero Spinelli Prize for Outreach: Spreading Knowledge about Europe

Funding opportunities

The Altiero Spinelli Prize for Outreach will reward outstanding contributions that communicate the EU – its founding values, history, action and key benefits- to wider society, enhance citizens’ understanding of the EU, broaden the ownership of the European project and build trust in the EU.

Who can apply?

The prize is open to individuals or groups of individuals (natural persons). The individual applicant (or the group leader, in case of groups of individuals applying) must have at least a Master’s Degree and must, at the time of the application, be affiliated with a legal entity such as, for example, an academic institution, organisation, civil society organisation, company or other type of legal entity established and based in an EU Member State. Eligible participants include scientists, artists, scholars/researchers, writers, journalists and all kinds of other actors who can contribute to articulating what Europe stands for today and tomorrow and why European citizens should “fall in love with Europe” despite its imperfections.

What is the Prize?

There will be:

  • six first prizes of 50.000 EUR
  • six second prizes of 30.000 EUR
  • ten third prizes of 17.000 EUR.

What next?

Registration of intention to apply is compulsory by 16 August 2017.

The deadline for applications is 02 October 2017.

Applications will be assessed in October 2017 and the Award Ceremony will be held in early 2018.

If you are applying and have funding from the European Commission, your Project Officer should also be informed.

Find out more at the call website and contact Emily Cieciura, RKEO’s Research Facilitator: EU & International,  if you intend to apply.

Industrial Strategy Commission Report Released

Funding opportunities

The Industrial Strategy Commission was launched on March 6th 2017. The first comprehensive report on how the UK government will make long-term investments into innovative business related activity and research has been released and may be found here.

Much of the report focuses on the requirements of an economic management strategy and the vision of what it is expected long-term investment will lead towards. A short summary of this may be found here.

How to use this information:

  1. Check to see if the research you are planning to undertake may fit under the foundational vision set forth in the report
  2. Consider if the research you plan to undertake can be made to contribute to this vision with some alteration
  3. Be prepared- funding calls from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund may come at short notice from a number of funding sources.

For Bournemouth University academics who may have queries about how your research may fit within future schemes, please contact Ehren Milner (emilner@bournemouth.ac.uk) or Lisa Gale-Andrews (lgaleandrews@bournemouth.ac.uk).

 

EPSRC New Investigator Awards to replace First Grants

Funding opportunities, Guidance

EPSRC logoFrom Tuesday, 25 July 2017 a New Investigator Award scheme will replace the EPSRC’s First Grant initiative. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is introducing the new scheme following a recent review of First Grants, with input from advisory teams and universities.

The New Investigator Award scheme will remove some of the current restrictions and will help improve the quality and ambition of research proposals submitted, recognising that different projects and new investigators have different needs. EPSRC will continue to draw on input from advisory teams and universities to monitor and evaluate progress of the scheme.

The New Investigator Award scheme will:

  • Remove the financial value and the duration caps
  • Encourage a greater degree of university support to aid career development
  • Remove time based eligibility criteria, ensuring support for researchers who are new to leading research applications
  • Encourage panels to recommend invited resubmission and give feedback to support this more often than they would for standard grant applications

Information for current First Grant applicants:

  • EPSRC anticipates that all applicants eligible for the First Grant scheme will also be eligible for a New Investigator Award
  • The First Grants system will close at 16:00 (BST) on Monday 24 July 2017
  • Applications after this date should be made through the New Investigator Award scheme
  • First Grant applications that have not been submitted via the Je-S system after 16:00 (BST) on Monday 24 July 2017 will no longer be available

Current First Grant applicants should liaise with RKEO to ensure a copy of the application information is captured. This can then be used in New Investigator Award applications.

Newton Fund – Funding Update

Funding opportunities, international

There are a number of calls now open through the Newton Fund. In each case, please refer to the call website for full details including eligibility requirements and thematic priorities:

Newton Institutional Links aims to build UK-partner country research and innovation collaborations centred on shared research and innovation challenges which have direct relevance to social welfare and economic development. Grants awarded are between £50,000 – £300,000. For this round, applications are accepted for collaborations between the UK, Egypt, Thailand and Turkey. The call for Turkey will open on 17/07/17. The deadline for submissions is 19th September 2017, 16:00 UK time.

There is a separate call, Institutional Links Grants for the UK and Russia. In this case, the funding is up to £300,000 with a maximum of £150,000 requested on the UK side and £150,000 requested on the Russian side. The deadline for submissions is 19th September 2017, 16:00 UK time.

Researcher Links Travel Grants provide financial support for early-career researchers to undertake an international research placement to strengthen links for future collaboration, build research capacity in developing economies, and enhance the researcher’s career opportunities. The researcher  will spend 1-6 months abroad depending on the country, which is one of the Philippines, Indonesia and South Africa. Travel may only be between the UK and partner country, but can be in either direction. The deadline for submissions is 19th September 2017, 16:00 UK time.

Newton Researcher Links Workshops bring together early-career researchers from the UK and a partner country to make international connections that can improve the quality of their research. Workshops can be proposed between the UK, China and the Philippines. There is also a separate call for workshops between the UK and Russia. The deadline for submissions is 19th September 2017, 16:00 UK time.

Funding is available to support attendance at the UAE Science Symposium on Clean and Renewable Energy (30 October – 1 November 2017). The deadline for receiving applications is 19 August 2017.

PhD Placements and Supervisor Mobility Grants China-UK: The UK-China joint Research and Innovation Partnership Fund (known in the UK as the Newton Fund) PhD placement programme is delivered by the British Council China and the China Scholarship Council on behalf of the UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and China’s Ministry of Education. This programme is a sponsorship opportunity for UK and Chinese PhD students and their supervisors to spend a period of study of three to 12 months (for PhD students) and up to three months (for supervisors) at higher education institutions in China or the UK. The application process closes at 12:00 (UK time) on 20th September 2017.

On behalf of the Department for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy, UK and the Ministry of Science and Technology, India, British Council- India, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) India are pleased to invite applications for funding to support short-term PhD placements between UK and Indian institutions. The deadline for receipt of applications is 21 August 2017, 16:00 UK time.

Research Environment Links (REL) Grants aim to support international collaboration through training programmes, the exchange of knowledge and best practice, the development and implementation of pilot activities in the areas relevant to the Newton capacity building strands. The partnerships are led by institutions in Vietnam in conjunction with an expert counterpart organisation in the UK.  The grant can be £50,000 to £140,000. The deadline is 21 July 2017, 16:00 UK time.

The British Council in Germany is looking for UK-based researchers to deliver interactive, engaging and hands-on science workshops in English on the topic of Seas and Oceans. Ideally the funder is looking for UK-based science researchers, engineers,  Ph.D. students and STEM Ambassadors with a science background and a track record of outreach work with schools. The deadline for submitting proposals is 30 September 2017. The workshops will take place between spring 2017 and autumn 2017.

The British Council is providing funding to attend a number of selected workshops. Various deadlines apply.

If you are planning to apply to any of these schemes, please contact your Research Facilitator for help and support.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

British Academy Global Challenges Research Networking Grants

Funding opportunities, international

The Academy of Medical Sciences in partnership with the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Royal Society, is delighted to announce the call for applications to a scheme to allow researchers from developing countries and the UK to forge links and hold networking events to generate innovative and interdisciplinary research ideas to address global challenges.

What is offered

This scheme is targeted at researchers who are looking to form new international collaborations. The maximum amount available is £25,000. Applications from the humanities and social sciences are welcome.

Applications should focus on building a collaborative network and therefore have to be submitted jointly by a lead overseas researcher from a developing country and a lead researcher based in the UK.

To be eligible to apply, both applicants must:

  • Have completed a PhD or have experience at an equivalent level
  • Have proven research experience in their field
  • Hold a permanent position at an eligible institution (in the UK or a DAC-listed country), or a fixed-term contract for the duration of the award.

Projects must start between 1st January 2018 and 31st March 2018, and the funding will last for one year. Full details of eligibility for this scheme are outlined in the guidance, which can be downloaded from the right side of this page. Please read this carefully before submitting an application.

Please contact the Academy of Medical Science’s grants team if you have any queries on 0203 1413 244, or email the team at gcrfnetworking@acmedsci.ac.uk.

For more information see here.