Category / Funding opportunities

Funding opportunities – Quantum Technologies

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

 

IInnovateUK_LogoA_Interim_RGBx320govuk[1]Innovate UK and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are to invest up to £13 million in quantum technologies.

The aim of this competition is to encourage collaborative research and development (CR&D) projects and feasibility studies that will either:

  • develop prototype devices and demonstrators of quantum technologies or their component technologies
  • improve the understanding of the technical, business or market challenges of taking a new device or service to market

The devices may be:

  • clocks
  • sensors
  • imaging
  • communications
  • computing
  • other devices that use quantum effects of superposition or entanglement

Proposals must be collaborative and a UK-based business must lead the project.

This is a single-stage competition. Two streams are running to support technologies at different stages of development:

  • feasibility studies: Projects should last between 6 and 12 months with costs from £50,000 to £500,000
  • collaborative R&D: Projects should last between 12 and 18 months with costs from £500,000 to £2 million

To lead a project you must:

  • be a UK-based business of any size or a research and technology organisation (RTO) working within the limits that are provided in the guidance for applicants
  • carry out the  project in the UK
  • work in collaboration with others (businesses, research base or third sector)

Key dates:

  • Competition opens: 30 January
  • Register: Midday 29 March
  • Apply before: Midday 5 April

For more information:

Competion guidance and project briefs click here

If you are interested in submitting to this call you must contact your  RKEO Funding Development Officer with adequate notice before the deadline.

For more funding opportunities that are most relevant to you, you can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s/Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in  RKEO or view the recent blog post here.

If thinking of applying, why not add notification of your interest on Research Professional’s record of the bid so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.

Funding opportuntity – Innovation in health and life sciences

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

InnovateUK_LogoA_Interim_RGBx320govuk[1]

Innovate UK – Innovation in health and life sciences 2 – opens soon!

Innovate UK is investing up to £15 million in projects addressing technical or commercial challenges in health and life sciences (H&LS).

The H&LS sector focuses on agriculture, food and healthcare. It is supported by bioscience technology, medical research and engineering and physical sciences expertise. The aim is to increase competitiveness for UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Grants can be awarded to projects led by a UK-based business of any size. In certain circumstances a research and technology organisation (RTO) may also be eligible to lead. (See section 5 of the briefing document.)

SMEs are encouraged to lead on projects. An SME can apply on its own for funding up to £100,000. All consortia must involve at least one SME.

We expect projects to last from 6 months to 3 years and range in size from total project costs of £50,000 to £2 million.

There are 2 options for applications to this competition:

  • £5 million for projects that last from 6 months to 1 year with total project costs from £50,000 to £100,000
  • £10 million for projects lasting from 1 year to 3 years with total project costs between £100,000 and £2 million

Key dates:

  • Competion opens 6 February
  • Register by midday 5 April
  • Apply before midday 12 April

Competion brief and more information: Click here.

If you are interested in submitting to this  call you must contact your  RKEO Funding Development Officer with adequate notice before the deadline.

For more funding opportunities that are most relevant to you, you can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s/Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in  RKEO or view the recent blog post here.

If thinking of applying, why not add notification of your interest on Research Professional’s record of the bid so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.

 

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships briefing session

Funding opportunities

Logo_Marie-CurieDo you want to invite the best of the best to work with you at BU?

Are you at that point in your career where an international fellowship will enhance your options?

Then, take a look at the MSCA Individual Fellowship scheme!

You are invited to come along to next week’s session introducing the MSCA Fellowships. The session will cover:

  • Where these fit within the Horizon 2020 landscape
  • Your options (incoming and outgoing)
  • Eligibility and structure of the call
  • The basics of putting together your application

You can book on the OD webpage for this event, taking place on Thursday, 2nd February from 10-12 at the Lansdowne Campus.

Additionally, the next MSCA IF Bid Writing Retreat is taking place on 18th and 19th April, which will review and expand on the topics covered in next week’s short introductory session, with a structured programme and supported writing time designed to support your bid writing. Booking is already open.

This event is part of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework

 

 

INVITATION – Get ready for the Industrial Strategy – Places still available on Made in Dorset – Made for the Future event

Funding opportunities, Training

engineeringWith the Industrial Strategy Green Paper, none of us can afford to miss out! Get yourself prepared and ready to act by attending this event on Wednesday, 1st February 2017.

Staff from all Faculties are invited to attend as … engineering expertise only comes with practice, by means of exposure to real-world dilemmas and techniques for addressing them. Engineering the Future.

We still have some spaces left at this event – in the EBC from 09:45 – 14:00 with optional time for networking from 14:00-15:00.

Please see the previous blog post for all the details! With apologies to those who have already done this, for speed, there is no need to complete the short application form.

If you wish to attend, please email Dianne Goodman, asap, with your details. If you have external business contacts who would be interested in attending, please direct them to contact Dianne also. This will allow us to provide sufficient materials and catering.

We look forward to seeing you there.

This event is part of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework

Funding opportunities : Biomedical catalyst

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

theme - health

UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £10 million to develop innovative ideas that will help solve healthcare challenges. The project must be carried out in the UK.  Projects must be led by a micro, small or medium business enterprise (SME) with companies applying either individually or in collaboration with other SME businesses or research organisations. See more information on academic led applications.

The aim of this competition is to develop innovative healthcare technologies and processes that will help provide:

  • disease prevention and proactive management of health and chronic conditions
  • earlier and better detection and diagnosis of disease, leading to better patient outcomes
  • tailored treatments that either change the underlying disease or offer potential cures

This competition has 2 awards:

Application deadline is midday Wednesday 29 March.

Feasibility studies award

Total project costs of up to £200,000. Projects should last between 3 months and 1 year. Projects must start by 1 August 2017 and end by 1 August 2018.

Primer award

Projects are likely to range in size from total project costs of £200,000 to £1.5 million. Projects should last up to 2 years. Projects must start by 1 August 2017 and end by 1 August 2019.

The Biomedical Catalyst supports innovative solutions to healthcare challenges. Innovate UK, the Medical Research Council and Scottish Enterprise fund Biomedical Catalyst awards.

If you are interested in submitting to to this call you must contact your  RKEO Funding Development Officer with adequate notice before the deadline.

For more funding opportunities that are most relevant to you, you can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s/Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in  RKEO or view the recent blog post here.

If thinking of applying, why not add notification of your interest on Research Professional’s record of the bid so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.

 

 

Funding opportunities: Design foundations

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

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Are you working with a business ? have business connections that would be interested in this funding? This call is now live.

UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £1 million for early-stage design projects working on identifying opportunities and generating ideas.

Innovate UK is to invest up to £1 million in early-stage design projects to help businesses identify high-value innovation opportunities and generate ideas. These should be for new products, services or business models that align with customer demand.

Proposals should use design-led methods from first principles to understand customer motivations and behaviour, inspire new ideas, support decision-making and inform strategy.

Projects are likley to  to range in size from total costs of £20,000 to £100,000. Projects should last between 3 and 9 months.

A single UK business must lead the project:

  • applications must be business led. Only individual UK based businesses are eligible to apply
  • up to a maximum of 70% of the total eligible project costs can be allocated for the sub-contracting of design services to one or more other UK registered businesses

For more information click on the relevant links below:

Background to this call – previous blog post

Competiton brief

Competition guidance

Funding competition: EUREKA Eurostars

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

InnovateUK_LogoA_Interim_RGBx320govuk[1]

EUREKA Eurostars is a European programme for SMEs that supports and funds international collaborative research and development projects.  This funding competion is aimed at innovative SMEs wanting to take part in collaborative research with partners across Europe and associated countries. Innovate UK manage UK applications. Small businesses working on high-quality research and development projects across national borders often find it difficult to attract public-sector funding. Eurostars was set up to overcome this barrier to innovation. (The guidance has been updated to refelect  a change to UK eligibility criteria for the competition.)

Academics/universities, Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) and large companies can participate, but must fund their own participation or use funds from other sources.
Click here for more information including details on the latest funding call criteria and  competition guidance.
The closing dates for proposals are 2 March 2017 and 14 September 2017.

Emerging & Enabling Technologies funding, news & events

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

InnovateUK_LogoA_Interim_RGBx320govuk[1]
Innovate UK have shifted their focus to build on  momentum to accelerate sector growth. To  achieve this, in terms of innovation funding,  a number of  sectors are being addressed including Emerging and Enabling Technologies. These include:
  • Electronics
  • Sensors
  • Phototonics
  • ICT
  • Quantum Technolgies
  • Forensic Science

KTP calls are also refelecting these sectors.

There are a number of ways in which you can keep up to date with what is happening in these areas providing up-to-date information on funding opportuntites, news and events happening.

Useful information :

Innovate UK Delivery Plan 2016/2017 (Page 12 more information on the key sectors)

Knowledge Transfer Networks – stay connected

Deadline extended! Made in Dorset – Made for the Future: Invitation to attend sandpit on 1st February 2017

Funding opportunities, Training

Deadline extended to 23rd January

If you have local business contacts who would like to attend, please send them the link to this blog post.

 

Engineering underpins human progress. …. Their work literally creates the fabric of society, whether the buildings we live and work in, the energy that powers our world or the transport networks that we use every day…. As with engineeringmedicine, engineering expertise only comes with practice, by means of exposure to real-world dilemmas and techniques for addressing them. Engineering the Future

BU’s Research & Knowledge Exchange Office (RKEO) will be hosting an event on Wednesday, 1st February 2017, at the Lansdowne Campus, exploring how BU can engage with the Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering agenda.

What does this mean for me…?

Here are some examples of how you could contribute to this day:

  • Personalised healthcare requires technology but also input from those working directly with the end users and the medical profession to ensure efficacy and uptake
  • Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering does not exist in a vacuum and must respond to the changing global social, economic and political landscape
  • Animation and augmented reality already assist in visualisation and development across the engineering field, including automated production systems, infrastructure projects and forensic engineering
  • People are at the heart of any organisation – how do we ensure that engineers have effective management skills and managers understand the complexity of this sector?

So, who should attend?

We want anyone who thinks they might have something to contribute. We will also be inviting relevant external attendees to contribute to the day.

What do I need to prepare in advance? What will the day entail?

Absolutely nothing in advance. During the session, you’ll be guided through a process which results in the development of research ideas. The process facilitates creativity, potentially leading to innovative and interdisciplinary research ideas. These ideas will be explored with other attendees, and further developed based on the feedback received.

What if I don’t have time to think about ideas in advance?

You don’t need to do this but it will help. Attendees will come from a range of backgrounds so we expect that there will be lively conversations resulting from these different perspectives.

What about afterwards? Do I need to go away and do loads of work?

Well… that depends! This interactive day will result in some novel research ideas. Some of these may be progressed immediately; others might need more time to develop. You may find common ground with other attendees which you choose to take forward in other ways, such as writing a paper or developing a new placement opportuntity.

What if my topic area is really specific, such as health?

Your contribution will be very welcome! One of the main benefits of this type of 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.

So, is this just networking?

Definitely not! It is a facilitated session with the primary intention of developing innovative research ideas, which also enables the development of networks. It gives you the opportunity to explore research ideas which you may develop over time, together with the chance to find common ground with academics from across BU and beyond.

So, how do I book onto this event?

This event will take place on Wednesday, 1st February 2017. Please only book to attend if you can particpate in the full event from 09:45 – 14:00. There will be additional networking time from 14:00 – 15:00. To book, please complete the application form and return this to Dianne Goodman by end Monday, 23rd January. As places are limited, this will be assessed to ensure good mix of attendees with different perspectives. Places will be confirmed w/c 23/1/17.

This event is part of the new Research Knowledge Exchange Development Framework.

 

Using design to drive innovation – funding available

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

 

Technology prize

Businesses can apply for a share of £1 million to support human-centered design activities that inspire new ideas for products and services.

Innovate UK has up to £1 million to support business projects that use early-stage design activities to help them identify innovation opportunities and generate new ideas. The aim is to encourage businesses to use design-led methods to understand customer motivations and behaviour, inspire new ideas, support decision-making and inform strategy. Early-stage design activity can help businesses to tackle the right problems and to generate ideas that are more likely to meet the needs of their customers. According to the Design Council, £1 invested in early-stage design can deliver as much as a £20 increase in revenues for a business. However, many businesses rarely or never use design, or tend to use it as a last finish. The competition will support businesses exploring ideas for physical or digital products, services and business models. They may be in any sector but proposals are particularly encouraged in Innovate UK’s priority areas of health and life sciences; manufacturing and materials; infrastructure systems; and emerging and enabling technologies.

Competition information:

  • the competition is open, and the deadline for registration is at midday on 15 February 2017
  • projects must be led by a single business of any size but it can sub-contract design services worth up to 70% of the total project cost
  •  projects are likely to range in size from £20,000 to £100,000 and to last between 3 and 9 months
  • businesses could attract up to 70% of their project costs

Press release in full.

Policy paper – Innovate UK: design in innovation strategy 2015 to 2019.

Competition information and how to apply.

Funding opportunity – Innovation in infrastructure systems

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

InnovateUK_LogoA_Interim_RGBx320govuk[1]

Innovate UK is to invest up to £15 million in projects to stimulate innovation that creates UK business growth in infrastructure systems. Innovate UK want  businesses to collaborate to develop new integrated solutions and new business models and they are looking to fund a portfolio of projects. These may include technical feasibility, industrial research or experimental development projects.  It is expected that  projects  will range in size from total eligible costs of £25,000 to £5 million. Projects should last between 3 months and 3 years.

Projects must show significant innovation in one of the  priority areas:

  • ‘smart’ infrastructure
  • energy systems
  • connected transport
  • urban living

Proposals must improve business growth, productivity and/or create export opportunities for at least one UK small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) involved in the project.

There are 2 competition options:

  • £5 million for projects that last from 3 months to 1 year with costs from £25,000 to £100,000
  • £10 million for projects lasting from 1 year to 3 years with costs between £100,000 and £5 million

Projects will need to be led by a business but they can collaborate with other organisations including businesses and universities.

Click here for more information including the competiton brief and guidance documents.

Industrial strategy themes – selection underway

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

Innovate 2011v4
Innovate UK and the research councils are seeking feedback from researchers and entrepreneurs on  a number of  areas that have been earmarked to receive support from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. Workshops across the UK are running during January at which time feedback will be requested.
Areas that are likley to be supported to begin with  include:
  • bioscience and biotechnology
  • healthcare and medicine
  • manufacturing processes and materials
  • energy technologies including battery storage and grid technologies
  • satellite and space technologies
  • quantum technologies
  • robotics and artificial intelligence
  • transformative digital technologies

Another two themes are also being considered:

  • integrated and sustainable cities
  • technologies for the creative industries
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is expected to publish a green paper on the industrial strategy, which covers the fund, in the week beginning 23 January.

Latest Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

The following is a snap-shot of funding opportunities that have been announced. Please follow the links for more information:

Arts and Humanities Research Council

Leadership fellows scheme – early-career researchers

These enable researchers to develop their leadership experience and capabilities as they establish themselves, and to produce innovative research that moves significantly beyond doctoral projects. Grants are worth between £50,000 and £250,000 over a period of between six months and two years.

Maximum Award: £250,000

Closing date: None open call

Collaborative research grants – São Paulo Research Foundation

These enable transitional British and Brazilian teams to carry out collaborative research projects. Grants worth £50,000 to £1 million are available for projects lasting up to 60 months (with a further £1m for Brazilian researchers provided by the São Paolo Research Foundation.

Maximum Award: £1,800,000

Closing date: None open call

COMING SOON: Follow-on funding for impact and engagement scheme: four themes

*** Applications are expected to open at in late January 2017 and to close in April 2017. Call information will be published when applications open. The following information is subject to change.

These encourage innovative applications that seek to explore new, unanticipated pathways to impact which have emerged from projects supported as a part of the following AHRC themes: Science in culture; translating cultures; digital transformations in the arts and humanities; care for the future. Grants are worth up to £100,000 each over 12 months.

Be aware this is a pre-call and there may be further conditions announced in the full call.

Maximum award: £100,000

Closing date: April 2017 (forecast)

Economic and Social Research Council

Research grants

These support individuals or teams to conduct standard research projects, large-scale surveys and other infrastructure projects or methodological developments in any area within the council’s remit. Grants worth between £350,000 and £1 million are available for projects lasting up to five years.

Maximum award: £1,000,000

Closing date: None open call

New investigator grants

These support new researchers and academics at the start of their careers to become independent researchers through gaining experience of managing and leading research projects and teams. Grants ranging from £100,000 to £300,000 fEC are available

Maximum award: £240,000

Closing date: none open call

 

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

COMING SOON: Healthcare impact partnerships

*** Applications are expected to open in February 2017 and to close in April 2017. Call information will be published when applications open. The following information is subject to change.

This funding supports projects that progress previous EPSRC funded research towards impact within a healthcare application. Proposals must address at least one of the following themes: antimicrobial resistance; novel computational and mathematical sciences; image guided therapies and interventions. The total budget for this call is £5 million.

Be aware this is a pre-call and there may be further conditions announced in the full call.

Maximum award: Not yet known

Closing date: 15 August 2017 (forecast)

Royal Society, GB

Larger Scientific Meetings

*** Applications are expected to open in January 2017 and to close in March 2017. Call information will be published when applications open. The following information is subject to change.

This funding enables scientists to present and discuss ne research in all areas of science at large (80-300) meetings. Meetings will be held from November 2017-March 2018.

Be aware this is a pre-call and there may be further conditions announced in the full call.

Maximum award: Not yet known

Closing date: 30 March 2017 (forecast)

International Exchanges Scheme – China cost-share program

This program stimulates new collaborations within the natural sciences between scientists in the UK and China in a range of scientific areas. Up to £24,000 available for travel and subsistence expenses.

Be aware this is a pre-call and there may be further conditions announced in the full call.

Maximum award: Not yet known

Closing date: 30 March 2017 (forecast)

 

If you are interested in submitting to any of the above calls you must contact your  RKEO Funding Development Officer with adequate notice before the deadline.

For more funding opportunities that are most relevant to you, you can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s/Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in  RKEO or view the recent blog post here.

If thinking of applying, why not add notification of your interest on Research Professional’s record of the bid so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.

 

Call for nominations: Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Lecture

Funding opportunities

network-logo-royal-societyThe Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Medal and Lecture is given for excellence in a subject relating to the history of science, philosophy of science or the social function of science.

The Wilkins, Bernal and Medawar lectures were originally delivered as three separate lectures, each given triennially. Since 2007, they have been combined under the one title of the Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Lecture, and have been given annually.

The subject matter for the lecture is some aspect of the social function of science, as per the Bernal Lecture Fund endowed by John Desmond Bernal FRS, the philosophy of science as per the Medawar Lecture endowed by Peter Medawar FRS, and the history of science in recognition of John Wilkins FRS, the first Secretary of the Society.

The call for nominations is now open!

For information on how to nominate including guidance notes please visit the nominations page. The closing date for nominations is 18.00 GMT on 30 January 2017.

To Nominate now click here

Wanted! External Bid Writers

Funding opportunities, Grants Academy, international, Knowledge Exchange, REF Subjects, Training

rkeo-dev-logo-banner

 

As part of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework, Bournemouth University is expanding its pool of external bid writing expertise, through a tendering process.

If you have worked with a good bid writer or, as an external subscriber to this blog, you have written successful research funding applications, please contactus in the Research & Knowledge Exchange Office

We are particularly interested in those who can provide short courses, one-to-one support, bid writing retreats, application review or a range of these and related activities.

Examples of key funders include:

  • British Academy
  • European Commission funds including Horizon 2020
  • Innovate UK
  • Leverhulme Trust
  • National Institutes of Health and other US Federal funders
  • Research Councils
  • Royal Society
  • Wellcome Trust
  • etc.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Made in Dorset – Made for the Future: Invitation to attend sandpit on 1st February 2017

Funding opportunities, Training

engineeringReminder to book by 20th January 2017.

If you have local business contacts who would like to attend, please send them the link to this blog post.

 

Engineering underpins human progress. …. Their work literally creates the fabric of society, whether the buildings we live and work in, the energy that powers our world or the transport networks that we use every day…. As with medicine, engineering expertise only comes with practice, by means of exposure to real-world dilemmas and techniques for addressing them. Engineering the Future

BU’s Research & Knowledge Exchange Office (RKEO) will be hosting an event on Wednesday, 1st February 2017, at the Lansdowne Campus, exploring how BU can engage with the Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering agenda.

What does this mean for me…?

Here are some examples of how you could contribute to this day:

  • Personalised healthcare requires technology but also input from those working directly with the end users and the medical profession to ensure efficacy and uptake
  • Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering does not exist in a vacuum and must respond to the changing global social, economic and political landscape
  • Animation and augmented reality already assist in visualisation and development across the engineering field, including automated production systems, infrastructure projects and forensic engineering
  • People are at the heart of any organisation – how do we ensure that engineers have effective management skills and managers understand the complexity of this sector?

So, who should attend?

We want anyone who thinks they might have something to contribute. We will also be inviting relevant external attendees to contribute to the day.

What do I need to prepare in advance? What will the day entail?

Absolutely nothing in advance. During the session, you’ll be guided through a process which results in the development of research ideas. The process facilitates creativity, potentially leading to innovative and interdisciplinary research ideas. These ideas will be explored with other attendees, and further developed based on the feedback received.

What if I don’t have time to think about ideas in advance?

You don’t need to do this but it will help. Attendees will come from a range of backgrounds so we expect that there will be lively conversations resulting from these different perspectives.

What about afterwards? Do I need to go away and do loads of work?

Well… that depends! This interactive day will result in some novel research ideas. Some of these may be progressed immediately; others might need more time to develop. You may find common ground with other attendees which you choose to take forward in other ways, such as writing a paper or developing a new placement opportuntity.

What if my topic area is really specific, such as health?

Your contribution will be very welcome! One of the main benefits of this type of 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.

So, is this just networking?

Definitely not! It is a facilitated session with the primary intention of developing innovative research ideas, which also enables the development of networks. It gives you the opportunity to explore research ideas which you may develop over time, together with the chance to find common ground with academics from across BU and beyond.

So, how do I book onto this event?

This event will take place on Wednesday, 1st February 2017. Please only book to attend if you can particpate in the full event from 09:45 – 14:00. There will be additional networking time from 14:00 – 15:00. To book, please complete the application form and return this to Dianne Goodman by Friday, 20th January. As places are limited, this will be assessed to ensure good mix of attendees with different perspectives. Places will be confirmed w/c 23/1/17.

This event is part of the new Research Knowledge Exchange Development Framework.