Category / Funding opportunities

Reminder RKEO & Legal Services Coffee Morning on 25/06/15

BU research, Coffee Morning, Funding opportunities

coffee morning pics

Just a quick reminder our next RKEO coffee morning will be taking place on Thursday the 25th of June and will be held in conjunction with our colleagues from the Legal Services team.

Members of the RKEO and the Legal Services teams will be in the Retreat, Talbot Campus from 9.30 to 10.30am.

Come along and discuss your research plans with our RKEO team and check out how they can support you through the whole research funding process from applying to successful project management and delivery. We can also help you find the right funding opportunity, discuss the processes relating to funding schemes, as well as identifying potential collaborators and partners to strengthen your application. We can help with public engagement, knowledge transfer opportunities and much, much more….

Representatives from Legal Services will also be available to answer queries on matters such as contracting arrangements, freedom of information and data protection.

Come along and have a chat with us and see how we can help you, or just pop by and enjoy a coffee and a cake.

We look forward to seeing you!

 

UKRO launches new portal

EU, Funding opportunities, Research news

UKRO logoThe UK Research Office has a new portal.

The new UKRO Portal maintains the functions and services of the old website, namely the UKRO articles with email updates and the extensive UKRO fact-sheets on Horizon 2020 and other EU funding streams.

In addition, the new Portal offers:

  • a new design, compatible with portable devices;
  • a streamlined, simple navigation;
  • a powerful new search engine with refiners and hash tags;
  • dedicated areas for European Liaison Officers and Research Council staff;
  • and a new event registration facility.

If you want to familiarise yourself with the new Portal, UKRO recommend you start by having a quick look at the subscriber area.

If you are not registered with UKRO, all you need to do is register with your BU email address (we are institutional members). Once registered, you can access all the UKRO content and manage your alerts so that updates are delivered directly to your inbox.

All in all, making engaging with EU funding just that little bit easier.

NERC publish demand management quotas

Funding opportunities, Guidance

nerc-logo-50thNERC informed us in March that they were implementing new measures designed to raise discovery science standard grant success rates.  This included a reduction in the maximum value of a standard grant award (will fall from the current £1·2m to £800k (100 per cent full economic costing (fEC), £640k at 80 per cent fEC)), and a new institutional-level submission policy which limits the number of applications an individual research organisation can make.

NERC have just issued an update on demand management measures, which includes a full list of the quotas that will apply to the July 2015 and January 2016 standard grant (including New Investigator) closing dates for each institution.

Please note that following on from my previous blog post explaining the selection process to be adopted at BU, if you wish to apply to the NERC standard grant scheme then please contact the RKEO Funding Development Team in the first instance (please note that the application has been selected for the July call and so no further applications will be accepted).

Fusion Investment Fund – is it for you?

Funding opportunities, Fusion, Fusion Investment Fund

Lots of people know about the Fusion Investment Fund (or FIF as it’s affectionately known!). Since 2012 we’ve awarded £2m spread across more than 200 projects. Here are a couple of facts that you might not know though…

Professional Services staff can apply for FIF too

FIF is open to professional services staff as well as academic staff. If you have a great idea which could change the way we work here at BU and move us towards our Fusion goals, then we want to hear from you!

What sort of ideas?

Well, in the past, FIF has supported these projects from Professional Services staff…

Under the Staff mobility and networking strand we have supplied funding for:

  • Visiting US partners to conduct research about / promotion of Summer Schools
  • My Community: Our Heritage workshops at the British Science Festival 2013

Under the Co-creation and co-production strand we have supported:

  • BU Lego Challenge
  • Sharing PAL: Students sharing their experiences of Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) to create collaboration, engagement and learning
  • Global Skills: articulating international experiences in academic and professional contexts

Interested? Then do get in touch. See the links at the bottom of this post.

Erasmus for training

Did you know that our Erasmus funding is available for those who want to take training abroad as well as those who want to teach? Every year our academic staff visit European institutions to teach, exchange ideas and build their networks. What’s less well known is that staff (both academic and professional services staff) can apply for funding to go to a European Higher Education institution, or enterprise, to train, learn new techniques, share best practice and widen your horizons.

Erasmus provides up to €1,000 towards your travel and subsistence costs when travelling to another EU member country.

Priority will be given to staff who have not previously received funding from this strand so, if you’ve never considered it before, now might be your chance!

Want to find out more?

Well, hurry! Applications close this Friday at 12 noon. Visit the FIF website for further details and for information about how to apply. Sue Townrow, the FIF Co-ordinator, is available on both campuses this week so, if you’d like to meet, please get in touch. You can also contact us by email with any queries.

FIF – maybe it’s for you after all?!

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

The following funding opportunities have been announced. Please follow the links for more information:

 Arts and Humanities Research Council

Ten debates with themes of ‘The Way We Live Now’ and other individual debates, will be held to mark the tenth anniversary of the AHRC at universities and cultural organisations around the UK over the next year. An essay competition linked to the debates, with a series of three deadlines for each debate series, will be opened to help capture the ideas expressed at the debates. The first essay will relate to the first four four debates (Curating the Nation, The Challenge of Change, Faith and Education and Social Cohesion and the Common Good).  there will be ten prizes of £250 for the best essay on each of the ten debates and a best overall essay prize of £500.  Closing Date:  30/10/15.

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

The Sustainable Agriculture Research & Innovation Club (SARIC) has funding available for research grants (£3.5M) and research translation grants (£1.5M). Applications must fit the key challenge of predicitve capabilities for sustainable agriculture.  Closing Date: 16/09/15 at 16:00.

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

The Commitment to Privacy and Trust in Internet of Things Security (ComPaTrIoTS) Research Hub  is seeking to make a step-change in the broad research areas of cyber security.  This call aims to invest up to £9.8M over three years to support a small number of leading UK universities working coherently together as a single internationally recognised “Research Hub”, across the relevant disciplines, carrying out inter-related and interdisciplinary research into privacy, security and trust in the Internet of Things. Deadline for Registration of Intent: 20/07/15 at 17:00 Closing Date: 02/09/15 at 16:00.

Synthetic Biology Applications for Protective Materials. The EPSRC and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) seek to establish a number of cross-disciplinary consortia to expand research capability in the area of Synthetic Biology around the central challenge of creating stronger, and more resilient protective materials. Funds of up to £2 million are available for projects up to three years in duration. Closing Date: 1/10/15 at 16:00.

The Thermal Energy Challenge  invites proposals for collaborative research projects to undertake fundamental research that will investigate novel solutions in the thermal energy area.  Up to £5M is available tfor proposals related to the themes of Integration of thermal energy solutions into buildings, Thermal energy conversion technologies and  Hot and Cold energy storage.  Deadline for Registration of Intent: 30/06/15 at 23:59 Closing Date: 4/8/15 at 16:00.

Innovate UK

Fuels and lubricants: reducing cost of ownership. This MOD call seeks proposals with a value of up to £1M for novel ideas to reduce the cost of ownership of military assets through innovative approaches to fuel and lubrication use. Application Registration Deadline: 29/7/15 Closing Date: 5/8/15

Medical Research Council

The MRC and Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) are investing up to £2M into the Prevention and management of chronic lung diseases. Proposals are welcomed that will generate new knowledge on interventions and their implementation. Closing Date: 15/09/15 at 16:00.

Natural Environment Research Council

CONICYT-NERC joint call on “Determining the impacts of ice loss and deglaciation on marine and terrestrial ecosystems in a region of rapid climate change“. Up to £1.5m is available to fund  three grants at ~£500k each (at 80% FEC) and an additional £300K from the overall budget is set asside in total to cover collective logistics of the projects. Closing Date: 27/7/15.

South African National Research Foundation

The National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa in partnership with prominent UK academies (i.e. the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Royal Society) and the British Council is pleased to invite applications for the UK – South Africa Researcher Links grants. Closing Date: 30/06/15.

Wellcome Trust

A Four-year PhD Studentship has been created to allow promising students undertake in depth post-graduate training inclusive of a first year of taught courses and laboratory rotations followed by a three year PhD project at one of the 31 programmes based in centres of excellence which can provide specialist training in developmental biology and cell biology, genetics, statistics and epidemiology, immunology and infectious disease, molecular and cellular biology, neuroscience, physiological sciences or structural biology and bioinformatics.  Students are recruited annually by the individual Programmes for uptake in October each year but the recruitment begins in the preceding December. Closing Date: Open.

 Intermediate Clinical Fellowships fund is for medical, dental, veterinary or clinical psychology graduates who have had an outstanding start to their research career.  Fellowships can be for up to five years and will cover research expenses and salary. Closing Date: 30/10/15.

A Postdoctoral Research Training Fellowships for Clinicians has been created to allow the refreshing their research skills or to explore a new research field or environment, to gain the skills  that will  help with longer-term research visions.  Awards are two to four years and fellowships typically would range from £250K to £400K and would cover salary and some non-salary costs.  Closing Date: 30/10/15 at 17:00.

The Research for Health in Humanitarian Crises (R2HC)programme funds public health research aiming to improve health outcomes of what works in humanitarian crises.  Proposals are being requested on Communicable diseases, including epidemics, Sexual and reproductive health and/or gender based violence, Cost effectiveness of health interventions or Ethical issues in the context of public health operations or research during humanitarian crises.  Those interested should send an expression of interest. Closing Date: 20/07/15.

The Translation Fund aims to develop new technologies in the biomedical area to help with unmet healthcare need. Concept notes must be provided in the first instance. Closing Date: 16/10/15 at 17:00.

Please note that some funding bodies specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your  RKEO Funding Development Officer

 

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.

Interested in Opportunities in the New H2020 Research Infrastructure Work Programme?

EU, Funding opportunities

The annual UK information day will take place on 21September 2015 in London at The Natural History Museum

The main focus of the event will be the integrated activities (IA) calls for Research Infrastructure (RI) networks.

These calls are aimed at existing national RIs wishing to network with other RIs in their field across Europe. Each proposal must offer transnational access to users as well as networking and joint research activities for the RI.

Find out about:

Starting communities: Up to €5 million available for groups not previously funded; two stage application process; open to all!

Advanced communities: Up to €10 million available for groups that have received previous IA funding; one stage application process; specific topics will be defined in the work programme.

Closing date: 30 March 2016

 There will also be a presentation about the E-infrastructures calls which will support implementation of the European policies on open research data, data and computing intensive science, research and education networking, high-performance computing and big data innovation.

–          User-driven e-infrastructure innovation: closing 31 March 2016

–          Platform-driven e-infrastructure innovation: closing 20 September 2016

 

A further email will be sent with additional  details and the registration link in the coming weeks. If others in your organisation would like to be notified please ask them to subscribe to the mailing list.

 

RKEO and Legal Services Coffee Morning at the Retreat – Thursday 25th of June

Coffee Morning, Funding opportunities, Research news

Our next RKEO coffee morning will be taking place on Thursday the 25th of June and will be held in conjunction with our colleagues from the Legal Services team.

Members of the RKEO and the Legal Services teams will be in the Retreat, Talbot Campus from 9.30 to 10.30am.

Come along and discuss your research plans with our RKEO team and check out how they can support you through the whole research funding process from applying to successful project management and delivery. We can also help you find the right funding opportunity, discuss the processes relating to funding schemes, as well as identifying potential collaborators and partners to strengthen your application. We can help with public engagement, knowledge transfer opportunities and much, much more….

Representatives from Legal Services will also be available to answer queries on matters such as contracting arrangements, freedom of information and data protection.

Come along and have a chat with us and see how we can help you, or just pop by and enjoy a coffee and a cake.

We look forward to seeing you!

Research Professional Funding Insight module – research active volunteers required

Funding opportunities, Research communication

Research Professional are visiting BU on the morning of 23rd June to demonstrate their ‘Funding Insight’ module.  Their description of Funding Insight is that it ‘helps you avoid spending too much time on funding applications that fail. It reveals the hidden structures in the research funding landscape, giving you deeper insight and helping you make better applications’.

As part of the demonstration, they will also arrange trial access to the module.  If you are a research active academic and would like to attend the demonstration and participate in the trial of the module then please contact Jo Garrad by 12th June.

Launch of EPSRC communities

Funding opportunities, Research communication

EPSRC logoAs part of the improvements to the EPSRC website they have been developing a new communities section where people can:

  • create accounts
  • manage subscriptions (calls email alert)
  • create favourites / bookmarks
  • update profiles

This will allow you to get the most from their website and enable EPSRC to communicate with you more effectively.  More details can be found on the EPSRC website here.

Research Professional Funding Insight module – research active volunteers required

Funding opportunities

Research Professional are visiting BU on the morning of 23rd June to demonstrate their ‘Funding Insight’ module.  Their description of Funding Insight is that it ‘helps you avoid spending too much time on funding applications that fail. It reveals the hidden structures in the research funding landscape, giving you deeper insight and helping you make better applications’.

As part of the demonstration, they will also arrange trial access to the module.  If you are a research active academic and would like to attend the demonstration and participate in the trial of the module then please contact Jo Garrad by 12th June.

AHRC Research Networking call for funding

Funding opportunities

The AHRC Research Networking Scheme is intended to support forums for the discussion and exchange of ideas on a specified thematic area, issue or problem. The intention is to facilitate interactions between researchers and stakeholders through, for example, a short-term series of workshops, seminars, networking activities or other events. The aim of these activities is to stimulate new debate across boundaries, for example, disciplinary, conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and/or international. Proposals should explore new areas, be multi-institutional and can include creative or innovative approaches or entrepreneurship. Proposals must justify the approach taken and clearly explain the novelty or added value for bringing the network participants together.

Proposals for full economic costs up to £30,000 for a period of up to two years may be submitted. The exact mechanism for networking and the duration is up to the applicants to decide but must be fully justified in the proposal. An additional threshold of up to £15,000 full economic cost may be sought to cover the costs of any international participants or activities in addition to the £30,000 fEC scheme limit. Proposals will need to be submitted by an eligible Research Organisation but must involve collaboration with at least one other organisation, as well as having significant relevance to beneficiaries in the UK.

A highlight notice is currently in operation under the research Networking Scheme. It encourages applications that explore innovative areas of cross-disciplinary enquiry across the remits of the AHRC and other Research Councils. The highlight notice will close at midnight on 31 July 2015. Further information can be found on the Highlight Notice page.

This scheme operates without formal deadlines.  You are able to submit proposals at any time of year.

All applications to this scheme must be submitted via the cross-council Joint Electronic Submission – (JE-S) System (opens in a new window). If you need any assistance to use the system, please contact the JE-S helpdesk on 01793 444164 or on JesHelp@rcuk.ac.uk.  AHRC Funding Guide (PDF 919KB) (opens in a new window) provides an overview of the Research Networking Scheme. It details the eligibility criteria, assessment criteria, information on how to apply, application deadlines, eligible dates and terms and conditions of awards.

You must contact your RKEO Funding Development Officer in the first instance if you wish to apply to this call.

Fair Access Project Fund – call for under £25,000 short term projects

Funding opportunities

BU’s Fair Access Agreement includes a project fund to support Fair Access (FA) and Widening Participation (WP) projects and innovation. Faculties and Professional Services are invited to bid for funding to support specific and targeted projects that will have a FA or WP impact. It is hoped the projects will contribute to and inform the growing evidence base on FA and WP work.

This call is open for short term projects costing under £25,000 that will complete spend by 31 July 2015. We would also welcome applications for projects involving organisations external to BU where there is a clear link to WP and there is a BU staff member sponsor who holds a steering role in the project.

To submit a proposal for funding, please complete the complete the application form and email and email it to Lukasz Naglik.  Please also contact Lukasz if you would like to discuss this opportunity further or if you would like to find out about current  Fair Access and Widening Participation projects.

Further opportunities for bidding for longer term projects and for projects costing over £25,000 will be advertised in September 2015.

Fusion Investment Fund open for applications

Funding opportunities, Fusion, Fusion Investment Fund

FIF is open!

Excuse me? You don’t know what FIF is?

FIF stands for the Fusion Investment Fund. It is designed to support staff in developing as researchers, educators and practitioners. Since its inception in 2012, FIF has funded over 200 projects with awards totalling more than £2m.

Want to know more?

Two funding strands are available to staff: Co-creation and co-production strand (CC&CP), and Staff mobility and networking strand (SMN).

For all the policy documents, Fund FAQs and information about applying, please visit the FIF website.

Please direct all initial enquiries to the Fusion Investment Fund Co-ordinator, Sue Townrow, at Fusion Fund.

 

EPSRC Research Software Engineer (RSE) Fellowships

Funding opportunities

This EPSRC call will support Research Software Engineer (RSE) Fellowships for a period of up to five years. The RSE Fellowship describes exceptional individuals with combined expertise in programming and a solid knowledge of the research environment. The Research Software Engineer works with researchers to gain an understanding of the problems they face, and then develops, maintains and extends software to provide the answers.

To support the role of RSEs and establish a cohort in the academic environment, up to £3m is available for this pilot call. Candidates are invited to provide an ‘Intent to Submit’ document in the first instance to register interest. Full proposals will be subject to a rigorous peer review and sift process before a final selection by interview.

Background

Software developed for experimental facilities and instrumentation, modelling, simulation and data-analysis is a critical and valuable resource. Software and algorithm development represents major investments by skilled scientists and engineers, and the large suite of codes and algorithms used in research should be regarded as a research infrastructure, requiring support and maintenance along the innovation chain, and throughout its lifecycle.

Through the publication of “EPSRC Software as an Infrastructure strategy”, EPSRC has recognised the importance of investing in software development. Previous funding has focused on support for the development of the key software codes that are used by the EPS community in their research. However, other important aspects of the strategy are the development of skills and career development for those engaged in software engineering, and it is these aspects that this call addresses.

The EPSRC-funded Software Sustainability Institute has begun a campaign to develop a UK community of Research Software Engineers, with the aim of raising awareness of their roles, and improving their career paths and reward/recognition within Universities.

This funding opportunity is a pilot in support of the concept of Research Software Engineers. For further background, please see the following links:

Resources

Closing date for Statement of Intent is 4pm, 12 June 2015.  You mush submit a Statement of Intent first and these will be used to select who can submit a full application.  The full application closing date is 4pm, 21 July 2015.

If you are interested in applying for this fellowship then you must contact RKEO Funding Development Team in the first instance.