Category / Funding opportunities

Book Now! Leverhulme Trust – our next funder visit March 19th 2014

BU research, Funding opportunities, Grants Academy, Research news, Training

Following on from our well attended visit from the AHRC and the British Academy I am pleased to remind you that the Leverhulme Trust will be visiting us next on the 19th of March – it is not too late to get yourself booked in….

Working on a variety of initiatives in R&KEO over the years, one element of development which we receive consistently excellent feedback, is the events we arrange where funders come to BU and present their organisations funding priorities and give advice on making an application. We have arranged for several funders to visit BU in 2014, we have already hosted visits from the AHRC and the British Academy and are pleased to announce our next arranged visit is with the Leverhulme Trust.

This will be taking place on Wednesday 19 March 2014, and Jean Cater (Mrs) The Assistant Director from the Leverhulme Trust which funds all academic disciplines will be visiting to discuss their grants and give advice on making an application.

Spaces on this event are becoming limited due to the room available so booking is essential!

Grants Academy members can be guaranteed a space by emailing Dianne. Or by emailing Staff Development

The booking hyperlink is:

Leverhulme Trust  funder visit

This is taking place mainly over the lunchtime period (12 midday until about 1pm -1:30pm ish) so please feel free to bring your lunch with you

We look forward to seeing as many of you who can make it.

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

BU research, Funding opportunities, Research news

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

The AHRC and ESRC have developed a partnership with three organisations that are interested in hosting a funded Design Fellow within their organisation: The Design Council, Skills Development Scotland and The Cabinet Office Policy Lab. The Fellowship will fund design researchers to spend up to 12 months embedded in such organisations, working on a collaborative project that will be of interest and benefit to both the researcher and the host organisation. Awards must start between 1st August 2014 and 31st December 2014 inclusive. Closing date 24/04/14.

EPSRC are inviting research proposals from consortia across the Engineering and Physical Sciences communities to address the manufacturing research challenges in developing applications, production technologies and future processes that incorporate advanced functional materials. Up to £2.5m per proejct is available. EOIs are to be submitted by 15/04/14 with invited full proposals to be submitted by end July 2014

 As part of their community building exercise, EPSRC Centre – LiME (national centre in liquid metal engineering) have set up a special fund to support small-scale feasibility studies in the UK solidification community (excluding the original LiME investigators). A total of £144,000 has been ring-fenced to support a total of 6 studies, each at a cost of up to £24k (80% FEC). The duration of each feasibility study should not exceed 6 months. This support will provide proof-of-concept results for preparation of grant proposals to the relevant funding bodies. Closing date 14/03/14

The ERA-NET Bioenergy wishes to fund collaborative projects on integrated biorefineries. Projects must aim to provide optimal value by a complete, integrated utilisation of raw material from sustainable. Pre-proposals closing date 28/04/14.

 NERC are offering funding for the Oil and Gas sector. They have a call for innovation funding to facilitate the take up of NERC science and expertise by the oil and gas industry. The closing date for this call is 16:00 on 08/05/14.

NERC also have a number of Knowledge Exchange opportunties. All close on 06/05/14 with interview dates in June aNand July. These include:

  • Oil and Gas – developing a broader, strategic approach to mapping and engaging the sector, including identifying future opportunities and approaches to engagement
  • FASTNEt – understanding UK shelf water quality and productivity
  • Horticulture – to bring tangible benefits to business performance through sustained knowledge exchange and effective research translation
  • Environmental Nanoscience – for the Environmental Nanoscience Initiative (ENI) research programme in 2014 for a period of one year with the possibility of further extension
  • Future Cities – meeting the need of the Cities-Lab to access the UK environmental science base
  • International Ocean Discovery Programme – developing knowledge exchange activities and improve engagement with industry

 

The Technology Strategy Board, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) are to invest up to £13m in collaborative R&D and feasibility studies projects, to stimulate innovation in the UK’s  civil nuclear power sector.  Academic and research oganisations can apply but cannot lead a project. The total non-business involvement in a project cannot exceed 50% of the total project costs for collaborative R&D, or 30% of the total project costs for feasibility studies.   R&D projects to range in size between £500k and £3m and particularly encourage larger companies to work with SMEs.  A briefing event for applicants will be held in London on 19/03/14.  Applicants must register by 23/04/14. The deadline for feasibility studies applications is noon on 30/04/14.  The application process for CR&D projects is in two stages, with the deadline for  stage 1 (expressions of interest) also noon  on 30/04/14.
 
The Northern Ireland Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPSNI) in partnership with Technology Strategy Board, working with the Northern Ireland Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) and Invest Northern Ireland (InvestNI), is launching a Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition to stimulate the development of innovative technology solutions to optimise patient health and social care outcomes through improved medicines adherence, through the Medicines Optimisation call. Technology has a role to play to help improve medicines adherence. This competition is seeking to develop innovative solutions to improve medicines adherence in response to assessed needs. Taking the right medicines at the right time is a key step in the medicines management process and perhaps the most important in terms of health outcomes, assuming the appropriateness of the prescribed treatment.Register by 07/05/14 with deadline for submissions 14/05/14.
 
The Technology Strategy Board is to invest up to £4.75m in collaborative R&D and feasibility studies to stimulate innovation and growth in the manufacture of electronic systems. A briefing event and webinar for potential applicants will be held in London on 26/02/14. The deadline for registration is noon on 26/03/14. The deadline for expressions of interest for collaborative R&D projects, and for applications for feasibility projects, is noon on 02/04/14. 

The Wellcome Trust’s Research Resources grant scheme aids research by supporting projects to catalogue and preserve significant primary source collections in libraries and archives across the UK and Ireland. Between  £10,000 and £100,000 is available. The current theme is ‘Investigating development, ageing and chronic disease’ and the closing date for preliminary applications is 15/04/14. Other collections may also be considered.

Please note that some funders specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your RKE Support Officer.

You can set up your own personalised alerts on ResearchProfessional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s RKE Officer in RKE Operations or see the recent post on this topic, which includes forthcoming training dates.

BU hosts the first South West Police Cyber Crime Conference

Funding opportunities, Uncategorized

Last week the five police forces across the South West Region started a partnership with Bournemouth University to develop a cyber-crime strategy.  The Bournemouth University Cyber Security Unit (BUCSU) arranged a 3-day conference to assist our Police in creating a collaborative framework. Moreover, this conference has helped build a future implementation of a critical strategy which addresses the increasing threat of cyber-crime to our society. 

A series of workshops were developed by BUCSU and attended by representatives from Avon and Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire police forces.  Those who attended included Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs); Chief Constables, police officers and practitioners involved in the investigation of cyber-crime.

The conference provided insight to the problems faced by the police with this global threat and has contributed towards creating a sustainable programme that could be implemented across the region and aid police officers in their pursuit of the 4 P’s of CONTEST (Pursue, Protect, Prevent, Prepare).

Dorset Assistant Chief Constable David Lewis said, “The purpose of the event was to find innovative approaches to combat the growing threat of cyber-crime in all its forms, from frauds and bullying to threats to our national and economic infrastructure.  We are building excellent relationships with the subject matter experts at Bournemouth University, their students and businesses in order to better protect our communities and bring those responsible for cyber-crime to justice”.

If you would like to find out more about the BU Cyber Security Unit and what it offers please contact Lucy Rossiter.   The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) are offering up to £5000 funded support through the cyber security innovation voucher scheme.  The vouchers will help SMEs, entrepreneurs and early stage start-ups who see value in protecting and growing their online business by having effective cyber security. For further information please visit the TSB website to find out how innovation vouchers can help you. 

 

 

Embracing the health agenda for service improvement: FIF networking project

Funding opportunities, Fusion

Embracing the health agenda for service improvement: FIF networking project

The concept of service improvement is in part about knowing where you want to get to. Over the years as social work lecturers and thesis supervisors we have struggled with the traditional master’s degree dissertation and its relevance to professional practice and, in particular, social work services. That was why we designed the National Centre for Post-Qualifying Social Work’s service improvement programme which uses a robust, practice-based service improvement methodology with a focus on professional judgement.

This programme uniquely fuses education and research with professional practice and is now used across nearly all the School of Health and Social Care’s Master’s Framework. As a result increasing numbers of students from a health background have been accessing the programme. Recognising our need to further understand, share and engage with the culture and strategic intent of key health organisations around the topic of service improvement, we have created a series of high-level networking opportunities with organisations including:

NHS Improving Quality (Leeds)

Institute for Healthcare Improvement (Boston, US)

The Beryl Institute (Dallas, US)

As well as planned meetings with NHS Directors of National Improvement Programmes and other key individuals, we also aim to visit a number of hospitals in the US and UK to see first-hand how their way of doing service improvement works out in practice. The project will run from April through August 2014….

Chicago here we come…!

 

Dr Steven Keen       skeen@bournemouth.ac.uk

Dr Lynne Rutter       lrutter@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

CEMP Bulletin Feb 2014

BU research, Funding opportunities, PG research, Publishing

    CEMP bulletin Feb 2014

Here’s the updated CEMP Research, Innovation and Funding Bulletin.

To follow up any of these funding opportunities, or to talk about working with CEMP on research / innovation in other ways, please contact Julian McDougall or:

Media School – the CEMP Fellow in your academic group (Anna Feignbaum, Richard Wallis, Neal White or Ashley Woodfall)

Non Media School – Milena Bobeva (the CEL / CEMP Fellow)

 

 

Latest major funding opportunities

BU research, Funding opportunities

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

EPSRC are acting as administrator for small awards through the Holmes Hines Memorial fund, to undertake activities related to science and engineering for which public funds are not available. There is no deadline and no standard application form; applications should be sent to the fund administrator.

NERC invite outline applications to a new four year programme on Environmental Microbiology and Human Health. The two topics for this first call are aquatic microbiology and bioaerosols. An outline proforma provided by NERC must be submitted by 24 March 2014. Also available from NERC is funding to undertaken knowledge exchange activities, through their Knowledge Exchange Fellowships. These allow the Fellow to undertake a programme of work of their own choosing, funding salary and the costs of the work programme. Deadline 6 May 2014.

Royal Society are offering a range of funding for those working in the natural sciences, including international exchange schemes with France, Taiwan, Ireland, Russia or China. Each of these offers £12000 for travel and subsistence for a British team to develop a new collaboration, with the same amount offered by the partner country. They also offer a standard international exchange programme, which offers up to £12000 for travel and subsistence for use in developing new collaborations with overseas colleagues. Various deadlines apply.

Royal Society are also offering funding for Industry Fellowships, which enable academics to work on a collaborative project with industry or vice versa, for up to two years. Deadline 27 March 2014.

Funding is available from the Wellcome Trust to undertake projects that enable the public to explore biomedical science and its impact on society and culture, through their People Awards. Up to £30000 is available, deadline 25 April 2014.

Arts and humanities researchers may be interested in the early career and standard fellowships offered by AHRC. No deadline applies, and the maximum funding available is £250000.

Please note that some funders specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your RKE Support Officer.

You can set up your own personalised alerts on ResearchProfessional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s RKE Officer in RKE Operations or see the recent post on this topic, which includes forthcoming training dates.

Book Now! British Academy visiting Wednesday the 19th of February and Leverhulme Trust in March 2014

BU research, Funding opportunities, Grants Academy, Research news

 

Following on from our well attended vist from the AHRC I am pleased to remind you that the British Academy will be visiting BU on the 19th of February and Leverhulme on the 19th of March – it is not too late to get yourself booked in….

Working on a variety of initiatives in R&KEO over the years, one element of development which we receive consistently excellent feedback, is the events we arrange where funders to come to BU and present their organisations funding priorities and advice on making an application. We have arranged for several funders to visit BU in 2014, and are re-advertising the next two in order for you to block out time in your diary now!

Our next Funder visit will be on Wednesday 19 February 2014, The British Academy will be visiting to discuss proposals they fund and share their tips on making an application. On Wednesday 19 March 2014, The Leverhulme Trust which funds all academic disciplines will be visiting to discuss their grants and give advice on making an application.

Spaces on both these events are limited due to the rooms available so booking is essential!

Grants Academy members can be guaranteed a space by emailing Dianne. Or by emailing Staff Development

The booking hyperlinks are:

British Academy funder visit

Leverhulme Trust  funder visit

This is taking place mainly over the lunchtime period so please feel free to bring your lunch with you

We look forward to seeing as many of you who can make it.

Latest Research Funding Opportunities

BU research, Funding opportunities, Research news

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

The AHRC is pleased to invite applications for an AHRC Commons Fellow to lead the strategic direction and development of the AHRC Commons. The Fellowship will run for three years and funding of up to £500k (on an fEC basis at 80%) is available for this time period.  The Fellowship will fund between 40-60% of the Fellow’s time. The AHRC Strategy 2013-18 sets out the aims of the AHRC Commons as follows: ‘The AHRC Commons will be aimed at gathering together arts and humanities researchers alongside cognate bodies and international peers to develop joint initiatives, connect dispersed undertakings, provide for a discussion and build a shared case for the importance of arts and humanities research to national and international life.’ Closing date 10/03/14, with interviews in London on 07/04/14.

The British Academy is looking to extend its association with the very best academic research of the type of collaborative, infrastructural projects or research facilities, intended to produce fundamental works of scholarship, in most cases for the use of a variety of disciplines. It is expected that projects will benefit from the kitemark of academic recognition offered by Academy Research Project status, and from the long-term small-scale recurrent funding offered to projects within the portfolio. This call is restricted to applications from projects in the social sciences. Closing date 12/03/14.

The ESRC/PIC Masters Studentship Scheme in Population Studies encourages UK students having difficulty in obtaining funding for the further study of demography beyond undergraduate level. The aim of the scheme is to aid the recruitment & initial development of talented students in demography by contributing to student fees and maintenance costs. The ambition within the co-funding agreement is to actively increase the research capacity within Demography in the UK. The value of a scholarship in 2014 will be £15,000, to include tuition fees. Applications cannot be accepted directly from individual students. Please see the guidance on the website before discussing this with any students who may be thinking of applying. Closing date 30/06/14.

Through the MRC, the primary aim of this first joint call of JPIAMR is to combine the resources, infrastructures, and research strengths of multiple countries in order to overcome antibiotic resistance. The goal is to foster multinational translational research collaborations that can accomplish more than individual countries working independently, leading to improved control of bacterial infections. Submission deadline for pre-proposals – 14/03/14, Full proposals invitations – Late May 2014 and Submission deadline for full proposals 21/07/14.

The Royal Society is provided with a quota for The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme. This is for scientists in the UK who are at an early stage of their career and wish to conduct research in Japan. The scheme provides subsistence funding as well as a settling-in allowance, a return air ticket and insurance cover. The Japanese host institution may also apply for a research grant of up to ¥1.5 million per year. JSPS will provide funding for visits of between 12 months minimum and up to 24 months maximum. Closing date 27/02/14.

The TSB’s national Innovation Voucher scheme is designed to help businesses gain the knowledge they need to innovate and grow. The company applies for the voucher, which can help them to obtain expert advice from a knowledge supplier (e.g. BU) with whom they haven’t worked before, not to fund general business needs such as training or equipment.  The TSB will pay up to £5,000. The closing date for the current round is 29/04/14.

The TSB is making an investment of up to £2m in feasibility studies to stimulate innovation across enabling technology areas: advanced materials; biosciences; electronics, sensors and photonics; and information and communications technology. All projects must be business-led, and this competition is open to small or micro companies only, working either singly or in collaboration with one other small or micro company. Projects can last up to four months, and total project costs must not exceed £33,000. Register by 05/03/14 and submit the full proposal by 12/03/14.

Round 6 of the TSB’s Smart awards is now open. Smart is a grant scheme which offers funding to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to engage in R&D projects in the strategically important areas of science, engineering and technology, from which successful new products, processes and services could emerge. Any UK SME undertaking research and development may apply. The batch assessment date for Round 6 of the current financial year 2013/14 is 27/03/14 at 12:00 noon.

The Wellcome Trust’s International Engagement Awards support public engagement projects and work that builds capacity for engagement with biomedical research in Sub-Saharan Africa, South-east Asia and South Asia. To apply for a grant of up to £30,000 for up to three years an Expression of Interest must be completed. The deadline for the full submission is 18/04/14.

Please note that some funders specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your RKE Support Officer.

You can set up your own personalised alerts on ResearchProfessional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s RKE Officer in RKE Operations or see the recent post on this topic, which includes forthcoming training dates.

Research Professional – all you need to know

BU research, 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.

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:

25th February 2014

25th March 2014

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.

Erasmus students enjoying microbial life!

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, Featured, Featured academics, Funding opportunities, Research news

The new Faculty of Science and Technology has started the new year welcoming three new Erasmus students through the TECHNO 1 and 2 (Erasmus Mundus Partnership) and the Erasmus Practicals placements, respectively. Two of them are being hosted by Dr Genoveva Esteban, Conservation Ecology and Environmental Science Group:  Hai Luu, from Tra Vinh University, Tra Vinh province in Vietnam has a Techno 2 studentship until mid June; Sara Giménez, from University Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, Spain, has a placement studentship for three months. Hai and Sara are working with Genoveva on unicellular organisms from freshwater habitats and from soils; these microscopic organisms can be used in the assessment and monitoring of water and soil quality.  Hai says: “TECHNO project brought me a great opportunity to study in an advanced education environment. Also, I am really interested in research on single-celled organisms and hope to learn from Dr Genoveva Esteban’s experience”.   Sara adds “This opportunity allows me to meet some fantastic people and get unique experiences, and on top of this I am getting fascinating scientific knowledge”.

The persons in charge of TECHNO 1 and TECHNO 2 at BU are Dr Demetra Andreou (Lecturer in Environmental Science), Dr Emilie Hardouin (Associate Lecturer in Conservation Genetics) and Mrs Heather Cashin (Senior Programme Administrator).

From left to right, Sara Giménez, Genoveva Esteban and Hai Luu at East Stoke Fen Nature Reserve near Wareham.

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

BU research, Funding opportunities, Research news

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

UK Funding:

The AHRC and the British Library have announced a call for collaborative proposals to explore the Academic Book of the Future in the context of open access publishing and the digital revolution with one award of £360,000. Closing date: 27/03/14

The AHRC Follow-on Funding for Impact and Engagement Scheme (FoF) provides funds to support innovative and creative engagements with new audiences and user communities which stimulate pathways to impact. Large awards of up to £100,000 are avialble and £30,000 for smaller projects. There is no closing date.

There is an open call for the BBSRC‘s follow-on Pathfinder scheme. This enables potential follow-on funding applicants to secure small amounts of funding to carry out preliminary commercial activities. Funding between £7,000 and £10,000 for six months is available.

 The BBSRC’s Doctoral Training Partners provides PhD training in research areas relevant to our remit and strategic priority areas. They also provide a breadth of professional development training opportunities to enhance students’ capability and develop the world-class, highly skilled workforce the UK needs for its future. Closing date: 01/05/14

The BBSRC, in collaboration with the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have announced a joint call for collaborative projects in Animal Health & Disease and Veterinary Immune Reagents  involving researchers from the US and UK. Clsoing date: 27/02/14

The British Academy, the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences, is currently inviting outstanding proposals for our 2015 conference programme.  Proposals for conferences that will be pivotal events and of lasting significance in the field: a chance for leading and emerging scholars to examine current and future issues surrounding novel, dynamic, innovative and exciting subject areas in the humanities and social sciences are invited. Closing date 21/02/14

DFID and ESRC are continuing their strategic partnership with a dedicated research programme on ‘Education and development: Raising learning outcomes in education systems’. The ultimate aim is to provide policymakers and practitioners with concrete ideas on how to improve learning and understanding of how these will translate to their specific contexts and institutions, enabling more effective policies and interventions. Closing date: 25/03/14

The DoH and NIHR are requesting submissions relating to Self-harm and suicidal behaviours. Closing date: 03/06/14

The EPSRC ICT team would like to encourage researchers to pursue an immersive experience in other disciplines and user environments. Discipline Hopping Awards will provide short-term support to allow researchers from core ICT fields with other disciplines and/or user fields. The aim of this is to foster new interactions, bringing a multidisciplinary and user-driven focus to research. Alternatively, non ICT specialists can apply for funds to bring a technological perspective to their home discipline. No closing date has been given.

The EPSRC is supporting eFuturesXD  travel awards of up to £5,000 (100% fEC) to allow researchers from one ICT discipline a chance to spend a short time in a different institute or for two researchers to spend time in each other’s institutions (UK only). The same scheme is supporting facility awards, of up to £20,000, to use expensive characterisation facilities such as microscopy, fabrication of novel structures using clean rooms or manufacture of test chips using Europractice. There is also a staff award aimed principally at small teams of researchers from two or more disciplines who wish to carry out key experiments or measurements to confirm an initial hypothesis. This award is up to £60,000. Lastly, the meeting award provides up to £10,000 to facilitate the building of larger research consortia comprising researchers from a number of departments and institutions across the ICT portfolio. There are no specific closing dates.

The EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Medical Devices has a call for Feasibility Studies. The Centre is looking to fund research at Technology Readiness Levels from 1 to 3 that will aid the fundamental understanding and development of innovation in medical device manufacturing. The maximum award is £50,000.Closing date 28/03/14

The EPSRC, as part of Research Councils UK (RCUK) Energy Programme, in collaboration with the TSB, invites Expressions of Interest (EOI) from those wishing to bid under a new research initiative in low-carbon vehicle technologies and fuel infrastructure for road transport. Closing date 14/02/14

The EPSRC invites applications to support networks of researchers looking at Forecasting Environmental Change. The budget is up to £2 Million for this activity and anticipates funding up to four networks, which can include support for feasibility projects, for three years in the identified challenge areas. Closing date 16/04/14

The HEA and AHRC invite all HEA subscribing institutions in the UK to be part of the 2014 Symposia on Interculturalism and Translating Cultures. Applications must be submitted by 17/02/14

NERC have a consortium call, Unlocking the Potential for Groundwater for the Poor(UPGro). This £12m programme is an international programme funding interdisciplinary research, generating evidence and innovative tools to enable developing countries and their partners in sub-Saharan Africa to use groundwater in a sustainable way for the ultimate benefit of the poor. Closing date: 03/03/14

The Institute of Physics and Engineering are promoting their various annual prizes. For details of each prize and conditions, please see the IPEM webpage.

The Royal Society and the British Academy support the Newton International Fellowship. This scheme is for non-UK scientists who are at an early stage of their research career and wish to conduct research in the UK.The scheme provides the opportunity for the best early stage post-doctoral researchers from all over the world to work at UK research institutions for a period of two years. The scheme covers the broad range of the natural and social sciences and the humanities. Up to £126,000 will be awarded. Closing date: 10/03/14

The Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award is for outstanding scientists who would benefit from a five year salary enhancement to help recruit them to or retain them in the UK. The scheme provides universities with additional support to enable them to recruit or retain respected scientists of outstanding achievement and potential to the UK. It provides a salary enhancement which is paid by the university in addition to the basic salary. The scheme covers all areas of the life and physical sciences, including engineering, but excluding clinical medicine. Closing date: 04/03/14

The TSB and BBSRC are supporting the Agri-Tech Catalyst which offers funding to innovative businesses and researchers to develop solutions to global agricultural challenges. You must register by 04/06/14 and the closing date is 11/06/14.

Through the TSB, the Electric Days Out scheme seeks to encourage the uptake of and awareness around electric vehicles within Northern Ireland. Both NITB and NIEA wish to see an increase in the number of visits to their various locations throughout Northern Ireland through sustainable transport means. A briefing event is planned for 07/02/14. Applications must be submitted by 28/02/14

Through the TSB, Cardiff Council, with support from Welsh Government, TSB, Cadw and Low Carbon Research Institute, is offering funding packages totalling up to £450k to develop innovative measures that will improve the energy performance of traditional and historic buildings. Closing date: 28/02/14
 
The TSB, BBSRC and EPSRC are providing investment of up to £45m in major integrated research and development projects through the Industrial Biotechnology Catalyst Scheme. The programme will accelerate commercialisation by supporting the development of new industrial biotechnology products and processes, and enabling their potential scale-up. It will support R&D for the processing and production of materials, chemicals and bioenergy through the sustainable exploitation of biological resources. A launch event will be held in London on 03/02/14 (also available as a webinar) and a second briefing event will be held in York on 12/02/14. Register by 07/05/14 and  submit by 14/05/14
 
IC tomorrow, via the TSB,  is offering nine businesses up to £25k each  to encourage digital cross-sector exploration across three broad themes: retail, events and analytics. This call closes on 26/02/14
 
The TSB the EPSRC are to invest up to £11m in a programme of collaborative research and development to stimulate innovation in localised energy systems. Up to £9.5m is available from the Technology Strategy Board and up to a further £1.5m is available from EPSRC to support academic partners contributing specifically to the energy sector aspects of projects. The deadline for registration is at noon on 12/03/14 and the deadline for expressions of interest is at noon on 19/03/014.  A briefing event for potential applicants will be held in Bristol on 30/01/14 
 
The TSB and the EPSRC are to invest up to £8.5m in collaborative R&D projects to develop advanced materials and manufacturing technologies which deliver lighter, better-performing and more material-efficient structures and products across a broad range of industrial sectors and global markets in their Making it Lighter, with Less call.  The competition opens for applicants on 03/03/14 and the deadline for expressions of interest is at noon on 16/04/14.  A briefing event for potential applicants will be held in London on 05/03/14 
 
The Wellcome Trust, through its Seeding Drug Discovery funding, is facilitating early-stage small-molecule drug discovery. This call closes on 11/06/14

Education and Neuroscience is a new £6 million funding scheme, launched by the Wellcome Trust and the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) in January 2014. This one-off scheme aims to develop, evaluate and communicate the impact of education interventions grounded in neuroscience research. Successful proposals will build on the existing evidence about effective teaching and learning practices, and explain how these practices could be made more effective or efficient using evidence from neuroscience. Closing date: 06/05/14

 
Outside the UK:
 
The second set of the transnational SOLAR-ERA.NET Calls PV2 and CSP2 has been launched. The closing date is 20/04/14

 

Please note that some funders specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your RKE Support Officer.

You can set up your own personalised alerts on ResearchProfessional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s RKE Officer in RKE Operations or see the recent post on this topic.

AHRC – So, why not apply?

BU research, Funding opportunities, R & KE Operations

At the end of our week focusing on AHRC, perhaps you are inspired and now want to see what opportunities are currently available….?

Please check the AHRC’s listing  for the most up to date information and specific closing dates and times for grants. The following are correct at the time of posting:

  • Data Exploration – creating new insight and value. This is collaboratively funded by the TSB, AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC, EPSRC and DSTL and involves an investment of up to £4.5m in collaborative research and development that addresses the technical challenges and business opportunities presented by the huge growth in data. Applicatants must register by 26/01/14 and the final application submitted by 05/03/14
  • Valuing Nature. A five year research programme which aims to better understand and represent the complexities of valuing the natural environment and to consider the wider societal and cultural value of ecosystems services. Funds of up to £1.1 million (80 per cent fEC) are available for a single grant of 5 years duration to support an interdisciplinary Programme Co-ordination Team. Closing date 20/03/14
  • New Generation Thinkers 2104, in collaboration with BBC Radio 3. Those selected will benefit from a unique opportunity to develop their own programmes for BBC Radio 3 and a chance to regularly appear on air. Closing date 06/02/14
  • Connected Communities Research Development Workshop on Addressing the Challenges of Disconnection, Division and Exclusion. Attendees at the workshop will have an opportunity to apply for ring-fenced funding for follow-up projects of up to £100,000 to support inter-disciplinary collaborative grants combining arts and humanities expertise with other research disciplines and community, policy and practice partners, to take forward the most innovative research ideas that emerge during the workshop. Closing date 30/01/2014
  • Digital Transformations Amplification Awards.  The aim of this call is to exploit the potential of digital technologies to transform research in the arts and humanities, to create exemplars of transformative approaches to digital arts and scholarship, and to ensure that arts and humanities researchers are at the forefront of tackling crucial issues such as intellectual property, cultural memory and identity, and communication and creativity in a digital age. Closing date 20/02/2014
  • Translating Cultures Innovation Grants. In a world seen to be increasingly characterized by transnational and globalized connections, the need for understanding and communication within, between and across diverse cultures is stronger than ever. The Translating Cultures theme addresses this need by studying the role of translation, understood in its broadest sense, in the transmission, interpretation, transformation and sharing of languages, values, beliefs, histories and narratives. Funding of between £150-200k is available. Closing date 06/03/2014
  • Science in Culture Innovation Awards. In the context of this call, innovation can take a number of forms: Exploring new inter-disciplinary concepts, methodologies and approaches drawing on both the arts and humanities and the sciences; Developing reciprocal collaborations of a new nature or in new or emerging fields of collaborative enquiry between the arts and humanities and the sciences and  Addressing innovative and inter-disciplinary research questions co-produced through dialogue between the arts and humanities and the sciences. Funding of up to £80,000 over a period of 12 months will be awarded to successful grants.  Up to 10 Innovation Awards are expected to be funded under the Science in Culture theme. Closing date 27/02/2014

The AHRC also supports other funding schemes:

Research Funding

 

Knowledge Exchange

 

International Research

 

Postgraduate Funding

You can read about BU’s success within the Faculty of Science and Technology and the Media School, and with the Block Grant Partnership. You can also read an overview of  the AHRC visit to BU on 20/1/14 and tips for submssion.

Please refer to previous posts on how to apply and make use of the AHRC’s own Research Funding Guide.

 You can search for opportunities on the AHRC website, but why not set up your own alerts in Research Professional so that you receive personalised emails regarding AHRC funding? You can, of course, set up tailored alerts for any other funders that meet your research needs.

You can also check the updates on the Research Blog for funding opportinities from major funders. This is normally posted by RKE  each week.

Please keep in touch with your RKE Operations Support Officer and seek their advice early in the application process. We all look forward to seeing an increase in AHRC bid submissions in the future!

 

AHRC a success for BU Part 2: The Media Story:

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, Funding opportunities, R & KE Operations

 

By Alex and Eva

Following yesterday’s Blog post on the Faculty of Science and Technology’s success, we would like to focus today on The Media’s success with AHRC. Over the last few years The Media School have a 44% success rate from 25 projects submitted with 11 funded.

So how can we replicate The Media School success?

Once again, Eva and I got on the bus to Talbot Campus and interviewed successful AHRC grant holder Dr. Bronwen Thomas to find out more…

What was your project about?

We have had two projects funded by the AHRC, the first was a research development award, and the current project supports a research network. Both look at the impact of digitisation on readers and reading.

How is it going?

It’s going well, the network is growing and our monthly blogs have helped to keep the discussion going between our scheduled meetings. We had a very successful public engagement event before Christmas, and we are currently planning a symposium to be held here at BU in June.

What do you want to achieve?

The main outcome for our project would be that the network remains active after the period of funding and that it helps support collaborative projects, including publications, involving our members.

What gave you the edge, do you think?

The fact that our research area is of key strategic importance to the funder, and that we were able to respond speedily and effectively to the call.

In hindsight, what would you do differently, what advice would you give to others?

The funding calls we applied for were limited in terms of the amounts available. The downside of this is that the PI ends up doing quite a lot of admin and planning work, leaving less time for scholarly research.  So anything that could be done to reduce this burden would be helpful.

 Also any other comments/tips from your experience that is worth noting.

We have been successful responding to specific calls under the highlight themes.  Under the current system, this may become more difficult, as typically there are only a couple of months between the announcement and the deadline, but there does appear to be ongoing funding for the highlighted themes, so they are well worth looking at.  It is important to demonstrate that your research is collaborative, cross-disciplinary and with genuine rather than tokenistic public engagement.   But it’s also about showing that you can manage projects, that you are likely to work well together as a team, and that the proposed research and outcomes are doable.

For other hints and tips you should check out Dr Anna Feigenbaum posts on International, Interdisciplinary, Innovative: the AHRC brings grant bidding advice to BU.

~Don’t miss tomorrow’s edition, when we find out more about studentship block grants.

Planning on applying to the British Academy Small Grants scheme this April?

Funding opportunities

Spring is around the corner and with it the deadline for the British Academy Small Grants scheme  on 15th April.

BU has a less than 10% success rate with proposals being funded by the British Academy Small Grants Scheme. Therefore, we strongly encourage anyone that is thinking of submitting to the scheme to use the RPRS service. In a nutshell, this will ensure you receive two sets of feedback in order to help you refine your proposal before it is submitted to maximise your chances of success. If you are planning to use the RPRS, please contact Rebecca Edwards as soon as possible.

Timescales

  • Begin preparations on the application – as soon as possible. The most important first step is to read the guidance, which also gives details of what to include in your application.
  • Contact your RKE Operations Support officer for the appropriate costings and approval process  – as soon as possible.
  • Completing of the draft proposal for the final deadline for submitting to the RPRS – 14th February
  • Application form likely to be available – 4th March
  • Final submission date to RKEO – 8th April

CEMP Bulletin and Fellows

BU research, Funding opportunities

Here is the new CEMP bulletin Jan 2014

Following the call for expressions of interest in November, CEMP have awarded five fellowships for a two year period to Milena Bobeva (Centre for Excellence in Learning), Anna Feigenbaum (Media School), Richard Wallis (Media School), Neal White (Media School) and Ashley Woodfall (Media School).  The reciprocal arrangement with CEL is that Milena joins us as a fellow in CEMP and CEMP will lead on a CEL project to tie together educational research across BU. This input will really add value to CEMP and support us in delivering our strategy and forging collaborations across the Media School and BU.

Colleagues who wish to follow up an opportunity in the bulletin or have proposals for educational / pedagogic research which CEMP can support, please contact Julian McDougall or any of the CEMP Fellows.

International, Interdisciplinary, Innovative: the AHRC brings grant bidding advice to BU

BU research, Funding opportunities, Fusion

On January 20, 2014 Bournemouth University played host to a lunchtime visit from the AHRC. The funding advice seminar covered general information about the Arts & Humanities Research Council, as well as tips and advice on AHRC bid writing here at from BU. In the lead up to the AHRC visit, the BU Research Blog offered a great round up of key facts and figures. Reiterated at the event were the AHRC’s commitments to:

  • Influence public policy
  • Engage with the creative economy
  • Impact internationally
  • Increase their profile with public

The AHRC offers research grants, fellowship grants, network grants and a special international stream. Across all funding lines, international collaboration was stressed, as were innovation, interdisciplinary work and making a clear case that your planned output matches the target audience for your research agenda.

Our AHRC visitors also highlighted their focus on developing management and leadership skills for Early Career Researchers. If you are out of your PhD for less than 8 years or in an academic post for less than 6 years, you are eligible to apply for their ECR streams. While ECRs go through the same grant process, the success rate is higher, as the ‘bar’ for a fundable project rests below their standard streams.

The Pivotal Peer Review

The AHRC reps also gave valuable insight on the evaluation process. Every proposal is ranked on a 1-6 scale by a group of up to four peer reviewers, selected from their list of 1,000 senior academics. If your proposal includes technical components, such as developing a digital archive, it will additionally be reviewed by someone who knows the technologies you’re engaging.

If your proposal scores a 4 our higher by the majority of reviewers, you’ll make the second round. Here you’ll have a chance to respond to reviewer feedback and clarification questions. “Don’t underestimate the importance of this response,” we were told. The clarity and directness of your PI response can make your application a success.

Also illuminating the evaluation process, the reps from AHRC attempted to demystify the term “impact.” In recent years the notion of ‘impact’ has caused much controversy – especially in the arts and humanities. “Impact is not just economic,” they assured us. Influencing quality of life, public service, policy and creative output also count as impact. To figure out how to articulate the impact of your research, they advised us to “simply ask yourself who, what and how” people benefit from your research.

The AHRC reps also said to keep an eye out for highlight notices that feature key strategic research themes. These themes–currently, Care for the Future, Digital Transformations, Science in Culture, and Translating Cultures—are intentionally broad and intended to offer space for a wide range of research subjects and activities.

Improving our Bids at BU

Bringing their advice home, to end the seminar, the AHRC reps offered some excellent tips for improving our bid writing here at BU.

  • BU has 9 AHRC reviewers, let’s take advantage of their expertise and experience.
  • The BU research blog is full of grant writing advice and info on the grants academy
  • Our BU research office offers an internal review process, use it!
  • Check out the peer review college section of the AHRC website.
  • Give yourself 3 months to develop your bid from research to writing to final edits.
  • Don’t be too repetitive in the bid and watch your spelling!
  • Make sure your methods of dissemination are appropriate for your stakeholders.
  • The reviewers love to see clear timescales and ‘value for money‘
  • Always ask yourself: Is this the best way to do this research?
  • If you get to the PI response round, it is crucial and can move up your overall ranking.
  • Remember, it’s not just about having a great proposal, you’re in a big pool competing against other really good research.

 Added to this are a couple reflections I had from my perspective as an Early Career lecturer in the Media School, a CEMP fellow and Fusion Fund committee member:

  •  ‘Rise-Up Collaborations’ – Early Career Researchers can pair with senior academics as CIs for the AHRC’s various ECR strands. As emergent researchers, we are often scared of the ‘big bids’ and tempted to stay small or follow professors onto their large-scale research projects. The in-built collaborative nature of the AHRC ECR routes are a great opportunity to push forward with our own initiatives and lead a team, supported by more experienced CIs.
  •  ‘The Three I’s’ – International, Interdisciplinary and Innovative research tops the agenda of the AHRC. This means great opportunities to be thinking about projects both across Schools at BU and with international university’s we have MoUs and Erasmus partnerships with. These ‘three Is’ are also embedded in Fusion. Pump-priming SMN Fusion Grants could be a great place to initiate the early stages of an AHRC bid for those of us in the arts and humanities seeking to expand our research horizons.