Category / Funding opportunities

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

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?

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, 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

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

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.

AHRC – a success for BU

Funding opportunities, R & KE Operations

By Eva and Alex

 

 

 

Following yesterday’s Blog post on the AHRC – a success for BU, we would like to focus on the Faculty of Science and Technology’s success with AHRC. Over the last few years the Faculty of Science and Technology’s have a 45% success rate from 20 projects submitted with 9 funded.

So how did we achieve this success you ask?  Well we took to the offices of Christchurch House to interview successful AHRC grant holders Dr. Mark Matlby and Dr. Emma Jenkins to find out…

Mark Maltby

What was your project about?

Cultural and Scientific Perceptions of Human-Chicken Interactions : It’s part of the Science in Culture Call.  The project aims to unite scholars from different disciplines, members of the public, interest groups and schoolchildren through the study of human exploitation of chickens, an under-researched species that has the potential to provide new insights about the past, present and future of human society and their relationships with animals.

 How is it going?

It began on January 6th – so early days!

What do you want to achieve?

One of the main aims is to get researchers from different disciplines to work together constructively and exchange knowledge and expertise in pursuit of a common research goal.

What gave you the edge, do you think?

Being positive/enthusiastic in statements in the application and in response to reviewers’ comments.. Working with colleagues from other institutions who have successfully gained and carried out research grants. Their expertise in writing the Case for Support, Objectives etc was invaluable.

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

Despite our best efforts, we were tight to the deadline for application. What took more time than I expected was getting the cost estimates sorted. Particularly if you are applying with partners, allow enough time for members of other institutions to react.

Any other comments from your experience that are worth noting.

We certainly benefitted from having an interview rehearsal. Learn to write very concisely as word limits are challengingly limited.

 

Emma Jenkins

What was your project about

The project is concerned with developing a method to help us understand more about how Neolithic sites in southwest Asia (c 11,700-7800 cal BP) were used. This is an important period in human history which saw the advent of sedentism, agriculture, and ultimately the rise of complex societies. It is also, however, one of the most poorly understood. This is partly due to the problems associated with site recognition and partly because of the lack of preservation of many forms of evidence, particularly biological. As a result, many Neolithic sites are comprised of a series of structures, the function of which is difficult, if not impossible, to interpret. Therefore, it is critical that we maximise the information that can be acquired from these sites.

 Our project uses recent advances in archaeological scientific techniques, namely phytolith (bodies of silica that form in and around plant cells)and geochemical analysis (traces of chemicals in soils resulting from human induced activities and waste, e.g. phosphorous, calcium and manganese) in a novel way. We will conduct a large scale combined analysis of phytoliths and geochemical elements from ethnographic sites to determine if certain activity areas, for example middens, hearths and floors, have particular phytolith and geochemical signatures that can help us recognise these same areas archaeologically.  

 How is it going

We have recruited two excellent new team members who will start with us in March and April and are busy making plans for our field season in April in Jordan. However, we have also hit problem number one but I am a firm believer in looking for solutions rather than focusing on the problem!

 What do you want to achieve?

On the academic front I want to have a successful field season in Jordan, leading to the collection of a good range of samples which will enable us to produce worthwhile and valid results. The aim is to publish these as peer reviewed journal papers. The ultimate aim is for us to apply for further funding to pursue related research areas.

We also plan to produce two 10 minute documentaries. The first will show  how scientific methods can be used in archaeology which I can use in my STEM Ambassador and general outreach work. The second is focused on documenting and presenting a sympathetic portrayal of traditional ways of life in Jordan and the relationship between people and a challenging but beautiful and ancient environment and landscape. The latter film is particularly pertinent because the traditional lifeways in Jordan are fast disappearing as a result of western influence.

 What gave you the edge, do you think?

I think there were a number of factors which led to this project being funded. Perhaps the most important was the team of people. All of us had a proven track record in our discipline and a history of working in Jordan. Even though this was awarded to me as an Early Career Grant, my collaborators hold senior positions within their institutions and have a strong publication record relating to the project research areas. We had done pilot studies involving phytoliths and geochemical analysis on ethnographic sites in Jordan which demonstrated that the method had potential. Another strength was the fact that I had run (or co-run) projects in Jordan previously so could demonstrate project management skills. Last, but definitely not least, I think Martin Pickard from Grantcraft helped a lot in the layout and design of the proposal which improved it enormously.

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

I over thought the impact part of the project (the documentaries) and originally made them too specific and complicated. We have since changed their focus and this makes them much more in line with the academic aims.

 As for my advice-don’t have two babies while trying to write a grant application in a timely fashion!

 No seriously,

  • Spend a lot of time thinking about the project and don’t under estimate how much time the project planning can take.
  • Cover yourself for every possible criticism. I wrote in a contingency plan in case there were any political problems in Jordan that made fieldwork unfeasible. The reviewers all seemed to like the fact that I had addressed this potential problem.
  • Make sure your project is good value for money and that you have a good team of people
  • Ask for help . I asked a lot of people within my discipline for advice and to read my application. One of my colleagues noticed a rather fundamental flaw in my proposal in its early stages and suggested alternative archaeological sites which made the project much more coherent.

 Also any other comments from your experience that are worth noting.

Designing the project was a really worthwhile experience and led to me finding fantastic team members whom I hope to work with in the future.

~Don’t miss tomorrow’s edition, when we hit the streets of Weymouth house for the Media School story on their fantastic success with the AHRC.

Latest major funding opportunities

Funding opportunities

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

The AHRC and BBC Radio 3 are looking for applications for the New Generation Thinkers of 2014. Up to sixty successful applicants will have a chance to develop their programme-making ideas with experienced BBC producers at a series of dedicated workshops and, of these up to ten will become Radio 3’s resident New Generation Thinkers. They will benefit from a unique opportunity to develop their own programmes for BBC Radio 3 and a chance to regularly appear on air. The closing date is 06/02/14.

The Alzheimer’s Society is offering PhD Studentships and Doctoral Training Centre grants, both with a closing date of 17/04/14. Planning ahead, the calls for Clincal Training Fellowships and Postdoctoral Fellowships will open in May/June 2014.

For those researching in the fields of biotechnology and biological sciences, the BBSRC is offering a number of grants. These are Strategic longer and larger grants (sLoLas), which closes on 09/04/14, Responsive-mode grants up to £2m, Industrial Partnership awards, Stand-alone LINK awards to encourage collaboration with industry, the New Investigator scheme to assist early years researchers and a joint call from BBSRC – Brazil (FAPESP) , promoting international collaboration. All but the first call have a deadline for submission of 29/04/14. 

The ESRC and Scottish Government  invite proposals for What Works Scotland (WWS). The aim of WWS is to deepen the impact of the emergent Scottish approach to public service delivery and reform, by evaluating evidence in delivery of that approach. The closing date for this £3.75m award is 06/03/14. The bidder workshop takes place on 14/01/14.

Do you or one of your Early Years Researchers deserve to be nominated for an award? Philip Leverhulme Prizes recognise the achievement of early career researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising. The prize scheme makes up to thirty awards of £100,000 a year, across a range of academic disciplines. The 2014 round opens on 06/01/14 and closes to nominations on 14/05/14

Do you have an innovative approach that could return life to the UK high street? If so, the Technology Strategy Board is offering  up to £8m in an SBRI competition to encourage new ways of attracting people back to UK high streets, in their Re-imagining the high street call. If you wish to apply, you must register by 26/02/14 and the closing date is 05/03/14. 

The Technology Strategy Board is to invest up to £4.5m in collaborative research and development that addresses the technical challenges and business opportunities presented by the huge growth in data. Additional funding may be available from TSB partners. Applicants must register by 26/02/14 and the closing date is 05/03/14. 
 
Investment of up to £1m for research proposals identifying novel and innovative ideas to meet communication security challenges ranging from enabling home working to sending secure data to intelligence officers on the ground is available from the Technology Strategy Board. If interested in aplying to the scheme, Secure working in insecure environments, please register by 26/02/14. The closing date is 05/03/14. 

The Wellcome Trust is offering Translation Awards to develop innovative and ground breaking new technologies in the biomedical area. The closing date for Concept Note is  25/04/14 and the preliminary deadline 15/06/14, with final presentations in January 2015

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.

Book Now! AHRC visiting BU – Monday 20th Jan and British Academy in Feb and Leverhulme Trust in March 2014

Funding opportunities

Attention!! Funder visits – many of you may have missed this Blog post sent by Corrina at the end of November 2013 however 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 first three in order for you to block out time in your diary now!

On Monday 20 January 2014, the AHRC will be visiting to discuss their research priorities, calls and their top tips for making a submission. 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 all these events are limited due to the rooms available so booking is essential! Grants Academy members can be guaranteed a space by emailing Dianne. The booking hyperlinks are:

AHRC funder visit

British Academy funder visit

Leverhulme Trust  funder visit

Research Professional – all you need to know

Funding opportunities

Every BU academic has a Research Professional account which delivers weekly emails detailing funding opportunities in their broad subject area. To really make the most of your Research Professional account, you should tailor it further by establishing additional alerts based on your specific area of expertise.

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:

28th January 2014

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.

Latest major funding opportunities

Funding opportunities

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

 UK Funders:

  • The AHRC invites expressions of interest to attend a research development workshop addressing the challenges of Disconnection, Division and Exclusion, being held as a part of the cross-Council Connected Communities Programme on 18-20 March 2014 at the Novotel Sheffield Centre Hotel. This is part of the AHRC Connected Communities Programme. The deadline for applications to attend the workshop is 30/01/14.
  •  Action on Hearing Loss and BBSRC have issued a ‘highlight notice’ regarding Lifecourse of the Auditory System. Together they wish to encourage research that will increase our understanding of how the auditory system develops and ages and the processes that lead to age-related hearing loss. They also wish to encourage research that will apply this knowledge to prevent and treat hearing loss to ultimately improve quality of life. Applications are to be submitted by 31/01/14.
  • Network grants are available from the EPSRC to bring together researchers, industry and other groups to develop collaborations through workshops, visits and part-time coordinators. The grant award is not specified and there is no deadline given.
  • The EPSRC has a call for research that will support fundamental research in sensing and imaging targeted specifically at the diagnosis of Dementias and the quantitative measurement of disease progression. The total award is not specified. The closing date is 17/02/14
  • The EPSRC Engineering Theme wishes to develop collaborative projects between researchers from the UK and China in partnership with the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) in the area of ‘Sustainable Materials for Infrastructure’ under the following themes: Multi-functional materials; Energy efficient buildings; Novel concrete technologies and Materials 5R; Reduce, Recover, Reuse, Recycle and Retain. Registration closes 20/01/14 with proposals due by 19/02/14
  • Reflecting the aims of the National Cyber Security Programme, UK Government and its delivery partners are working to increase the UK’s academic capability in all fields of Cyber Security. Together BIS, the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI), EPSRC, GCHQ and the Office of Cyber Security and Information Assurance (OCSIA) have developed a joint approach and strategy for reaching this goal. As part of that strategy EPSRC and CPNI are inviting proposals from academic researchers who wish to be part of the Research Institute in Trustworthy Industrial Control Systems (ICS). Submissions to Phase Two must be received by 13/02/14 (it is not a pre-requisite to have submitted to Phase One).
  • End Use Energy Demand (EUED) Research Centres is an RCUK / EPSRC Energy Programme call to encourage researchers who are not in the centres to work with the centres. The proposed research should be on a topic relevant to one or more of the EUED Centres. Two types of proposal are invited: Smaller Standard Research proposals (limited to £300k) for individuals at an early stage of their career to work with the DEMAND centre at Lancaster University and standard Research Proposals (limited to £600k) to work with the other EUED Centres. Expressions of Interest must be submitted by 06/02/14 with full invited proposals to be with the funder by 16/04/14.
  • The Research Seminars Competition 2013-2014, supported by the ESRC, is now open. Funding is available for UK research organisations to hold Research Seminars for groups of academic researchers, postgraduate students and non-academic users from different organisations. Seminar groups meet regularly to exchange information and ideas with the aim of advancing research within their fields. There is a maximum of £30,000 available and proposal must be submitted by 28/01/14.
  • Do you want to have an impact on the future of the UK? The ESRC are inviting full proposals from eligible research organisations across the UK to conduct a study of the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum. The maximum amount available is £312,500. The deadline for submissions is 06/02/14.
  • ESRC and DFID are pleased to invite applications for Evidence Synthesis Research Awards (ESRA) under the ESRC-DFID Joint Fund for Poverty Alleviation Research. The five themes are: Research methods, Gender, Children and young people, Governance and Health. Awards are up to £30,000 and must be completed within six months of the start of the award. All awards will commence between 1 April and 1 June 2014. Applications are due on 28/01/14.
  • Biomedical Catalyst: Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS) is a £180 million integrated translational funding programme jointly operated by the MRC and the Technology Strategy Board providing responsive and effective support for the best life science opportunities arising in the UK. There are various deadline dates in early 2014 depending on theme – please check website for details.
  • The Alexander Fleming dissemination scheme support the dissemination of MRC and Medical Research Foundation-funded research results beyond the scientific peer reviewed press, to patients, participants, practitioners and policy makers. Up to £30,000 is available and there is no given closing date.
  • The MRC are offering Programme Grants. These provide larger, longer term (five years) and renewable programme funding and aim to help the medical science community to ‘think bigger’ in the themes – Molecular and Cellular Medicine,Infections and Immunity, Population and Systems Medicine Board and Neurosciences and Mental Health. Applications are to be submitted in January 2014. Please check the website for details of each theme.
  • The MRC wishes to understand better the link between research and wider economic and societal impacts, and to use this understanding to improve strategies for the future support of research. As such, there is a call for studies which address all areas if impact, such as economic, societal, cultural, public policy or services, health, or quality of life. Applications must be submitted 27/03/14.
  • Do your research interests consider the impact of the harm caused by alcohol to drinking behaviours? MRC, ESRC and Alcohol Research UK wish to continue making key contributions to this field, in this case through providing authoritative evidence on the link between the specific harms caused directly by a distinct pattern, level and duration of alcohol drinking at key stages in the life-course. Work packages between £750,000 and £1.5m are expected. The closing date is 04/02/14.
  • The MRC and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) invite proposals to the UK-China Stem Cell Partnership Initiative from high quality research teams based in the UK and China. The initiative will provide funding for collaborative research projects, focussed on basic and preclinical research of relevance to the longer term development of stem cell based therapies for human disease and disorders. Up to £2m is available and the closing date is 07/05/14.
  • Natural Resources Wales with support from Welsh Government and the Technology Strategy Board (SBRI) are seeking innovative (Fenceless Fencing Solution) measures to control livestock access around watercourses and riparian zones to reduce the impact of agriculture. The small business research initiative (SBRI) process is being used to find innovative alternatives to traditional wood and wire fencing. Application submissions for Phase One are due on 06/01/14.
  • NERC’s Large Grants support adventurous, large-scale and complex research tackling big environmental science questions that cannot be addressed through other NERC funding opportunities. Grants are available between £1·2m and £3.7m, 100% (Full Economic Cost) with a duration of up to five years. Outline proposals are due by 20/03/14 and full proposals by 11/11/14.
  • Royal Society-DFID Africa Capacity Building Initiative is a programme is for scientists who want to develop collaborative research consortia between scientists in sub-Saharan Africa and a research institution in the UK. The overall aim of the scheme is to strengthen the research capacity of universities and research institution in sub-Saharan Africa by supporting the development of sustainable research networks. Up to £1.243m is on offer. Applications are to be submitted by 09/04/14.
  • Have you written a science book which makes your field more accessible to public adult audiences? Then consider the 2014 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books. The deadline to enter a book is Friday 28 February 2014.
  • The Technology Strategy Board is supporting, with an investment of up to £1.5m, feasibility studies to stimulate innovation in networked intelligent sensor systems, and new applications of them. Proposals must be collaborative and business-led. Applicants must register by 22/01/14 and submit by 29/01/14.
  • The Technology Strategy Board, together with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and China’s Ministry of Science and Technology are offering UK-China partnerships in sustainable manufacturing. Through this scheme there is investment of up to £3m in collaborative R&D projects that make manufacturing processes more sustainable. Applicants must register by 19/03/14 with the proposal to be submitted by 26/03/14.
  • Are you a postdoctoral scientist who has recently decided to recommence a scientific research career after a continuous break of at least two years? Then The Wellcome Trust may be able to help you with a Career Re-entry Fellowship. It gives such scientists the opportunity to return to high-quality research, with the potential to undertake refresher or further training and is particularly suitable for applicants wishing to return to research after a break for family commitments. Applications must be submitted by 08/05/14.
  • Through The Wellcome Trust, the Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowships provide a unique opportunity for the most promising newly qualified postdoctoral researchers to make an early start in developing their independent research careers, working in the best laboratories in the UK and overseas. Up to £250,000 is on offer. The Preliminary application deadline is 08/05/14 with the invited full application deadline being 18/07/14.
  • The Wellcome Trust’s Research Career Development Fellowships in Basic Biomedical Science provides an opportunity for postdoctoral scientists from across the remits of the Trust’s funding streams to become independent research scientists and undertake high-quality research in an eligible Republic of Ireland institution. Closing date 16/04/14.
  • The Sir Henry Dale Fellowships, offered via The Wellcome Trust is for outstanding postdoctoral scientists wishing to build their own UK-based independent research career addressing an important biomedical question. The closing date for this call is 16/04/14.
  • The Wellcome Trust is offeringPrincipal Research Fellowships.  This is the most prestigious of our personal awards and provides long-term support for researchers of international standing. Successful candidates will have an established track record in research at the highest level. This award is particularly suitable for exceptional senior research scientists currently based overseas who wish to work in the UK or ROI. There is no closing date given.
  • Biomedical Vacation Scholarships are offered by The Wellcome Trust. These awards provide promising undergraduates with hands-on experience of research during the summer vacation, with the aim of encouraging them to consider a career in research. Scholarship holders in the past have included students of biological sciences (including biology, sports science and pharmacy) and medics, vets, dentists and optometrists. Up to £1,520 is available and the call closes on 14/02/14.
  • Are you working at the edge of your discipline? The Wellcome Trust – Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Postdoctoral Fellowships provide four years’ support for recently qualified postdoctoral researchers to gain experience of research at the interfaces between biology/medicine and mathematics, engineering, computer, physical or chemical sciences. Closing date 07/07/14.
  • The Welsh Government is supporting research to enable nurses to spend 10% more time with patients in direct value adding care. This is an exciting opportunity for businesses and innovative organisations to work with BCU HB over the next 2/3 years to improve patient care, enabling staff to spend more time with their patients and also to support business to develop innovative technology which will be marketable for the future. This is an open competition and will be run in 2 phases, with businesses able to bid for development contracts of up to £40k in phase 1 (proof of concept) and up to £400k in phase 2 (demonstrator projects). There will be a Briefing Event /Supplier Day on 17/01/4 and submissions are due on 31/01/14.

 

European Funded Research:

  • The Second ERA-CAPS joint call has been pre-announced. In the UK, BBSRC will be the participating agency. For more information please refer to the ERA-CAPS website. The call is expected to be announced on 14/01/14.
  • The ERA-Net `Network of European Funding for Neuroscience Research‘ (NEURON) has been established to coordinate the research efforts and funding programmes of European countries, Israel and Canada in the field of disease related neuroscience.The aim of the call is to facilitate multi-national, collaborative research projects that will address important questions relating to neuroinflammation. Closing date 19/03/14.
  • Under the ERA-NET MARTEC Consortium, there is a call for collaborative research projects in different areas of maritime technologies. Please refer to the call website for details of the MARTEC II Call priorities. The call will close on 20/04/14.
  • The principal objective of the ERA-NET BESTF call is to fund public-private projects that de-risk bioenergy technologies at demonstration scale and to encourage further private exploitation. Amongst other conditions, the project must be at an appropriate stage of development to deliver a pre-commercial demonstration during the timescale of the project. Closing date 10/02/14.

 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.

The next post on this topic is expected week commencing 06/01/14.

It’s deadline day for Fusion Investment Fund applications

Funding opportunities, Fusion

If you would like to apply to any strands of the FIF please make sure you submit your application by the deadline which is 2pm today! No exceptions will be made to this deadline.

For all the updated strand policy documents, Fund FAQ’s and information about applying, please visit the FIF intranet pages.

 The Fusion Investment Fund is managed by Samantha Leahy-Harland. Please direct all initial enquiries to the Interim Fusion Administrator, Dianne Goodman, at Fusion Fund.

The 5 ‘Golden Rules’ for e-submission of bid applications

Funding opportunities, Guidance, R & KE Operations

For all standard RCUK bids (for example AHRC, ESRC, EPSRC, MRC, NERC, etc), the requirement is for the completed application to be submitted on J-es (J-es is the Research Councils’ web-based Joint Electronic Submission system for grant applications and award administration) by the Principal Investigator at least 5 working days before the application deadline.

The flowchart below illustrates the basic steps involved in the  ‘behind-the-scenes’ administration of  J-es bid applications before they are finally submitted to the councils.

As demonstrated in the flowchart, bid applications submitted through J-es are not exactly straightforward and quite often can be time-consuming and frustrating in some cases. Even when a bid application is ‘perfect’ in the eyes of the J-es checkers and institutional approvers, the process will still take up at least two working days, depending on the length of the application, and the availability of both J-es checkers and institutional approvers. Therefore, the 5-working-day turnaround will allow just enough time for potential changes and alterations to be made to the applications in order to maximise chances of success.  

When asked about the most common factors which delay the submission of a bid to J-es, institutional approvers and J-es checkers have collectively identified the following:

EligibilityThe eligibility of the PI is the first thing which you need to check, before embarking on the roller coaster ride of a bid application. The variety of funding bids from numerous research councils available out there means that each bid will come with a different guidance note. Even within the same research councils, guidance can sometimes differ between two separate funding opportunities.

Start date and duration of projectThe start date and the duration of the project should be planned in accordance with the funding guidance. For example, most of the times, funding councils require a minimum of 24 weeks between the bid submission date and the project start date but this can be different for each council. When there is a last minute change on J-es for the project start date or duration, this often involves a lengthy process as all previous costing figures provided for the project would have changed too.

AttachmentsAlthough providing a comprehensive CV or showing proof of all previous track records can be beneficial to your application, it is important to bear in mind that this is not always required. RKEO cannot stress enough times, the importance of reading the guidance and only attaching the required documents.  We have had applications returned to us due to attachments that were not specifically required and this will inevitably have an impact on the success of the application. 

Letter of supportThis is a major contributing factor to the delays in bid submission as quite often, letters of support come from external organisations or people and can take time to come back if there is missing or incorrect information that needs to be changed. And quite often, the most important and yet common missing information on a letter of support can be as simple as the date or signature.

 

FormatThe formatting on bid application documents is a constant bugbear for J-es checkers and institutional approvers. In the attempt to squeeze in as many words as possible onto the application document, the minimum margins, font size and page limit as stipulated by the council is quite often overlooked by PIs and this can cause unnecessary delays in the submission of the bid application.

These are just a few examples of cases which can cause unnecessary delay and angst in the process of submitting a bid application. Although they may seem obvious, knowing these factors may end up saving you time in the long run!

If you are interested in applying for a funding bid and would like to speak to one of us, do get in touch with us at the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office at 01202 961200.

Friday the 13th, unlucky for some, but not for FIF applicants! Last chance to apply!

Funding opportunities, Fusion

If you would like to apply to any strands of the FIF in this round please make sure you submit your application by the deadline which is 2pm on Friday 13 December. No exceptions will be made to this deadline.

For all the updated strand policy documents, Fund FAQ’s and information about applying, please visit the FIF intranet pages.

 The Fusion Investment Fund is managed by Samantha Leahy-Harland. Please direct all initial enquiries to the Interim Fusion Administrator, Dianne Goodman, at Fusion Fund.

Free money! Free money! 1 week left to apply-FIF!

Funding opportunities, Fusion

Okay so it’s not exactly free….you will have to do something for it but what if I told you that you will be hailed within BU, and who knows, maybe the world, as a researcher/support staff member extraordinaire! Your peers will bow down in the corridors in your honour, you will be met with applause when you enter the atrium.*

 I know what you’re thinking….’This sounds brilliant! Where can I find out more?’ Just point your mouse here, my friend, and all will be revealed.

*This may not actually happen.

 The Fusion Investment Fund is managed by Samantha Leahy-Harland. Please direct all initial enquiries to the Interim Fusion Administrator, Dianne Goodman, at Fusion Fund.

Latest major funding opportunities

Funding opportunities

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

 

 

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.

Research Professional – all you need to know

Funding opportunities

Every BU academic has a Research Professional account which delivers weekly emails detailing funding opportunities in their broad subject area. To really make the most of your Research Professional account, you should tailor it further by establishing additional alerts based on your specific area of expertise.

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:

28th January 2014

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.