Category / pre-award

Update on Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe

EU, pre-award

The European Commission published the updated 2018-2020 Work Programme of Horizon 2020, which includes details of the last calls for proposals launched under the programme. The last Work Programme is intended to be a bridge between Horizon 2020 and the next EU framework programme for research and innovation – Horizon Europe, which will start on 1 January 2021.

This Work Programme, with a total budget of more than €11 billion, will support the Commission’s political priorities in the following areas:

  • A low-carbon, climate resilient future: €3.7 billion;
  • Circular economy: €1 billion;
  • Digitising and transforming European industry and services: €1.8 billion; and
  • Security Union: €1 billion.

The updated Work Programme parts can be found in the ‘Reference documents‘ section of the Funding & Tenders Portal (to find necessary Work Programme part, use filter ‘Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (H2020)’ and select ‘Work Programmes’ from the menu).

The UK and the EU have agreed a flexible Brexit extension for six months to 31 October 2019. During the extension period, the UK will remain a member of the EU with all the relevant rights and obligations. This means that UK organisations can continue to participate in Horizon 2020 as a Member State, and remain eligible to apply for Horizon 2020 funding. This includes requesting the relevant part of the project’s budget as an EU contribution.

The government’s no deal guarantees remain in place to ensure continuity of funding in a no-deal scenario. The UK government has committed to underwrite competitive UK bids to EU funding submitted before exit, even if they are notified of their success after exit, for the lifetime of the projects.

The UK government Post EU Exit Guarantee Extension would cover funding for successful UK bids to EU calls open to third country participants from the date of exit until end of 2020. The guarantee would cover the lifetime of their projects, even if these last beyond 2020.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has been appointed to manage the UK government’s guarantee and post-EU exit extension.

H2020 Societal Challenge 5 Information Days in September

EU, Events, Info Days, international, pre-award

The Information Days on H2020 Societal Challenge five: “Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency & Raw Materials” will take place on 16 and 17 September 2019 in Brussels. It targets applicants to the 2020 calls for project proposals; two individuals per organisation are allowed to register.

Registration closes on 8 September 2019. Once registered, attendees have the opportunity to design their own programme agenda as well as utilise a match-making facility that will enable them to schedule bilateral meetings and to present their interests, expertise and/or project ideas to possible project partners.

Further information is available on the Information Days website.

Canada-UK Artificial Intelligence Initiative: building competitive and resilient economies and societies through responsible AI

Funding opportunities, international, pre-award

The three Canadian federal research funding agencies and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) have announced an interdisciplinary joint call aimed at building competitive, resilient and healthy economies and societies through responsible AI. The call is now open and the deadline for applications is 12 September 2019.

This call is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Medical Research Council (MRC), in collaboration with three Canadian federal research funding agencies – the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Academics interested in applying or finding more details related to this call may refer to ESRC web page or RDS.

The Research Development and Support R&KE Application Timeline

BU research, Funding opportunities, Guidance, pre-award

The Research Development & Support RKE Application timeline is your ultimate guide to applying for external R&KE funding. The timeline guides you through all the necessary steps, procedures and processes involved, including navigating through all the requirements of the internal quality approvals, costing preparations, legal and finances approvals, faculty approvals, etc.

The R&KE timeline also provides helpful guidance in the time needed in preparing and finalising external funding applications, taking you through initial planning, the submission preparation processes, legal and finance approval processes and to the submission to funder process.

You can also find useful links and information, as well as your Funding Development Team contacts on this timeline document.

Please click on this link to access this useful guidance document.

Horizon 2020 information / brokerage events – SC1 & LEIT

EU, Events, pre-award

A number of EU-wide information events have been announced recently.

LEIT: ICT, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing

The Enterprise Europe Network, in partnership with Enterprise Ireland and the Spanish, Portuguese, Greek and British National Contract Points (NCPs), is organising an international partnering event on ICT, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing.

The event will take place on 4 July 2019 in Dublin and participation is free. The programme will include presentations from the European Commission, National Contact Points, CEO of the Irish Manufacturing Research Centre (IMR), and will provide a unique opportunity to pitch ideas and expertise in front of leading research organisations and cutting-edge innovators from across industry.

Registration will be open until 1 July 2019 and more information is available on the event’s webpage.

Societal Challenge 1 ‘Health, demographic change and wellbeing’

On 3 July in Brussels, the European Commission is holding an Open Info Day for the Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 1 ‘Health, demographic change and wellbeing’. It will be a free, all-day event focusing on upcoming SC1 2020 calls for proposals, with an overall budget of €650 Million.

Draft agenda and registration are available on the event’s website.

Related to the Open Info Day, a free brokerage event is taking place on 4 July in Brussels. It is organised by the Health NCP Net 2.0 to provide the applicants with partnering opportunities. It is a separate event and requires registration by 31 May.

NIHR RDS Residential Research Retreat 26-28 November 2019 – Applications open NOW

BU research, Events, Funding opportunities, NHS, pre-award, Research Training

Do you have a great idea for a research project?

Are you planning to apply for research funding?

Do you need a dedicated period of quality time with support to develop your research project?

Dillington House, Somerset. 26 – 28 November 2019.

Applications NOW OPEN

The Residential Research Retreat provides protected time with expert coaching and support for you to develop your research proposal to the standard required to be competitive in seeking high quality research funding.

Register your interest with us by filling in the form here

And don’t forget, your local branch of the NIHR RDS (Research Design Service) is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) on the 5th floor of Royal London House. Feel free to pop in and see us, call us on 61939 or send us an email.

Charity Research Showcase

BU research, Events, Featured, Knowledge Exchange, pre-award

The Charity Impact Showcase is an opportunity to find out more about the research being undertaken across Bournemouth University with charities and third sector agencies.

The showcase will take place on Monday the 13th of May and run from 10am until 12 noon in Kimmeridge House, Talbot Campus, room K101.

Academic staff and post-graduate researchers are openly invited to the event to discover the innovative research taking place at BU and to learn about how to develop their own research with the help of charities. Attendees will also have the opportunity to network with other researchers as well as national and international charities to spark the possible future research collaboration.

The event will host a wide array of research tables, each dressed and accompanied by research academics from a variety of faculties, including Media and Communications (FMC), Science and Technology (SciTech), Management (FM) and Health and Social Science (HSS).

Dr Fiona Cownie, from FMC, and Professor Lee-Ann Fenge, of HSS, will be facilitating the event while presenting their own research. Professor Fenge is excited about event’s possibility for research fusion with attending charities.

“Colleagues from across all faculties will be sharing their research and it is an opportunity to informally discuss their projects whilst exploring ways of developing research with some amazing and willing charities.”

Some examples of attending academics include Professor Edwin van Teijlingen (HSS) who will be discussing his research in Nepal highlighting charities he has worked with there. From FMC, Dr Anna Feigenbaum will showcase info-graphics and invite participants to engage with developed board-games which relate to her charity involved research. Also from FMC, Dr Joyce Costello will talk about her work with two charities and showcase her published book ‘Public Service Motivation and Civic Engagement’.

Though not able to attend, Professor Michael Silk has provided a new video and a fresh look into the daily reality for Brazilian sex workers who are affected by major sporting events. This video will be shown throughout the event. Professor Silk’s project, ‘Sexual Spaces’, has collaborated with multiple charities (as listed in the video credits below) and is an excellent example of research partnership leading to real world impact.

Project ‘Sexual Spaces’ – ‘O que você não vê/What you don’t see ‘ video credits

It is also encouraged that you to please invite academic staff and post-graduate researchers to the event. We hope to see you there.

If you have any queries about attending the event, or you would like to showcase your own research, please email Connor Tracy at ctracy@bournemouth.ac.uk

Update on Brexit preparations

EU, Funding opportunities, Post-award, pre-award

The UK Government has produced a number of technical notices and provided details of the governmental Departments responsible for specific sectors and EU programmes. This has been done as part of no-deal Brexit preparations.

A number of Departments have drafted documents detailing plans to support UK researchers, universities and businesses who benefit from EU funding schemes, if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. Where applicable, the notices also set out how the Underwrite Guarantee, and the Post-EU Exit Guarantee Extension will operate if there is no deal.

More details are available on the ‘The Government’s Guarantee for EU-funded Programmes if the UK Leaves the EU Without a Withdrawal Agreement (No Deal)’ website. Website provides links to individual technical notices related to such programmes as Horizon 2020, Erasmus+, European Social Fund, European Regional Development Fund, Creative Europe, Europe for Citizens and some others. These are in addition to a wide range of other technical notices and announcements for specific sectors, which are available on the GOV.UK website.

Several submission portals have been developed by the UK Government to collect data of EU-funded projects. For example, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) launched a portal to collect basic information from UK beneficiaries of on-going Horizon 2020/FP7 projects (the RDS have populated this on behalf of all awarded projects to BU); the UK Cabinet Office has set up a portal for recipients of funds under such programmes as Health for Growth, Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme, Erasmus+, Competitiveness of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Europe for Citizens and Creative Europe; the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport has a dedicated portal for recipients of funds under Creative Europe and Europe for Citizens.

With regards to applying for new Horizon 2020 grants, in a no deal scenario the UK will automatically be assigned a third country status. With calls open to the third country participation, those will also be open to the UK applicants to participate and even coordinate collaborative projects. However, this may not be a case for European Research Council (ERC) and Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) applications – there are restrictions for third country participation in these actions, for example, as regards ERC grants, the PI has to be hosted by an institution in a Member State/Associated Country (MS/AC) and 50% of their total working time has to be spent in MS/AC.

If a no-deal scenario takes place shortly after a call deadline, the approach that the European Commission will follow regarding eligibility and evaluation of ERC and MSCA proposals is currently unknown. The Government and involved institutions are aware of potential issues that could arise and are working closely in seeking a solution.

BU academics having concerns regarding their research funding after Brexit or questions before applying for a new EU grant are welcome to contact Ainar Blaudums, International Research Facilitator, Research Development & Support directly, or ask your Research Facilitator/Funding Development Officer for advice.

Update on Horizon Europe and Brexit

EU, Funding opportunities, pre-award

Horizon Europe

 According to the Research Professional, Governments in the Council of the EU reached an agreement on the specific programme for Horizon Europe on 15 April. Agreement describes the rules for the structure of new instruments such as the European Innovation Council, areas for R&D missions and the process of “strategic planning” that will produce detailed work programmes for allocating funding.

Much of the content of the specific programme had already been covered by the more overarching partial political agreement on Horizon Europe reached between the Commission, Council and Parliament in March. However, some areas remain to be decided, in particular those setting out the budget for Horizon Europe and the rules of association for non-EU countries.

Brexit

According to the information available on UKRO portal, the UK and the EU have agreed to extend Article 50 until 31 October 2019. During the extension, the UK is an EU Member State, and UK organisations can continue to participate in and submit bids to Horizon 2020 on a Member State basis. This includes requesting the relevant part of the project’s budget as an EU contribution.

If an agreement between the UK and the EU is reached, projects approved during this period will be able to continue with an uninterrupted flow of EU funding. In no-deal scenario, the UK Government has committed to underwrite competitive UK bids to the EU funding submitted before exit, even if they are notified of their success after leaving the EU.

The government is seeking discussions with the European Commission to agree the details of our continued participation in Horizon 2020 as a third country after the exit. BU has informed the UK Government and provided basic data about all on-going Horizon 2020 projects. This will support the continuity of funding flow in case the UK Government’s underwrite mechanism should be implemented.

Please send your questions and other queries related to BU participation in the EU funded grant applications over to Research Development and Support.

 

NIHR RDS Residential Research Retreat – 26-28 November 2019

Events, Funding opportunities, NHS, pre-award

Do you have a great idea for a research project?

Are you planning to apply for research funding?

Do you need a dedicated period of quality time with support to develop your research project?

Dillington House, Somerset. 26 – 28 November 2019.

Applications open on 20 May 2019

The Residential Research Retreat provides protected time with expert coaching and support for you to develop your research proposal to the standard required to be competitive in seeking high quality research funding.

Register your interest with us by filling in the form here

And don’t forget, your local branch of the NIHR RDS (Research Design Service) is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) on the 5th floor of Royal London House. Feel free to pop in and see us, call us on 61939 or send us an email.

2019 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowships call opens

EU, Funding opportunities, pre-award

The 2019 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowships (MSCA IF) call is now open. The call documents, including the Guide for Applicants, are available on the Funding and Tenders Opportunities Portal (formerly ECAS). The call deadline is 11 September 2019, 4 PM UK time. Individual Fellowships are aimed at individual researchers who possess doctoral degree or equivalent research experience; scheme involves international and intersectoral mobility.

There are MSCA IF bid writing support activities planned within the BU – more details will follow in due course. Please get in touch with International Research Facilitator Ainar Blaudums or any other member of Research and Development Support staff supporting your faculty. We would appreciate early expression of interest to help us in providing more focussed and efficient support.

The indicative call budget in 2019 is €294.49 million (compared to €273 million in the 2018 call) and it is distributed as follows:

  • €50 million is reserved for the Global Fellowships, and is distributed between the scientific areas based on the number of eligible proposals received in each of these areas.
  • €236.49 million is reserved for the European Fellowships, and is distributed between its panels (except for the Society and Enterprise panel) based on the number of eligible proposals received by each one. During the budget distribution, the Career Restart (CAR) panel will have a weighting of 2 times the weighting of the eligible proposals in the other panels. For the Reintegration Panel (RI) the weighting will be 1.5 times higher.
  • €8 million is reserved for the Society and Enterprise panel of the European Fellowships.

The general Individual Fellowship rules remain unchanged in comparison to previous calls. Applicants are reminded that there is now the option for part-time working arrangements on Individual Fellowships for professional reasons (starting a company, pursuing other funded projects or advanced study). However, that should only be requested at the implementation stage.

This article has been prepared based on information received from UK Research Office (UKRO). UKRO, in its capacity as UK National Contact Point for the MSCA, will be holding information sessions on the 2019 Individual Fellowships call. Participation is free of charge, but registration will be mandatory. We will share further information when the dates and locations are confirmed.

NIHR RDS Grant Applications Seminar & Support Event – 2 May 2019

BU research, Funding opportunities, NHS, pre-award

Are you planning to submit a grant application to NIHR?

We are holding a one-day event at the University of Bristol that is aimed at helping you to improve your chances of success.

The morning seminar session is open to anyone to come and hear Simon Goodwin, RfPB Programme Manager for the South West, and RDS advisers give presentations on what makes a good grant proposal. Topics covered will include:

  • what does the NIHR (and in particular RfPB) look for?
  • the application as a marketing document: selling the topic, selling the method, and selling the team
  • the team
  • clarity of description and explanation
  • feasibility issues
  • identifying and avoiding potential pitfalls.

The afternoon support session of one-to-one appointments is for those who would like to discuss their own proposal with an RDS adviser.

This event is FREE and refreshments and lunch will be provided. Places are limited and will be allocated on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. In order to secure your place please register using our online form by 1pm, 24 April 2019. Find out more.

And don’t forget, your local branch of the NIHR RDS (Research Design Service) is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) on the 5th floor of Royal London House. Feel free to pop in and see us, call us on 61939 or send us an email.

Save the date – Horizon 2020 Health Partnering Day 2019

EU, Events, Funding opportunities, pre-award

In connection to the Open Info Day of the European Commission, the Health NCP Net 2.0 will hold an international brokerage event on Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 1 (SC1) calls in Brussels, on 4th of July 2019.

This international brokerage event will provide networking opportunities for applicants interested in the 2020 updated calls under SC1. One day before, on the 3rd of July 2019, the European Commission is organizing an Open Info Day dedicated to “Health, Demographic Change & Wellbeing (SC1)” challenge in Horizon 2020 and focusing on the 2020 call.

It is expected that participants will:

  • Get all information needed on the upcoming Horizon 2020 calls in the “Health, Demographic change and Wellbeing” work programme,
  • Be able to present own innovative project idea, or competence, to an international audience and discover new opportunities,
  • Meet potential partners from Europe and beyond to start building consortium.

The partnering event targets a wide spectrum of stakeholders from companies (including SMEs), universities, research organizations, public sector, NGOs and others from Europe and beyond interested in sharing new project ideas and in finding collaboration partners for the 2020 calls of SC1 in Horizon 2020. Registration will open on 29th of April.

ISCF Audience of the Future Challenge: the AotF Investor Accelerator launches 4 March

BU Challenges, BU research, Funding opportunities, pre-award

Image from www.immerseuk.org

The UK Research and Innovation, through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, is launching the Audience of the Future Challange (AofT) Investor Accelerator co-investment fund on 4 March.

This next phase of AoFT co-investment fund is aimed at supporting the commercial development of significant innovation in the UK immersive tech sector through simultaneous grant funding and venture capital investment in UK creative businesses.

Leverhulme Research Leadership Awards – internal expression of interest

ECR Network, Funding opportunities, pre-award, Research communication, Research news, Uncategorized

Bournemouth University invites expressions of interest from early and mid-career researchers at Bournemouth University, looking to build a research team to tackle a distinctive research problem.

The purpose of this scheme is to support talented scholars who have successfully launched a university career and are now looking to build a research team of sufficient scale to tackle a distinctive research problem. This  opportunity will allow for the development and demonstration of research leadership of a modest team, whose research has potential to significantly change the established landscape in a particular field of inquiry.

Institutions are permitted to submit only one application. Applicants should have held a university post for at least two years, but not have developed their research such that the trajectory of their contribution has not been firmly established.

More information about the scheme is available from the Leverhulme Trust. Candidates are advised to check the eligibility criteria very carefully.

Candidates who are interested in making an application to the Leverhulme Research Leadership Award are asked to first submit the following  application Leverhulme Research Leadership Awards- EOI 2018-2019 to kerrij@bournemouth.ac.uk no later than 22nd February 2019.

Procedure For applicants

Should you be interested in applying, please note that your expression of interest application will be assessed by the relevant Faculty in the first instance.

If more than one expression of interest is received, a panel will be convened for internal review and one application will be selected. Candidates can expect feedback by 11th March 2019.

The institutional candidate will have the opportunity to work with a research facilitator on their application.

The internal deadline for submitting applications via the Leverhulme Trust’s Grants Management System system will be 5 working days before the external Leverhulme deadline (10th May 2019) – this is to allow time for institutional approval of your application, a requirement by the Leverhulme Trust.

If you have further questions or queries please contact Ehren Milner (emilner@bournemouth.ac.uk) to discuss your suitability for this opportunity.

Societal Challenge 6 Call 2019 – Information Days in the UK

EU, Events, Funding opportunities, Info Days, international, pre-award

UKRO recently announced that the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), in its capacity as the UK National Contact Point (NCP) for Societal Challenge 6 – ‘Europe in changing world’, is organising a series of UK information events discussing SC6 2019 call, as well as wider research funding opportunities for social sciences and humanities (SSH) available in Horizon 2020.

Events will take place in British Academy on 14 January and in Newcastle University on 17 January.

Detailed agenda is available on the ESRC website. Although, less than 10 days remain, registration for these events is still open. For more information, the UK SC6 NCP can be contacted at Challenge6NCP@esrc.ac.uk.

The European Commission’s SC6 information and brokerage event took place on November 2018 and video recording and presentation slides are available. The info day consisted of a number of presentations, during which speakers from the European Commission and the Research Executive Agency presented the 2019 topics and the evaluation process. The second part of the day was dedicated to networking; the list of participants (includes nearly 400 names) may be useful source of information for academics interested to find partners in their research area.

Forthcoming RKEDF events

BU research, Events, Funding opportunities, Fusion, pre-award, Research assessment, RKE development framework

We have some great events coming up over the next few weeks to help support you in your research activity within the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework (RKEDF)

We have also grouped the RKEDF events around your needs, so if, for example, you are an Early Career Researcher or need to know about external funding, you can click on the link to find all the RKEDF sessions that may assist you. You can also find related events by using the link on each session’s page.

November

Tuesday 6th November RKEDF: Research Ethics @ BU
Tuesday 6th November RKEDF: Impact Basics (FMC)
Wednesday 7th November RKEDF: Research Outputs – Writing Day
Wednesday 7th November RKEDF: Main Panel B UOA 11 – Improving the Quality Score of Your Output
Wednesday 7th November RKEDF: Main Panel B – Improving the Quality Score of Your Output
Monday 12th November RKEDF: Main Panel B UOA 12 – Improving the Quality Score of Your Output
Thursday 15th November RKEDF: Main Panel C UOA 14 – Improving the Quality Score of Your Output
Thursday 15th November RKEDF: Main Panel C UOA 18 – Improving the Quality Score of Your Output
Thursday 15th November RKEDF: Main Panel C UOA 23 – Improving the Quality Score of Your Output
Thursday 15th November RKEDF: Main Panel C – Improving the Quality Score of Your Output
Friday 16th November RKEDF: Impact Basics (HSS)
Friday 16th November RKEDF: Impact Case Study Writing Retreat
Tuesday 20th November RKEDF: Impact Basics (FST)
Friday 23rd November RKEDF: SciVal Development – Scopus
Friday 23rd November RKEDF: SciVal Development – SciVal Introduction
Friday 23rd November RKEDF: SciVal Development – SciVal Intermediate
Friday 23rd November RKEDF: SciVal Development – SciVal for REF Purposes

December

Wednesday 5th December RKEDF: Writing Academy – Day 1 of 3
Monday 10th December RKEDF: Technical Bid Writing Workshop
Wednesday 12th December RKEDF: Main Panel D UOA 27 – Improving the Quality Score of Your Output
Wednesday 12th December RKEDF: Main Panel D UOA 32 – Improving the Quality Score of Your Output
Wednesday 12th December RKEDF: Main Panel D UOA 34 – Improving the Quality Score of Your Output
Wednesday 12th December RKEDF: Main Panel D – Improving the Quality Score of Your Output
Friday 14th December RKEDF: Impact Case Study Writing Retreat
Monday 17th December RKEDF: Main Panel A – Developing Impact Case Studies for your REF Panel: the good, bad and ugly
Tuesday 18th December RKEDF: Main Panel B – Developing Impact Case Studies for your REF Panel: the good, bad and ugly

The above list does not include events where attendance requires faculty nominations / applications or are part of the Early Career Researcher Network schedule for 18/19.

You can see all the Organisational Development and RKEDF events in one place on the handy calendar of events.

Please note that all sessions are now targeted, so look closely at the event page to ensure that the event is suitable for you. In addition, RKEDF events now require the approval of your Head of Department (or other nominated approver). Please follow the instructions given on the event page and the template email for you to initiate the booking request.

If you have any queries, please get in touch!

Do you need help with your research application?

BU Challenges, BU research, policy, pre-award, Research news, RKE development framework

If you need help with your research application and can meet certain criteria, then you may be eligible to receive support from one of our External Application Reviewers (EARs).

With a new and simplified process, you can request this when you submit your Intention to Bid form, and you meet at least one of the following conditions:

  • The application is to a prestigious funder (UK research councils, Wellcome Trust, Leverhulme Trust, British Academy, Royal Society, NIHR and EU Horizon 2020)
  • The application is to a strategically important funding call, including those in the BU2025 Strategic Investment Areas
  • NERC Standard Grants
  • One-off calls for multi-million pound bids (such as AHRC’s Creative Clusters Programme and Research England’s E3 call)
  • The applicant is a member of the BU Research Council Development Scheme and is applying to a UK Research Council call
  • The applicant is an ECR and is applying to a prestigious funder

Your Research Facilitator will then be in contact to discuss your needs. Approval will need to be given both by RKEO and your department before an EAR is appointed to support you.

If you do not meet the above conditions, help may still be available in certain circumstances. Additionally, certain calls may be eligible for external support from other sources. – please discuss these with your Research Facilitator.

Please note that this is an application reviewing service; the EARs will not write your bid for you.