Category / pre-award

NIHR Bulletin

BU research, COVID-19, EPSRC, ESRC, Funding opportunities, Fusion, NHS, pre-award, Research Centres, Research communication, Research news

NIHR News

Updated guidelines for recruiting public members onto Trial and Study Steering Committees

NIHR launches Impact Toolkit
NIHR has developed an interactive dashboard that summarises, and signposts to, a range of tools to support research impact planning, delivery and/or assessment. (Will need to register for NIHR Learn if not already registered).

eBulletins and Newsletters

NIHR Funding and support round-up: July 2021

NHS England and NHS Improvement – In Touch

Events

New impact short course
NIHR has launched a new e-learning course, ‘Introduction to impact through the lens of NIHR’.
In this self-paced and short e-learning course, you will get an introduction to what impact is, what it isn’t, and why it’s important to the NIHR. Find out more.

Funding Opportunities

Latest NIHR funding calls

Artificial Intelligence in Health and Care Award (AI Award)
Competition 3

NIHR Senior Investigators
Call 15

Programme Development Grants
Mental health call

Public Health Research (PHR) Programme
21/523 Image and performance enhancing drugs
21/524 Health impacts of housing-led interventions for homeless people

Your local branch of the NIHR RDS (Research Design Service) is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) should you need help with your application. We advise on all aspects of developing an application and can review application drafts as well as put them to a mock funding panel (run by RDS South West) known as Project Review Committee, which is a fantastic opportunity for researchers to obtain a critical review of a proposed grant application before this is sent to a funding body.

Contact us as early as possible to benefit fully from the advice

Feel free to call us on 01202 961939 or send us an email.

NIHR i4i Programme Webinar 13 July 2021

Funding opportunities, innovation, NHS, pre-award, Research Centres

  

NIHR i4i Programme

The i4i team has a webinar coming up on 13 July for two new funding calls, including one around the theme of Children and Young People’s Mental Health. Please do share with anyone you think may be interested:

The NIHR i4i Programme is launching two new funding calls this August:

  1. i4i Connect 5 aimed at small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in need of a funding boost to reach the next stage in the development pathway, addressing a clearly defined unmet clinical need.
  2. i4i – Digital Health Technologies for Children and Young People’s Mental Health– aimed at SMEs, NHS providers or higher education institutions (HEIs), this call encourages proposals addressing a range of children and young people’s mental health conditions particularly in regions that have been historically under-served by research activity or where there is high unmet mental health burden.

The i4i team would like to invite you to attend a webinar on the 13th of July, where you can hear more about the call specifications and application process. They will have two guest speakers, Professor Chris Hollis and Dr Charlotte Hall, who will talk about how evidence-based digital interventions can address an unmet clinical need in children and young people. You can register for the webinar here.

Your local branch of the NIHR RDS (Research Design Service) is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) should you need help with your application. We advise on all aspects of developing an application and can review application drafts as well as put them to a mock funding panel (run by RDS South West) known as Project Review Committee, which is a fantastic opportunity for researchers to obtain a critical review of a proposed grant application before this is sent to a funding body.

Contact us as early as possible to benefit fully from the advice

Feel free to call us on 01202 961939 or send us an email.

Still time to register… NIHR Grant Applications Seminar ONLINE – 6th July 2021

COVID-19, EPSRC, ESRC, Funding opportunities, NHS, pre-award

  

Last chance to register:

Dear colleagues

– Do you have a great idea for research in health, social care or public health?
– Are you planning to submit a grant application to NIHR?

Our popular seminar continues online and will take place on Tuesday 6th July 2021 from 10.00am – 12.30pm.

The seminar provides an overview of NIHR funding opportunities and research programme remits, requirements and application processes. We will give you top tips for your application and answer specific questions with experienced RDS South West advisers.

We also have a limited number of 20-minute 1-to-1 appointments available after the seminar should you wish to discuss your proposed study with an RDS adviser.

Find out more and book a place.

Your local branch of the NIHR RDS (Research Design Service) is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU)

We can help with your application. We advise on all aspects of developing an application and can review application drafts as well as put them to a mock funding panel (run by RDS South West) known as Project Review Committee, which is a fantastic opportunity for researchers to obtain a critical review of a proposed grant application before this is sent to a funding body.

Contact us as early as possible to benefit fully from the advice

Feel free to call us on 01202 961939 or send us an email.

Update on Horizon Europe

BU research, EU, Funding opportunities, pre-award

The Horizon Europe Regulation was published on 12 May and we were expecting to see the first Work Programme published by the European Commission in the same week. However, since then, the publication has been delayed several times, and while some calls have already opened and closed (ERC, emergency COVID-19, EIC), most of the main calls have not been published.

According to UKRO, the reason for this delay is the on-going discussions on eligibility criteria for certain topics in specific Work Programme parts, related to whether topics in selected areas will be open to the participation of Associated Countries. A positive vote on the Horizon Europe Work Programme by Member States this week would allow a publication within the next two weeks.

If the Work Programme is agreed by mid-June, as currently expected, the European Commission will organise online info sessions on the first calls at the end of June or the beginning of July. If there is a further delay, the timetable for calls might need to be revised more substantially.

UKRO understands that the European Commission wants to maintain a period of at least three months between the opening of calls and respective deadlines. If the Work Programme is agreed by mid-June, and calls launch simultaneously, this will mean a delay of a few weeks to deadlines compared to the original schedule where calls would have been launched in mid-March.

This delay of the calls does not affect UK participation and UK entities have already started participating in the first Horizon Europe calls or are in the process of submitting proposals. UK entities can apply to the calls once they open, as confirmed by the European Commission.

Horizon Europe Consortia Building Events

EU, Events, Funding opportunities, pre-award

The UK National Contract Points (NCPs) for Horizon Europe in collaboration with KTN Global Alliance, are inviting potential applicants in the UK, Europe and beyond to participate in their Horizon Europe consortia building event series on 14, 17 and 21 June 2021.

These events are not information dissemination events, but instead will focus on pitching of project ideas and brokering partnerships for European Research and Innovation collaborations and networking.

The events are ideal for those who have identified specific call topics or at areas of interest, are ready to take the next steps, discussing concrete project ideas with potential partners and going forward to a proposal submission.

Themes across the webinars are scheduled as follows:

14 June 2021

  • Cluster 1 – Health.
  • Cluster 2 – Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society.

17 June 2021

  • Cluster 3 – Civil Security for Society.
  • Cluster 4 – Digital, Industry and Space.

21 June 2021

  • Cluster 5 – Climate, Energy and Mobility.
  • Cluster 6 – Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment.

These are excellent opportunities for researchers to widen their academic network with an aim to apply for EU collaborative grants.

For further information and to register, visit the KTN website.

The UK is expected to soon become an associated country to the EU’s R&I Framework Programme Horizon Europe. The UK will therefore have the same rights and obligations as other
countries associated to the Programme. UK entities can be included in consortia, as if the UK were already associated to the programme, in accordance with the Commission’s guidance.

In a case of further queries related to EU funding, get in touch with RDS Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums.

NIHR Grant Applications Seminar ONLINE – 6th July 2021

BU research, COVID-19, EPSRC, ESRC, Events, Funding opportunities, innovation, NHS, pre-award, Research news

  

Dear colleagues

– Do you have a great idea for research in health, social care or public health?
– Are you planning to submit a grant application to NIHR?

Our popular seminar continues online and will take place on Tuesday 6th July 2021 from 10.00am – 12.30pm.

The seminar provides an overview of NIHR funding opportunities and research programme remits, requirements and application processes. We will give you top tips for your application and answer specific questions with experienced RDS South West advisers.

We also have a limited number of 20-minute 1-to-1 appointments available after the seminar should you wish to discuss your proposed study with an RDS adviser.

Find out more and book a place.

Your local branch of the NIHR RDS (Research Design Service) is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU)

We can help with your application. We advise on all aspects of developing an application and can review application drafts as well as put them to a mock funding panel (run by RDS South West) known as Project Review Committee, which is a fantastic opportunity for researchers to obtain a critical review of a proposed grant application before this is sent to a funding body.

Contact us as early as possible to benefit fully from the advice

Feel free to call us on 01202 961939 or send us an email.

MSCA 2021 Postdoctoral Fellowships Information Sessions – Slides Available

EU, Funding opportunities, Info Days, pre-award

​The UK Research Office (UKRO), in its capacity as UK National Contact Point for the Horizon Europe 2021 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), were holding a series of information webinars to support potential applicants applying for the 2021 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships call (expected call opening 18 May 2021, proposed call deadline 15 September 2021).

The webinar series aimed to provide participants with comprehensive overview of the scheme, including the budget, how to develop your proposal, the submission process, and tips on how to address the evaluation criteria. UKRO have kindly provided the presentation slides from those webinars; staff of UKRO subscribing organisations may access them on UKRO website (registration is required). Please follow the links below to see more:

Session 1: Overview and Eligibility Rules

Session 2: MSCA PF: Practical Matters

Session 3: MSCA PF: Process for Submission and Evaluation and Expert Evaluator Presentation

BU is one of the UKRO’s subscriber organisations and every BU employee may use their  services – sign up to the UKRO portal and subscribe for email newsletters to receive the latest information on EU funding and policy directly to your inbox; for more information visit UKRO website.

If you have any further queries related to either EU/international funding in general, Horizon Europe Framework Programme or MSCA scheme specifically, please contact BU Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums.

Update on Horizon Europe

EU, Funding opportunities, pre-award

This blog post is prepared based on an article published by UKRO.

The European Parliament has adopted the legal basis of Horizon Europe. MEPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of both the Horizon Europe Regulation and the Specific Programme on Tuesday night last week. This paves the way for the final adoption and publication of the legislation – followed by the publication of the first Horizon Europe Work Programme with calls for proposals, budgets and deadlines.

Following the Parliament’s consent, the Specific Programme for Horizon Europe and the Euratom Regulation will now need to be adopted by the Council of Ministers within the next two weeks. The Horizon Europe Regulation, the Specific Programme and the Euratom Regulation are then expected to be published in the Official Journal of the EU on 12 May and become law, allowing for the first Horizon Europe Work Programme to be published once the drafting process is completed. The Regulation will apply retroactively from 1 January 2021, thus covering the early Horizon Europe calls launched so far.

UKRO understands that due to a further delay in the drafting process, unusually, the main Work Programme will not be published on the same day the programme’s legal basis enters into force – its publication and launch of the first calls is now expected to take place in late May, with the possibility that some of the first deadlines may need to be adjusted accordingly.

The Parliament’s approval of Horizon Europe also brings the formal UK association process a step closer to completion. In the meantime, UK entities can be included in consortia, as if the UK were already associated to the programme, in accordance with the Commission’s guidance.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions: Postdoctoral Fellowships 2021

EU, Funding opportunities, pre-award

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) are part of the First Pillar within Horizon Europe (HEU) framework programme. They operate on a completely bottom-up basis, with no pre-defined priority areas.

These actions are open to all research areas and support fundamental research through to near market activities. In HEU, MSCA will continue to provide grants for all stages of researchers’ careers with a strong emphasis on encouraging international, intersectoral and interdisciplinary mobility.

Postdoctoral Fellowships (formerly Individual Fellowships) are aimed at individual fellows who already have a doctoral degree and wish to enhance the creative and innovative potential of researchers holding a PhD, wishing to acquire new skills through further research.

The MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships call 2021 is expected to open on 18 May 2021; proposal submission deadline – 15 September 2021. RDS is prepared to support BU academics wishing to supervise incoming fellows as usual. We encourage to get in touch with RDS Funding Development Team as soon as possible; we will not require submitting Intention to Bid form before August, however it will allow us to efficiently plan resources for supporting academics.

This article has been prepared based on information prepared by UK Research Office (UKRO). UKRO, in its capacity as UK National Contact Point for the MSCA, provides useful and up to date information to their subscribers. UKRO supports the R&I community in the UK and Europe.

BU is one of the UKRO subscriber organisations and every BU employee may use their  services – sign up to the UKRO portal and subscribe for email newsletters to receive the latest information on EU funding and policy directly to your inbox; for more information visit UKRO website.

In a case of further queries related to either EU funding in general, Horizon Europe Framework Programme or MSCA scheme specifically, please contact BU Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums.

AT Virtual STEAMLab on Wednesday, 12 May 2021

BU Challenges, BU research, Business Engagement, Events, Funding opportunities, pre-award, RKE development framework

This is a reminder that on Wednesday, 12 May 2021 from 11.30am to 1pm, RDS will be hosting Virtual STEAMLab event under the strategic investment area of Assistive Technology.

Please booking your place by the end of Wednesday, 5 May 2021.

We ask all participants to download and complete the AT STEAMLab Application Form and return this to Ainar Blaudums and/or Theresa McManus.

For more information please read our previous AT STEAMLab blog post.

If you have any queries prior to submitting your application, please contact RDS Research Facilitators Ainar Blaudums or Ehren Milner.

We are looking forward to meeting you at the STEAMLab next week.

Invitation to AT Virtual STEAMLab

BU Challenges, BU research, Business Engagement, Events, Funding opportunities, pre-award, RKE development framework

On Wednesday, 12 May 2021 from 11.30 to 1pm, RDS will be hosting Virtual AT STEAMlab (Science/Tech/Engineering/Arts/Maths lab) event under the strategic investment area (SIA) of Assistive Technology (AT). It will be the second of a series of up to 2-hour long virtual STEAMlabs to be held in the course of 2021.

The ideas generated at this event may also be used to help select colleagues for further Scramble events at short notice.

Booking onto this event

To take part in this exciting opportunity, we ask all participants to download and complete the AT STEAMLab Application Form and return this to Ainar Blaudums by Wednesday, 5 May 2021.

By applying, you agree to attend for the full duration of the event on 12 May from 10:30am to 1pm. Places at the event are limited and you will be contacted to confirm your “virtual space” by 7 May 2021.

If you have any queries prior to submitting your application, please contact RDS Research Facilitators Ainar Blaudums or Ehren Milner.

 The Brief

We’re seeking to come up with highly innovative and urgently required research which is ambitious in scope and will require a high level of expertise, commitment and funding. The research must address challenges in the AT field.

In short, we anticipate the development of innovative, ground-breaking cross-disciplinary and ambitious projects which have the capacity to attract significant, high value external funding from the public and private sectors in the future.

Who should attend?

We welcome those who wish to contribute to having a positive impact through addressing scientific challenges, but in particular, we are specifically targeting the following:

  1. Those academics whose research aligns with one or more of the BU’s core research areas, or whose research would benefit from the multidisciplinary, collaborative engagement supported by the AT SIA;
  2. Those who have experience of involvement in medium to large scale research projects.

We will also be inviting relevant external attendees, such as digital technology companies, to contribute on the day.

Some Answers to your FAQs:

Do I need to do anything in advance?

No, you do not. During the STEAMLab, you’ll be guided through a process which results in the development of collaborative research ideas. The process facilitates creativity, potentially leading to grand, innovative and interdisciplinary research. These ideas will be shared and explored with other attendees, and further developed based on the feedback received.

 What is the immediate objective?

The objective by the end of the STEAMlab is to have scoped some leading and grand ideas around which a working group or cluster can be formed to take forward towards the development of a large grant application. This event is run to facilitate new interdisciplinary research collaborations.

What do I need to do afterwards?

Your project idea may be “oven-ready”, but it is more likely than not that, given the level of pioneering innovation sought, you/your group’s project idea/s will require some time to crystallise fully, and for the optimum partners to be found for the building a winning consortium, and bringing to fruition a fully-fledged grant application. To this end, it is envisaged that you and your potential collaborators will be committed to meeting on a regular basis, with a firm timetable.

What if my topic area is very specialised, within fields such as medical diagnostics or environmental science?

Your contribution will be very welcome! One of the main benefits of a STEAMlab event is to bring together individuals with a range of backgrounds and specialisms who are able to see things just that bit differently to one another.

ERC Have Announced Tentative Dates for 2022 Calls

EU, Funding opportunities, pre-award

The European Research Council (ERC) has announced the tentative opening dates and deadlines for their 2022 calls. They are as follows:

ERC Synergy Grant 2022 Call

  • Opening date: 15 July 2021
  • Deadline: 10 November 2021

ERC Starting Grant 2022 Call

  • Opening date: 23 September 2021
  • Deadline: 13 January 2022

ERC Consolidator Grant 2022 Call

  • Opening date: 19 October 2021
  • Deadline: 17 March 2022

ERC Advanced Grant 2022 Call

  • Opening date: 20 January 2022
  • Deadline: 28 April 2022

There were a few BU academics willing to submit their applications this year but were not able to do it due to time constraints.

These dates are tentative and still subject to change. They differ from the regular yearly cycle that the ERC has established; according to UKRO, the call cycle will revert to the expected times of each year by 2023. The ERC aims to provide as much time and predictability as possible for applicants to prepare while also finding the time for evaluation procedures that last several months for each call.

For more information about the ERC and other Horizon Europe funding opportunities contact RDS Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums.

NIHR RDS Researcher Roadshow – health and social care datasets

BU research, COVID-19, data management, pre-award, Research Centres

 

 

 

NIHR Research Design Service are pleased to offer the opportunity to attend the next in its series of ‘Researcher Road Shows’ – Using health and social care datasets in research: Practical advice to support your research journey. 

This event is taking place via Zoom and is aimed at all those seeking practical guidance on how to find, access and gain approvals to use health datasets, including early career researchers:

Monday 15 March, 10am to 2.30pm: ‘Lifting the Lid on Data – Meet the Data Custodians’

  • HQIP Datasets & top tips for accessing (Yvonne Silove)
  • NHS Digital Datasets & top tips for accessing (Garry Coleman)
  • Morning event close and details of this afternoon (Martin Williams)
  • GP Data (Kathryn Salt)
  • COVID-19 Data (Richard Irvine)

Wednesday 17 March, 10am to 2.30pm: ‘Navigating the system’

  • Research Approvals for Data-Driven Research (Alex Bailey)
  • Introducing the Innovation Gateway – the journey so far (Paola Quattroni & Peggy Barthes-Streit)
  • Recent Changes in Health Data Governance (Alex Bailey)
  • Innovation Gateway working session: from data discovery to access (Susheel Varma)

Find out more.

Your local branch of the NIHR RDS (Research Design Service) is based within the BU Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU)

We can help with your application. We advise on all aspects of developing an application and can review application drafts as well as put them to a mock funding panel (run by RDS South West) known as Project Review Committee, which is a fantastic opportunity for researchers to obtain a critical review of a proposed grant application before this is sent to a funding body.

Contact us as early as possible to benefit fully from the advice

Feel free to call us on 01202 961939 or send us an email.

Horizon Europe: Early Information on the Proposal Template

EU, pre-award

UKRO have recently provided some insights into expected Horizon Europe proposal templates.

The Horizon Europe (HEU) proposal templates are currently under development and have not been published yet. However, UKRO has obtained some information regarding the first version of the proposal template, which indicates that there will be several differences when compared with the Horizon 2020 proposal.

The first version of the draft application form for Innovation Action (IA) and Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) demonstrates strong continuity with the Horizon 2020 proposals. It maintains the online Part A for general, administrative and financial information, and Part B for the technical description of the research project – divided into three sections that reflect the Horizon Europe evaluation criteria: Excellence, Impact and Implementation.

According to UKRO, the modifications presented below are under consideration, however are not final and thus subject to further changes.

Part A

  • A new self-declaration on Gender Equality Plans (GEP) has been added; if the proposal is selected, having a GEP will be mandatory for public bodies, HEI and research organisations before signature of the grant agreement;
  • ‘Description of the individual members of the consortium’ has been moved from Part B (former Section 4);
  • For statistical reasons, more information on researchers involved in the proposal can be provided (e.g. gender, career stage, etc);
  • Minor changes to the ethics questions have been introduced (split into two parts: ‘Ethics and Security’); furthermore, a longer ‘Declarations’ list has been included;
  • The ‘Ethics self-assessment’ (narrative part) has been moved from Part B (former Section 5);
  • The ‘Open Data Management Pilot’ opt-out/in section has been removed; a Data Management Plan (DMP) will be a mandatory deliverable by month six of the project and must be covered in Part B together with Open Access practices;
  • The headings in the budget table have been renamed in line with the new financial provisions of Horizon Europe.

Part B

  • New 45-page limit for the title, list of participants and sections 1, 2 and 3 introduced (70 pages in Horizon 2020); former Section 4 (Members of consortium) and Section 5 (Ethics and security) have been moved to Part A;
  • Key elements of the award criteria used in evaluation process and indicative number of pages for each sub-heading have been added;
  • Section 1 “Excellence”: sub-headings have been rearranged and renamed; ‘Open Science practices’ must be described as an integral part of the methodology (with an obligatory Data Management Plan) and not only covered under the ‘Impact/dissemination’ part, as was the case in Horizon 2020;
  • Section 2 “Impact”: major changes to the content and layout are being proposed.
    • This section will now be composed of two sub-headings: ‘Project’s pathways towards impact’ and ‘Measures to maximise impact – Dissemination, exploitation and communication’, complemented by a ‘Summary canvas’ visualising links between the key Impact elements (needs/results/measures and target groups/outputs/impacts).
    • Moreover, new questions/guidance has been added on how to approach the Impact section (e.g. with relation to the Work Programme’s destinations and the topic’s expected outcomes, in terms of scientific, economic/technological and societal impacts) and on how to determine ‘the scale and significance of the project’s contribution to the expected outcomes and impacts’. The requirement to present a draft ‘Plan for dissemination and exploitation including communication activities’ remains and becomes a mandatory project deliverable by month six of the project (not at the periodic/final report stage).
    • If exploitation is expected primarily in non-associated third countries, applicants will need to justify the EU’s interest in the proposal. The draft template does not require a ‘business plan’ explicitly anymore (required for Innovation Actions in Horizon 2020), but where relevant, applicants must still outline the commercialisation path for their innovations in the Plan.
  • Section 3 “Quality and efficiency of the implementation”: the key change is a removal of a dedicated section on the ‘organisational structure and the decision-making mechanisms’; other sub-headings have been slightly rearranged and renamed into: ‘Work plan and resources’ and ‘Capacity of participants and consortium as a whole’; minor changes have been made to the ‘Implementation tables’ (e.g. more classification options for deliverables, dissemination activities and risks) and ‘Costs justification tables’, in line with budget headings (e.g. ‘purchase costs’).

The first HEU calls are expected to open in April after the EU Parliament formally adopts the Regulation establishing the programme.

Invitation to VIRTUAL STEAMlab

BU Challenges, BU research, Business Engagement, Events, Funding opportunities, Fusion, pre-award, RKE development framework

On Wednesday, 24 February 2021, BU’s Research, Support & Development Office will be hosting our very first, pilot Virtual STEAMlab (Science/Tech/Engineering/Arts/Maths lab) event under the aegis of the strategic investment area (SIA) of Animation, Simulation & Visualisation (ASV). It will also be the first of a series of 2-hour long virtual ASV STEAMlabs to be held in the course of 2021.

This first STEAMlab will introduce and address four core priority areas for the strategic development of ASV cross-faculty, multi-disciplinary collaborations across BU in conjunction with external partners. These 4 areas are:

Virtual Production

Digital Health

Environment in Crisis

Virtual Heritage

This first STEAMlab will focus on these ASV themes in break-out rooms to target specific funding opportunities.

The ideas generated at this event may also be used to help select colleagues for Scramble events at short notice.

Booking onto this event

To take part in this exciting opportunity, all participants should complete the ASV Virtual STEAMLab Application Form V2 and return this to Nicolette Barsdorf-Liebchen at nbliebchen@bournemouth.ac.uk by Friday, 5 February 2021.

By applying, you agree to attend for the full duration of the event on 24 February 2021, 1 – 3 pm. Places are strictly limited and you will be contacted to confirm your “virtual space” by 12 February 2021.

If you have any queries prior to submitting your application, please contact Nicolette Barsdorf-Liebchen.

 

The Brief

We’re seeking to come up with highly innovative and urgently required research which is ambitious in scope and will require a high level of expertise, commitment and funding. The research must address challenges in the above-mentioned areas, and seek to deploy BU’s considerable ASV expertise and assets.

In short, we anticipate the development of innovative, ground-breaking and ambitious projects which have the capacity to attract significant, high value funding from the public and private sectors.

Who should attend?

We welcome those who wish to contribute to having a positive impact through addressing these challenges, but in particular, we are specifically targeting the following:

  1. Those academics whose research aligns with one or more of these core areas, or whose research would benefit from the multidisciplinary, collaborative engagement supported by the ASV SIA;
  2. Who has experience of involvement in medium to large research projects, and finally;
  3. Who either has the capacity to lead as PI on ideas arising from the STEAMlab in a working group towards development of a substantial grant application of close to or above £1 million, or has the ambition, research track record and commitment to be involved in the same.

We will also be inviting relevant external attendees, such as digital technology companies, to contribute on the day.

Some Answers to your FAQs:

Do I need to do anything in advance?

No, you do not. During the STEAMLab, you’ll be guided through a process which results in the development of research ideas. The process facilitates creativity, potentially leading to grand, innovative and interdisciplinary research ideas. These ideas will be explored with other attendees, and further developed based on the feedback received.

 

What is the immediate objective?

The objective by the end of the STEAMlab is to have scoped some leading and grand ideas around which a working group or cluster can be formed to take forward towards the development of a large grant application.

What do I need to do afterwards?

Your project idea may be “oven-ready”, but it is more likely than not that, given the level of pioneering innovation sought, you/your group’s project idea/s will require some time to crystallise fully, and for the optimum partners to be found for the bidding consortium, and bringing to fruition a fully-fledged grant application. To this end, it is envisaged that you and your potential collaborators will be committed to meeting on a regular basis, with a firm timetable. Substantial administrative support will be available from both RDS as a whole and the ASV Research Facilitator, Dr Nicolette Barsdorf-Liebchen, to advance your project development and manage working groups.

What if my topic area is very specialised, within fields such as medical diagnostics or environmental science?

Your contribution will be very welcome! One of the main benefits of a STEAMlab event is to bring together individuals with a range of backgrounds and specialisms who are able to see things just that bit differently to one another.

RKEDF: Research Training Events on Wednesday

BU research, ECR Network, Funding opportunities, Guidance, international, pre-award, Research Training

The following events are coming up on Wednesday this week. These are all online events, and it’s not too late to book!

Wednesday 3rd February 10:00 – 12:00

Developing a Search Strategy

Fundamentals of database searching, citations and library resources
Wednesday 3rd February 13:00 – 15:00

Introduction to EndNote Desktop Research Tool

How to manage your search results and build a library of references using EndNote Desktop and Word. (Some IT set up may be required in advance.)

 
Wednesday 3rd February 12:00 – 13:00

National Institute of Health (US)

This is the theme for this week’s Funding Development Briefing.

To book, please email OD@bournemouth.ac.uk with evidence of approval from your Head of Department or Deputy Head of Department.

You can see all the Organisational Development and Research Knowledge Development Framework (RKEDF) events in one place on the handy calendar of events.

If you have any queries, please get in touch!

Horizon Europe – Clusters for Collaborative Research Projects

EU, pre-award

This is another post related to UK’s participation in EU Horizon Europe (HE) Framework Programme.

As mentioned earlier, based on UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the UK will be HE Associated Country. This association will ensure that UK and EU entities participate in Horizon Europe Programme on equivalent terms.

Similarly as for previous EU Framework Programme Horizon 2020, research activities in Horizon Europe are structured under 3 pillars. However, there are some differences; as they say – ‘no revolution but evolution’:

  • Pillar 1 – Excellent Science
  • Pillar 2 – Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
  • Pillar 3 – Innovative Europe

In the picture above, you can see that all themes we knew as ‘Societal Challenges’ in Horizon 2020 have been moved under Pillar 2 and integrated with ICT, NMBP and space topics – this seems to be the major change; there are more, however I will leave them unexplored for now.

So, most of collaborative research projects BU academics may be interested in lay under the second pillar in Horizon Europe. Those are grouped in clusters and Work Programmes for each of these clusters have been drafted.

I will continue these series of blog posts about HE providing more details regarding topics and expected opening of HE calls (first calls are expected to be open in March/April).

There will be funding briefing for BU academics on Wednesday 3 February at 12pm led by RDS Research Facilitators.

This week’s spotlight topic will be MSCA Individual Fellowships. It should be useful for those academics who wish to submit applications this year and also those who are not familiar with MSCA funding scheme. Feel free to join this weekly event on MS Teams.

Just as a reminder – with enquiries regarding international funding opportunities and questions related to EU, especially Horizon Europe, funding contact me – Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums.