BU Research Blog

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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.