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New Research Council Development Scheme – membership open

BU is introducing a new Research Council Development scheme which is a coordinated, targeted set of activities designed to inspire and equip BU researchers to achieve greater success with Research Council funding.

The aim is to:

  • Increase awareness of the Research Councils opportunities
  • Equip researchers with the confidence and skills to apply for the Research Councils funding in line with their career stage
  • Fast-track the development of a portfolio of proposals by facilitating proposal writing, setting next steps and allocating support

Due to the wide range of opportunities offered by Research Councils, the RCDS will feature a range of activities which may be generic in scope or targeted to a cohort as follows.

  • E cohort – early career researchers and those new to Research Councils (learning aims: first grants, fellowships, general mind-set and approach)
  • M cohort – mid-career researchers and those with some Research Councils experience (learning aims: project leadership and moving up to larger grants/collaborations)
  • P cohort – professorial level and those with significant Research Council experience (learning aims: high value, strategic and longer-larger funding)

As the RCDS is being piloted, this first cohort will have access to the ‘gold standard’ of a mix of development activities:

  • As a group and within targeted cohorts: training, workshops, structured proposal writing sessions and opportunities to build peer-to-peer support.
  • 1:1 support for scoping/identifying funding streams and planning/starting proposals.
  • Hands-on work to develop proposals through the scheme, including bid surgeries.

We will evaluate what’s been offered after the first pilot and tailor the requirement for future cohorts. The criteria for membership, expectations of membership, and the training and development timetable for the pilot of the RCDS can be found in the scheme document. Those wanting to participate in this great opportunity will need to submit an expression of interest to: researchdev@bournemouth.ac.uk stating:

  • Why they are applying to the RCDS
  • What (if any) Research Council Bidding experience they have to date
  • Which targeted cohort they consider themselves to be in: E, M or P
  • Do they have a funding proposal in development? If so, to provide details of the proposal (this is not essential to be a member)

Please submit your expression of interest by 9th February 2018. RKEO will then send a membership agreement form to potential members, where they will agree to attend the training sessions and submit proposals to the research councils. At this stage, potential members will need to seek approval from their line manager and Faculty DDRPP.

Please read through the Scheme document and if any clarification is required then contact Jo Garrad, Funding Development Manager, RKEO. This pilot is a fantastic opportunity to accelerate your research council funding track record.

Doctoral College: Researcher Development Programme

The Doctoral College would like to present the Febraury monthly update.

This monthly update is for PGRs and their supervisors to outline upcoming research skills and development opportunities including events, workshops and networking opportunities supported by the Doctoral College. In this update we would like to promote the 3 Minute Thesis (3MT®) event, R.E.D talks, the Researcher Development Programme for 2017-18, and the 10th Annual Postgraduate Conference.

We are very happy to announce that registration for the 10th Annual Postgraduate Conference is still open. To book onto the conference please go to the Researcher Development Hub on the website. These exciting development opportunities are taking place now so check out our application processes and booking information to advance your current skills, knowledge and networks.

Don’t forget to check out the Doctoral College Facebook page

Multi-million pound funding opportunities from Innovate UK

 

 

Innovate UK has millions of pounds to invest in innovative UK businesses up to April 2018. Please see an overview below:

Emerging and enabling technologies and health and life sciences

Up to £19 million will be invested to support productivity and cutting-edge innovation across these 2 industry sectors.

Find out more about this competition.

Open programme

A share of up to £19 million will be available for game-changing or disruptive innovations that have the potential to impact the UK economy.

Projects may come from an Innovate UK industry sector – emerging and enabling technologieshealth and life sciencesinfrastructure systems and manufacturing and materials – or be outside of them.

Biomedical catalyst

This first biomedical catalyst competition of 2018 will offer up to £12million to SMEs working on projects solving healthcare challenges and these include:

  • disease prevention and proactive management of health and chronic conditions
  • earlier and better detection and diagnosis of disease, leading to better patient outcomes
  • tailored treatments that either change the underlying disease or offer potential cures

Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund: Faraday Battery Challenge

The Faraday Battery Challenge supports the design, development and manufacture of batteries for the electrification of vehicles as part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

Find out more about this competition.

Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund: robotics

Up to £20 million will be available in this competition. It is being funded as part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund for robotics and artificial intelligence in extreme environments.

Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund: medicines manufacturing

Innovate UK is investing up to £10 million in innovation projects in medicines manufacturing through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

Collaborative research and development projects with focus on the technical and commercial challenges of manufacturing new medicines are sought.

New opportunities will be published on the Innovation Funding Service as and when they are available. Search for funding.

Sign up for Innovate UK’s newsletter or email alerts to get the latest news and funding competitions.

Research Professional – all you need to know

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. The Funding Development Team Officers can assist you with this, if required.

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:

27th February 2018

27th March 2018

24th April 2018

22nd May 2018

26th June 2018

24th July 2018

28th August 2018

25th September 2018

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.

Have you noticed a new box appear on the BU Research Blog homepage?

By clicking on this box, on the left of the Research Blog home page just under the text ‘Funding Opportunities‘, you access a Research Professional real-time search of the calls announced by the Major UK Funders. Use this feature to stay up to date with funding calls. Please note that you will have to be on campus or connecting to your desktop via our VPN to fully access this service.

RKEDF Event – Applying for Funding from the NIHR; an Overview of the Schemes Available 16th May 2018

 

As part of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework, RKEO are holding a session on an Overview of NIHR Funding Schemes Available.

This session will provide detailed information about NIHR’s funding programmes including the Public Health Research, Invention for Innovation, Health Technology Assessment, Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation, and Health Services and Delivery Research schemes. The session will cover the remits, application processes and tips for success to these programmes.

We are delighted to welcome the following speakers:

  • Dr Ruth Nebauer, Assistant Director of i4i programme
  • Andrew Cook, Consultant in Public Health Medicine and Fellow in Health Technology Assessment

Date: 16th May 2018

Time: 12-2pm

Venue: Talbot Campus

The session is open to all academics, researchers and clinicians who have an interest in applying to the NIHR.

Please book your space through Eventbrite.

The NIHR is the UK’s major funder of applied health research. All of the research it funds works towards improving the health and wealth of the nation.

RKEO Calendar survey – extended to 4 February

Thank you to those who have responded to date. We would still like to hear from more of you on your thoughts on the RKEO calendar and so have extended the closing date for the survey.

It’s been four months since the 2017-18 RKEO calendar landed on your desk.  The calendar contains all of the events that RKEO arrange, major funder call closing dates, information on various research schemes, and other activities that will be of interest to academics.

The Research & Knowledge Exchange Office would like your feedback on the calendar before deciding on whether to create next year’s.

Tell us what you think by completing our short survey . All entrants names will be entered into a draw and one lucky person will receive an RKEO goodie bag. For the six who have already entered, please can you contact Jo Garrad if you wish to be entered into the prize draw?  I have now added the option to include your name on the survey for any new entrants (survey Bobby basics).  If there are any academics out there who didn’t get a calendar and would like one, we still have a handful left and so do get in touch.

The extended deadline date is 4 February.

Dig for…eco toilets!

Over the last week, the ‘Sustainable Green Toilet Project’ has begun in Kenya, where excavations have been completed and foundations are now being built. Bournemouth University Research Associate Katie Thompson from the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences (SciTech) is working alongside ACEF (Akamba Children’s Education Fund) charity volunteers and this plumber Sydney to build the new toilet facility for 800 school children who attend and live at the Brainhouse Academy, in Nairobi, Kenya.

The newer, cleaner toilet facilities will feature a bio digester energy recovery system producing biogas for the school and liquid fertiliser. Innovative research will also be investigated into at this location, including utilising energy from microbial life forms to generate electricity.  Katie and the students  will be travelling to Kenya in March this year to continue to work on the project.  Their work is part of the re-designed Wessex Portal  http://www.wessexportal.co.uk/

If you would like to know more about the project and keep up to date with any progress, then follow our blog via: www.wessexportal.co.uk or contact Katie Thompson on thompsonk@bournemouth.ac.uk or Genoveva Esteban gesteban@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Manufacturing a Brave New World

Following the success of our inaugural 2017 Conference held at the University of Glasgow, this year’s conference will be hosted at Newcastle University on Tuesday 26 and Wednesday 27 June 2018.

The Conference Organising Committee is delighted to invite submission of abstracts for poster presentations. Please refer to call for abstracts final  https://connectedeverything.ac.uk/activities/conference-2018/ for abstracts for further information.

Submissions should be made via https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=connectedeverything2018.

Poole Marine Hub Focus Group

Poole is a key marine hub on the South Coast of England. Home to the Port of Poole, a major regional asset, and major actors such as Sunseeker International, the RNLI and Wärtsilä, the town also counts an array of marine-related organisations in a variety of business activities.

Purpose of the focus group was a Review of the Scope of the Marine and Maritime Economy
Roundtable discussions addressed:
– Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats for the marine and maritime industries on a local, national and international scale
– What should the priorities of the Poole Marine Hub be: short, medium, long term

Stakeholders include Actisense, Aish Technologies, Borough of Poole, Bournemouth & Poole College, British Marine, Brittany Ferries, Condor Ferries, Jenkins Marine, Local Nature Partnership, National Trust, Poole Harbour, Poole Harbour Study Group/ Southern IFCACommissioner, Poole Harbour Study Group/ Southern IFCA, RNLI, Rockley Park, Royal Navy, Sunseeker, Poole Museum and Perenco/ Wytch Farm.

Bournemouth University was represented by Professors Jens Holscher, Nigel Jump, Sangeeta Khorana and Associate Professor Davide Parrilli.

ECR Highlight Notice in the AHRC Leadership Fellowships scheme

RCUK has received funding through the National Productivity Investment Fund to develop a fellowship programme targeted at early career researchers (ECRs). These fellowships will be a step change in the support provided by the Research Councils to the research leaders of the future, enabling some of the UK’s most talented researchers to undertake major new innovation orientated, intellectual endeavours.

Applications of up to £250k (fEC) are invited through a highlight notice in the Leadership Fellows Scheme. The RCUK/UKRI Innovation Fellowships will allow ECRs to explore interdisciplinary research challenges and partnerships to the economic benefit of the UK.

For this highlight notice some of the eligibility of the Leadership Fellows Scheme has been waived and so it is important to read the FAQ and call documents before applying.

There are three thematic strands under which applications can be made

  1. Creative and Digital Economy Innovation Leadership Fellows
  2. Inter-disciplinary Interface Innovation Leadership Fellows
  3. Rutherford Fund Fellows- specifically aimed at non UK applicants.

Applicants should apply under the strand which most strongly reflects their research focus and their own circumstances.

For the Rutherford Fellows the proposed research will need to fall within the scope of one of the other strands (a or b).

Closing Dates

Closing Date: 31/05/2018

Applications to the highlight notice can be submitted no later than 4pm on Thursday 31st May 2018.  Applications will need to go through the appropriate institution submission process. Applications should be submitted using the Research Councils’ Joint electronic Submission (Je-S) System (https://jes.rcuk.ac.uk/).  If you are interested in applying, please inform your RKEO Funding Development Officer in the first instance.

How to make an application

To meet the aims of the UKRI Innovation Fellowship Scheme, there are some modifications to the standard AHRC Leadership Fellows (ECR route) scheme which applicants need to consider and these are outlined in the call document. All other requirements are as normal for early career AHRC Leadership Fellows, as specified in the AHRC Research Funding Guide.

Further Information

Contacts

Gillian Gray Portfolio Manager g.gray@ahrc.ac.uk

James Dracott Strategy and Development Manger j.dracott@ahrc.ac.uk

AHRC Next Generation Design Workshops – open for booking

Led by Professor Paul Rodgers, the AHRC’s Design Leadership Fellow, the Next Generation Design Research workshops have been created to help you to understand what funding the AHRC currently offers and how to best prepare your AHRC funding application.

On the day, there will be opportunities to meet with past and present AHRC design research award holders and network with other Early Career Researchers.
AHRC’s Next Generation Design Research workshops are half-day workshops that will explore the processes involved in applying for an AHRC grant. See below for upcoming workshops around the country.

 

Manchester

 

Manchester Metropolitan University

Lecture Theatre 5

Geoffrey Manton Building

Manchester

M15 6LL

Wed 31 January 2018

13:00 – 17:00 GMT

Book Now

Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh

Project Room 1.06

50 George Square

Edinburgh

EH8 9LH

Mon 12 February 2018

13:00 – 17:00 GMT

Book Now

Glasgow

 

The Art School

20 Scott Street

Glasgow

G3 6PE

Wed 14 February 2018

13:00 – 17:00 GMT

Book Now

New pilot Research Council Development scheme – membership open

BU is introducing a new Research Council Development scheme which is a coordinated, targeted set of activities designed to inspire and equip BU researchers to achieve greater success with Research Council funding.

The aim is to:

  • Increase awareness of the Research Councils opportunities
  • Equip researchers with the confidence and skills to apply for the Research Councils funding in line with their career stage
  • Fast-track the development of a portfolio of proposals by facilitating proposal writing, setting next steps and allocating support

Due to the wide range of opportunities offered by Research Councils, the RCDS will feature a range of activities which may be generic in scope or targeted to a cohort as follows.

  • E cohort – early career researchers and those new to Research Councils (learning aims: first grants, fellowships, general mind-set and approach)
  • M cohort – mid-career researchers and those with some Research Councils experience (learning aims: project leadership and moving up to larger grants/collaborations)
  • P cohort – professorial level and those with significant Research Council experience (learning aims: high value, strategic and longer-larger funding)

As the RCDS is being piloted, this first cohort will have access to the ‘gold standard’ of a mix of development activities:

  • As a group and within targeted cohorts: training, workshops, structured proposal writing sessions and opportunities to build peer-to-peer support.
  • 1:1 support for scoping/identifying funding streams and planning/starting proposals.
  • Hands-on work to develop proposals through the scheme, including bid surgeries.

We will evaluate what’s been offered after the first pilot and tailor the requirement for future cohorts. The criteria for membership, expectations of membership, and the training and development timetable for the pilot of the RCDS can be found in the scheme document. Those wanting to participate in this great opportunity will need to submit an expression of interest to: researchdev@bournemouth.ac.uk stating:

  • Why they are applying to the RCDS
  • What (if any) Research Council Bidding experience they have to date
  • Which targeted cohort they consider themselves to be in: E, M or P
  • Do they have a funding proposal in development? If so, to provide details of the proposal (this is not essential to be a member)

Please submit your expression of interest by 9th February 2018. RKEO will then send a membership agreement form to potential members, where they will agree to attend the training sessions and submit proposals to the research councils. At this stage, potential members will need to seek approval from their line manager and Faculty DDRPP.

Please read through the Scheme document and if any clarification is required then contact Jo Garrad, Funding Development Manager, RKEO. This pilot is a fantastic opportunity to accelerate your research council funding track record.

 

 

The Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework is changing!

To enhance the researcher development workshops available to BU’s academics, the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office is making some changes to the Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework (RKEDF), in consultation with senior faculty staff.

BU academics wishing to find out more about these exciting developments should refer to their internal Faculty Blogs for more details.

Make sure that you don’t miss out on these career-enhancing opportunities!