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“Now that’s what I call research!” a user’s guide

Festival of Learning

bucru identity

“Now that’s what I call research!”

July 15th 3.30-5 pm Lees Lecture Theatre, Talbot Campus

As part of BU’s Festival of Learning, our event aims to show how members of the public play an important part in shaping research and making sure the research we do is on track to make a difference to NHS service users.

Based on BBC’s Dragons Den, 3 local researchers will pitch a research idea to a panel of dragons who will quiz them about their project and why it should be funded. We will discuss:

  • Inflatable boot or plaster of Paris – what’s the best way to treat a broken ankle?
  • Epidural simulation – can technology help doctors practice their skills?
  • Cancer treatment and damage to the nervous system – what’s the link?

You don’t need any specialised knowledge to attend – just an interest in how good research ideas get off the ground and get funded. As a member of the audience you will be given an opportunity to ask your own questions and you will have a vote too so you can help decide which idea should be funded.

The event is free of charge but you do need to register https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/date/167522 or call the Festival of Learning Box office on: 01202 962362

Please forward to those who may be interested in attending.

Funding available to support the commercialisation of ideas arising from that NERC-funded research

Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange

Announcement of Opportunity

 The Follow-on Fund is a ‘proof of concept’ fund to support the commercialisation of ideas arising from that NERC-funded research.

This funding picks up where research programme and discovery science (responsive mode) grants leave off and enables those research outputs to be further developed so their commercial potential can be realised.

Examples of activities funded include technology licensing, launching technology-based products or services, selling know-how based consultancy services, and the commercialisation of NERC-funded datasets. Proposals are invited for projects pursuing any of these approaches or, indeed, others.

The Follow-on Fund will open on 14 July 2015 and close on 22 October 2015.  This call will allow proposals for up to £125k at 100% FEC (£100k NERC contribution at 80% FEC) for up to 12 months, starting in April 2016.

For further information: http://www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/available/schemes/followon/

 

Unravelling an Egyptian enigma

Hyksos palace

As much as ancient Egypt has a mysterious appeal and immediately evokes names of famous pharaohs and cities that we seem so familiar with, there are entire periods of Egyptian history that are still little understood. Thanks to a new research grant from the European Research Council, Professor Holger Schutkowski at Bournemouth University will be working with researchers all over Europe to investigate this little-known period of history.

During the 2nd Intermediate Period, about 3600 years ago, between the Middle and New Kingdoms, when Egypt was ruled by various dynasties in different parts of the Empire. One of these, the so-called Hyksos (Greek rendering for ‘Rulers of foreign lands’) established their rule in the eastern part of the Nile Delta from c. 1640 to 1530 BC. Little is known about this people from contemporary texts, so that important questions, e.g. about their provenance, their rise, influence, and eventual demise, so far could not be answered in any great detail. This may very well change, since excavations in the eastern delta, especially at Tell el-Dab’a/Avaris, the ancient capital of the Hyksos empire, have discovered urban settlements, palaces, tombs, temples, as well as enormous quantities of material culture and skeletal remains that can be attributed to the carriers of the Hyksos rule and their predecessors.

The European Research Council has now awarded an advanced grant worth more than €2.4 M, jointly hosted by the Austrian Academy of Sciences and Bournemouth University, which aims to find conclusive explanations for the origin, impact and legacy of this largely enigmatic phenomenon of Egyptian history, based on the wealth of new evidence discovered over the last decades.

A combination of archaeological, historical, theoretical and analytical sciences will provide a novel and holistic approach to understanding the role of the Hyksos and how they shaped the history of the 2nd millennium BC in the Near East. For Bournemouth it will be a great privilege to work with Prof Manfred Bietak from the Academy in Vienna, project lead and eminent scholar of Egyptology, and the foremost expert on the Hyksos. Bournemouth’s contributions to the project will encompass all bioarchaeological research, in particular anthropological investigations, stable isotope and aDNA analyses, led by Holger Schutkowski from the Department of Archaeology, Anthropology and Forensic Science in the Faculty of Science and Technology.

Leisure Studies Association Annual International Conference 7th-9th July Kimmeridge House

 

The Faculty of Managament are holding this significant international conference from today 7th July to Thursday 9th July. Some 90 delegates from over 12 countries will be in attendance and with 4 excellent Key Note speakers and 80 parallel papers the conference is set to be exciting and illuminating. The conference programme can be found at https://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/lsa-2015/

Workshop Metastable Dynamics of Neural Ensembles Underlying Cognition

Is the traditional view on cortical activity dynamics, in which the cognitive flow of information wanders through multiple attractor states driven by task-dependent inputs, still a valid model? This picture has been recently challenged both empirically and from the modelling perspective.

The interpretation of the collective dynamics of neuronal assemblies underlying perception and cognitive processing is a very active debate, touching the essence of our understanding of neural computation, and hence one of the most exciting topics in neuroscience. This workshop will address a range of modelling and data analysis approaches which focus on metastable nonlinear dynamics underlying perceptual and cognitive functions in cortex.

The workshop will take Place in Prague, on the 23rd of July of 2015 in the context of the 23rd Computational Neuroscience Meeting; and will have the participation of some of the world-leading scientists in the area. Please find more information in the following link: https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/2015/03/metastable-dynamics-of-neural-ensembles-underlying-cognition-workshop/

Who is doing what in the EU?

I love reading about research and one of the publications that is on my lunch-time reading list is research*EU. This publication brings together short summaries of projects funded by the EU. One thing which often comes to mind is how often I see research that is relevant to BU’s research areas. Each of the summaries has a link to the CORDIS (Community Research and Development Information Service) record for the project which gives access to publicly available reports, articles and, importantly, the project partners. As of July 2015, this now includes information regarding Horizon 2020 projects.

June researcheuHere are some examples from the current edition, with a focus on Seas and Oceans: Studying earth’s final frontier, that are relevant to BU:

  • ARROWS: ARchaeological RObot systems for the World’s Seas –  CORDIS / Project Website
  • REMPARK: empowering patients and improving treatment of Parkinson’s disease – CORDIS / Project Website
  • POVCON: Poverty in the face of conflict – CORDIS
  • INTERMODAL BIKE: Multi-modal integration of cycling mobility through product and process innovations in bicycle design – CORDIS / Project Website
  • FISHMETABOLOME: Fishing for markers of effluent exposure using metabolomics CORDIS
  • METIS2020: Mobile and wireless communications Enablers for Twenty-twenty (2020) Information Society – CORDIS / Project Website

Why not take a look at projects on CORDIS so that you can focus your academic network development on the key players in your field? Can you take a project forward to the next level?

CORDIS is not just a record of existing projects, though. You can also search for partners, advertise your area of expertise to others or find partners in a particular location. There is also a News and Events section for you to explore.

You can find out more about CORDIS via YouTube videos:

 

 

 

 

 

Funding Opportunities

money bucketMedical Research Council, GB

Radiation oncology and biology

While the MRC already supports some research in this area, we wish to encourage a wider range of applications relevant to medical research. Research proposals may cover the spectrum of research from studies that explore important cellular and molecular mechanisms, through to more translational medical research that would underpin the development of new health interventions.

The MRC would particularly welcome applications on the following topics:

  • Improving the therapeutic effects of radiation in the treatment of cancer, including but not limited to combining radiation with drugs and biological agents, interactions with the tumour microenvironment, scheduling, and biomarkers of response.
  • Studies of approaches to improve long term health and minimise morbidity after radiation exposure, including radiotherapy treatment.
  • Understanding the fundamental processes associated with radiation injury from initial damage to pathogenesis, at the molecular, cellular, tissue and organ levels.
  • Research into the pathways involved in radiation carcinogenesis including, but not limited to, DNA damage signalling and repair, individual susceptibility and gene-environment interactions.
  • Development of novel biological approaches from radioprotection to treatment of radiation toxicity.

Applications are considered in competition with other applications received, but the Board/Panel will take into account the need for enhanced investment in this area.

Applications should be submitted to the relevant research board or panel in accordance with our standard deadlines. Applications that extend beyond a core health focus can be funded in partnership with BBSRC and EPSRC.

Cross-Council applications will be assigned a lead Council, which will draw on expertise from across Councils to take a single funding decision.

 

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, GB

Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Intelligent Automation feasibility studies

Up to £20,000 available for feasibility study projects to further broaden the knowledge base in intelligent automation within the manufacturing industry.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, under the Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Intelligent Automation, invites proposals for feasibility studies. Funding enables academic staff to undertake feasibility studies to broaden the knowledge base in intelligent automation.

Studies should aim to identify and develop ideas and approaches from other disciplines that can be applied to novel intelligent automation systems. A particular focus is on developing research areas that have not been applied widely within the manufacturing domain before. Possible areas may include the following: psychology; service robotics; computer science and artificial intelligence; soft robotics; 3D machine vision.

Funding available The maximum funding available for each feasibility study is £20,000. Grants will normally be of a maximum of six months duration. The studies are being funded at 80% fEC i.e. if your bid is successful you will gain a maximum of £20,000. Equipment The funding is intended to cover the costs of the PI and support staff in the completion of the feasibility study. Estates/indirects, consumables or equipment costs are not included in the grant. Any additional support you may need could be through matched funding. Eligibility All academic staff at UK Universities and associated Research Institutions who are able to hold a UK Research Council grant as Principle Investigator are eligible to apply.

Closing Date: 28th July 2015

 

Innovate UK, GB

Virtual and augmented reality contest

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are exciting technologies at an early stage of development. We are looking to provide support to businesses that want to apply these technologies in new and untested areas. Innovate UK is offering up to six businesses a maximum of £35,000 each to encourage innovation around VR/AR across the themes of music, retail, healthcare, education, construction and tactile technology.
The recent re-emergence of VR and AR has caused enormous excitement across a wide range of sectors.  The application of such technologies – not just for entertainment or information-sharing, but also in more technical and industrial contexts – offers users entirely new ways of perceiving and interacting with the digital world.  Through our IC tomorrow programme, we are looking for proposals from companies with innovative digital ideas relevant to developing these immersive technologies.  The companies will not only benefit from funding, but also the opportunity to collaborate with commercial partners  to accelerate development of their technologies. We want to see solutions with potential appeal to a wide commercial market. Successful applicants will be expected to trial their proposed solutions with their industry partners for at least three months.
  • trial your technology with major industry players while keeping your intellectual property
  • secure up to £35,000 to develop your solution
  • receive promotion, support and advice to speed up the commercialisation of your solution.

Closing Date: 18th August 2015

 

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, GB

Healthcare technologies grand challenges – NetworksPlus

The Healthcare Technologies Theme has recently announced a new long term strategy. To support this challenge-led approachEPSRC invites applications for NetworkPlus proposals that seek to establish new research communities around one of the Healthcare Technologies Grand Challenges.

The aims of the NetworkPlus awards are to:

  • Bring together experts from across all relevant research areas, with particular focus on those in engineering and physical sciences.
  • Bring focus to the relevant challenge area and identify new research strategies and opportunities for addressing the challenge.
  • Engage with interested users of research, including business, clinicians, patient groups and policy makers, to shape future research directions.
  • Identify and address the barriers to achieving the challenge.
  • Initiate preliminary or feasibility research to tackle the challenge.
  • To be collaborative rather than competitive in nature and work together where appropriate (e.g. joint events).

Networks are intended to be UK-wide and must have representation from several disciplines and institutions. It is essential that user engagement is considered in the wider network membership. Each proposal must explain the fit to the chosen challenge area and demonstrate evidence of how they will connect with on-going excellent research in the UK to grow and develop the network.

Peer review for this call will consist of a multi-stage process. Applicants should submit an Intention to Submit by 08 September 2015; those who have not submitted an intention to submit will be ineligible for this call. The closing time and date for full proposals is16:00 on 06 October 2015.

 

Economic and Social Research Council, GB

UK in a changing Europe senior fellowships

We are inviting proposals from senior UK based academics for Fellowships as part of the Council’s initiative on the UK in a Changing Europe. The aim of the Fellowship programme is to provide evidence and analysis across the broad range of issues and policy areas affected by the UK’s position in a changing European Union (EU).

The initiative will focus on the implications of changes in governance, policies and social and political attitudes within both the EU and the UK and the implications of these for the UK-EU relationship. Within that broad remit, it is planned to focus mainly, though not exclusively, on the following broad areas:

  • Foreign and security policy
  • Banking and financial services
  • Social policies
  • The impact of EU law

We anticipate supporting up to six fellows, dependent on quality of the proposals. The maximum amount available for each Fellowship is £200,000 at 100 per cent full economic cost (fEC) of which ESRC will pay up to 80 per cent and the host institutions is expected to support the remaining 20 per cent. Projects are expected to last for a maximum of 12 months in the first instance with the possibility of extension, subject to negotiation with individual fellows. Over the course of the grant the fellows on average will be expected to contribute at least 40 per cent of their time. Fellowships will be expected to start from January 2016. The closing date for proposals is 16.00 on 10 September 2015. Shortlisted applicants will be required to attend an interview in London during the week commencing 2 November 2015 (date to be confirmed), applicants must therefore be available for interview this particular week.

Appointed Senior Fellows will be required to work closely with the initiative Director Professor Anand Menon, Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at Kings College London. Potential applicants are strongly advised to familiarise themselves with the Executive summaries from the scoping reports.

 

Innovate UK, GB and other funders

Malaysia-UK research and innovation bridges competition

Innovate UK, Research Councils UK (RCUK) and the Malaysia Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT) are to invest up to £14.4 million in collaborative research and development projects to stimulate innovation in response to Malaysia’s urbanisation challenges.
This competition focuses on finding new commercial solutions to challenges that Malaysia is facing as climate change increasingly impacts upon its cities and its urbanisation trajectory, with the solutions expected to emerge through the translation of existing, excellent research.
The aim of the competition is to bring together companies (small-to-medium-sized companies and/or larger businesses), research and technology organisations, academics, public sector bodies and charities from Malaysia and the UK for the joint industrial research to develop innovative products, processes or services that meet critical challenges existing within the following five sectors:
  • health and well-being
  • improving environmental resilience and energy security
  • future cities
  • agritech (used to solve explicit urban food and nutrition issues)
  • digital, innovation and creativity
This investment from the UK side has been made possible through the UK Department of Business, Innovation and Skills-managed Newton Fund: www.newtonfund.ac.uk.  The goal of this competition is to find innovative solutions, through a collaborative consortium-driven approach. The principal market a project must consider is Malaysia. Projects must be collaborative, involving both UK and Malaysian participants. There must be a minimum of one UK business, one UK research organisation, one Malaysian business and one Malaysian research organisation in each project.
On the UK side, projects can be business-led or research organisation-led, and should preferably involve other non-business partners. The lead partner should be able to demonstrate a clear route to commercialisation of the proposed product/s or service/s, and should have a primary focus on the translation of research and/or knowledge. Given the heavy focus on translation of research, research organisations’ participation can be up to 50% of total project costs. Small or micro businesses could receive up to 70% of their eligible project costs, medium-sized businesses 60% and large businesses 50%.
For each project we expect the total UK and total Malaysian participant project costs to be £1m-£1.75m on each side, although we would consider projects outside of this range. Projects should last 24-34 months.
The competition involves a two-stage application process.  This competition opens on 30 June 2015.
Applicants must register by noon UK time 30 September 2015. The deadline for expressions of interest is at noon UK time on 7 October 2015.

Innovation projects

The specific aim of the Innovation Projects Open Call is to increase and accelerate the uptake and impact of NERC funded research outputs by supporting translational and knowledge exchange activity which delivers direct tangible and demonstrable benefits to end users, particularly businesses. Funds will be used to support projects which focus upon generating user applicable outputs from past and/or current NERC supported research and which translates them into outcomes that achieve impact. Since the strength of the relationship between end-users and researchers is often what underpins the likelihood of success of any translational and knowledge exchange activity, it is essential that end-users are involved in both the development and delivery of proposals.

The Innovation Projects Open call will not fund commercialisation work (please see the Follow on Fund) or research (please see other NERC funding).

Applications should fall within the NERC science remit and the science the work builds on must have been funded by NERC.

The Innovation Projects call is open to applicants based in:

  • UK higher education institutions (HEIs)
  • NERC research centres
  • independent research organisations (IROs) approved by NERC.

Deadline information Applications are invited between 14 July and 5pm, 22 October 2015.

 

Department of Health including NIHR, GB and other funders

Efficacy and mechanism evaluation programme – researcher-led workstream

The remit of the EME Programme includes clinical trials and evaluative studies of novel and repurposed interventions.  The term intervention is meant in the broadest sense and includes any method used to promote health, prevent and treat disease and improve rehabilitation or long-term care.

We support studies in patients which seek to:

  • evaluate clinical efficacy of interventions (where proof of concept in humans has already been achieved);
  • add significantly to our understanding of biological or behavioural mechanisms and processes;
  • explore new scientific or clinical principles;
  • include the development or testing of new methodologies.

The EME Programme WILL support:

  • research which seeks to determine definitive proof of clinical efficacy and size of effect, safety and possibly effectiveness;
  • studies that use validated surrogate markers as indicators of health outcome;
  • laboratory based, or similar, studies that are embedded within the main study, if relevant to the remit of the EME Programme;
  • pilot and feasibility studies where the later main study would be within the remit of the EME programme.

The EME Programme WILL NOT support:

  • confirmatory studies or trials of incremental modifications and refinements to existing medical interventions;
  • proof of concept, proof of mechanism in humans, nor ‘confidence in effect’ studies;
  • research into ‘global health’, where ‘global health’ can be defined as ‘areas where the health need is identified in developing countries (i.e. including diseases of developing countries), or where the health need does not yet exist in the UK but might in the future and the problem can be best addressed in developing countries;
  • research involving animals (funding is focused on clinical and applied health and care research. The EME Programme therefore does not itself fund basic research or work involving animals and/or animal tissue. See the NIHR research page for more information).

Closing Date: 10th November 2015.

 

BU process for selecting applications to NERC Standard Grant call – Expressions of Interest due

Funding opportunities, Guidance

nerc-logo-50thNERC introduced demand management measures in 2012. These were revised in 2015 to reduce the number and size of applications from research organisations for NERC’s discovery science standard grant scheme. Full details can be found in the BU policy document for NERC demand management measures.

As at March 2015, BU has been capped at one application per standard grant round. The measures only apply to NERC standard grants (including new investigators). An application counts towards an organisation, where the organisation is applying as the grant holding organisation (of the lead or component grant). This will be the organisation of the Principal Investigator of the lead or component grant.

BU process

As a result, BU has introduced a process for determining which application will be submitted to each NERC Standard Grant round. This will take the form of an internal competition, which will include peer review.  An Expression of Interest for NERC Standard Grant call (EoI) form will need to be completed.  The next available standard grant round is January 2016. The process for selecting an application for this round will be as follows:

NERC1NERC2

 NERC have advised that where a research organisation submits more applications to any round than allowed under the cap, NERC will office-reject any excess applications, based purely on the time of submission through the Je-S system (last submitted = first rejected). However, as RKEO submit applications through Je-S on behalf of NERC applicants, RKEO will not submit any applications that do not have prior agreement from the internal competition.

Appeals process

If an EoI is not selected to be submitted as an application, the Principal Investigator can appeal to Professor Tim McIntyre-Bhatty, Deputy Vice-Chancellor. Any appeals must be submitted within ten working days of the original decision. All appeals will be considered within ten working days of receipt.

RKEO Contacts

Please contact Jennifer Roddis, RKEO Research Facilitator – jroddis@bournemouth.ac.uk or Jo Garrad, RKEO Funding Development Manager – jgarrad@bournemouth.ac.uk if you wish to submit an expression of interest.

Come to the Impact by Design creative networking event, on 11th July

pecha-kucha-logo (2)Do you want to meet creative people, exchange ideas, create new ones, and find people to work with? Then come along to BU’s Impact by Design event! Presentations will be in a PechaKucha style which provides a conversation starter, a networking opportunity, and an informal night for people to come together, share and draw inspiration. And just as crucially, it’s a brilliant night out! The key to PechaKucha Night is its patented democratic system. Each presenter is allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds – giving 6 minutes 40 seconds of fame before the next presenter is up.

Featured speakers:

Saturday 11th July, 6-8pm, Talbot Campus

To book a free place, visit: https://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/festival-of-learning/events/bournemouth-pechakucha-night/ 

Research Professional – all you need to know

Guidance

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:

28th July 2015

25th August 2015

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.

Lightning Talks event – come and find out about the exciting research undertaken by BU staff and student researchers!

Festival of Learning

lightning talksLightning Talks: An adrenaline rush of research

Interested in finding out more about the research that takes place at BU? Then come to the Lightning Talks event on Monday 13th July. A group of BU researchers and postgraduate research students will each provide a short and snappy summary of their research and its significance. Each researcher has just five minutes to do this. The audience will vote for the best presentation at the end, followed by a drinks reception.

This is a great opportunity to network with colleagues and find out more about the excellent and exciting research that takes place at BU.

 Featured speakers:
• Mastoureh Fathi
• Melanie Grey – brand co-creation: the experience effect
• Marcellus Mbah – the idea of the interconnected university
• Ana Ruiz-Navarro – predicting responses to climate warming of freshwater fish
• Carole Pound – exploring the human dimensions of stroke care
• Simon Hanney
• Michelle Heward – fire safety and dementia
• Adil Saeed – rust in steel
• Kevin Moloney – Media Wars: public relations versus journalism

Monday 13th July, 6-8pm, Talbot Campus.

Book you free place at: https://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/festival-of-learning/events/lightning-talks-an-adrenaline-rush-of-research/