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UKRO Reminder – RISE workshop 22 January 2015

Training

Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE): Information Event

In its capacity as UK National Contact Point for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, the UK Research Office is holding an information event for researchers who are interested in applying for the 2015 MSCA Research and Innovation Staff Exchange call, which opens on 6 January 2015, with a closing date of 28 April 2015.

Aim of the Research and Innovation Staff Exchange funding
The RISE scheme supports projects which promote international and/or inter-sectoral collaboration through staff exchanges and the sharing of knowledge and best practice. The scheme involves organisations from the academic and non-academic sectors, organisations based in Europe (EU Member States and Associated Countries) and outside of Europe (third countries).

Date and venue
Thursday, 22 January 2015
London South Bank University
Room 806, Keyworth Centre
Keyworth Street
London  SE1 6NG

Aim of Information Event
The event will provide participants with an in-depth overview of the RISE scheme. Participants should gain a clear understanding of the proposal format and the key issues relating to planning, writing and submitting proposals.

Who should attend?
The event is aimed at staff at UK academic and non-academic organisations, including industry, who are planning to submit a proposal to the RISE call.

Registration
Attendance is free of charge, but capacity at the venue is limited and places will therefore be allocated on a first come first served basis. Register via the UKRO workshop announcement.

The event will only take place if a minimum number of participants is reached. All interested participants will be notified by Friday 16 January 2015 at the very latest.

Agenda
The event will cover key issues relating to planning, writing and submitting proposals. A successful RISE 2014 project case study will be presented by the Principal Investigator.

Latest Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

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

 

 

 

Medical Research Council, GB

Molecular and cellular medicine – Research grants

The Medical Research Council invites applications for its research grants in molecular and cellular medicine. These are suitable for focused research projects that may be short- or long-term in nature. In addition, they can be used to support method development and continuation of research facilities and may involve more than one research group or institution.

Award amount – up to £1,000,000. Closing date 06/05/2015

Computational genomics analysis and training call for collaborative projects

The Medical Research Council’s computational genomics analysis and training programme invites applications for its call for collaborative projects. This is for collaborative projects that involve next-generation sequencing datasets to address important questions in biomedical science, aligning with MRC research priorities.

Applicants should be UK-based experimental and clinical groups with novel experimental designs or existing datasets making use of high-throughput sequencing methods. No experience in using next-generation sequencing methods is required.

Applicants may benefit from CGAT analytical capacity and expertise. In exceptional circumstances CGAT may also contribute funds for sequencing.

Award amount: not specified Closing date 30/01/15

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, GB

These support investigator- led research  activities addressing any topic within the council’s remit. Grants may be used for research projects, technology development, equipment or use of existing facilities, new facilities or infrastructure provision, research networks and coordination, and summer schools. Grants are tenable for up to five years.

Award amount max: Not specified Closing date: 28 Apr 15

Wellcome Trust, GB

The Wellcome Trust will shortly be inviting applications for phase two partnership grants of its Science Learning+ programme. The closing date is expected to fall in the last quarter of 2015 however application information has not yet been confirmed. The following call details are subject to change.

These grants support partnerships involving partners both in the US and in the UK or Republic of Ireland that aim to improve the knowledge base and practice of informal science experiences to better understand, strengthen and coordinate their vital role in science engagement and learning. Research should align with the following categories

Award amount max: Not specified Closing date: unknown

The Royal Society, GB

Newton mobility grants

The Royal Society offers Newton International Exchanges as mobility grants to provide international researchers with funding towards travel, subsistence and research expenses for either a one-off short visit to explore opportunities for building lasting networks or for bilateral visits to strengthen emerging collaborations.

Award amount: max £12,000 Closing date 19/02/15

Standard programme – Colin Pillinger International Exchanges award

This stimulates new collaborations within the natural sciences between scientists in the UK and overseas. Grants are worth up to £12,000 over a maximum period of two years. Researchers may also receive the Colin Pillinger international exchanges award of £10,000 to communicate their research to the general public.

Award amount: max £13,000 Closing date 17/02/15

AHRC/Cheltenham Festivals call for events at the science and literature festivals

To mark its tenth anniversary in 2015, the AHRC is looking to extend its partnership with Cheltenham Festivals by inviting applications from researchers to present their research at one of a series of four engaging public events at the Times Cheltenham Science Festival and the Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival in 2015. One event will run at the Science Festival, and three at the Literature Festival.

Award amount: not specified Closing date 09/02/15

Natural Environment Research Council – NERC, GB

Atmospheric pollution and human health in a developing megacity

The NERC and the Medical Research Council (MRC) in the UK (with input from the Newton Fund) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) are investing in a strategic research programme on urban air pollution in the megacity Beijing and impacts on health. NERC, MRC and NSFC are inviting Expression of Interest applications for a call under this programme.

The programme is split into four themes:

  • sources and emissions of urban atmospheric pollution
  • processes affecting urban atmospheric pollution
  • exposure science and impacts on health
  • interventions and solutions.

All applications must be collaborations between UK and Chinese researchers.

Award amount max: Not specified Closing date: 06/03/15

Urgency Grants

The Natural Environment Research Council invites proposals for its urgency grants. These allow scientists to respond rapidly to unexpected and transient events affecting the environment. Proposals must fall within NERC’s scientific remit.

Award amount: max £52,000 Closing date no deadline

Arctic research station

Researchers from the UK and their international collaborators may carry out environmental research relevant to the NERC remit at the Ny-Ålesund station on the Svalbard archipelago.

Award amount: not specified: Closing date 31/03/15

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Please note that some funders specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your  RKEO Funding Development Officer

You can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s/Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in  RKEO or view the recent blog post here.

If thinking of applying, why not add notification of your interest on Research Professional’s record of the bid so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.

Crowdfunding SMEs

I have some researchers visiting from the University of Ulster in February and they would like to take the opportunity to interview 2 or 3 SME owners who have used crowdfunding. I’d be grateful if anyone has contacts that they could pass on to me:  palford@bournemouth.ac.uk

Top tips for completing business and knowledge exchange funding applications

Guidance, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

For those involved in business and business planning some of  this information would not necessarily be new, however very important when completing any funding application or competition where Innovate UK are the main funder.  Innovate UK is the new name for the Technology Strategy Board and  fund, support and connect innovative businesses to accelerate sustainable economic growth.

A short guide to  to help make clear what an assessor for Innovate UK competitions is looking for has been produced. All of the Innovate UK funding programmes follow a similar pattern and you should bear in mind that the questions are designed to help rather than trip you up. It is important that you answer the questions asked and cover all aspects the Guidance for Applicants describes.
 
Try and  use the language they are looking for: the easier you make it for the assessor to understand and check off the information they seek, the more likely the proposal will score highly. The guidance is noted under 10 headings as follows :
  1. Business opportunity
  2. The market
  3. Exploitation
  4. Benefits,
  5. Project plan
  6. Innovation
  7. Risks
  8. Skills/ Project Consortium
  9. Finances
  10. Additionality

This is a user friendly document and worth reading to assist with  applications for funding large or small!

New Year’s Research Resolution #4 – update your staff profile page

Guidance

Happy New Year to you all and welcome back to work!

Each day this week we’ll be posting a New Year’s Research Resolution to help you get back into the swing of things. Today’s resolution is to update your staff profile page.

Our staff profile pages provide an excellent opportunity to promote yourself both internally and externally.  Jo Garrad’s post demonstrates that the pages are attracting thousands of views from all over the world.

The easiest way to navigate to your profile is to open the application (or click on the ‘academic profile’ link from the staff portal home page).  Next, click on ‘People’ in the page header and then on the start letter of your surname.  Finally, click on your name.  Your profile will then appear.  You can also search for your name.

You can update your profile page via BRIAN and fields you can add include:

  • photo of yourself
  • biography
  • research interests and keywords
  • teaching profile
  • PhD students supervised
  • invites lectures
  • qualifications
  • memberships
  • honours / awards
  • RKE grants
  • outreach and public engagement activities
Your publications will automatically be pulled through from BRIAN.

Having a complete and professional staff profile page can help to attract potential students and collaborators.  It will raise your profile externally and will ensure your page appears in web searches.

If you have any queries about BRIAN or the Staff Profile Pages then please direct these to BRIAN@bournemouth.ac.uk

Evaluation mixed-methods research grant awarded to FHSS team

PG research

Dr. Janet Scammell in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences (FHSS) is leading on a new research project evaluating the impact of a new integrated respiratory service in Dorset.  The £20,000 mixed-methods research project is funded by the Wessex Academic Health Science Network on behalf of the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group.  Janet Scammell is leading a research team in BU’s new Faculty of Health and Social Sciences comprising Desi Tait, Ashley Spriggs, Martin Hind, Caroline Belchamber and Edwin van Teijlingen.

The Dorset Adult Integrated Respiratory Service (DAIRS) is a new service that has been set up early 2014 to provide support and care for people with respiratory conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchiectasis and pulmonary fibrosis.  The service aims to reduce the number of people who need admission to hospital and help individuals to feel more in control of their condition.  BU has been asked to evaluate early uptake and impact of the DAIRS running in Poole, Bournemouth and Dorchester.

 

Further information about this exciting project is available from:   Dr. Janet Scammell, Associate Professor and Professional Lead for Adult and Children & Young People’s Nursing

Telephone: 01202 962751

Email: jscammell@bournemouth.ac.uk

Research Professional visiting BU – come and learn how to find the right funding opportunities for you

Guidance

Every BU academic has a Research Professional account which delivers weekly emails detailing funding opportunities in their broad subject area.  Research Professional are visiting BU on 28th January to demonstrate to academics and staff how to make the most of their Research Professional account.  This will include:

  • Building searches
  • Setting personalised alerts
  • Saving and bookmarking items
  • Subscribing to news alerts
  • Configuring your personal profile

 The RKEO Funding Development Team will also be in attendance to help and offer advice from a BU perspective.  The session will run from 10am to 11am on 28th January and will be held in PG19, Talbot Campus.  This is a great opportunity to learn more about funding opportunities and to meet the Funding Development Team, particularly if you are new to BU.

Please reserve your place now through Organisational Development

Important change to your JeS account

Guidance

This is to anyone within the Faculties who is registered on Je-S (the research council application submission system).

In light of the changes to the Faculty names, Je-S have updated all account holders details (approximately 400 people) to reflect the new structure.   Je-S were asked to do a basic mapping of Schools to new Faculties:

  • Faculty of Science & Technology (formerly School of Design, Engineering and Computing and School of Applied Sciences)
  • Faculty of Media & Communication (formerly the Media School)
  • Faculty of Management (formerly the Business School and the School of Tourism)
  • Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (formerly School of Health and Social Care)

I am aware that this format will be correct for the majority of people but there are a few who will still need to go in and amend their ‘Department’ name.  An example will be those within the Business School who will move to Media & Communication rather than transfer to the newly formed Faculty of Management.  Any changes that you make will come via the RKEO for approval, which we will approve as soon as possible.  This has been done now due to the long lead in time for decisions on applications submitted to research councils.  Please note that this does not change any internal BU systems, such as RED or BRIAN.  These will be amended nearer the transition stage.

Thank you for your cooperation.

National Contact Points: Octavio Pernas and Alex Harris

Guidance

National Contact Points (NCPs) provide impartial advice regarding EU Funding within their specialist area of Horizon 2020.  The advice is free and confidential and tailored to your needs.  This is an excellent service for drawing on the experience and knowledge of someone who deals exclusively with a particular scheme or work programme.  If you are interested in testing out project ideas, checking scheme eligibility, discussing the direction of travel of a particular funding stream or just asking some questions on the practicalities of applications they are a great source of help. 

 

This week we would like to introduce you to Octavio Pernas and Alex Harris, who are the NCPs for Health, Wellbeing and Demographic Change.

Follow the link for further details on NCPs and Horizon 2020.

Introducing your Research Outputs Advisor

Awarded & submitted bids, Post-award

Hi there, my name is Pengpeng Hatch (formerly Ooi) and I am your Research Outputs Advisor within the Project Delivery Team. I work with academic colleagues to increase output volume, quality and impact, and for championing open access publishing across the institution.

Among the initiatives that I’m responsible for is the Writing Academy, geared to provide academics with the support they need to improve and enhance their academic writing. Last year, with the help from colleagues in RKEO, we organised a ‘Bubble-styled’ BU International Open Access week. I am also the institutional contact for all things ‘BRIAN’, our publication management system. Working closely with colleagues in IT, I oversee all planned development for BRIAN and I offer BRIAN training sessions to academic colleagues.

Previous to this role I was the Research Support Officer within the old Research & Knowledge Exchange Operations Team and was responsible for providing professional and specialist support and advice in the management of pre and post award Research and Knowledge Exchange activities which included costing, providing advice on budgetary planning, pricing and project management for the Media School. Before that, I was the Research Development Officer for REF2014 and was part of the team co-ordinating BU’s submission to REF2014.

Apart from international marketing management, my background also includes applied linguistics for language teaching, having gained my Postgraduate Cert. and Masters from Bournemouth University and the University of Southampton. Before moving to the UK, I taught English for 4 years in a secondary school in Miri, a fast developing oil town on Borneo Island, Malaysia. I am also currently undertaking a Doctorate in Education (Creative & Media) with the Faculty of Media and Communications.

Born and bred in Malaysia, I went through childhood and teen years in typical Chinese primary and secondary schools. Like most Malaysian Chinese who went through school surrounded by mostly Chinese, I spoke no English until I went to university at age 19. However, I did secretly read the Sweet Valley High series and Danielle Steel novels when I was supposed to be revising for exams in secondary school and I guess that’s where I learnt most of my English. Now, I have a particular interest in linguistics and sociolinguistics.

Outside of work, I enjoy travelling, sampling good food, crafting and walking the dog.

New Year’s Research Resolution #3 – plan your research strategy

Guidance

Happy New Year to you all and welcome back to work! Each day this week we’ll be posting a New Year’s Research Resolution to help you get back into the swing of things. Today’s resolution is to forward plan your research strategy.

WHY? – To ensure your time and efforts are utilised in the most effective and advantageous way then you should have an up to date research strategy. This should set out a plan of how you want your research to develop, what your goals are for the next year, three years, five years, fifteen years, etc., and the steps you need to take to get there. It should cover funding (internal and external), publishing and other activities, such as public engagement, that will support you to develop your career over the years.

HOW? The steps below will take you at least a couple of hours to work through and could take significantly longer. Working through them, however, will pay dividends as a plan will give structure and objectives for your short- and long-term research career development.

Ensure you are aware of the support available to you and the research strategy of your Faculty. Check out stage 1 of BU’s research lifecycle – Your Research Strategy. This outlines the support and resources available to you when designing your research strategy, including support from RKEO, horizon scanning for future funding calls and policy news/issues, and support from the academic development schemes that BU offers. It also provides links to the most recent versions of the Faculty strategies.

 

Start to write your plan. Start by asking yourself what your ultimate goals are. These could be:

– to be the lead partner for a collaborative EU project

– to establish and lead a research centre or institute

– to publish an article in a leading journal

– to be a keynote speaker at a leading international conference

– for your research to result in a change to a national policy

– for your research to result in a significant benefit in the local community

– to land a senior academic position at a leading university in another country

Once you have these listed then put realistic dates against when you wish to achieve these.

 

Then work backwards and identify the steps you need to get there, setting yourself targets to achieve each task.

For example, if your goal is to lead a collaborative EU project then you will need to: ensure you are fully conversant with Horizon 2020 and EU strategy, join/establish a network (ideally to join one that has already had some EU success), apply for some internal funding (via the Fusion Investment Fund or the URA Programme) to undertake some pilot research, apply for small research grants (these help you to gather data and build a track record), engage with business/industry to undertake contract research, KTPs, consultancy, etc (this helps you to build your profile, make connections, build you track record, develop real-world case studies to support your teaching), publish your work in highly ranked journals and ensure your work is freely available (open access publication fund and via BURO), use your network to bid for EU funding with you as a work package leader, apply for a research fellowship, undertake some public engagement work, etc.

 

Set yourself success measures where appropriate and add in specifics. For example, if one of your interim goals is to publish in a journal then identify two or three journals highly ranked journals (such as Q1 journals on Web of Science or Scopus) that closely align to your research field and make your interim goal to specifically publish in one of these journals.

 

 

Review the interim tasks and think about the support you need to achieve these. Would additional support help you to achieve these goals? Maybe an industry-based mentor would help? Add these to your plan.

 

 

Share your plan (or at least parts of it) with those who can support you in making it a reality. For example, share your long-term bidding plan with the Research Facilitators in RKEO who can help you with horizon scanning, identifying potential funders and calls, shaping ideas, etc. Share the highlights of the plan with your line manager and Deputy Dean Research who can help you with time, support and resources.

 

 

Once you have finalised your plan then try not to be diverted from it and regularly check progress against your goals.

 

 

 

 

Sources of further information include:

Elsevier’s Charting a course for a successful research career

Strategic approaches to getting your work published

Academic career pathway diagram

The perfect academic career path (includes an excellent career path diagram from the ESRC)

Winning grant funding and writing papers for publication

In metrics we trust?

Post-award, Publishing, REF Subjects, Research assessment

Back in May HEFCE launched a Call for Evidence on the role of metrics in research assessment. The Independent review chaired by by Professor James Wilsdon,  University of Sussex and supported by an independent steering group, is tasked with building on the previous 2008/9 pilot exercise to explore the current use of metrics for research assessment, consider the robustness of metrics across different disciplines, and assess their potential contribution to the development of research excellence and impact.

HEFCE received 153 responses (44% from HEIs, 27% individuals, 18% learned societies, 7% providers, 2% mission groups, 2% other). With the majority – 57% – of those who responded expressed overall scepticism about the further introduction of metrics into research assessment.

As part of the review three stakeholder workshops have been held/scheduled on key areas of interest and debate:

To date, all have been well attended and very lively. I was able to attend the I workshop in Sussex with some 150 odd other delegates including members of the metrics review panel, metrics developers and providers, researchers, university managers, and a range of stakeholders from across the research and HE community.

The day contained many thoughtful contributions from a range of speakers including: Dr Philip Campbell, Editor-in-Chief, Nature; Professor Stephen Curry, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College; and Dr Steven Hill, Head of Research Policy, HEFCE. There was lively discussion about the value, potential role, and unintended consequences of metrics in research evaluation. If you are interested in the future role of metrics in research assessment, I would particularly recommend reviewing the presentations from David Colquhoun, Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology at UCL and Dorothy Bishop, Professor of Developmental Neuropsychology, the University of Oxford.

For further insight you could also check out the Twitter discussion, which has over 1000 tweets tagged with #HEFCEmetrics, Impact story have also helpfully encapsulated much of the story/discussion via Storify.

The results of the review will be announced at the end of March and published in the summer. The report will make recommendation againsts three time horizons:

(1) What can HEIs do to improve research management now;

(2) Suggestions for the next REF;

(3) The longer term, including identification of programmes for further work.