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Why read? FUSION funding to provide literature with an economics-based understanding of reading

Awarded & submitted bids, Fusion, Publishing

The project Private Gains and Retailed Literature: pathways to an economics-based account of reading has just won FUSION funding for the coming semester. The project will ask why people consistently spend time and money on literature. What do they hope to gain? Since the opportunity costs are considerable, historically in terms of money and now in terms of time, readers must hope to gain something. On- and offline literature provides unique gains that have otherwise escaped investigation by English studies, which instead has preferred to think of meanings and literary achievement, rather than use.

In terms of finding a discourse to investigate this, it should be remembered that the publishing industry and its delivery of fiction is by necessity predicated on commerce, while the markets for published fiction make up part of commodity culture. The language of private gain, of benefit and loss, which is the heart of commodity culture, is well suited for thinking about general-market reading. And if we can get passed the hijacking of economics by neo-liberalism, or get past neo-liberal reductionism that converts everything to financial indices, we may admit that economics has something to say about the mechanisms of gain, and about a specific type of reading in that commodity-cultural context.

Headed by BU Senior lecturer in English, Dr Simon Frost, and in partnership with UNESCO Chair in New Media Forms of the Book, Prof. Alexis Weedon (University of Bedfordshire) and Prof. Claire Squires, Director of the Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication (University of Stirling), the project will be working with the JS Group/John Smith’s books to articulate in the language of cultural and media studies the role that books play in that international retail chain’s larger delivery of private gains. In addition, the project will conduct a student-led survey of the perceived benefits of retailed literature, across a number of UK book shops. Together, the student survey and JS study will greatly refine the project’s understanding of the qualities signified in book retail. It will help the project understand why people think books are important.

Theories of literary value based solely on intrinsic value are under extreme pressure these days. How can one argue for investment in the best literature in the face of severe cuts to essential public services? And who is to decide what is ‘best’ – that debate being trapped in the notion of cultural hierarchy. This project instead aims at an explanation based not on l’art pour l’art, nor on the education of readers towards a supposedly more-culturally discerning state, but on the benefits readers obtain from the books they currently have in hand; on the books they currently value.

Enquires should be directed in the first instance to
Dr Simon Frost, sfrost@bournemouth.ac.uk

Going to America? Open Access Conference Funding for ECRs & Students

Publishing

On the 15-17 November the Right to Research Coalition and SPARC will launch OpenCon, a new conference to support, connect, and catalyze student and early career researcher-led projects across Open Access, Open Education, and Open Data in Washington, DC.

The full cost of attendance for the majority of participants will be covered by travel scholarships provided through the generous support of sponsor organizations. However, application deadline is midnight PDT on Monday, August 25th.

All students and early career researchers with an interest in Open Access, Open Education and Open Data are encouraged to apply at www.opencon2014.org/apply. The application includes the ability to apply for a travel scholarship.

Further information on the conference can be found here – http://www.opencon2014.org/

If anyone is interested in applying, please liaise with me (Shelly Anne Stringer) by 9am Thursday (20th).

Non-intrusive river flow measurement – funding available

Funding opportunities

This SBRI competition is focused on the Environment Agency’s need to measure river flows in challenging locations where existing standard instrumentation cannot be used. However, a solution that could also be deployed in less demanding/normal river conditions would be ideal.

 Over 5.5 million, or one in six, properties are at risk of flooding from all types of floods across England and Wales. The latest UKCP09 climate change projections indicate rising sea levels and increasingly severe and frequent rainstorms mean the risk of floods will increase.
The Environment Agency requires a non intrusive method of river flow measurement which is capable of measuring river flows to “bank full” in rivers with variable backwater, weed growth and with a mobile bed load.
Priority requirements
  • a cost-effective solution
  • minimise the need for in-channel civil engineering works
  • the solution must provide data outputs that can be ported into Environment Agency telemetry systems
  • the solution should be low maintenance
  • it should be able to be supported and maintained by non-specialist staff with moderate technical skills
  • to be able to measure flows in channels that are affected by in channel weed growth and mobile beds
  • to be able to measure flows to local bank full level
  • the solution should measure flows to an accuracy of 6 to 15% or better in the range of flows of interest
  • not affect fish migration, both upstream and downstream
  • have a minimal impact on river fauna and flora and sediment transport
  • meet as many of the aspirational specifications as possible for the proposed new technology (highlighted in the competition brief)
Further details of the challenge are included in the competition brief.
Register for the networking and  briefing event – to be held in London on  Monday 15 September 2014.
Key dates for this call can be found here.

Call for research proposals – Defence Medical Sciences

Funding opportunities

New SBRI call – Up to £500k of funding is available for this Phase 1 competition.

MOD’s Centre for Defence Enterprise (CDE) are launching a call for research proposals to identify new and innovative science and technology to enhance the level of military medical care and support to service personnel.

This CDE competition aims to promote military resilience and preparedness through:

Challenge 1. Technologies for health surveillance

Predicting injury, infection or disease in a military population on operations helps maintain fighting ability. This challenge seeks to identify areas of physiology and biochemical pathways that, with new surveillance and analysis technology, can provide novel ways of assessing health and wellbeing.

Challenge 2.  Advanced medical systems for field care

Post-Afghanistan, operational medicine will evolve. Future medical capability will rely on smart, innovative, less logistically intense ways of diagnosing and treating medical emergencies. This challenge seeks innovative technologies that can be used routinely by non-specialists in an operational setting to diagnose the cause and severity of injury or illness and assist in providing care.

A free briefing event will take place at the CDE Tuesday 30 September 2014 in Scotland.

Further details can be accessed via the website.

 

 

 

Join us for today’s cyber security seminar…

 

‘Pattern- and Security-Requirements-Engineering-based Establishment of Security Standards’

Tuesday, 19th August

Coyne Lecture Theatre, Talbot Campus

4pm -5pm.

Security standards such as Common Criteria or ISO 27001 are ambiguous on purpose, because these standards shall be usable for a large set of different scenarios. The establishment of a security standard requires removing all ambiguities, eliciting concrete security requirements and selecting appropriate security measures.

Dr Kristian Beckers is a security requirements engineering researcher at the University of Duisburg-Essen. He investigates how security requirements engineering methods can be used to support the development and documentation of security standards. In this seminar Dr Beckers will introduce you to the methods and systems which have been created to fit a specific security scenario. In particular, you will find out about the Information Security Management System (ISMS) which was built in compliance with the ISO 27001 standard.

If you would like to join us for this seminar, please book your place via EventBrite.

We will look forward to seeing you!

Last week’s Policy Summary

 

Saturday

Increasing marketisation of HE

In the weekend before clearing, there was coverage over what appears to be increased competition between universities to attract students and the methods they are employing. 

·         Universities lure best students with cash prizes, (FT)

·         Universities spend to entice more students (Guardian)

 

Sunday

Student applications

The Sutton Trust has published a study showing that more than 4-in-10 state school teachers ‘rarely or never’ advise academically-gifted children to apply for Oxford or Cambridge places. The charity is planning to stage a series of summer schools for teachers. Meanwhile universities will accept applicants ‘with rock-bottom’ A-level grades as the government relaxes the cap on student numbers, internal documents obtained by the Sunday Times (from three universities) have warned – only Exeter University is named in the piece as one of those universities. 

·         State pupils told to shun Oxbridge (Sunday Telegraph)

·         Universities will accept ‘anyone’ to fill extra places (Sunday Times)

 

Monday

Value/cost of degrees

Daily Mail ran a piece on how firms like PwC, KPMG, GSK and the National Grid are taking on more school leavers this year and ‘tempting them away from universities with training salaries of more than £30,000’.  Meanwhile the Independent featured a survey of more than 2000 students by Endsleigh which revealed 13% had a full-time job – either in the holidays, term time or both. 59% at working part-time to see them through their studies. 

·         Firms offer teens £30k jobs to poach them from university courses: Companies receiving up to 100 applications for every post as school leavers shun £9,000-a-year courses (Daily Mail)

·         One in seven students have full-time jobs during degree course (Independent)

 

Tuesday

Student satisfaction

The National Student Survey was published today. Coverage mostly focused on how undergraduates show a higher degree of satisfaction.Students are most satisfied with teaching, least happy with assessment and feedback.

·         Undergraduates show a higher degree of satisfaction, (The Times) 

·         Quarter of students at low-ranking universities ‘not satisfied‘ (Daily Telegraph)

·         Open University ‘top for students’ in Northern Ireland (BBC News)

·         Is the National Student Survey fit for purpose? (Guardian Higher Education Network)

·         National Student Survey shows record levels of satisfaction (THE)

·         Current students are much more worried by university life than older graduates, survey finds (The Independent)

 

Wednesday

Access to universities

Teenagers from wealthy backgrounds are still around 10 times more likely to get into top universities than those from poorer homes.

Will Hutton, who chairs the Independent Commission on Fees, said the findings showed “serious gaps in access to university remain”. The commission was set up by education charity the Sutton Trust to monitor the impact of increased university fees. In addition to Mr Hutton, principal of Hertford College, Oxford, its members include Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust, and Libby Purves, the writer and radio broadcaster. THE focused more on how the commission revealed support from the public for cheaper fees for poorer students and the Guardian wrote that raising of tuition fees to £9,000 has not put off students from disadvantaged backgrounds from applying to university – although the gap in applications between those from wealthy and poor backgrounds remains wide. 

·         Wealthiest students still dominate top universities (Independent)

·         ‘Wealthy students should pay higher university fees’ (Telegraph)

·         Higher university fees not discouraging applications from the poorest students (Guardian)

·         Rich teenagers still dominate top universities (Independent)

·         Cut fees for the poorest, public says (THE)

 

Thursday

A-Level Results Day

UCAS figures showed that more students were accepted than ever before – 396,990 – anincrease of 3%. That said, the grades that students received had fallen overall with the number of those receiving grades at C or above falling by around 0.5%, despite an increase in A*s.

·         Record numbers get into university but pass rate falls (Guardian)

·         A-level grades edge down, as university places rise (BBC)

 

Friday

A-Level Results

A record number of disadvantaged teenagers will be heading to university this year due to the relaxing of student number controls.

·         Exams end class divide as record number take up university place (The Times)

New Home Office SBRI Competition – Forensics

Funding opportunities

 

Funding of £250k is available for this Phase 1 competition from the Home Office’s Centre for Applied Science and Technology (CAST). CAST exists to protect the public using science and technology by providing high quality, impartial advice, innovative solutions and frontline support to the Home Office and its partners, including the Police.

Across the UK last year, more than 500,000 crime scenes were examined for the recovery of forensic related material, principally, fingerprints and biological material. The challenge facing CAST is how to achieve step-change improvements to forensic processes used in crime investigation in the UK in order to increase the amount of material identified, reduce the time taken to process evidence, manage contamination and lessen disruptive interventions.

 The call for proposals will therefore focus on proof of concepts for technologies and processes which aid the rapid location and recovery of forensic material at crime scenes. The key requirement is to have the capability to quickly screen scenes or articles for the presence of fingerprints or other biological material that can be used in evidence. This may be achieved by a single technology which can locate both fingerprints and biological material, or separate technologies that can be deployed by investigators at a scene.

The competition will open on Monday 1st September, 2014 and close at midday on Wednesday 9 October 2014.

A briefing event is planned for 10 September in London. To register go to Eventbrite.

About SBRI.

For further information about this competition please visit the website . 

 

 

 

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

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

The British Academy is inviting applications to their Mid-Career Fellowships. The Academy intends, through this scheme, both to support outstanding individual researchers with excellent research proposals, and to promote public understanding and engagement with humanities and social sciences. The aim of the scheme is to allow successful applicants to obtain time freed from normal teaching and administrative commitments. These Fellowships are covered under the Full Economic Costing (FEC) regime, but the Academy’s contribution to the salary of the Mid-Career Fellow will be capped at an upper limit of £80,000, awards can be held over a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 12 months, beginning in the autumn of 2015. The deadline will be in 09/2014 for awards to be taken up from 01/09/2015.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) invite proposals for collaborative projects between the UK and the Republic of Korea in the field of Fuel Cell Technologies. EPSRC and KETEP each have up to £2.5 million available to support projects under this call. Proposals are invited from leading UK researchers wishing to either develop relationships with leading researchers from eligible institutions in Korea or to deepen existing collaborations. If you intend to submit a proposal to this call, you must register your intent by email to energyteam@epsrc.ac.uk by 4pm, 17/09/2014.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Advanced Metrology is offering funding for Feasibility Studies in the field of mathematics for metrology. This Centre has been created to develop the next generation of manufacturing metrology technologies for total machining and advanced surfaces.  Its main aim is to deliver a step-change in the link between measurement (through the science of metrology) and production, primarily for the benefit of advanced manufacturing industries. The feasibility studies should examine a subject area in the scope, review activity in it, identify key challenges and research questions not currently being addressed and develop full proposals for funding by established routes. Awards are limited to £50,000 at 80% FEC and to a maximum duration of six months. The closing date for applications is 12:00, 22/09/2014.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) invites applications for its Supergen Solar Challenge.  The Research Councils UK Energy Programme is looking to support projects that help address key challenges in Solar Technology. The areas to be supported are in: Materials and Process Development; Building Integrated Photovoltaics; Efficiency of PV technology; and Characterisation and Stability. There is up to £5 million available to support projects submitted in response to this call. It is intended that three to five projects will be supported through this call. The deadline for proposals will be 4pm, 04/11/2014.

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) are pleased to invite proposals for their Civil Society Data Partnership projects under Phase 3 of the Big Data Network. The Civil Society Data Partnership projects will establish or build on relationships between academic researchers and civil society organisations to demonstrate the value of improved data infrastructure, enabling collection and analysis of data which is of interest to civil society organisations and through enabling the sector to better utilise its own data. Proposals are invited for a duration of up to 18 months, with the latest start date of 14 February 2015. The budget of each Civil Society Data Partnership project will be a maximum of £250,000 (100 per cent fEC). Theminimum funding level is £50,000 (100 per cent fEC) and it is expected that proposals for both small and large projects will be received. The call will open on 22/08/2014 and the deadline for applications is 4pm, 02/10/2014.

The Medical Research Council’s (MRC) Confidence in Concept scheme provides annual awards of £250k-£1.2m to institutions, to be used flexibly to support the earliest stages of multiple translational research projects. It is intended to accelerate the transition /from /discovery research to translational development projects by supporting preliminary work or feasibility studies to establish the viability of an approach. The closing date for applications is 4pm, 17/10/2014.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) invites applications to its Proximity to Discovery: Industry Engagement Fund.  The fund will support a small number of research organisations to use creative approaches to building relationships with industry partners and can be used for people and knowledge exchange at the very earliest stage of a collaboration and may not necessarily be aligned to a specific project objective. A total budget of £15 m is available to support CinC and Proximity to Discovery: Industry Engagement Fund. The closing date for applications is 4pm, 17/10/2014.

The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research in collaboration with the Technology Strategy Board are inviting applications for its CRACK IT challenges.  CRACK IT Challenges is a challenge-led funding competition from the NC3Rs which is designed to: fund collaborations between industry, academics and SMEs; minimise the use of animals in research; and support the development of marketable products and/or improved business processes. There are up to three Challenges this year with a total of seven Sponsors, with funding ranging from £100k to £1m and contracts from 1-3 years.  The competition is open from 15/09/2014 and the deadline for applications is 12 noon, 19/11/2014. Please note that in order to apply you must register with the SBRI for the competition by 12 noon, 12/11/2014.  

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) invites applications to its International Opportunities Fund. The scheme provides resources to NERC-supported researchers to allow them to forge long-term partnerships with overseas scientists that add value to current NERC-funded science. There are two grants available: 1) IOF Pump-Priming Grants – These aim to help researchers establish and develop new collaborative links with international partners. Proposals for IOF Pump Priming Grants may request funding of a maximum of £40k (at 80% FEC) for up to two years duration. 2) IOF Pump-Priming Plus Grants – These aim to support establishment of novel international collaborative links, as for the IOF Pump Priming grants, but allow for development of partnerships that require more resource. Proposals for IOF Pump Priming grants may request funding of a maximum of £320K (at 80% FEC) for up to three years duration. The closing date for proposals is 25/09/2014.

The Royal Academy of Engineering is now inviting applications for The Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship. The fellowship allows the academic to concentrate on full-time research and be relieved of teaching and administrative responsibilities. The purpose of the Fellowships is to cover the salary costs of a replacement academic who will take over the awardee’s teaching and administration duties for up to one year. The deadline for applications is 4pm, 27/10/2014.

The Technology Strategy Board and Offshore Energy Research Association of Nova Scotia (OERA) are jointly investing approximately $1.4m CAD (£755k) in collaborative R&D projects to develop enhanced sensing technologies for tidal stream energy applications.  The aim of this competition is to develop technologies that lead to the acquisition of better data, improved data analysis and collection methods, helping to reduce risk, uncertainty and cost to the tidal stream energy industry. Proposals must be collaborative and business-led, including at least one business from Canada and one from the UK.  This is a two-stage competition that opens for applicants on 06/10/2014.  The deadline for expressions of interest is at 4pm Greenwich Mean Time on 28/11/2014.  

The Technology Strategy Board will shortly be inviting registrations and applications for its call on Forensics. The call for proposals is seeking to achieve a step-change in crime investigation in the UK, through the application of novel techniques for gathering forensic evidence. The call will open on 01/09/2014. Registration closes on 22/10/2014 and the deadline for applications is 29/10/2014.

The Technology Strategy Board and the Environment Agency will shortly be inviting registrations and applications for their call on Non-intrusive river flow measurement. This competition is focused on the Environment Agency’s need to measure river flows in challenging locations where existing standard instrumentation cannot be used. However, a solution that could also be deployed in less demanding/normal river conditions would be ideal. In order to enter this competition, registration is required. Registration closes on 15/10/2014 and applications are due in by 22/10/2014. The award is to be confirmed.

The Welcome Trust invites applications to its Arts Awards that support scientific engagement through the arts. The scheme aims to support imaginative and experimental arts projects that investigate biomedical science and all art forms are covered by the programme: dance, drama, performance arts, visual arts, music, film, craft, photography, creative writing or digital media. The Trust invites applications for projects which engage adult audiences and/or young people. Funding can be applied for at two levels: 1) Small to medium-sized projects (up to and including £30 000) – Funding can either be used to support the development of new project ideas, deliver small-scale productions or workshops, investigate and experiment with new methods of engagement through the arts, or develop new collaborative relationships between artists and scientists. 2) Large projects (above £30 000) – This funding can be used to fund full or part production costs for large-scale arts projects that aim to have significant impact on the public’s engagement with biomedical science. The closing date is 08/11/2014.

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 up to November 2014.

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

Congratulations and Good Luck

Ke Rong

July saw an increased level of activity for bids being submitted and awards being won with congratulations due to Schools/Faculty for winning research and consultancy contracts.

For the Business School, congratulations are due to grants academy member Chris Chapleo for his consultancy with Nigel Reed Smith Ltd, to Ke Rong and grants academy member Xiaosong Yang (MS) for their application from the British Academy, to Juliet Memery and Dawn Birch for their contract with the Crown Estate and to David Marshall for his consultancy with New Forest Biscotti.  Good luck to Maurizio Borghi for his application to the AHRC, and to Thanh Huynh for his contract to the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

Luisa Cescutti-Butler

For HSC, congratulations are due to Luisa Cescutti-Butler for her short course with Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.  Good luck to Anthea Innes and Fiona Kelly for their application to the Department of Health, to Clive Andrewes for his short course to Fathom Point Limited, to Lee-Ann Fenge for her consultancy to Help and Care, and to Anthea Innes for her application to Dorset County Council for the BSO/BUDI Orchestra.

Tom Watson

For MS, congratulations are due to Jamie Matthews for his application from the Japan Foundation Endowment Committee, to Liam Tomms for his consultancies with WISH (Women in Social Housing) and Grapevine Telecom Ltd, to Stephanie Farmer for her consultancy with Dorset County Council, to Melanie Gray for her consultancy with Grapevine Telecom Ltd, to Tom Watson for his IHPR Conference 2014, and to grants academy member Rebecca Jenkins for her consultancy with Mind Share. Good luck to Richard Southern for his application to the EPSRC to research deriving motor control laws for bipedal locomotion from experimental data, and to Isabella Rega for her application to the Technology Strategy Board.

Kate Welham

For the Faculty of Science and Technology, congratulations are due to Kate Welham for her short course on the Introduction to Near Eastern Archaeology, to Robert Britton for his application to the European Commission Marie Curie Fellowship, to David Parham for his consultancy with Cornwall County Council, to Kathy Hodder for her consultancy with Fieldwork Ecological Services Ltd, to Paul Cheetham, Iain Hewitt, and Miles Russell for their short course on The Big Dig 2014, to Chris Shiel for her consultancy with the Open University, to Genoveva Esteban for her consultancy with Queen Mary University London in connection with public engagement, to Jonathan Monteith for his consultancies with Dartmoor National Park, the Lester Brunt Partnership LLP, Anesco and Bloor Homes Limited, to John Gale for his short course on Time Walkers, and to Adrian Pinder for his consultancy with the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust. Good luck to Robert Britton for his CASE studentship to NERC, to grants academy member Luciana Slomp Esteves for her application to the British Conference of Undergraduate Research to host their 2017 conference, to Amanda Korstjens for her application to NERC, to Jan Wiener and Anthea Innes (HSC) for their application to the ESRC to research Dementia-friendly architecture, to Katherine Appleton for her application to the BBSRC, to Sarah Bate for her application to the ESRC to research early detection and remediation of developmental prosopagnosia, and to John McAlaney for his consultancy to the West Lothian College.

Image of Dr Heather Hartwell

Heather Hartwell

For ST, congratulations go to Heather Hartwell, Adele Ladkin,  Stephen Page and Ann Hemingway (HSC) for their application to the ESRC to research promotion of wellbeing as a destination resource, to Adam Blake, Steven Richards and grants academy member Neelu Seetaram for their consultancy with Price Waterhouse Coopers LLP, to Jonathan Hibbert for several consultancies with Reading Borough Council, Glasgow Caledonian University, Dorset County Council (two consultancies), Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (NHS) and The Old Royal Naval College (ORNC), and to grants academy member Alessandro Inversini for his consultancy with Mind Share.

Upcoming event: “Double Your Customer Spend in 12 Months!”

Tuesday 23 September 2014,
5:30pm arrival for a 6pm start
Executive Business Centre, 89 Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth, BH8 8EB

The Centre for Entrepreneurship is delighted to invite you to a presentation by Peter Czapp.

Peter Czapp is co-founder of The Wow Company, a proactive accountancy practice that advises small businesses across the UK, helping them make more profit, pay less tax and have more fun!

Some of Wow’s clients have achieved amazing things; growing quickly, winning awards for their customer service & generating large profits. The one thing that Wow’s top performing clients all have in common is that they are masters at generating revenues from their existing customers. In this seminar, Peter shares insights into what Wow’s most successful clients do differently, including sharing practical tips that you can apply in your own business right away. If you’re looking to double your client spend, attend this event to find out how!

To book please visit: http://bucfe.com/events/double-your-client-spend-in-12-months/

British Academy – calls released!

Funding opportunities

The British Academy have confirmed that they are now inviting applications for the below schemes in 2014-2015. If you wish to apply for these schemes, please do ensure that you contact the Research & Knowledge Exchange Office (R&KEO) as soon as possible – BU’s internal deadlines have been added to the below information.

Please note: The British Academy have asked us to inform you that the latest time at which applications will be accepted from both applications and approvers via eGAP will now be 5pm on the relevant deadline date (rather than midnight, as was previously the case).

 Please see below the timetables for 2014-2014 funding schemes:

Postdoctoral Fellowships

  • Application forms, Outline Stage: available from  27 August 2014
  • BU internal deadline to RKEO – 2 October 2014
  • Applicant deadline, Outline Stage: 8 October 2014
  • Result of Outline Stage announced: 21 January 2015
  • BU internal deadline to RKEO – 19 February 2015
  • Application deadline, Second Stage: 25 February 2015
  • Final results confirmed: May 2015
  • Awards available for starting date: Not earlier than 1 September 2015 and not later than 1 January 2016

 Mid-Career Fellowships

  • Application forms, Outline Stage: available from  13 August 2014
  • BU internal deadline to RKEO – 11 September 2014
  • Applicant deadline, Outline Stage: 17 September 2014
  • Result of Outline Stage announced: 17 December 2014
  • BU internal deadline to RKEO – 15 January 2015
  • Application deadline, Second Stage: 21 January 2015
  • Final results confirmed: March 2015
  • Awards available for starting date: Not earlier than 1 September 2015 and not later than 1 January 2016

 BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants

2014-15 Round (Round 1)

  • Application forms: available from  3 September 2014
  • BU internal deadline to RKEO – 9 October 2014
  • Applicant deadline: 15 October 2014
  • Final Results confirmed: March 2015
  • Awards available for starting date: Not earlier than 1 April 2015 and not later than 31 August 2015

2015 Round (Round 2)

  • Application forms: available from  1 April 2015
  • BU internal deadline to RKEO – 30 April 2015
  • Applicant deadline: 6 May 2015
  • Final Results confirmed: July 2015
  • Awards available for starting date: Not earlier than 1 September 2015 and not later than 31 March 2016

Skills Acquisition Awards

  • Application forms: available from  3 September 2014
  • BU internal deadline to RKEO – 23 October 2014
  • Applicant deadline: 29 October 2014
  • Final Results confirmed: March 2015
  • Awards available for starting date: Not earlier than 1 September 2015 and not later than 1 April 2016

BA/Leverhulme Senior Research Fellowships

  • Application forms: available from  15 October 2014
  • BU internal deadline to RKEO – 13 November 2014
  • Applicant deadline: 19 November 2014
  • Final Results confirmed: March 2015
  • Awards available for starting date: Not earlier than 1 September 2015 and not later than 1 January 2016

Neil Ker Memorial Fund Grants

  • Application forms: available from  22 October 2014
  • BU internal deadline to RKEO – 30 November 2014
  • Applicant deadline: 3 December 2014
  • Final Results confirmed: March 2015
  • Awards available for starting date: Not earlier than 1 April 2015 and not later than 31 December 2015

Stein-Arnold Exploration Fund Grants

  • Application forms: available from  22 October 2014
  • BU internal deadline to RKEO – 30 November 2014
  • Applicant deadline: 3 December 2014
  • Final Results confirmed: March 2015
  • Awards available for starting date: Not earlier than 1 April 2015 and not later than 31 December 2015

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 up to November 2014.

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

Reflections on an Oasis

Fusion, Women's Academic Network

Our final blog concerning our Fusion Investment Funded study leave, ENABLE: Establishing Sustainable Research Networks and Building Learning Environments, is written with very mixed feelings in mind.

For seven months we have worked across Southeast Asia to develop and establish links and research collaborations, teaching and education partnerships and to rediscover our passion for social action as ‘professional practice’ associated with our disciplines. The work has been intense, tiring, sometimes frustrating, but always illuminating and productive. It was a wrench to leave.

The return journey began with raised anxieties, heightened a couple of weeks earlier by the awful shooting down of a Malaysia Airlines aeroplane following the same route (although by then re-routed), and exacerbated when we were separated into two distinct travelling units, Jonathan with one child and Sara with the other, because the previous university travel firm booked tickets as two separate families! To make matters worse only Jonathan and Isabel’s tickets showed up and we had to wait to secure the other tickets. We were then given seats at opposite ends of the aeroplane and had to wait again for re-seating. The flight began well enough and was fairly smooth, only briefly punctuated by a somewhat antisocial ‘ramming’ of chair in front into one of our legs with particular force by someone who thought ‘turn off your electronics’ meant send texts to your friends!

However, we landed in one piece and breathed a sigh of relief, or possibly resignation, until, as in our usual practice of each taking one of the children through immigration the UKBA officer asked Jonathan rather sternly ‘where is the child’s mother?’ and when indicating where Sara was the officer proceeded to say that children have to be seen with their mother because mother’s are in general the carers of children and if present they have to be with the child. ‘Red rags and bulls’ often appear to Jonathan in unjust situations and he, as usual, took issue with this, but whilst we all got through immigration clearance more quickly, the officer insisted that his rather warped and myopic view of British law and custom was now right. Oh dear! We wondered what had happened in the seven months we had been away and whether we were entering Gormenghast!

But, back to the project itself! Our four key objectives have been met throughout the project, with varying degrees of success and changing morphologies:

1. Establish a sustainable research network promoting social sciences and interdisciplinary research at BU:

We have made contacts with individual academics, departments and universities across Southeast Asia, notably Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), Universiti Utara Malaysia, alongside contacts with Massey University in New Zealand,  Hong Kong University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Myanmar Institute of Theology.

We have given names and contacts to people abroad and within BU to follow up. Research projects are being developed, publications are in train or planned for the future.

2. Develop research streams of locally specific or cross-cultural relevance:

Our research, completed with the Orang Asli as part of the Tasik Chini Research Centre, has culminated in numerous publications being submitted, developed and developing, wide dissemination across many fora, and establishing on-going research links.

3. Engage and promote educational initiatives via guest lectures/research seminars, developing joint postgraduate research supervision and educational initiatives promoting student mobility:

We have presented lectures and seminars, provided postgraduate supervision and contributed to curriculum planning and development discussions, as well as negotiated an important credit transfer scheme (although uptake has been delayed until we can find students both able and willing to go on this exciting opportunity!). Professional papers have been written and submitted.

4. Engage in discipline-specific activities in relation to social work:

a number of discipline specific activities concerning social action and development have been undertaken, including curriculum planning, assisting in education developments in Myanmar and in Malaysia in reference to the new (to be implemented) standardised Malaysian Diploma Social Work, alongside contributing to NGO development work.

Overall, during the study leave period, there has been 57 outputs, also including on-going work and connections to be completed over time. The 57 outputs included:

  • 6 books (3 published)
  • 14 book chapters (11 published or in press)
  • 12 peer reviewed papers (9 published or in press)
  • 3 professional papers
  • 1 book review
  • 16 conference presentations/open lectures etc.
  • 10 blogs
  • 6 media presentations

During our time away we have worked across five countries: Malaysia, Hong Kong SAR, Australia, Myanmar and Cambodia in order to carry out our research or present it, along with capacity-building missions for professional, social work training. We have undertaken respectively between 24 to 28 flights (trying, when one of us dislikes flying) and stayed in some extraordinarily interesting as well as very grim places during our fieldwork, resulting in abuse from miscellaneous assortments of blood-sucking insects (outsized mosquitoes, the usual bed bugs and fever-inducing leeches) bedding down with us or boisterously noisy lizards, both small and decidedly large, showering us with ordure from above.

One of us was joyfully returning ‘home’ to pioneering fieldwork in Southeast Asia and the other was equally rapturous to be introduced to it. We have developed a new appreciation of the diversity of international driving styles when finding it not unusual to be driven by taxi in the wrong direction through chaotic Yangon in the middle of two long lines of equally erratic cars heading in the right direction – towards us. Above all, we remember the various wonderfully funny, kind, clever, intriguing and endlessly good-natured people we me: all our participants, our various helpers, interpreters, drivers, guides and advisors, the academic staff and students who welcomed us so warmly, the inspiring NGO workers and service users; not forgetting the local café owner in Penang, who wept when we left before running to get her camera for group photos to remember us by.

Also, we will always remember just how much our children, Isabel and Milly grew and developed in stature (in all ways possible): learning the research process, engaging with children amongst the village communities, and themselves collecting valuable data and compiling magnificent school projects on their adventures and experiences. The children put up with a good deal with great fortitude, willingness and humour (or when the going got tough – heavy irony), easily comprehending the importance of the work undertaken; albeit, as 10 year-old Milly gravely commented in her write-up later, ‘fieldwork has its dark side’! Indeed, so impressed were we with them that they will be contributing their experiences and acting as co-authors to the forthcoming book on the Tasik Chini area.

Alongside the outputs, the work is now to capitalise on the study leave by the development and submission of funded research projects. Currently, these include gendered rituals in professional working, problematizing research ethics and learning disabilities, understanding religion as resistance, and gender in higher education.

The study leave represented a life-giving oasis, somewhere to wash and attend to our own sacred cattle as in the photo from Cambodia, and we gratefully acknowledge the help and supported afforded us by Bournemouth University and our two main host universities in Malaysia (UKM and USM). We would encourage other academic staff to apply for study leave and we think that the productivity of our period of study leave indicates how important this can be to both individual academics but also to the greater good of Bournemouth University.

Jonathan Parker & Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

Horizon 2020: 2015 Health Call Now Open!

Funding opportunities

The European Commission has launched the 2015 call for projects under the Horizon 2020 Health, demographic change and wellbeing challenge. The Health work programme is available here: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2014_2015/main/h2020-wp1415-health_en.pdf 

The 2015 Health call is made of 4 different sub-calls, depending on the submission procedure (single stage or two stage), the final deadline for the submission and the funding scheme (research and innovation actions, and coordination and support actions). Specific information for each call can be found below:

1) Personalising Health and Care – Single Stage 

Budget: (€ Mn): 104.50

Deadline: 21st April 2015

Topics (PHC):  21, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30

2) Personalising Health and Care – Single Stage RTD

Budget (€ Mn): 88.00

Deadline: 24th February 2015

Topics (PHC): 9, 15, 33

3) Personalising Health and Care – Two Stage

Budget (€ Mn): 306.00

Deadline (stage 1): 14th October 2014

Deadline (stage 2): 21st April 2015

Topics (PHC): 2, 3, 4, 11, 14, 16, 18, 22, 24

4) Health Co-ordination Activities 

Budget (€ Mn): 40.00

Deadline: 15th April 2014

Topics (HCO): 3, 6, 11, 12, 13, 17

 

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

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

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) have announced that their Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships scheme will be reopening next year. The AHRC is seeking applications from non-HEI Organisations or consortia to become Collaborative Doctoral Partners with the AHRC to support and provide high-quality doctoral training. It is recommended that you check the funding pages in spring 2015. 

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council’s (BBSRC) have launched their Images with Impact – BBSRC anniversary image competition. The competition is seeking the best images that showcase UK bioscience and its importance in everyday life. The competition forms part of a series of engaging activities throughout 2014 to highlight the impact of BBSRC’s research base, world-leading bioscience, and its important contribution to the UK economy over 20 years. With this competition we want you to capture the exciting developments happening in bioscience today with images from the Great British public, its students and its researchers. There are fantastic prizes up for grabs, with a total prize fund of over £2,400. The deadline for submissions is 06/10/2014. 

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council’s (BBSRC) Modular Training Partnerships scheme funds the development of industrially-relevant short training courses at Masters level. Training should be developed in close collaboration with industry, and evidence of industrial demand is a key requirement for funding. Modular Training Partnerships provide pump-prime funding for the development of individual training modules, and preparation and marketing of course materials, and course launch. The deadline for applications is 15/10/2014.

The Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) are pleased to announce that a Sustainable Aquaculture Call for Proposals will be published in September for collaborative proposals to support aquaculture related research, where aquaculture is the farming or cultivation of organisms such as fin-fish, molluscs and crustaceans. BBSRC and NERC have each committed £2·5m to this Call for Proposals. Additional co-funding from other partners, including the Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute (AFBI) and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), is anticipated and will be available to cover the costs of their researchers on proposals. Applications for the scheme will be open from September 2014 and are expected to close early November 2014. 

Following on from the RCUK Lifelong Health and Wellbeing Exploratory Workshop ‘Transformational Approaches to Improving Hearing Aid Technology’, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are highlighting this future call. It will aim to encourage Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPS) researchers to develop disruptive technologies for use in hearing aid devices. The estimated opening date is 16/09/2014 and estimated closing date is 27/11/2014. 

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) are offering a three month secondment opportunity to the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology; open to EPSRC funded PhD students. The deadline for applications is 03/10/2014 and the start date for successful applicants is from March 2015.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) in the UK and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in India in collaboration with Department of International Development (DFID) are pleased to announce a joint call to fund Global Health Research which will bring together researchers from the UK, India and Low Income Countries. The MRC aim to fund work which addresses health needs of the most disadvantaged populations globally.  The scope of the call is research proposals that address major health needs of women and children in low resource settings, with a focus on issues relating to one or combinations of the following topics: Maternal, new born and child health (including women’s and girl’s sexual health); Nutrition and Infectious diseases (e.g. malaria). Applications must be submitted by 16:00 on the 21/10/2014. 

The Royal Society’s Professorship for Public Engagement in Science award is for a well-established scientist with exceptional scientific communication skills and media experience to support the Society’s public engagement work. The appointment will be for five years in the first instance with the opportunity to renew the professorship for a further five years. The maximum amount of time that the Society expects the successful candidate to commit to the Professorship is 50%. Therefore, the Society will provide a contribution to the salary of the successful candidate on a pro-rata basis depending on the time committed to the Society. This scheme is now open to applications, and will close on 16/09/2014.

The Royal Society’s Industrial Fellowship scheme is for academic scientists who want to work on a collaborative project with industry and for scientists in industry who want to work on a collaborative project with an academic organisation. It aims to enhance knowledge transfer in science and technology between those in industry and those in academia in the UK. The scheme provides a basic salary for the researcher and a contribution towards research costs. Closing date: 30/09/14.

The Welcome Trust’s Career Re-entry Fellowships scheme is for postdoctoral scientists who have recently decided to recommence a scientific research career after a continuous break of at least two years. It gives such scientists the opportunity to return to high-quality research, with the potential to undertake refresher or further training. The fellowship is particularly suitable for applicants wishing to return to research after a break for family commitments. Applications for this scheme are considered twice a year, details of the next round are as follows: Preliminary application deadline, 06/10/2014 (5pm); Invited full application deadline, 08/12/2014 (5pm); Shortlisted candidate interviews, 13-15/04/2014. 

The Welcome Trust’s Research Training Fellowships scheme is for medical, dental, veterinary or clinical psychology graduates who have little or no research training, but who wish to develop a long-term career in academic medicine. Applications are encouraged from individuals who wish to undertake substantial training through high-quality research in an appropriate unit or clinical research facility, towards a PhD or MD qualification. Applications are considered three times a year; the next closing date is 01/12/2014. 

The Welcome Trust’s Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowships scheme provides a unique opportunity for the most promising newly qualified postdoctoral researchers to make an early start in developing their independent research careers, working in the best laboratories in the UK and overseas. Candidates will be expected to identify an important biomedical research question and to develop and deliver a personal programme to achieve their research aims. The fellowship is for four years full-time and may be taken up on a part-time employment basis with the tenure of award lengthened accordingly. The fellowship provides an award of £250 000. Applications for this scheme are considered twice a year, details of the next round are as follows: Preliminary application deadline, 06/10/2014 (5pm); Invited full application deadline, 08/12/2014 (5pm); Shortlisted candidate interviews, 13-15/04/2014. 

The Wellcome Trust invites submissions for their Welcome Image Awards. If you are a research scientist, photographer or illustrator, your images could reach a global audience. The winning images will go on display at science centres and public galleries across the UK. The deadline for submissions is 30/09/2014.

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 up to November 2014.

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

Catherine Philip hosts latest Tenant Business Surgery

The Centre for Entrepreneurship (CfE) was delighted to welcome Catherine Philip of Wessex Business Focus Ltd to the Incubator to host our latest Business Surgery.

The CfE Business Surgeries are run on a regular basis and provide a fantastic opportunity for early stage businesses to ask questions and pick the brains of experienced professionals and entrepreneurs. They are aimed at both CfE tenants and also BU students running businesses.

Catherine is a Chartered Tax Adviser and has recently moved from a top 20 accountancy practice to her present role as innovation broker and freelance tax adviser. “Having worked with a variety of SME’s”, says Catherine, “I have become increasingly aware that many business owners do not have sufficient time or other resources to implement their business plans. I especially enjoy working alongside my clients to help them take their business plans forward: my analytical, numerical and research skills enable me to offer bespoke, pragmatic solutions to their business challenges.”

Previous Business Surgeries have been hosted by Gary Seneviratne, (Adido), Peter Czapp, (The Wow Company), and Ewan King, (Content is King).

Robin Humphreyies, Managing Director of games developers, Static Games Ltd (www.static-games.co.uk), and current BU student, agreed the discussion ‘was very useful’ and he was looking forward to having the opportunity to meet with Catherine again in the near future.

Kaisa Kangro, Managing Director of el Rhey Ltd, (www.elrhey.com), specialist designers of children’s rainwear, said, ‘the meeting with Catherine was very insightful’, and added, ‘it is great that an expert is sharing her knowledge and time with new start-ups like us; this can make a big difference and help us develop our business further.’ Kaisa also commented that, ‘meeting people and making professional contacts is relevant for any new business, and the Centre for Entrepreneurship has been very helpful in that area.’

The Centre for Entrepreneurship is immensely grateful to Catherine for her time and expertise today and for her continuing support of the CfE and its businesses within the Incubator.

The next Surgery will be held on the 5th September and be hosted by Matt Hawkins, founder and MD of C4L. To find out more about the surgeries please contact Nikki Gloyns at ngloyns@bournemouth.ac.uk

Horizon 2020 Funding Available for SMEs!

Through Horizon 2020 there is a pot of EU money available for small to medium size enterprises to tap into, so a couple Business Consultants within the BU Cyber Security Unit thought it would be beneficial to head out to Brussels to find out how we can help SMEs get their hands on the money!

We attended a 2-day intensive workshop on ‘Business in Horizon 2020: The SME Instrument in detail’, which was organised by Octopux Consulting and conducted by its CEO Daniela Gomes.  The main objective of this workshop was to provide an in depth overview of the Horizon 2020 SME Instrument along with other funding schemes available to businesses.

Horizon 2020’s SME Instrument aims to fund Europe’s innovation leaders. As part of the Horizon 2020 programme, the European Commission is selecting potentially disruptive businesses to invest in and support. SMEs with a strong growth potential and the ambition to become world-market leaders could receive up to 2.5 million EURO in funding and world-class business support and mentoring. The EC is looking for high growth, highly innovative SMEs with global ambitions. SMEs interested in applying should be actively investing in innovation and looking to grow.

If this sounds like something you’re interested in, or know SMEs who fit the bill, get in touch with Julia Taylor or Lucy Rossiter in the BU Cyber Security Unit!

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