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HE in the news w/c 24 March

Monday

The sustainability of the current HE funding system is being questioned once again and has been hot news this weekend. On Friday Nick Hillman (previously Willett’s SPAD) called for a rethink of the student loans system and admitted the government got its maths wrong by overestimating the amount of graduate debt that will be repaid. David Willetts told Channel 4 news that the structure for “£9,000 and £21,000 (was) working,” however Cathy Newman tweeted that she asked Willetts the question again about the possibility of higher fees after 2015 as he was leaving the studio and the minister replied “could be”.

 

Social mobility

According to information published by the Department for Education, just 0.1 per cent of year 11 pupils who claimed free school meals who then took A levels or level 3 qualifications progressed to the universities of Oxford or Cambridge in 2010-11. Oxbridge access: DfE releases free school meal stats (THE)  

Skills

The Government is “letting down a generation” of children by failing to equip them with the skills needed to secure a good job, a former Conservative education secretary has warned. In a strongly worded intervention, Lord Baker insisted that every level of the education system was “dysfunctional” and struggled to meet the needs of modern business. Generation of children left without vital skills (Sunday Telegraph)

Scottish referendum

Universities have called on the Scottish Government to provide “legally-defensible certainty” that institutions will be able to deal with an influx of English students following independence. In a submission to the Scottish Parliament’s education committee, Universities Scotland said a yes vote would “inevitably” lead to more students heading north of the border in search of free tuition. Scottish independence: University influx fears (Scotsman)

University reform

Universities must recognise they cannot continue to operate using their current business model argues Vasant Dhar. Universities unbundled (FT)

Tuesday

The sector continues to respond to reports that the RAB nears ‘break-even point’. The letters page of the Guardian feature some interesting comments, Letters – If education is for life, perhaps repaying tuition fees could be, too, while, Andy Westwood (CEO of GuildHE) takes a look at the uproar and questions what will happen next. RAB and the wizardry of student finance (Wonkhe)

Scottish referendum

A plan to charge students from the remainder of the UK up to £36,000 to study in an independent Scotland must be revisited “as a matter of urgency”, students’ unions will tell MSPs today.

Employment

Graduates rely on the public sector when they go hunting for a job in Wales, according to a new analysis published today by the Complete University Guide. Graduate job market in Wales is dominated by the public sector, according to new analysis published today (Wales Online)

Wednesday

Ed Miliband has said that Labour wants to give voters a “radical offer” on tuition fees at the next election, a possible hint that the party could replace tuition fees with a graduate tax. “Young people feel they have no control because they are going to get into mountains of debt if they go to university,” he said during an appearance on ITV1’s The Agenda programme.

Also worth looking at this interesting piece by John Denham (Ed Miliband’s PPS). Universities need to look beyond higher tuition fees – John Denham (New Statesman)

Lib Dem Policy

In contrast, Nick Clegg has insisted there is “absolutely no need” to raise tuition fees, although he sidestepped a question on whether he would rule out such a move out altogether. Clegg insists there is no need to raise tuition fees level again (Guardian)

Immigration policy

The Conservative Party’s “obsessive” focus on immigration is destroying the party’s appeal to a growing group of voters from ethnic minorities, a Tory MP has warned. Soften immigration stance or we will lose votes, Tory MP warns his party (Times)

Regulation

Writing on a new blog launched by Hepi, Andy Westwood, CEO of GuildHE, claims universities may be moving away from their current system of self-regulation via independent peer review towards an “external model of quality and inspection”. Universities warned over ‘sleepwalking’ into Ofsted-style regime (THE)

Scottish referendum

The CBI has said it is concerned about the knock-on effect a Yes vote could have on defence; financial services; energy; food and drink and higher education. Scottish independence: Should the CBI be worried about a Yes vote? (BBC) 

Thursday

Design&: Creating the Future, our new report launched on Tuesday, is featured in Design Week today. It says that a, “new report is calling for a ‘revolution’ in design education while making a strong economic case to Government for backing design-led research.” BU’s IP research features on page 12 of the report. Report calls for a ‘revolution’ in design education (Design Week)

Policy and funding

Student places: Universities with lower applications this year have had their student number allocations for next year cut, despite the government making 30,000 extra places available. Figures from Hefce reveal for the first time which universities did not meet their places quotas in 2013-14, a year in which most institutions’ enrolments bounced back after the first year of higher tuition fees. No bonanza for those who left places unfilled (THE)

Funding: Universities have been forced to slash their teaching budgets in order to protect research funds in a move that Madeleine Atkins (Chief Executive of Hefce) has admitted “will hurt”. Lower government funding will hit university teaching budgets in England (THE)

Connecting research & growth

Regional growth: A study of the economic impact of graduates recommends universities should be placed at the centre of strategies to boost regional growth. ‘Invest in regional universities to rebalance UK economy’ (THE)

International

A look at Australia: Australia’s move to a demand-driven higher education system has not increased the proportion of poor students entering the system, a report has concluded. According to The Australian newspaper, the forthcoming report by Australia’s National Centre for Vocational Education Research finds that although the demand-driven system – which was fully implemented in 2012 – has led to more students entering higher education, most of the extra places have been taken up by students from relatively wealthy backgrounds. Lifting the cap ‘fails to widen access’ in Australia (THE)

Recruitment: Universities have been warned that they are not “profit-maximising corporations” and to ditch “marketing speak” when recruiting international students. Nigel Healey, pro vice-chancellor for internationalisation at Nottingham Trent University, rounded on universities that were using international students simply to increase their income. Focus on recruiting foreign students reveals ‘mission drift’ (THE)

Partnerships: A pioneering formal tie-up between a UK university and a US university promises to be much more than a “mountain that brings forward a mouse”, David Eastwood has pledged. The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, said that the strategic alliance between his institution and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was “probably unique at the moment in terms of its breadth and depth”. UK/US institution alliance aims for collaborative growth (THE)

Student visas: The new immigration minister has said that he wants to welcome international students to the UK, in a departure from the threatening rhetoric he used earlier this month towards universities. Foreign students: a belated welcome (THE)

Friday

Research by Hefce finds that state school pupils perform better at university than privately-educated peers with the same A-level results, prompting fresh calls for a reform of the admissions system.

Retention

Figures from HESA show that 6.7 per cent of students dropped out of university after a year in 2011/12, rising to almost one-in-five at one institution. This raises fears that school leavers are being pushed into studying at an unsuitable institution.  More than 26,000 students ‘dropping out of university’ (Telegraph)

Worth a read

‘Soft Power’ – a key asset in new international order (Guardian)

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

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

The BBSRC is inviting applications for research grants from eligible researchers with a strong track record of research in their remit to purchase items of advanced research equipment via this Advanced Life Sciences Research Technology Initiative (ALERT14) call. The capital equipment budget for this call is approximately £8M. In addition, up to £2M in additional funding may be available to purchase computing equipment (hardware and software) that provides new capability or enhances capacity for the management and analysis of ‘big data’. Applications should be in the range of £250k-£750k excl. VAT. Closing date 16:00 on 13/05/14.

ERASynBio have announced the 2nd joint call for transnational research projects – Building Synthetic Biology Capacity through innovative transnational projects. Closing date 03/07/14.

The ESRC, in partnership with the Public Policy Institute for Wales, invites proposals for research on what works in tackling poverty from eligible research organisations across the UK. A briefing event will take place in Cardiff on 08/04/14. Five projects with costs up to £250,000 will be funded with 80% of costs covered by the funder. Closing date 16:00, 24/04/14.

Are you working with a company (SME) developing innovative products and is driven by research? Then EUREKA‘s Eurostars might provide the funding which they require to gain competititve advantage. Closing date 11/09/14.

The Royal Society‘s India-UK Scientific Seminars scheme is for mid-career scientists who want to organise a small three-day scientific seminar between groups of scientists from India and the UK. The meeting may take place in either the UK or India and may have up to 20 attendees (5 from the visiting country and up to 15 from the host country). The scheme is intended to encourage scientific discussion and to promote collaboration and knowledge transfer by encouraging interaction within the wide research community. Up to £12,000 is available. Closing date 10/06/14

IC tomorrow, via the Technology Strategy Board, is offering five businesses up to £25k each to encourage digital innovation in data. They are looking for innovative commercial solutions that meet broad objectives set in conjunction with industry partners – Ingram Content Group, EE Limited, Ordnance Survey, Birmingham Community Healthcare Trust and British Library. There will be a briefing event for the contest at BL-NK, London on 09/04/14. Up to £25,000 (excl. VAT) is available. Closing date 07/05/14.

The Technology Strategy Board is investing up to £3.5m in collaborative R&D that can help businesses establish secure, resilient and reliable connections with staff who need to work remotely. They are looking for novel proposals that address the challenge of integrating different technologies to make remote working easier and more cost-effective while sharing data securely with employees operating in the field.  There is a briefing event on 08/04/14. Applicants must register by 30/04/14. Expressions of Interest must be submitted by noon 07/05/14, with successful applicants invited to submit a full proposal by noon on 10/07/14.

SMART 2014-15 Round 1 from the Technology Strategy Board is now open. Smart is a grant scheme which offers funding to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to engage in R&D projects in the strategically important areas of science, engineering and technology, from which successful new products, processes and services could emerge. The scheme supports SMEs carrying out R&D which offers potentially significant rewards and that could stimulate UK economic growth. Three types of grant are available: Proof of Market, Proof of Concept and Development of Prototype. A brouchure for businesses is available on the webiste or hard copies can be requested from Emily Cieciura (ecieciura@bournemouth.ac.uk) The batch assessment date for Round 1 of the current financial year 2014/15 is noon on 22/05/14.

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

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

PG research, Publishing

Congratulations to HSC postgraduate student Joyce Miller who has just completed her PhD by Publication.  Joyce Miller is a chiropractic practitioner and lecturer with over 25 years private practice experience. She is Associate Professor at Anglo-European Chiropractic College in Bournemouth.  Her thesis Effects of Musculoskeletal Dysfunction in Excessive Crying Syndromes of Infancy presents research spanning more than a decade.  Joyce studied the relevance of chiropractic manual therapy to excessive crying in infancy through a unique series of eight clinical academic papers.

 

The eight separate studies used a range of different research methods:

  1. a demographic survey of paediatric patients attending a chiropractic clinic;
  2. a record study to determine the prevalence of side effects or adverse events;
  3. a cohort study to substantiate sub-groups of excessively crying infants;
  4. a prospective observational study to develop a predictive model using likelihood ratios to forecast the presence of infant colic in a clinical population;
  5. validation of a one-page instrument to assess clinical outcomes against the gold standard crying diary;
  6. a randomised comparison trial of two types of chiropractic manual therapy for infant colic;
  7. a randomised controlled single blind trial to determine efficacy of blinding as well as chiropractic manual therapy in management of infant colic;
  8. a case-control study to investigate  long-term effects of chiropractic manual therapy into toddlerhood.

Well done!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

HSC

Money Available for Open Access Publishing

Post-award, Publishing

Back in April 2011 we launched the BU Open Access Publication Fund. This is a dedicated central budget that has been launched in response to, and in support of, developments in research communication and publication trends. The fund is also to support research in complying with some of the major funding bodies who have introduced open access publishing requirements as a condition of their grants.

The fund is available for use by any BU author ready to submit a completed article for publication who wishes to make their output freely and openly accessible.

If you are interested in applying to the fund then you need to email the BU Open Access mailbox with the following information:

  • Name of the open access publication
  • Confirmation this will be a peer reviewed paper
  • A short justification (1 paragraph) of why it is beneficial for your research to be published in this particular open access publication
  • The cost of the open access publication
  • Likely publication date
  • Likely REF Unit of Assessment (UOA)
  • A copy of the paper

If you have any questions about the Fund then please direct them to Shelly via email.

Further information: BU Open Access Fund policy

Low-Power High-Quality Interactive Digital Media: The Challenges

PG research

Dear all,

We would like to invite you to an additional guest talk for the Creative Technology Research Centre that will be delivered by Professor Edmond C. Prakash from the University of Bedfordshire.

Title: Low-Power High-Quality Interactive Digital Media: The Challenges

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM

Date: Thursday 3rd April 2014

Room: P302 (Poole House, Talbot Campus)

Abstract: Traditional GPUs have super graphics performance and have been extremely utilised for media rich applications. However, they are not suitable for low-power mobile devices. Digital media research and development are at the crossroads. This talk looks at some of the key challenges faced in Embedded GPUs for next generation media rich applications (interactive 3D graphics and games) on low-power mobile devices. Graphics programmers, 3D modellers, animators and game developers will benefit from this talk.

Biography:  Edmond is a Professor in Computer Games Technology and the Director for the Institute for Research in Applicable Computing at the University of Bedfordshire. He is the founding editor of the International Journal of Computer Games Technology.  Edmond has worked at top institutions across the globe including MIT, UIUC, BNU, NTU, MMU, PUJ and IISc. Edmond’s research interests are in volume graphics, real-time visualisation, game based learning and game engines.

We hope to see you there,

Dr. David John

Last week’s HE in the news…

As ever, thanks to colleagues at University Alliance for the content of this post.

Monday

Sir Andrew Witty called for the boost in innovation funding in his review of universities and growth issued last year. But in its response to the Witty review, published on 14 March, the government has said it was unable to commit to raising the level of Heif in the “current tight fiscal environment”. University innovation fund will not be increased, says government (THE)

Funding

Teaching grants for universities in England are to fall by more than the £45 million announced last month, Hefce has said. Universities to get near 6 per cent cut to ‘most teaching budgets’ (THE)

Employability

A growing shortage of engineering skills threatens to hold back industry’s nascent recovery and wreck efforts to rebalance the UK economy, industrialists and politicians have said. Vince Cable told the Financial Times that skills shortages were “a massively serious problem” that could disrupt the recovery “unless we get this right”. Lack of engineers threatens UK recovery, say industrialists (FT)

Widening participation

A study has found that there is some evidence that state school students are getting more 2:1s and first class degrees. The research into 132,000 students, over three years, found state school pupils were up to 8% more likely to get a 2:1 or first-class degree than their private school counterparts with the same A-level results.

Scottish referendum

A Westminster committee has said independence would have a damaging effect on higher education and research in Scotland. Scottish independence: MPs claim Yes vote would damage education (BBC)

Women in science

Tuesday

The “hidden talent” of 2.5 million young adults is being wasted because they are unemployed, working part-time or in jobs for which they are over-qualified, the Government is warned today. A report for the LGA says 40 per cent of 16-to-24-year-olds are failing to make the most of their abilities in the workplace, with nearly 1.3 million not working at all and another 1.2 million who are “underemployed or overqualified”. In some areas the proportion is close to 50 per cent. Fall in jobless hides plight of 2.5m young adults whose talents go to waste (Independent)

Gender disparities

There is concern over female participation rates in science, but gender disparities need to be addressed in many subjects argues Laura McInerney. Education: Only 29% of English A-level students are boys. Why don’t we think that’s a problem? (Guardian)

Wednesday

A letter from a group of academics in the Guardian argues that prior to 1970 science was led by mavericks with limited funding but much more academic freedom, this led to huge scientific discoveries that have enriched our lives and driven the economy. They argue that the HE system must find a way to support blue-sky thinking. We need more scientific mavericks.

Social work

A discussion piece in the Guardian examines the quality of teaching of social work courses in response to the release of two books which are critical of the preparation courses give to students. Social work training courses need to offer high quality work placements.

Thursday

The government “will not have saved any money” by trebling fees to £9,000 and scrapping nearly all direct grants to universities, a senior sector figure has said in response to data showing the “break-even point” for the new system could be rapidly approaching. Cost of new fee regime may soon exceed the old (THE)

Politics

Universities returning to Department for Education?: Asked in an interview with the FT what he would like to do next, Mr Gove replied: “What I’d really like to do is this job, plus universities.” He added: “I think that universities and science should be in this department.” The week in higher education (THE)

Research and growth

Budget 2014: George Osborne announced that £106 million will be spent over five years in 20 new centres for doctoral training, to strengthen Britain’s science, maths and engineering capabilities. It will help to train about 750 post-doctoral students to prepare them for the demands of industry. A new Alan Turing Institute is also to be built, costing £42 million over five years, to specialise in the analysis and application of “big data”.

·         Alan Turing Institute to be set up to research big data (BBC)

·         Research centre to honour Turing (Telegraph)

·         Millions to boost training and enhance research (Independent)

·         Budget 2014: Osborne seeks to boost UK’s scientific credentials (FT)

Research funding: The UK’s research councils will look at tying funding to membership of schemes such as Athena SWAN, which promotes good employment practices for women in science, if they decide universities are failing to improve gender and ethnic diversity among academic staff. Research councils may tie funding to diversity accreditation (THE)

University-business collaboration: Universities are now “hungrier” to work with industry than they have been in the past, according to a man who builds links between academia and industry for a major pharmaceutical company. Malcolm Skingle, director of academic liaison at GlaxoSmithKline, said that the change has been helped along by the research excellence framework’s impact agenda. Growing appetite for university-industry collaborations (THE)

Social mobility

Career guidance: Improving career guidance before students apply to university would significantly cut dropout rates, analysis suggests. According to a BIS research paper, those who consulted only a few sources of advice when picking their degree course were far more likely to drop out by the end of their first year. Better careers guidance ‘will reduce dropout rates’ (THE)

International

Reputation: The UK’s reputation in higher education is being tarnished by an overseas student recruitment process that is full of pitfalls, says Zakaria Mahmood. Blog: ‘The access labyrinth for foreign students’  (Daily Telegraph)

Universities

Student numbers and marketing: Does an increase in marketing spend result in an increase in student numbers? Marketing spend up, but applications fail to follow suit (THE)

Student accommodation: More than three-quarters of students live in poor accommodation, says NUS. It also claims many struggle to get help from landlords. The NUS wants tougher regulation for letting agents, like there is in Scotland, to help stop “exploitation of students”. Many students living in poor accommodation, says NUS (BBC Radio)

Friday

It is a very quiet HE news day today but one story that may be of interest. John Raftery, who has served as pro vice-chancellor at Oxford Brookes University for nine years covering areas including student experience and international strategy, will succeed current London Met vice-chancellor Malcolm Gillies later this year. London Met appoints next vice-chancellor (THE)  

 

BRITISH INVENTION: GLOBAL IMPACT – The Government’s Response to Sir Andrew Witty’s Review of Universities and Growth

This is the Government’s response to the 2013 Witty review of universities and growth. The response sets out what the Government will do to build on our outstanding global reputation for science and research. It is quite long, so I am just going to highlight the key points that I think are of interest for BU’s activities:

  • UUK to convene an annual university stakeholder event to consider the successes of HE third mission activity as well as the impediments.
  • The commitment to invest £15m in establishing 3-4 pilot University Enterprise Zones was reiterated.
  • They will seek to further develop the indicators described in the Witty review such as citation-based measures of research strength by sector, and consider whether there is value in regularly updating the heat maps created for the Witty Review. This is important for BU’s desire to establish a creative and digital industries hub in the region.
  • NCUB, working with the Research Councils, HEFCE and the Technology Strategy Board are developing a collaborative online platform, which joins up university research and expertise with the needs of business.
  • The Centre for Cities has been commissioned by Lord Sainsbury to map the whereabouts of knowledge-based clusters in the UK, and will report in September 2014. Again, important that our region is seen as a creative and digital industries knowledge hub.
  • They will try and simplify the funding arrangements for business and innovation, and HEFCE will look at further options for supporting SMEs.
  • HEFCE will also consider providing long-term fixed allocations for HEIF funding to universities that allows stability in institutional planning.
  • All four UK Funding Bodies are considering carefully the recommendation to increase the contribution of the impact element in future iterations of the Research Excellence Framework to 25%.
  • Universities are encouraged to develop a single point of entry for SMEs involving their Business Schools.
  • They have provided seed funding to the Association of Business Schools to deliver the Small Business Charter, which will be launched in early 2014. Those business schools in receipt of a Charter Award should gain a role in the delivery of Government support schemes such as Growth Vouchers and Start-Up Loans.
  • They will propose to LEPs that innovation is a central theme at the next LEP Network Conference, at end March 2014.
  • Universities will be asked to take a leadership role in identifying areas of comparative advantage and embedding these appropriately within LEP strategies to maximise their impact.
  • They will encourage LEPs and Universities to together champion arrow projects, and work with the Technology Strategy Board, UKTI and other key stakeholders.
  • They will create an Advisory Hub for Smart Specialisation, which will share and disseminate best practice, improve alignment connections between different partners and support LEPs in delivering stronger collaborative propositions through a better coordinated and informed capacity.
  • The Technology Strategy Board will work in collaboration with LEPs and the Devolved Administrations to maximise the UK’s EU funding opportunities for innovation including ESIF and Horizon 2020.

 If you would like further information I’d recommend the table at the end of the document.

Successful Fusion Investment Fund Award – Study Leave Strand

Awarded & submitted bids, Fusion

Caroline Belchamber, a part-time physiotherapy lecturer, Doctor of Professional Practice (DProf) student and private practitioner has successfully been awarded Fusion Investment Funding for six months study leave enabling her to finalise her doctorate.

Caroline currently has a contract with a local hospice developing a breathlessness clinic for people with chronic lung conditions. She also holds an honorary contract with another local hospice, where her research is being carried out. Caroline identified the need for further research following her MSc research in 2002 on rehabilitation in the context of palliative cancer care. She observed the need to determine service users and health care professionals’ understanding of the benefits of physiotherapy and whether the profession is meeting National Standards and best practice recommendations in the area of supportive and palliative cancer care. Caroline’s case study research uses a mixed qualitative methods approach to identify the extent to which physiotherapy palliative cancer care service provision meets best practice recommendations. Caroline’s research has been funded by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) Charitable Trust and the Association of Physiotherapists in Oncology and Palliative Care (ACPOPC).  It was also given the support of the Dorset Cancer Network Service Improvement Facilitator in 2009. It is anticipated that Caroline’s work will place BU at the forefront of this evolving area of practice.

Caroline is supervised by Professor Elizabeth Rosser and Dr. Caroline Ellis-Hill

Highly Commended Paper by Lorraine Brown, John Edwards & Heather Hartwell.

Delicious links, Publishing

Congratulations to BU academics Dr. Lorraine Brown, Prof. John Edwards and Prof. Heather Hartwell.  Their recent paper “Eating and emotion: focusing on the lunchtime meal” published in the British Food Journal has been selected by the journal’s Editorial Team as a Highly Commended Paper of 2013.

“Eating and emotion: focusing on the lunchtime meal” was chosen as a Highly Commended Paper winner as it is one of the most impressive pieces of work the British Food Journal has seen throughout 2013.

The three winners will be presented with a certificate by the journal!  The authors are all based in the School of Tourism whilst Prof. Hartwell also has appointment in the School of Health & Social Care.

Details of the paper are listed at the following web site: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0007-070X&volume=115&issue=2&articleid=17077382&show=html

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health, School of Health & Social Care

REMINDER – Still Some Space on the Horizon 2020 Lunchtime Info Session and Follow-On BRAD Networking and Collaborative Opportunities?

Funding opportunities, Grants Academy, Training

 

Are you thinking about applying to the EU schemes? To learn more about Horizon 2020 as a whole, please book in NOW via staff development (please click link below and send them a quick email) – this last session in the series will take place during the lunchtime on:

 

 Remember the Marie Curie calls under FP7? Well, they are new and improved under Horizon 2020 and have been renamed and revised…

Dr Martin Pickard, the trainer says: “The new Marie Skłodowska Curie schemes within Horizon 2020 have considerable relaxed rules enabling even greater opportunities for participation; from individual research fellowships to medium term collaboration exchange. Presenting Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska Curie as a whole, the workshop also focuses on the opportunities for individual fellowships to highlight these opportunities and presents how to approach them to ensure a maximum chance of success (typically better than 1 in 3)”.

And don’t forget that our BRAD (Bournemouth Research Academic Development Programme) offers a range of additional training opportunities which are very helpful tools for developing your proposals for EU funding including:

This follow on session complements our earlier sessions and provides an ideal opportunity for you to learn how to develop strong European or UK collaborative networks.

Info on H2020 can be found by clicking on the link below to access the recent Blog post detailing further resources available.

Why not come along to all the available training sessions and boost your chances of being successfully funded by the European Union?

REMINDER – Don’t Miss Out… Still Some Space on the Horizon 2020 Lunchtime Info Session and Follow-On BRAD Networking and Collaborative Opportunities?

CfE Upcoming Event: Moov2 with the CIM

Training

Date: Tuesday 8 April 2014

Time: Arrival from 6pm for a 6:30pm start until approx 8pm

Location: EBC

We would like to invite you to join us at our latest CIM event.  Dan Thomas, of Moov2 will be demonstrating, in his straight-talking (and completely non-geeky) style, how businesses and the agencies they work with can successfully make and exploit their data, adding real value to the bottom line.

To book please visit: http://bit.ly/1eK1d3a

New Government Security Classifications

 

On the 2nd of April 2014, a new classification system, the Government Security Classifications Policy (GSC), replaces the old Government Protective Marking Scheme (GPMS).

Please be aware that all individuals (whether Government employees or suppliers) will soon be personally responsible and accountable for assets in their care. Everyone who works with government has a duty to respect the confidentiality and Integrity of any HMG information and data that they access.

The new policy sets out the requirement for reducing from six classifications under the existing GPMS to three classifications under GSC –

OFFICIAL – for the majority of routine government information where compromise would have a limited impact (and where controls using ‘commercial good practice’ are required).

SECRET – for very sensitive information that could seriously damage the military, international relations or the fight against serious organised crime (and therefore needs protection against highly capable threats).

TOP SECRET – the Government’s most sensitive information where its compromise could lead to wide spread loss of life and threatens national and international security (and as a consequence needs the highest level of protection).

Further information is available on the GOV.UK website.

Website & BRIAN Training Sessions ** New Date Added**

Guidance, Info Days, Publishing, Research themes, Training

Screen shot of new website

Due to popular demand we are hosting  training sessions for the new research webpages together with BRIAN training.

These sessions are open to all BU academic staff, post graduate research students and those supporting researchers in their communications activity.

During the session you will learn the following:

Research Webpages

  • Why BU has new research webpages
  • How you can upload content to the website
  • How the site can be used most effectively to maximise exposure of BU research.

BRIAN

  • What is BRIAN and why is it important
  • How to set up and maintain your BRIAN profile
  • How to ensure your details are correct
  • How to request a photo is uploaded
  • How BRIAN links to your external staff profile

To book on one of the following sessions please use the links below…

Thursday 27th March 2pm in P227 Poole House, Talbot Campus

Thursday 17th April 2pm in P227 Poole House, Talbot Campus

Wednesday 23rd April 11am in S102, Studland House, Lansdowne Campus

If you have any queries, please  email Shelly Maskell on smaskell@bournemouth.ac.uk

Fusion Investment Fund – BU research and education visit in Mexico

Fusion

Dr Christos Apostolakis from the Business School has been awarded Fusion Investment Fund to establish working relationships with Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (Tecnologico de Monterrey), Mexico in terms of research and education. Christos has accepted an invitation by the Global Research Chair in Entrepreneurship Eugenio Garza-Laguera at Tec de Monterrey and he will travel to Monterrey on the 5th April 2014 for a week’s visit to engaging in a series of intellectual and networking activities.

During his 5 working-day visit, Christos plans to:

  • Give a guest lecture about Bournemouth University Business School (vision; goals; history; future plans; suggestions for collaboration with Tec de Monterrey and EGADE Business School);
  • Give a presentation about his research work on social entrepreneurship expanding on the significant role of entrepreneurship in biotechnology the main research theme of the host research centre;
  • Attend student classes on Entrepreneurship and, Strategy;
  • Collect material and other secondary data about entrepreneurship activities run or supported by the host research centre;
  • Visit wherever possible local businesses that promote entrepreneurship in biotechnology (in collaboration with the Global Research Chair in Entrepreneurship Eugenio Garza-Laguera);
  • Do networking with colleagues who work for EGADE Business School and the Global Research Chair in Entrepreneurship Eugenio Garza-Laguera;
  • Collaborate in expanding the paper the abstract of which has already been accepted for the ECIE 2014 conference with Dr Marcia Villasana Campos.

It is envisaged that this visit can initiate long term collaboration between the two universities such as staff and student exchange, joint PhD supervision and, student recruitment with a focus on entrepreneurship (and not only). The project contributes to both research and education of the Fusion concept as it aims to develop gradually a strategic partner for BU’s internationalisation process.

Tecnológico de Monterrey is one of the largest private multi-campus universities in Latin America, with over 90,000 students. Based in Monterrey, Mexico the University has 31 campuses in 25 cities throughout the country. It has one of the top graduate business schools in the region and it is well-known for having a large number of students studying abroad every year.

For more information, please contact Dr Christos Apostolakis (capostolakis@bournemouth.ac.uk)

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

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

Proposals are invited by EPSRC for collaborative research projects to undertake fundamental research that will advance the case for Bioenergy. The successful projects will be expected to become members of the SUPERGEN Bioenergy Hub. Funding up to £1m for one of three projects is available,. Closing date 16:00 on 24/06/14.

ESRC and the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) jointly invite proposals for Early Intervention Evaluation Partnerships between eligible UK research organisations and the EIF’s Pioneering Early Intervention Places. These Places are a number of local areas across the country, committed to sharing information on best practise in early intervention. Closing date 15/04/14.

MRC  has issued a highlight notice regarding Environmental Exposer and Chronic Disease. The MRC states that a better understanding of the associations between environmental exposures and health effects will inform risk assessment by policy makers and individuals and facilitate the development of strategies for the prevention of diseases. Exploring the impact of environmental exposure on health is an objective in the MRC Strategic Plan Research Changes Lives, which MRC addresses jointly with partners under the auspices of the Living with Environmental Change (LWEC) partnership. Please see the website for details of action areas and closing dates.

NERC invites proposals for the pilot phase of the Strategic Research Impact Scheme(SR-IS), a scheme aimed at research translation, utilisation and informing future strategic research directions to deliver defined and tangible impacts. This pilot call focuses on previously funded active or completed NERC research relevant to the remit of the proposed programme area. Applications should focus on one (or more if appropriate) programme areas and justify why this has been chosen. A full list of past and current NERC programmes is available. Closing date: 15/05/14

The Technology Strategy Board is to invest up to £6m in collaborative R&D that supports the digitisation of the construction sector supply chain. This will bring together the construction, digital and ICT communities to develop innovative new products, processes or services that could revolutionise collaborations between supply chain partners and unlock new business models. This will help the sector to reduce costs, speed up delivery times, increase efficiency, cut waste, and deliver solutions that are ‘right first time’. The deadline for expressions of interest is at noon on 30/04/14. The second stage deadline for invited applications is at noon on 03/07/14.         

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

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

PG Researcher Development Workshops

PG research

WHAT’S ON in April 2014

  • Research Philosophy – 1 April 2014
  • Statistics: Sample Size Estimation – 2 April 2014
  • An Introduction to Public Engagement – 2 April 2014
  • Statistics: Time Series Analysis – 7 April 2014
  • Statistics: Principal Component Analysis – 10  April 2014

Full details and sign up lists are available via myBU (Graduate School PGR Community).

Don’t forget that if you have both staff and student email accounts, you’ll need to log on with your student username and regularly check your student email account for email reminders.