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British Academy Small Research Grants Funding Opportunity

Funding opportunities

The British Academy, the UK’s national body for the humanities and social sciences, has announced that its Small Research Grant scheme is open for applications.  Under the Small Research Grants programme grants of between £500 and £10,000 over two years are available to support primary research in the humanities and social sciences. Funds will be available to facilitate initial project planning and development; to support the direct costs of research; and to enable the advancement of research through workshops, or visits by or to partner scholars.  The closing date for applications is the 10th April 2013.  More information can be found here: http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/srg.cfm

Research Seminar – organized by Creative Technology Research Centre

Date:  Wed, 27/02/2013

Time: 14:00

Venue: P302 (Poole House)

Speaker: Andrew Yearp

Title: Untying the Knots: Wireless Remote Patient Monitoring

Abstract:

Wireless Remote patient monitoring systems can provide continuous assessment of vital signs, facilitating early detection of abnormalities. They enable vital signs of patients, on general hospital wards, to be monitored, raising the alarm when abnormalities are detected. Existing patient monitoring processes and systems in hospitals are discussed. The development in patient monitoring systems will be elaborated. This will be followed by a discussion of a proposed remote patient monitoring system for general hospital wards, using mobile and wireless communication technologies. The seminar will be concluded by discussing progress on various building blocks of a prototype system which have, so far, been developed.

Dr. Peter Bridgewater, Chairman of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee is coming to BU!

Research themes

The Environmental Change & Biodiversity Research Theme would like to invite you to their seminar on 5 March. Dr. Peter Bridgewater, Chairman of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, will lead the seminar and discuss “Biodiversity governance in the Anthropocene”.

Peter has had a glittering career in the science-policy interface. He currently holds a position as the chairman of the JNCC and has held many reputable positions in the past, including but not limited to: chair of the International Whaling Commission, Secretary General of the RAMSAR convention of wetlands, Chief Scientist UK Nature Conservancy Council and a position on the Board of the Millenium Assessment.

The seminar will be held in the Coyne Lecture Theatre from 11am to 1pm on 5 March. All are welcome, so please come by if you’re interested in hearing more from Peter!

Competition open!

Awarded & submitted bids, Fusion

The website is now live and features all the details of how to enter the competition.

The competition has already been presented to students at BU and AUB – we go on the road next week to start promoting it at other UK universities.

Details of both the competition and the festival can be found at www.bfxfestival.com

Fusion Investment Fund – UAS Partnership

Awarded & submitted bids, Fusion

A new Fusion fund travel grant has been awarded to Dr. Ben Thomas, lecturer in the School of Design, Engineering and Computing (DEC) in order to help develop an important strategic relationship with the University of Applied Sciences (UAS) in Wurzburg, Germany. The hope is that through collaboration and the sharing of important engineering resources both institutions will be able to deliver an improved experience to their students.

UAS was founded in 1971 as an Institute of Technology with departments in Würzburg and Schweinfurt, its focus is on business, design and engineering education, with a well-developed reputation for knowledge transfer and professional industrial research partnerships. With nearly 8,000 students UAS is the third largest of the 17 state run universities of applied sciences in Bavaria. UAS is notable for having excellent laboratory resources with over 20 dedicated research labs in the Faculty of Industrial Design alone, covering research topics from microwave engineering to dedicated polymer testing, with an emphasis on materials testing.

The facilities and expertise at UAS are very important to BU as these will support current DEC activities, particularly with the adoption of the new MEng course and the laboratory resources for the experimental final year projects this will require. The business and enterprise expertise at UAS will also directly benefit the existing BA course in Design Business Management.

It is hoped that this relationship will include research collaboration with the activities of the Sustainable Design Research Centre (SDRC), with initial discussions including existing BU research looking at RNLI marine engine oil condition monitoring, and two newly awarded match funded studentships entitled ‘Recyclable Materials Applied to Small Marine Leisure Craft’ and ‘An Optimised Tidal Energy Design for Poole Harbour’. These will benefit greatly from the extensive materials testing facilities available at UAS allowing greater research detail to be developed.

It is intended that UAS students and academics will visit BU regularly under the banner of the SDRC for research projects, seminar presentations and to discuss further research and academic collaboration.

Boost your bid writing confidence – the Grants Academy way

Guidance

Before arriving for the Grants Academy day, I had had little interaction with this group at BU. I had procured some experience with small grant writing, but it is a lonely affair and it wasn’t always clear where to go for advice amongst colleagues or exactly how to go about pitching particular ideas to targeted funding bodies. The first day arriving for croissant and coffee, ice was broken very quickly as academics chatted about their interest research ideas and general experience at the university. It’s always amazing to me just how relevant distant subject areas of enquiry can be to your own area of expertise and talk of possible collaborative work soon emerged.

Martin Pickard, then launched into his explanation of the art and approach to guiding funding applications through the hidden maze of funding bodies’, expectations, remits and landscapes. It left me with a sudden realisation that there were indeed straightforward ways to fundamentally alter my approach that could lead to much greater chances. It was like having always played chess rather badly, but being shown just 5 key moves that conferred dramatic changes to your chances of winning. It was quite an eye opening and positive experience.

In addition to this sea change in approach, the venue, food, coffee, chocolate biscuits (particularly) and atmosphere of openness and support from Dianne and Caroline and the other participants enabled relaxed and informative discussion and a real boost in confidence concerning writing grants.

The support has kept coming and follow up workshops are in the offing. I can’t recommend this support opportunity at BU enough.

Submitted by Dave Newell (AECC)

Dave joined the Grants Academy in January 2013, and attended a 2-day bid writing workshop led by Dr Martin Pickard.    For more information about the scheme please visit the Grants Academy page on the research blog.

Erasmus Mundus mobility to South Caucasus region and Ukraine for students and staff available now! -Deadline 28th February-

Funding opportunities, PG research, Training

BU students and staff have been invited by Georg-August Universität Göttingen to apply for mobility at ALRAKIS II.

ALRAKIS II is one of the awarded Erasmus Mundus action 2 projects that promotes exchange mobility in the South Caucasus region and Ukraine. The beneficiary countries are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine. Our students and staff would be looking at applying at Target Group 2.

For more information please visit the project website and if you have any queries please contact Eva Papadopoulou at epapadopoulou@bournemouth.ac.uk and 01202 968252

Please note that the deadline for this is 28th February 2013.

FREE workshop for researchers (PGRs and Researchers): Charting an entrepreneurial career: how researchers can control their professional destiny

PG research, Training

Vitae and the Entrepreneurial Institution are pleased to announce two new enterprise workshops on the 5th March in Bristol and on the 7th March in London.

Wherever you are in your research career, whether you are applying for research funding, moving into a new career or starting your own business (commercial or social) this day will enable you to understand your enterprising potential to create impact through research and take your ideas into a business.

During the day, you will:

  • explore your own skills in relation to entrepreneurship
  • explore research impact in relation to grant applications and REF
  • explore different types of enterprise
  • hear from successful entrepreneurs
  • hear about social enterprise, commercialisation and knowledge exchange
  • network and plan next steps

To book your place on the workhops, please visit:

Tuesday 5th March 2013 – www.vitae.ac.uk/enterprise_Bristol
Thursday 7th March 2013 – www.vitae.ac.uk/enterprise_London

FIF SMN strand open for applications

The Fusion Investment Fund Staff Mobility & Networking (SMN) Strand has £45k to award from now until April 1st 2013.

The objectives , eligibility criteria and award limits are exactly as that found in the SMN Policy document found on our  Fusion Investment Fund webpages.

Applications must be on this FIF Application Form and emailed to Natalie Baines when completed; as many people experienced problems with the online form, this format is no longer valid.

Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis by the Committee and the fund will close either when the fund expires or on April 1st 2013, whichever occurs first. You are encouraged to discuss your potential application with a member of the Committee to ensure it meets the remit of the scheme.

All vital information including policy documents, FAQs  etc can be found on the SMN webpage.

Applying to the NIHR Info Day – register now!

The NIHR funds NHS related research (including the social sciences and humanities aspect of care) and issued over £200k of grants last year.  The info day being held on April 11th will provide an overview of the NIHR and give grant writing tips as well as having experts on hands to give you more specific info.

This is a free event with limited places so you must register here.

Fusion Investment Fund – BU Research in China

Fusion

Huiping Xian, Davide Secchi (both from Business School) and Yue Meng (Media School) have been awarded Fusion Investment Fund to consolidate an existing relationship with a Chinese university in order to establish a strategic partnership in the long term. The team will travel to Zhe Jiang Gong Shang University (ZJGS), Hangzhou, China, on 28th March, 2013 to engage in a series of intellectual and networking activities. During our 5-day visit, we plan to give 2 guest lectures and hold a research seminar with researchers in ZJGS to showcase research in BS and MS. Moreover, we will also disseminate findings of a recent research project – Business Ethics in Chinese Organisations – in a public workshop. Invitations will be sent to ZJGS’s current MBA students, alumni, local Chinese managers, entrepreneurs, academics and government officials via ZJGS’s network.
The project contributes to both research and education of the Fusion concept. The short-term output of this project includes 2 journal papers from the study (business ethics in China), 2 guest lectures, a research seminar and a public workshop in China. In a longer term, this project will potentially lead to future research collaboration, staff and student exchange, joint PhD supervision, and student recruitment with ZJGS and gradually develop a strategic partner for BU’s internationalisation. Zhejiang Province (where ZJGS is based) is one of the most developed districts and known for having a large number of students studying abroad every year. Located in Hangzhou, China, ZJGS is the 2nd highest ranked university in the province and mainly offers business, management, and economic programmes to UG and PG students.

For more information, please contact Dr Huiping Xian (hxian@bournemouth.ac.uk)

DEC receives successful KTP training session…..

Training

i love KTPAlthough KTPs have been around for over 30 years; for some academics they are still new territory! Bearing this in mind, it was suggested that a training session on KTPs would be welcomed by academics in the School of DEC.

The training session took place at the Talbot Campus last week, and was well received – especially as the session provided the opportunity to meet Neil Grice who is the KTP Advisor for the region.  KTP Advisors play a key role in the setting up of KTPs – they have a broad range of industrial expertise and are on hand to help with the preparation of a KTP proposal.  Then, throughout the life cycle of the KTP, they monitor the progress to ensure that all the partners achieve their goals.

Neil provided an excellent and engaging overview of KTPs, and in addition to his presentation, further project information was delivered by BU colleagues, Emily Cieciura and Norman Stock. They both did a fantastic job of explaining the particulars in bidding for KTPs and what is required post award. The technicalities of a KTP can be quite laborious, so credit goes to Neil, Emily and Norman for delivering a training session which was clear and straightforward!

If you feel you or your school would benefit from a KTP training session, please get in touch! KTP’s are an excellent opportunity for academics to engage with further Research and Development, and in particular they contribute to the REF.  Taking this into consideration, why not take advantage of a training session and find out the value of KTPs?

To find out further information, or to arrange a training session, please email Lucy Rossiter.

EACEA/2007 Call for Experts

    

EACEA Logo 

The Executive Agency Education, Audiovisual and Culture (EACEA) is issuing a call for expressions of interest in order to obtain applications for the establishment of a list of experts. This call is managed by the Agency in conjunction with the European Commission.

The experts’ duties will be to assist the Agency, or, where applicable, the Commission, in the performance of  tasks, with reference to the programme objectives, the priorities and criteria laid down in the calls for proposals, as well as the guides and manuals made available to applicants.

More information on this call can be found here 

 

 

 

Fusion Funding

Awarded & submitted bids, Fusion

A new Fusion project will shortly be starting in the School of Applied Sciences run by Dan Franklin and Genoveva Esteban. Concentrating on cyanobacteria (‘blue-green algae’) the team will attempt to isolate out new strains of cyanobacteria into culture at BU. Cyanobacteria are single-celled organisms that can turn freshwater ecosystems a vivid green colour. Cyanobacteria growth in reservoirs and lakes already causes substantial economic losses and amenity problems and the ultimate aim of the project is to investigate the properties of cells such that new management measures can be pioneered. The team will make multiple isolations of cyanobacteria from local lakes in order to establish new laboratory strains of cyanobacteria, including toxic species such as Microcystis. These will then be used to facilitate experiments on ways to inhibit cyanobacteria growth.                                                   

For more information please contact dfranklin@bournemouth.ac.uk

Images BU culture of Microcystis:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picture credit: Ian Chapman, BU

Microcystis growth in nature:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See glerl.noaa.gov