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LIFE+ 2012 Call now open!

The sixth LIFE+ call opened recently and closes on the 26th September 2012. LIFE+ funds projects that implement, update and develop Community environmental policy and legislation. There are three strands:

There is a significant change to the application process this year as this must be done using a new eProposal online tool. There are user guides available on the LIFE+ website. In addition applicants submitting a Nature & Biodiversity project or an Information & Communication project related to Forest Fire Prevention will also need to submit an A8 form, signed by the relevant competent authority.

Beta Technology can review your project idea before you start taking time to fill in the application form, simply complete the project concept form and send it to Catherine Holt or Jane Watkins . You can also take a look at the Tips and Advice section of the Beta website for some great hints when completing an application.

There is also an Info Day for this call being held in London on May 29th  -povisional plans for the day include presentations from Stefan Welin, Technical Desk Officer at the EU LIFE Unit, Catherine Holt from BETA Technology and previous project funding recipients. Attendance is free but must be registered in advance, places are limited and will initially be allocated at one per organisation on a first come, first served basis; you can register here.

 

ISRF Mid-Career Research Fellowship Call announced

Funding opportunities

The Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) wishes to support independent-minded researchers to do interdisciplinary work which is unlikely to be funded by existing funding bodies. It is interested in original research ideas which take new approaches, and suggest new solutions, to real world social problems.

The Foundation intends to make a small number of awards to support original interdisciplinary research, across the range of the social sciences, to be held from a start date during the academic year 2013-4. Scholars from within Europe are eligible to apply.

The award is intended to enable a scholar at the mid career stage to pursue his/her research full-time, normally for 12 months. The amount will be offered to buy out the costs of replacing all teaching and associated administration in the applicant’s home institution, and will be considered to a maximum of £60,000 per successful applicant. Within that sum, reasonable support for research expenses may be considered on a matched-funding basis with the host institution.

The applicant should normally hold a salaried position at an institution of higher education and research, and be 10 years or more from the year of their PhD award. However, a shorter time from PhD award may exceptionally be considered, if the candidate has other qualifications to be considered as mid-career.

Applicants should consult the Criteria as set out in the Further Particulars and show that they meet them. Applicants should follow the Application procedure and should present their Proposal in the format specified there.

Closing date for applications is 4pm on June 21st 2012.

Application Queries: Telephone +44 (0) 20 7262 0196 or email applications2012@isrf.org

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

DEC Post Graduate Researcher Poster Competition

PG research

The School of Design, Engineering and Computing is holding its 5th Annual Post Graduate Research Student Poster Competition Conference on Wednesday 23rd May 2012 in the Thomas Hardy Suite.  This event showcases the School’s current PhD research.  Judging will take place in the morning and then the display will be open to all at 14:00 hours. Bournemouth University Board Member, Dr Peter Barnwell MBE will officially open the conference at 14:30 p.m. and will be awarding the prizes for the best posters at approximately 15:00 pm. Students will be there to discuss their research until 16:00 hours.  All staff are welcome.

The AHRC is coming to BU

Funding opportunities

On 27th June Professor Mark Llewellyn, Director of Research from the AHRC is coming to BU. 

Professor Llewellyn began his secondment to the AHRC as Director of Research in January and his responsibilities cover all areas of research activity, postgraduate funding, peer review, and international and Knowledge Exchange issues.

Professor Llewellyn will be addressing an open meeting at BU, aimed at arts and humanities researchers and anyone else who is interested in the development of the AHRC’s strategy.

The meeting with start with a presentation, and then be followed by discussion. 

There is limited space available, please book your place to avoid disappointment.

Click here to book your place.

Day: Wednesday, 27th June

Time: 1.30pm – 2.15pm

Place: Talbot Campus – PG16

In the meantime, if you have any questions please email Caroline O’Kane

International placements deemed priceless

Bournemouth University’s Professor Jonathan Parker and Dr Sara Crabtree have been examining the true benefits an international placement has on a student’s learning experience, employability and future career.

The study, conducted alongside Parker and Crabtree’s BU colleague Clare Cutler, examined a range of aspects of inter-cultural learning arising from placements. Current students and graduates were questioned about their confidence, cultural attitudes, employer feedback and other factors arising from the international placement experience.

Professor Parker explained: “This research has shown how working in totally different and sometimes physically inhospitable cultural environments, develops students’ confidence to practice in varied, challenging and unknown situations. This is so important when they come back to work in a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic country like the UK.”

While the study has primarily focused on international placements in Parker’s own research area of social work, it is already being applied to other disciplines. “We are now surveying students taking international placements in our School of Tourism and these research findings are equally positive,” he explained. “But the concept can be much more widely applied to encompass any career working with the general public.”

But there’s one big problem holding many UK students back: “As a general rule, UK students are very poor at languages, which are so important in so many aspects of life.”

This apparent ‘failing’ of the school system, whereby languages are not compulsory at GCSE level, needs to be addressed if students are going to reap the rewards of international placement schemes such as Erasmus. “Students need a basic degree of language skill,” Parker concluded. “It should be compulsory”.

This international placements research project is supported through BU’s Fusion fund, promoting projects which create a unique academic experience through the powerful fusion of research, education and professional practice.

More information about Professor Jonathan Parker’s and Dr Sara Crabtree’s research can be viewed on BURO.

Digital Economy Strategic Partnerships Proposals

At the Strategic Partnership workshop for the Connected Digital Economy Catapult last month the Technology Strategy Board presented the nature of strategic partnerships and other models of engagement, the process to develop strategic partnerships, guidelines and next steps. The presentations can be found on the _connect webpage 

The next step in the process involves interested companies/organisations preparing 2-3 page strategic partnership proposals, which need to be submitted to the Technology Strategy Board by 25th May 2012. You can read more on this, on the _connect website.

Remember, if you aren’t already signed up to _connect, you can read the benefits of creating an account here.

Good luck and Congratulations!

Awarded & submitted bids

Congratulations to Tania Humphries-Smith (DEC) for securing funding from the Royal Academy of Engineering for an industry visiting professor, Zulfiqar Khan (DEC) for winning a contract with My Floodmate Ltd to research a revised flood barrier and for a contract with IT & Engineering Services Ltd, Richard Stillman (ApSci) for securing funding from Cefas for phase 2 of the Bridgewater Bay Project and for a contract with HR Wallingford, Roger Herbert (ApSci) for a contract with Natural England to research marine food webs, Tim Darvill and Bronwen Russell (ApSci) for securing further funding from English Heritage for the AIP project, Carol Bond and Marilyn Cash (HSC) for a contract with NHS Bournemouth and Poole, and to Adam Blake and Nicky Pretty (ST) for winning funds from UK Music 2009 Ltd to research the potential impact of the live music bill legislation.

Congratulations are also due to Martin Smith (ApSci) for running the BABAO Conference in Bournemouth later this year, Bronwen Russell (Bournemouth Archaeology, ApSci) for securing a contract with Wardall Armstrong, Stephanie Farmer (RedBalloon, MS) for securing a contract with Poole Tidal Energy Project and another contract with Mobile Media, Mike Molesworth (CEB, MS) for winning two contracts – one with JC Decaux Airport Advertising and one with ITV Cross Media Communication and Partnership, and to Vanessa Edwards (MS) for running the Journalism 4G Conference later this year and for running the Media Mash Up short courses.

Good luck to Emma Jenkins (ApSci) for submitting an early career researcher grant to the AHRC, Genoveva Esteban (ApSci) with a bid to SempCorp, Eileen Wilkes (ApSci) for a bid to the British Academy to continue her research at Mount Folly in Devon, Adrian Newton (ApSci) for a bid to the STFC, Rudy Gozlan, Anita Diaz and the CEES Group (ApSci) for submitting three bids to the European Commission’s Erasmus Mundus scheme, Anita Diaz (Raian Ali (DEC) for an FP7 bid to the European Commission, a large bid to the EPSRC and a bid to Google, Venky Dubey (DEC) for a bid to UKIERI, Christos Gatzidis (DEC) for a bid to hold the 5th IEEE VS-Games 2013 Conference in Bournemouth, Hamid Bouchachia (DEC) for a large bid to the European Commission, Jian Jun Zhang (MS) for submitting a bid to the Leverhulme Trust’s Research Leadership Scheme, Stuart Allan (MS) for a bid to Humanities in the European Research Area, Venora Hundley and Edwin van Teijlingen (HSC) for a bid to the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation to research women’s self-help groups and empowerment, Jonathan Parker (HSC) for a bid to the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences, Kip Jones (HSC) for a bid to the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences, Peter Thomas (HSC) for a large collaborative bid to the NIHR, and to Khurshid Djalilov (BS) for two bids – one to the ESRC and the other to the Centre for Economic Policy Research.

Good luck also to Jan Wiener (DEC) for submitting a bid to Army of Angels, Jacqui Taylor (DEC) for two bids to the HEA, Joanna Hawkes (ST) with a bid to the National Osteoporosis Society, and to Steve Calver and the MRG team (ST) for a bid to work with Dorset Police.

Thanks

Matthew

 

New user friendly ESRC Research Funding Guide

Guidance

A new version of the ESRC Research Funding Guide is now available to download on their web site.

It has been thoroughly reviewed and substantial changes made to the layout and content.  The contents page now includes hyperlinks so that you do not need to scroll through the document to find what you need; relevant links to current Funding Opportunities and assessment information are included; as are guidance in chronological order from beginning to end of the grants process; annexes have been removed and where appropriate the information is now included within the document; and a revision to the OJEU threshold has also been included.

The new streamlined version is much more user friendly and easier to keep up to date. This document will now only be updated on a bi-annual basis – in April and October – where changes are required (unless exceptional circumstances require immediate revision). Where possible amendments will be implemented at the point at which the guide is updated. Any changes which occur during the interim period will be captured as amendments on the web page so that they are easy to find and will be communicated as appropriate (this may be via RCUK or the normal ESRC channels).

BU REF Code of Practice available now!

Research assessment

As I mentioned in my previous post about the forthcoming outputs mock REF exercise, we have recently submitted our final draft REF Code of Practice document to the REF Team for their approval. We produced this document to help inform staff about the policies and processes around submitting to the REF in November 2013, as well as to meet the four UK higher education funding bodies’ request that each institution making a submission to the REF must develop and apply such a code when selecting staff to include in their submission.

The BU REF Code of Practice is the culmination of months of drafting and approval, and sets out the approach that will be, and has already been, taken by BU in preparing its REF2014 submission. It therefore includes important information about the schedule of mock REF exercises that you are able to take part in (Chapter 3), and about declaring any circumstances that may have affected your ability to produce the four outputs required (Chapter 5), along with other equality and diversity aspects. Staff eligibility and selection are also covered.

Throughout the document there are references to the relevant paragraphs within the key publications published by the REF Team, which are: Assessment Framework and Guidance on Submissions and Panel Criteria and Working Methods.

Because this document is still subject to the approval of the REF Team’s Equality and Diversity Advisory Panel (EDAP), the Code is currently available to BU staff via the new Staff Intranet under ‘Policies, Forms and Procedures/Research’. We will make it fully available here on the Blog once we’ve received the EDAP feedback, so watch this space!

European Innovation Partnerships Updated Website and FAQs

You may remember I recently  published a blog post on Partnering in Research and Innovation which laid out the EC’s plans for how to improve partnering across Europe for research in Horizon 2020. This was particularly relevant for BU as topics included are Active and Healthy Ageing. The EC has recently updated its European Innovation Partnerships website and has added a FAQ section. The website now has a separate section on each of the three EIPs:

  1. Active and Healthy Ageing;
  2. Raw Materials;
  3. Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability.

The EIP on Active and Healthy Ageing was the first Partnership to be set up, and there are several pilot calls currently open under different programmes for projects in support of its Strategic Implementation Plan (please see the “Funding” section of the EIP Active and Healthy Ageing part of the website).

The FAQs contain questions and answers on topics such as:

  • the role of the Strategic Implementation Plan for an EIP;
  • how funding will be provided for Strategic Implementation Plans;
  • the timing for possible new EIPs;
  • the role of the Steering Group and Action Groups for the Active and Healthy Ageing EIP; and
  • the role envisaged for EIPs in implementing Horizon

I would recommend taking 10 mins out of your day to check out oen of the EIP websites if the areas are relevant for you.

NERC announce first round of the 2012/13 Follow-on Fund

Funding opportunities

Applications are invited to NERC’s first round of the 2012/13 Follow-on Fund.

The aim of this scheme is to develop outcomes from previous funding to a stage where commercial opportunities are possible.  The fund is open to researchers in UK universities and research council institutes with current or past research council funding.

Funds are typically requested to further develop the scientific or technical aspects of an idea.  This may be to strengthen the intellectual property position, carry out further market research or investigate possible licensees.

Applications must be made through the JeS system (https://je-s.rcuk.ac.uk/).

The closing date for applications is 4pm, 6 June 2012.

NERC also funds a Follow-on Fund ‘Pathfinder’ scheme to support small-scale, specific activities that can help develop a better understanding of future work needs and may be beneficial when submitting a full Follow-on Fund application.

For more information and contact details go to http://www.nerc.ac.uk/using/schemes/followonfund.asp

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Useful documents

To find out more, please download the documents you need from the list below.

Guidance to applicants

Eligibility and assessment criteria

Specific guidance – ‘Full’ Follow-on Fund

Specific guidance – Follow-on Fund Pathfinder

Moderating panel membership

Guidance for writing supporting letters

EPSRC announce call: Working together in ICT

Funding opportunities

Summary

EPSRC’s ICT Theme intends to commit around £5M of funding for research projects which will directly address its Working Together priority.

Projects submitted in response to this call should comprise two or more ‘streams’ of research which run concurrently and show significant mutual benefit. These streams may include ICT researchers working with researchers in areas outside ICT, as long as the potential benefit to ICT research is the main driver for the project.

Full call document including background, funding available, aims and scope of call, eligibilty, how to apply and assessment can be found here.

Closing date: 16:00 on 10 July 2012

Submitting application

You should prepare and submit your proposal using the Research Councils’ Joint electronic Submission (Je-S) System (https://je-s.rcuk.ac.uk/).

When adding a new proposal, you should select: Council ‘EPSRC’; Document type ‘Standard Proposal’; Scheme ‘Standard Research’; On the Project Details page you should select the ‘Working Together in ICT’ call.

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Master the art of using Twitter to enhance your research profile, impact and visibility!

Those of you who are regular visitors to the Blog will be aware that we regularly promote the benefits to academics of using social media channels, such as Twitter (read our previous Twitter posts here).

The Training Gateway are hosting a ‘Twitter Made Simple’ workshop in London on 14 June to help those new to Twitter to master the art!

The course will cover:
• An Introduction to Twitter – what it is and how it can be used
• Profile – How to set up your profile
• Twitter Terms – e.g. hash tags and how to set up your bio
• Setting a plan / strategy for content and networking
• Interacting with other Twitter users – who and how to follow, what to say and managing the noise
• The Do’s and Don’ts of Twitter – Twitter etiquette

The Research Development Unit has funding available if you would like to attend. Please contact Julie Northam if you are interested.

Alcohol Research UK announces Small Grants Scheme

Funding opportunities

Alcohol Research UK have reopened the Small Grants Scheme.

Competition is always tough for a small grant award, so please check the criteria before applying:

Criteria for Funding Projects:

Small grants could fund small research projects, pilot research studies or demonstration projects with a strong evaluation component, up to £5,000 in total. The following criteria are used to judge all applications for small grants:

  • Does the project have the potential to make a significant new contribution to the alcohol evidence base, either in its own right or as a precursor to a larger project?
  • Are the aims well defined and achievable?
  • Is there a sound evaluation component to check whether aims have been achieved?

Preference will be given to projects that will have a demonstrable impact.

Alcohol Research UK is unable to contribute to the running and general costs of organisations, make donations or fund ongoing service provision.

Download a copy of the Small Grant Project application form

Conferences and Conference Attendance:

Applications may be made for a contribution towards running a suitable conference of up to £3,000 subject to the following criteria:

  • The conference would help to disseminate important new evidence or theories;
  • It has clear and identifiable aims; and
  • There would be some post event evaluation regarding the influence on policy and practice and Alcohol Research UK would be provided with a conference report.

Applications for conference attendance to present a paper will only be accepted from Alcohol Research UK funded individuals.

Download a copy of the Small Grant Conference application form

Download a copy of the Small Grant Conference attendance application form

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

 

MRC announce Special training fellowship in biomedical informatics

Funding opportunities

Special training fellowship in biomedical informatics (computational biology, neuroinformatics and health informatics)

The MRC has identified the application of informatics as an area of strategic importance to health and medical research. This special training fellowship is aimed at developing outstanding individuals who are seeking to move into the application of mathematical, statistical and computational methods to biomedical and health research problems.

The MRC is keen to support individuals with a clear ambition for their research and a strong and practical sense of how they develop their careers as leading biomedical scientists and informaticians. The special fellowship is awarded at the post-doctoral entry level only and all proposals must include a well-specified formal training element in addition to a research project. The award commonly provides 3 years support and the opportunity to enhance the research training through placement in an overseas research centre, a second UK research centre or in UK industry.

The MRC expect to make up to five awards a year.

Who can apply?

The fellowships are aimed at those with non-biological, biological, non-clinical or clinical backgrounds who wish to undertake training and research in biomedical informatics. This is a prestigious fellowship; therefore applicants are expected to demonstrate an excellent track-record relative to their time in research.

Applications are particularly encouraged from those with advanced training in the physical or mathematical sciences or in information technology, who wish to apply their expertise to biomedical problems. In particular, applications are encouraged in imaging informatics.

Applicants should hold either a PhD or DPhil in a relevant discipline or expect to do so by the time they intend to take up the award. Medical or dental applicants holding a PhD can apply at any stage in their careers from immediately post-registration up to specialist registrar grade or be at the equivalent level in general practice or dentistry. The majority of successful applicants are within six years of the completion of their PhD but this is not an absolute requirement.

Post-doctoral applicants have no residential restrictions and may come from any country. If you are invited to interview by the biomedical informatics training and career development panel, you would be expected to demonstrate a commitment to the UK research effort in the area of biomedical informatics beyond the period of a special training fellowship award.

What funding is provided?

An MRC special research training fellowship in biomedical informatics is usually awarded for three years or occasionally up to four years when there is special justification.

The fellowship provides the fellow’s personal salary, research training support costs, annual travel costs, and all other relevant costs under Full Economic Costs (see the guidance notes for completing the application form and the form itself for more details). Salaries for clinical applicants will be payable up to, but not including, NHS consultant level. In addition, a small amount of salary can be requested for supervision but this should be appropriately restricted.

Where the fellowship includes attendance on a formal course leading to a Masters degree, or parts of a taught course, course fees may be requested. All applications must include an appropriate taught training component.

Overseas/Second UK Centre/UK Industrial Training Period

The special research training fellowship in biomedical informatics provides the opportunity to spend time in an overseas research centre, a second UK research centre or UK industrial centre in year two or three of the award. The aim of this training component is to provide a concentrated period of training that cannot be achieved as effectively within the academic host institution. MRC would normally expect this training component to be a single visit lasting up to 12 months. However, the assessment panel may agree to requests for visits to more than one centre, if this can be justified on the grounds of training needs. These should not be simply collaborative visits but applicants are encouraged to consider this opportunity by the assessment panel. You should be prepared at interview to discuss in detail any visits proposed.

Deadlines and submission details

The MRC special research training fellowship in biomedical informatics competition is held once a year. There is no need to submit an outline application.

Please see fellowship deadlines dates for application deadlines.

Closing date: 19 September 2012

Short listing: January 2013

Interviews: 27 – 28 February and 1 March 2013

Take up dates: April – September 2013

Please apply for the Special Training Fellowship using the RCUK Je-S application system. Your proposal must be submitted through the MRC Je-S system by 4pm on the relevant Fellowhip Application deadline date.

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Completion of specialist clinical training

If you are medically and dentally qualified and have not already completed your specialist or vocational training, you should have a clear idea of your plans for doing so at the time of application. Applicants wishing to pursue specialist or vocational training must consult their Postgraduate Medical Dean, Regional Advisor in General Practice, and Royal College prior to submitting the fellowship application to find out if the research may be acceptable as training towards the Certificate of Completion of Training. Enquiries and subsequent applications to the relevant body should be made in consultation with the prospective head of department.

Flexibility

The MRC tries to operate this scheme as flexibly as possible. As part of the MRC’s equal opportunities policy, consideration will be given to applicants who are returning to science following a career break. There are no age limits for any of our schemes and all fellowships may be held part-time to fit in with domestic responsibilities.

The MRC recognises the challenges faced by clinicians in combining research training with the demands of a clinical career. MRC therefore allow up to 20 per cent of fellows’ time for NHS sessions.

Alternatively, Fellows may spend up to six hours a week on other work such as teaching or demonstrating. The payment for this work may be retained in full if this is the host institution’s normal policy. Fellows may seek other research grants to be held concurrently with their award during its last six months only. However, they may not exceed the permitted time for other work on research grants.

Please see fellowship terms and conditions for further details.

Applications for further fellowship support

MRC special research training fellows who wish to consolidate their research skills and make the transition from post-doctoral research and training to become independent investigators are eligible to compete for an MRC clinician scientist fellowship (medical/dental graduates, nurses, midwives and members of the allied health professions) or, an MRC career development award (non-clinical scientists).

Guidance for applicants

 

For further information please refer to MRC’s contacts page.

Arts and Humanities Research Council – KTP Funding Criteria

KTP diagramThe AHRC has announced that it will support Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) projects in which knowledge, skills and/or technology/technologies arising from arts and humanities research are transferred to businesses and other sectors within the UK. These can range from commercial to, not for profit, charity, and publicly funded organisations.
Project subjects which qualify for funding consideration include law, archaeology, journalism, and media and communication studies, artistic design and media.
The funding is focussed on meeting the needs of small/medium sized organisations.
A KTP project can last from 26 weeks to 3 years. The funding pays for a full time post-graduate and 1/2 a day per week of an academic supervisor’s time. Projects need to be co-funded by an organisation from any of the sectors listed above. For small/medium sized organisations their contribution to the funding costs is approximately £308 per week.
If you require any further information on this post or KTPs in general please contact Peter Delgado, Commercialisation and KTP Officer, e-mail – pdelgado@bournemouth.ac.uk

Changes to the AHRC’s Fellowships Scheme

Guidance

The AHRCs Fellowships scheme has recently been refreshed with an enhanced focus on the development of research leadership across the arts and humanities.

The scheme now provides time for researchers to undertake focused individual research projects alongside collaborative activities which have the potential to generate new ways of thinking and engagement within their subject area and beyond. In addition to demonstrating plans for high quality, world leading research and associated outputs, proposals must include collaborative activities to support the development of the Fellows capacity for research leadership in the arts and humanities.

The AHRC consider the new Fellowships to be a partnership between the AHRC and Research Organisations to support the development and maintenance of the UKs research leadership capability in the arts and humanities. Institutions are expected to be selective in the applications they put forward and provide evidence that the institution has supported and will support the Fellows career and leadership development before, during and after the proposed Fellowship funding period. This could come in a variety of forms depending on the career stage and the nature of the Fellows research.

Research excellence remains the core requirement of the scheme, and Fellowships will continue to support concentrated time for individual research. Reviewers are asked, however, to ensure that all aspects of the scheme are considered and commented upon in their reviews. We ask that you reflect the aims of the scheme and assess each of the following:

* the quality of the research

* the proposed leadership activities

* the plans for collaboration

* the support given by the institution

A compelling case needs to be made across both the research and research leadership elements of the proposal given the prestigious, competitive and high profile nature of these awards.

Full details of the changes to the scheme can be found in the recent PRC Newsletter and in the AHRC Funding Guide.