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Alzheimer’s Society calls for Project Grants and PhD Studentship Grants

Funding opportunities

Project Grants: Next deadline: 29 June 2012

The objective of Alzheimer’s Society Project Grants is to provide funding for significant research projects in the areas of cause, cure, care or prevention of dementia.

Up to £225,000 funding per application may be requested, for periods up to 3 years.

PhD studentship Grants: Deadline: 27 July 2012

The objective of Alzheimer’s Society Project Grants is to provide funding for new PhD studentships in the areas of cause, cure, care or prevention of dementia.

Applications should be made by the prospective supervisor. Up to £80,000 may be requested consisting of a fixed student stipend and a budget for student fees, materials and consumables.

Project grants and PhD grants are open calls, for investigator led proposals across cause, cure, care and prevention of dementia. They wish to highlight that welcome applications for high quality complex interventions in social and psychological care since these are currently underrepresented in their portfolio. Applicants are also advised to look at the document ‘Challenges facing primary carers for people with dementia: Opportunities for research‘, which was prepared in consultation with Research Newwork volunteers.

Alzheimer’s Society now accepts applications for all types of research grants via an online grant application platform. Potential applicants should follow the link to the grants platform and register online to set up an account. Registered applicants will then be able to view and apply to grant rounds that are currently accepting applications. Applications will open approximately three months before the closing date.

The online platform can be accessed at https://grants.alzheimers.org.uk/

Any queries should be directed to grantenquiries@alzheimers.org.uk

All applications submitted to Alzheimer’s Society will be peer reviewed and funding decisions will be made within six months. If you hold a grant from Alzheimer’s Society, then this will eventually be managed through the online platform. If you are interested in partnering with Alzheimer’s Society on a research project, but are not seeking funding from the Society, then please look at the partnership working page.

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

MRC Call for Career Development Award

Funding opportunities

The MRC career development award provides up to five years’ support for outstanding post-doctoral researchers who wish to consolidate their research skills and make the transition from post-doctoral research trainee to independent investigator. Applicants are expected to take advantage of the full five years’ funding available. It includes an option of 12 months research training outside the UK, in UK industry, or at another UK research centre, to enable fellows to acquire new transferable techniques and skills. The scheme also provides a jointly funded postdoctoral award in partnership with the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Who can apply?

Applicants should have a PhD or DPhil and have at least three to six years’ post-doctoral experience at the time of application deadline. Applications from existing MRC research fellows and post-doctoral researchers returning from overseas are particularly welcome. Applicants who hold a research-oriented MSc degree and have undertaken at least four years’ appropriate postgraduate research work – such as in medical statistics – may be considered.

Medically and other clinically qualified professionals who are clinically active should consider MRC’s Clinical Fellowships or Population Health Scientist Fellowship schemes.

As with all MRC fellowships, these awards are not available to individuals who hold a tenured academic position at the time of application. If you hold a tenured position, you may apply for funding under one of the MRC’s grant schemes.

There are no residence eligibility restrictions for this fellowship. 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.

 

Scientific Remit

Proposals are encouraged across all areas of the MRC’s remit. Applications may range from basic studies with relevance to mechanisms of disease, to translational and clinical research.

Funding provided

The fellowship provides a competitive salary, research support staff, research consumables expenses, travel costs and capital equipment appropriate for the research project under full economic costs. The award also provides funding for research training outside the UK. Higher requests for resources must be justified in terms of delivering the objectives of the research proposal.

Tenure of award

An MRC career development award may be awarded for up to five years. Applicants are expected to take advantage of the full five years funding available. Part-time fellowships for individuals who wish to combine research with domestic responsibilities may apply for a period of up to 5 years pro-rata.

 

The MRC and Multiple Sclerosis Society training fellowship

Applications are invited for this joint award from non-clinical researchers who also wish to undertake research into understanding and treating multiple sclerosis.

Clinical researchers may apply for this joint funding scheme through the MRC clinical research training fellowship.

 

Deadlines and submission details

This fellowship competition is held twice a year, however applicants may only apply to one CDA competition in any 12 month period. There is no need to submit an outline application.

Please apply for the Career Development Award using the RCUK Je-S application system.

Please see the schedule and deadlines for fellowships for closing dates.

Your proposal must be submitted through the MRC Je-S system by 4pm on the relevant closing date.

Closing date: 10 October 2012

Short listing: February 2013

Interviews: 20 -21 March 2013

Take up dates: April – September 2013 

 

Other work responsibilities

MRC career development fellows and research support staff funded through full-time fellowships may spend up to six hours a week teaching, demonstrating or supervising research staff not funded by the fellowship. Payment for such work may be retained in full if this is the host institution’s normal policy.

 

Applications for further support

Existing fellows who wish to continue developing their research careers, and who do not have an established position, would be eligible to compete for an MRC senior non-clinical fellowship.

Other grant support

Career development award holders are encouraged to apply as a principle investigator or co-investigator for grant support via an MRC research grant or collaboration grant, or grants from other funding organisations, subject to written approval from the MRC fellowship section. Fellows seeking this further support should ensure that the additional work can be carried out within the six hours per week allowed for other duties as stipulated under other work responsibilities and in the fellowship terms and conditions (part FA19). In certain cases consideration will be given to allowing the fellow to apply for grant funding which exceeds these limits.

Guidance for applicants

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

 The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Lots of Info Days coming up – register now for a fantastic networking opportunity!

ICT FP7 Info Day:  The European Commission, in collaboration with the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Polish National Contact Point, is organising the ICT Proposers’ Day 2012, to be held in Warsaw on 26 and 27 September 2012. This two day event will provide networking opportunities for researchers interested in submitting proposals to the 2013 Work Programme calls. The event will also offer the chance to present your project ideas, provide first-hand information from European Commission officials, guidance on how to present a successful proposal and much more. The event will be free of charge, but attendees must register in advance. Online networking and registration will open at the end of June.

Health FP7 Info day: The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) will host the UK Open Info Day for the 2013 Health Call on the 16th of May. The event, organised jointly between the NPL, the Healthtech and Medicines KTN and FP7UK, is open to academic researchers, SMEs, Industry, NHS, charities and public bodies, and anyone interested in finding out about the opportunities in this year’s call.Places are free but on a first come first served basis so register quickly if you want to attend!

Environment FP7 Info Day:  booking isn’t yet open but the info day is likely to be 11.06.12 and not 12.06.12 as originally planned.

 

Social Sciences and Humanities FP7 Infoday: This is a training and information day by the UK’s expert advisors (National Contact Points) on FP7- Social Sciences and Humanities, FP7 – Science in Society and HERA (Humanities in the European Research Area).  Each session will include a presentation, case study and Q&A. If you wish to attend the event complete the form below before and return it to Depcoord@soton.ac.uk before 25th May 2012:

Your Name  
Email Address  
University  
Will you be staying for lunch?  
Do you want to arrange a 1:1 with a speaker? If yes please advise details  
Do you have any special dietary requirements?  

 

KBBE (Food, Agriculture, Fisheries & Biotechnology) FP7 Info Day: An open information day and brokerage event will take place on 16 July 2012 in Brussels, Belgium.  The programme will consist of plenary sessions and several parallel workshops on participating in FP7 KBBE. Participants will also be able to exchange information and network at a special session where various service providers will be present.  The conference will bring together research stakeholders, from both the public and private sectors from the EU and Third Countries, together with the Commission, to provide information and to find partners for projects to be funded under the upcoming FP7-KBBE-2013-7 call.

Space FP7 Info Day: COSMOS, the EU Space National Contact Point (NCP) network, will deliver the International Information event on the 2013 FP7 Space Call. This event will take place on 20 and 21 June at the University of Surrey.Participants will be provided with: 

  • first-hand information on the Call content and on future EU Space funding under Horizon 2020;
  • pre-organised as well as spontaneous matchmaking opportunities via face-to-face meetings;
  • short presentations on project ideas and the competencies of potential partners;
  • profile poster session; and
  • spontaneous networking opportunities in a relaxed environment.

It is expected that potential applicants from all over Europe will attend this event. People interested in attending this event are required to register and submit their ‘co-operation profile’ before 10 June.

European Maritime Day 2012: The 2012 edition will be held in Gothenburg, Västra Götaland, Sweden – for the first time in Scandinavia and in the North Sea area. The theme of this year’s conference is “Sustainable growth from the oceans, seas and the coasts: Blue growth”. The purpose is to highlight the importance of the seas and oceans and the challenges facing maritime regions and sectors.

TurKey Enabling Technologies 2012 International Brokerage Event (Istanbul, 25.05.12): This high-level event – which is organised under the scope of TUBITAK’s Turkey in FP7 project – will bring together 300 researchers and organisations involved in: Biotechnology; Advanced Materials; Advanced Manufacturing & Processing; and Space Technologies; with the desire and capability to help overcome a wide range of challenges.

 

NIHR CSO Healthcare Science Research Fellowship Programme – Round 3 now launched

Funding opportunities

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in partnership with the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) for the Department of Health has now launched round 3 of the NIHR/CSO Healthcare Science Research Fellowship Competition. The scheme supports the development of healthcare science research capacity and capability building, by providing funding to undertake research for patient benefit.

The Fellowships will support members of the NHS healthcare science workforce who already have some research experience and wish to bridge clinical or service careers and research. 

The two award levels are:

  • Doctoral: funding for individual doctoral level research and to undertake a PhD
  • Post-Doctoral: funding for individual postdoctoral research projects

Fellowships must be undertaken with the support of the relevant NHS line-manager and an appropriate academic partner. The research proposed must be of direct relevance to the NHS with the potential to improve service or clinical outcome. 

Applications are invited from individuals working in England from one of the three main Healthcare Scientist areas:

  • Biology
  • Physiology
  • Physics and Engineering.

Application Packs

An overview of the competition process, eligibility, funding, Review Panel and previous awards can be found on this link: FURTHER INFORMATION

Informal enquiries may be directed to hcs@nihrtcc.org.uk

Closing date 24 Jul 12

Deadline information Deadline: emailed applications due 24 July; postal applications due 31 July 2012.

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

MRC call for Senior Non-Clinical Fellowship

Funding opportunities

The MRC senior non-clinical fellowship is a highly prestigious award that provides non-clinical researchers of exceptional ability with exceptional opportunities to develop themselves to be research leaders. Applicants will be proven independent researchers with a track record of excellence in their scientific field, and will demonstrate significant promise as future research leaders. Support is now provided for seven years.

Who can apply?

Applicants will normally hold a PhD/DPhil and have at least six years’ post-doctoral research experience in academia or the wider economy. Applications from current MRC Career Development Award holders are particularly welcome.

Proposals are encouraged across all areas of the MRC’s remit from basic molecular science to applied clinical research. Medically and other clinically qualified professionals who are clinically active are ineligible, and should consider MRC’s Clinical Fellowships or Population Health Scientist Fellowship schemes.

MRC fellowships are not available to individuals who hold a tenured academic or research position, in the UK or overseas, at the time of application. If you hold a tenured position you should instead apply for funding under one of the MRC grant schemes. Similarly, individuals without formal tenure who are already supported by their Research Organisation as research team leaders should seek MRC grant funding rather than support via an MRC fellowship. There are no residence eligibility restrictions for this fellowship.

As part of the MRC 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.

Funding provided

The award provides a competitive personal salary for the fellow, research support staff, research consumables expenses and capital equipment appropriate for the research project, travel costs, and other appropriate items under full economic costs at a UK research organisation.

However, a Fellowship is not merely a large personal “grant.” Now that the awards are for seven years, candidates must show a commitment to developing the breadth of their research careers as well as excellence in depth. We recognise that plans for the later stages of a fellowship may be less detailed than those for the earlier years. Nevertheless, applicants should have ambitious and credible ideas for developing themselves as research leaders – scientists with vision and the ability to drive change.

Applicants are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the Senior Non-Clinical Fellowship to spend time in an overseas research centre, a second UK research centre or a UK industrial centre. The aim is to provide a concentrated period of training that cannot be achieved as effectively within the academic host institution. MRC consider this period at a second centre to provide an invaluable opportunity to broaden fellows’ development towards becoming a research leader, and they would normally expect the Fellow to make one visit of up to 12 months. The interview panel may agree to requests for visits to more than one centre, if this can be justified on the grounds of training and development needs. These should not be simply collaborative visits. The Felllow should be prepared at interview to discuss in detail any visits proposed.

Tenure of award

An MRC Senior Non-Clinical Fellowship may be awarded for any period up to seven years. A mid-term review will be conducted by Panel members and MRC staff, to evaluate the fellow’s progress and institutional support, and also as an opportunity to provide mentorship and career advice for the fellow.

When applying, the case for support should describe a plan for seven years of research. However it is appreciated that during the tenure of the award, advances will be made and unexpected results may be produced which impact on the planned work, especially in the later years of the award. Consequently they encourage applicants to outline options for the last years of the fellowship rather than provide comprehensive details.

To account for the new longer duration, the case for support may be up to 12 pages in length.

Deadlines and submission details

This fellowship competition is held twice a year. There is no need to submit an outline application. Please see the schedule and deadlines for fellowships for closing dates.

Please apply for the Senior Non-Clinical Fellowship using the RCUK Je-S application system. Your proposal must be submitted through the MRC Je-S system by 4pm on the relevant deadline date.

Closing date: 10 October 2012

Short listing: February 2013

Interviews: 20 -21 March 2013

Take up dates: April – September 2013

Other work responsibilities

MRC senior non-clinical fellows and research support staff funded through full-time fellowships may spend up to six hours a week on teaching, demonstrating or other work. Payment for this work may be retained in full if this is the host institution’s normal policy.

Applications for other grant support

It is expected that senior fellows will seek grant support either from the MRC, through a research grant or other funding streams, or grants from other funding organisations. In applying for such funding, fellows should be mindful of their fellowship commitments (see above).

Guidance for applicants

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

 The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

BSG Calls in Geomorphology

Funding opportunities

The British Society for Geomorphology has issued three calls in Geomorphological research. 

The first is Innovative and Emerging Techniques in Geomorphology.

Up to £10,000 (ideally £5,000) is available to support the development of new technology and/or analytical techniques in geomorphology as stated in the BSG Mission, Sections 1.5 and 1.6. It is envisaged that the pump-priming of new techniques in geomorphology will support applications to the RCUK. Applications must have a geomorphological focus.

Deadline: 30 September 2012

The second is Early Career Researcher.

Up to £10,000 (ideally £5,000) is available to pump-prime geomorphological research undertaken by an Early-Career Researcher (ECR). We define an ECR as a member of staff who holds an employment contract of 0.2FTE or greater and who started their academic career within four years of the closing date of applications. Note that to be eligible for this scheme, the primary employment function of applicants must be in ‘research’ or ‘teaching and research’, within any HEI or other organisation, whether in the UK or overseas.

PLEASE NOTE: Applicants should state the start date of their career on the application form.

There is no restriction on the type of support eligible for funding (e.g. conference, workshop, field visit, data purchase, lab costs), although consistent with other BSG grant schemes, they will not support salaries. Applications will be evaluated both for the quality of the research, and for its potential to pump-prime subsequent work.

Applicants to the ECR scheme cannot be a Principal Investigator on any other grant bids to the BSG in the same funding round.

Deadline(s): 30 September and 1 February

The third is in Research Networks in SE Asia and China.

Up to £10,000 (ideally £5,000) is available to support development of research networks in SE Asia and China. The purpose of this grant is to bring together global partners with a research interest in the SE Asia or China region. It is envisaged the £10,000 may support one or more workshops or conferences hosted within the region by SE Asia or China colleagues. The region supported by these awards includes India but excludes Japan.

Deadline: 30 September 2012

All applications should be applied for Online through the BSG’s site.

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Joining _connect could really help you build networks

Why you should join _connect

So the name ‘ _connect’ is a little awkward I admit, but this platform( run by the Technology Strategy Board) can provide an opportunity  for you to collaborate online, network and share knowledge with other innovators.  The site is branded as ‘the UK’s online open innovation network of networks’. Over half a million global visitors a year (from business, academia and government) access the site to fund information, keep updated on events and make new contacts to help them in their careers. Some of our academics are already using the site and find it really useful.

When it comes to EU funding, you cannot network enough so why not spend 5 mins creating a free account and test it out?

Sign up

Click on the Register button on the left hand side of the page. The system will guide you through creating your account. Once you have registered, you will be sent an activation email; follow the link in this email to activate your account then you can begin to build up your profile; letting other _connect members know about you, and you can also find members with similar interests and skills.

 

 

Create a profile

You can choose as much or as little detail as you like to go in your profile. The more you put in, the more people who you connect with on this platform will be able to understand your knowledge and skills. You can also amend what is visible publically, to members of the site and also have all of your details hidden. Click on the ‘My profile’ option on the left hand side menu when you are logged in.

You can list your employment, education, skills and interests, your websites, blogs and contact details.  You can also upload any documents of interest to you or items you have published.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Join relevant networks and groups

Signing up gives you access to join a range of Special Interest groups, KT Networks and other member communities.

You will get relevant industry events, new sand funding opportunities delivered by emails by signing up for one of the groups and you can  amend your options for notifications of activity to suit you.

Take a look at the list of networks under ‘Find Networks and select ‘join this network’. If you stuill aren’t convinced about setting up a profile, have a look at the list below of the availbel networks and see if any take your fancy. You can also set up your own network – perfect

The type of information and frequency depends on the groups themselves; some are more active than others, some more funding focused than others and some more network focused than others. Why not join all those you could be interested in, and leave at a later date if you feel they aren’t helpful…

 

Find organisations

It’s really simple to find organisations on the site, there is a tab with an entire list of them and also a search function. You can choose to follow them to see their activity, or get in direct contact with them.

 

 

 

 

Notifications

There is a handy function which allows you to receive info when activity in your network has taken place on a daily or weekly basis and also an option to have all notifications disabled. This can be found under ‘Account Settings’.

ISBE and ESRC announce call for Research and Knowledge Exchange Fund

Funding opportunities

Exploring knowledge exchange and transfer processes and possibilities for SME internationalisation

The Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) Research and Knowledge Exchange (RAKE) fund is an initiative supported by Barclays Bank and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) administered through ISBE.  This initiative aims to encourage and support research activities from academics, third sector organisations, consultants and practitioners with the ambition of drawing together and generating an entrepreneurial community of practice to facilitate knowledge exchange and transfer.

Applications are invited from individuals or teams. Collaborative bids which draw together any combination of third sector organisations, academic researchers, consultants and practitioners are welcome. The Principal Investigator must be employed within a UK institution but may be partnered with an international team. Research teams which demonstrate capacity building through collaborations between experienced and early career academics would be favourably considered; applications which demonstrate ‘in-kind’ contributions from partner organisations are welcomed as are those jointly funded from other sources.  Applications presented as pilot studies, with the aim of generating future funding from other sources, are encouraged. As such, we wish to promote engagement with all who have an interest or stake in generating further insight and understanding into contemporary entrepreneurial activities, behaviours and practices.  For the 2012 call for applications, a number of critical themes have been identified which are of contemporary interest and offer potential to develop knowledge exchange and transfer links.

Exploring processes and possibilities of SME internationalisation

There is a growing focus and interest upon the process of small firm internationalisation which includes ‘born globals’ and those firms tentatively seeking export opportunities.  Axiomatically, smaller firms face a range of challenges related to resource accrual and management when entering international markets. However, a recent survey by UKTI found that the proportion of small UK firms exporting has increased by 10 percent since 2004. In addition, UKTI are actively supporting SME internationalisation on the basis that exporting firms are more productive and innovative, have greater resilient during economic down turns and exhibit lower failure rates than those firms focussed upon local markets.  It would appear that internationalisation is an attractive option for SMEs in terms of potential returns but developing appropriate contacts, networks, resources, managerial capabilities and strategic partnerships is challenging.  Accordingly, we invite proposals which investigate and analyse any aspect of the SME internationalisation process and specifically, any knowledge exchange and transfer issues.  A potential but not exhaustive list of suggestions would include:

• Strategies to overcome barriers to the internationalization process for UK SMEs
• Developing capacity and dynamic capabilities through national and international partnerships between SMEs but also between SMEs and corporate firms
• Evaluations of policy support structures to encourage internationalization – exploring the opportunities of working with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPS), Chambers of Commerce and specific industry support groups
• Regional SME support for developing internalization strategies focused on specific sectors and value added industries
• Enhancing networks and information exchange possibilities between potential export firms and international partners
• Gaining knowledge of and tapping into potential new markets in developing economies
• Using networks and contacts to facilitate the export process

Attention is drawn to the current Business Engagement Strategy of the ESRC which embraces three broad priorities any of which can be mapped onto and integrated with the themes outlined above:

•    Economic Performance and Sustainable Growth
•    Influencing Behaviour and Informing Interventions
•    A Vibrant and Fair Society

Clearly, the contribution of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activity can be mapped onto these priorities.  Thus, applications which indicate their relevance to these issues would be welcomed.  Despite any distinctive focus, it is emphasised that all proposals must clearly demonstrate and describe relevance to the notion of knowledge transfer and exchange related to the context of the bid.

For this round of funding, they envisage awarding a number of separate grants of around £10,000 – £12,000 each.  These will not support full economic costing given ISBE’s position as a registered charity. Applications for smaller, seed corn funds would not be discounted however, bids of over £12,000 will not be considered.

Successful grant holders will be required to fulfil the following conditions:
• To be in membership of ISBE for the duration of the award
• To present their work at the annual ISBE conference
• To make findings available to the ESRC’s business channel on ESRC Society Today (EST)
• To produce a satisfactory end of award report within three months of the completion of the research
• To recognise the ISBE RAKE fund in any presentations or publications arising from an award
• To report to the RAKE fund management board to discuss research progress

Further details on the aims and constitution of the ISBE RAKE fund can be found at: www.isbe.org.uk/rakefund

The closing date for applications is 5 p.m. Friday 15th June 2012 with notifications of awards given by mid September. It is suggested that the earliest starting date for research projects should be 1st October 2012.

Completed applications may be returned electronically to Chris Rolles at chris@isbe.org.uk To download an electronic application form please click here Please submit applications in MSWord format – not as a PDF file. This enables anonymisation of proposals.

Applicants may contact the following ISBE board members and staff for informal discussions regarding their bids and/or the aims of RAKE:

Professor Susan Marlow s.marlow@bham.ac.uk VP: Research ISBE: RAKE Fund Manager.
Professor Lynn Marting l.martin@mmu.ac.uk ISBE President
Dr Maura McAdam m.mcadam@qub.ac.uk Board Member
Professor Gerard McElwee gerard.mcelwee@ntu.ac.uk Board Member
Professor Dean Patton dpatton@bournemouth.ac.uk Treasurer: ISBE
Lorraine Reese lorraine@isbe .org.uk Business and Events Manager: ISBE

 The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Launch of the Dorset LEP

The Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) officially launches today.  The LEP was set up by the Government to invest in different industry sectors across the county to boost business, create new and more highly-skilled jobs and to ensure the county’s infrastructure is in a strong position to promote growth. It will be driven by the private sector with local authority support.

BU has an important role in the development of the Dorset LEP and BU staff members David Willey and Bruce Grant-Braham are members of the Board.

For further information view the Dorset LEP website. You can read more about the role of the LEPs on the LEP Network website.

You can also watch an excellent video about Dorset businesses, such as Animal, Dorset Cereals and Lush, on the Dorset LEP homepage. The video was produced by BU’s RedBalloon production company.

How Martin Kretschmer’s research impacted the proposed plan to extend copyright term

Watch this excellent short video from BU’s Prof Martin Kretschmer on how a BU conference and signed statement resulted in the European Union amending a proposed plan on copyright law.

To see other BU videos on YouTube go to the BU YouTube page!

 

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGZZ4SrrzSI

 

View Martin Kretschmer’s publications in our institutional repository.

Key Points from April University Research and Knowledge Exchange Forum

The latest meeting of the University Research and Knowledge Exchange Forum (URKEF) was held on 23 April.  A summary of the key points is given below.

Update on key EIS projects:

  • The Publications Management System aka BRIAN (Bournemouth Research, Information and Networking) will be fully launched on 22nd June.  More details of BRIAN will be published soon.
  • Collaboration Tools for Academics – blogs, wikis and web cloud to go live at the end of April.
  • PGR Monitoring System – contract negotiations are underway and an implementation approach to be agreed with the supplier, Aveda.
  • pFACT – interface testing taking place.

 

Erasmus Mundus – the scheme involves students and staff increasing their European mobility.  The paper sought approval for R&KEO to formally take over the management of Erasmus Mundus for BU, which was endorsed.  More information on the scheme can be found in the link above.

Internal process for calls with institutional quotas – the proposed process is for when external funders use quotas, have limited awards available, or require an institutional self-sift prior to submission for their calls.  The current process is adhoc and so a more formal process of academics registering their interest in a call and submitting an outline proposal, internal peer review, PVC decision, and then support provided by the RDO will lead to better management and resource of staff expectations and the best applications going forward. The process was endorsed.

Grants Academy – this was launched last month and the first training session will take place on 9-10th May with 15 BU staff taking part. The Media School will pilot strand two.  There was discussion around bespoke training sessions, which was encouraged.

Fusion Investment Fund – FIF was launched last week and there are three key strands available to staff: staff mobility and networking, co-production and co-creation, and study leave, all of which will stimulate student education, research and professional practice and have huge potential.  Individual grants will be awarded between £5-75k (depending on the strand), and £3M is available in total per annum for the first three years. The fund is merit based and underpins a competitive spirit in order to create upskilling and so excellent applications will need to be put forward. Where Schools have funds for pump priming research, the requests can be far greater than the School can afford. Paring budgets down means that more can be afforded and double-counting is avoided.

RKE Ops meetings with Schools – Major funders run Early Career Researcher schemes and often require a statement from the School outlining how a proposed project fits within the institutional/ School research, career development and knowledge transfer strategies.  RKE Ops have been raising awareness of this with the Schools as the letters indicating support are a really important part of the selection process, and require considerable thought and development.  Recent feedback from ESRC highlighted several areas where BU could improve on.  There are BU wide schemes that will feed into this such as the Vitae Researcher Development Framework and the Grants Academy, which will help to develop bid writing skills and provide mentoring for successful projects, which will be mentioned at future meetings.

HEIF-5 update – Funding had been agreed with HSC to support their dementia theme (BU Dementia Institute).  Also, the Media School theme (Soho on Sea) staff are going to LA soon to visit Pixar and other major animation companies.  It was emphasised that BU are always looking for investment strategies, innovation and themes and Schools were encouraged to come forward and discuss ideas and see what could be done for them.

Can’t make forthcoming EU Environment events? Don’t worry, you can watch them on ESKTN TV!

The Environmental Sustainability Knowledge Transfer Network’s (KTN) live webstreaming service ESKTN TV is bringing 2 events to you in May to help with your EU activity. And the good news is you don’t have to leave your desk!

On the 11th, they will be in London at the 2012 CIP Eco-innovation funding call UK National Information Day where National Contact Point Ewa Bloch and Astrid Geiger, Deputy Head of Eco-innovation at the Executive Agency for Competitiveness & Innovation (EACI) will tell you everything you need to know about this important funding opportunity for collaborative eco-innovation projects.

On the 16th they will be webcasting from Dublin, where the KARIM IWA WCE 2012 Open Forum is taking place at the World Congress on Water, Climate and Energy. This event will showcase knowledge and emerging technologies for environmental solutions in water and agriculture from Lancaster University, University College Dublin and organizations from across North West Europe, including rapid fire pitches from SMEs with business and research project ideas.

Both events will be covered LIVE on ESKTN TV. You can see preview trailers for both events there now, and on our YouTube channel where you can also catch up on past ESKTN TV recordings.

Winning EU R&D Funding – Framework Programme 7 (FP7) Forming a Team and Writing a Proposal Masterclass….

A free one day masterclass on FP7 has been organised by Enterprise Europe Network South West, the ICT Knowledge Transfer Network and Bishop Fleming . The session includes:

  • Taking the right approach to minimise the cost of participation
  • Working with the EU Commission on your proposal
  • Available support
  • Building a team
  • Work integration
  • Matching roles to partners
  • Consortium organisation
  • Partner search methods
  • Building a proposal
  • Proposal section by section view
     

This event will offer an opportunity for in depth examination of the task of putting together a winning proposal under FP7 and provide you with all the information you require to make strategic decisions about participation.

The Master Class will be delivered by Eddie Townsend, our collaboration domain expert. Eddie has based the material for the workshop on his experience of successful proposal submissions and management in FP6 and FP7.

Places are limited so book your place online now!

DEC are awarded funding for an industry visiting professor from the Royal Academy of Engineering!

Dr Tania Humphries-Smith has successfully bid to the Royal Academy of Engineering for an industry visiting professor. This  project will fund a Visiting Professor in Employer Engagement (£80K)  and will last for four years. The RAE Visiting Professor is Simon Vaitkevicius, an engineer with over 15 years of experience working globally for Nokia. The VP will be an important element in enabling the Design and Engineering group with the School of DEC to develop exceptional levels of real-world learning opportunities.

The role of the VP will be comprised of a number of activities:

  • Broker relationships between BU and new industrial enterprises for the purpose of – providing ‘live’ undergraduate projects both for 1st and 2nd year entire cohort project briefs and for final year individual project briefs; providing potential masters level ‘live’ research projects and for developing proposals for match funded PhD projects.
  • Deliver lectures and presentations to undergraduate and postgraduate students on current industrial practice particularly with respect to the innovation process and developing a better understanding of innovation and the process of taking a product to market.
  • Broker relationships with industrial enterprises for the purpose of engaging external industry based speakers for undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
  • Help identify potential research and consultancy services needed by local SMEs.
  • Provide input from an industrial practice perspective, particularly with respect to ensuring currency of practice for the review of all courses in the Design and Engineering group scheduled for academic year 2013/14.
  • Provide business guidance and support for students seeking to exploit innovative ideas, including, promoting and mentoring undergraduate and postgraduate students for the Innovation Hothouse http://theinnovationhothouse.net/.

This is fantastic news and will significantly support the Design and Engineering group to achieve Fusion between education, research and professional practice. Congratulations, Tania!

Leveraging LinkedIn for the benefit of current students and graduates from the B.A. Honours Retail Management degree programme

Guidance

David Kilburn, Associate Professor in the School of Tourism, discusses the benefits to current students and graduates of establishing a networking using LinkedIn…

I have been using LinkedIn for the past 6 years in a proactive way to leverage the benefits of interaction between present and former graduates of the B.A. Honours Retail Management degree programme.

I have been helping undergraduates to find placements and graduate jobs in the retail industry for the past 20 years and LinkedIn has certainly helped in the past few years.

I have almost 700 contacts on LinkedIn and a third of them are retail graduates from BU. In the current climate which is tough for both placements and graduate employment a network like this becomes invaluable.

So how does it work in practice?

Firstly, undergraduates have different wants and needs. I am currently helping several First year retail students to find a short summer placement in the retail industry so they can build their CV and acquire experience in a leading retail company. Placement search is becoming increasingly difficult so in the past few years I have been assisting undergraduates who have struggled to find placements. I have successfully placed them using the LinkedIn network. I also help Finalists to find employment with retail companies by using the Network so in a way it is leveraging the benefits of the unadvertised job market. Retail companies are canny and prefer to use their links with me to find really good graduates without having to pay agency fees and waste time interviewing unsuitable candidates.

Former Retail graduates have performed extremely well in corporate life and my network comprises 10 Chief Executives and 48 Directors as well as numerous senior managers. I helped all of these retail graduates to find suitable employment at the start of their careers and so they are happy to help current retail graduates if they have suitable vacancies available.

Any member of academic staff at BU could start to leverage the benefits of LinkedIn. You have to start somewhere. This academic year for the first time I invited all of the current Retail management finalists to join me on Linked In at the start of the Autumn term. The majority have done so and have already reaped the benefits of being able to connect with senior retail managers who are ex retail graduates from BU. I decided to do this because I want to keep in touch with all the graduates from the course not just the enlightened ones!

It would be great if even one member of academic staff reading this blog decides to engage in the use of Linked In to assist our graduates to find a summer placement, one year placement or graduate employment with a leading company.

 

David Kilburn, Associate Professor, School of Tourism