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Feedback on FP7 EU bid – lessons learned from feedback

Awarded & submitted bids

Philip Alford (School of Tourism) and Mark Dover (Applied Sciences) put a consortium together and submitted an application to the EU FP7 program. The project title was Cloud Information Retrieval and Re-Use System and the bid was for nearly €4 million. The following summarises the project:

Tourism indirectly generates more than 10% of the European Union’s GDP and Tourism sector comprises SMEs employing less than 50 people Their respective diversity and fragmentation means that individual SMEs, and their often localised associations, lack the resources to generate and define sophisticated, sustainable marketing tools enabling the competitive campaigns required to maintain position and growth. The recent expansions in social networking and advances in Cloud Computing technologies and infrastructure now present an opportunity to develop sophisticated, dynamic, promotion and marketing tools for use by any SME, in any context – without any requirement for end-user knowledge of the configuration of the service delivery. CIRRUS is thus designed to develop such a universally functional framework, employing a suite of tools, supporting a simplistic dashboard interface, to enable sophisticated, dynamic, marketing input and provision of services at the individual, non expert, level across the many different sectors of the European tourism industry. CIRRUS will

1. Develop a novel, simplistic, non-expert dashboard interface to cloud content and usage enabling incorporation into web and marketing media.

2. Build a support framework behind the dashboard for tourism SMEs which embraces the new marketing paradigm of online customer-to-customer marketing and which is based on international best practice.

3. Conduct 4 Validation Case Studies from 3 European Countries, and different tourism perspectives (accommodation, attractions and events), illustrating enhanced business performance through CIRRUS use.

4. Build and adapt, through these case studies, the application and facilitate its deployment in the targeted countries.

5. Position the application for deployment, with input from both SMEs and SME-AGs, in member states beyond those immediately involved in the partnership.

We were unsuccessful with the application but got some useful feedback from the EU. In summary we needed to:

  • More fully describe the limitations of the current state of the art technology in tourism
  • Make the interdependencies of the work packages clearer
  • More adequately demonstrate the partners’ expertise in key areas
  • Improve the dissemination activities which are described but are not particularly targeted
  • Provide more detail on the exploitation plans of the SME partners

 

BRIAN – coming to a computer near you!

Guidance

The new publications management system, BRIAN, will go live on 22 June.  Here’s what it can do for you:

  • BRIAN will provide a facility for academics to quickly and easily update their research activity via a single point of data entry which will enable research information to be used in multiple places, including BURO and the BU Staff Profile web pages, without the need to duplicate or enter additional data.
  • BRIAN will allow academics to have ownership of their staff profile web pages so these are easily kept up to date, allowing academics to promote themselves for potential research collaborations, research grants and enterprise opportunities, research assessment exercises, etc. It will also provide a search function for staff to find out about potential collaborative opportunities with colleagues from across the institution.
  • BRIAN will enable BU to meet research assessment requirements (particularly the UK Research Excellence Framework) by improving the administrative efficiency and data accuracy – in terms of staff preparation, mock exercises, data collation, analysis, scenario planning and meeting future requirements.
  • BURO will in future only contain records for outputs supported with a full-text copy of the output. Academic staff will no longer add records direct to BURO, but via BRIAN.

Watch this short video to find out the benefits of having one system in which to enter data, which is then used multiple times:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH–vuEZlDw

There will be further guidance and helpful hints on using BRIAN throughout this week and so watch this space!

Digital Economy finds NEMODE

Funding opportunities, Fusion

Academics from multi-disciplinary backgrounds recently attended a two day Digital Economy Network+ event at the University of Cambridge. The aim of the event was to continue the process of building a network of people interested researching New Economic Models for the Digital Economy.

The focus of the event was to share the diverse perspectives on new economic models for the digital economy and to develop and shape the research agenda on two key themes;

  • What are economic models and how do different communities define them?
  • Does an economic model differ from a business model?

Both days consisted of a number of brainstorm and discussion activities that opened with each academic presenting their views on the ‘big questions’ in relation to their own subject domain, which in my case is Media Management. It was certainly interesting to look at the same research questions from very different perspectives, and it this has helped inform my thinking for the Advances in Media Management (AiMM) research group that I lead and our forthcoming symposium on New Economic Models.

Further network events are planned, but for those BU academics researching within our own  Creative & Digital Economy Theme – the funding headlines are;

  • The EPSRC are managing the New Economic Models sub-theme of the Digital Economy
  • The network will now be known as NEMODE
  • NEMODE have £980k to support network activities including funding 10 small (£50k) feasibility/scoping studies. A call for the first two projects will be made in October this year.
  • Successful feasibility studies can be scaled up via direct applications to the RCUK Digital Economy.
  • Funding Applications that involve practitioners will be looked upon more favourably – which sits nicely with BU’s Fusion Strategy!

EUNF – It’s been good to talk!

I have recently returned from the World  Media Economics & Management Conference in Greece – many thanks to the EUNF.

This event is a biennial meeting of the global community of media business scholars who reflect on contemporary issues in the economics and management of media industries and firms. It aims to provide to a platform for academics who research in this area to meet and network. I was particularly interested in developing relationships and collaborative project ideas with a number of academics from EU universities including Jönköping International Business School, Sweden; Tampere University, Finland; the Berlin Media Business School, and the University of Vienna, Austria.

I met with academics from all of these institutions (and others) and discussed how we could collaborate on the opportunities provided by the Creative Europe fund (2014-20) and any other related media funds that they were aware of.  As a result of the EUNF I have established contacts and am now in the process of working up 2 outline projects for the Creative Europe fund. I have also been invited by the University of Vienna to be a Key Note speaker at their European Summer School for media related doctoral research students, and am in the process of assisting an Eramus exchange between BU and the University of Zaragoza.

Many thanks BU EUNF, it’s a great initiative!

World Symposium on Sustainable Development at Universities (WSSD-U-2012) – post conference reflections

Last week I attended the World Symposium on Sustainable Development at Universities (WSSD-U-2012) which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 5-6 June 2012, as an official ‘parallel’ event to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), also known as Rio+20.  I was chairing the second day’s plenary sessions and presenting two papers (one on Leadership for SD in HE and a co-authored paper, The impact of University policies for sustainable development on students: a comparison of students from two institutions, one in the UK and one in Portugal . Both papers have been accepted for publication.

 

Further details on the event can be seen at:

http://www.haw-hamburg.de/en/ftz-als/veranstaltungen/world-symposium-on-sustainable-development-at-universities-wssd-u-2012.html

 

A summary of the event and its follow-up activities is available:

 

http://www.haw-hamburg.de/en/ftz-als/veranstaltungen/world-symposium-on-sustainable-development-at-universities-wssd-u-2012/program-wssd01.html

 

  Over 120 participants representing universities from 26 countries -from all geographical regions attended the conference which was organised by the Research and Transfer Centre “Applications of Life Sciences” of the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences and London Metropolitan University.

 

Reflections

 

The conference was great and a good networking opportunity from which further work will follow.

 

 Disappointed that you are not participating at Rio+ 20? – don’t be.

 

When the dates were put back (something to do with Heads of State availability and the Jubilee), I was a little disappointed that our event became more ‘antipasti’ than ‘contorno’ but I am now really glad to have been there early.  It will be chaotic! 

 

Having returned to Rio (after living there 25 years ago) I can say these things:  the hotel prices are ridiculous at any time of year and they are planning a huge uplift for Rio+20 – the hotel experience (and quality) is also more inconsistent than any city I have ever visited.  Attendees will be overcharged, are more likely to get ripped off in all that they do (still very much part of the culture to exploit ‘estrangeiros’) and will certainly find Rio challenging. There are still hotels which look legit but are actually ‘sex motels;’ some areas are still not safe.

 

Until yesterday I thought the Summit would take place in Centro and then read that it is at Riocentro.  Many attendees will not realise just how far out that is from Centro and Copacabana. If you were to take a bus, it is a gruelling 45 min trip to Barra de Tijuca. But then I guess this will not be an issue for Heads of State, or anyone whose budget extends to private transport!

 

25 years ago crime was very visible (everyone drove through red lights at night) – it has now been reduced by stronger policing. There was a visible police/military presence on exercise for Rio+20 while I was there; naval vessels were patrolling the beaches. Fortunately they were doing a helicopter patrol, just as some Chinese visitors were attacked with knives on the beach (in daylight). They managed to stop the attackers and return stolen goods.  Rio is much safer than it was but you still need caution. A driver commented to me, Summit ‘attendees offer rich-pickings’.

 

The strangest observation for me is that the people generally seemed less happy (than when I lived there), despite a huge increase in the middle classes and more disposable income – guess there is something in the Happiness research which intimates a link. The favellas are as big as ever and you can now do ‘favella tourism’ which also seems strange. I guess it’s not very different to when people used to pay to see the ‘bearded lady’.

 

Returning to the Summit, it is going to be more about review than commitment to exciting actions. Some are already calling it ‘Rio minus 10’. I would not hold out big hopes that much will change.

 

 

 

Action on Hearing Loss – PhD Studentships

Funding opportunities

Action on Hearing Loss PhD studentship scheme aims to encourage the best students to become involved in hearing, deafness and tinnitus research in the UK.

The projects should bring tangible benefits closer for people who are deaf, hard of hearing or who have tinnitus.

Summary of grant

  • Deadline: Monday 17 September 2012. This grant round is for PhD Studentships starting in Autumn 2013. 
  • Duration: Three years
  • Eligibility: Students and supervisors must be based at a recognised UK university or research institute

Application procedure

Guidelines and application form – applications must be submitted by the proposed supervisor:

Selection procedure

All proposals are sent to two/three external referees, usually within the UK, who are asked to judge the scientific merit of the project as well as the suitability of the project for a PhD student. These reviews and the original proposals are then rated by our PhD review panel. The top-rated proposals are then funded – they expect to award at least four new PhD studentships per year.

Applicants are notified of the outcome as soon as possible. AHL aim to decide on the successful projects before Christmas each year to allow successful applicants plenty of time to recruit a suitable student.

Action on Hearing Loss PhD review panel

  • Dr Andrew Faulkner, University College London
  • Prof Matthew Holley, University of Sheffield
  • Dr Adrian Rees, University of Newcastle
  • Prof Karen Steel, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

For more information contact:

Biomedical research - beakers.Action on Hearing Loss,
19-23 Featherstone Street,
London
EC1Y 8SL, UK

Telephone: +44(0)20 7296 8013

Email: research@hearingloss.org.uk

 The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Multiple Sclerosis Society – Innovative Awards

Funding opportunities

The Multiple Sclerosis Society invites applications for its innovative awards. These provide support for short-term, small-scale projects to allow researchers to explore new ideas in MS research that might merit further support.

The MS Society is interested in the following research areas:

•care and services research, such as relieving symptoms of MS, developing and evaluating services for people affected by MS or exploring the social and economic impact of MS;

•biomedical research to identify the causes of MS, or identifying and developing disease-modifying therapies.

The society particularly encourages proposals with focus on translational and clinical biomedical research.

Projects should take place in a university, hospital, medical school or other research institution or place of medical practice based in the UK, and may provide for the salary of scientific or technical assistants and researchers, the running costs of the project and the purchase of items of essential equipment. Innovative awards are worth up to £40,000 and last a maximum of 12 months.

The deadline for applications is 12 noon on Tuesday 3 July with funding decisions communicated in December. For details on how to apply please read the guidance for applicants.

All applications should be submitted via the MS Society online application system, available at: https://research.mssociety.org.uk/

For any questions regarding research grant applications please call the MS Society Research Team on 020 8438 0822 or email research@mssociety.org.uk.

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

British Psychological Society Postdoctoral Study Visits and Research Seminar

Funding opportunities

Postdoctoral Study Visits

 

The British Psychological Society has announced the establishment of a new grant scheme to support the work of postdoctoral researchers and lecturers.

The scheme provides grants to enable UK based psychology postdoctoral researchers and lecturers to undertake a study visit to another institution. The scheme is aimed at supporting postdoctoral researchers and lecturers to acquire skills directly relevant to their research/lecturing. The applicant must be employed at a UK institution as a postdoctoral researcher/lecturer and be within three years of the completion of their doctoral research degree in psychology.

Six awards, two in each of the following categories, are available each year:

  • Up to £250 to visit an institution in the UK
  • Up to £400 to visit an institution in Europe
  • Up to £600 to visit an institution elsewhere in the world

 

HowtoApply

The following documentation should be sent to the Society:

  • an application form, available from the Board Administrator
  • a supporting statement from the applicant’s Head of Department
  • a supporting statement from the proposed host institution
  • a copy of the applicant’s current CV

SeminarCompetition

 

Research Seminar Competition

 

The Competition provides grants to enable institutions to co-operate to hold a series of at least three scientific seminars.

The proposed seminars should have tangible goals and should focus on developing and extending the understanding of a psychological process in any field of scientific psychology.

Four grants are available each worth up to £3,000. These provide funding for travel and accommodation expenses for those attending the seminars.

HowtoApply

As a minimum of two institutions will be involved, submissions should be made by a primary applicant and a co-applicant, at least one of whom should be a Society member. Further details and an application form are available from the Board Administrator.

Research Seminars Funded in 2011

  • Paediatric traumatic brain injury: developing and evaluating complex interventions. University of East Anglia and the University of Exeter
  • Neurodevelopmental disorders: exploring sensitive methods of assessment across development. Kingston University, Institute of Education and Newcastle University
  • The social psychology of citizenship: the politics of inclusion and exclusion in language, public space and national identity. University of Winchester, Queen’s University Belfast, University of Dundee, and the Open University

Research Seminars Funded in 2010

  • Psychology and dentistry: future directions. University of Nottingham, University of Sheffield, University of Birmingham and King’s College London.
  • Multi perpetrator rape: setting the research agenda. Middlesex University and University of Birmingham
  • The role of emotional processes in the development of Autism Spectrum Disorder. City University London and the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust.

Both calls for nominations open in June. The closing date for both nominations is 28 September 2012.

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Friday!

Fusion, News from the PVC

If you are reading this the chances are that you have followed the new link on the blog and are expecting ‘news from the PVC’.  About a month ago I rashly promised to contribute a weekly column to the blog to let you know what was in my mind, what is new at BU or in prospect that has not yet made its way onto the blog.  The problem this morning is that the new link went live last night and I thought I had better write something but my brain is somewhat befuddled after a long week, it is also early on Friday morning and I am counting the minutes until the coffee shop opens and I get coffee to kick start my day!

Much of this week has been taken up with the first panel meetings for three strands of the Fusion Investment Fund.  We have been discussing how to process and assess the applications which are due on the 1 July and I will be posting the agreed assessment criteria along with some FAQ’s on the staff portal and blog first thing on Monday.  I have run a number of surgeries and briefing session over the last two weeks and plan to run at least two more events before the deadline.  The ideas and innovation emerging are fantastic and most of the applications seem to be heading toward the Co-Production/Creation Strand, with Mobility & Networking close behind and Study Leave attracting less interest.  My only observation is that many of the schemes being put forward to the Co-Production/Creation Strand could be re-shaped as Study Leave or a Mobility grants.  I do believe that the Study Leave Strand is really powerful, but also understand that people don’t necessarily want to be away from home, although as someone pointed out this week there are lots of HEI’s and Businesses in the UK that are in commuting distance of Bournemouth; you don’t have to go over-seas to take study leave!  I would also like to remind people that it will also fund inward mobility; that is the costs of bringing someone to Bournemouth for a period of time.  I will try to capture some of this in the FAQ’s which are emerging from the sessions that I have run, but I also would be happy to talk to anyone directly who wants to talk through an idea.  My calendar is a bit of a nightmare so a meeting might not be possible but if you drop me an email with your number and some time slots when you are free I will try to call you between meetings next week.

So it is now five to eight and the coffee shop beckons!  Have a nice weekend.

BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY DEMENTIA INSTITUTE (“BUDI”) UNIVERSITY WIDE INAUGARAL MEETING.

14 June saw the first BUDI University wide dementia meeting. Over 30 people attended from different BU Schools (Tourism, DEC and HSC).  Apologies were received from 10 other BU staff members  who were unable to attend the meeting but are keen to be involved in BUDI activities  relating to dementia research, education and practice development.

Professor Anthea Innes, Director of BUDI, welcomed everyone to this inaugural meeting. She shared the already extensive progress to date of BUDI, but stressed the need for working collaboratively with colleagues across the University to enable the development of interdisciplinary teams for future larger research bids and other activities.  “This is an excellent opportunity to share our resources and expertise” said one of the participants. BUDI aims to become the signpost for all work BU undertakes in relation to dementia. Professor Steve Page from the school of Tourism added that the emphasis of BUDI was on collaboration and for it to be the focal point of dementia research and not to take control of individuals’ dementia research, he sees it as an excellent opportunity to apply his area of expertise, health and leisure, to a new area.  There is huge potential for staff across the University to work within BUDI, and to showcase their projects and publications via the BUDI website. Meeting participants agreed to forward relevant information on to Clare Cutler who is working on the BUDI website with Matt Northam from the Media School.

The meeting clearly demonstrated the range of work being undertaken across the University and the huge potential for collaboration for future funding bids.  Three short term working groups were agreed to take forward initial collaborative activity across BU:

  1. Dr Simon Thompson from DEC has agreed to take the lead on organising a working group to develop a bid for a series of events for the forthcoming BU Festival of Learning call.

 

  1. To facilitate further sharing of information the idea for a conference to disseminate and share work in the dementia field with colleagues across the University was agreed and will be taken forward by Anthea Innes with the BUDI team in the 2012/13 academic year;

 

  1.  A carers forum is being planned for  early Autumn, Dr Marilyn Cash from HSC will co-ordinate this working group.

The group has agreed to meet 3 times a year as a large group to share progress and plans, with working groups meeting according to individual project demands. All BU staff who are interested in dementia and want to join the meetings or to explore the plans for any of the working groups please let Michelle O’Brien, BUDI’s administrator know so you can be added to our mailing list.

If you want more information about BUDI or any dementia related activities undertaken at the University, look at the BUDI website.

htttp://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/dementia-institute/

The prestigious ERC grants – a summary of 2011 activities

The EC has published its Annual Report on the ERC activities and achievements in 2011. The report shows an increase in European Research Council (ERC) budget, but also a steep rise in the number of applications making it increasingly competitive. 

The ERC has 2 main types of awards; Starting Grants and Advanced Grants. There are no subject limitations, no budget restrictions or limited durations for grant submissions and this scheme is designed to fund the crème de la crème of European researchers. Examples of UK ERC Grant Holders are below, so you can get a flavour of what the ERC is looking for in applicants and project areas.

Starting Grant: Cathy Craig, Queen’s University Belfast ‘Improving Health and Sports Performance through the Brain’s Control’

Advanced Grant: Peter Jackson, University of Sheffield ‘Impact of Social Anxieties about Food on Policies and Businesses’

 

I have placed some highlight facts and figures from the 76 page report are below in case you didn’t want to read it yourself…

Starting Grants: The 2011 Call was published in July 2010 with an indicative budget of €661m. In total 4, 080 proposals were received; a 30% increase on the previous year.  485 of these were successfully awarded funding, providing a 12% success rate (slightly lower than the previous year which was 15%).  It is reported that the latest Calls for Proposals which closed in January 2012 received even more submissions; an increase of 42% from 2011 so things are set to get even more competitive.

Advanced Grants: The 2011 Call was published in November 2010 with an indicative budget of €661m. In total 2, 284 proposals were received; a 6% increase on the previous year.  294 proposals were successfully awarded funding, providing a 12% success rate (around the same as the previous year).

 

Over both calls, more than 6, 200 evaluations by 25 different panels (totalling 5650 reviewers) were conducted and around 780 proposals were funded, totalling €1.37b.  The report shows the ERC were relatively slow in actually handing out the cash to successful applicants in 2011. They aimed for 75% of proposals to be signed and started within 365 days but the time taken on average was actually 419 days.

So what about the future of ERC grants? Well, it is proposed that the ERC will have a 77% increase in funding under Horizon 2020 so it’s definitely one to start building your career to work towards applying for. It is proposed that because of the increase in applications for the Starting Grants, that this is divided into two separate calls for 2012 ‘Starting Grants’ and ‘Consolidation’ Grants.

Some of the changes that are associated with the ERC under Horizon 2020 are:

  • The principle of Excellence only: the support of the best researchers (and their teams) is the most bottom-up approach which will include all areas of research and therefore should remain. Frontier research will be the ultimate pursuit.
  • Excellence of the peer review system: there must be a robust and reliable method of assessment which will be guided by the Scientific COUNCIL.
  • Simplification: procedures for participating in all EU funded projects will be harmonised and simplified, decreasing the amount of time taken to actually start the research.
  • Under-performing States: it is recommended that sa special policy be established for geographically underperforming areas to allow the researchers access to infrastructures to pursue their research.
  • Strengthening research effectiveness to enhance its contribution to innovation: EU states must work together to create a shared understanding of how host institutions and research infrastructures can be strengthened to provide a creative environment in which research and innovation are to flourish.

 

RCUK impact case studies now online

RCUK logoResearch Councils UK (RCUK) have recently launched a number of best practice case studies online to help inspire you when filling out the Pathways to Impact section of your funding applications.

The Pathways to Impact are designed to encourage you to consider the sorts of activities that may help your research to have an impact. A wide variety of activities have been funded from the Pathways to Impact section, including public engagement, direct collaborations with beneficiaries, events and policy briefings.

The case studies provide personal accounts from RCUK-funded researchers about their approaches and experiences of Pathways to Impact. The case studies also provide guidance and top tips on how you can maximise impact from your research. Tips include avoiding potential pitfalls, such as focusing only on past activities rather than looking ahead to explore the potential impact of the project, and ensuring milestones are included where appropriate along with an explanation of the rationale behind activities.

Further case studies will be added over the coming weeks to build a knowledge bank of experience and best practice that you can draw on.

Global accounting rules – an unfeasible aim?

Stella Fearnley, Professor of Accounting at BU, and Shyam Sunder, James L. Frank Professor of Accounting, Economics, and Finance at Yale School of Management, recently published their views on global accounting rules in the Financial Times financial markets online edition. The article outlines the authors’ concerns that the application of uniform financial processes or rules in diverse societies, such as the introduction of the euro and the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), does not yield uniform outcomes. They urge the Securities and Exchange Commission to abandon any plans to proceed with IFRS in the US, and encourage other countries that already employ IFRS to insist on a much less complex system.

Ultimately, the authors suggest the G20 drop its support for global accounting standards and recommend a system of accounting based on professional judgments and sound, prudent principles. At the end of the day, Anglo-American based accounting standards are not necessarily appropriate for the whole world.

To access a copy of the full article, you can sign up for free to the FT website and download a copy here.