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FP7 Cooperation Theme: what subjects are covered?

The Cooperation theme is divided into 11 different topics; clicking on the hyperlink below will display the focus of the calls covered under each of these.
Health
Food, Agriculture, Fisheries and Biotechnology
Energy
ICT (Computing)
NMP(Nanosciences)
Socio-Economic Sciences & Humanities
Transport
Security
Space
Joint Technology Initiatives (JTI)
Public-Private Partnerships

FP7 Security 2012 Call update and slides from Info Day available!

The  FP7 Security Call will be published on 20 July 2011 and new features to be included in the 2012 Work Programme are:

  • a new aspect of the 2012 Security Work Programme is the inclusion of pilot funding for Pre Operational Validation;
  • an open topic for SMEs has been included in the 2012 Work Programme: SEC.2012.7.2-1 “Advancing contemporary laboratory forensic methods & equipment”. Under this topic at least 50% of the EC funding needs to go to SMEs;
  • assistance in finding partners for FP7 Security proposals will be available on-line at the Partnering Platform website, operated (and quality controlled) by the German National Contact Point.

Slides are available from an ICT Security Info Day which was held at Aston University Business School last week.

EU funding: not as hard as you might think to win

The UK as a whole does pretty well when it comes to obtaining EU funding. We  receive the second largest share of FP7 funding; €2.28 billion (equivalent to 14.4% of the total FP7 funding) and we are involved in more successful projects than France and Germany (41.0% of all grant agreements in FP7). As you can see from this table, the UK has obtained a great deal of funding from the FP7 Cooperation fund.

Over the next few months, I will be posting tips on how to find funding, how to write proposals, find partners etc. to help you to begin to explore the EU as a good source of funding.

EU energy related funding available

EU Eco-innovation projects funding: to support the market penetration of an environmental product, service, management practice or process with a proven track record, but which has not yet been fully marketed. The indicative budget for this call is €36 million and funding will provide up to 50 per cent of a project’s costs over a period of 36 months. Deadline 08.09.11

EUROGIA+ funding call: projects should develop innovative energy technologies that will reduce the carbon footprint of energy production and use, with a focus on solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and energy efficiency. Deadline 14.09.11

Design options for sectoral carbon market mechanisms and their implication for the EU ETS: projects should help to improve understanding of different options for key design elements of the sector-wide carbon market mechanisms, as well as assessing the implications of recognising credits from such pilots for use under the EU ETS. Funding is worth between €180,000 and €200,000 over nine months. Deadline 16.08.11

Integration of renewable energy in Europe: project should provide quantitative and qualitative analysis of the electricity market, the transmission network and the distribution network in its ability to adapt to higher penetration of electricity from renewable energy. Funding covers approximately 500 person-days. Deadline 23.08.11

HEFCE funding of £10 million to cut carbon emissions

Funding opportunities

The Revolving Green Fund (RGF) is open for proposals to reduce carbon emissions. There are two strands of funding both with a deadline of October 17th.
Strand 1 targets small-scale projects to improve energy efficiency and will aim to reach a broad range of institutions.
Strand 2 will make up to £3 million available for exemplary retrofit projects. These flagship initiatives will inform research, promote skills development and market growth in the relevant technologies – they must also demonstrate potential to capture and disseminate learning that will be of benefit across the higher education sector.
FAQs about the fund are available online.

Bedtimes and Pensions: Conference showcases the wealth of longitudinal research

The Understanding Society BHPS Conference 2011 was held at the University of Essex by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER). Over two days, the conference brought together researchers from all over the world to present and discuss a variety of research, using data primarily from two of Britain’s most comprehensive household longitudinal studies.

AHRC survey on International Collaboration

The AHRC is currently carrying out a survey to gather vital information about International collaborations in order gain a greater understanding. The 10 minute survey provides an opportunity to inform the AHRC of your experience in International collaboration and feed into the on-going development of the AHRC’s international activities- including  FP7 participation.  The deadline for submission is 10th July 2011.

King’s and Bristol join open IP movement

KCL and the University of Bristol have joined the University of Glasgow in making their intellectual property available to UK businesses under an “easy access” scheme.
The Easy Access Innovation Partnership launched by the University of Glasgow in last year enables universities to release IP that might benefit from early development to companies for free, using simplified agreements.
In March 2011, King’s, Glasgow and Bristol received an £80,000 award from the Intellectual Property Office to fund a collaborative project to create a “consortium of open-innovation universities and collectively promote free IP opportunities to industry”.

Call for bids: UK-India Education and Research Initiative Phase Two

The first call for bids for Phase Two of UKIERI has been launched and has confirmed funding from the UK and Indian Governments of £5 million annually over the next three years.
Phase two of the programme concentrates on four key areas: leadership from school to universities; innovation partnerships between higher and further education institutions in UK and India; skills development; and the mobility of students and qualifications. The first round closes on 5 August 2011.

First BU Research Blog Poll Results

Are journal impact factors a good indicator of quality?

Following the launch of the first BU Research Blog Poll, we received 28 responses to the above question which were split as follows:

Yes – always 2
Yes – but in STEM disciplines only 1
Sometimes 22
No, never 2

The majority of responses indicate that there may be some doubt about the usefulness of impact factors when used as a proxy for journal quality. This is perhaps because there are a number of factors that could affect a journal’s perceived quality that cannot be demonstrated through metrics alone. Also, the use of journal metrics like impact factors are not necessarily perceived as being robust enough yet to give an accurate indication of journal or article quality, hence HEFCE’s decision not to rely solely on metrics in the Research Excellence Framework (REF).

To continue the debate on this, do feel free to post a reply below, or suggest a topic for a future poll by responding to Julie’s original post. For more information about journal impact factors, have a look at the previous blog post on this subject.

In the meantime, why not get involved in the current poll which can be accessed from the top right-hand side of the blog homepage – it will take just seconds to complete and will help shape the support offered to BU academics in the future.

European focused funding available

The Central Europe Programme offers funding for projects on the facilitating innovation across Central Europe; improving accessibility to, and within, Central Europe; using our environment responsibly; enhancing competitiveness and attractiveness of cities and regions. The budget for this call is at least €22.5 million and the recommended funding amount is €1m to €2.5m per project. Closing date: 14 October 2011

EU Social Sciences and Humanities funding available

European instrument for democracy and human rights – enhancing respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms where they are most at risk and supporting human rights defenders: proposals should explore the enhancment,  respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in countries and situations where they are most at risk and where human rights defenders and civil society organisations work under severe constraints and are most under pressure. Grants are worth between €150,000 and €2m. Closing date: 1 August 2011.

European instrument for democracy and human rights restricted call for proposals: proposals should explore contributions to the development and consolidation of democracy and the rule of law and respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms. Grants are worth between €200,000 and €1.5m. Closing date: 1 August 2011.

European Policy Network on the Education of Children and Young People with a Migrant Background: proposals should address the issues raised by the November 2009 Council conclusions on the education of children from a migrant background and stimulate high-level cooperation between Member State policy makers responsible for social inclusion through education, including cooperation between authorities in the countries of origin and host countries. The network should actively stimulate transnational cooperation primarily at governmental level, but also at the level of experts and practitioners. Grants are worth  €500,000. Closing date: 14 October 2011.

Aarhus researchers to map Danish humanities

The non-profit Velux Foundation has awarded €764,000 to a research group based at to map humanities in Denmark, the university said on 10 June. The researchers will study how the humanities are “bound together” at Danish universities as well as investigate how the humanities disciplines influence and are influenced by social sciences and natural sciences.