Tagged / brazil

EC proposes to clamp down on funding to Brazil, China and India in Horizon 2020

EU

The EC has proposed to restrict the number of non-EU countries which will be automatically eligible for funding under Horizon 2020. They published a strategy document yesterday, which said that like FP7, Horizon 2020 will have similar general conditions with regards to eligibility however the list of countries eligible for automatic funding will be restricted by introducing a new threshold on total GDP. This has been proposed in order to exclude large, emerging economies including, perhaps, China, India and Brazil. Funding for participants from these countries will still be possible in some cases. such as those where a reciprocal agreement is in place.

How your International Cooperation Country contacts can participate in Horizon 2020….

EU

 I heard John Claxton from the European Commission speaking last week on the participation on International Cooperation Countries (ICCs) in Horizon 2020 (These countries include Brazil, the USA, China and so on).

ICCs have been able to participate as EU members in the FP7 schemes most relevant to us at BU and indeed some calls for proposals have actually targeted these countries for participation. This targeted approach has reduced over the last 2 years of FP7, with instead just a general encouragement to engage with these countries which may be an indication for Horizon 2020. Figures show that 2.5% of the total budget goes to third countries, and one in 5 accepted proposals has a third country participant.

The 5 ICCs which participate most in FP7 in highest to lowest are Russia, the USA, India, South Africa and Brazil. And the programme which has a huge number of ICC participants is Marie Curie, with a whopping 12,000 researchers coming into the EU from ICCs.

The EU is currently revising the international cooperation policy between Member States and the rest of the European Union through committees such as the Strategic Forum for International Science and Technology Cooperation. These groups are trying to develop more coherence and synergies between ICCs and the EU Member States and have already launched pilot work with India, China, Latin America, Africa, the Caribbean and the USA and will be working on Brazil and Russia over the following year.

So what has sparked this change? Well most societal challenges are global in nature, especially those under focus in the proposed Horizon 2020. The EU needs to get access to ICCs working in similar areas and we need access to their markets. We also need to build a critical mass for tackling global challenges through resource pooling and risk sharing in order to lead to more possibilities for breakthroughs and innovations.

And what is the EC doing about it?  The EC has recognised that the EU needs to engage more strategically and actively in international cooperation so has been developing more targeted approach. For Horizon 2020, the EC are aligning their societal challenges and enabling technologies with the rest of the world, looking at issues such as infrastructures, patents, publications, access to markets etc. More specifically there will be funding opportunities for ICCs within the proposed Horizon 2020. Under Societal Challenges and Industrial Leadership there will be the targeting of specific countries or regions based on common interiors and joint calls and co-funding of programmes with Third Countries. Under Excellent Science the will be specific fellowships designed to stimulate innovation, the development of global research infrastructures and of course the European Research Council and Marie Curie programmes will remain open to all countries globally. Finally under dedicated cross-cutting actions there will be support for bilateral, multilateral and bi-regional policy dialogue, network and twinning activities and other policy initiatives.

The final stages of ICC development under Horizon 2020 includes reinforcing partnerships between the EC and Member States, strengthening implementation, governance and evaluation, identifying areas for targeting and developing roadmaps with key partners.

So it looks as though ICCs will be incorporated even further into Horizon 2020 which is great for those of you with partners outside of the EU!

Bournemouth Researcher returns from field work in Brazil

Research news

Dr Miguel Moital of the School of Tourism has just returned from Brazil having undertaken the first block of fieldwork for a Santander funded project entitled, 

“The internationalisation of the Brazilian tourism, hospitality and events research: Barriers and opportunities to publishing in international (English language) journals”  

The economic growth of the past 15 years in Brazil has had a profound impact on the country’s tourism industry, further establishing tourism as an important economic activity. While Brazil attracted only just over five million international tourists in 2010, the country has a substantial tourism industry which is driven by a buoyant domestic market. The Tourism Ministry estimates that in 2009 there were 175 million domestic trips. 

As the tourist industry matures, so does the need to develop a more in-depth understanding of the economic, social and environmental dimensions of the tourism phenomenon. There has been substantial growth in terms of education provision, but academic research has remained somewhat parochial, with much being published in the growing number of Brazilian tourism journals and some in foreign journals, whether Portuguese or Spanish language journals (mainly South American, but also Spanish). Very few have been published in English language journals. The end result is that Brazilian research and researchers are little known by the International community. 

Therefore the aim of this research is to examine the barriers and look for opportunities to expand the international audience for research based on the Brazilian tourism, hospitality and events industries and in so doing develop a valuable international partnership.

 

Fancy working in Brazil?

EU

 Science without Borders is a Brazilian scholarship programme which aims to provide mobility opportunities between Brazil and Europe, for undergraduates, postgraduates, postdoctoral and senior research fellows in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

The programme aims to:

  • Increase the presence of Brazilian students, scientists and industry personnel in international institutions of excellence;
  • Attract young investigators and internationally recognised research leaders to Brazil to work with local researchers in joint projects; and
  • Encourage the internationalisation of universities and research centres in Brazil through international partnerships.

There are a number of ways of getting involved:

  1. Host Brazilian undergraduates and postgraduates – with a view to start hosting for the 2012/13 academic year. A bilateral agreement between the UK and Brazil has been signed, Universities UK (UUK) is the UK partner organisation.
  2. Apply for a research grant to work in Brazil:
  3. Young post-doctoral researchers can apply under the ‘Attraction of Talented Youth’ programme for a two to three year long research project in Brazil;
  4. Science leaders can apply under the ‘Special Visiting Researcher’ grants that will fund joint projects with research groups in Brazil and fund work in Brazil for up to three months every year.

 
2012 call deadlines for the ‘Attraction of Talented Youth’ programme and ‘Special Visiting Researcher’ grants are 15 February, 4 June and 1 October.

EU and Brazil to launch a whopping €10m ICT research programme!

EU

The EU and Brazil have just signed a deal to launch a joint €10-million call for research proposals in Information and Communication Technologies.

The scheme will fund cooperative research in areas including cloud computing for science, technologies for smart cities, and hybrid broadcast-broadband TV services. I will keep you posted on calls when they are available on this blog.