Tagged / EC

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities

The following funding opportunities have been announced. Please follow the links for more information.

British Council

The british Council, via the Netwon Fund invite applications for grants to run international research workshops for UK and Brazilian researchers, as part of Researcher Links. These workshops will allow early career researchers  and a partner country to make international connections that could improve the quality of their research. Proposals should contribute to the development and social welfare of Brazil. Closing date: 4pm, 11/12/15

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, IE

The DFA invites applications for its reconciliation fund. The fund supports organisations involved in the reconciliation work between people on the island of Ireland and between Ireland and Britain. Support will focus on repairing issues which lead to division, conflict and barriers to a deeply reconciled and peaceful society; building a strong civil society that encompasses all communities, through the continued implementation of the agreements and promoting a rights-based society, political stability and respect for all. Award amount not specified. Closing date: 5pm, 11/03/16

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

EPSRC invites expressions of interest  for the near-term translation of regenerative medicine technologies for the treatment of civilian blast injuries fund. The fund aims to suport the academic community to propose approaches to accelerate the development of regenerative medicine technologies for the treatment of blast injuries, primarily in countries in which the civilian population is affected by landmines and other unexploded remnants of war. The total budget is worth £5million, which aims to fund one or two projects over a maximum period of five years. Expressions of interest due by 4pm, 27/11/15. Competition closing date: 24/03/16

EPSRC invites outline proposals for its call on intelligent technologies to support collaboratove care, which supports research that aims to develop reliable and intelligent technologies to support collaborative care in the community. Proposals should address the need for new technologies which can reliably and intelligently interpret multiple inputs from multiple sources and initiate actions as appropriate to support the self-management of chronic health conditions. A budget of £10million is available to fund between five and seven projects. Closing date for outline proposals: 05/01/16

European Commission

The EC invites tenders for media analysis services for the European Commission, which will provide high-quality expertise and support in undertaking in-depth media analysis on EU-related topics across different types of media. The evidence-based  analysis will contribute to the development and implementation of a long-term communication and media relations strategy. Contracts are worth €10million over four years. Closing date: 4pm, 04/12/15

The Directorate-General for the Environment invites tenders for evaluation studies that support the evaluation of the zoos directive. Studies will assist the European Commission in the evaluation of the zoos directive by compiling, assessing and synthesising evidence for evaluation. Studies will examine relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and cohrence as well as its EU added value. The contract is worth between €200k and €250k over 15 months. Closing date: 4pm, 08/12/15

The EC invites applications for its H2020 Clean Sky 2 call for core partners (third call). Funding supports proposals from partnerships in the form of innovation actions. The call supports a number of topics and you are advised to look at the funder’s call pages for more specific information. Award amount not specified. Closing date: 5pm Brussels time, 04/02/16

The EC invites applications for its  H2020 Competitive Low-Carbon Energy call. Funding supports proposals from partnerships in the form of innovation actions. The call supports a number of topics and you are advised to look at the funder’s call pages for more specific information. Each award will be in the region of €2million to €6million. Closing date: 5pm Brussels time, 16/02/16

European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, EU

The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions invites tenders for the provision of a research study on game-changing technologies in European manufacturing. The aim will be to develop five studies, each focusing on a different technology, which will take the form of exploratory case studies. Funding is approximately €120k over 15 months. Closing date: 07/12/15

Innovate UK

Registrations are invited for the innovation fund for preventing terrorism. The aim is to fund projects that develop new methods and / or technologies, which will protect vulnerable people from being drawn into terrorism. New methods and / or technologies will have the potential for replication nationally. Proposals should be in the region of £100k or less. Registration closes 25/11/15.  Competition closing date: 12pm, 02/12/15

Natural England Environment Council

NERC invites applications for its follow-on fund pathfinder grants (up to £20K at 80%  fEC), which are designed to realise the commercial potential of NERC-funded research, using a combination of complementary technical and commercial engagement work programmes. The award is open to researchers with current or past NERC funding and proposals must build on the outputs of the previous NERC-funded research activity. Closing date: Not specified

NERC invites outline proposals for its Changing Arctic Ocean: implication for marine biology and biogeochemistry research programme. £8.4million is available to fund up to four research projects that address how the change in the physical environment (ice and ocean) will affect the large-scale ecosystem structure and biogeochemical functioning of the Arctic Ocean, the potential major impacts and provide projections for future ecostsem services. Closing date: 4pm, 08/12/15

Wellcome Trust

Wellcome Trust invites applications for its seed awards in Humanities and Scocial Science to develop a novel idea to a position where they could be competitive for a larger award from the Wellcome Trust or another funder. They can support research in any field of the humanities and social sciences that can enrich our understanding of human and animal health. Awards will typically range from £25-£50k. Closing date: 15/01/16

Wellcome trust invites applications for its engagement fellowships, which aim to support and develop upcoming stars in public engagement with science. Applicants should have a strong track record of engaging the public with ideas around biomedical science and/or medical humanities, who want to makea step change in their careers. Closing date: 12/02/16

Wellcome Trust invites applications for its capital awards for public engagement and medical history. The aim is to build or redevelop projects for public engagement with science. Awards will generally be upwards or £200k.  Closing date: 13/05/16

If you are interested in submitting to any of the above calls you must contact RKEO with adequate notice before the deadline.

Please note that some funding bodies specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your RKEO Funding Development Officer

You can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s/Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in RKEO or view the recent blog post here.

If thinking of applying, why not add notification of your interest on Research Professional’s record of the bid so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.

October is EU-tastic! The four sessions which give you all the EU funding info you need!

EU funding remains a bit of an enigma for most people. I remember how overwhelming I found it when I first began to unpick the tangle of the different funding strands, rules of participation, deadlines and conditions.Thankfully you don’t need to suffer in the same way. Horizon 2020 will be released soon (the replacement for FP7 and worth tens of billions of Euros) and I am here to guide you through it. As well as a Simple Guide to Horizon 2020 funding which I will release in early 2014 to demystify the funding schemes for you, I have arranged for four sessions to be held at BU in October to give you all the resources you need for your EU journey.

1. Health in Horizon 2020 

The European Commission National Contact Point for Health – Dr Octavio Pernas madea special trip to BU on October 7th to inform anyone interested in health research (from nursing care models to medical devices) of what to look out for under Horizon 2020 and expanding on other complementary funding programmes. The session detailed how you can make the most of the National Contact Points to help with your application. Slides from this presentation are available here: I:\R&KEO\Public\RDU\European Related\Horizon 2020\Health in H2020 Presentation.  

2. All things Horizon 2020 and 1-2-1s with UKRO

Bournemouth subscribes to information services from the fabulous UK Research Office (UKRO) and for many years they have been providing us with the latest EU information on funding calls, policy and providing advice on how to make a great application.

They will be visiting on October 9th to tell you in simple terms what Horizon 2020 is, the areas which will be funded within it and how you can make the most of UKRO by help with finding partners and gathering key bits of information. The two hour session will be followed by 1-2-1 appointments where you can get advice on your specific area of expertise and ask anything you want about EU policy making or funding. You can book your place for the information session here  and for the 1-2-1s by emailing Dianne Goodman.

 

3. All things Marie Curie

You can’t fail to have heard me banging on about how wonderful these fellowships are and how pleased I am that they will feature in Horizon 2020. These grants are absolutely the best way to kick start your EU career and you only need one non-UK partner to apply. You can either apply to have an academic come to the university from another country or you can go to another country as part of the fellowship scheme. You can have a fellowship with an academic or with an industrial partner and you can even apply for entire departments to be involved in exchanges. I’m proud of how engaged BU colleagues are with Marie Curie and the grants we already hold from this scheme.

The session is divided into two parts with both being held on October 16th. The first is a brief intro to the schemes and the second is a more detailed session on how to approach and structure your bid. You can book your place for either session here.

 

 4. The tricks of writing a winning Horizon 2020 proposal

Having already had sessions providing you with an overview of the various funding opportunities within Horizon 2020, you need to know the tricks of writing a winning bid. Writing bids for the European Commission is quite a different skill to writing for UK funders and this session on October 17th will guide you through the journey. We’ve had some fantastic feedback from this session in the past and attending will help get you on the right path to create your proposal. You can book your place for the information session here.

EC and Research Data Open Access Consultation – see one of the responses

Earlier this month, the EC held a public consultation on open access to research data in Brussels inviting statements from a range of stakeholders, who will play some role in revising the ECs policy and will help shape Horizon 2020. Five questions formed the basis of the discussion:

  1. How we can define research data and what types of research data should be open?
  2. When and how does openness need to be limited?
  3. How should the issue of data re-use be addressed?
  4. Where should research data be stored and made accessible?
  5. How can we enhance “data awareness” and a “culture of sharing”?

These are key questions every researcher should have an interest in. You can see the responses of the Open Knowledge Foundation here and learn more about the EC debates around research data open access mandates.

New mandatory institutional timeframe for EC and RCUK submissions

As of Monday 25 March 2013 two new institutional changes will be implemented for European Commission and Research Council grants.

 European Commission submissions

A new 4-week institutional timeframe will be imposed for all European Commission application submissions. This timeframe has been created to ensure academics wishing to apply have the appropriate level of support from RKEO needed for their application. This timeframe is outlined on the right.   

As European Commission deadlines are announced at least 3 months in advance this should not have a significant impact on any staff wishing to apply as a Principal Investigator on a grant. For academic staff approached to be a Co-Investigator on a project less than 4 weeks before the submission deadline can make an appeal by email to their Deputy Dean of Research (or equivalent) and the Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research, Enterprise & Internationalisation.

In order to help you gain the best possible support in terms of grant-writing, partner-searching, funding-call information and other useful help, please let the RKEO EU Pod know you intend to make an EC grant submission. Paul Lynch and Sarah Katon in the EU Pod will be happy to provide further information.

 

  

Research Council Submissions

As of Monday, it will be mandatory for all Research Council submissions to go through the Research Proposal Review Service (RPRS). This move is in response to the demand management measures imposed by Research Councils such as the EPSRC and NERC. Many institutions have similar measures to protect academic staff.

You can select whether your application will be peer-reviewed by two internal members of staff only or if you would like an external RCUK grant holder or expert bid writer to also review this. You will be advised on aspects to incorporate into the final proposal after review, which will give it the maximum chance of success.

To start this process, just notify RKEO of your intention to submit an application to one of the Research Councils. Please note that the RPRS can take up to three weeks, so you will need to factor this in to any proposal writing timescales. If you wish to make an application and do not have sufficient time to go through the RPRS, then an appeal by email must be made to your Deputy Dean of Research (or equivalent) and the Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research, Enterprise & Internationalisation.

UK Research Office (UKRO) visit to BU on 27th November 2012

Funding opportunities, Guidance, R & KE Operations, Research themes

BU welcomed Jo Frost, BU’s named contact for the UK Research Office (UKRO). Jo’s presentation was wide-ranging and hugely informative, outlining the current FP7 scheme and the forthcoming Horizon 2020 scheme, which is still going through the consultation process. It is expected that Horizon 2020 will focus on three priorities: ‘Excellent Science’, ‘Industrial Leadership’ and ‘Societal Challenges’. Jo also introduced the new Erasmus for All scheme.

All the slides from the day are available to BU staff only. These slides include many links to useful sources of information, if you would like to take part in the Horizon 2020 consultation or are planning ahead and want to prepare a submission to the many funding streams within this framework. Jo stressed the need to build networks and many suggestions are included in her presentation. These slides also give detailed information on the proposed budget allocations and themes within the three priority areas.

If you would like to enhance your knowledge of changes to EU funding, please refer to Jo’s slides. You can also contact Corrina Dickson, Paul Lynch, Sarah Katon or Emily Cieciura, who can help you develop your EU submissions.

BU staff can view the slides at: I:\R&KEO\Public\RDU\European Related\UKRO 2012 Presentation.

New publication on EU innovation which may help you shape your EU proposal impact section

Innovation Landscapes explores the approaches to innovation in the UK, Germany and Finland. The document collects, describes, analyses and compares the national innovation schemes and policies of these countries in order to detect similarities, links or divergences between national and European innovation policies, measures and instruments. 

The document will be used to  inform future initiatives at the EU level but is really relevant for any of you developing the impact section of your EU proposals.

EC trial ‘scientist friendly’ selection process

The European Commission is trailing a scientist-friendly selection process for its Future and Emerging Technologies Open scheme until January 2013. The pilot study involves a two-stage evaluation of proposals that are at most 10 pages long; this two-stage process means less time is spent by researchers completing a full application that may not be funded by the EC. If successful, the process will be implemented in the FET-Open calls under Horizon 2020.

Funding available for tourism services

The EC has funding (€250,000 over 15 months) available for a mapping and performance check of the supply of accessible tourism services available as a tender. You will need to:

•assess the presence and performance of accessible tourism services and facilities along the tourism supply chain;

•assess the effectiveness of existing best practices and tools to foster tourism accessibility;

•analyse the results, propose recommendation and prioritise actions;

•disseminate and validate results.

The closing date is 09.10.12; see the TED website for more details.

AHRC European Proposal Support Fund

Funding opportunities

The European Proposal Support Fund (PSF) provides funding to enable researchers to network with potential partners and support the putting together of a proposal to the European Commission.

The fund is primarily aimed at encouraging UK arts and humanities researchers to engage with the European Commission Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities (SSH) Work Programme, however we are open to considering other European Commission Funding sources. In these cases please contact the AHRC prior to submission and we will advise if you can apply (note: European Research Council (ERC) and Marie Curie Actions are not eligible).

Funding is for up to £10,000 for travel, subsistence, meeting costs etc to enable the researchers involved in the proposal to meet and put together their commission application. Investigator time, overheads etc cannot be included. Applicants must be Arts and Humanities Researchers based in the UK who would ordinarily be eligible for AHRC funding. The application form is very short and needs to be emailed to p.henly@ahrc.ac.uk by the closing date. Deadline: 21st August 2012

 

Current EU tenders open for applications

Europe’s Capacity to Tackle Demographic and Societal Change: The purpose of this call is to support a partnership of not-for-profit research bodies, public institutions and civil society organisations, to focus on collection and dissemination of key facts, figures, trends and policy analysis regarding demographic change across the EU. The ultimate aim of the partnership’s work will be to reach a wide non-specialist audience and to promote a well-informed public debate on its implications and appropriate policy responses among the general public in all Member States and at all levels of government. Deadline 11.09.12

A Profile of Current and Future Audiovisual Consumers: The study should aim at understanding the behaviour, preferences and orientations of audiences for films in general and, in particular, of young audiences. To that end, it should include in-depth interviews with, in particular, 10–15 and 15–25 year olds to learn more about their consumption patterns and their perception of current ways of marketing European films, series, etc.; i.e. could different or earlier marketing change their behaviour? The study should investigate the impact of different marketing tools including the use of social media. Furthermore it should analyse some of the existing film literacy initiatives and their impact on the future consumption patterns. The role of social networks for audiovisual consumption should be analysed. The study should be implemented by experts/consultants, who have in-depth experience with market research. Deadline 13.08.12

Economic Impact of Social Enterprises: The main objective of this call for proposals is to contribute to the availability of reliable statistics on social enterprises at national and European levels and to identify countries interested in collecting this information.  The aim is to provide policy makers and stakeholders with credible, comparable and systematic information and indicators on the role of social enterprises in national economies and to offer usable and practical information to support decision making. The Commission wishes to encourage national statistical offices in Member States to collect this information, so although other organisations dealing with the promotion of social enterprises (including universities and research organisations) are eligible applicants for the call, all proposals must involve national statistical offices. Deadline 07.09.12

Prevention of and Fight Against Crime Programme: Of most interest to BU under this scheme are action grants for transnational and national projects, for which there will be a budget of €78m in 2012. A series of targeted calls for proposals for action grants to support projects concerned with five specific policy areas were recently announced. Each has a deadline for submission of applications in August 2012  In the main, opportunities exist for HEIs to apply for support to undertake studies and analyses in specific areas and to establish networks of expertise. There are also limited opportunities to develop and deliver training courses for law enforcement professionals, prosecutors and judges and to identify and disseminate best practices in relevant fields.

LifeLong Learning Programme- Implementation of the European strategic objectives in Education and Training (ET2020): This call for proposals is for projects to fulfil the objectives for 2012-2014 in two separate parts:-  Part A: Support for raising awareness around and the national implementation of European cooperation in education and training. Part B: Support for the implementation of innovative learning environments using ICT (called ‘creative class-rooms’) in the development and implementation of transversal education and training policy issues linked to the priorities set out in Europe 2020 and ET 2020. Deadline 01.10.12

Pilot project Economy of cultural diversity: In the Communication ‘A Digital Agenda for Europe’ the Commission identified the need to push ahead with the creation, production and distribution of all platforms of digital content. To this end the European Parliament voted a budget line in the 2012 budget for a ‘Pilot project on the economy of cultural diversity’ which ‘would aim to create an open laboratory to test innovative approaches to deal with content for innovation and digital sharing and distribution. It would be therefore a way to explore new business models respecting diversity in the production and distribution chain’.  The aim of this pilot is to highlight and promote 10 to 15 ideas which make innovative use of ICT based technologies to finance, produce, make available, disseminate and/or extract value from cultural contents. Projects should facilitate access to culture (including cultural heritage) and cultural literacy via online devices and promote cultural diversity in the digital environment.

Preparatory Action Culture in external relations: The specific objective of this contract is to formulate recommendations for a strategy on culture in European external relations which will build on synergies with existing processes and will involve a high number of stakeholders in Europe and representatives of third countries, including cultural institutes and NGOs. Deadline 17.08.12

Regional Innovation Monitor 2013-2014 – RIM Plus: The EU’s Regional Innovation Monitor (RIM http://www.rim-europa.eu/) serves over 200 EU regions in 20 different countries. Under this call for tenders the Commission wishes to establish a service that will provide regional administrators with a reference framework for the development of more efficient innovation strategies. An inventory innovation strategies at regional level in Europe will be kept updated and made available to those actors involved in developing policy measures in support of innovation.  The service contract will provide users (regional authorities and stakeholders, Member States’ central administrations, the Committee of the Regions, various services of the Commission, experts, businesses and universities) with an overview of the state of development of regional policies and strategies on innovation and on the difficulties and successes of their implementation in the regions. Deadline 31.08.12

Business Innovation Observatory: The European Commission wishes to tender for a service contract to develop a Business Innovation Observatory. The Business Innovation Observatory is a three-year project with the aim to provide European policy makers with analysis and intelligence on latest novel business and industrial innovation trends, activities and models on a regular basis. The emphasis will be placed on the business micro-perspective and how it relates to the wider institutional, political, socio-economic, legal and policy contexts. The analysis will be complemented by the development of appropriate policy recommendations at European and national levels. The tool should be seen as complementary to quantitative analytical instruments, most notably the Commission’s European Innovation Scoreboards. Deadline 10.09.12

 

Funding for International Cooperation in the Film Industry (UK)

The European Commission has announced that the call for proposals  for the year 2012 has been launched an EC Film Industry Call for projects taking place between the 1 February 2013 and 30 June 2014, in the fields of training, market access, distribution and circulation of audiovisual works. The European Union adopted a new MEDIA Mundus programme, a broad international cooperation programme for the audiovisual industry to strengthen cultural and commercial relations between Europe’s film industry and film-makers of third countries. The EU will provide €4,426 million of funding for projects submitted by audiovisual professionals from Europe and from third countries.  The closing date for applications is the 28 September 2012.

What is the ERC?

I tend not to blog too much about the European Research Council (ERC) grants within FP7 as they are so competitive and not really applicable for the overwhelming majority of researchers throughout the world, bit as I’m giving an update on Horizon 2020 and because the ERC budget is expected to go up massively, it seems important to cover it. The ERC is designed for the crème de la crème of the world’s researchers. This scheme has a budget of €7.5 billion which is used to fund frontier research projects, focusing in excellence and takes a bottom up approach. The scheme is open to researchers from anywhere in the world and they don’t have to have any partners or can have a whole team. There are 4 types of grant under the ERC:

1. Starting Grants: for researchers 2-7 years post-PhD looking for up to €2m funding for a maximum of 5 years

2. Advanced Grants: for researchers with a ‘significant track record’ of research achievements over a 10 year period looking for up to €3.5m over a maximum of 5 years

3. Synergy Grants: for 2-4 Principal Investigators looking for up to €15m for a maximum of 6 years

4. Proof-of-Concept: for ERC grant holders looking to bridge the gap between research and the earliest stage of marketable innovation, up to €150k

The budgets are high for individual projects and the topic flexible so on paper seems like a great scheme.  Indeed more than 2, 600 Principal Investigators based in 480 Host Institutions in 26 countries have received funds under this scheme since 2007. And the UK is in the top 5 in terms of success rates and we are the country where  the majority of ERC is hosted; with Cambridge and Oxford as the top 2 host institutions in the whole programme.

However the scheme is super competitive; it has an average 12% success rate. All schemes have reduced in their success rates over the last 2 years. It is also biased towards certain institutions, with 50% of Principal Investigators being based in just 50 institutions. And lastly, it is mostly geared towards the physical sciences, life sciences and engineering as it funds ‘risky’ research and is looking for competitiveness which social sciences and humanities often can’t offer.

So overall, despite the fact that for Horizon 2020 the budget will increase (as will the number of applications) unless you are one of the best researchers in the world (and can prove it), working in a uni popular with the ERC and if you have a truly blue skies research project based in the hard sciences and don’t mind a low success rate  then this scheme isn’t for you. If you do match this description then you will be pleased to hear there are no major reshaping plans for the scheme under Horizon 2020, just a recognition that the scientific governance of the scheme needs to be strengthened and links between this and other schemes also strengthened.

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

 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!

Transport Research and Innovation Portal updated

The EC has launched an updated version of its online Transport Research and Innovation Portal. The website gathers information about over 7,000 transport research projects carried out in Europe and funded by national governments, the EU or other international bodies. Its aim is to promote the results of this research and to improve the links between transport research and policy. Check it out for yourself on the TRIP Portal.

Info day reminders!

Info days are key opportunities to find out more on calls, ask questions and most importantly… to network! Take a look at some forthcoming ones and see if there are any you could make to help boost your list of potential collaborators.

ICT FP7 Info Days: There are 2 info days coming up. The first is at the University of Wolverhampton on 13.06.12. This event is aimed at  the research and business communities who are interested in submitting project proposals to FP7 ICT Call 2013. The aim is to provide information to UK organisations on the FP7 ICT theme calls, i.e. to help participants better understand the work programme and criteria for the evaluation of proposals, to facilitate sharing of ideas and experiences, and to meet potential partners for project consortia. You will need to register on the FP7 ICT Information Event booking site to attend. The second day is organised by the EC  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.

Public Private Partnerships Info Day on 2013 Calls for Efficient Energy Buildings, Green Cars and Factories of the Future: The European Commission will be holding an information and brokerage event on the next (and final) calls under FP7. The event on these 2013 calls, which are funded through various themes within the FP7 Co-operation Programme, will take place on the 9-10 July 2012 in Brussels. The agenda includes roundtable discussions on future outlook of these three PPPs under the EU’s next research and innovation programme, Horizon 2020. You can register on the Event website.

Who are the FP7 Evaluators?

The list of FP7 Evaluators who have reviewed applications between 2007 and 2010 is available on the EC webpages. The published lists of evaluators can now be seen for the FP7 calls up to and including the 2010 calls. The lists are organised according to FP7 programme, and the names, institutions, nationality and gender of the individuals are displayed. You too can register to be an evaluator which will give you excellent experience in how the EC works. You can register here.

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.

 

FP7 NMP Tailored Exploitation Services Available for Project Partners

A new service helping NMP project partners take their research to market has been launched by the EC. 

Partners in Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies (NMP) projects can now make use of a new service offering help in to bridging the gap between research outcomes and exploitation. A range of tailored services, provided by Commission-approved consultants, is available. The services are:

  • Project Risk Analysis (PRA) to identify the risks and potential obstacles to the future exploitation of project results;
  • Exploitation Strategy Seminars (ESS) to brainstorm on how a consortium can address the risks and potential obstacles identified in the PRA;
  • Business plan development service to assist partners with this crucial step towards exploitation;
  • Assistance for patenting to support the partners with the writing, filing and legal follow-up of patents; and
  • Assistance for standardisation to help partners to exploit project results that can benefit from the development of standards.

NMP project partners can request the services listed above. If the request is validated by the Commission, these services are provided by exploitation strategy and innovation consultants for free and under confidentiality agreement.