Tagged / EU funding

COST Actions – supporting high-risk, innovative and emerging research themes

Funding opportunities

COST Actions are a flexible, fast, effective and efficient networking instrument for researchers, engineers and scholars to cooperate and coordinate nationally funded research activities. COST Actions allow European researchers to jointly develop their own ideas in any science and technology field. COST Actions are bottom-up  science and technology networks, open to researchers and stakeholders  with a duration of four years. They are active through a range of  networking tools , such as workshops, conferences, training schools, short-term scientific missions (STSMs), and dissemination activities.  COST does not fund research itself.

COST prides in its support for high-risk, innovative and emerging research themes. Importantly, COST does not set any research priorities. cost

Currently on the COST website is a report on Collecting research data to counter femicide worldwide

Femicide across Europe is the first pan-European research network investigating the causes and risk factors of a phenomenon killing thousands of women every year, worldwide.

Femicide refers to the killing of women and girls because of their gender. European researchers studying the  cultural, societal and psychological   causes  and  risks factors  behind femicide set up the network to fight the phenomenon through advocacy and research. One idea is to create a  European Femicide Observatory  gathering and comparing data from each of the 30 countries involved, of which half are Inclusiveness Target Countries . The goal is to come up with  new guidelines  and shape new EU public policies countering killings.

Specialists have been studying quantitative and qualitative data and ways to reduce discrepancies in country records. Such discrepancies are often due to the different definitions of femicide, which is sometimes seen as gender-based violence.

“When our COST Action was first proposed, the term femicide was not widely used. Everyone knew of homicide, but few had given thought to the fact that some women, particularly those involved in intimate relationships, were murdered simply because they were women. Today, two years within the COST Action, ‘femicide’ has become a buzzword, Action Chair Dr Shalva Weil explains.“

Network members have also been advocating for a more straightforward approach to lowering femicide rates in Europe. They have already addressed the Portuguese Parliament and the Parliament of Aragon in Spain. The network also took part in two United Nations sessions in Bangkok (November 2014) and New York (October 2015).

By participating in the network’s training schools and scientific exchanges, young researchers are also given the chance to better understand the phenomenon EU-wide. One outstanding result of the Action’s work is a  comparison of national statistics from 10 European countries .

The Action’s next annual meeting will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in May 2016.

Why not take a look at the COST Action database to see if there is a current Action relating to your research? You can then consider joining an existing Action or submitting your own proposal.

Click on the tag COST Action (below) to see other BU posts on this topic, including  Edwin van Teijlingen’s report on his recent publication and his experience of attending a COST Action Training School.

If you are interested in applying for COST, please contact Emily Cieciura, Research Facilitator: EU & International of you Faculty’s Funding Development Officer.

Creative, Digital & Design Business Briefing – September 2015

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, innovation, Knowledge Exchange

theme - creative-digitalThis is a monthly publication that provides a digest of useful information about funding, financing, support and events to assist creative, digital and design businesses with their innovation and growth strategies.

Highlights include:

European Funding Guide – Creative Industries

A short KTN guide to help you submit a proposal for the Horizon 2020 funding programme (H2020) & other European funding sources. It provides a brief overview of support, how to apply and useful links.

More information »

Internet of Things Cites Demonstrator

Up to £10 million funding competition to demonstrate the capability of the Internet of Things in a city region. Projects should involve at least one local authority, one local enterprise partnership and several businesses.

More information »

Digital forensics – up to £300K phase 1

The challenge from the Home Office, is to improve the speed, efficiency and effectiveness of recovering and automatically analysing data from the seized digital devices of suspects under investigation. Maximum value of £40K per project.

More information »

Potential Changes to Horizon 2020 Priorities

The European Commission intends to introduce three major funding streams into Horizon 2020 and ditch six others, a draft plan obtained by Research Europe says.

The new focus areas for the 2016 and 2017 work programmes will be the Internet of Things, automated road transport and an approach to sustainable industrial production called “the circular economy”, according to the draft plan.

Work programmes for 2014-15 were built around 12 priorities, but only six of these—digital security, smart cities, energy efficiency, low-carbon energy, blue growth and food security—will remain for the next phase of the programme.

The six surviving priorities and three new ones will form the backbone for calls for proposals in pillars two and three, covering industrial leadership and the societal challenges. The document also promises a stronger role for the social sciences in 2016 and 2017.

The six areas to be downgraded are personalised healthcare, waste, water, mobility, disaster protection and tackling the financial crisis. They will no longer be considered as overarching focus areas, according to the plan. Instead, they are likely to be tackled through individual Horizon 2020 calls.

The 12-page draft has been developed on the basis of recommendations from about 20 advisory groups, as well as public consultations. It is still subject to alteration, but has been passed to member states’ representatives on the Horizon 2020 programme committee.

According to the document, the selected nine focus areas offer the best chance for Horizon 2020 to support EU policy goals, including economic growth and employment, the development of a digital single market and improved energy supply. They will also help the EU to raise its manufacturing success by developing emerging industries such as cyber-physical systems and 3-D printing, it says.

On the social sciences and humanities, the document says the Commission will include the disciplines as an “integral part in the conceptual design” of calls this time round. This follows a recommendation from the European Forum on Forward Looking Activities, or Effla, that non-technical solutions to problems should be given more emphasis. “A lot of the societal challenges are driven heavily by human behaviour, and that didn’t seem to be coming out sufficiently [in the last work programmes],” says advisory member Luke Georghiou, the vice-president for research and innovation at the University of Manchester.

The document also indicates that 2016-17 work programmes will more actively seek non-EU participation, as was recommended by member states. “Many topics will be flagged as being specifically relevant for international cooperation,” the document says, and specific funding will be offered “to ensure the right international partners are attracted”.

Other areas considered more important than before include public procurement to fund commercial R&D, the use of challenge prizes to solve particular problems, and gender studies. Measures will be taken to raise the participation of female researchers, it says.

The document is accompanied by 17 annexes setting out plans for each of the societal challenges and the enabling technologies for 2016-17, as well as the Future and Emerging Technologies, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and research infrastructures from the first pillar. These documents are the basis for the work programmes, due to be finalised in the second half of 2015.

But despite acknowledging that Horizon 2020 has more flexibility than Framework 7, Georghiou says the Commission could still do more to update its priorities, even after the work programmes are under way. “It’s an in-built problem, if you set out a programme that has a several-year horizon and is focused on societal challenges, that the nature of those challenges will evolve as the programme proceeds,” he says. “You can’t start with an initial list of topics and expect that to be unchanged, so you have to keep updating and revising it.”

BU subscribe to Research Europe, which is part of the many resources provided by ResearchResearch.  To find out more and to add Research Europe to your personal alerts, please see the recent post on Research Professional.

Emily Cieciura: Research Facilitator – EU and International

Guidance

Hello!

I am Emily Cieciura, new Research Facilitator for EU and International bids, as part of the Funding Development Team. I am part time, but job share with Paul Lynch, so there is help and support available throughout the working week. I am here Monday to Wednesday and Paul is available from Wednesday to Friday.

I have been at BU since 2001, in a number of roles. I started out as an Assistant Librarian, then, taking a change in career direction, relocated to the Business School as Co-ordinator for the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM) and then moved in what is now the Research & Knowledge Exchange Office at the end of 2009. I have supported a number of schools during my time in this team,  but have spent the last two years supporting Knowledge Transfer Partnerships throughout BU. I enjoyed providing dedicated pre and post award support through this scheme and the relationships developed both within and outside BU. Although I  miss this role, I am very keen to make new connections within the world of EU and International funding. As part of our role, Paul and I are reviewing the EUADS scheme and will shortly be contacting schools to set up the fourth cohort for this BU initiative, which has contributed to a significant increase in bidding to EU funding streams.

I am a Chartered Librarian with both a BA (Hons) – First Class – and MLib in Librarianship. I have worked in a number of sectors including industry, further education, law and higher education. I have also undertaken further studies to enhance my professional skills, including the Advanced Certificate of  Marketing (CIM), the Further & Adult Education Teaching Certificate and  BU’s Postgraduate Certificate in HR. I am currently undertaking the Associate of Research Managers and Administrators’ (ARMA) Certificate in Research Management.  I believe that my varied background allows a rounded approach to my current role.

Outside work, I am a member of my local library’s ‘friends’ group, so keep in touch with my original profession through this volunteering. As part of this, I lead one of Kinson Library’s reading groups and participate in their family history group. I have a wide circle of friends throughout the UK, so enjoy making the most of weekend visits. With two children, I also run an excellent taxi service! In discussing my blog post with Jo Garrad, my line manager, she has challenged me to ‘get more of a life’ as my children are now quite grown up and independent. So, within reason and legality, suggestions are gratefully received….

You can find out more about the FDT Team in Jo’s post and from other blog entries from my colleagues.

So, if you have an idea that might have potential for bidding via an EU scheme or working with international funders, please give me or Paul a call. We look forward to supporting you as you develop your funding portfolio.

 

 

Horizon 2020: 2015 Health Call Now Open!

Funding opportunities

The European Commission has launched the 2015 call for projects under the Horizon 2020 Health, demographic change and wellbeing challenge. The Health work programme is available here: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2014_2015/main/h2020-wp1415-health_en.pdf 

The 2015 Health call is made of 4 different sub-calls, depending on the submission procedure (single stage or two stage), the final deadline for the submission and the funding scheme (research and innovation actions, and coordination and support actions). Specific information for each call can be found below:

1) Personalising Health and Care – Single Stage 

Budget: (€ Mn): 104.50

Deadline: 21st April 2015

Topics (PHC):  21, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30

2) Personalising Health and Care – Single Stage RTD

Budget (€ Mn): 88.00

Deadline: 24th February 2015

Topics (PHC): 9, 15, 33

3) Personalising Health and Care – Two Stage

Budget (€ Mn): 306.00

Deadline (stage 1): 14th October 2014

Deadline (stage 2): 21st April 2015

Topics (PHC): 2, 3, 4, 11, 14, 16, 18, 22, 24

4) Health Co-ordination Activities 

Budget (€ Mn): 40.00

Deadline: 15th April 2014

Topics (HCO): 3, 6, 11, 12, 13, 17

 

Marie Curie Funding Info Sessions Reminder – Need A Fully Funded Research Fellow ?

Funding opportunities, Grants Academy, Training

 

The Prize

These schemes provide strong financial support for a Research Fellow in your department for a period of 12 – 24 months on any research topic.

The Catch

The Research Fellow must come from another European Country or International Base worldwide. It is joint application with you and the fellowship candidate – so they must be identified. (If the fellow is already in the UK they must have been working here for less than 1 year in the last 3.)

The Deadline

Deadline for application is August 2013 – but the forms are relatively easy & straight forward – although moderately time consuming. Fellowships will start in early 2014 but this start date could be extended to early 2015.

Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)                  Deadline  Mid August 2013

International Incoming Fellowships (IIF)       Deadline  Mid August 2013

Note: For people already at the University there is a similar outgoing international Fellowship scheme to enable research periods in other , non European, Labs and Research Centres.

These fellowships are prestigious and highly sought after, especially as they pay very well. There is a difference in emphasis between the two schemes but the overriding criteria is candidate, and host, excellence with respect to the justification of the project rationale. This is all derived from the candidates cv and thus please discuss initially with Martin Pickard who can advise on suitability and fit.

These fellowships are an excellent, and often overlooked, way to expand and compliment a research team. Initial advice is imperative as, again, project structure and rationale with respect to the candidate are very important in determining success and need to be argued and justified around the actual science and project.

Requirements.

One University (Host) and one applicant, of any nationality, other than from than the UK. (candidates may already be in the UK but must have spent less than 12 months of the past 36 in the UK)

The higher the quality of the cv, rated against age and experience, the more likelihood of funding success. Each prospective fellow can only apply for one fellowship but any host can have as many fellows as they want applying to work with the same PI.

The Grant

Typical project period – Minimum 12 months — Maximum 24 months

Fellow income: In excess of 80,000 Euro per year.

University Income: Minimum of 18,000 Euro per year.

Help Needed ??

If you have a research Fellow in Mind (or can find one through networking or your colleague links) the application will not take a lot of time – but a clearly defined and specific approach is required. Guidance notes will be available as well as direct one to one support from our proposal writing specialist Dr. Martin Pickard. 

To assist further we have also arranged a series of 2 morning information sessions to be held on the Wednesday 27th of March and repeated again on the Tuesday 16th of April 2013 

Information Session 1 –  09:00am – 10:00am

A Brief Introduction to the Marie Curie Fellowship Schemes – for those of general interest.  

In addition to the general European topic specific calls under the cooperation programme there are a number of explicit opportunities arising through other schemes – some of which are far more easily accessible and have the advantage of being open to literally any research idea/topic. Several of these arise through the People programme under the Marie Curie calls and this 40 minute plus Q&A information session seeks to highlight some of these opportunities and identify their pro’s and cons so that a clear strategy can be developed to avoid missing these significant, and relatively easy, opportunities.

Information Session 2 – 10:15am – 12:15pm

How to Approach and Structure your Marie Curie Fellowship Application –  for those possibly intending to submit a bid.

The structure of any bid (partner interactions, methodology synergy etc.) is critical to the success of an application and forward planning is a key element of winning proposals.

If you are thinking of applying this August this session will illustrate the basic approach requirements for success and show how to structure and present your research application in the correct form of “Brusselese”.  A brief, 2 hour, guide to the Marie Curie application process.

Please note: If you are already intending to submit a bid this August then Session 1 will provide very little additional information. Also Grants Academy members who have already attended our Grants Academy 2 Day Bid Writing Workshop will not need to attend Session 1 as this has already been covered in your workshop so we would recommend you book into and attend Session 2 only.

If these are a potential interest to you – don’t miss this exceptional opportunity. Please book in ASAP via Staff Development Booking Link to reserve your space as we anticipate these sessions will be very popular.

Need A Fully Funded Research Fellow ???

Funding opportunities, Training

  

 The Prize

These schemes provide strong financial support for a Research Fellow in your department for a period of 12 – 24 months on any research topic.

The Catch

The Research Fellow must come from another European Country or International Base worldwide. It is joint application with you and the fellowship candidate – so they must be identified. (If the fellow is already in the UK they must have been working here for less than 1 year in the last 3.)

The Deadline

Deadline for application is August 2013 – but the forms are relatively easy & straight forward – although moderately time consuming.Fellowships will start in early 2014 but this start date could be extended to early 2015.

Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)                  Deadline  Mid August 2013

International Incoming Fellowships (IIF)       Deadline  Mid August 2013

Note: For people already at the University there is a similar outgoing international Fellowship scheme to enable research periods in other , non European, Labs and Research Centres.

These fellowships are prestigious and highly sought after, especially as they pay very well. There is a difference in emphasis between the two schemes but the overriding criteria is candidate, and host, excellence with respect to the justification of the project rationale. This is all derived from the candidates cv and thus please discuss initially with Martin Pickard who can advise on suitability and fit.

These fellowships are an excellent, and often overlooked, way to expand and compliment a research team. Initial advice is imperative as, again, project structure and rationale with respect to the candidate are very important in determining success and need to be argued and justified around the actual science and project.

Requirements.

One University (Host) and one applicant, of any nationality, other than from than the UK. (candidates may already be in the UK but must have spent less than 12 months of the past 36 in the UK)

The higher the quality of the cv, rated against age and experience, the more likelihood of funding success. Each prospective fellow can only apply for one fellowship but any host can have as many fellows as they want applying to work with the same PI.

The Grant

Typical project period – Minimum 12 months — Maximum 24 months

Fellow income: In excess of 80,000 Euro per year.

University Income: Minimum of 18,000 Euro per year.

Help Needed ??

If you have a research Fellow in Mind (or can find one through networking or your colleague links) the application will not take a lot of time – but a clearly defined and specific approach is required. Guidance notes will be available as well as direct one to one support from our proposal writing specialist Dr. Martin Pickard. 

To assist further we have also arranged a series of 2 morning information sessions to be held on the Wednesday 27th of March and repeated again on the Tuesday 16th of April 2013 

Information Session 1 –  09:00am – 10:00am

A Brief Introduction to the Marie Curie Fellowship Schemes – for those of general interest.  

In addition to the general European topic specific calls under the cooperation programme there are a number of explicit opportunities arising through other schemes – some of which are far more easily accessible and have the advantage of being open to literally any research idea/topic. Several of these arise through the People programme under the Marie Curie calls and this 40 minute plus Q&A information session seeks to highlight some of these opportunities and identify their pro’s and cons so that a clear strategy can be developed to avoid missing these significant, and relatively easy, opportunities.

Information Session 2 – 10:15am – 12:15pm

How to Approach and Structure your Marie Curie Fellowship Application –  for those possibly intending to submit a bid.

The structure of any bid (partner interactions, methodology synergy etc.) is critical to the success of an application and forward planning is a key element of winning proposals.

If you are thinking of applying this August this session will illustrate the basic approach requirements for success and show how to structure and present your research application in the correct form of “Brusselese”.  A brief, 2 hour, guide to the Marie Curie application process.

Please note: If you are already intending to submit a bid this August then Session 1 will provide very little additional information. Also Grants Academy members who have already attended our Grants Academy 2 Day Bid Writing Workshop will not need to attend Session 1 as this has already been covered in your workshop so we would recommend you book into and attend Session 2 only.

If these are a potential interest to you – don’t miss this exceptional opportunity. Please book in ASAP via Staff Development Booking Link to reserve your space as we anticipate these sessions will be very popular.

 

Various latest calls for funding from the EU

DG Enterprise and Industry third party liability studies: The Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry invites proposals for a study evaluating the status quo and the legal implications of third party liability for the European security industry. The tenderer will collect, analyse and assess data from various legal sources and actual best practices in this field, provide a comprehensive overview of related implications for the security industry, as well as feasible policy options to address these implications, and present the results in an accessible and comprehensible way. Funding is worth up to €800,000 over 12 months.

Eureka EUMINAfab user access call: Eureka invites proposals, through the EUMINAfab initiative, for user access. Investigators from research and industry alike may apply to gain fee-free access to one or more of 37 micro- and nanotechnology fabrication and characterisation installations across Europe. Each researcher must be based in an EU member or associated state.

DG Home Affairs immigration policy: The Directorate-General for Home Affairs invites proposals for the monitoring of the implementation by the member states of the European refugee fund, the European fund for the integration of third-country nationals, the external border fund and the return fund. The tenderer will undertake between 36 and 72 monitoring missions over a three-year period, in order to ensure the correct implementation of funds pursuant to the basic acts and implementing rules in member states. Funding is worth between €100,000 and €200,000 per year over a maximum of three years.

DG Enterprise and Industry electric vehicle promotion:The Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry invites proposals for the promotion of electric vehicles technologies. Projects should raise social awareness about the high performance of electric vehicles and the benefits of their utilisation, while addressing specific aspects that may have created public reluctance about the purchase of vehicles based on electric powertrains. Proposals may be submitted for the following lots: complete construction of an electric car designed for competition, for which funding is worth up to €2 million; organisation of a demonstration event with the presence of the electric car built in lot one, for which funding is worth up to €300,000.

Europe for citizens networking of twinned towns: Each project must foresee at least three events, involving municipalities from at least four participating countries, of which at least one is an EU member state. Grants are worth between €10,000 and €150,000 over a period of 21 days to 24 months. Deadline 01.09.12

Continuous training: Grants support the development of the capacity of audiovisual professionals to understand and integrate a European dimension to their work, through the following measures: training in economic, financial and commercial management; training in new audiovisual technologies; training in script project development. The budget for this call is €7 million. Deadline 16.04.12