Tagged / EU

Funding for Environmental Research

Foundation for Research of Natural Resources in Finland: Grants for Environmental Research: These grants are open to research groups involving talented young researchers for projects promoting the sustainable utilisation of Finnish natural resources. In 2011 the majority of the grants were worth between €30,000 and €50,000. Deadline 30.09.11

European Science Foundation Short Visit & Exchange Grants for Climate Change: These grants are for short visit and exchange grants related to climate change manipulation experiments/ Exchange grants are supported with a weekly subsistence allowance of €400 for up to six weeks, plus travel expenses to a maximum of €500. Short visit grants are to last for up to 15 days and are reimbursed on a per diem basis of €85 plus travel expenses to a maximum of €500. Deadline 01.10.11

Funding for Tourism Research

European Cultural Routes: Believing that in the “niche” market of cultural tourism there is a lot of potential for growth, and believing that EU action could really add  value to national, regional and local policies in this field, the overall objective of the present call for proposals is twofold: to contribute to differentiating the European tourism offer, capitalising on the shared cultural heritage; and to contribute integrating both horizontally and vertically the cultural tourism sector, facilitating clusters/networks of both cultural tourism products and enterprises of the cultural tourism sector. Deadline: 07.10.11

Promoting Social Tourism in Europe: The overall objective of this call for proposals is  to support the creation of a web-based platform as a mechanism intended to facilitate transnational tourism, particularly within the CALYPSO target groups; to valorise the potential of off-season availability of accommodation; and to increase the competitiveness of tourism SME’s. Deadline: 14.10.11

EU funding relevant to Health and Media

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism – Economic Research on Incentives for Efficient use of Preventive Services: This R01 funding opportunity announcement solicits applications for economic research on the role of incentive arrangements in promoting efficient use of preventive services and interventions, specifically considering both costs and health outcomes. NIH intends to commit approximately $1.6 million in fiscal year 2012 to fund approximately four awards. Application budgets are not limited, but need to reflect actual needs of the proposed project for the maximum project period of five years. Deadline 15.11.11

Healthy Ageing: Funding is available for innovative policies to support healthy, active and dignified ageing and raise the effectiveness and efficiency of spending on social, health and long-term care services and benefits. Deadline 26.09.11

ESF-LiU Travel Grants for Conference on Images & Visualisation – Imaging Technology, Truth and Trust: The conference, to be held from 17 to 21 September 2012 in Scandic Linköping Vast, Sweden, will bring together experts from across the natural and social science with curators, artists, producers and users of images based on advanced visual engineering, in order to explore challenges at the interface between science and visual art. Grants are available to cover conference fees and possible part travel costs for students and early stage researchers. Deadline 06.06.12

Culture Programme: The Culture Programme has been established to enhance the cultural area shared by Europeans, which is based on a common cultural heritage, through the development of cooperation activities among cultural operators from eligible countries, with a view to encouraging the emergence of European citizenship. The Programme is aimed at three specific objectives: promotion of the trans-national mobility of people working in the cultural sector; support for the trans-national circulation of cultural and artistic works and products; and promotion of inter-cultural dialogue. The Programme has a flexible, interdisciplinary approach and is focused on the needs expressed by cultural operators during the public consultations leading up to its design. Deadlines are: 15.09.11, 05.10.11, 16.11.11, 03.02.12, 03.05.12

Initial draft proposal for Horizon 2020

Draft proposals for Horizon 2020 have been released. These are in no way the finalised documents so please bear that in mind when you’re reviewing this information! The latest proposals suggest that objectives will be focused on three areas:

1. Tackling Societal Challenges: focusing on health, demographic changes and wellbeing; food security and bio-based economy; secure, clean and efficient energy; smart, green and integrated transport; resource efficiency and climate; and inclusive, innovative and secure societies.

2. Creating Industrial Leadership & Competitive Frameworks: focusing on  leadership in enabling and industrial technologies (ICT, nanotechnology, materials and production, biotechnology, and space); innovation in SMEs; and access to risk finance.

3. Raising Excellence in the Science Base:  European Research Council (ERC); Future and Emerging Technologies (FET); Marie Curie; and European research infrastructures.

There are likely to be a range of funding schemes, used across the whole of the programme, including:

  • Research and innovation grants covering all sizes and types of projects)
  • Training and mobility grants
  • Programme co-funding grants
  • Support grants  
  • Prizes
  • Grants to public procurement of innovation
  • Procurements
  • Debt finance and equity investments

When I have further updates on the possible structure of FP7 I will add to the blog.

Partner Search from University of Lincoln for the project ‘ Precarity in Europe’

The University of Lincoln is seeking partners to participate in a project regarding precarity in Europe. The project they are proposing builds on research that they are already conducting on multiple exclusion homelessness in England, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. They have traced the life histories of 104 homeless people in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, and are now wanting to extend and develop this approach across at least seven European countries.

Precarity together with the relationships people have within the family are key themes in practically all of the life histories that they have explored but, apart from this common factor, they have found an extraordinary diversity of stories and experiences. The University of Lincoln would like to find out if this diversity continues to increase as they move beyond the UK to consider the experience of those living precariously in other countries, and to see if, in spite of this, common themes can be identified that cut across national boundaries.
As part of their work they have begun to explore the transitions people make within the family and the meaning these have for people. They would also like to explore whether and how different kinds of families across various national boundaries cope with changes within the family.

If you’re interested, contact Peter Somerville – 01522 886267/ psomerville@lincoln.ac.uk

Funding released: social solidarity and also materials research

EC Pilot project on social solidarity for social integration: This call is for proposals which will support the constitution of a network for mutual learning and exchange of best practices on minimum income, including members of national, regional and local administrations, trade unions and associations, including non-governmental organizations. Funding is worth up to €1 million over 24 months and the closing date is 30.09.11

NSF Materials World Network: cooperative activity in materials research between US investigators and their counterparts abroad: This proposal will include joint activities between NSF and funding organizations in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Proposals must have clear relevance to research supported by the NSF division of materials research. The anticipated total funding amount is from $2.5 million to $4m in fiscal year 2012 and the deadline is 10.11.11

Funding available for the assessment of EU climate policies and for healthy ageing

Funding is available for an evaluation of the performance of EU climate policy, in particular phase II of the EU’s Emission Trading Scheme in relation to the implementation of the Renewable Electricity Directive. This will include the assessment of: implementation problems; the interaction between the Trading Scheme and the Directive (and interactions with other policies as far as relevant); their effectiveness in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and their costs. The deadline is 26.09.11

Funding is also available for innovative policies to support healthy, active and dignified ageing and raise the effectiveness and efficiency of spending on social, health and long-term care services and benefits. Proposals should promote the sustainability and quality of health and long-term care provision for the elderly through healthy and active ageing, with a focus on different stages of policy development. The budget for this call is €2 million and grants are expected to fall between €100,000 and €500,000. The deadline is 26.09.11 

Call for Expressions of Interest to join EU Institutional Human Resources Strategy Group

The ‘Institutional Human Resources Strategy Group’ was launched in 2009 to support the take-up of Charter and Code principles by employers and funders of researchers in Europe. The aim of the group is to provide a platform for the exchange of experiences and mutual support in the implementation of the ‘HR Strategy for Researchers incorporating the Charter and Code.’   So far, two cohorts incorporating 95 organisations has participated in the group. The Commission is now drawing up a list of candidates for the third cohort. It will have its first meeting in January 2012. This is expected to be followed by two more meetings in 2013.  
The HR Strategy comprises five steps:  

  • An internal gap analysis by the individual organisation involving key stakeholders and in particular researchers;
  • The development and publication of an institutional HR strategy for researchers and an action plan detailing how the institution will respond to the gaps identified;
  • Acknowledgement of progress by the Commission
  • Self-assessment of progress after at most two years;
  • External analysis after at most four years.  

If you are  interested in joining the group, contact the Commission giving contact details and a short paragraph explaining the motivation for joining the group by September 29th.

Hot off the press this week – 4 new EU calls for proposals and tenders!

Calls for Proposals
Information, Training & Assistance Centres in Latin America: Proposals should ensure the visibility of European satellite navigation activities, monitor local satellite navigation initiatives and support the EU satellite navigation industry through support of information, training and assistance centres and activities, in Latin America. Deadline 15.09.11

Youth Support Systems: This call for proposals aims at supporting partnerships with regions, municipalities, civil society actors and bodies active in corporate social responsibility in order to develop over the long-term projects which combine various measures of the ‘Youth in Action’ programme. This mechanism aims at encouraging synergies and cooperation between the European Commission — via the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency — and the different actors working in the field of youth by pooling resources and practices with a view to maximising the impact of the programme and to reaching out to a higher number of beneficiaries. Deadline 03.11.11

Calls for Tenders
Stimulating Innovation for EU Enterprises through ICT: The objective of this action is to assess the policy context, concept, implementation, results and economic impact of the EU policy initiative eBSN (eBusiness support network for SMEs), focusing in particular on the initiative on ‘Stimulating innovation for European enterprises through smart use of ICT’, encompassing a series of industry-specific demonstration actions to stimulate innovation among European SMEs through smart use of ICTs. Deadline 06.10.11

Guidance for Active Age Management – Supporting Longer Working Lives of Older Workers: The aim of this Europe-wide study is to investigate how lifelong guidance is embedded in the European Union and national policies and strategies on active ageing as well as in employer’s age management strategies supporting older workers’ (55+) lifelong learning and skills development, and within this context to what extent various guidance services available to this target group in real terms address the issue of staying longer in employment (instead of making an early exit from working life). Deadline 26.09.11

New EU research finds video games can be good for you

It appears that blasting aliens to smithereens, rescuing the princess for the 256th time or pretending you’re Lara Croft  may not be so bad after all. New research led by scientists at the University of Essex  in cooperation with colleagues in Germany and the United States, looked at why people find video games fun.

The study investigated the idea that many people enjoy playing videogames because it gives them the chance to ‘try on’ characteristics which they would like to have as their ideal self. ‘A game can be more fun when you get the chance to act and be like your ideal self,’ explains Dr Andy Przybylski, who led the study. ‘The attraction to playing videogames and what makes them fun is that it gives people the chance to think about a role they would ideally like to take and then get a chance to play that role.’ In addition, games like satta king fast can be a great way to unwind after a long week at work.

The research found that giving players the chance to adopt a new identity during a game and acting through that new identity – be it a different gender, hero, villain – made them feel better about themselves and less negative. In fact, the enjoyment element of the videogames seemed to be greater when there was the least overlap between someone’s actual self and their ideal self. The study involved hundreds of casual game players in the laboratory and studied nearly a thousand dedicated gamers who played everything from ‘The Sims’ and ‘Call of Duty’ to ‘pikakasinot‘. Players were asked how they felt after playing in relation to the attributes or characteristics of the persona they would ideally like to be.

€4.2M Healthy Ageing in the EU Research funds just released!

Europe’s first joint call for ageing research ‘ERA-AGE 2’ has been released with a whopping €4.2M available. Research Councils from across Europe have contributed to this fund which aims to increase healthy ageing and increase life expectancy by two years within the European Union by 2020.
This call enables researchers from all disciplines to put in applications addressing “Active and healthy ageing across the life course”. The research funded will aim to generate new insights on the factors that enable individuals to live actively and healthily into later life. Applications are invited from multidisciplinary research groups representing three to five funding countries. Stage-one pre-proposals can be submitted until 3 October 2011 under three areas:
1. Generate new knowledge on the biological, clinical, behavioural, social and environmental factors that enable individuals to live actively and healthily into later life.
2. Explore comparatively different models, methods, approaches and good practices in societal responses to increased longevity which emphasise both social inclusion and sustainability.
3. Engage in effective knowledge exchange activities that will assist European and other countries to achieve the goal of increasing healthy life expectancy by two years by 2020.

We’ve summarised the EU FP7 Work Programmes for you!

As you will be aware  the FP7 Calls for Proposals were released on July 20th. FP7 is the major Programme for European funding  with a budget of €7 billion for this year, so plenty of funds to dip into!  

The European Commission releases its Calls for Proposals in some rather long documents (196 pages in some cases) known as ‘Work Programmes’.

The RDU know you are all pushed for time in your research endeavours and that the Work Programmes make for very dull reading, so we have been working day and night to summarise all of the calls for you in easy to access PDF formats under different types of funding and different subject areas. This way, you can scan the opportunities faster and take a look at the aim and eligibility criteria more easily to see if you can apply.

These summaries along with a full outline of what FP7 is, how to find funders etc are all available at our staff-only access webpage on EU Funding.

New & improved UKRO website launched at last!

UK Research OfficeThe new and very much improved UKRO portal is now available , Not only is it easier on the eye, it is finally a fully integrated system and much more effective to search.

To access the extensive ‘UKRO Subscriber Services’ and your personal news page,  go to ‘Subscriber Login’ and enter your email address and the password ukro4web. This is a temporary password. Once you are logged in, please go to ‘Edit Profile’ to set a new, personalised password.

You have been set up with a default profile which means that your personal news page will cover all information types and categories, and you will receive a daily email alert. You can customise this at any time using the short guide to the new Portal (and FAQs) on the homepage.

If you haven’t ever set up an UKRO account; now is the perfect time! UKRO is sponsored by the UK research councils and provides information and advice on EU funding opportunities, and EU programmes and policies. Signing up for the alert service means you will be kept up to date on relevant funding opportunities, news and partner searches.

Find EU Partners for the Lifelong Learning Programme, Ethics in Security or Health

Attending Information days and workshops held by the European Commission not only gives you a great opportunity to find out more about a call and ask any questions about it, but these events are also critical networking opportunities to meet others interested in building a consortium and applying for funding. An info day on the Lifelong Learning Programme will be held in October and a workshop on Ethical issues in Security Research in September.  If you are interested in applying to either of these calls, you should attend the info day.

To help find partners in Health funding, the details of participants who attended the recent partnering day on the 2012 Health Theme calls in Brussels are now available. A search page has been created where it is possible to look for participants of the recent partnering event by area of the work programme, type of organisation, country or through a free search. If you are planning on being involved in a proposal for the 2012 calls for the FP7 Co-operation Health Theme, then you should join look at this search page Health partnering day search page

Latest EU Social Sciences & Humanities funding

Free movement of lawyers: proposals should evaluate the legal framework for the free movement of lawyers against market and regulatory developments in the single market. Funding is worth up to €500,000 over 11 months. Deadline 15.09.11

Socio-economic impacts of new measures to improve accessibility of goods and services for people with disabilities: proposals should explore the merits of adopting EU regulatory measures to substantially improve the proper functioning of the internal market for accessible products and services, including measures to step up the use of public procurement.  Funding is worth up to €800,000 over 12 months. Deadline: 22.08.11

Roma in education: this funding supports transnational cooperation projects in the development and implementation of coherent and comprehensive joined-up educational measures to raise the participation and attainment levels of Roma students in general education and vocational educational training, and to support network activities for awareness-raising of the social integration of Roma children and students.  The total budget for the call is €584,000 and each grant is worth up to €150,000 over a maximum of 12 months. Deadline: 16.09.11

European policy network on the education of children and young people with a migrant background: this funding supports cross-European collaboration between high level decision makers, academics and practitioners for raising the educational attainment of children and young people from a migrant background. The maximum duration of projects is 36 months, and a total budget of €500,000 is available for 2012. Deadline 14.10.11

Support for the Digitisation of European Cinemas: the aim of the ‘digitisation of cinemas’ scheme is to encourage cinemas showing a significant percentage of non-national European works to exploit the possibilities offered by digital. This call for proposals aims to facilitate the digital transition of cinemas screening European films by supporting the side costs linked to the purchase of a digital projector. Closing date: 15 September 2011

e-Skills for Competitiveness and Innovation: the aim of this fund is to develop, with relevant stakeholders, a coherent vision and a detailed roadmap as well as foresight scenarios on the supply and demand of e-skills for competitiveness and innovation in Europe (2011–2015).  It will build on the momentum of the EU e-skills strategy. The skills needed include ICT, marketing, design, law, management, etc. for entrepreneurs, managers and ICT professionals and advanced users in all industries. Closing date: 16 September 2011

Latest EU energy related funding

European Energy Efficiency Fund: this fund will invest in energy saving, energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, particularly in urban settings, with the aim of achieving at least a 20 per cent energy saving or an equivalent reduction in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. The fund will offer a wide range of funding streams such as senior and junior loans, guarantees or equity participation to local, regional and, under certain conditions, to national public authorities to promote sustainable energy investments. At its launch, the fund is worth a total of €265m with contributions from the European Investment Bank and national financial institutions.

Eco-innovation projects: this funding supports 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. Closing date: 8 September 2011.

Assessment of scenarios and options towards a resource-efficient Europe: proposals should identify inefficient uses of resources that cut across different sectors and policy areas at meso- and macro-economic level and quantitatively assess the potential for, and effects of, efficiency improvements within systems. Funding is worth between €700,000 and €750,000 over 24 months. Deadline: 22.08.11.

Multilateral Research on Material Efficiency: Proposals are invited on the topic of Interdisciplinary Program on Material Efficiency – A first step towards sustainable manufacturing. This call will be supported by €10 million over a three year period and it is hoped that between eight and ten collaborations will be funded.