Tagged / Europe

UKRO Reminder – RISE workshop 22 January 2015

Training

Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE): Information Event

In its capacity as UK National Contact Point for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, the UK Research Office is holding an information event for researchers who are interested in applying for the 2015 MSCA Research and Innovation Staff Exchange call, which opens on 6 January 2015, with a closing date of 28 April 2015.

Aim of the Research and Innovation Staff Exchange funding
The RISE scheme supports projects which promote international and/or inter-sectoral collaboration through staff exchanges and the sharing of knowledge and best practice. The scheme involves organisations from the academic and non-academic sectors, organisations based in Europe (EU Member States and Associated Countries) and outside of Europe (third countries).

Date and venue
Thursday, 22 January 2015
London South Bank University
Room 806, Keyworth Centre
Keyworth Street
London  SE1 6NG

Aim of Information Event
The event will provide participants with an in-depth overview of the RISE scheme. Participants should gain a clear understanding of the proposal format and the key issues relating to planning, writing and submitting proposals.

Who should attend?
The event is aimed at staff at UK academic and non-academic organisations, including industry, who are planning to submit a proposal to the RISE call.

Registration
Attendance is free of charge, but capacity at the venue is limited and places will therefore be allocated on a first come first served basis. Register via the UKRO workshop announcement.

The event will only take place if a minimum number of participants is reached. All interested participants will be notified by Friday 16 January 2015 at the very latest.

Agenda
The event will cover key issues relating to planning, writing and submitting proposals. A successful RISE 2014 project case study will be presented by the Principal Investigator.

European Funding Opportunities for SMEs – Webinar 12/1/15

Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange, Training

Join the Knowledge Transfer Network for a lunchtime webinar on 12th January 2015 to hear more about European funding opportunities and initiatives available to UK registered SME’s.

Although, universities cannot always bid directly to all calls (some must be submitted by the company), knowing what is available may enhance your conversations with business contacts.

Find out more about the Horizon 2020 SME instrument from the UK National Contact Point, Jane Watkins, who will also introduce the new ‘Fast Track to Innovation’ instrument to be launched in January 2015.

SME Instrument

  • A new-dedicated SME scheme to fill gaps in funding for early stage, high-risk research and development. It targets all types of SMEs and provides support across all areas of innovation, science and technology

Fast Track to Innovation Instrument

  • Fast Track to Innovation instrument aiming to speed up the time from idea to market and to increase the participation of industry, SMEs and first time applicants. It will support small consortia of three to five organisations with strong business participation to give promising ideas the last push before entering the market. It is open to ideas in any area of technology or application and to any legal entity established in the EU or in a country associated to Horizon 2020

In addition, Graham Mobbs (European Operations Manager – Innovate UK) will discuss the Eurostars Initiative.

Eurostars

  • The Eurostars programme is targeted at innovative SMEs wanting to take part in collaborative research with partners across Europe and associated countries. The SME takes the lead in a transnational consortium, with the aim to develop innovative products, processes and services, ultimately to gain a competitive advantage.

If you can’t wait until January please take a look at the dedicated UK SME Horizon 2020 and European Initiatives webpage: www.h2020uk.org/smes

The webinar will be on the 12th January 2015 at 12 noon. To book your place please register via the eventbrite link below:

http://ktnsmeeuropeanfunding.eventbrite.com

marc.burke@ktn-uk.org

07515334818

UKRO – RISE workshop in January 2015

Training

Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE): Information Event

In its capacity as UK National Contact Point for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, the UK Research Office is holding an information event for researchers who are interested in applying for the 2015 MSCA Research and Innovation Staff Exchange call, which opens on 6 January 2015, with a closing date of 28 April 2015.

Aim of the Research and Innovation Staff Exchange funding
The RISE scheme supports projects which promote international and/or inter-sectoral collaboration through staff exchanges and the sharing of knowledge and best practice. The scheme involves organisations from the academic and non-academic sectors, organisations based in Europe (EU Member States and Associated Countries) and outside of Europe (third countries).

Date and venue
Thursday, 22 January 2015
London South Bank University
Room 806, Keyworth Centre
Keyworth Street
London  SE1 6NG

Aim of Information Event
The event will provide participants with an in-depth overview of the RISE scheme. Participants should gain a clear understanding of the proposal format and the key issues relating to planning, writing and submitting proposals.

Who should attend?
The event is aimed at staff at UK academic and non-academic organisations, including industry, who are planning to submit a proposal to the RISE call.

Registration
Attendance is free of charge, but capacity at the venue is limited and places will therefore be allocated on a first come first served basis. Register via the UKRO workshop announcement.

The event will only take place if a minimum number of participants is reached. All interested participants will be notified by Friday 16 January 2015 at the very latest.

Agenda
The event will cover key issues relating to planning, writing and submitting proposals. A successful RISE 2014 project case study will be presented by the Principal Investigator.

How to use the Participant Portal to find relevant EU funding

Funding opportunities

The easiest way to find Horizon 2020 EU funding opportunities is to search the Participant Portal (the place to go for all things EU funding related).

How to search:

  • Click on Funding Opportunities
  • If you know your topic, click on Search Topics
  • To browse all calls, click on Calls and use the filters – for example, use the radio buttons to select Open and Deadline Date to see a chronological list of all calls closing in the coming months
  • Further filter by type of call, for example, you may want to see Excellent Science only

This is the page you will see following a search:

 

You can then click on the relevant box to access all the information about that call:

From here you can find all the documents related to the call.

You can also subscribe to RSS feeds from the Participant Portal.

If you are looking for non-Horizon 2020, EU funding, some are listed on the Portal, but you may need additional help in locating some schemes.

If you need any further help in using the Participant Portal, please contact your Officer in the Funding Development Team, Paul Lynch or Emily Cieciura – all listed under our team’s page.

 

Eurostat

Are you trying to justify your research submission to the EU or another funder?

One way that you can support your bid is to use the EU statistical database – Eurostat. The Eurostat website provides direct and free of charge online access to all its statistical databases and associated electronic publications. The Eurostat database is updated twice a day and covers:

  • the European Union
  • the EU Member States
  • the euro-zone
  • Candidate countries
  • EFTA countries

Take a look at the first visit page to find out the main features, including tools for visualisation of data, extraction tools, mobile apps and tutorials to help you make the best use of EU statistical data. You can register for free so that you can receive tailor-made e-mail alerts informing you of new publications as soon as they are online and access enhanced functionalities of the databases (customize the navigation tree, bulk download). You can also sign up to alerts. If you already have an ECAS login, you can access Eurostat using this.

 

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.

 

 

Euro PR history network backed by Fusion

Awarded & submitted bids, Fusion

IHPRC at EBC - Scene for first EPRHN meeting

A proposal to develop an innovative Europe-wide network of researchers in the history of public relations field has been supported by the Fusion Investment Fund (FIF).

The European Public Relations History Network (EPRHN) was formed in mid-2012 by Prof Tom Watson and backed by EUPRERA (European Public Relations Education & Research Association) as a priority project for the next three years. It was set up to identify archives and resources, undertake collaborative research, and prepare bids to European research bodies and PR industry organisations.

The field of public relations history has been developed at BU over the past four years, mainly through the establishment of the International History of Public Relations Conference (IHPRC).

Prof Watson said: “there has been increasing interest in the conference and PR historical research in Europe over the past 3-4 years but it has largely focused on national histories, personalities or phenomena. Collaborative research, across national boundaries, has yet to emerge. There is little shared knowledge of archival resources, where they exist or can be created.”

So far, 35 academics and practitioners from 12 countries have shown their interest in EPRHN. Its first publication, a catalogue of archives and resources in seven countries has just been published.  A EPRHN planning meeting will be held at BU after IHPRC in June.

Within The Media School, the network will also help develop European aspects of the Centre for Media History (CMH). CMH is already developing relationships with universities in Sweden and northern Germany. CMH and EPRHN will, it is hoped, foster the recruitment of PGR students interested in media and communication historical research.

The Fusion funding will allow EPRHN to hold a planning event at BU after IHPRC in late June and for Prof Watson and Dr Tasos Theofilou, who is working with him on both PR history projects, to attend EUPRERA’s annual conference in Barcelona in October. At EUPRERA, they will hold the network’s first formal meeting and workshop. [Photos by Minna-Liisa Nurmilaasko, PROCOM Finland].

IHPRC 2012

European universities need improved mobility strategies

The European University Association (EUA) has announced that EU universities need a better strategy for mobility. The EUA assessed current practice as part of a 2 year project and released their findings in Mobility: Closing the gap between policy and practice. Key findings were that:

  • academic staff are unaware of mobility strategies in their institution
  • mobility is especially important for doctoral students
  • mobility of administrative staff is not highly prioritised
  • mobility programmes for staff, students, and researchers tend to be fragmented within each institution

The report recommends that universities collect comprehensive data on the different types of mobility going on in their institution and use that data to develop mobility strategies. It also recommends that data collection should be coordinated on European and national levels.

The Maunimo project provided a self-assessment tool for universities with the aim of improving mobility programmes. Among the issues examined are mobility strategies, collection of data on mobility, the influence of external factors on mobility, and how mobility is perceived across the institution.

As part of the International Task Force at BU I will be recommending this is undertaken.

Using computational intelligence to develop predictive modelling that benefits organisations

Watch this excellent short video from BU’s Professor Bodgan Gabrys on the Computer Intelligence EU grant (INFER project) used to develop predictive modelling that’s applicable to multiple industries.

To see other BU videos on YouTube go to the BU YouTube page!

 

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r5zGqCtVSc

SciTech Europe 2011: Advancing Research, Innovation & Collaboration

There are a limited number of last minute complimentary places available to attend SciTech Europe 2011 on 24 November at The Square, Meeting Centre, Brussels.

Confirmed to Speak

Dr. Anneli Pauli
Deputy Director-General on Innovation and ERA (European Research Area), Directorate-General Research, European Commission

Professor Enric Banda
President, Euroscience

Professor Maria Leptin
Member of the Management Committee, Initiative for Science in Europe and Director of EMBO

Iztok Lesjak
President, International Association of Science Parks, European Division

Dr. Katrien Maes
Chief Policy Officer, League of European Research Universities

Dr. John Smith
Deputy Secretary General, European University Association (EUA)

Dr. Ayoade MJ Oduola
Coordinator, Stewardship for Infectious Diseases of poverty (STE),

Professor Joanna Chataway
Director, Innovation and Technology Policy, RAND Europe

Professor Anthony J Ryan OBE
Board member, STFC Science Council; Pro-Vice Chancellor, Faculty of Science, Sheffield University

View Full Programme

To register your complimentary place at this event please use our Online Registration System using discount code STEUCOMP at the final stage of the registration process.  Book Online

This free dataset will really help your EU funding proposal!

Downloading the FREE European Social Survey’s (ESS) latest dataset will be invaluable for the majority of you thinking of applying for EU funding. The ESS is a high standard survey in which 28 countries took part (with 2400 responses from the UK).  

The ESS covers topics such as political engagement; trust in institutions; moral and social values; social capital; social exclusion; national, ethnic and religious identity; well-being, health and security and you can carry out a simple analysis online of archived data. In the latest round information the questionnaire included questions on:

1) Work, family and well-being. Areas covered include: the impact of the recession on households and work; job security; housework; wellbeing; unemployment; work-life balance.

2) Trust in criminal justice. Areas covered include: confidence in the police and the courts; cooperation with the police and the courts; contact with the police; attitudes towards punishment.

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

New name for FP8 just revealed

Reporting from this years EARMA conference in Portugal, I have just heard a presentation from the DG for Research & Innovation who has revealed that this week the official new name for FP8 was launched -‘ Horizon 2020 – towards a new framework programme for research and innovation’. A bit of a mouthful so at BU we will refer to it as ‘Horizon 2020’!

EU University Association responds to initiatives on education & research

The EUA has published responses to two European Commission consultation documents – Green Paper on a Common Strategic Framework for future EU Research funding and Consultation on the Modernisation of Higher Education in Europe.

The Green Paper aims to define a new framework for EU research and innovation funding for FP8 and the Consultation relates to the ECs plans to adopt a new communication on the modernisation of higher education in the third quarter of 2011.

EUA sees the development of the European Research Area and European Higher Education Area as being crucially linked if Europe’s universities are to play their full part in contributing to the achievement of the Europe 2020 objectives.

Workshop on Information Discovery and Data Analytics Made Easy

DEC are hosting a workshop on Information Discovery and Data Analytics Made Easy facilitated by Prof. Michael R. Berthold, Konstanz University, Germany on 18 May.

TIME: 18th May 2011, 10.00 am – 1.00 pm,

PLACE: PG10, Poole House, Talbot Campus

The purpose of the event is to present methods and tools that can be used in processing large datasets and how to discover knowledge from them. Michael Berthold is a coordinator of the project BISON that is a research project funded by EC under the 7FP. He is also one of the founders of KNIME which is a user-friendly and comprehensive open-source data integration, processing, analysis, and exploration platform. So the goal of the workshop is also to start collaboration with Konstanz University and find out more about EC 7FP projects.

The workshop is open to all BU staff and PhD students as well. It will be of interest to all people who are involved in intelligent data processing. For sure it will be of interest for DEC staff: SMART Technology Research Centre, Creative Technology Research Centre and Software Systems Research Centre. I bielieve also that people from School of Applied Sciences will be interested.

Research areas that it covers include: intelligent data analysis, predictive modelling, complexity science, complex adaptive systems, knowledge discovery from data.

SCHEDULE:
10.00-11.00 – From Pattern Discovery to Discovery Support: Creativity and Heterogeneous Information Networks
11.00-11.30 – coffee break
11.30-12.30 – KNIME. Integrating Data, Tools, and Science
12.30-13.00 – Q&A Session
13.00-14.00 – Lunch

Prof. Michael R. Berthold’s Bio
After receiving his PhD from Karlsruhe University, Germany Michael Berthold spent over seven years in the US, among others at Carnegie Mellon University, Intel Corporation, the University of California at Berkeley and – most recently – as director of an industrial think tank in South San Francisco.
Since August 2003 he holds the Nycomed-Chair for Bioinformatics and Information Mining at Konstanz University, Germany where his research focuses on using machine learning methods for the interactive analysis of large information repositories in the Life Sciences. Most of the research results are made available to the public via the open source data mining platform KNIME.
M. Berthold is Past President of the North American Fuzzy Information  Processing Society, Associate Editor of several journals and the President of the IEEE System, Man, and Cybernetics Society. He has been involved in the organization of various conferences, most notably the IDA-series of symposia on Intelligent Data Analysis and the conference series on Computational Life Science. Together with David Hand he co-edited the successful textbook “Intelligent Data Analysis: An Introduction” which has recently appeared in a completely revised, second edition. He is also co-author of the brand-new “Guide to Intelligent Data Analysis” (Springer Verlag) which appeared in summer 2010.

For more information about workshop or to book a place, please contact: Katarzyna Musial (kmusial@bournemouth.ac.uk)

FP7 Partner Searches

Funding opportunities

Partner search: Sport & Health – The Centre for Sport Health and Exercise Research, Staffordshire University, is seeking partners to join a research project in the fields of sports and health.

For Emotion Regulation; Emotion and Cognitive Performance; and Emotion and Motor Performance. Email marc.jones@staffs.ac.uk.

For Physical activity/health and the environment; Green space and physical activity/health; Community health/physical activity promotion; and Primary care-based health/physical activity promotion. Email c.gidlow@staffs.ac.uk

Partner Search: Turkish SME & Wearable Cardiac Diagnosis Tool – The European Care Network is seeking partners to join a research project regarding a wearable cardiac diagnosis tool (in a vest) with clinical decision support system. For further information contact n.yilmaz@euro-care.net

EU research and funding workshops

Funding opportunities

 

                                EC 7th Framework Programme (FP7) logo

We are looking to host a series of workshops/ presentations on EU funding and we would like to hear your suggestions for topics.

What information would you find most useful? What would you like to learn more about? What format would you find most helpful?

Please comment below to let us know what you would like to see…

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