Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
Application deadlines for the Fusion Investment Fund have been confirmed as 1 July and 1 December. The next call for applications will soon be launched. It provides fantastic opportunities for you to grow as a researcher, an educator and practitioner and there are many options for you to choose from, depending on your needs. Please keep checking the blog for details.
Early in January I received the good news that my application to the Fusion Investment Fund SMN strand was successful. What a great way to start the New Year!
The main aim of my FIF SMN project is to consolidate newly developed partnerships with European and non-European researchers and stakeholders. Planned activities include visits to colleagues who were involved in the development of the research proposal “Living with Extreme Events at the Coast” (LEEC), submitted to the EU FP7 call on Environment (Challenge 6.4 Protecting citizens from environmental hazards). LEEC successfully passed stage 1 and we are now waiting for the outcome of stage 2, so keep your fingers crossed.
As my FIF SMN proposal builds from LEEC, I decided to call it “Living with Extreme Events at the Coast Grant Development” (LEEC GraDe). Not very creative, but it reflects well the main objective, which is to explore opportunities for collaborative research in topics related to LEEC. LEEC aims to better understand how extreme storms and climate change in coastal areas will affect flood risk and impact on society, infrastructure, economic activities and the natural environment throughout the 21th century.
Besides, the development of collaborative research proposals, I will also be exploring opportunities for enhancing students’ experience, e.g. through work placements. By the time I submitted the FIF SMN proposal, I had just taken the role of ApSci’s Academic Lead for Placements. In this role, one of my objectives is to increase the offer of research-based placements to our students. So I thought my networking visits would be a great opportunity to discuss with colleagues from organisations in Europe and abroad whether they are interested in offering to our students a research-based working experience. Many researchers systematically plan their fieldwork campaigns or dedicate larger proportion of their time to research in the summer, so a work placement can be mutually beneficial.
I so much believe in the benefits of this arrangement that I am offering two placements this summer to undergrad ApSci students. If you are interested in doing the same, please contact me.
LEEC partners are from 13 organisations spread across eight countries (Estonia, Spain, France, Belgium, Denmark, UK, Mexico and Vietnam). The FIF SMN award will allow me to visit some of these organisations and engage in other networking opportunities. I will be very busy networking throughout 2013! Hopefully the effort will result in the submission of more collaborative research proposals and a number of arrangements made to enrich students’ experiences through placements or exchanges.
The first of my planned activities was to attend the 12th International Coastal Symposium (ICS) in Plymouth (http://ics2013.org/) earlier this month. This is the largest international conference focused on coastal research with over 500 participants, so a great venue to disseminate research results, to keep updated with research progress worldwide and to network! I was invited to be the convener of the Coastal Evolution and Geomorphology session, so worked very hard evaluating abstracts and full papers before the conference! I also presented a paper on the Coastal Management session, entitled “Is managed realignment a sustainable long-term coastal management approach?” You can find a copy of the paper on BRIAN.
ICS offered the opportunity to meet many ‘old’ friends and make new contacts worldwide, including from countries I had none before, such as Trinidad & Tobago and South Africa. I have already exchanged email with a few of the new (and old) contacts and there are very exciting prospects for future collaboration. I have discussed the preparation of a joint paper with a colleague from the University of Rostock (Germany), explored ways to collaborate with practitioners from a government agency in Trinidad & Tobago and I am already working on a proposal with colleagues from South Africa. The most immediate result from networking during ICS was the invitation to visit five different organisations in Mexico, which is planned to happen in June.
Networking is also about maximising the opportunities and I will be doing exactly that next month in Brazil. I was invited to give a keynote talk in the National Symposium of Coastal Vulnerability. As the hosts are taking me to Brazil, I will extend my stay and visit two universities using SMN funds. The plan is to start building a joint research proposal to submit to the Science without borders programme (funding source from Brazil) with the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco and discuss exchange of postgraduate students and other opportunities with the Universidade do Vale do Itai.
Please watch this space for upcoming news!
Luciana Slomp Esteves (Lecturer in Physical Geography, ApSci)
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 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.)
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.
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. The next one and last one is due to be held on the Tuesday 16th of April 2013 – Lansdowne Campus
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.
Archaeologists from the School of Applied Sciences have been awarded a Staff Mobility grant from the Fusion Investment Fund as part of the SMN Strand Santander Scholarships to develop a link with the Department of Archaeology at St Petersburg State University in Russia.
The aim of this proposal is to establish a collaborative, international project between BU and St Petersburg State University based on shared interests in the area of archaeology, with specific reference to osteoarchaeology. Building upon previous contacts established with Russian colleagues, the project that emerges from this proposal will aim to link students (from both SPSU and BU) and research-active staff (again from both institutions) in such a way that will allow student placements to be developed and funding identified and applied for that will support research and student participation.
Research into how people have used and treated domestic and wild animals over time has been one that the School of Applied Sciences has been pioneering for many years and will form the basis for this collaboration. This includes how people regarded animals within a cultural context as well as how human impact has affected animal populations (e.g. the decimation of the beaver population within NW Russia in the late medieval period). This project will bring together issues of biodiversity and environmental change within a study of how past societies have viewed certain animals within their culture.
The proposal is to use this summer as the opportunity to develop a specific project with our Russian colleagues, designing it and its methodology, identifying funding sources, and agreeing to collaborate in such a way as to involve students in the project.
The resulting project will deliver a clear contribution to Fusion by linking research, student placements, and teaching and learning for both undergraduates and post graduates within the School of Applied Sciences.
For further information please contact either Dr Mark Maltby (mmaltby@bmth.ac.uk)or Professor Mark Brisbane (mbrisbane@bmth.ac.uk).
I am delighted to have been awarded funding from the Santander Staff Mobility and Networking strand of the Fusion Investment Fund. The aim of my proposal is to develop networks and collaborative work with colleagues working in dementia related areas in Overseas Santander Partner Universities in Colombia and Chile.
Dementia is becoming a problem of public health in Latin America. Research shows that the prevalence of this condition in Latin American countries is similar to developed countries. However, there is a higher incidence of dementia in fairly young individuals aged from 65-69 years old, which can be a consequence of the link between low educational level and lower cognitive reserve (Nitrini, et.al., 2009). Diagnosis rates in developing countries are lower than in developed countries making access to treatment, care and support more difficult for people with dementia (Alzheimer’s Disease International).
In spite of this, social research in dementia and education in dementia care are still scarce in Latin America. This proposal seeks to contribute in filling this gap through achieving two objectives. The first is to test the ‘Living well with dementia’ course, created and delivered by BUDI in Universidad del Rosario in Colombia with the view of exporting it to other parts of Latin America in the future. The second objective is to develop a collaborative research grant proposal that takes the shape of a comparative study about social/cultural constructions of dementia in the UK and Chile and how such constructions influence public policy and practice relating to dementia and services for people living with dementia and their families.
BU and specifically BUDI’s work in dementia will be disseminated internationally bringing possibilities for sustainable academic collaboration with top universities of Colombia and Chile.
Dr Mariela Gaete Reyes (HSC/BUDI)
The Fusion Investment Fund Staff Mobility & Networking (SMN) Strand which was open for applications assessed on a rolling basis has now closed. We have funded a good number of applications received and news of these have and will continue to be publicised here on the blog. The FIF scheme reopens in late April/early May with an application deadline of 1 July. Please check the blog for details soon.
The Fusion in Action conference is taking place on Thursday 18 April in Kimmeridge House from 12pm. Book now to attend the conference (via the Staff Development Webpage) and come along to see a showcase of the best of Fusion at BU. It’s a great opportunity to learn more about how you can get involved.
Genoveva Esteban, Associate Professor at the School of Applied Sciences, has been awarded a Santander Staff Mobility and Networking Scholarship (strand of the Fusion Investment Fund) to develop a network with Prof Angel Baltanás at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain). The network is called BOSS (Biogeography of Organisms of Small Size) – a research-educational network on freshwater aquatic ecology. The aim of BOSS is to investigate the geographical distribution of small-sized organisms and rare freshwater invertebrates involving students (supervised by the PI and CoI) at each university to exchange data collected from rare aquatic habitats in central Spain and in Dorset via the internet. The network will aim at developing a bilingual on-line learning and communications tool to facilitate exchange of students, masters, ecological information, and research between both institutions. The project will also help promote BU’s PG research and MSc opportunities.
As part of the Fusion in Action conference on Thursday 18 April, the Fusion Investment Surgery drop-in sessions will provide an excellent opportunity to talk about your potential applications to the Fusion Investment Fund (FIF). The FIF scheme reopens in April/May with an application deadline of 3 June, so why not take the opportunity to discuss your ideas and get advice about eligibility and assessment criteria now, as well as gaining inspiration from the showcase of the best of Fusion in Action at BU over the last 12 months!
The conference features a range of engaging presenters and two of these will be discussing their successful FIF bids so it’s a fantastic opportunity to find out more from those with the knowledge.
The following committee members will be on-hand with advice about the different funding schemes and how to ensure your applications have the best possible chance of being successful:
Study Leave – Debbie Sadd
Staff Mobility & Networking – Feng Tian
Co-Creation and Co-Production – Hong Bui and Richard Scullion
Book now to attend the conference (via the Staff Development Webpage) and come along for this great opportunity to learn more about how you can get involved and secure funding for activities that matter to you!
Fusion in Action Conference:
On Thursday 18 April, Kimmeridge House
Begins at 12pm with a networking lunch
Ends at 5pm with wine and nibbles
Presentations, posters, drop-in sessions and a Q&A Panel
Hosted by Deputy Vice-Chancellor Tim McIntyre-Bhatty and Chief Operating Officer Jim Andrews
Bookings are essential
We are delighted to announce the launch of the 2013 Vice-Chancellor Doctoral (Fee Waive) Scholarships which will offer support to up to 25 outstanding postgraduate research students. The VC PhD Scholarships will provide a full fee waive for up to 36 months in the case of full-time students and exceptionally 48 months in the case of part-time students. Stipends (to cover living expenses) are not included in the scholarships and these must be provided by the student themselves or by a sponsor.
This Scholarship programme will open on 4 March 2013 and will roll until 31 July 2013. There are up to 25 scholarships available, which are nominally split between the 6 Academic Schools and Schools can take up more or less than their allotted share. There is no requirement for a School to accept candidates.
The focus of the VC PhD Scholarships is on the outstanding nature of the candidate who must meet the following eligibility criteria:
In addition to satisfying basic entry criteria, BU will look closely at the qualities, skills and background of each candidate and what they can bring to their chosen research project in order to ensure successful and timely completion. It is important to consider that in most cases the interpretation of ‘truly outstanding’ is likely to be those candidates with a First Class (Hons) degrees and/or a distinction at Masters, with clear documented evidence of drive, commitment and relevant skills.
Only the most outstanding candidates will be supported. Full details and criteria are set out in the BU VC Scholarship 2013 Policy. Staff are asked to check the eligibility criteria carefully before nominating.
The VC PhD Scholarship process will be managed and overseen by the Graduate School but administered through the Academic Schools.
The VC PhD Scholarships applications (available on the Graduate School website from Monday 4 March 2013) should be submitted to the relevant School Research Administrator at any time but no later than 31 July 2013.
Exciting new funding opportunities are now available with the retail sector!
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) have recently made a call, after committing to invest £2 million to establish a cohort of new Knowledge Exchange Opportunities with the retail sector.
The Knowledge Exchange Opportunities scheme is designed to promote the application of social science within non-academic communities. Which means that the target audience of the grant activity must be non-academic stakeholders within the private, public or civil society sectors. The flexibility built into the scheme is intended to encourage applicants to think creatively about knowledge exchange and the ESRC are welcoming applications for either a single activity or a combination of activities.
Potential activities could include:
Also, a targeted call has been made for:
The call for all applications closes on 30 April 2013.
For further information please visit the ESRC website
The British Academy, the UK’s national body for the humanities and social sciences, has announced that its Small Research Grant scheme is open for applications. Under the Small Research Grants programme grants of between £500 and £10,000 over two years are available to support primary research in the humanities and social sciences. Funds will be available to facilitate initial project planning and development; to support the direct costs of research; and to enable the advancement of research through workshops, or visits by or to partner scholars. The closing date for applications is the 10th April 2013. More information can be found here: http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/srg.cfm
The Leverhulme Trust invites proposals for its research programme grants. Proposals are invited for programme awards on one of the following two topics:
•the nature of knots, which includes uncovering the unifying and organising ideas that underpin knottedness in nature, establishing mathematical methods for quantifiying knottedness, measuring experimentally and developing techniques to control knottedness and identifying the scientific and technological consequences and implications of knottedness;
•innovation for sustainable living, which might involve disruptive science and engineering and their role in new energy, materials and transport, mathematics and statistics, public policy, economics and the complexities of trade-offs, psychology and determining the driers of behaviour change, lessons from history and comparative social analysis.
Grants are worth between £500,000 and £1.75 million each for a period of up to five years for each of the topics.
Closing date 4pm,03 Oct 13
The RKE Operations team can help you with your application. Please direct any enquiries to RKE Ops in the first instance.
The Royal Society invites applications for its international exchanges scheme. This offers a flexible platform for UK-based scientists to interact with the best scientists around the world. Funds contribute towards travel, subsistence and research expenses, and can be requested for either a one-off short visit in order to explore opportunities for building lasting networks or for bilateral visits to strengthen emerging collaborations. Activities must be on a subject within the natural sciences, including physics, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, engineering, agricultural and medical research, and scientific aspects of archaeology, geography and experimental psychology, but excluding social science, and clinical or patient-oriented research.
Applicants must have a PhD or equivalent research experience and hold a permanent or fixed-term contract in an eligible university or research institute for the duration of the project. Collaborations should be based on a single project involving the UK-based scientist and the overseas-based scientist. Collaborations with any country outside the UK are eligible for this scheme.
Applicants may request:
•up to £3,000 for one-off travel lasting up to three months;
•up to £6,000 for multiple visits to be completed within one year, including a maximum of £1,000 for research expenses;
•up to £12,000 for multiple visits to be completed within two years, including a maximum of £2,000 for research expenses.
Closing date: 20 February 2013
For further information, click here.
The RKE Operations team can help you with your application. Please direct any enquiries to RKE Ops in the first instance.
The Economic and Social Research Council invites applications for its celebrating impact prize.
This prize is intended to recognise and reward ESRC-funded researchers who have achieved, or are currently achieving outstanding economic or societal impacts through their research and collaborative working, partnerships, engagement and knowledge exchange activities. There are six categories for this prize: impact in business, impact in public policy, impact in society, international impact, early career impact, impact champion of the year.
A prize of £10,000 will be made to the winners of each category, with a further £10,000 for the department with the impact champion of the year.
The application deadline is 16.00 on 14 February 2013.
For further information please click here.
The RKE Operations team can help you with your application. Please direct any enquiries to RKE Ops in the first instance.
This award is made to individuals whose work has the potential to make a contribution to national prosperity.
The award was established following a gift by Mullard Limited. It was first awarded in 1967. The medal is of silver gilt and is accompanied by a gift of £2,000 and a travel grant of £1,500. The winner is called upon to deliver a lecture at the Society.
The 2013 call for nominations is now open and will close on the Friday 8 February 2013. To submit a nomination (self-nominations are allowed), please download a nomination form and send it to innovationgrants@royalsociety.org.
The RKE Operations team can help you with your application. Please direct any enquiries to RKE Ops in the first instance.
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) is the leading research funding agency in Japan, established by the Japanese Government for the purpose of contributing to the advancement of science. Our Summer Programme provides the opportunity pre and post-doctoral researchers to receive an orientation on Japanese culture and research systems and to conduct collaborative research activities with leading research groups at Japanese Universities and research institutions over a period of 2 months during the summer.
Value of award: Return international airfare, maintanence allowance (534,000, JPY), domestic research trip allowance (58,500 JPY) and overseas travel and accident insurance policy are provided.
Eligibility: Applicants need to be a UK national or permanent resident and should be of graduate student status (Master or PhD) or be a recent PhD holder (within the last 6 years) and should be based at a UK university or research institution. Eligible research fields are not limited.
Applications should be sent to the British Council Tokyo. Application guidelines and form are available on their website here: http://www.britishcouncil.org/japan-science-research.htm.
The RKE Operations team can help you with your application. Please direct any enquiries to RKE Ops in the first instance.
Application Deadline: Tuesday, 15th January 2013. Fellowship to take place during fixed period: 11 June to 21 August 2013
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 th
e 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.
£80 million to develop research facilities across the UK will encourage collaboration and support excellent research.
Following on from the success of the first round of the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund (UKRPIF), HEFCE is inviting proposals from UK universities for large-scale projects (minimum £10 million from UKRPIF) that can lever twice as much funding from private sources (businesses, charities, individual donations).
Proposals are to be submitted to HEFCE by 11 February 2013 and will be assessed by the UKRPIF panel in March. The successful projects will be announced in May 2013.
To read this item in full visit: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/news/newsarchive/2012/name,76057,en.html
The RKE Operations team can help you with your application. Please direct any enquiries to RKE Ops in the first instance.
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BU Professor has been invited to a series of plenary and invited lectures.
An Interview of BU-lead EU H2020 FIRST project published in “Horizon”, the EU Research & Innovation Magazine
Update on Horizon Europe Guarantee
Research Information Network
Thinking about interdisciplinary research
Cancer Awareness Event at BU
An inspiring visit to Türkiye! Towards gender equality in research and academia
New book by Dr Duncan Randall, DNS