Tagged / funding opportunities

Networking with microbes: BOSS – Biogeography of Organisms of Small Size

BU research, Funding opportunities, Fusion, Research news

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.

Fusion Investment Surgery Sessions – Gain some valuable advice and be inspired!

Awarded & submitted bids, BU research, Funding opportunities, Fusion

 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

Vice-Chancellor Doctoral (Fee Waive) Scholarships 2013 – now available

BU research, Funding opportunities, PG research

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:

  • All candidates must demonstrate truly outstanding qualities and be motivated to complete a PhD in 3 years full-time or 4 years part-time.
  • All candidates must satisfy the University’s minimum doctoral entry criteria for studentships of an honors degree at Upper Second Class (2:1) and/or an appropriate Masters degree or equivalent.
  • An IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 minimum (or equivalent) is essential for candidates for whom English is not their first language.

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.

ESRC Retail Knowledge Exchange Opportunities

BU research, Funding opportunities

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:

  • new applied research, provided it is user-led or in collaboration with a user partner
  • setting up a network to encourage knowledge exchange between leading academics and retailers
  • an academic placement within a private sector retailer,  or other organisation focusing on the retail sector
  • developing tools such as podcasts and videos aimed at communicating the results of research to retailers
  • developing existing research to make it more applicable to the retail sector
  • seminars to encourage knowledge exchange between academics and retailers.

 Also, a targeted call has been made for:

  • Retail Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTPs)  (run by the Technology Strategy Board – for details and to apply visit www.ktponline.org.uk)

The call for all applications closes on 30 April 2013.

For further information please visit the ESRC website

British Academy Small Research Grants Funding Opportunity

BU research, Funding opportunities

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

Leverhulme Trust Programme Grants

Funding opportunities

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.

Royal Society International Exchanges Scheme

BU research, Funding opportunities

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.

 

ESRC: Celebrating impact prize

BU research, Funding opportunities

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.

 

Royal Society Mullard Award

Funding opportunities

This award is made to individuals whose work has the potential to make a contribution to national prosperity. 

The Royal Society Mullard Award is made biennially for “an individual who has an outstanding academic record in any area of natural science, engineering or technology and whose work is currently making or has the potential to make a contribution to national prosperity in the United Kingdom”. The award is aimed at early to mid career stage scientists, engineers and technologists.

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. 

Nominations

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.

 

JSPS Summer Programme opportunity for Researchers

Funding opportunities

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

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

BU research, EU, Funding opportunities, Guidance, R & KE Operations, Research news, Research themes

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

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

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

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

Second call to the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund

Funding opportunities

£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.

Intellectual Property Office 2013 Fast Forward Competition

Funding opportunities

£750,000 competition launched for innovative university-industry projects

2013 Fast Forward LogoThe Intellectual Property Office (IPO) launched its annual Fast Forward competition on 22 October 2012, to encourage universities and public sector research establishments to collaborate with businesses and local communities on innovative projects that benefit UK society and can help grow the economy.

Now in its third year, Fast Forward has so far provided £1.25 million in prizes to 23 winning projects in diverse areas, ranging from the creative industries to medical research and social enterprises.

The total prize fund available for this year’s competition is £750,000, which will be awarded to around a dozen projects in individual awards of between £10,000 and £100,000.  More details can be found here: 2013 Fast Forward Competition

The IPO‘s Chief Executive, Sean Dennehey said:

“UK universities lead the world as seats of learning, but they are also hubs of innovation, creating and harnessing intellectual property to fuel market competitiveness and economic growth.

“Fast Forward recognises and rewards projects that demonstrate innovative approaches to university-industry collaborations, providing funding that can help create new companies and services which benefit the UK economy and society.”

 The RKE Operations team can help you with your application. Please direct any enquiries to RKE Ops in the first instance.  Details of how to enter can be found here.  The closing date for entries (electronic and paper) is 17:00 on Friday 14 December 2012.

AHRC: UnBox researcher fellowships

Funding opportunities

The Arts and Humanities Research Council, in collaboration with the British Council and the Science and Innovation Network, invites applications for its UnBox researcher fellowships.

These short-term fellowships are for researchers to work on relevant challenges with one of a variety of hosts in India in the run-up to the 2013 UnBox festival, held from 6-10 February 2013 in Delhi.

The fellowships cover travel between the UK and Delhi, flights within India, visa, accommodation, any research and production costs incurred as part of the fellowship, and the UnBox conference fee. A basic subsistence of INR800 per day will also be provided to cover meals and local transport.

Fellowships

Prior to the UnBox Festival, researcher fellowships will be awarded to five selected applicants, each of whom will work at one of five separate India-based host organisations. Fellowships will provide the opportunity to be immersed in selected themes and team-based projects with a clear research dimension.  Each of the fellowships will be 3-4 weeks in length.

Fellowships will take place at one of five different hosts.  Each host has different foci and suggested research themes.  The title of each fellowship is listed below and further information can be found on the Fellowship details webpage:

  • unVEIL: Film and Digital Media for Open-governance
  • unTILL: Augmenting Agriculture with New Technologies
  • unPLAY: Gaming for Social Innovation
  • unMAP: Culture and Heritage Preservation
  • unBUILD: Sustainable Lifestyles

The closing date is 26/11/12.  The RKE Operations team can help you with your application. Please direct any enquiries to RKE Ops in the first instance

British Academy Wolfson Research Professorships

Funding opportunities

Thanks to the generosity of the Wolfson Foundation, the British Academy is able to offer four new Research Professorships to be taken up in the autumn of 2013. The purpose of these awards is to give an opportunity for extended research leave to a small number of the most outstanding established scholars to enable them to concentrate on a significant research programme, while freed from normal teaching and administrative commitments. Emphasis is also placed by the Academy and the Foundation on the importance of award-holders communicating their plans and results to a broad audience.

The awards are of a fixed value of £150,000 (£50,000pa for three years). Funding is expected to be used primarily to meet the costs of replacement teaching, with any balance available to the award-holder as research expenses. These awards are not covered under the Full Economic Costing (FEC) regime.

The call is now open and the closing date is on 28 November 2012.

Eligibility: The Academy takes no account of an applicant’s age or current status (eg Professor, Lecturer) in determining eligibility for these awards. Rather, in all cases, award-holders are expected to be established scholars with a significant track record of publication. Any field of study in the humanities and social sciences is suitable for support.

  • Number of Awards: Four Professorships are offered.
  • Method of Application: Applications are submitted via e-GAP2, the Academy’s electronic grant application system.
  • The deadline for applications is 28 November 2012 

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application. Please direct any enquiries to RKE Ops in the first instance. Alternatively, contact the British Academy Research Awards Department for further information.

HEA Call for expressions of interest: teaching research methods in the Social Sciences

Funding opportunities

HEA have launched a call for expressions of interest in working with the HEA Social Sciences cluster on their strategic project – teaching research methods in the Social Sciences projects. Project strands include:

1.      Developing STEM skills in qualitative research methods teaching and learning
2.      Assessment for learning in research methods
3.      Teaching research methods within HE programmes in FE settings
4.      Making the most of open educational resources (OER) in research methods teaching and learning
5.      Research methods and knowledge exchange

For further details and to submit an expression of interest: http://mail.heacademy.ac.uk/12ZA-ZWSN-6DLHZU-DXEGR-0/c.aspx

British Academy info session: 21st November – all welcome

Funding opportunities, Research news

On 21st November, The British Academy is coming to BU to host an information session.

The purpose of the session is to:

  • give participants an understanding of the British Academy and its range of activities
  • increase awareness of the Academy’s research funding opportunities.
  • give some insight into evaluation criteria and what assessors are looking for in applications to the Academy.

Dr Ken Emond and Kate Kenyon will be hosting.

Dr Emond is the Head of Research Awards at the British Academy. Ken is a graduate of the University of St Andrews with a doctorate in Scottish History, for a thesis on the Minority of King James V, 1513-1528. After working in the Department of Transport, Ken joined the Academy in 1992. As Head of Research Awards since 2008, Ken is responsible for the administration of all of the Academy’s UK grants and fellowship schemes, and he has extensive experience in advising on research funding matters.

Kate Kenyon is an International Officer within the International Department of the British Academy. Kate is a Modern Languages graduate of University College London, and joined the Academy in 2011 following periods at the Italian Chamber of Commerce and the London Deanery. Kate is responsible for the administration of the International Department’s International Partnership and Mobility Scheme and the Academy’s involvement in the Tier 1 Exceptional Talent visa route.  

Important info:

  • When: Wednesday, 21st November
  • Time: 1.15 – 2.30pm
  • Place:  Allesbrook Lecture Theatre, Talbot campus
  • How to book:  Please click here to book your place.

Information about funding opportunities with the British Academy:  http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/index.cfm

For more information please contact Caroline O’Kane