Tagged / funding opportunities

British Heart Foundation – Funding opportunities

Funding opportunities

There are two health/medical science related funding opportunities available through the British Heart Foundation.

The first is ‘Clinical Study Grants‘ (click the link for more information on how to apply).  A summary of the call is as follows:

For clinical trials and other clinical studies costing more than £300,000.

Entry requirements

  • The principal investigator will be a senior researcher working in an established research institution in the UK. S/he must have a strong track record of grant support, usually from us, and an internationally recognised research profile.
  • Any multicentre interventional clinical trial, while remaining under the scientific control of the principal investigator, should be managed by a UKCRC-registered Clinical Trials Unit (CTU) and should include a member of the CTU as a co-applicant or principal investigator.
  • For multicentre observational studies, applicants should consider a mentorship arrangement with a CTU — BHF will judge the need for this arrangement on a case by case basis.

Grant duration

Up to 5 years, with an interim review at the half way point. BHF may consider a staged award based on proof of adequate recruitment and progress if deemed appropriate. 

Award may include

  • Staff salaries. For example: research fellow, clinical trial co-ordinator, research nurse, where fully justified.  
  • Research consumables directly attributable to the project.
  • Research equipment essential for the project.

 

The second opportunity is ‘Immediate postdoctoral basic science research fellowships’ (click the link for more information on how to apply).  A summary of the call is as follows:

To provide an opportunity for the most promising newly qualified postdoctoral researchers to make an early start in developing their independent cardiovascular research careers in an established institution in the UK.

Entry requirements

  • Candidates should be in the final year of their PhD studies or have no more than one year of postdoctoral research experience from the date of the PhD viva.
  • Candidates must be able to show, by publications or otherwise, evidence of exceptional research ability.
  • The fellowship will not usually be held in the institution where the PhD was carried out.
  • Residency requirements apply – check eligibility.

Grant duration

  • 3 years with the possibility of a 1 year extension if a strong case can be made (e.g. that this will lead to a competitive application for a more senior personal award).
  • BHF strongly encourage that up to 1.5 years of the award are spent overseas or in a second UK institution.
  • A supervisor is required in each laboratory, who must be able to guarantee the candidate access to space and resources for the required period and provide relevant scientific guidance.

Award may include

  • Salary of applicant.
  • Reasonable research consumables and small items of equipment, directly attributable to the project.
  • Economy return travel costs to second laboratory for the fellow only.  

 

Decision process for both calls

There are no closing dates.  Please submit the application when it is ready.

 The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

ESRC – Grant linked studentships funding opportunity

Funding opportunities

Grant Linked studentships are designed to add value to the proposed research outlined in the grant application, whilst providing a clear opportunity for a distinct and independent course of enquiry for the student. Through being embedded with a high quality research team, they should offer the student an opportunity to both develop their substantive research skills, alongside broader professional development.

Grant linked studentships may be requested on any research application (with the exception of the Future Leaders scheme) as long as:

  • the grant applied for is for 3 years or more
  • the Principal or Co-Investigators are approved to act as primary supervisors for PhD students
  • the student(s) will be located in an ESRC accredited Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) and they are studying on an accredited pathway.

Up to three studentships can be applied for on any single grant application. It must also be clear that the studentship is not a displacement for the normal research support required on the grant. The student must have a distinct, independent area of enquiry that will add value to the overall research objectives of the grant.  

For further details on the application process for Grant Linked Studentships please read the information available within the Research Funding Guide.

More information on the details on the rules and regulations for Grant linked studentships can be found within the Postgraduate Funding Guidelines.

If you require further assistance please contact ptdenquiries@esrc.ac.uk

 The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

BBSRC – Flexible Interchange Programme

Funding opportunities

Application deadline: 20 September 2012, by 4pm 

BBSRC’s FLexible Interchange Programme (FLIP) supports the movement of people from one environment to a different one to exchange knowledge/technology/skills, developing bioscience research/researchers and addressing our strategic priorities.

FLIP awards provide flexible opportunities for individuals (“the interchangers”) moving between different organisations, disciplines and sectors at all stages in their career beyond the PhD (or equivalent).

Awards

In the region of 10 awards will be made in the first year, building to 20 per annum over subsequent years.

Awards will typically:

  • last up to 24 months
  • cost up to £150k in total at 80% fEC
  • be undertaken on a full-time, part-time or intermittent basis
  • cover a contribution to the salary of the interchangers, reasonable travel and subsistence and costs associated with the interchange

Applications outside these ranges will be considered with full justification.

Download FLIP flyer (PDF 1.27MB)

Scope

FLIP aims to:

  • enhance opportunities for the exchange of knowledge, technology and people between the research base and user communities and vice versa for economic and/or societal benefit
  • facilitate the development of partnerships to foster longer-term collaborations, thereby maximising the impact of previously-funded BBSRC research
  • allow for an expansion of the skill base of individuals, particularly in emerging, niche and vulnerable areas alongside our strategic priorities

Eligibility

Each FLIP proposal will only have one lead academic applicant.

Lead applicant must:

  • satisfy our standard eligibility criteria as described in BBSRC’s grants guide (see related links)
  • be a named investigator on the awarded BBSRC research grant connected to the proposed interchange

Interchanger must:

  • have a PhD (or for non-academics the equivalent professional experience)
  • upon commencement of the FLIP award, be employed by one of the organisations participating in the interchange, such as a research organisation, UK industry, policy making or charitable organisation

How to apply

View the call text for full information. Complete the application form and mandatory attachments and submit via email as one single PDF document to FLIP@bbsrc.ac.uk.

Some applicants may be invited to attend a discretionary interview subsequent to the assessment of applications.

Application downloads

Assessment

Applications will be assessed at BBSRC’s Research Committee E meeting on 13-14 December 2012.

Interviews (if required) will be held from early January 2013.

Funding decisions will be announced by late January 2013 (dates are for guidance only and may be subject to change).

Contact

For eligibility, application process, deadlines and outcomes of applications: FLIP@bbsrc.ac.uk

For programme details:
Phillip Tait, Innovation Manager
phillip.tait@bbsrc.ac.uk
tel: 01793 442124

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

DEFRA call – Capturing cropland and grassland management impacts on soil carbon in the UK LULUCF inventory

Funding opportunities

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs invites applications for its capturing cropland and grassland management impacts on soil carbon in the UK land use, land use change and forestry inventory. Research is required to develop a framework for capturing cropland and grassland management impacts on soil carbon in the UK land use, land use change and forestry inventory and to populate this framework. The research is designed around three work packages:

•estimates of UK annual emissions and removals for cropland and grassland management activities which have the potential to change levels of soil carbon for 2010;

•back-casting annual emissions and removals to 1990 and forecasting annual emissions and removals to 2020 and 2050;

•calculating the mitigation and offset potential available through changing cropland and grassland management by 2020 and 2050.

Although the focus of this project is on management activities which have the potential to change levels of soil carbon other greenhouse gas emissions associated with these management activities will also need to be calculated if they are not already included within the agricultural inventory. Due to the nature of this project it is expected that the project team will include soil scientists, agricultural scientists, agronomists and economists. The project is to start 10 September 2012 and last for 18 months, ending 28 February 2014. SP 1113.

Closing date: 4pm, 31 July 12

Contact: luke.spadavecchia@defra.gsi.gov.uk

  The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

NERC call – Flooding from intense rainfall

Funding opportunities

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is inviting research proposals to its Flooding from Intense Rainfall research programme. This is a five-year £5·2m research programme in collaboration with the Met Office and the Environment Agency.

The programme will address both the strategic challenge of the NERC natural hazards theme to “enable better forecasting and mitigation of hydro-meteorological hazards,” and key research priorities identified in the UK Flood & Coastal Erosion Risk Management Research Strategy.

This call is for projects to address the programmes first two scientific goals, namely:

  1. improve the length and accuracy of forecasts of the occurrence and intensity of rainfall associated with convective storms; and
  2. identify the susceptibility to high-intensity rainfall of different catchment types.

The goals will be addressed through undertaking the research requirements described in work package 1 and 2 in the AO below.

Up to £0·9m is available for WP1.

Up to £2·7m is available for WP2.

Applications are invited from UK researchers eligible for NERC funding.

Applicants should refer to the Announcement of Opportunity document for full details of the requirements of this call.

Announcement of Opportunity (242KB)

All applicants are required to submit an outline bid for their project using the provided application form.

Application form (77KB)

Outline bids must be submitted by email to ffir@nerc.ac.uk by the deadline of 23 July 2012.

Following assessment of the outline bids, applicants may then be invited to submit a full proposal.

Closing date for full proposals: October 2012 (exact date to be confirmed).

Contacts

NERC: Dominique Butt

Met Office: Dale Barker

Environment Agency: Doug Whitfield

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Leverhulme Trust – Emeritus and Research Fellowships

Funding opportunities

Emeritus Fellowships

Emeritus Fellowships assist senior established researchers to complete a research project and to prepare the results for publication.

Value

The maximum value of a Fellowship is £22,000. Eligible costs include: travel and subsistence costs for periods away from home; the employment of a research, clerical or secretarial assistant to support (rather than conduct) the work of the applicant; photocopies; photographic expenses; office or laboratory consumables.

Please note that there is no provision for a personal maintenance allowance or remuneration for the applicant under this scheme.

Please ensure that applications do not include any of the ineligible costs listed here.

Duration

Fellowships are tenable for between 3 and 24 months, and the current round of awards must commence between 1 August 2012 and 1 July 2013.

Please read the following before submitting and application.

 

Research Fellowships

Research Fellowships are open to experienced researchers, particularly those who are or have been prevented by routine duties from completing a programme of original research. There are no restrictions on academic discipline, and awards are not limited to those holding appointments in higher education.

Value

The maximum value of a Fellowship is £45,000. The awards provide research expenses over and above normal living costs and/or provide a contribution towards reasonable replacement costs or loss of earnings.

Please ensure that applications do not include any of the ineligible costs listed here.

Duration

Fellowships are tenable for between 3 and 24 months, and the current round of awards must commence between 1 June 2012 and 1 May 2013.

Please read the following before submitting and application.

 

Contact

If your query has not been answered in these pages please contact Anna Grundy (020 7042 9861), Bridget Kerr (020 7042 9862) or Andreas Heiner (020 7042 9863).

 The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Leverhulme Trust – Early Career Fellowships

Funding opportunities

Early Career Fellowships aim to provide career development opportunities for those who are at a relatively early stage of their academic careers but with a proven record of research. It is anticipated that a Fellowship will lead to a more permanent academic position. Applications are welcomed in any discipline, and approximately 80 Fellowships will be available in 2012. Fellowships can be held at universities or at other institutions of higher education in the UK.

Value

The Trust will contribute 50% of each Fellow’s total salary costs up to a maximum of £23,000 per annum and the balance is to be paid by the host institution. Given the prestige of the awards each Fellow may request annual research expenses of up to £6,000 to further his or her research activities.

Please ensure that applications do not include any of the ineligible costs listed here.

Duration

Fellowships are normally tenable for three years on a full-time basis, but requests to hold the award part-time over a proportionately longer period will be considered if this is appropriate for the nature of the research proposed and the career development of the individual. Please note that Fellowships of 24 months are no longer offered by the Trust. Fellowships will commence between the beginning of the 2012/2013 academic year and 1 May 2013.

Please read the following before submitting and application.

Contact

If your query has not been answered in these pages Andreas Heiner (020 7042 9863).

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Action on Hearing Loss – PhD Studentships

Funding opportunities

Action on Hearing Loss PhD studentship scheme aims to encourage the best students to become involved in hearing, deafness and tinnitus research in the UK.

The projects should bring tangible benefits closer for people who are deaf, hard of hearing or who have tinnitus.

Summary of grant

  • Deadline: Monday 17 September 2012. This grant round is for PhD Studentships starting in Autumn 2013. 
  • Duration: Three years
  • Eligibility: Students and supervisors must be based at a recognised UK university or research institute

Application procedure

Guidelines and application form – applications must be submitted by the proposed supervisor:

Selection procedure

All proposals are sent to two/three external referees, usually within the UK, who are asked to judge the scientific merit of the project as well as the suitability of the project for a PhD student. These reviews and the original proposals are then rated by our PhD review panel. The top-rated proposals are then funded – they expect to award at least four new PhD studentships per year.

Applicants are notified of the outcome as soon as possible. AHL aim to decide on the successful projects before Christmas each year to allow successful applicants plenty of time to recruit a suitable student.

Action on Hearing Loss PhD review panel

  • Dr Andrew Faulkner, University College London
  • Prof Matthew Holley, University of Sheffield
  • Dr Adrian Rees, University of Newcastle
  • Prof Karen Steel, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

For more information contact:

Biomedical research - beakers.Action on Hearing Loss,
19-23 Featherstone Street,
London
EC1Y 8SL, UK

Telephone: +44(0)20 7296 8013

Email: research@hearingloss.org.uk

 The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Multiple Sclerosis Society – Innovative Awards

Funding opportunities

The Multiple Sclerosis Society invites applications for its innovative awards. These provide support for short-term, small-scale projects to allow researchers to explore new ideas in MS research that might merit further support.

The MS Society is interested in the following research areas:

•care and services research, such as relieving symptoms of MS, developing and evaluating services for people affected by MS or exploring the social and economic impact of MS;

•biomedical research to identify the causes of MS, or identifying and developing disease-modifying therapies.

The society particularly encourages proposals with focus on translational and clinical biomedical research.

Projects should take place in a university, hospital, medical school or other research institution or place of medical practice based in the UK, and may provide for the salary of scientific or technical assistants and researchers, the running costs of the project and the purchase of items of essential equipment. Innovative awards are worth up to £40,000 and last a maximum of 12 months.

The deadline for applications is 12 noon on Tuesday 3 July with funding decisions communicated in December. For details on how to apply please read the guidance for applicants.

All applications should be submitted via the MS Society online application system, available at: https://research.mssociety.org.uk/

For any questions regarding research grant applications please call the MS Society Research Team on 020 8438 0822 or email research@mssociety.org.uk.

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

British Psychological Society Postdoctoral Study Visits and Research Seminar

Funding opportunities

Postdoctoral Study Visits

 

The British Psychological Society has announced the establishment of a new grant scheme to support the work of postdoctoral researchers and lecturers.

The scheme provides grants to enable UK based psychology postdoctoral researchers and lecturers to undertake a study visit to another institution. The scheme is aimed at supporting postdoctoral researchers and lecturers to acquire skills directly relevant to their research/lecturing. The applicant must be employed at a UK institution as a postdoctoral researcher/lecturer and be within three years of the completion of their doctoral research degree in psychology.

Six awards, two in each of the following categories, are available each year:

  • Up to £250 to visit an institution in the UK
  • Up to £400 to visit an institution in Europe
  • Up to £600 to visit an institution elsewhere in the world

 

HowtoApply

The following documentation should be sent to the Society:

  • an application form, available from the Board Administrator
  • a supporting statement from the applicant’s Head of Department
  • a supporting statement from the proposed host institution
  • a copy of the applicant’s current CV

SeminarCompetition

 

Research Seminar Competition

 

The Competition provides grants to enable institutions to co-operate to hold a series of at least three scientific seminars.

The proposed seminars should have tangible goals and should focus on developing and extending the understanding of a psychological process in any field of scientific psychology.

Four grants are available each worth up to £3,000. These provide funding for travel and accommodation expenses for those attending the seminars.

HowtoApply

As a minimum of two institutions will be involved, submissions should be made by a primary applicant and a co-applicant, at least one of whom should be a Society member. Further details and an application form are available from the Board Administrator.

Research Seminars Funded in 2011

  • Paediatric traumatic brain injury: developing and evaluating complex interventions. University of East Anglia and the University of Exeter
  • Neurodevelopmental disorders: exploring sensitive methods of assessment across development. Kingston University, Institute of Education and Newcastle University
  • The social psychology of citizenship: the politics of inclusion and exclusion in language, public space and national identity. University of Winchester, Queen’s University Belfast, University of Dundee, and the Open University

Research Seminars Funded in 2010

  • Psychology and dentistry: future directions. University of Nottingham, University of Sheffield, University of Birmingham and King’s College London.
  • Multi perpetrator rape: setting the research agenda. Middlesex University and University of Birmingham
  • The role of emotional processes in the development of Autism Spectrum Disorder. City University London and the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust.

Both calls for nominations open in June. The closing date for both nominations is 28 September 2012.

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Leverhulme Trust Visiting Fellowships

Funding opportunities

The objective of these awards is to enable distinguished academics based overseas to spend between three and ten months inclusive at a UK university, primarily in order to enhance the skills of academic staff or the student body within the host institution. It is recognised that Visiting Professors may also wish to use the opportunity to further their own academic interests. The over-riding criteria for selection are first the academic standing and achievements of the visitor in terms of research and teaching, and secondly the ability of the receiving institution to benefit from the imported skills and expertise. Priority will be given to new or recent collaborative ventures.

Value

The sum requested should reflect the individual circumstances of the visitor and the nature and duration of the proposed activities. A maintenance grant up to a level commensurate with the salary of a professor in the relevant field at the receiving institution may be requested. Economy travel costs to and from the UK will also be met. Requests for associated costs, if justified by the programme, may include, for example, travel within the UK, consumables, and essential technical assistance.

Please ensure that applications do not include any of the ineligible costs listed here.

Duration

A Visiting Professorship may last for between three and ten months inclusive.

Please read the following before submitting and application.

Application materials can be accessed from the Trust’s website.  Applications must be submitted online by 4.00pm on 11 October 2012.

Contact

If your query has not been answered in the above links please contact Andreas Heiner (020 7042 9863).

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

ESRC Call for Evaluating the Business Impact of Social Science

Funding opportunities

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is seeking to commission an evaluation study to assess the ways in which social science research and the knowledge and skills of social scientists can have impact in business. The study will begin by assessing the business impact of social science through the work of a small number of Business/Management Schools. It will then track the career paths of social science doctoral graduates from these Schools, and investigate in greater depth the contributions of those working in business.

The aims of the evaluation are as follows:

Part 1 – Impact of Business/Management Schools

  • identify the range and nature of business impacts resulting from the work of the Business/Management Schools
  • evaluate the processes through which business impacts may be or have been generated, through research and related activities (including academic/business collaborations, knowledge exchange and business engagement initiatives, networking and dissemination)
  • develop an understanding of the contributions of social science within local, regional and national contexts, and the factors that promote or inhibit impact within these contexts
  • identify and analyse the determinants of the impacts identified (ie why and how impact has been generated)
  • identify good practice and lessons learned, to support the development of impact generation within the business sector
  • inform the development of methodology for future impact evaluation studies in this area.

Part 2 – Impact of social scientist with PhDs working within business

  • identify the employment destinations of social science doctoral graduates from the three Schools
  • identify the range and nature of impacts that social scientists with PhDs working in business have contributed to
  • identify and analyse the determinants of the impacts (ie why and how impact has been generated)
  • explore impact processes and potential impacts, and identify any barriers to impact generation
  • develop an understanding of businesses’ appreciation and need for the higher level skills associated with PhD training
  • identify good practice and lessons for enhancing the contribution that social science doctoral graduates can make to business
  • inform the ESRC’s investment in PhD training with a view to maximising future impacts.

Further details, and a copy of the full specification are available from the Research Councils UK Shared Services Centre Ltd. Please contact Jonathan Smith by email: jonathan.smith@ssc.rcuk.ac.uk or by telephone: 01235 446394 (Ref PS120008).

The deadline for submission of bids is 11.00 on 11 June 2012.

 The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Wellcome Trust call for Small Arts Awards

Funding opportunities

Arts Awards support imaginative and experimental arts projects that investigate biomedical science.

The scheme aims to:

  • stimulate interest, excitement and debate about biomedical science through the arts
  • examine the social, cultural and ethical contexts of biomedical science
  • encourage new ways of thinking
  • promote high-quality interdisciplinary practice and collaborations between arts, science and education practice
  • support formal and informal learning.

The scheme is open to a wide range of people, including artists, scientists, curators, film makers, writers, producers, directors, academics, science communicators, teachers, arts workers and education officers.

Your project must involve the creation of new artistic work and have biomedical scientific input into the process, either through a scientist taking on an advisory role or through direct collaboration. This expert may be from an ethics, science or history background, but must be an expert in the area of biomedical science you are investigating.

If your proposed project has an artistic dimension but does not involve the creation of new work, then it may be more appropriate to apply for a People/Society Award.

You can apply for funding at two levels:

Small Arts Awards (small to medium-sized projects – up to and including £30 000)
Funding can support the development of new project ideas, deliver small productions or workshops, investigate and experiment with new methods of engagement through the arts, or develop new collaborative relationships between artists and scientists.

Large Arts Awards (larger projects – above £30 000)
This funding can support full or part production costs for high-quality large arts projects that aim to have significant impact on the public’s engagement with biomedical science.

Projects that are not eligible for Arts Award support include health promotion, education or campaign projects, arts projects for therapeutic purposes, straight documentaries, work that is purely illustrative, and projects dealing with non-biomedical sciences.

You should refer to the application guidelines, Grant Conditions and evaluation guidelines before completing your application.

Complete a full application form, via the Trust’s eGrants online application system (select the ‘Small Arts Awards’ form in the ‘Full application’ drop-down menu), and submit it at any time before the deadline of 27th July 2012.  Funding decisions will be made approximately three months after the relevant deadline.

 The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grants – Outlines welcomed

Funding opportunities

The aim of these awards is to provide financial support for innovative and original research projects of high quality and potential, the choice of theme and the design of the research lying entirely with the applicant (the Principal Investigator). The grants provide support for the salaries of research staff engaged on the project, plus associated costs directly related to the research proposed.

Proposals are favoured which:

  • reflect the personal vision of the applicant;
  • demonstrate compelling competence in the research design;
  • surmount traditional disciplinary academic boundaries;
  • involve a degree of challenge and evidence of the applicant’s ability to assess risk. 

Value and Duration

The great majority of awards involve a spend of up to £250,000 over a duration of two to three years. If compelling evidence is provided, awards may be made for sums between £250,000 and £500,000 for research over a period of up to five years. The assessment procedures for these large grants are especially stringent, and can involve site visits and discussions with applicants.

Topics

Applications for research on any topic within the entire array of academic disciplines are eligible for support. However, an exception is made for areas of research supported by specialist funding agencies and, in particular, for medicine. In such cases, applicants should consider an application to these alternative funding bodies as being more appropriate. Specific attention is paid to the reasons given by applicants in justifying their choice of the Trust as the most appropriate agency for the support of their project.

Please read the following before submitting an application.

Contact

If your query has not been answered in the links please contact Matt Dillnutt regarding Outline Applications (020 7042 9873); or Nicola Thorp regarding Detailed Applications (020 7042 9872).

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

There are no closing dates for Outline Applications.  Deadlines for Invited full applications are 21 March, 1 September, 1 December annually

EPSRC Sandpit: More with Less: Engineering Solutions for Resource Efficiency

Funding opportunities

The EPSRC has announced a call for Expressions of Interest for attendance at their Sandpit for ‘More with Less: Engineering Solutions for Resource Efficiency’.

The UK is a small nation with limited resources that has a high material dependency. With the ever growing concern of material and resource scarcity we look to the ingenuity of the research base to find long-term sustainable solutions.

The Engineering theme will lead a sandpit in response to the challenges raised by the research community in the Resource Efficiency Scoping Workshop in April 2012 and in line with EPSRC strategy. The primary aim is to invest in ambitious, engineering-led, cross-disciplinary research with the potential for long-term transformation across many and diverse sectors, especially among those that have yet to embrace these concepts.

EPSRC are looking for enthusiastic participants from a wide range of disciplines who will bring their expertise to explore the challenges of:

  • Dematerialisation (eg lightweighting, novel materials functionality, novel materials from waste products, materials security and efficiency);
  • Designing for resource sustainability (eg energy, water and materials efficiency, considerations for engineering processes, whole systems and resource flow modelling);
  • Reuseability at any scale (closed and open loop recycling, remanufacturing, extended product life).

Closing Date: 13.00 on 11 June 2012

Documents to Download:

Resource efficiency sandpit call document

Resource efficiency workshop challenge outcomes

Ideas Factory Sandpit expression of interest form: Return form to sandpit@epsrc.ac.uk

Equal Opportunities Form

A Sandpit for Ideas: The concept of the IDEAS Factory is to organise interactive workshops (sandpits) on particular topics, involving 20-25 participants. The focus for this sandpit is MORE WITH LESS: Engineering solutions for resource efficiency. Anyone eligible to apply for funding from Research Councils UK can apply.

The Sandpit Event: The sandpit will run over five days starting mid-morning on day one and finishing mid-afternoon on day five.

As the sandpit progresses, participants will build up thoughts on how the identified ‘challenges’ may be addressed and develop their innovative ideas and activities into research projects. Projects will contain genuinely novel and speculative investigations that address new approaches to resource efficiency. The sandpit will include inputs from a variety of sources.

Location and Date

The date for this sandpit is 23rd – 27th July 2012. Location to be confirmed.

ISRF Mid-Career Research Fellowship Call announced

Funding opportunities

The Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) wishes to support independent-minded researchers to do interdisciplinary work which is unlikely to be funded by existing funding bodies. It is interested in original research ideas which take new approaches, and suggest new solutions, to real world social problems.

The Foundation intends to make a small number of awards to support original interdisciplinary research, across the range of the social sciences, to be held from a start date during the academic year 2013-4. Scholars from within Europe are eligible to apply.

The award is intended to enable a scholar at the mid career stage to pursue his/her research full-time, normally for 12 months. The amount will be offered to buy out the costs of replacing all teaching and associated administration in the applicant’s home institution, and will be considered to a maximum of £60,000 per successful applicant. Within that sum, reasonable support for research expenses may be considered on a matched-funding basis with the host institution.

The applicant should normally hold a salaried position at an institution of higher education and research, and be 10 years or more from the year of their PhD award. However, a shorter time from PhD award may exceptionally be considered, if the candidate has other qualifications to be considered as mid-career.

Applicants should consult the Criteria as set out in the Further Particulars and show that they meet them. Applicants should follow the Application procedure and should present their Proposal in the format specified there.

Closing date for applications is 4pm on June 21st 2012.

Application Queries: Telephone +44 (0) 20 7262 0196 or email applications2012@isrf.org

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

NERC announce first round of the 2012/13 Follow-on Fund

Funding opportunities

Applications are invited to NERC’s first round of the 2012/13 Follow-on Fund.

The aim of this scheme is to develop outcomes from previous funding to a stage where commercial opportunities are possible.  The fund is open to researchers in UK universities and research council institutes with current or past research council funding.

Funds are typically requested to further develop the scientific or technical aspects of an idea.  This may be to strengthen the intellectual property position, carry out further market research or investigate possible licensees.

Applications must be made through the JeS system (https://je-s.rcuk.ac.uk/).

The closing date for applications is 4pm, 6 June 2012.

NERC also funds a Follow-on Fund ‘Pathfinder’ scheme to support small-scale, specific activities that can help develop a better understanding of future work needs and may be beneficial when submitting a full Follow-on Fund application.

For more information and contact details go to http://www.nerc.ac.uk/using/schemes/followonfund.asp

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Useful documents

To find out more, please download the documents you need from the list below.

Guidance to applicants

Eligibility and assessment criteria

Specific guidance – ‘Full’ Follow-on Fund

Specific guidance – Follow-on Fund Pathfinder

Moderating panel membership

Guidance for writing supporting letters

EPSRC announce call: Working together in ICT

Funding opportunities

Summary

EPSRC’s ICT Theme intends to commit around £5M of funding for research projects which will directly address its Working Together priority.

Projects submitted in response to this call should comprise two or more ‘streams’ of research which run concurrently and show significant mutual benefit. These streams may include ICT researchers working with researchers in areas outside ICT, as long as the potential benefit to ICT research is the main driver for the project.

Full call document including background, funding available, aims and scope of call, eligibilty, how to apply and assessment can be found here.

Closing date: 16:00 on 10 July 2012

Submitting application

You should prepare and submit your proposal using the Research Councils’ Joint electronic Submission (Je-S) System (https://je-s.rcuk.ac.uk/).

When adding a new proposal, you should select: Council ‘EPSRC’; Document type ‘Standard Proposal’; Scheme ‘Standard Research’; On the Project Details page you should select the ‘Working Together in ICT’ call.

The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.