Tagged / india

UK-India Education & Research Initiative Funding Available

The next round of applications for the UKIERI Thematic Partnerships is now open. UKIERI Thematic Partnership funding is designed to support the collaborative costs of joint research projects, including exchanges between research teams in the two countries. The closing date for applications is 31 May 2013. This year there are two categories for funding:

1.     UGC UKIERI Thematic Partnerships (with the University Grants Commission), which covers research, faculty exchange and innovation across all subject areas.

2.     DST UKIERI Thematic Partnerships (with the Indian Department of Science and Technology), for the following specific areas:

a.     Sustainable energy supply

b.    Food production and security

c.     Water supply and security

d.    Health and Disease

e.     Innovation including social impact and intellectual property

f.     Research and Science Policy

Full guidance notes and application forms are available from the UKIERI website.  UKIERI will organise pre-bid workshops in March and April 2013 to help potential applicants understand the application process for the call and the dates of these will be released on their webpage.

EC proposes to clamp down on funding to Brazil, China and India in Horizon 2020

The EC has proposed to restrict the number of non-EU countries which will be automatically eligible for funding under Horizon 2020. They published a strategy document yesterday, which said that like FP7, Horizon 2020 will have similar general conditions with regards to eligibility however the list of countries eligible for automatic funding will be restricted by introducing a new threshold on total GDP. This has been proposed in order to exclude large, emerging economies including, perhaps, China, India and Brazil. Funding for participants from these countries will still be possible in some cases. such as those where a reciprocal agreement is in place.

EPSRC UK-India partnership in smart energy grids and energy storage technologies

The EPSRC, under the Research Council UK’s energy programme, and the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, have launched a joint call for proposals for their UK-India partnership in smart energy grids and energy storage technologies. This seeks to strengthen collaboration between UK and Indian research institutions within an overarching focus on research relating to smart energy grids and energy storage technologies. Proposals must address one of the following areas:

•appropriate distributed storage technologies;

•on/off grid energy systems;

•DC networks;

•control and communications.

Projects must be joint activities involving research groups from both India and the UK, and must involve personnel exchange between the Indian and UK partners. All proposals must be for consortia, with equal or proportionate participation from UK and Indian researchers. UK applicants must be the principal investigator or co-investigator on a current Research Council award. Higher education institutions, some Research Council institutes and independent research organisations are eligible to apply.

The costs for UK institutions will be met by EPSRC, and those for Indian institutions will be met by DST. EPSRC will contribute up to £5 million for this call over a three-year period with matched resources from DST. The deadline is 15.11.12

Engineering Research Exchanges with China and India – funding available now!

The Royal Academy of Engineering have announced their next round of Research Exchanges with China and India scheme funding. The scheme promotes collaboration between high quality engineering researchers in the UK and China/India and facilitates the expansion of networks of excellence in engineering research between the UK and China/India. It enables academic engineering researchers at Universities to travel to a Chinese or Indian academic Institution, and for China/India-based academic researchers to spend between 3 and 12 months at a UK Institution. Visits should be part of longer-term efforts to build UK-China/India relationships and to advance joint research. Funding of up to £24,000 per annum is provided (or part thereof for shorter visits). The deadline for applications is 12 October 2012.

Work in Social Sciences? Have contacts in India and the EU? Then this could be for you!

The first awards under the India-Europe research grants scheme for the social sciences have been made.

The Open Research Area (ORA) scheme is a multi-funded (including the ESRC) EU focused programme which supports collaborations between researchers in India and Europe. This year, the three-year research projects will each include an Indian partner alongside researchers from UK, French, German or the Netherlands. They will study areas such as ageing and wellbeing, the global accessibility of medicine and the cultural authority of science. You can read about the funded projects on the DFG (German funders) website.

The funding scheme is designed to provide top-up resources to established working groups, to enhance collaborative efforts as part of a cross-continent social sciences network. A new call for proposals will be launched in September and close in January 2013.