Tagged / knowledge exchange

UK Intellectual Property Office survey on training

survey

The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is conducting a short survey to understand the opportunities available for PhD students and early career researchers to learn about managing intellectual property (IP).

It is anitipated  that the results of the survey will highlight best practice as well as identify any skills and knowledge gaps. This will help to inform the development of any future activities or programmes to support IP management in knowledge exchange and commercialisation.

The IPO are interested in receiving responses from a broad range of stakeholders and are particularly keen to hear from PhD students, early career researchers, academics and professionals involved in knowledge exchange, commercialisation and PhD training.

The survey is completely voluntary, and all information will be held securely in accordance with the Data Protection Act.

To complete the survey please click on the following link: https://response.questback.com/intellectualpropertyoffice/ipsurvey.

The survey will close on Wednesday 31 August.

Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF)

andrew archery

As HEIF 5+1  funding came to an end  on 31 July after a run of 12 months , there is no time to stop for breath as the wheels of knowledge exchange continue to turn and HEIF 5+1+1 gears up –  running from 1 August 2016 until 31 July 2017.

Following a competitive call, (with an increase in applications from previous years) twelve projects have been identified to accelerate the ethos of knowledge exchange and innovation at BU.

Progress updates will be posted by the projects teams during the year and you can follow their progress on a number of channels including the research blog . A list of the projects has been included at the bottom of this post.

For further information about knowledge exchange opportunities including HEIF feel free to contact Jayne Codling within RKEO.

PI  

Project Title

 

Alexander Pasko Establishing a network to disseminate the results of SHIVA project aimed to provide virtual sculpting tools for users with wide range of disabilities
Alison McConnell Development and validation of a mobile device App to reduce blood pressure
Andrew Whittington Sherlock’s Window: improving accuracy of entomological forensics at post-mortem criminal investigation using combined cuticular hydrocarbon and internal metabolite analysis.
Bogdan Gabrys Data Science and Analytics Training and Engagement Services for Business
Dan Franklin Using flow cytometry to monitor harmful algae in coastal waters: establishing a regional testing arena in Poole Harbour with global benefits
Elizabeth Franklin (Liz) ECO-CODING: Creating a centre for DNA Meta-barcoding Ecology at BU
Kevin McGhee Empowering service users: Assessing the potential benefits of Psychiatric Genetic Counselling
Matthew Bennett Dinosaurs to Forensic Science: Digital, Tracks and Traces
Pippa Gillingham Towards improving the condition of natural and cultural capital in Dorset and Hampshire
Sarah Bate Superior Face Recognition: Generating Knowledge Exchange with National and International Security Agencies
Tom Davis Increasing access to Music: Music Technology in Special Educational Needs (SEN) settings.
Wen Tang PLUS+: Police Learning Using Simulations: Impact Evidence Gathering

Research and Knowledge Exchange Development Framework : Pre-Award at BU

research_strategyWe have previously posted about the Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE) Development Framework. Here, we introduce another of the pathways: that focusing on the Pre-Award process when applying for funding. Please see the previous blog posts on the Development Framework for information on the separate  pathways.

The ‘Pre-Award at BU’ pathway will provide details about the information and tools that will aid BU academics applying for funding.  Sessions will include details about ‘Searching for research funding’, ‘Getting started on applying for research funding’, understanding ‘Pre-award finances’  and ‘Intellectual property at pre-award’.  Training will also be provided as part of this pathway for those conducting Quality and Financial approvals.  More events will be added to this pathway in 2017-18 and beyond, with a focus on emerging priorties for BU.

We’ll be populating the the OD website with more information and the booking link over the coming weeks. We’ll also be providing a timetable of all events as soon as possible. In the meantime, updates will be posted on the BU research blog and the Faculty blogs.

New HEIF project commences: The Wessex Portal and the Dorset Coast Digital Archive

The Wessex Portal was created three years ago and it is an online community to better promote the environmental and heritage assets of the region. The purpose of the website is to highlight work undertaken in Wessex and allow a platform to promote events, volunteering and job opportunities with key stakeholders. Alongside the website, The Wessex Portal promotes the content to a wider audience using social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Mailchimp which are regularly updated to engage with, and reach out to the public and the local community.

Dorset Coast Digital Archive

The Dorset Coast Digital Archive (DCDA) is part of the Wessex Portal. The DCDA is an extensive archive of photographs, newspaper articles, aerial images and historical maps of the Dorset coast that date back as far as 1740. The aim of the DCDA is to showcase this archive and ask members of the public to contribute their own photos to this collection.

A sample image from the archive of a stranded whale on Bournemouth beach from 1890 (Source: Bournemouth University Library)

A sample image from the archive of a stranded whale on Bournemouth beach from 1890 (Source: Bournemouth University Library)

The Department of Life and Environmental Sciences (SciTech) is leading this project. The Archive will promote information and understanding of how the Dorset coast has changed over time. Through support from the HEIF 5 + 1 funding, it will be possible to fully develop the Archive and make is accessible on the internet. The Archive will also be a valuable teaching tool. The current stage of the project involves categorising over 3000 images to make them available online.

Any questions regarding the project can be addressed to Professor Genoveva Esteban gesteban@bournemouth.ac.uk or Research Assistant Katie Thompson i7430967@bournemouth.ac.uk

New HEIF project commences: Modelling Natural Capital in Dorset

UK government policies relating to economic growth and the environment explicitly identify the need to create ‘a green economy, in which economic growth and the health of our natural resources sustain each other, and markets, businesses and Government better reflect the value of nature’ (Defra 2011). Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and Local Nature Partnerships (LNP), including those in Dorset, were specifically created to support achievement of this goal. Key challenges are the need to assess the economic value of ecosystem services and to factor them into decision making; and the need to develop integrated and multisectoral approaches to spatial development that improve synergies and reduce trade-offs, while supporting the sustainable management of natural resources.

This project is designed to overcome these challenges, through the development of a modelling toolkit that will enable the value of ecosystem services to be assessed and mapped, then linked with economic activity. While analysis of ecosystem services is now a major international research endeavour, linkage with economic activity (such as the inputs and outputs of different industrial sectors) is at a very early stage. The toolkit to be developed by this project will therefore be both innovative and timely. By piloting the toolkit using Dorset as a case study, this project will deliver a proof of concept, with potential global applicability if successful.

Funded under the Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) initiative, any questions regarding the project can be addressed to P.I. Prof. Adrian Newton or Research Assistant Arjan Gosal.

Are you working in knowledge exchange, knowledge tansfer and/or enterprise ?

PraxisUnico

Bournemouth University is a member of PraxisUnico. This membership is for the whole organisation – colleagues across the University will find it helpful to sign up to receive the  mailing list to have the NewsUpdate sent to your inbox  (news and information from across the sector, distributed every month to over 5000 individuals around the world). Other information channels include the  website, Blog and Twitter feeds of interest.

PraxisUnico is responsible for the range of activities which facilitate the commercialisation of university, public sector and charity based research.  The PraxisUnico website acts to signpost information relating to UK KT activity, expertise, success and impact – it gives Members a platform to promote to a range of stakeholders including government, industry, funders and overseas organisations – all of whom are regular visitors to the PraxisUnico website (and recipients of  wider communications) as a valued information source.

As a member organisation BU can advertise items on  the  website free of charge – a great way to share latest news, achievements and job opportunities!  Relevant content is also included in the  NewsUpdate emails.  Please send your content to website@praxisunico.org.uk.  The website also features various a range of practical tools and resources for those working within the commercialisation profession, key resources are restricted to members only.

The annual conference will take place in Stratford-upon-Avon, 15-17 June, registration will open in the New Year.

Individuals from BU  can also get involved as a volunteer by joining committees, contributing to workshops or delivering training – if this is of interest please let me know jcodling@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

The Innovation Projects Open Call

Announcement of Opportunity

The Innovation Projects Open Call will fund projects that increase and accelerate the uptake and impact of NERC funded research outputs by supporting translational and knowledge exchange activity which delivers direct tangible and demonstrable benefits to end users, particularly businesses.

Funds will be used to support projects which focus upon generating user applicable outputs from past and/or current NERC supported research and which translates them into outcomes that achieve impact.

The Innovation Projects Open call will open on 14 July 2015 and close on 22 October 2015.  This call will allow proposals for up to £125k at 100% FEC (£100k NERC contribution at 80% FEC) for up to 24 months, starting in April 2016.  NERC anticipates seeing a range of requests within the £125k limit/24 month limits, reflecting the range of potential projects and activities.

 

For further information: http://www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/available/schemes/innovation-projects/

Call now open ! Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF): money available to support your business engagement and knowledge exchange ideas.

HEFCE provide funding for knowledge exchange (Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF)) to support and develop a broad range of knowledge-based interactions between universities and colleges and the wider world, which result in economic and social benefit to the UK. The current round of funding is referred to as HEIF-5 and runs until 31st July 2015.

BU has a proven track record with this funding stream and our success continues. Currently there are 13 live projects funded from HEIF-5, including VFX Hub, BUDI and the Cyber Security Unit. Interim funding has been made available to run from 1 August 2015 to 31 July 2016. This is known as HEIF 5+1.

The call is now open. Colleagues are invited  to bid for funds to run new projects with funding starting 1 August 2015 and ending 31 July 2016.

Deadlines are tight with the deadline for proposals being Friday 3 July 2015.  (Timetable for the call.)

These projects will need to reflect our interim strategy sent to HEFCE:

“BU will continue to invest in innovation themes with a strong focus on network creation, with a particular focus on digital and creative industries, health and wellbeing, and regional development. The additional year of funding will enable BU to continue to develop our existing area in addition to investment to develop new innovations. This will allow BU to create innovations in areas such as e-health, whilst developing closer links with regional initiatives to enhance local development opportunities, working with the Dorset LEP and other local organisations. We will also consider the use of HEIF funds to invest in effective mechanisms for engaging with business/industry. Our core strategy of investing in sector-specific themes with a strong focus on network creation remains; what has changed in light of emerging opportunities is the nature of the themes in which we will invest and the mechanisms through which we will engage with the region.”

For more information please click here.

Make sure you read the information listed in the useful documents section including:

HEIF Institutional Strategy

HEIF FAQs

HEIF Application Form

Creative Business Development Briefing for April 2015 is out now!

 

The April edition of our monthly business briefing for the UK’s creative industries is now live! This is a monthly publication that provides a digest of useful information about funding, financing, support and events to assist creative entrepreneurs with their innovation and growth agendas. This month’s edition offers edited highlights of a number of public funding programmes from leading organisations supporting our sector including: Innovate UK, Nesta, British Film Institute, Creative England, Creative Scotland, Horizon 2020 & more.

 Creative Business Development Briefing – April 2015

RADIQL: Reminiscence Arts and Dementia

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a one-day seminar hosted by Age Exchange (http://www.age-exchange.org.uk/), at The Kings’ Fund, London, to find out more about RADIQL (Reminiscence Arts and Dementia: Impact on Quality of Life) – a method that uses Reminiscence Arts to improve wellbeing and quality of life in people with dementia.

The day started with an overview of RADIQL, described by the Artistic Director of Age Exchange as “reminiscence empowering people in the present”. RADIQL encompasses two main elements: a structured Reminiscence Arts intervention, and a workforce training programme for care staff working in relationship-centred environments. We were then given an overview of the national context – the recent CQC report ‘Cracks in the Pathway’: the quality of dementia care in health and social services, and a presentation by KCL’s Jo Moriarty on care workers’ views of compassionate care.

The Keynote was provided by Dame Eileen Sills who continued the theme of ‘compassion’ by providing the back-story of ‘Barbara’s Story’, which I’m sure many within health and social care fields will have heard of already. Barbara’s Story is a dramatization created by Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust to raise awareness about dementia among their staff, and show the meaning of ‘kindness’ in the workplace, emphasising the impact that every member of staff has on patient experience. Following the success of ‘Barbara’s Story’, the Trust have since developed as series for use as training materials. You can watch ‘Barbara’s Whole Story’ here (with tissues at the ready!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtA2sMAjU_Y&feature=share&list=UUbJBh2MFKrX6Lf8bJ7_ZGWQ

The afternoon sessions saw attendees partaking in interactive workshops, demonstrating the activities one might engage with during a RADIQL session. Before the day, attendees were asked to choose whether to be a ‘participant’ or a member of an ‘audience’, i.e. whether to take part in the session, or observe a session from an objective perspective. These workshops were the most insightful part of the day, giving some first-hand experience into how the sessions may be conducted. For anyone planning seminars or ‘how-to’ workshops in the future – I would highly recommend using a similar form of dissemination, if appropriate to your cause, as this seemed to resonate with most of us as an effective and engaging way to demonstrate methods and disseminate research to peers.

The RADIQL method is currently being evaluated by Royal Holloway University London in a three year pilot project funded by Guys & St Thomas’ Charity. More information about the day, and the presentations provided, can be found here: http://www.age-exchange.org.uk/radiql-the-kings-fund/

A paper copy of the interim report and a guide to RADIQL  are available in the BUDI office (PG63) if anyone is interested.

NERC Innovation Projects

 

The Innovation Projects call supports projects that are likely to generate little or no commercial return, but which will deliver impact.

The call aims to increase and accelerate the uptake and impact of NERC funded research output by supporting translational and knowledge exchange activity which delivers direct tangible and demonstrable benefits to end users.  The Follow-on Fund is for those projects that aim to be fully commercialised with a revenue stream derived from licensing, spinouts, consultancy etc.

A maximum of £125k (£100k at 80% FEC) may be requested.  Projects are expected to start in May 2015 and to last for up to 12 months.  Smaller, targeted activities of three to six months are also welcome and NERC anticipates seeing a range of requests within the £125k limit, reflecting a diverse range of potential projects and activities.

The closing date is 16.00 hrs on 18th December, 2014

For further information go to  the  website

Funding Call Scoping Workshop: Invitation to inform the content of an upcoming Innovate UK UX and Data Competition

 

The Knowledge Transfer Network are running  an information day and workshop around User Experience and Data technology innovation.  This event will bring together businesses, academics and researchers working within UX and data to contribute to a discussion on the scoping of a Spring 2015 funding competition. 

Innovate UK (formally Technology Strategy Board) will be running three funding competitions in areas relating to User Experience (UX). This event is an opportunity to learn more about these funding calls, how to apply as well as influencing future activities in UX.

There are two themes to these UX related competitions: 

1. Utilising personal data to improve a user’s experience of a product or service: This competition is a feasibility study and is due to launch in March 2015. There will be an opportunity to influence the scope of this call so that it correctly addresses the issues that are affecting the UX industry.

2. Innovative technology & software to improved the interaction between human and machine: This will focus on novel approaches to UX with an innovative software element to them, essentially how to let people and machines interact better, moving beyond the traditional keyboard, mouse and screen.  

There are two competions in this theme: a feasibility study and a  Knowledge Transfer Parnership. (KTP).

Date: Tuesday, 02 December 2014

Time: 10:30 – 16:30

Venue: Barbican Centre, London

Register now to attend

Festival of Learning – what could you do? Be part of something special this July…

The Festival of Learning is back for the third year between 11th -17th July.

This year will build of the fantastic success of the Festival in 2013 and 2014. Over the past two years the Festival of Learning has had circa 9,000 visits with an average event rating of 9 out of 10 and 96% of evaluated attendees stating that they would be very likely or likely to attend another event.

To further this success in 2015, we need you to host lectures, workshops and debates (or whatever type of engaging activity you can think of) showcasing the fantastic knowledge base of BU.

But why get involved?

  • It is a great opportunity to celebrate life at BU and share your passion with a different audience.
  • It can add fresh perspective to your research. Read this article about how public engagement can help you think about your research from a fresh perspective.
  • It can change people’s lives. Here in the Festival office we have been moved by members of the public telling us about how the Festival has helped reignite a passion for learning, helped support the growth of the charity and even helped people to walk for the first time in years.
  • It is a great networking opportunity. Colleagues involved in the Festival in previous years have developed partnerships which have, for example, led to collaborative PhD studentships.
  • It is fantastic for skills development. Especially for early career researchers, the Festival offers an unprecedented opportunity to develop communication techniques which engage members of the public and builds confidence in communicating complex ideas (essential for a future lecturing career!)
  • It helps to meet the expectation of funders and policy makers. The European Commission, HEFCE and our Research Councils (amongst others) expect researchers to demonstrate to the public the value of their research. The Festival provides of a great vehicle to do this as you will receive central support (e.g. for marketing) rather than going it alone.
  • It can support student recruitment. And not just undergraduates, but those looking for postgraduate courses and short courses who have never before considered BU as a potential place to study.

What you need to know

  • The call for proposals is now open and closes on 19th December at 12noon.
  • You don’t have to run a long event. Many members of the public actually prefer to attend an event which only lasts an hour or so, rather than for a whole day.
  • The Festival runs from 11-17th July 2015. Eager Festival followers will note that the Festival of Learning is being held slightly later this year. This is in order to ensure that our local schools and colleges are able to participate more fully in the Festival and to avoid clashes with examinations (both those being held by schools and Universities).

What to do next

Research and development funding announced for SMEs

Smart competition flyer

Research and development funding announced for SMEs

Smart is a grant scheme which offers funding to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to engage in R&D projects in the strategically important areas of science, engineering and technology, from which successful new products, processes and services could emerge. The next round opens on 17 July (and closes) 25 September with funding available from £25k to £250K.

Three types of grant are available:

  • Proof of market
  • Proof of concept
  • Development of prototype

For more information on this grant click here:

If you wish to consider developing an application for the grant – help is available. Please contact Jayne Codling   – Knowledge Exchange Officer, R&KEO for further information.