Tagged / knowledge exchange

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

Business Engagement, Funding opportunities, HEIF, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

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!

Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

 

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

Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

 

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

Funding opportunities, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer

 

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…

Festival of Learning

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

Funding opportunities

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.

Introducing the Fast Track Status – application process now open!

Guidance

In an attempt to sharpen the response time of some of our knowledge exchange activities, a new process is to be introduced .  During the last 18 months feedback from academics engaged with BU’s knowledge exchange (KE) vehicles suggests that our RKE processes do not always provide the speed and flexibility to operate effectively within a commercial environment.  In light of this feedback and under the direction of Professor Bennett, the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office (RKEO) has worked with academics to review the current processes and, in collaboration with Legal Services, have drafted a series of recommendations.  These measures should enable those with a proven track record for KE activity to have greater autonomy and empower them to negotiate and close deals with clients in a more flexible manner, thereby providing a more responsive service.

The new process, ‘Fast Track status’, allows for expedited procedures to operate (within selected KE units) thereby enabling them to operate in a more entrepreneurial manner.  Fast Track status will be provided by application to KE units that request such status and subject to central audit by both RKE Operations and Legal Services to ensure that the processes are operating within agreed BU policies and the KE strategies of Schools.

Please refer to the Fast Track Status policy document for greater detail of the Fast Track status and guidance on completing the application form.

All applications will require authorisation by the Dean of School/Faculty.  If an application is successful, this signed form will act as the APF for all bids/projects from the individual/unit that meet the criteria agreed for Fast Track Status (e.g. individual KE projects under £25k (exclusions apply)).  The application will seek confirmation that it aligns to the Schools KE strategy and this will need to be confirmed by the Dean.    Recognising that the processes are there for good reason it is not appropriate to change them for all KE work.  Instead it is recommended that special status be applied to certain individuals/units to allow them to operate under licence outside of some of these processes enabling a more entrepreneurial approach.  To clarify, this status isn’t something that would be available to everyone and would only be awarded on the basis of set criteria against with units apply for such status (see the policy document for more information).

The timeline for implementation is shown below for information:

Time estimate Description Dates
Week 1 Fast Track Status call opens: RKE Ops advertise application process and notify interested parties. 13/1/14
Week 3 Application deadline. 31/1/14
Week 4 Collation and preparation of applications: RKE Ops collate applications and, together with Legal Services and Finance, provide input on the track record of applicants and ensure that BU’s charitable status is not impinged by such work (i.e. to ensure that the public benefit is clear) before forwarding documentation on to the PVC. 3/2/14 – 13/2/14
Week 6 Review of applications: PVC reviews applications and approves/ rejects; RKE Ops notify applicants of results. 13/2/14 – 21/2/14
Week 7 Drafting of standard contractual documentation and daily rates: Legal Services meet with successful applicants to agree contractual documentation required for activity; RKE Ops create competitive daily rates for each successful applicant. 24/2/14 – 14/3/14
Week 10 Fast Track Status operational 17/3/14

The application process is now open.  Please note that the closing date is 31 January 2014 and late submissions will not be accepted.  Applications must be submitted by the Dean of School/Faculty to jgarrad@bournemouth.ac.uk.

If you have any queries then please contact Jo Garrad at jgarrad@bournemouth.ac.uk.

ESRC knowledge exchange funding to change

Funding opportunities

ESRC is to change the way in which it allocates funding for knowledge exchange activities. The current knowledge exchange opportunities scheme provides funding for social scientists to undertake a range of activities with non-academic stakeholders and requires 50% contribution from a partner in the user community. It is open to any social scientist to undertake knowledge exchange based on their research, whether funded by ESRC or not. This scheme will close on 31 March 2014.
From summer 2014, a replacement scheme (Impact Acceleration Accounts) will fund knowledge exchange through a block grant allocated according to institutions’ recent ESRC funding. Those institutions allocated funding will then be required to submit a business plan in order to release the money.
BU has not been allocated funding through the Impact Acceleration Accounts, so if you are a social scientist and hope to undertake funded knowledge activities, start planning your application now for submission by March… Further information can be found at http://www.esrc.ac.uk/collaboration/knowledge-exchange/opportunities/index.aspx.

How can you use your research to build partnerships and entrepreneurial capacity in the Creative Economy?

The AHRC has committed to ensuring that the research it funds can be properly exploited and applied in areas where it can make a difference.  In particular, the AHRC’s new delivery plan puts KE, external engagement, collaboration, partnership working, public and policy engagement and impact at the very heart of all that it does.

The AHRC has made a huge investment of £20m fEC to establish four ‘Knowledge Exchange Hubs for the Creative Economy’ over the next 4 years. The purpose of these hubs will be to build new partnerships and entrepreneurial capacity in the ‘Creative Economy’ and in addition increase the number of arts and humanities researchers actively engaged in research-based knowledge exchange.

Take advantage of this investment  and look at how you can engage with the creative economy; perhaps through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP)?  An excellent example of knowledge exchange, KTPs are run by the Technology Strategy Board and are co-funded by a range of bodies such as the AHRC.

KTPs provide academics with the opportunity to:

  • Apply knowledge and expertise to important problems facing businesses
  • Develop relevant teaching and research material
  • Identify new research themes and undergraduate and post graduate projects
  • Publish high quality journal and conference papers
  • Gain an improved understanding of business requirements and operations
  • Contribute to the (REF)
  • Participate in rewarding and ongoing collaboration with innovative businesses
  • Supervise and act as mentors for past graduates working on business based projects

Why not consider the benefits of knowledge exchange and use your research to move forward in building partnerships and entrepreneurial capacity in the creative economy……

Successful knowledge engagement events encourage more businesses to work with BU!

Funding opportunities

There are a variety of funded initiatives on offer to help businesses develop and grow, but many are not aware of these offers, or just how much BU can help them with their development.

This is why we felt it was important to organise the recent KTP and SMART award events, to help promote and encourage businesses to take advantage of the expertise BU has to offer.

Both events were well attended by businesses and academics wanting to find out more on Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, SMART Awards and Innovation Vouchers.  The feedback was extremely positive from all those who attended, and as a result a number of meetings have been arranged with businesses who are keen to discuss how BU can help them develop!

It was fantastic to receive such positive feedback; one business owner was particularly impressed and commented:

“I go to quite a few so called “Business Events” that serve little purpose, so I approached today’s event at BU a little circumspect.  Now I can say that this morning I have attended the best business focused event in my recent experience.  Extremely informative, very professionally managed and a great breakfast.  A big thank you for showing the way that Academia and business can and should complement each other.”

 Roger Allen  – Managing Director, Zeta Commerce Ltd

 

Should you wish to find out more on how businesses can benefit from any of the funded initiatives spoken about at the events, please contact Lucy Rossiter, email or call  01202 961215.

Erasmus Mundus mobility to South Caucasus region and Ukraine for students and staff available now! -Deadline 28th February-

Funding opportunities, PG research, Training

BU students and staff have been invited by Georg-August Universität Göttingen to apply for mobility at ALRAKIS II.

ALRAKIS II is one of the awarded Erasmus Mundus action 2 projects that promotes exchange mobility in the South Caucasus region and Ukraine. The beneficiary countries are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine. Our students and staff would be looking at applying at Target Group 2.

For more information please visit the project website and if you have any queries please contact Eva Papadopoulou at epapadopoulou@bournemouth.ac.uk and 01202 968252

Please note that the deadline for this is 28th February 2013.

Arts and Humanities Research Council – KTP Funding Criteria

KTP diagramThe AHRC has announced that it will support Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) projects in which knowledge, skills and/or technology/technologies arising from arts and humanities research are transferred to businesses and other sectors within the UK. These can range from commercial to, not for profit, charity, and publicly funded organisations.
Project subjects which qualify for funding consideration include law, archaeology, journalism, and media and communication studies, artistic design and media.
The funding is focussed on meeting the needs of small/medium sized organisations.
A KTP project can last from 26 weeks to 3 years. The funding pays for a full time post-graduate and 1/2 a day per week of an academic supervisor’s time. Projects need to be co-funded by an organisation from any of the sectors listed above. For small/medium sized organisations their contribution to the funding costs is approximately £308 per week.
If you require any further information on this post or KTPs in general please contact Peter Delgado, Commercialisation and KTP Officer, e-mail – pdelgado@bournemouth.ac.uk

ISBE and ESRC announce call for Research and Knowledge Exchange Fund

Funding opportunities

Exploring knowledge exchange and transfer processes and possibilities for SME internationalisation

The Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) Research and Knowledge Exchange (RAKE) fund is an initiative supported by Barclays Bank and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) administered through ISBE.  This initiative aims to encourage and support research activities from academics, third sector organisations, consultants and practitioners with the ambition of drawing together and generating an entrepreneurial community of practice to facilitate knowledge exchange and transfer.

Applications are invited from individuals or teams. Collaborative bids which draw together any combination of third sector organisations, academic researchers, consultants and practitioners are welcome. The Principal Investigator must be employed within a UK institution but may be partnered with an international team. Research teams which demonstrate capacity building through collaborations between experienced and early career academics would be favourably considered; applications which demonstrate ‘in-kind’ contributions from partner organisations are welcomed as are those jointly funded from other sources.  Applications presented as pilot studies, with the aim of generating future funding from other sources, are encouraged. As such, we wish to promote engagement with all who have an interest or stake in generating further insight and understanding into contemporary entrepreneurial activities, behaviours and practices.  For the 2012 call for applications, a number of critical themes have been identified which are of contemporary interest and offer potential to develop knowledge exchange and transfer links.

Exploring processes and possibilities of SME internationalisation

There is a growing focus and interest upon the process of small firm internationalisation which includes ‘born globals’ and those firms tentatively seeking export opportunities.  Axiomatically, smaller firms face a range of challenges related to resource accrual and management when entering international markets. However, a recent survey by UKTI found that the proportion of small UK firms exporting has increased by 10 percent since 2004. In addition, UKTI are actively supporting SME internationalisation on the basis that exporting firms are more productive and innovative, have greater resilient during economic down turns and exhibit lower failure rates than those firms focussed upon local markets.  It would appear that internationalisation is an attractive option for SMEs in terms of potential returns but developing appropriate contacts, networks, resources, managerial capabilities and strategic partnerships is challenging.  Accordingly, we invite proposals which investigate and analyse any aspect of the SME internationalisation process and specifically, any knowledge exchange and transfer issues.  A potential but not exhaustive list of suggestions would include:

• Strategies to overcome barriers to the internationalization process for UK SMEs
• Developing capacity and dynamic capabilities through national and international partnerships between SMEs but also between SMEs and corporate firms
• Evaluations of policy support structures to encourage internationalization – exploring the opportunities of working with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPS), Chambers of Commerce and specific industry support groups
• Regional SME support for developing internalization strategies focused on specific sectors and value added industries
• Enhancing networks and information exchange possibilities between potential export firms and international partners
• Gaining knowledge of and tapping into potential new markets in developing economies
• Using networks and contacts to facilitate the export process

Attention is drawn to the current Business Engagement Strategy of the ESRC which embraces three broad priorities any of which can be mapped onto and integrated with the themes outlined above:

•    Economic Performance and Sustainable Growth
•    Influencing Behaviour and Informing Interventions
•    A Vibrant and Fair Society

Clearly, the contribution of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activity can be mapped onto these priorities.  Thus, applications which indicate their relevance to these issues would be welcomed.  Despite any distinctive focus, it is emphasised that all proposals must clearly demonstrate and describe relevance to the notion of knowledge transfer and exchange related to the context of the bid.

For this round of funding, they envisage awarding a number of separate grants of around £10,000 – £12,000 each.  These will not support full economic costing given ISBE’s position as a registered charity. Applications for smaller, seed corn funds would not be discounted however, bids of over £12,000 will not be considered.

Successful grant holders will be required to fulfil the following conditions:
• To be in membership of ISBE for the duration of the award
• To present their work at the annual ISBE conference
• To make findings available to the ESRC’s business channel on ESRC Society Today (EST)
• To produce a satisfactory end of award report within three months of the completion of the research
• To recognise the ISBE RAKE fund in any presentations or publications arising from an award
• To report to the RAKE fund management board to discuss research progress

Further details on the aims and constitution of the ISBE RAKE fund can be found at: www.isbe.org.uk/rakefund

The closing date for applications is 5 p.m. Friday 15th June 2012 with notifications of awards given by mid September. It is suggested that the earliest starting date for research projects should be 1st October 2012.

Completed applications may be returned electronically to Chris Rolles at chris@isbe.org.uk To download an electronic application form please click here Please submit applications in MSWord format – not as a PDF file. This enables anonymisation of proposals.

Applicants may contact the following ISBE board members and staff for informal discussions regarding their bids and/or the aims of RAKE:

Professor Susan Marlow s.marlow@bham.ac.uk VP: Research ISBE: RAKE Fund Manager.
Professor Lynn Marting l.martin@mmu.ac.uk ISBE President
Dr Maura McAdam m.mcadam@qub.ac.uk Board Member
Professor Gerard McElwee gerard.mcelwee@ntu.ac.uk Board Member
Professor Dean Patton dpatton@bournemouth.ac.uk Treasurer: ISBE
Lorraine Reese lorraine@isbe .org.uk Business and Events Manager: ISBE

 The RKE Operations team can help you with your application.

Key Points from April University Research and Knowledge Exchange Forum

The latest meeting of the University Research and Knowledge Exchange Forum (URKEF) was held on 23 April.  A summary of the key points is given below.

Update on key EIS projects:

  • The Publications Management System aka BRIAN (Bournemouth Research, Information and Networking) will be fully launched on 22nd June.  More details of BRIAN will be published soon.
  • Collaboration Tools for Academics – blogs, wikis and web cloud to go live at the end of April.
  • PGR Monitoring System – contract negotiations are underway and an implementation approach to be agreed with the supplier, Aveda.
  • pFACT – interface testing taking place.

 

Erasmus Mundus – the scheme involves students and staff increasing their European mobility.  The paper sought approval for R&KEO to formally take over the management of Erasmus Mundus for BU, which was endorsed.  More information on the scheme can be found in the link above.

Internal process for calls with institutional quotas – the proposed process is for when external funders use quotas, have limited awards available, or require an institutional self-sift prior to submission for their calls.  The current process is adhoc and so a more formal process of academics registering their interest in a call and submitting an outline proposal, internal peer review, PVC decision, and then support provided by the RDO will lead to better management and resource of staff expectations and the best applications going forward. The process was endorsed.

Grants Academy – this was launched last month and the first training session will take place on 9-10th May with 15 BU staff taking part. The Media School will pilot strand two.  There was discussion around bespoke training sessions, which was encouraged.

Fusion Investment Fund – FIF was launched last week and there are three key strands available to staff: staff mobility and networking, co-production and co-creation, and study leave, all of which will stimulate student education, research and professional practice and have huge potential.  Individual grants will be awarded between £5-75k (depending on the strand), and £3M is available in total per annum for the first three years. The fund is merit based and underpins a competitive spirit in order to create upskilling and so excellent applications will need to be put forward. Where Schools have funds for pump priming research, the requests can be far greater than the School can afford. Paring budgets down means that more can be afforded and double-counting is avoided.

RKE Ops meetings with Schools – Major funders run Early Career Researcher schemes and often require a statement from the School outlining how a proposed project fits within the institutional/ School research, career development and knowledge transfer strategies.  RKE Ops have been raising awareness of this with the Schools as the letters indicating support are a really important part of the selection process, and require considerable thought and development.  Recent feedback from ESRC highlighted several areas where BU could improve on.  There are BU wide schemes that will feed into this such as the Vitae Researcher Development Framework and the Grants Academy, which will help to develop bid writing skills and provide mentoring for successful projects, which will be mentioned at future meetings.

HEIF-5 update – Funding had been agreed with HSC to support their dementia theme (BU Dementia Institute).  Also, the Media School theme (Soho on Sea) staff are going to LA soon to visit Pixar and other major animation companies.  It was emphasised that BU are always looking for investment strategies, innovation and themes and Schools were encouraged to come forward and discuss ideas and see what could be done for them.

Report on Exchange Visit to Yale University

Earlier this year Ivis Chan, a PhD student from the School of Applied Sciences, was awarded a Santander Scholarship to visit Yale University. Here she talks about the benefits of the visit to her research…

I am a postgraduate researcher in the School of Applied Sciences at Bournemouth University, supervised by Professor Adrian Newton and Dr. Duncan Golicher. My research focuses on defining patterns of tree species diversity that can be used to inform conservation planning within Central America. This species-rich region harbours many species not found elsewhere in the world, including endemic primates, birds and plants. The region’s growing population and widespread poverty mean it is an area of highly competing land use interests. It is therefore important to identify and prioritize areas with unique groups of species for conservation efforts.

In January and February, I visited Professor Walter Jetz’s lab at Yale University. The purpose of my visit was to start collaborating with Dr. Dan Rosauer (a post-doc in the Jetz lab) to develop a method for identifying areas containing unique groups of tree species. During my visit, I received training in the specific method and software which I will implement during my research.

In addition, I had the opportunity to participate in graduate seminar discussions led by Professor Jetz on hotly-debated ecological topics such as “niche conservatism” and the “heritability of species range sizes.” Chatting with members of the Jetz lab over many pad thai lunches was also a great learning experience, as I heard about their various research projects and discussed options for tackling some of the challenges in my own research.

As an added bonus, I also had the opportunity to attend a conference on Landscape-Scale Restoration in the Tropics organized by the International Society of Tropical Foresters. This was a great opportunity to network and to learn about research prospects in forest restoration in tropical areas around the world, including my study region.

This exchange visit was a very rewarding experience for me and I would encourage others to take advantage of such opportunities. This partnership started with a simple exchange of email communication. It is therefore important that researchers are encouraged and enabled to build collaborations as this fosters the exchange of ideas that knowledge is built on. The Santander grant offers a good chance for researchers to put their collaborative ideas into action.

Many thanks to the Santander grant for sponsoring me. Thanks to the BU Research Development Unit and Applied Sciences Administration Office for helping me to coordinate the details. Finally, thanks especially to Professor Jetz and the members of his lab, especially Dr. Dan Rosauer, for welcoming me and sharing their expertise.