Tagged / training

EUADS: 1 week left to apply!

Funding opportunities, Training

The EU Academic Development Scheme (EUADS) is a unique scheme developed to kick start your career in EU research, and is open to all BU academic staff.  The scheme will help you work towards making a submission by providing unlimited 1-2-1 support from an expert EU bid writer, group mentoring and unlimited assistance in actually writing your application over a 12 month period.  In addition to the training, the EUADS scheme also includes an individual fund. Each successful participant will have access to grants up to £3ooo to spend on activities supporting bid development, such as:
• Travel with the intent of networking
• Conference attendance with the intent of networking
• Pilot research work
• Fieldwork
• Attendance at external networking events leading to collaborative research proposals
• Meetings with external organisations to establish collaborations
• Preparation of specialist material or data
• Replacement teaching 

You can read more on this scheme in the EUADS Policy Document  and make a submission using the  EUADS Application Form.   

The deadline for applications is Friday 19th December 2014.  Applications and any questions should be submitted to the Funding Development Coordinator, Giles Ashton, gashton@bournemouth.ac.uk

EUADS: deadline for applications is approaching!

Funding opportunities, Training

The EU Academic Development Scheme (EUADS) is a unique scheme developed to kick start your career in EU research, and is open to all BU academic staff.  The scheme will help you work towards making a submission by providing unlimited 1-2-1 support from an expert EU bid writer, group mentoring and unlimited assistance in actually writing your application over a 12 month period.  In addition to the training, the EUADS scheme also includes an individual fund. Each successful participant will have access to grants up to £3ooo to spend on activities supporting bid development, such as:
• Travel with the intent of networking
• Conference attendance with the intent of networking
• Pilot research work
• Fieldwork
• Attendance at external networking events leading to collaborative research proposals
• Meetings with external organisations to establish collaborations
• Preparation of specialist material or data
• Replacement teaching 

You can read more on this scheme in the EUADS Policy Document  and make a submission using the  EUADS Application Form.   

The deadline for applications is Friday 19th December 2014.  Applications and any questions should be submitted to the Funding Development Coordinator, Giles Ashton, gashton@bournemouth.ac.uk

Examination of the Newborn (EXON) Pilot Project for under-graduate student midwives: an update.

Fusion, Knowledge Transfer, student research, Training

In November last year I published a blog on the first pilot project I undertook with five under-graduate pre-registration midwifery students which was designed to enable them to qualify with the skills and competencies around examination of the newborn (EXON). The students were required to access and study the module with post-graduate midwives. Four of the students successfully completed the course in September 2014 with one student leaving early on in the project due to unforeseen family circumstances. The journey to completion was not smooth. The first hurdle was a clash of assessments. The EXON assessment (a presentation) fell in the same week as Complex Care (CC), a third year unit assessment where students are required to undergo a VIVA and manage two obstetric emergencies. It is a stressful experience and therefore three of the students requested an extension to their EXON presentation with only one choosing to present with her post-registration colleagues. As the EXON assessment took place on the Monday of that particular week and Complex Care assessments were running over three days, the student managed to negotiate to undertake her CC assessment on the Friday. The three students were re-scheduled to present later in the year with a number of other midwives who were on extensions or resits.  One of the advantages of choosing to present in January 2014 was that the student was able to choose a topic that she could use both for her learning around EXON and for her extended essay which was due to be completed somewhat later in the academic year. The student was successful in both endeavours as were all the others but at a later date.

Another hurdle students found themselves confronted with, was a lack of opportunity to undertake newborn examinations including a shortage of midwifery mentors who could support the training requirements of the project. Two of the students could not get any of the examinations done in their own trusts. Fortunately for them, the maternity unit and midwifery staff at Poole NHS Trust Hospital were extremely obliging and supported the students to work there which enabled them to complete the practical newborn checks. All four of the students have successfully qualified as midwives and have obtained midwifery posts in the local area. They remain committed EXON and have volunteered to be EXON ‘champions’ within their respective trusts. I am grateful to Jeanette Elliot, Luzie Schroter, Jenna Penhale and Bex Coleman-Moss for their hard work and dedication during the pilot and for their feedback and advice for the next intake.

Demand for places for the second pilot project remained high when the call was put out a short while ago. Unfortunately due to some of the barriers described above it was only feasible to recruit five students again and all of them based in the west. The students have commenced their studies and are enjoying the learning so far. The pilot projects are helping to inform what impact these barriers will have on the training needs for midwifery students within our local maternity units as this year we are introducing EXON theory to all midwifery students on our newly validated curriculum with the caveat that students will obtain the necessary theoretical knowledge but not all with qualify with the required skills. However by ‘fast-tracking’ students onto one of our twice yearly CPD EXON modules which has around 20+ midwives enrolled, by the time the students reach their third year there should be many more midwives qualified in EXON and in place to support our under-graduate students to gain the competencies around newborn examination.  If you require any further information please contact Luisa Cescutti-Butler on lcbutler@bournemouth.ac.uk    

 

Next Grants Academy – Apply now!

Grants Academy, Training

The Grants Academy has been described by members as ‘brilliant’, ‘excellent’, ‘extremely educational and stimulating’ and ‘very beneficial’. It has also increased bids submissions from members acting as a Principal Investigator by 41% and 20% as a co-Investigator. Members have significantly increased their funding successes too and obtained funding from organisations such as the AHRC, European Commission, ESRC, British Academy, English Heritage and Burdett Trust for Nursing.

How does the Academy work?  Members attend an initial two day training course off campus, facilitated by an external expert bid writer with a well-developed draft proposal. The training days will cover the art of proposal craftmanship, the rules of the writing game and other invaluable information to help you perfect your proposal during the days. Feedback on these days from existing members have been very positive, ‘the workshop was the best I have ever attended’. 

Members can then further develop their proposal over a couple of weeks, gaining unlimited support from the external facilitator in doing so and the cohort re-gathers for a mock peer review panel of each other’s applications. This gives a unique insight into this process in a supportive environment and helps further refine the proposal. One member has described this session as ‘[I now have] profound insights in[to] how the system works…and to realize how that must be for professional reviewers’.  The cohort will also receive guidance about BU’s processes for applying for grants, to make sure they are aware of the support available.

What other support is given? Throughout the 18 month membership of the Grants Academy, members benefit form UNLIMITED support from the external facilitator (and in some cases additional external reviewers) which has been invaluable in helping members secure external funding ‘[His] input enabled me to produce a clearer, more logical and convincing proposal. He also alerted me to issues I had not previously considered and encouraged me to think about ‘impact’ and value for the UK in new ways’.

Members also have bespoke assistance from R&KEO in finding funding and collaborators. They also have access to a library of successful proposals from BU, a travel grant (£250), guaranteed places on Funder visits organised for them and surgeries with external facilitators. Funder visits coming up include the British Academy in early 2015.

How do I apply? To apply for a place, please contact your DDRE in the first instance.  The first cohort dates are: January 26/27 and follow up day February 16.  There will then be a second cohort: March 11/12 and follow up day April 1.

What’s the small print? When making your application, you must ensure that you are available for the 3 dates in their entirety. Membership is only obtained once all training days have been attended. Obligations of membership are that at least one proposal for external funding must be submitted within the first six months of membership. As the training days are attended with a draft proposal, this should be obtainable. Within 18 months at least three proposals for external funding must have been submitted. Failure to meet these obligations will lead to membership being revoked.

If you have any questions about the Grants Academy please contact Giles Ashton (scheme administrator) or Jennifer Roddis (scheme manager).

Make Your Voice Heard – The next step

Thank you to all those who got came along and got involved in the first Make Your Voice Heard event on 10 September 2014.

Important topics were highlighted, such as how academics can enrich the media and how to balance different stakeholder wants and needs. There was also an opportunity to acquire hands-on tips and techniques for dealing with TV and radio appearances.

But the conversation doesn’t end there.

We want to know what you think about the relationship between research, academics and the media. For example, how do you currently approach the media as a researcher? What approaches worked for you, and what didn’t work? Are there limits to what should be shared via the media? And does using the media enhance a reputation?

Over the next week we’ll be posting some of the slides from the Make Your Voice Heard event on the Research Blog and asking what you think of research in the media.

Join the discussion by commenting below or email newsdesk@bournemouth.ac.uk if you would like to contribute to the debate by writing a blog post.

Opportunities for Researchers after a Career Break

Funding opportunities, Training

If you have been away from the workplace, you may feel that your career is on hold or slipping backwards, but with the schemes highlighted below, you have the opportunity to re-invigorate your academic career:

Within Biomedical Sciences, the Wellcome Trust Research Re-entry Fellowship is one scheme within their suite of Flexible Working options. This scheme is for postdoctoral scientists who have recently decided to recommence a scientific research career after a continuous break of at least two years. It gives such scientists the opportunity to return to high-quality research, with the potential to undertake refresher or further training. The fellowship is particularly suitable for applicants wishing to return to research after a break for family commitments. The next deadline is 06/10/14.

The Wellcome Trust also offers the  Sanger Institute Fellowship, which enables and opens routes back into science for those who have had a break from scientific research – for any reason. The funder understands that even a short time out of research can have an impact on your career, which is why they have created a postdoctoral fellowship providing an additional opportunity specifically for those who have been out of scientific research for one year or more to return to high-quality postdoctoral training. One Fellowship will be awarded each year. Each Fellowship will last for three years and can be worked full time, part time or flexibly. The next call for applications will be in mid-2015.

A Daphne Jackson Fellowship is a unique fellowship designed to return STEM professionals to their careers after a break. Fellows normally carry out their research part-time over 2 years, in a university or research establishment in the UK. The Fellowships are flexible and include a tailored training programme designed to update skills and knowledge and support you in your return to research. If you are ready to return to research following a break of 2 or more years, take a look at their sponsored fellowship opportunities. Alternatively, if you have a potential host institution and/or research area in mind, you can apply for a fellowship at any time. If your application is successful, the Trust will endeavour to find suitable sponsorship. 

The Royal Society’s Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship scheme is for outstanding scientists in the UK at an early stage of their research career who require a flexible working pattern due to personal circumstances such as parenting or caring responsibilities or health issues.  Female candidates are particularly invited to apply. The scheme covers all areas of the life and physical sciences, including engineering, but excluding clinical medicine. Applicants must be able to demonstrate a current need for flexible support due to personal circumstances at the time of application. This can include current parenting or caring responsibilities (such as raising children or looking after ageing or seriously ill family members), clinically diagnosed health issues or other personal circumstances that create a need for a flexible working pattern. This scheme is closed for 2014 but should open again in late 2014 / early 2015.

Although these are the main schemes, it is worth checking if smaller funders or charities in your field also provide such funding. For example, a quick internet search found a similar scheme offered by the British Heart Foundation.

September: A good month for CMMPH publications

Publishing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health started well this September with four publications in academic and practitioners’ journal.  Starting with final-year student midwife Joanna Lake who just had an article published in The Practising Midwife.1

Secondly, BU midwifery staff Jen Leamon and Sue Way together with HSC Visiting Fellow Suzie Cro also have had an article published this month in the same journal.2

Susanne Grylka-Baeschlin, a midwife from Switzerland who spent time at BU as an international visitor (see http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2014/07/02/latest-hsc-midwifery-paper-in-open-access/) had her paper published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth this month.3

And last, but not least, Wendy Marsh, based in HSC’s Portsmouth office had a paper in the September issue of the British Journal of Midwifery.4

 

Congratulations,

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

 

 

References:

  1. Lake J., 2014. Witnessing the art of woman-centred care by and exceptional mentor. The Practicing Midwife. 17(8), 24-26.
  2. Leamon J, Way S. & Cro S., 2014. Supervision of midwives and the 6Cs: exploring how we do what we do. The Practicing Midwife. 17(8), 41-42.
  3. Grylka-Baeschlin  S., van Teijlingen,  E. & Mechthild, G.M., 2014. Cultural differences in postnatal quality of life among German-speaking women: a prospective survey in two countries. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 14:277    www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2393/14/277
  4. Marsh, W. 2014. Removing babies from mother’s at birth: Midwives experiences. British Journal of Midwifery. 22(9):620 – 624.

Strong CMMPH presence at ICM conference in Prague!

PG research, Publishing, Training

Dr. Carol Wilkins

In the first week of June members of the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health presented BU’s midwifery research and education at the 30th ICM (International Confederation of Midwives) Congress in Prague (Czech Republic).

There were four oral presentations in total, one workshop and three poster presentations.  The oral presentations comprised:

  1. Dr. Carol Wilkins (see picture) presented from her Ph.D. work ‘Emotional processing in childbirth study: exploration of the relationship between maternal emotions in pregnancy and risk of postnatal depression’.
  2. HSC Professor Vanora Hundley presented her international work on clean birth kits.
  3. Senior Lecturer in Midwifery Alison Taylor gave a paper under the title ‘Letting off steam! Video diaries to share breastfeeding experiences.  Her Ph.D. thesis research uses a novel approach of giving hand-held cameras to make home video diaries about their ‘realities’ of breastfeeding.
  4. HSC student Sheetal Sharma presented her Ph.D. research ‘Getting women to care: mixed–methods evaluation of maternity care intervention in rural Nepal’.

Dr Susan Way led a workshop on escalating concerns in relation to poor clinical practice and disrespectful care.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Furthermore, three HSC posters were displayed as part of a special session on Midwifery in South Asia, all three related to different CMMPH maternity care studies conducted in Nepal.

  1. Sharma, S.  Sicuri, E., Belizan, JM., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Stephens J.,  Hundley, V., Angell, C.,  Getting women to care in Nepal: A Difference in Difference analysis of a health promotion intervention
  2. Milne, L, Hundley, V, van Teijlingen, E, Ireland, J, Simkhada, P, Staff perspectives of barriers to women accessing birthing services in Nepal: A qualitative study,
  3. Sharma, S., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V. Simkhada, P., Angell, C. Pregnant & Dirty?

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Grants Academy to the Rescue! Last chance until the Autumn!

Grants Academy, Training

The Grants Academy has been described by members as ‘brilliant’, ‘excellent’, ‘extremely educational and stimulating’ and ‘very beneficial’. It has also increased bids submissions from members acting as a Principal Investigator by 41% and 20% as a co-Investigator. Members have significantly increased their funding successes too and obtained funding from organisations such as the AHRC, European Commission, ESRC, British Academy, English Heritage and Burdett Trust for Nursing.

How does the Academy work?  Members attend an initial two day training course off campus, facilitated by an external expert bid writer with a well-developed draft proposal. The training days will cover the art of proposal craftmanship, the rules of the writing game and other invaluable information to help you perfect your proposal during the days. Feedback on these days from existing members have been very positive, ‘the workshop was the best I have ever attended’. 

Members can then further develop their proposal over a couple of weeks, gaining unlimited support from the external facilitator in doing so and the cohort re-gathers for a mock peer review panel of each other’s applications. This gives a unique insight into this process in a supportive environment and helps further refine the proposal. One member has described this session as ‘[I now have] profound insights in[to] how the system works…and to realize how that must be for professional reviewers’.

What other support is given? Throughout the 18 month membership of the Grants Academy, members benefit form UNLIMITED support from the external facilitator (and in some cases additional external reviewers) which has been invaluable in helping members secure external funding ‘[His] input enabled me to produce a clearer, more logical and convincing proposal. He also alerted me to issues I had not previously considered and encouraged me to think about ‘impact’ and value for the UK in new ways’.

Members also have bespoke assistance from R&KEO in finding funding and collaborators. They also have access to a library of successful proposals from BU, a travel grant (£250), guaranteed places on Funder visits organised for them and surgeries with external facilitators.

How do I apply? To apply for a place, please contact me Dianne Goodman and I will send you a Membership Agreement Form that will need to be signed by you, your line manager and your DDRE.

The next training sessions due to take place on the: 12th and 13th of May and the 9th of June 2014 and will be the last until the Autumn

Due to our Grants Academy scheme’s success you may be added to a waiting list if no spaces are available on this training session. We are hoping to announce further Grants Academy sessions in the Autumn. You are welcome to apply and register for these Grants Academy sessions and we are happy to put your name on our list.

What’s the small print? When making your application, you must ensure that you are available for the 3 dates in their entirety. Membership is only obtained once all training days have been attended. Obligations of membership are that at least one proposal for external funding must be submitted within the first six months of membership. As the training days are attended with a draft proposal, this should be obtainable. Within 18 months at least three proposals for external funding must have been submitted. Failure to meet these obligations will lead to membership being revoked.

If you have any questions about the Grants Academy please get in touch with Dianne Goodman (scheme administrator) or Rebecca Edwards (scheme manager).

Grants Academy Next Workshops – get yourself booked in today – I have only a few spaces left!!

Deadline! Panic. Click Submit: Grants Academy Diary Part 3

Grants Academy, R & KE Operations, Training

Email flurries. Cut-and-paste frenzies. Forgetting if draft v3.1.5 is most recent despite diligent attempts to effectively dropbox. Sound familiar? Grant deadline time demands we are at our sharpest, but more often finds us high on caffeine and flung headlong into chaos. Whether one clicks submit with confidence, hesitation or blind faith, when the closing hour comes, we breathe a sigh of relief. It’s out of our hands and into the 1 in 12 success rate abyss.

Like many colleagues, I’ve been on grant teams where ‘click submit’ was done with varying shades of satisfaction. But this time, something felt different. This wasn’t any ordinary bid. This was my Grants Academy bid. A bid that had gone through three days of extensive surgery via R&KE OP’s staff development programme on bid writing run by expert consultant Dr. Martin Pickard. It benefited from Martin’s expertise, as well as the critical eyes of five interdisciplinary BU colleagues also attending the workshop. Further developed by two CI collaborators,  two external peer reviewers,  BU Quality Approver Richard Berger and the devoted attention of my research officer Pengpeng Ooi, never before had I been on a grant handled with so much personalised and professional care.  This time when I clicked submit, there wasn’t a sentence worth changing.

In two earlier diary posts I discussed the daunting task of getting started with bid writing and my (somewhat unfounded) fears of impact agendas. After the first two workshops we each went off, brains buzzing with new tips and tricks, to independently work on our bid drafts. But rather than spend hours crafting confident cases for support, those two weeks during the start of spring semester saw little time to devote to redrafting. Like the students we sometimes bemoan, most of us ended up in a last minute ‘meet the deadline’ whirlwind, turning in work we were only half proud of.

Building on session one’s tips about project formulation and session two’s insights on expressing the wider value of our research, session three provided a simulated peer review process to help us better understand how bids are evaluated and scored.  This final stage of the Grants Academy began with a discussion of review criteria, followed by a tally of the scores we gave fellow academy members, and then individual rounds of feedback on each of our six draft bid submissions. While none of us broke most research funder’s thresholds of 70% approval, few of us felt we deserved to, at least not yet.

Offering a supportive environment to watch our work get torn apart — a necessary if uncomfortable part of the bid enhancement process — day three of Grants Academy proved as beneficial as the first two. Rather than disheartening, the patterns and repetition of criticism shared across our cross-disciplinary colleagues’ reviews helped us to hone in on what desperately needed fixing. This peer review process was topped off with one-to-one feedback from Martin on where to go next with our bid’s development.

After the session a few of us stayed behind, manically typing away, not wanting to forget any of our colleagues’ sage advice. I knew my deadline was only a few weeks away and I wanted that 60 up to a 90, to fill the gap of the 1 in 12 success rate with sure-fire reasons why we deserved funding. Over the next two weeks my CIs and I racked up 57 emails, 3 hours of skype meetings and 5 budget drafts — all for just a £10,000 bid. In the words of our Grants Academy Guru, “To compete, we train.”

My biggest takeaway tip for colleagues registered in an upcoming Grants Academy session, or those thinking about enrolling, would be to come with a bid in the early to mid-stages of development. (NOT something either brand new or nearly finished.) This will allow you to get the most out of the developmental process of the workshops. Attending the sessions forces you to make time for drafting by providing structured deadlines and feedback to carry forward. I chose to develop a small Fusion Funded pilot project. 

Anna Feigenbaum is a Lecturer in CMC group at the Media School. As part of her CEMP Fellowship she created this diary of her time at the Grants Academy.  You can read her Day One Diary post here and Day Two here.  

 

This Wednesday 2nd April – BRAD – Networking and Collaboration Workshop and Lunchtime Horizon 2020 Session

Funding opportunities, Grants Academy, Guidance, Training

A last Reminder don’t forget to book yourself into our 2 events taking place on this Wednesday the 2nd of April.

I would like to draw your attention to:

Our BRAD (Bournemouth Research Academic Development Programme) which offers a range of additional training opportunities with helpful tools for developing your personal skills and grant proposals for UK or EU funding. We are delighted to include the following session:

At Talbot Campus, on the 2nd April, from 2.30-4:30pm (for more info click the link above or to book in send Staff Development a quick email)

This follow on BRAD session complements our previous BRAD Grant Writing Session held last week and provides an ideal opportunity for you to learn how to develop strong UK or European collaborative networks.

Additionally please be aware that our Horizon 2020 (H2020) information session is also taking place prior to this and is the last of our Lunctime Info sessions (before Easter)

Horizon 2020 (H2020)

At Talbot Campus Wednesday 2nd April, 12noon-2pm  (for more info click the link above or to book in send Staff Development a quick email)

Info on H2020 can be found by clicking on the link below to access the recent Blog post detailing further resources available.

What does Horizon 2020 mean to you?

Why not come along to all the available training sessions we are running and boost your chances of being successfully funded by the UK Research Councils or the European Union?

REMINDER – Still Some Space on the Horizon 2020 Lunchtime Info Session and Follow-On BRAD Networking and Collaborative Opportunities?

Funding opportunities, Grants Academy, Training

 

Are you thinking about applying to the EU schemes? To learn more about Horizon 2020 as a whole, please book in NOW via staff development (please click link below and send them a quick email) – this last session in the series will take place during the lunchtime on:

 

 Remember the Marie Curie calls under FP7? Well, they are new and improved under Horizon 2020 and have been renamed and revised…

Dr Martin Pickard, the trainer says: “The new Marie Skłodowska Curie schemes within Horizon 2020 have considerable relaxed rules enabling even greater opportunities for participation; from individual research fellowships to medium term collaboration exchange. Presenting Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska Curie as a whole, the workshop also focuses on the opportunities for individual fellowships to highlight these opportunities and presents how to approach them to ensure a maximum chance of success (typically better than 1 in 3)”.

And don’t forget that our BRAD (Bournemouth Research Academic Development Programme) offers a range of additional training opportunities which are very helpful tools for developing your proposals for EU funding including:

This follow on session complements our earlier sessions and provides an ideal opportunity for you to learn how to develop strong European or UK collaborative networks.

Info on H2020 can be found by clicking on the link below to access the recent Blog post detailing further resources available.

Why not come along to all the available training sessions and boost your chances of being successfully funded by the European Union?

REMINDER – Don’t Miss Out… Still Some Space on the Horizon 2020 Lunchtime Info Session and Follow-On BRAD Networking and Collaborative Opportunities?

REMINDER – Book Now! Marie Skłodowska Curie and Horizon 2020 Lunchtime Info sessions?

Funding opportunities, Grants Academy, Info Days, Training

Marie Curie Lunchtime sessions:

20th of March at Lansdowne Campus 12-2pm

26th of March at Talbot Campus 12-2pm

Horizon 2020 session:

2nd of April at Talbot Campus 12-2pm

Remember the Marie Curie calls under FP7? Well, they are new and improved under Horizon 2020 and have been renamed and revised…

Dr Martin Pickard, the trainer says: “The new Marie Skłodowska Curie schemes within Horizon 2020 have considerable relaxed rules enabling even greater opportunities for participation; from individual research fellowships to medium term collaboration exchange. Presenting Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska Curie as a whole, the workshop also focuses on the opportunities for individual fellowships to highlight these opportunities and presents how to approach them to ensure a maximum chance of success (typically better than 1 in 3)”.

To learn more about the Marie Skłodowska Curie calls, please book NOW via staff development:

If you are already developing a Marie Skłodowska Curie proposal and would like a one-to-one Dr Martin Pickard after one of the information sessions, please contact Dianne Goodman.

Thinking about other EU schemes? To learn more about Horizon 2020 as a whole, please book NOW via staff development:

And don’t forget that BRAD offers a range of additional training opportunities which are very helpful to developing proposals for EU funding. These include:

Why not come along to all the available training sessions and boost your chances of being successfully funded by the European Union?