Tagged / UKRO

UKRO Subscription Services for BU Academics and Staff

EU, Funding opportunities, international

Many BU academics may have recognised that RDS hosts annual UK Research Office (UKRO) visits to BU. These sessions are led by RDS and delivered in collaboration with BU European Advisor at the UKRO. Although, not all may be aware that BU is one of UKRO’s subscriber organisations.

UKRO supports the UK research and innovation community from Brussels and works with partners across government and stakeholders to maximise UK engagement in Horizon Europe programme. UKRO delivers subscription-based advisory service for research organisations; they even have non-UK associated members from Belgium, Norway, Finland and other countries.

UKRO also delivers free UK National Contact Point services for those interested in Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and European Research Council programmes, however some sections of UKRO website are only available to staff at subscribing organisations.

Any BU employee can access UKRO services by creating their own profile. We encourage all BU academic staff to register – this is a quick and simple process which only requires institutional email address.

For all users in subscriber organisations UKRO provides the following services:

  • Access to the UKRO Portal, to keep you informed
  • Registered users receive tailored news articles on the latest EU funding and policy developments, as well as factsheets on different strands and aspects of EU research, innovation and higher education activities
  • Regular Horizon Europe training and information events
  • A place to meet and work in Brussels*

You can read more about EU-UK Relationship and UK Participation in EU-funded Programmes on UKRO portal and on a dedicated European Commission website.

If you are not sure or still have questions, contact Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums.

* It is possible to use UKRO’s dedicated workspaces for European project meetings. UKRO office is located within easy walking distance of most European Commission buildings, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers.

UKRO annual visit – meeting with BU academics in 2021

EU, Events, Funding opportunities, pre-award

As usual, RDS will host the annual UK Research Office visit to BU in 2021 – this year it will be virtual again.

This year’s event is scheduled for October 27, 2021 and is organised as part of funding briefing session; we have those on Teams every Wednesday.

Please make a note in your diaries – all academic staff interested in Horizon Europe framework programme and EU funding in general are invited to attend this session.

The session will be hosted by RDS and led by our UKRO European Advisor Ms Malgorzata Czerwiec from Brussels.

This year you are not be required to register in advance – simply join our Wednesday’s briefing session on 27th October at noon.

Agenda

12:00 – 12:10

Newest funding opportunities (as usual)

12:10 – 12:50

Horizon Europe Pillar 2 opportunities – how to approach calls for collaborative funding.

During this session will be covered opportunities of Horizon Europe 2022 calls, highlighting key features of proposal writing/consortium building/evaluation.

13:00 – 14:45

Previously booked one-to-one sessions (to be held using Zoom) with UKRO representative.

Academics are welcome to book one-to-one sessions indicating their EU funding related topic of interest; please email individually to Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums by 25 October and we will allocate 15 minutes timeslot for you.

UKRO delivers subscription-based advisory service for research organisations and provides Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) and European Research Council (ERC) National Contact Point services in the UK. As part of UKRO services, BU members of staff may sign up to receive personalised email alerts and get early access to the EU funding related publications on UKRO portal.

Please contact Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums if you have further questions.

UKRO annual 2020 (remote) meeting with BU academics

EU, Events, Funding opportunities, Info Days, Post-award, pre-award

As usual, RDS will host an annual UK Research Office visit to BU in 2020.

This year’s event has been scheduled for November 18 and is organised in a form of a remote zoom meeting. Please make a note in your diaries – all academic staff interested in EU funding, the new Horizon Europe framework programme and future implications of Brexit are invited to attend the event.

The event will be hosted and run by our UKRO European Advisor Ms Malgorzata Czerwiec from Brussels.

At this point, we have a draft agenda and some input from academics before finalising the agenda, as a minimum to register your interest to attend particular session by 6th November 2020, will be appreciated.

The link to the zoom meeting will be provided after the registration is closed; some of agenda items may be changed or removed depending on your feedback.

Please see the draft agenda below and register your attendance preferences (at the end of the registration, click on DONE button to complete the form).

Draft agenda of the webinar

10:30 – 11:45

UK Participation in Horizon 2020

BU involvement in H2020

Update on Horizon Europe developments

12:00 – 12:40

H2020 Evaluation process and proposal writing hints and tips + questions – session for PIs involved in the Green Deal Call for proposal submission

In the afternoon

Previously booked one-to-one sessions with UKRO representative

Obviously, lunch will not be provided this year, although there will be some flexibility to have a coffee at home or in the office between the sessions.

During registration, academics are welcome to submit any other EU funding related topics for discussion; those may either be included in one of the above sessions or discussed individually during one-to-one meeting.

UKRO delivers subscription-based advisory service for research organisations and provides Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) and European Research Council (ERC) National Contact Point services in the UK. As part of UKRO services, BU members of staff may sign up to receive personalised email alerts and get early access to the EU funding related publications on UKRO portal.

Please contact Research Facilitator International Ainar Blaudums if you have further questions.

UKRO Webinar: COVID-19 and EU Funding Update – 3/4/20

BU research, EU, Events

UKRO is pleased to announce the latest in its series of webinars, which will take place at 10.30-11.30 (UK time) on Friday 3 April on the topic of ‘COVID-19 and EU Funding update’.

The webinar is intended to provide an overview of the current situation regarding COVID-19 in relation to EU Research and Innovation and will cover (in brief) areas such as:

  • UKRO services during the COVID-19 ‘quarantine’ period;
  • Known call updates and changes to call deadlines;
  • Project implementation issues and solutions in light of COVID-19 restrictions.

The webinar is intended for researchers and support staff currently engaged in projects or applying to forthcoming calls, to make them aware of the latest information on COVID-19 in respect to proposal development and project delivery.

The webinar will be delivered using the ‘Zoom’ online conference facility. No prior purchasing of software is necessary but registration via the event page is mandatory for participation.

The webinar is accessible to all individuals registered on the UKRO portal. BU has a subscription to UKRO and so all BU staff can register for an UKRO account through the UKRO site.

UKRO annual visit – presentations available on Brightspace

EU, Events, Funding opportunities, pre-award

On Wednesday, 10th October 2018, BU staff had an opportunity to find out more about current EU funding opportunities. Delivered by BU institutional representative in Brussels, Andreas Kontogeorgos, presentations covered such topics as Brexit, forthcoming ICT calls, COST Actions and MSCA Innovative Training Networks.

Presentations are now available on Brightspace. Please navigate to UKRO 2018 section to access all presentations.

If you have an interest in applying to Horizon 2020 and other European funding, please make full use of BU’s subscription by registering to receive updates from UKRO. On UKRO website, you can access subscriber-exclusive support materials including news, call fact-sheets and UKRO events.

BU staff considering applying for any of these calls and other international funding, should contact international research facilitator Ainar Blaudums or other RKEO’s representatives at their faculties, for further information and support.

EU funding opportunities – reminder to register

EU, Events, Funding opportunities, Info Days, pre-award

As previously announced, RKEO will host seminar on EU funding opportunities (FG06, Talbot Campus, Fusion Building) on 10th October 2018. Sessions will be delivered by European Advisor of the UK Research Office Dr Andreas Kontogeorgos.
Please register to allow us to order lunch and refreshments for all attendees this week.

Sessions will commence at 11:30 with an update on Brexit, followed by a networking lunch. In the afternoon there will be a review of future ICT-related calls and more detailed overview of the COST Actions and Marie Curie training networks (MSCA ITN) funding schemes.

Everybody is welcome to choose to attend any of the sessions below:

11:30 – 12:00 – Brexit News, Q&A (to be continued during lunch if necessary)
12:00 – 13:00 – Networking Lunch
13:00 – 14:15 – Cross-disciplinary nature of ICT – forthcoming Horizon 2020 calls and topics under pillars of Industrial Leadership and Societal Challenges
14:15 – 14:30 – Comfort break / over-run time / time for people to come and in and out
14:30 – 15:15 – COST Actions – bottom-up driven networks for expanding European Cooperation in Science and Technology
15:15 – 16:30 – Overview of MSCA ITN funding scheme, followed by Q&A session

P.S. If you were unable to register, (quiet) drop-in to any separate session will be accepted.

EU funding – UKRO Annual Visit to BU

EU, Events, Funding opportunities, international, pre-award

As announced earlier, RKEO will host annual UK Research Office visit to BU on 10th October 2018. The event will take place in FG06 seminar room (Fusion Building). Session will be delivered by Dr Andreas Kontogeorgos, European Advisor of the UK Research Office.

Bookings for this event are now open to BU Staff and, so that catering will be arranged, confirm attendance by Wednesday, 3rd October – please book your place following a link on event’s intranet page.

The sessions for BU academics will commence at 11:30 with an update on Brexit, followed by a networking lunch. In the afternoon session there will be a review of future ICT-related calls and more detailed overview of the COST Actions funding scheme – please see full agenda below.

Time Activity
11:30 – 12:00 Brexit News, Q&A (to be continued during lunch if necessary)

(All invited/registered from 11:30 to 15:15)
12:00 – 13:00 Networking lunch
13:00 – 14:15 Cross-disciplinary nature of ICT – forthcoming Horizon 2020 calls and topics under pillars of Industrial Leadership and Societal Challenges
14:15 – 14:30 Comfort break / over-run time / time for people to come and in and out
14:30 – 15:15 COST Actions – bottom-up driven networks for expanding European Cooperation in Science and Technology
15:15 – 16:30 15 minute 1-2-1s
16:30 Close

A number of 15 minute 1-2-1 sessions available with Andreas (UKRO) and Ainar (BU International Research Facilitator) – here, you can discuss your European funding plans and ambitions with either of them. To book your 1-2-1 meeting, please make a note about this when booking for the main event or email directly to RKEDevFramework@bournemouth.ac.uk with “UKRO 1-2-1” in subject field.

If you have an interest in applying to Horizon 2020 and other European funding, please make full use of BU’s subscription by registering to receive updates from UKRO. On their website, you can access subscriber-exclusive support materials including call fact-sheets and details of future UKRO events.

Save the date – 10 October 2018 – UKRO Annual Visit to BU

EU, Events, Funding opportunities, pre-award

RKEO will host annual UK Research Office visit on 10th October 2018. The event will take place provisionally in FG06 seminar room. All staff interested in EU funding are invited to attend. This session will be delivered by Dr Andreas Kontogeorgos, European Advisor of the UK Research Office.

We are preparing agenda which is expected to include such topics as Brexit and the next EU framework programme Horizon Europe. More information on agenda will be provided in September. Academics are kindly requested to submit any other EU funding related topics for discussion to Ainar Blaudums at RKEO by the end of August.

UKRO is the European office of the UK Research Councils. It delivers a subscription-based advisory service for research organisations (in the main UK HEIs) and provides National Contact Point services on behalf of the UK Government. UKRO’s mission is to maximise UK engagement in EU-funded research, innovation and higher education activities. As part of UKRO services, BU members of staff may sign up to receive personalised email alerts.

N.B. BU staff considering applying for EU and other international funding should contact Research Facilitator for EU and International funding Ainar Blaudums for further information and support.

Is it worth applying for all this new Horizon 2020 funding, then?

EU, Funding opportunities, international, Research news

Recipients of updates from this blog will have, no doubt, seen updates concerning the many new funding calls arising as a result of the release of the Horizon 2020 Work Programmes for 2018-2020. With current uncertainties, is it worth UK-based researchers applying, especially following the announcement on the Participant Portal that the eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant (i.e. the researcher’s country of application being either a member or associate country to receive the funding)?

The UK Research Office (UKRO) however, has reminded the sector via their website’s public area that – UK businesses and universities should continue to bid for competitive EU funds while we remain a member of the EU and we will work with the Commission to ensure payment when funds are awarded. The Government will underwrite the payment of such awards, even when specific projects continue beyond the UK’s departure from the EU.

In the FAQ document, it is stated that even if UK partners cannot continue to receive funding from the European Commission because the UK has become a third country, the UK Government has guaranteed funding for successful bids submitted by UK participants before departure, including those that are successful afterwards. Third country participation is routine in Horizon 2020. 

It should also be noted that Horizon 2020 has always been open to Third Counties; it is the access to funding that may not be available unless it is a stipulation of the call, where the country is associated with the EU (Norway, for example) or where there is a specific provision in place.

With many calls having a closing date before the expected date of the UK exit, information about calls, info days, brokerage events etc., will continue to be posted on this blog, in anticipation of BU staff applying for funding to support their excellent research.

BU staff can register to receive their own updates from UKRO.

BU staff considering applying for any of these Horizon 2020 calls and other international funding, should contact Emily Cieciura, RKEO’s Research Facilitator: International Funding, for further information and support.