Urban Europe: funding call

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Esther KNIGHT

Urban Europe invites proposals for its joint transnational call for proposals, addressing research and experimental development for creating attractive, sustainable and economically viable urban areas.

This enables researchers, practitioners, innovators and other stakeholders dedicated to the development of European urban areas to suggest international research and innovation projects. Proposals may either address governance of urban complexity or urban vulnerability, adaptability and resilience.

Consortia may include partners from universities, research organisations, institutes, city councils, SMEs, industry and stakeholder associations, and must include partners from at least three of the following countries: Austria; Belgium; Cyprus; Denmark; Italy; the Netherlands; Norway; Sweden; Turkey; the United Kingdom. Partners from third countries may participate using their own funding.

The budget for this call is €15 million. There is no minimum or maximum funding amount per project, although approximately 10 projects, with budgets in the range of €1 million to €2m, are typically expected. Projects may last for up to three years, and must commence between May and September 2014.

The ESRC has made available €2 million (£1.7million) to fund British aspects of proposals.

pre-proposal – 18 September 2013
shortlist published – November 2014
full proposal – 21 January 2014
announcement of results to main applicants – April 2014
start of projects – May-September 2014

Further information

ESRCs national agency contact – Rick Hamilton – email: cities@esrc.ac.uk

Further details:

ESRC http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/funding-opportunities/26565/urban-europes-second-pilot-joint-call18-september.aspx

And http://www.jpi-urbaneurope.eu/About/Vision_Mission

Horizon 2020: Funding Deal Secured

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Esther KNIGHT

After long negotiations a deal has finally been secured on Horizon 2020.

The Irish EU Presidency has announced that the Council and the European Parliament have finally come to an agreement on remaining outstanding issues and that a provisional deal has been secured. The deal is provisional as it still has to be endorsed by so-called Committee of Permanent Representatives in the Council. This should however be a formality.

One of the main stumbling blocks during the negotiations, the reimbursement model, has now been agreed. Horizon 2020 will operate according to the “simplification model”, so with one funding rate for all beneficiaries and a flat rate for indirect costs. The Parliament, which had been pushing for a full cost option until late into the negotiations, instead won some concessions on issues such as widening participation.

It would also appear that a deal was agreed on the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, with funding for Knowldge Innovation Communities in the areas of healthy living and active ageing, raw materials, food and added value manufacturing.

http://eit.europa.eu/about-us/organisation/

British Council call for ‘Researcher Links’ International Workshops

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Esther KNIGHT

The British Council has launched a new initiative, ‘Researcher Links’, to link together early career researchers from the UK and selected partner countries through a series of workshops and travel grants.

The British Council is inviting leading, experienced researchers to propose themes for bilateral workshops between the UK and one of the 18 partner countries.

The successful workshop coordinators will have the opportunity to shape the programme, identify contributors and select early career participants for the workshop, discuss their research, and build valuable international relationships.

The 18 countries involved are: Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Morocco, Egypt, Qatar, South Africa, Nigeria, Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, Vietnam and Bangladesh. However, other countries may be brought in subsequently.

The closing date for applications is 14 July 2013.

http://www.britishcouncil.org/science/british-council-researcher-links

Healthcare science, research for patient benefit competition

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Esther KNIGHT

Doctoral and Post Doctoral Healthcare Science Fellowships and Senior Clinical Lectureships – Round 4 now open

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in partnership with Health Education England (HEE) for the Department of Health recently launched round 4 of the NIHR/HEE Healthcare Science Research Fellowship Competition. The scheme supports the development of healthcare science research capacity and capability building, by providing funding to undertake research for patient benefit. These Fellowships also support members of the NHS healthcare science workforce who already have some research experience and wish to bridge clinical/service careers and research.

Three award levels of fellowship are available:

Doctoral: funding for individual doctoral level research and to undertake a PhD
Post-Doctoral: funding for individual postdoctoral research projects
Senior Clinical Lectureship: Funding for independent researchers with the potential to become research leaders

Applications are invited from individuals working in England from one of the three main Healthcare Scientist areas:

Biology
Physiology
Physics and Engineering.

The deadline for Round 4 of the NIHR/HEE Healthcare Science Fellowships programme doctoral and post doctoral schemes is the 7^th of August 2013. Additional information and application packs for all levels of the programme can be found by following this link:

http://www.nihrtcc.nhs.uk/hcs/

Council Conclusions on International Co-operation in Horizon 2020

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Esther KNIGHT

As part of the discussions during last week’s meeting of EU countries’ science ministers in Brussels, the Competitiveness Council has issued a set of conclusions on the subject of international co-operation within Horizon 2020.

The Competitiveness Council calls on the European Commission, member states and key stakeholders:

to develop common principles on issues such as responsible research and innovation, research integrity; peer review; promotion of gender equality and the gender dimension in research and innovation; researcher careers; fair and equitable treatment of IP; and open access to publicly funded research publications and to research infrastructures;

Acknowledging the crucial importance of international research collaboration, the conclusions emphasise that the European Commission should ‘systematically consider where international co-operation can add strategic value in implementing Horizon 2020 and could play a particularly valuable role in the Horizon 2020 work programmes’. The Council also invites the Commission, working closely with EU Member States, to identify priorities for international co-operation on the basis of Horizon 2020 and of the results of FP7 projects.

The conclusions also underline the importance of preparing ‘multi-annual roadmaps for co-operation with the EU’s strategic partners, which will identify priorities and instruments for activities within Horizon 2020 for international co-operation on research and innovation’. The Council also states that Member States must be involved from an early stage in this process, and calls on the Commission to present the first roadmaps by the end of 2013.

http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/intm/137346.pdf

The biggest ICT event in Europe: ICT 2013 – Create, Connect, Grow in Vilnius on 6-8 November, 2013

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Esther KNIGHT

More than 4000 researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, industry representatives, young people and politicians are expected in Vilnius.

The “ICT 2013 – Create, Connect & Grow” event combines a conference, an exhibition, networking sessions, an investment forum and activities for students and young researchers.

The conference will address a range of issues across the ICT sector varying from cloud computing, broadband and ICT infrastructures to ICT skills, cyber security and long term visions on the future.

The plenary sessions are organised thematically:

Create: Disruptive and inspirational ICT research and innovation;
Connect: Breaking silos, building bridges, exploiting synergies; and
Grow: Start-ups, SMEs and the role of clusters.

Experts will present details on how to participate in the three parts of the Horizon 2020 programme through dedicated sessions on ICT for Excellent science, ICT for Industrial Leadership and ICT for Societal challenges.

The exhibition will showcase latest findings in advanced research, technologies, new systems, innovation in services & business and ICT products just coming to market. The exhibition runs under five themes:

Digitally empowered citizen;
Smart and sustainable cities for 2020+;
Industry and business for tomorrow;
Intelligent connecting intelligence; and
Culture, science and creativity.

Practical information https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/ict-2013-practical-information

Establishment of a European Policy Network of National Literacy Organisations

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Esther KNIGHT

Deadline: 29th of August 2013; 12:00 PM

More than one in five 15-year-olds in Europe, as well as many more adults lack basic reading and writing skills. This makes it harder for them to pursue learning and to find a job, and puts them at risk of social exclusion. Aware of this serious problem, the European Commission has taken action to help improve literacy levels in Europe.

The purpose of this call for proposals is to support the establishment of one European policy network to raise awareness, gather and analyse policy information, exchange policy approaches, good practice and promising campaigns and initiatives to promote literacy in light of the Education and Training framework (ET2020) benchmark that the share of low-achieving 15-years olds in reading should be less than 15 % by 2020.

The objectives of this network are to:

develop country specific knowledge;
facilitate the exchange of good practice;
implement awareness-raising initiatives;
cooperate with other institutions and organisations working in the field of literacy both at national and EU level to promote effective literacy policies.

http://ec.europa.eu/education/calls/s0513_en.htm

COST open call: European Science Foundation

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Esther KNIGHT

The European Science Foundation, through its European Cooperation in Science and Technology programme, has launched an open call for proposals. Funding supports networking activities, such as meetings, conferences, workshops, short-term scientific exchanges and outreach activities in the following domains:

•biomedicine and molecular biosciences;

•chemistry and molecular sciences and technologies;

•Earth system science and environmental management;

•food and agriculture;

•forests, their products and services;

•individuals, societies, cultures and health;

•information and communication technologies;

•materials, physics and nanosciences;

•transport and urban development.

Projects must include researchers from at least five COST countries.

Financial support for an action of 19 participating countries is in the range of €130,000 per year, normally for four years, subject to available budget.

Closing date 27 Sep 2013
Deadline information Submissions due by 5pm Brussels time (GMT+1).

See http://www.cost.eu/participate/open_call

If you are interested in this flexible funding opportunity please contact externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk

Staffordshire University Research and Funding Blog

Author Archives: Esther KNIGHT