Author Archives: Josephine Beech

Have your say on Future and Emerging Technologies!

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Consultation closes: 15/06/2014
The Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) programme launches a public consultation to identify promising and potentially game-changing directions for future research in any technological domain.

€2,7 billion will be invested in Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) under the new research programme Horizon 2020#H2020 (2014-2020). This represents a nearly threefold increase in budget compared to the previous research programme, FP7. FET actions are part of the Excellent science pillar of Horizon 2020.

The objective of FET is to foster radical new technologies by exploring novel and high-risk ideas building on scientific foundations. By providing flexible support to goal-oriented and interdisciplinary collaborative research, and by adopting innovative research practices, FET research seizes the opportunities that will deliver long-term benefit for our society and economy.

The aim of the public consultation is to identify promising and potentially game-changing directions for future research in any technological domain.

Vice-President of the European Commission @NeelieKroesEU, responsible for the Digital Agenda, said: “From protecting the environment to curing disease – the choices and investments we make today will make a difference to the jobs and lives we enjoy tomorrow. Researchers and entrepreneurs, innovators, creators or interested bystanders – whoever you are, I hope you will take this opportunity to take part in determining Europe’s future“.

The consultation is organised as a series of discussions, in which contributors can suggest ideas for a new FET Proactive initiative or discuss the 9 research topics identified in the previous consultation to determine whether they are still relevant today.

The ideas collected via the public consultation will contribute to future FET work programmes, notably the next one (2016-17). This participative process has already been used to draft the current work programme (2014-15).

Participate now in the consultation

NIHR “Thinking differently about Dementia” call

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The Department of Health, under its policy research programme, invites tenders for an evaluation on thinking differently about dementia education and training. The tenderer will carry out a research project to inform policy development in relation to dementia training, and evaluate the three tiers of training set out by Health Education England. The major part of the project will be primary research to evaluate in formative terms the HEE dementia education and training programme. Outputs should include whether and how this is having a positive impact on staff attitudes, skills and behaviours and if it is delivering better outcomes for people living with dementia.

The budget for this call is approximately £450,000 over three years. Costings can include up to 100 per cent full economic costs but should exclude output VAT.

See the web page: http://www.prp-ccf.org.uk/

or Email
prp@prp-ccf.org.uk

or Telephone
+44 20 8843 8027

NIHR – Health services and delivery research programme – researcher-led workstream

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The National Institute for Health Research invites proposals for the researcher-led workstream of its health services and delivery research programme. This workstream focuses on research into the quality, appropriateness, effectiveness, equity and patient experience of health services. Research should lead to improvements in health services that will be of greatest benefit to the NHS and to patients. This workstream has a continued interest in applications for research in areas highlighted as a priority in previous NIHR themed calls. Applicants may submit either a standard outline proposal or an evidence synthesis full proposal.

Large scale studies of national importance are particularly encouraged in this call, including primary research projects that:

•address an issue of major strategic importance to the NHS, with the cost in line with the significance of the problem to be investigated;

•are likely to lead to changes in practice that will have a significant impact on a large number of patients across the UK;

•aim to fill a clear evidence gap, and are likely to generate new knowledge of direct relevance to the NHS;

•have the potential for findings to be applied to other conditions or situations outside the immediate area of research;

•bring together a team with strong expertise and track record across the full range of relevant disciplines;

•will be carried out across more than one research site.

NHS organisations, universities and other organisations in England, Scotland and Wales are eligible to apply. NIHR will fund HEIs at a maximum of 80 per cent of full economic cost, and non-HEIs at 100 per cent of full economic cost.

For more information Click HERE

EPSRC Energy Programme

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EPSRC, as part of its contribution to the RCUK Energy Programme, invites proposals for collaborative research projects to undertake fundamental research to tackle challenges in Conventional Power Generation. An indicative budget of up to £3M is available from EPSRC for this call. Cross-institutional bids are welcome, but there must be a single submission for each application, led by a single principal investigator, with only one proposal form.

The remit of this call is derived from the outputs of a scoping workshop which was held on 15 April 2014. We invite proposals in the areas of:

  • Step change technologies and materials for future plant design
  • Integration of conventional plants with future technologies

Anyone intending to submit a proposal to this call must register their interest by email to Laura Sewell by 16 June 2014.

 

 

 

Horizon 2020 NEWS – application numbers for 2014 MSCA ITN call

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The European Commission has announced that a total of 1164 proposals have been submitted to the first Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) 2014 Innovative Training Networks (ITN) call under Horizon 2020, which closed on 9 April 2014. This is slightly lower than the number submitted to the last call under FP7 for the equivalent Marie Curie Initial Training Networks.

The 1164 proposals submitted to the H2020-MSCA-ITN-2014 Innovative Training Networks call is slightly lower than the 1175 submitted in 2013 under the last equivalent FP7 Marie Curie Initial Training Networks call. As the indicative budget for this call is EUR 405.18 million, compared to EUR 470.72 million for the 2013 call, it is likely that the overall success rate will drop slightly.

The breakdown of proposal numbers and indicative budgets for each of the three strands were as follows:

  • European Training Networks (ETN): 1004 proposals (86% of total). Indicative budget EUR 349.69 million;
  • European Industrial Doctorates (EID): 107 proposals (9% of total). Indicative budget EUR 30 million;
  • European Joint Doctorates (EJD): 53 proposals (5% of total). Indicative budget EUR 25.5 million.

It is expected that applicants will know the outcome of evaluation around mid to late September 2014. For further information on future calls for the MSCA programme please email the team on externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk

Erasmus + Event

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The External Projects Team led a workshop this week in the Ashley Centre, over 25 staff from across the institution attended to hear about the new EU funding programme for education and youth, ERASMUS+. This new programme replaces the old Life Long Learning Programme as well as Erasmus Mundus, Tempus, Asia Link, Youth in Action and Edulink. The team were joined by our Erasmus Co-ordinator Deb Graddon who shared the latest news on our Key Action 1 bid (mobility of staff and student from SU) and Abdel Hamid Soliman who gave a great overview of a current Erasmus Mundus project PEACE.

If you are interested in this programme, there are a number of ways to find out more, you can access all of the current calls for proposals in the Programme Guide or if you would like access to the slides from the day, please email us at externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk

 

 

 

 

Marie Sklodowska-Curie COFUND Seminar

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In its capacity as UK National Contact Point for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, UKRO is pleased to announce a seminar on the Horizon 2020 COFUND scheme. COFUND offers co-funding for new or existing regional, national and international programmes to open up to:

  • International, intersectoral and interdisciplinary research training; and
  • Transnational and cross-sectoral mobility of researchers at all stages of their career.

COFUND in Horizon 2020 has a new element to it, as there are now two funding streams: one supporting experienced researchers through a ‘Fellowship programme’ and the second supporting early stage researchers through a ‘Doctoral programme’.
The first COFUND call under Horizon 2020 is due to open on 10 April 2014, with a deadline for proposals on 2 October 2014.

Date and venue

Wednesday, 30 April Queen Mary University of London Mile End Road London, E1 4NS

Seminar format

This seminar aims to provide participants with a better understanding of the COFUND scheme and its requirements, including the new doctoral training option. The seminar will combine discussion on the objectives of COFUND and its fit within the wider postgaduate researcher training landscape in the UK, along with practical information on proposal preparation, submission and finances. The seminar will also feature a case study from previous successful COFUND applicants.
The event will run from 10.30 to 16.00, with a lunch break. Please note that lunch will not be provided.

Registration

Attendance is free of charge but capacity at the venue is limited and places will therefore be allocated on a first come first served basis. Contact the external projects team at externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk if you are interested in attending.

 

Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions: Upcoming UKRO Events

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UKRO have given its subscribers early notice of upcoming MSCA events. These events will be organised by UKRO in its capacity as UK National Contact for MSCA schemes. The events are aimed at staff at UK academic and non-academic organisations, including research support staff.
The first event will focus on the 2014 COFUND call, which is due to open on 10 April and close on 2 October 2014. The programme will include an overview of the COFUND scheme, including the new doctoral training option; practical information on proposal preparation, submission and finances; and a case study from a previous applicant. The event is scheduled to take place in London (venue to be confirmed) on Wednesday, 30 April 2014.

UKRO are also in the process of finalising dates and venues for three information and proposal writing workshops on the 2014 Individual Fellowships (IF) call, which opened on 12 March, with a closing date of 11 September 2014. The events will cover key issues relating to planning, writing and submitting proposals.
The likely schedule of the IF events is as follows:

  • Cardiff University, Wednesday, 28 May 2014
  • University of Warwick, Monday, 9 June 2014
  • London, June 2014 (date and venue to be confirmed)

If you are interested in finding out more please let the team know at externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk

NIHR Funding Event

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The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funding workshop took place this week in the Ashley Building (see speakers in the picture above). Hosted by the External Projects Team and the Faculty of Health Sciences, this workshop was opened by Prof Tony Stewart, who set the scene and chaired the day.

Over 35 people attended to listen to experts from the NIHR present funding information on a range of health related topics, this was a helpful session, aimed at encouraging colleagues and partners to think about cross collaboration with the NHS and stimultating and reinforcing which streams of NIHR can be accessed.

There was also a useful presentation from the Research Design Service (RDS) for our area, which is based at Keele University. This is led by Roger Beech, the service now supports all applications to the NIHR scheme rather than just the Research for Patient Benefit programme (RFPB). There is also a small bursary avaliable from the RDS service up to a max of £500 to facilitate patient and public involvement (PPI) to enable applicants to put the patient views at the centre, from the pre application planning stage through to application and project implementation.

To access the RDS please email rds@cphc.keele.ac.uk

if you are interested in this stream of funding, you can access an overview of NIHR by clicking HERE

The external projects team has all the slides, so please let us know if you would like a copy by emailing externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk

 

ESRC Festival of Science

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About the ESRC Festival of Social Science

The Festival of Social Science offers an opportunity for researchers to hold events aimed at non-academic audiences. Events which are aimed primarily at academic audiences are not eligible to be part of the Festival or to receive sponsorship.

The Festival of Social Science 2014 will take place from 1-8 November, and applications for sponsorship of up to £2,000 can be made to assist with events.

Social science research makes a difference. Discover how it shapes public policy and contributes to making the economy more competitive, as well as giving people a better understanding of 21st century society. From big ideas to the most detailed observations, social science affects us all everyday – at work, in school, when raising children, within our communities, and even at the national level.

This celebration of the social sciences takes place across the UK – via public debates, conferences, workshops, interactive seminars, film screenings, virtual exhibitions and much more. This is the eleventh year that ESRC has held the Festival of Social Science and each year the Festival grows from strength to strength.

We are pleased to confirm that the 2014 ESRC Festival of Social Science will be taking place across the UK from 1-8 November.

The call for applications is now open. The closing dates for:

  • Sponsored applications is 16.00 on 9 May
  • Non-sponsored applications is 16.00 on 16 May

Events must:

  • be held during the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2014 (1-8 November)
  • fit with the aims and objectives of the Festival
  • feature social science (ideally with a social scientist involved in the event)
  • be free to attend
  • not be aimed primarily at academic audiences

Please get in touch with the team if you are interested and click here for further information ESRC Festival of Science