About BENNETT Margaret

External Projects Officer in External Projects Team since January 2012.

European Energy Conference

Posted on June 21, 2013 by BENNETT Margaret

The 3rd European Energy Conference (E2C 2013) will be held in Budapest, Hungary on 27-30 October 2013.

The topics will cover chemistry, physics and material sciences related to energy technologies. Examples of topics covered in the conference sessions include those on:

Harnessing the energy of the sun safely and efficiently, both directly and indirectly
Nuclear and thermonuclear power generation
Energy storage in chemical and other forms
Hydrogen infrastructure
Energy transfer by photosynthesis

The aim of the conference is to lead to effective and fruitful communication between the research, government and industrial communities for a more sustainable and efficient European energy policy. Confirmed plenary speakers include Robert-Jan Smits, European Commission, DG Research and Innovation, Romana Jordan, MEP and Pál Kovacs, Hungarian State Secretary.

Conference website

Call for ‘Researcher Links’ International Workshops

Posted on June 21, 2013 by BENNETT Margaret

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

RAEng Enterprise Fellowships Call for applications announced

Posted on June 20, 2013 by BENNETT Margaret

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The Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellowship scheme is now open for applications.

Enterprise Fellowships provide funding and support to entrepreneurial engineering researchers, working at a UK University, to enable them to develop the commercial potential of their research. The aim of Enterprise Fellowships is to encourage aspiring entrepreneurs to commercialise technology based business ideas from academic institutions into spin out companies. Enterprise Fellowships provide up to £85,000 seed funding and salary support for 12 months. In addition to the funding, training is provided to give each Enterprise Fellow the tools, contacts and confidence to transform their idea into a successful business project or venture. Business mentors (drawn mainly from The Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship) are allocated to each Enterprise Fellow to provide additional support and advice for the duration of the Enterprise Fellowship as well as access to business angels and venture capital networks.

The closing date for applications is Monday 9 September 2013.

For further information on how to apply, please see the website or contact externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk

Secondment Project Grants

Posted on June 13, 2013 by BENNETT Margaret

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IT as a Utility+ Network

Applications are invited from the IT as a Utility+ Network under the RCUK digital econopmy theme for its secondment project grants. Secondments are for up to six months and are for individuals in academia, industry or policy bodies and should be undertaken in a different professional environment concerned with IT as a utility. The priority areas are:

usability and user experience
ethics, education and skills in utility computing environments
social computing platforms
smart spaces – the internet of things
security, trust and governance
economics and sustainability of services

Applicants must either relocate to a different institution or to a different sector and industry and governmental involvement is strongly encouraged.

Higher education institutions, some research council institutes and independent research organisations are eligible to apply.

Grants are worth up t0 £50,000 for up to six months with £40,000 provided by the network and £10,000 required by the applicant’s own institution.

Closing date 31 Oct 13

For more information go to http://www.itutility.ac.uk/home/

International Olympic Committee, Switzerland

Posted on June 5, 2013 by BENNETT Margaret

PhD students research grants

The International Olympic Committee invites proposals for its PhD students research grants. These encourage PhD students to undertake doctoral research with a humanities or social sciences perspective on the Olympic phenomenon, and facilitate access to IOC historical archives, library collections and image archives.

Potential subjects include anthropology, arts, communications, economics and management, history, law linguistics, pedagogy, philosophy, political sciences, sociology, sport sciences and urban, cultural, religious or literature studies, with a focus on Olympism, Olympic sports or the Olympic Games.

All current postgraduate students enrolled on a PhD degree programme may apply. Applicants must be fluent in French or English.

Funding is worth up to CHF8,000.

Closing date 27 Sep 13

For further information go to: http://www.olympic.org/news/phd-students-research-grant-programme-2014/195907

EU agrees top-up for 2013 programmes

Posted on May 23, 2013 by BENNETT Margaret

Image EU agrees top-up for 2013 programmes

By Laura Greenhalgh

15 May 13

European finance ministers have pledged to provide an additional €7.3 billion of funding this year, to pay bills for EU programmes including Framework 7.

At a meeting on 14 May, member states gave their political agreement to the funds, stating they would be used for “measures to support economic growth, create jobs and tackle unemployment”.

The €7.3bn-allocation is the first batch of money designed to top up this year’s budget, and meet payments already committed under EU programmes. The Commission has previously estimated that €11.2bn will be needed in total, including €678 million for Framework 7 and €126m for education and the Erasmus programme.

Finance ministers said they would consider a second payment to make up the funds in mid-October. The first tranche of additional money was agreed under qualified majority by the member states, although five countries—the UK, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands—opposed the move.

The Council of Minister’s positive signal on the 2013 budget means discussions on the 2014-20 budget framework can continue as planned. MEPs had previously stated they would be unwilling to agree a package for the next seven years, until member states agreed to honour commitments for this year.

However, at yesterday’s meeting, finance ministers said the formal vote on the extra €7.3bn will be postponed until the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament reach an agreement on the overall seven-year budget.

At a press conference following the meeting, the Irish minister for finance Michael Noonan said: “As you know, these discussions [on the 2013 budget] have been linked by the European Parliament to the discussions on the multiannual financial framework. Whilst we regret this link, we acknowledge this is a political reality.”

“Both the European Parliament and the Council have agreed to the principle that ‘nothing is agreed until everything is agreed’”, stated the Council.

Discussions on the overall budget from 2014-20 began on Monday 13 May. EU representatives have said a swift agreement will be vital to prevent delay to programmes such as Horizon 2020, set to begin in 2014.

The president of the Committee of the Regions, Ramon Luis Valcárcel, welcomed the announcement of an extra €7.3bn, but emphasized the importance of a second top-up later this year. “Regions and cities need to be reimbursed for the money they have already spent on EU-funded projects,” he said.

However, MEP Ivailo Kalfin referred to the agreement as a “no-go” on Twitter, criticising the finance council for only agreeing to part of the additional budget and making it conditional on the Parliament’s consent on the MFF.

“Ridiculous, these are funds legally due,” he wrote.

Source: http://www.researchprofessional.com/0/rr/news/europe/framework-7/2013/5/eu-agrees-top-up-for-2013-programmes.html

ESRC: Pre-announcement of two pending calls for an Administrative Data Research Network (ADRN)

Posted on May 15, 2013 by BENNETT Margaret

Following the publication of the Administrative Data Taskforce report Improving Access for Research and Policy (PDF, 1.1Mb), the ESRC will be inviting proposals for a major investment in the new Administrative Data Research Network.

There will be two forthcoming calls:

for the Administrative Data Research Centres (ADRCs) in each of the four regions in the UK
and for the Information Gateway (IG) for ADRCs. Applications will be invited from research organisations eligible for Research Council Funding.

Applicants should be aware that the ESRC is currently in discussion with the statistical authorities in the UK to confirm their role in the new Network – with anticipation that they may become commissioning partners with the ESRC. Applicants should avoid approaching the statistical agencies about forming collaborations until full details of these calls are published.

Full details will become available 5 June 2013.

Potential applicants can register to attend a Bidders’ Information Event to be held in central London 13 June 2013. Those interested in attending should pre-register their details

Email: esrc@vistaevents.co.uk
Telephone: 020 8542 8223

Further information will be available on the ESRC website later in May

http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/funding-opportunities/26048/administrative-data-research-network.aspx

ESRC: Pre-announcement of a pending call for European-Chinese joint research projects

Posted on May 15, 2013 by BENNETT Margaret

Societal Challenges – Green Economy and Population Change

The research funding organisations of China (NSFC), France (ANR), Germany (DFG), The Netherlands (NWO) and the United Kingdom (ESRC) are delighted to launch a new multi-lateral collaboration consisting of a joint research programme on two basic societal challenges:

The challenges of the Green Economy
The challenges of Population Change

There will be a number of priority areas within these themes and researchers from these countries will be invited to submit proposals for joint projects in these areas. Researchers may have any disciplinary background within the social sciences and beyond, however, the proposal should be predominantly within the social sciences and applicants must satisfy the eligibility criteria of their home funding agency. Projects will also need to involve a number of Chinese and European partners; full guidance will be announced in the call.

The call, its decision procedure and funding mechanisms will be based on the Open Research Area for Social Sciences (ORA), a process established on international standards. Funding will be distributed among the partners according to the place of work of the researchers, and according to the funding rules of each individual agency.

Further information about the priority areas will be made available by the end of June 2013 with the full call launched in September. The closing date of the call will be in early December 2013.

http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/funding-opportunities/26041/societal-challenges.aspx

MQ: Transforming Mental Health fellowships

Posted on May 2, 2013 by BENNETT Margaret

MQ: Transforming Mental Health invites applications for its fellow awards. MQ is seeking talented researchers with bold ideas who aspire to be the next generation of research leaders in mental health. With this new Programme, they aim to support the most promising early career scientists and clinicians who are asking the difficult and challenging questions that will contribute to transformative advances in mental health research.

The programme is open to researchers from all sciences and the proposed research must address a question relevant to mental health.

In supporting researchers at an early stage of their career, MQ aims to build and ensure capacity in academic research in mental health for the future. Awardees will join the community of MQ supporters and friends championing research progress across all sectors of mental health research.

The Programme will provide £75,000 (or $110,000 or €85,000) per year for up to three years.

The award may be used as start-up funding for a specific project or as bridging funding for a current project. Funds may be used for salary support and/or direct research costs. Salary support may be either for the applicant themselves, or for research assistance staff as appropriate. Please see Guidelines for Applicants for more information on how funding may be used and other currencies.

These awards are open to individuals from any country.

Applicants must be early career researchers with a PhD, MD or equivalent, who have recently established their own independent research career or are about to become independent. The Programme is open to basic scientists, clinically qualified researchers (such as medical graduates and clinical psychologists) and social science researchers. Please see FAQs on Eligibility and Suitability for more information on Applicant selection.

Research can be based in the laboratory, clinic or field, and may involve experimental or theoretical approaches, but must be relevant to the cause, treatment or prevention of mental illness.

Applications for this Programme are to be considered annually. MQ anticipates making up to four awards in 2013.

Application deadline: 10 June 2013

http://joinmq.org/research-programme/the-mq-fellows-programme/

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