NIHR Funding Event

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Josephine Beech

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

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions: MSCA Individual Fellowships Call

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Esther KNIGHT

The call for the 2014 Individual Fellowships, under the Marie Skłowdowska-Curie Actions, has been published on the Participant Portal.

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/calls/h2020-msca-if-2014.html

The Individual Fellowships Guide to Applicants can be found on the Portal through the Call Documents tab for the IF call.
The link to the submission service is not yet active and will become available over the coming weeks – currently expected to be during April.

The deadline for the 2014 Individual Fellowships call is 11 September 2014.

UKRO is planning three information and proposal writing sessions on the Individual Fellowships across the UK in May/June 2014. Dates, venues and registration information will be published over the coming weeks on this blog.
The European Commission will be organising a joint webinar information seminar on the Individual Fellowships and COFUND calls on 10 June 2014. We will circulate further details of the seminar as soon as they become available.

ESRC Festival of Science

Posted on March 14, 2014 by Josephine Beech

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

2014 European Innovation Scoreboard Published

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Esther KNIGHT

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/innovation/policy/regional-innovation/index_en.htm

The 2014 edition of the EU’s Innovation Union Scoreboard has been published. The report suggests that Europe is closing the ‘innovation gap’ with the United States and Japan, but that differences in performance between EU Member States are still high and diminishing only slowly.

At a regional level, the innovation gap is also widening, with the innovation performance having worsened in almost one fifth of EU regions.

The overall ranking by EU country is similar to previous scoreboards with Denmark, Finland, Germany and Sweden characterised as ‘innovation leaders’ investing the most in research and innovation. The UK is in the next group of countries and rated as an ‘innovation follower’.

The report finds that progress in the last year has been driven by the openness and attractiveness of the EU research system, plus business-academia innovation collaboration and the commercialisation of knowledge by licensing and patent revenues. However, growth in public R&D spending was offset by less venture capital investment and innovation investment in companies.

The Innovation Union Scoreboard uses a set of 25 indicators within three broad areas (enablers; firm activities; outputs).

£10k for research in arts and humanities

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Holly Hoar

The University has had some success with these grants in the past, but there seems for have been fewer applications in recent rounds. We are keen to see the numbers increasing again as this is a great fund to launch new researchers or to get small projects off the ground

Funding Body: British Academy and Leverhulme Trust

Scheme: Small Research Grants

Overview: Fund is available to support primary research in the humanities and social sciences.

Funds may be used to facilitate initial project planning and development, to support the direct costs of research and to enable the advancement of research through workshops or conferences, or visits by or to partner scholars.

Applications for individual and collaborative projects are equally welcome. International groups of scholars are eligible to apply, provided the lead applicant is a UK-based scholar.

Budget: Grants are tenable for up to 24 months and are worth between £500 and £10,000. Start dates may be between 1 September 2014 and 31 March 2015. The fund does not cover staff time for the principal investigator, but you can employ a researcher to do the leg work on the project and get their time covered. Institutional overheads are not covered.

Deadlines: 15 April 2014 –Bids are submitted online. All bids need final online approval from the External Projects Team as well as faculty approval. Please factor in time for this and let the team know in advance that you are submitting a bid.

Further Information: http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/srg.cfm

Innovation Challenge Knowledge Exchange School 2014

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Josephine Beech

Saturday May 10^th to Wednesday May 14^th
The Work Foundation, St.James’, London

Knowledge exchange is increasingly a central part of research projects in all disciplines and is playing an ever greater role in the assessment of academic research. Familiarity with, and experience of, knowledge exchange techniques has become crucial to the development of successful research careers both within the university sector and in the world of commercially focussed research.

This school is for post-graduate research students seeking to raise their awareness of knowledge exchange, team work and approaches to innovation in preparation for post-doctoral work. It is run by Lancaster University in partnership with The Work Foundation and brings together early-career academic researchers with partners from both private and non-profit sectors to work on real-world innovation challenges. It is based on the successful Enterprise School model; as one of our participants put it after the last School: it ‘can absolutely change your way of thinking, approaching life and progress your career’.

Working with tutors and mentors from Lancaster University and The Work Foundation’s partners alongside independent experts, participants will be introduced to a series of key, applied knowledge exchange skills used widely in the business sector. The programme offers the opportunity to develop experience project based teamwork, and skills that will serve students well during their research as well as helping their post-doctoral career development (be it in academia or in another sector).

Working with Astute Radio (a young Internet media company) and a group of The Work Foundation’s network partners from various sectors, teams will deploy and develop these approaches to work on innovation challenges set by the partners and reflecting real-world issues confronted by these various organisations.

The school is hosted by the Work Foundation in London St.James’ and includes hotel accommodation nearby and all necessary refreshments/meals as part of the package.

Cost: the programme costs £600 per student

For an application form please email J.a.beech@staffs.ac.uk

AHRC Research Networking

Posted on February 28, 2014 by Josephine Beech

The Research Networking Scheme is intended to support forums for the discussion and exchange of ideas on a specified thematic area, issue or problem. The intention is to facilitate interactions between researchers and stakeholders through, for example, a short-term series of workshops, seminars, networking activities or other events. The aim of these activities is to stimulate new debate across boundaries, for example, disciplinary, conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and/or international. Proposals should explore new areas, be multi-institutional and can include creative or innovative approaches or entrepreneurship. Proposals must justify the approach taken and clearly explain the novelty or added value for bringing the network participants together.

Proposals for full economic costs up to £30,000 for a period of up to two years may be submitted. The exact mechanism for networking and the duration is up to the applicants to decide but must be fully justified in the proposal. An additional threshold of up to £15,000 full economic cost may be sought to cover the costs of any international participants or activities in addition to the £30,000 fEC scheme limit. Proposals will need to be submitted by an eligible Research Organisation but must involve collaboration with at least one other organisation, as well as having significant relevance to beneficiaries in the UK.

There is no specfic closing date for this call.

Research-Funding-Guide.pdf provides an overview of
the Research Networking Scheme. It details the eligibility criteria, assessment
criteria, information on how to apply, application deadlines, eligible dates and
terms and conditions of awards. You must ensure that you meet all of the
eligibility criteria before submitting an application.

If you are interested in this opportunity please email us at externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk

The Calouste Gulbenkian Open Fund

Posted on February 27, 2014 by BENNETT Margaret

The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation invites grant applications under its programme for art research and development. Applications must address projects or ideas under the foundation’s three main strategic aims:

Cultural Understanding

To help improve people’s perceptions of each other by providing opportunities through culture and between cultures.

Fulfilling Potential

To assist the most disadvantaged in society to fulfil their potential by building connections and developing opportunities.

Environment

To help in the development of a society which benefits from a more sustainable relationship with the natural world and understands the value of its resources.

Not-for -profit organisations based in the UK or Republic of Ireland may apply for funding, and projects must take place in these countries. Projects may involve international partners, or emulate good practice in other countries.

Grants average between £10,000 and £30,000.

There is no closing date.

The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is a charitable foundation established in Portugal in 1956 with cultural, educational, social and scientific interests. The Foundation’s Headquarters are in Lisbon with offices in London (the UK Branch) and Paris

For further information go to: http://gulbenkian.org.uk/open-fund/fund.html

A year off to work on design with a business

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Holly Hoar

This fund gives a design researcher the chance to work in business for 6 months to a year and collaborate on projects. They are interested in three priorities:

The role of design in the innovation system
The role of design in service innovation
Evidence to demonstrate the impact and value of Design

Below is some more information.

Funding Body: AHRC and ESRC

Scheme: Design fellowships

Overview: These enable design researchers in UK universities to become embedded in business or public service organisations and work with them on collaborative projects.

Researchers should be keen to apply or test ideas about service innovation in business, public sector or similar context. They should apply in collaboration with a business or public sector organisation of their own choice.

Fellowships support a period between six months and one year on a full time or part time basis, with costs. Awards must start between 1 August and 31 December 2014.

Budget: AHRC meeting 80 per cent of full economic costs

Deadlines: 24 April 2014

Further Information: http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/Funding-Opportunities/Pages/AHRC-ESRC-Design-Fellowships.aspx

Staffordshire University Research and Funding Blog

Category Archives: Arts and Creative Technologies