Category Archives: Business, Education and Law

Opportunity to make a difference…….

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The West Midlands Research for Patient Benefit Regional Advisory Committee are looking for new committee members – specifically those with statistical expertise, health economics and paediatric expertise.

You can find out more: http://www.nihr.ac.uk/funding/RfPB-rac-opportunities.htm

Prof Karen Rodham is a member of the committee and is happy to chat with anyone who is interested about what is involved. It is a great opportunity to be part of the funding decision making process.

For more info contact Karen at Karen.Rodham@staffs.ac.uk

 

 

 

 

ESRC – funding for future research leaders

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The Economic and Social Research Council invites proposals for its future research leaders scheme. This scheme supports outstanding early-career researchers to carry out excellent research and to develop all aspects of their research and knowledge exchange skills. Proposals are welcome in any topic that falls within the ESRC’s remit.

The scheme is open to high-quality candidates from anywhere in the world who have a maximum of four years’ postdoctoral experience and the support of an eligible UK research organisation.

Grants will last a maximum of three years with an overall limit of £350,000 at 100 per cent full economic cost of which the ESRC will pay 80 per cent. Up to 40 grants will be funded. Closing date 20 Jan 15

Further details http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/funding-opportunities/15938/carousel-future-research-leaders.aspx

Leverhulme research project grants – appications invited

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The Leverhulme Trust invites proposals for its research project grants. These support innovative and original research projects on a topic of the applicant’s choice. The trust welcomes applications for research in any academic discipline.

Eligible applicants will already be employed by an institution or be an academic who has maintained close links with that institution following retirement. Institutions eligible to apply are universities, other institutions of higher education in the UK, and registered charities in the UK that have equivalent research capacity.

The scheme is also open to institutions or organisations of similar standing in countries where the provision of research funding is seriously limited. The award is paid directly to the institution at which the applicant is employed. Up to three co-applicants from the same institution or different institutions may apply.

Grants may be held for up to five years for a maximum sum of £500,000. Eligible costs include research staff, postgraduate students and the tuition fees and maintenance costs of one or more PhD studentships, as well as research-associated costs such as travel and subsistence, consumables and technical costs or services.

Exclusions

The trust does not support

  •  Research directly relevant to clinicians, medical professionals or the pharmaceutical industry, as well as policy-driven research where the principal objective is to assemble an evidence base for immediate policy initiatives.
  •  Research aimed principally at an immediate commercial application.
  • Principal investigators may not apply from institutions or organisations located in North America or elsewhere in the EU.

Application procedure

http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/funding/RPG/RPG.cfm

Research Project Grants are assessed via a two-stage process. There are no deadlines for Outline Applications, and their assessment is normally completed within three months. An invitation to progress to the second stage – preparation of a Detailed Application – will be sent to those whose Outline Application has been approved.

Scientists demand better place for humanities in Horizon 2020

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Horizon 2020 has failed to fully integrate the humanities into its work programmes, according to Science Europe.

More than 90 per cent of the topics covered in the programmes do not include a humanities approach, says a report published by the Science Europe scientific committee for the Humanities on 4 September. The paper analyses the integration of the humanities in the 2014-2015 work programmes.

In the remaining 10 per cent of topics, the humanities expertise asked for is rather narrow and unnecessarily limited, says the report. The work programmes are not very concerned with the ‘human factor’ of research and innovation, such as attitudes or culturally embedded values, according to Science Europe, a group that represents research organisations.

The report also criticises the fact that the humanities are seen mostly as having a translational role between research and the market, but are not pursued to gain better understanding of wider social developments.

See full report:

http://www.scienceeurope.org/uploads/PublicDocumentsAndSpeeches/SCsPublicDocs/Humanities%20Paper_FIN_dig.pdf

Newton Fund: building science and innovation capacity in developing countries

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The Newton Fund is part of the UK’s official development assistance. Its aim is to develop science and innovation partnerships that promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries.

The fund is £75 million each year from 2014 for 5 years. It will be administered by The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Activities under the fund will be managed by a core group of Delivery Partners, including: the Royal Society, Royal Society of Engineering, The Royal Society of Chemistry, British Academy and The Academy of Medical Sciences, The British Council (in collaboration with the UK Higher Education International Unit), Research Councils UK (RCUK), Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and the Met Office.

The funding will be allocated in varying proportions across 15 partner countries, all of which are emerging economies. All programmes must be match funded so that partnerships are on an equal basis and must also assist with the economic development of the partner country.

Partner countries are:  Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam.

The fund will cover 3 broad categories of activity:

  • people: improving science and innovation expertise (ie: ‘capacity building’), student and researcher fellowships, mobility schemes and joint centres
  • programmes: research collaborations on development topics
  • translation: innovation partnerships and challenge funds to develop innovative solutions on development topics

The Newton Fund should promote the long term economic development and welfare of people in partner countries and unlock new opportunities for HEIs to contribute and build partnerships. Challenges such as the alleviation of poverty, improvement of energy and water quality, as well as innumerable other social, environmental and cultural benefits which could ultimately lead to increasing the economic growth of partner countries as well as the UK should be addressed.

Calls are likely to be opened at different times according to the country and the programme area. For all current research calls go to:

Multi-country calls  No calls are open at the moment.

Calls for Brazil The joint Research Councils UK-CONFAP research partnerships call opened on 4 August. The application form and guidance for applicants will be available from 18 August 2014. The deadline for applications is 17 October at 16:00 UK time.

Calls for Chile Newton-Picarte fund No calls are open at the moment.

Calls for UK-China Research and Innovation Partnership Fund Ten calls now open with the Met Office as the delivery partner. Deadlines: 1 September 2014 & 27 February 2015.

Calls for Colombia Newton-Caldas Fund No calls are open at the moment.

Calls for Egypt No calls are open at the moment.

Calls for India Two calls for India’s Newton-Bhabha fund are now open, with more expected shortly.

  • DBT-MRC Joint Centre Partnerships (Deadline: 29 September at 16:00)
  • Joint Global Research Programme: Women’s and children’s health (Deadline: 21 October at 16:00)

Calls for Indonesia No calls are open at the moment.

Calls for Kazakhstan Newton-Al Farabi Partnership Programme No calls are open at the moment.

Calls for Malaysia No calls are open at the moment.

Calls for Mexico No calls are open at the moment.

Calls for Philippines No calls are open at the moment.

Calls for South Africa No calls are open at the moment.

Calls for Thailand No calls are open at the moment.

Calls for Turkey No calls are open at the moment.

Calls for Vietnam No calls are open at the moment.

Newton Fund programme descriptions

For regular updates on the fund visit the HE International Unit website

Full details can be found on the UK government website

For further information, contact the External Projects Team.

Thematic partnerships with Indian Universities

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The British Council’s UK-India education and research initiative and the Department of Science and Technology of India invite applications for their thematic partnerships. These facilitate collaborations between faculties and researchers and enable registered PhD students and postdoctoral researchers in India and the UK to undertake short-term visits to work on research projects. The key subject areas match well with Staffordshire University’s:

•climate change;

•computer science;

•public health and well-being;

•food water energy;

•sustainable cities;

•big data;

•high value manufacturing.

Multidisciplinary research is encouraged. These partnerships are intended for institution-based research teams, in the UK and India, of proven research ability. The project leaders should be faculty members or researchers in an institution or research laboratory in a UK university or institution. EU citizens may apply provided that they hold a permanent position in the UK, and non-EU citizens should have held a permanent position at a UK institution for at least three consecutive years. Indian project leaders should be based in an Indian university or institution and be resident in India.

Funds are available for partnerships of up to 15 months in duration and provide a maximum of £40,000 equivalent in Indian rupees.

Closing date 15th September

http://www.ukieri.org/call-for-bids-2014-15.html

 

Bright ideas research fund

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Nesta invites applications for grants from its bright ideas research fund. These grants aim to fund good new ideas related to innovation and innovation policy and develop research projects and policy proposals in fields that relate to innovation but where Nesta does not have big programmes already in place. Projects can involve primary research, novel argumentation, or the development of a new idea, or ideally more than one of these things.

It is hoped that the fund will lead to interesting insights in its own right, and perhaps in due course to some larger research projects.

Fields of particular interest include:

  • understanding the innovative businesses that matter
  • what do emerging technologies mean for the economy and society
  • how can we get a financial system better suited to innovation
  • developing an innovation policy for the arts
  • datavores
  • better government policy for innovation
  • better government policy based on evidence and experiments
  • new trends in innovation around the world
  • collective intelligence
  • how to encourage new ideas and experimentation in social innovation
  • scaling up social innovation
  • big and open data for social innovation
  • collaborative economy
  • smarter smart cities
  • accelerators.

Applications are welcome from a wide range of people and organisations worldwide, including think tanks, academics, journalists, charities and businesses.

Nesta will fund up to £10,000 per project. Projects are expected to be concluded within a year of their start.

This is an open call. You can apply for the fund any time during the year and applications are reviewed in batches. The next review date will be on the 24th of October 2014.

For more information go to: http://www.nesta.org.uk/funding/bright-ideas-research-fund-open-call

RCUK consults on open access

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Research Councils UK has launched a call for evidence to inform a review of how its open-access policy has been implemented.

The review panel, chaired by former University of Leicester vice-chancellor Bob Burgess, wants to hear from anyone who is interested in the open-access policy. The deadline for evidence is 12 September and the panel hopes to report interim findings by the end of 2014.

The review is aimed at helping RCUK to understand how effective the policy has been and what impact it has had on universities, research organisations, publishers and researchers.

See http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/media/news/140717/

The review panel, chaired by former University of Leicester vice-chancellor Bob Burgess, wants to hear from anyone who is interested in the open-access policy. The deadline for evidence is 12 September and the panel hopes to report interim findings by the end of 2014.

 

Individual fellowships

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FRIAS

http://www.frias.uni-freiburg.de/en/news/call-for-applications/call-for-applications-frias-cofund-fellowship-programme-fcfp-2015-16

The Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies invites applications for its individual fellowships. These support innovative research across existing boundaries, between disciplines, different cultures and countries, established and younger researchers and engages in activities that opens the research community to society and politics. There are two types of fellowships, junior and senior.

Applicants for junior fellowships must have a PhD and one to six years of postdoctoral experience. For a senior fellowship a minimum of six years of postdoctoral experience is required. There are no restrictions on research disciplines or researcher nationality. Applicants may not have had their main residence in Germany for more than one year out of the last three prior to the application deadline, which is 15th October 2014.

Each fellow receives a monthly allowance of up to €450 in theoretical disciplines and €1,050 in experimental disciplines. Fellows without a work contract with their home institute will receive an attractive salary. A mentoring programme for junior fellows, office space and assistance with accommodation is also available. A senior fellowship last for three to 12 months and a junior fellowships lasts 12 months for humanities and social sciences and up to 24 months for natural sciences, engineering and medicine. There is a total of 20 fellowships available.