Marie Sklodowska-Curie COFUND Seminar

Posted on April 4, 2014 by Josephine Beech

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.

Social Sciences and Humanities in Horizon 2020

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Esther KNIGHT

Conference: ‘Achieving Impact – SSH in Horizon 202

http://www.achievingimpact2014.eu/node/18

The presentations from the ‘Achieving Impact – Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities in Horizon 2020’ conference, which took recently place in Athens, have been published on the conference website.

Organised by the NET4SOCIETY, the network of National Contact Points for research in the field of Social Sciences and Humanities, the ‘Achieving Impact’ conference brought together researchers, research support staff and stakeholder organisations to discuss and exchange good practice in achieving impact in Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities research.
The conference also featured brokerage and information sessions on call topics in the Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 6: Europe in a changing world – Inclusive, innovative and reflective societies.
Presentations and videos of the speeches delivered in the conference are now available to download on the conference website.

Latest news on the Health for Growth Programme

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Esther KNIGHT

h ttp://ec.europa.eu/health/programme/policy/proposal2014_en.htm

With a proposed budget of €446m the general objective of the Health for Growth Programme is to:- ‘work with the Member States to encourage innovation in healthcare and increase the sustainability of health systems, to improve the health of EU citizens and protect them from cross-border health threats’.

It is proposed that the programme will focus on the links between economic growth and health, and will concentrate on finding and applying innovative solutions to improve the quality, efficiency and sustainability of health systems. It will support actions aimed at developing human capital and exchanging good practices in the following areas:-

Contributing to innovative and sustainable health systems;
Increasing access to better and safer healthcare;
Promoting good health and preventing disease;
Protecting citizens from cross border health threats.

The Programme will be managed by the Directorate General for Health and Consumers. It will be delivered according to priorities set out in annual work programmes. Funds will be made available in the form of:-

Grants for joint actions (transnational partnerships)
Grant to projects
Operating grants
Direct grants to International Organisations
Public procurement

The opportunities available to apply for grants for joint actions and projects and public procurement tenders will be of interest to the university. The Programme will offer opportunities for HEI involvement in activities aimed at increasing the uptake of results from FP7 (and its successor Programme Horizon 2020) research; to participate in expert networks; to undertake research and analysis and in providing some training and staff development for health workers.

Publication of the first calls for proposals is expected in April or early May 2014.

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.

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

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

Pioneers into Practice – funding available

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Esther KNIGHT

The Climate KIC programme is going from strength to strength. It is now Europe’s biggest trans-national project focused on climate change with a budget in 2014 of €76 million.

One big part of the activities is Pioneers into Practice, the unique professional development programme open to practitioners of all ages and backgrounds which provides two one month placement opportunities, three workshops with Dutch specialists in transitions thinking and a place at the annual Innovation Festival, this year in Valencia. With all the costs up to €8,000 covered.

The call for people to both participate in this year’s programme and to be a host is now open. Forms can be obtained from the link below.

This is a great opportunity

http://www.innovationbham.com/projects/pioneers-into-practice/2014-programme/

Staffordshire University Research and Funding Blog

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