Open call to SMEs and new entrants for industrial experiments

Posted on September 17, 2015 by Esther KNIGHT

The Digital Agenda for Europe will shortly be inviting applications for its second open call to SMEs and new entrants for industrial experiments. The call will open on 28 October 2015 and the closing date is 3 December 2015.

The following information is subject to change as it is being made public just before the adoption process of the work programme to provide potential participants with the currently expected main lines of the work programme 2016-2017. They are not yet endorsed by the Commission and they do not in any way prejudge the final decision of the Commission.

This call aims to initiate new business and innovation opportunities between SMEs and new entrants, major cyber physical system-platform providers, and competence centres. The goal is to develop innovative CPS products that will help increase the competitiveness of the European SME sector and thereby contribute to creating new jobs and growth in the European economy. projects must address at least one of the following focus areas:

•software intensive projects whose expected outcomes are software prototype demonstrators running on a EuroCPS platform;

•system integration projects whose expected outcomes are integrated system component prototypes;

•CPS with innovative components projects whose expected outcomes are system architecture virtual prototype demonstrators of the CPS products.

Applications are invited from SME’s and new entrants.

The maximum European Commission contribution for industrial experiments per applicant is €150,000. The funding rate is 70 per cent. The maximum duration of industrial experiment is 18 months. This comes in addition to coaching by competence centres and assistance from platform providers.

Horizon 2020: Draft work programmes 2016-17 available

Posted on September 15, 2015 by Esther KNIGHT

On this page: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/draft-work-programmes-2016-17

you will find draft versions of the Horizon 2020 work programmes for 2016-2017. These documents are being made public just before the adoption process of the work programme to provide potential participants with the currently expected main lines of the work programme 2016-2017. They are not yet endorsed by the Commission and they do not in any way prejudge the final decision of the Commission.

The adoption and the publication of the work programme by the Commission are expected in mid-October 2015. Only the adopted work programme will have legal value.

This adoption will be announced on the Horizon 2020 website and on the Participant Portal.

The big lottery: reaching communities

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Esther KNIGHT

Reaching Communities England

Funding projects that help people and communities most in need.

Total available: £200 million

What’s it all about?

The application processWe want to let you know quickly whether or not we can fund your project. First of all you need to complete a Reaching Communities Stage One application form. We will let you know whether your project is one that we might consider funding within eight weeks of receiving your form.

If you are successful at Stage One, we will send you a Stage Two application form. You will usually have four months to complete this.

The Reaching Communities programme has two strands.

Reaching Communities funding is for projects that help people and communities most in need. Grants are available from £10,000, upwards and funding can last for up to 5 years. If you think you need more than £500,000 you must call us before you apply to discuss why you believe a larger project is appropriate. There is no upper limit for total project costs.

We can fund, salaries, running costs, a contribution towards core costs and equipment. We can also fund up to £100,000 for land, buildings or refurbishment capital costs.

If you need more than £100,000 for a land and/or buildings project please see the Reaching Communities buildings page.

What are we looking for?

Every project we fund must respond to need. Need is the term we use to describe a problem or issue, or situation where something needs to change to make things better for a person, group of people or environment.

All projects must address one or more of the following outcomes:
• People have better chances in life, with better access to training and development to improve their life skills,
• Stronger communities, with more active citizens, working together to tackle their problems,
• Improved rural and urban environments, which communities are better able to access and enjoy,
• Healthier and more active people and communities

If you are applying for more than £500,000 you must contact us first to tell us why you believe a larger project is needed. Call the Big Advice line on 0845 4 10 20 30.

The NAVCA website has details of your local funding advisors at its members’ directory page. However much you want to apply for we encourage you to speak to a funding adviser. They can help you plan your project and give you guidance about how to fill in an application form.

Who can apply?

You can apply if you are:
• An unincorporated association, incorporated association, trust or company set up and registered as a charity.
• An unincorporated association set up as a voluntary and community group.
• A community interest company.
• A not-for-profit company limited by guarantee.
• A community benefit society.
• A town or parish council.
• A statutory body, including schools.

Projects must help people and communities in England. Project activities must take place in the UK.

We strongly encourage partnerships between the voluntary and community sector and the statutory sector.

Reaching Communities grants will not normally be available to groups applying on behalf of other organisations, in poor financial health, with poor history of managing grants, or established outside of the UK.

If you are a branch, or related to, a large organisation that may have some legal responsibility for any grant awarded, they must know about your application.

What can you apply for?

Reaching Communities funds projects. A project is a discrete piece of work that will make a difference. We can fund new or existing projects and will make a contribution to the core costs of your organisation where these costs are essential to managing and delivering your project.

You can make more than one application at any one time, but each application must be for a different project.

While we welcome applications from religious organisations, we do not fund religious activities.

We do not fund party political activities

If you apply for a grant for existing work, we will ask you to send us an evaluation report. Evidence of the impact of your project is important to our understanding of the difference your project will make.

A grant will not cover costs you have to pay before we give you a grant.

A grant will not cover costs which someone else is paying for in cash or in kind.

Reaching Communities grants are not available for infrastructure funding or for research projects which produce knowledge aimed at an external audience with the aim of increasing the body of academic research.

For a full list of what you can apply for read the Reaching Communities guidance notes.

Essential application documents – you must read/complete these before you apply

Reaching communities Stage One application form
Reaching Communities Guidance notes

Related documents – you may find it helpful to read these documents before you apply.

Reaching Communities Guidance notes for land and buildings projects up to £100,000
Good governance guide

The relationship between poverty and stress, low level anxiety and depression across the life-course

Posted on September 8, 2015 by Esther KNIGHT

This call is for proposals to carry out a multi-disciplinary evidence review of the relationship between poverty and stress, low level anxiety and depression across the life-course.

Key information

Status OPEN

Deadline 6 October 2015

TimescaleSix months

Budget £30,000 (including VAT and exes)

Further information

There is evidence that poverty and stress, low level anxiety and depression are associated in some way, even if there is not a simple causal link. JRF has published reviews which have touched on this including psychological perspectives on poverty and how much money matters to health, adult and children’s outcomes.

This multi-disciplinary evidence review should include consideration of the main ways in which poverty and stress, low level anxiety and depression may be linked. In particular the two-way causality between poverty and stress, low level anxiety and depression:

Does poverty cause stress, low level anxiety and depression?
Do stress, low level anxiety and depression cause poverty?

Full information pdf 0.2 MB Guidelines doc 0.1 MB

Apply now

Social Science and Humanities, Horizon 2020 Information Days: Autumn 2015

Posted on September 3, 2015 by Esther KNIGHT

New Horizon 2020 2016/17 Work Programme Information Days:

Following publication of the 2016/17 Work Programmes for Horizon 2020 in the Autumn, ESRC and other UK National Contact Points (who provide guidance on Horizon 2020) will be running a series of information days around the UK. The events will actively promote the new Work Programmes to the UK social science and humanities research community and provide information about the calls, as well as some helpful advice on applying to the European research framework.

Upcoming events

The British Academy, London: 2 November
University of Nottingham: 4 November
University of Glasgow: 9 November
Swansea University: 16 November
Queen’s University Belfast: 18 November

Registration will open in September, on a first come first serve basis, and will be available through the ESRC website. For more information about the events, please contact international@esrc.ac.uk.

Information will also be sent via the mailing list for Horizon 2020’s Challenge Six, if you would like to be included on this list, please email challenge6ncp@esrc.ac.uk.

Slides from the H2020 Information Day (18 February 2015)

AHRC Research Grants – Early Careers

Posted on August 27, 2015 by Esther KNIGHT

The AHRC Research Grants Schemes are intended to support well-defined research projects enabling individual researchers to collaborate with, and bring benefits to, other individuals and organisations through the conduct of research. This scheme is not intended to support individual scholarship. principal investigators must meet the additional eligibility criteria as outlined in the AHRC Funding Guide.

Please note that as a minimum, all applications under the grants scheme will be required to include a principal investigator and at least one co-investigator jointly involved in the development of the research proposal, its leadership and management and leading to significant jointly authored research outputs.

The early career route provides grants for projects with a full economic cost (fEC) between £50,000 and £250,000 for a varying duration up to a limit of 60 months.

Closing Dates Open – No Deadline

Please note that the assessment process for a Research Grants scheme application (Standard, Speculative and Early Career routes) takes approximately 30 weeks and the earliest start date for a project should be no earlier than 9 months after submission to the AHRC.

How to make an application

For all routes of the research grants scheme you must submit an application through the cross-council Joint Electronic Submission – (Je-S) System. If you need any assistance to use the system, please contact the JE-S helpdesk on 01793 444164 or on JesHelp@rcuk.ac.uk.

Further Information

AHRC Funding Guide (PDF, 1.8MB)

provides an overview of the different routes of the Research Grants 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.

Subject Coverage

Impact Summary and Pathways to Impact: – Frequently Asked Questions (PDF, 178KB)

RCUK Impact Requirements – Frequently Asked Questions

Examples of Impact from AHRC-funded projects (PDF, 296KB)

Contacts

The AHRC work with the RCUK Shared Services Centre (SSC) to deliver all of our funding activities. All queries regarding eligibility for funding and applications in progress and also queries regarding current awards, should be directed to the SSC team dealing with your subject area using the contacts page.

Submit your COST Action proposal

Posted on August 25, 2015 by Esther KNIGHT

COST is the longest-running European framework supporting trans-national cooperation among researchers, engineers and scholars across Europe.

It is a unique means for them to jointly develop their own ideas and new initiatives across all fields in science and technology, including social sciences and humanities, through pan-European networking of nationally funded research activities. Based on a European intergovernmental framework for cooperation in science and technology, COST has been contributing – since its creation in 1971 – to closing the gap between science, policy makers and society throughout Europe and beyond. As a precursor of advanced multidisciplinary research, COST plays a very important role in building a European Research Area (ERA).

It anticipates and complements the activities of the EU Framework Programmes, constituting a “bridge” towards the scientific communities of COST Inclusiveness Target Countries. It also increases the mobility of researchers across Europe and fosters the establishment of scientific excellence.

You can submit your COST Action proposal at any time throughout the year via the new e-COST online submission tool. The fall 2015 Collection Date is 8 September 2015.

COST invites proposals for Actions contributing to the scientific, technological, economic, cultural or societal knowledge advancement and development of Europe.

The Call is open to ideas in all fields of Science and Technology including Humanities and Social Sciences. Multi- and interdisciplinary proposals are encouraged.

The COST Open Call will continue having the spring and autumn Collection Dates, when all submitted proposals are gathered and evaluated.

The new set of COST Implementation Rules outlines procedures and conditions for participating in and setting up COST Actions.

The new Action Proposal Submission, Evaluation, Selection and Approval (SESA) procedure is fully science and technology-driven and will ensure a simple, transparent and competitive proposal evaluation and selection process, in line with the bottom-up, open and inclusive principles of COST.

The guidelines for the SESA procedure and evaluation criteria are available here. The anonymity criterion is also described in detail here.

Researchers benefit from a one-stage submission. The proposal requires filling in several sections via the new e-COST online submission tool as well as the Technical Annex of up to 15 pages, uploaded via the same tool.

The way to a successful COST Action proposal: SESA procedure explained

This video will take you through the entire Open Call process. You can also download the basic presentation

International collaboration opportunities with the British Council

Posted on August 20, 2015 by Esther KNIGHT

The British Council provides access to a large number of collaboration opportunities with academics for institutional links, travel grants, and workshops.

Partner countries include Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Phillipines, Thailand, Khazahstan, Mexico, Turkey, South Africa, Uruguay, Morocco, UAE and Quatar.

The full set of current opportunities can be accessed here:

http://www.britishcouncil.org/education/science/current-opportunities

COMING SOON: H2020-FoF-2016 factories of the future

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Esther KNIGHT

The European Commission Horizon 2020: Industrial Leadership will shortly be inviting proposals, under the leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – nanotechnologies, advanced materials, advanced manufacturing and processing, and biotechnology work programme, for its H2020-FoF-2016 factories of the future call.

The call is expected to open on 1 October 2015 and the anticipated deadline is 21 January 2016. More information is expected to be published in the third quarter of 2015. The following information, including which topics may be addressed in this call, is subject to change.

Proposals may address the following topics:

•FoF-01-2016 novel hybrid approaches for additive and subtractive manufacturing machines;

•FoF-02-2016 machinery and robot systems in dynamic shop floor environments using novel embedded cognitive functions;

•FoF-03-2016 zero-defect strategies at system level for multi-stage manufacturing in production lines;

•FoF-04-2016 continuous adaptation of work environments with changing levels of automation in evolving production systems;

•FoF-05-2016 support for the further development of additive manufacturing technologies in Europe.

Proposals must take the form of research and innovation actions, innovation actions or coordination and support actions, depending on the topic.

Research and innovation actions and innovation actions require participation by at least three legal entities, each established in a different EU member state or associated country.

Coordination and support actions require at least one legal entity established in a member state or associated country.

All H2020 funding calls allow third country partners who secure their own funding to participate in consortia.

The indicative budget for this call is €77 million.

Closing date 21 Jan 16

http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020-section/nanotechnologies-advanced-materials-advanced-manufacturing-and-processing-and

Study abroad studentships

Posted on August 13, 2015 by Esther KNIGHT

The Leverhulme Trust invites applications for its study abroad studentships. These support an extended period of advanced study or research at a centre of learning overseas, excluding the US. All subject areas may be considered, with the exception of studies of disease, illness and disabilities in humans or animals, or research that is intended to inform clinical practice or the development of medical applications.

Applicants must have been resident in the UK for at least five years and hold an undergraduate degree from a UK institution. Applicants should also either be a student at the time of application or have been registered as a student within the last eight years.

Studentships comprise £18,000 per year for basic maintenance costs, a dependent partner allowance of £6,000, return airfare and baggage allowance. They may include further allowances, such as tuition fees and a contribution to essential research costs, at the trust’s discretion. Awards support periods between 12 and 24 months.

Closing date 11 Jan 16

Deadline information Applications are invited between 1 September 2015 and 4pm, 11 January 2016. This call is repeated once a year.

Further information:

https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/funding/grant-schemes/study-abroad-studentships

Staffordshire University Research and Funding Blog

Category Archives: Business, Education and Law