Winston Churchill Memorial Trust – 2015 Travelling Fellowships

Posted on May 8, 2014 by Esther KNIGHT

The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust are looking for people who will be able to undertake research overseas and on return disseminate their new knowledge and examples of best practice.

Applications are now open for 2015 Travelling Fellowships.

Applicants must demonstrate that their project will have a wider benefit within their community or field, in addition to their own personal development.

Grants cover return and internal travelling, daily living and insurance within the countries visited. No qualifications are required.

If you would like to apply please go to our website, check your eligibility, find the correct category for your project and apply online

Travel funding for ethics in biomedical work

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Holly Hoar

This fund from the Wellcome Trust covers travel funding for people looking at the social or ethical aspects of biomedical research.

Funding Body: Wellcome Trust

Scheme: Small Grants

Overview: This scheme is for small-scale research projects, scoping exercises or meetings whose subject matter falls within the remit of the Society and Ethics programme.

This programme supports research that explores the social and/or ethical aspects of biomedical research and health, with the ultimate aim of achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health.

Key strands:
(1) consider social, economic and cultural factors that influence health, biomedical or health research, the development and implementation of healthcare practices, and health interventions
(2) inform answers to questions about resolving ethical dilemmas arising from biomedical or health research, the development and implementation of healthcare practices, and health interventions.

Research trips under this scheme may be to consult libraries or archives.

This scheme can also provide institutions with financial support for conferences (or a session within a conference), symposia, seminar series etc.

Budget: The normal maximum that can be applied for is £5000.

Awards provide a contribution towards expenses normally incurred in travelling to consult libraries or archives, such as transport, accommodation, subsistence and photocopying costs. They may include the costs of overseas visits.

Support does not include university fees or the applicant’s costs in attending a conference.

Costs for conferences and meetings may include the travel and accommodation of keynote speakers, catering, conference pack publication and any reasonably justified associated expenses.

Deadlines: Open call –applications may be submitted at anytime

Further Information: http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Society-and-ethics/funding-schemes/Small-grants/index.htm

EPSRC Energy Programme

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Josephine Beech

EPSRC, as part of its contribution to the RCUK Energy Programme, invites proposals for collaborative research projects to undertake fundamental research to tackle challenges in Conventional Power Generation. An indicative budget of up to £3M is available from EPSRC for this call. Cross-institutional bids are welcome, but there must be a single submission for each application, led by a single principal investigator, with only one proposal form.

The remit of this call is derived from the outputs of a scoping workshop which was held on 15 April 2014. We invite proposals in the areas of:

Step change technologies and materials for future plant design
Integration of conventional plants with future technologies

Anyone intending to submit a proposal to this call must register their interest by email to Laura Sewell by 16 June 2014.

Conventional Power Generation Call document (PDF 108KB)
Full call document
Conventional Power Generation Workshop Report (PDF 132KB)

EPSRC Novel Manufacturing Instrumentation call: invitation for outline proposals

Posted on May 1, 2014 by BENNETT Margaret

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council invites outline proposals for its call on novel manufacturing instrumentation.

It is an opportunity for the development of novel manufacturing instrumentation to improve existing processes and develop new capabilities. It is aimed at the development of novel techniques in manufacturing, manipulation and metrology with the intention that they can be incorporated into or form the basis of new, laboratory standard instruments.

Instruments developed should be capable of supporting research work into novel manufacturing and further development into industry-standard machines.

The goal is to establish new technologies with a strong UK base, in terms of intellectual property, supply chains and expertise.

An industrial partner is not a requirement for this call. However, partnerships are encouraged between university partners and companies that will either be users of the instrument or potential future suppliers of the instrument to the market.

The budget is £8 million, with £4m for equipment procurement and £4m for in-house development and commissioning. Resource costs and consumables are supported at 80 per cent of full economic costing.

Between eight to 12 projects, up to 36 months in duration will be funded.

Closing date: 15 May 2014

For further information go to: http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/calls/2014/Pages/novelmanufacturinginstrumentation.aspx

Joint Israel-UK Research in Cyber Security

Posted on April 24, 2014 by BENNETT Margaret

Israel’s National Cyber Bureau and Ministry of Science, Technology and Space together with the UK’s Cabinet Office and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council invite applications for joint research projects relevant to any area of cybersecurity.

Proposals are welcome for new projects in any area relevant to cyber security, from new or established partnerships. Collaborations will need to prepare a single, unified, proposal which describes a full programme of work in both countries.

Projects should last between 25 and 30 months, to start in Spring 2015 and end no later than December 2017.

Projects that address shared challenges in the following areas are particularly welcomed:

smart authentication and identity management
governance and regulation of cybersecurity
privacy assurance and perceptions
mobile and cloud security
human aspects of security or usable security
cyber-resilient systems

Support will be available for up to three collaborations, each of which involves leading academic researchers in both the partner countries. The total budget is £1.2 million. The key to success in the call will be the identification of a programme of work which is of high scientific quality and truly collaborative.

For UK partners, funding covers 80 per cent of full economic costs with a maximum project value of £250,000. For Israeli partners, the maximum project value is £200,000.

Closing date: 24th June 2014

For further information go to: http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/calls/2014/Pages/cybersecurity.aspx

UK National Contact Point Events on Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Esther KNIGHT

Registration is now open for the Individual Fellowships information and proposal writing events, which the UK Research Office is organising in its capacity as UK National Contact Point for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. The events will take place in Cardiff, Warwick and London on 28 May, 9 June, and 19 June 2014 respectively.

These information and proposal writing events aim to provide participants with a better understanding of the Individual Fellowships scheme and its requirements. The events will focus on the objectives of Individual Fellowships for both potential Fellows and hosts, along with practical information on proposal preparation, submission and finances. The events will also feature a case study from previously successful Individual Fellowship applicants and supervisors.

The events are aimed at staff at both UK academic and non-academic organisations, including research support staff, who are planning to submit a proposal to the Individual Fellowships call. Participants should gain a clear understanding of the proposal format for each scheme and the key issues relating to planning, writing and submitting proposals.

The events are timed to coincide with the first Individual Fellowships call under Horizon 2020, which opened on 12 March with a deadline of 11 September 2014. For registration and further information, please see link the below.

Follow the registration link here, you need to be registered with UKRO – with a xxxx@staffs.ac.uk email address.

http://www.ukro.ac.uk/Lists/MCA1/NewForm.aspx?RootFolder=/Lists/MCA1&Source=http://www.ukro.ac.uk/Pages/140326_mca1.aspx

The draft agandas for each of the sessions are below.

140528_programme_draft_msca_if_cardiff

140609_programme_draft_msca_if_warwick

140619_programme_draft_msca_if_rvc

Opportunity for scientists to meet Indian partners

Posted on April 14, 2014 by Holly Hoar

This fund is for British and Indian scientists to have meetings in either India or the UK. The scheme covers all areas of the life and physical sciences, including engineering, but excluding clinical medicine.

Funding Body: Royal Society

Scheme: India-UK scientific seminars

Overview: Funding enables groups of early to mid-career scientists from India and the UK to organise scientific seminars in order to promote collaboration and knowledge transfer. The meetings may address any area of the life and physical sciences, although applications focusing on the following priority areas are particularly encouraged:

•sustainable cities and urbanisation;

•public health and well being;

•water, food and energy nexus.

The meetings must take place in either India or the UK and serve up to 20 attendees, five from the visiting country and up to 15 from the host country. All attendees must have a PhD or equivalent research experience. UK attendees must hold a permanent or fixed term contract at an eligible organisation, excluding industrial, private and commercial organisations, university spinout companies, governmental bodies and research institutes and research councils. Indian attendees should be scientists or faculty members working in regular capacity in universities, deemed universities or academic institutes recognised by the University Grants Commission, or in national research and development laboratories or institutes. Applications should be submitted by the UK scientists.

Budget: Between 12 and 20 awards, worth up to £12,000 each, will be granted to support meetings of up to three days’ duration between October 2014 and March 2015. Awards will cover international airfares for up to five scientists, local travel costs, accommodation for up to four nights and organisational support.

The grant does not cover bench fees, conference fees, departmental costs.

Deadlines: 10 June 2014

Further Information: https://royalsociety.org/grants/schemes/india-uk-seminars/

Industry Fellowship

Posted on April 11, 2014 by BENNETT Margaret

This scheme is for academic scientists who want to work on a collaborative project with industry and for scientists in industry who want to work on a collaborative project with an academic organisation.

It aims to enhance knowledge transfer in science and technology between those in industry and those in academia in the UK.

The scheme provides a basic salary for the researcher and a contribution towards research costs.

The scheme is funded by the Royal Society, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Natural Environment Research Council, Rolls-Royce plc and BP plc.

The scheme covers all areas of the life and physical sciences, including engineering but excluding clinical medicine.

The applicant must:

have a PhD or be of equivalent standing in their profession
hold a permanent post in a university, not-for-profit research organisation or industry in the UK
be at a stage in their career when they would particularly benefit from establishing or strengthening personal or corporate links between academia and industry as a foundation for long-term collaboration and development

Applications involving spin-offs or small companies are encouraged. Applicants should clearly state how the fellowship will benefit the not-for-profit research organisation, especially in cases where the applicant has financial involvement within the company. Applicants should also state which complementary skills the employees at the company can offer.

Applicants should ensure that they meet all the eligibility requirements, which can be viewed in scheme notes (PDF).

The applicant’s basic salary is provided while on secondment but the employing organisation continues to pay national insurance and pension contributions.

Research expenses may be claimed up to the value of £2,000 per year. Awards can be for any period up to two years full-time or a maximum of four years pro rata. (i.e. an award could be held at 50% part-time for four years enabling fellows to maintain links with their employing institution more easily).

For further information go to https://royalsociety.org/grants/schemes/industry-fellowship/

Erasmus + Event

Posted on April 11, 2014 by Josephine Beech

The External Projects Team led a workshop this week in the Ashley Centre, over 25 staff from across the institution attended to hear about the new EU funding programme for education and youth, ERASMUS+. This new programme replaces the old Life Long Learning Programme as well as Erasmus Mundus, Tempus, Asia Link, Youth in Action and Edulink. The team were joined by our Erasmus Co-ordinator Deb Graddon who shared the latest news on our Key Action 1 bid (mobility of staff and student from SU) and Abdel Hamid Soliman who gave a great overview of a current Erasmus Mundus project PEACE.

If you are interested in this programme, there are a number of ways to find out more, you can access all of the current calls for proposals in the Programme Guide or if you would like access to the slides from the day, please email us at externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk

Staffordshire University Research and Funding Blog

Category Archives: Computing, Engineering and Sciences