Category Archives: Computing, Engineering and Sciences

Eight new Royal Society Industry Fellowships connect academia and industry

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The Royal Society has announced eight new fellowships aimed at strengthening links between academia and industry. The fellowships are awarded to 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.

 The latest awardees’ project topics range from the pathology of neurodegenerative disease to mineral interface determination in shale hydration.

The scheme provides each scientist’s basic salary for the duration of their secondment, which lasts for up to two years full-time or four years part-time.

The full list of the latest Royal Society Industry Fellowships recipients is as follows:

Dr Hugh Greenwell from the University of Durham to work on Mineral Interface Determination During Shale Hydration with M-I SWACO.

Dr Atsufumi Hirohata from the University of York to work on the Development of an on-chip racetrack memory using exchange-biased pinning with Hitachi Cambridge laboratory.

Dr Hywel Jones from Sheffield Hallam University to work on Multi-Component Ceramic Composites for Engineering and Armour Applications with XeraCarb Ltd.

Dr Andreas Kranis from Aviagen to work on Capturing and Securing the Sequence Diversity of Broiler Chickens with the University of Edinburgh.

Professor Sankara Naryanan Ekkanath Madathil from the University of Sheffield to work on Systems Impact of Next Generation Power Semiconductors and Converter Technologies with Rolls-Royce.

Professor Yvan Petillot from Herriot-Watt University to work on Advanced autonomy in the subsea domain with SeeByte Ltd.

Professor Andrew Randall from the University of Exeter to work on In vivo, cell-level imaging of network dynamics and pathology in murine models of neurodegenerative disease with Lilly company UK.

Dr Michael Ries from the University of Leeds to work on Challenges in Green Solvent Cellulose Processing with Innovia Film Ltd.

This year is the Royal Society’s ‘Year of Science and Industry,’ which is supported by a number of events that showcase UK achievement in industrial science. Click here to find out more http://royalsociety.org/events/2013/year-science-industry/

Energy Generation and Supply – Lunchtime Webinar – KTP

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Lunchtime webinar: Power Electronics – Developing a Resilient Energy System: Targeted Call for KTPs

Friday, 19 April 2013, 12.30 – 13.30 (GMT)

PLEASE REGISTER HERE

The Technology Strategy Board, Welsh Government and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are to invest jointly up to £1m to establish new Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) in the area of power electronics.

They are looking to support a cohort of up to 12 KTPs UK-wide for this thematic KTP competition, with up to three of these coming from companies based in Wales. Power electronics is considered key to enabling a resilient energy system for a future UK energy mix which will include a larger percentage of renewables, connectivity to a European supergrid, community energy systems, and electric vehicle charging.

This targeted call for KTPs aims to stimulate and support supply chain innovation in power electronics and the energy sector. It is part of a £5.4m programme and is running in parallel with a £4.4m Technology Strategy Board investment in power electronics. Typical annual project costs could be in the region of £60k with a third of this being contributed by the company, in the case of an SME.

This targeted call will encourage knowledge-sharing across projects, and will facilitate effective links to the UK research base, including the developing EPSRC National Centre for Power Electronics. This will give the businesses involved access to knowledge and expertise held by a range of academic groups with different perspectives on the high-level challenges facing the industry.

To help potential KTP applicants find out more about KTPs and the current £1m targeted call we have set up this webinar session where Christian Inglis, Lead Technologist – Energy Generation and Supply, and Wendy Mannix, the Technology Strategy Board’s KTP Portfolio Manager, supported by Regional KTP Advisers will give the background to the call and will be available to answer questions from potential applicants.

Dial in details and joining instructions will be sent to registrants 24 hours before the event.

Contact Viola Augstein, viola.augstein@energyktn.innovateuk.org if you have any further questions.

UK droughts and water scarcity grants – outline bids

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The Natural Environment Research Council, in collaboration with the Economic and Social Research Council, the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the Arts and Humanities Research Council, invites outline bids for its UK droughts and water scarcity grants. These are for consortia to respond to one of three work packages in relation to droughts and water scarcity in the UK. The three work packages are:

•     characterisation and quantification of the roles of multiple drivers, their impacts, and cumulative effects during historic periods of drought and water scarcity and methods to support decision-making, worth up to £1.5 million;

•     forecasting droughts and water scarcity, and methods to support decision-making, worth up to £2m;

•     impacts of droughts and water scarcity, and methods to support decision-making, worth up to £7m for individual consortia of up to £3.5m.

All consortia must be interdisciplinary and cover an appropriate range of environmental, social, economic, historical and cultural contexts at multiple scales within the UK. Project duration should be between 36 and 48 months. Applicants must be eligible for RCUK research grant funding.

The total budget is worth up to £10.5m.

Closing date 03 May 13 for outline bids, full proposals due 21 August 2013.

http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/programmes/droughts/events/ao.asp?cookieConsent=A

For further information contact externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk

 

PCP SILVER challenge

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Supporting Independent Living for the Elderly through Robotics, EU and other funders

Supporting Independent Living for the Elderly through Robotics invites applications under its pre-commercial procurement SILVER challenge. Funding supports two to three years projects with the aim to develop new innovative robotic solutions to make elderly people more independent from professional homecare. Tenderers should aim at a market introduction of their new solution a maximum of two to four years after the end of the PCP. All legal entities from EU members and associated state countries and with relevant portion of research and development are eligible. The total budget is €2,150,000. The process will be divided in three phases:

•up to eight companies will participate in the design of a solution with a budget up to €350,000 for a period of six months;

•up to four companies will participate in the development of a prototype with a budget up to €720,000 for a period of one year;

•up to three companies will participate in the pre-commercial development with a budget up to €1,080,000 for a period of one year.

Closing date 05 Jun 13

Deadline information Registrations due 5 June; applications due 12 June 2013

http://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:74279-2013:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0

For further information contact: externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk

 

Fellowship opportunity for researchers

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The British Science Association Media Fellowship Scheme is open for aplpications.  The scheme aims to strengthen connections between scientists and the media by placing researchers in a 3-5 week summer placement with a media host such as the BBC, the Guardian and the Irish Times.

Participants return to their organisations better equipped to handle media enquiries, to turn their research into news and promote their research and institution. They also improve their communication skills that benefit their teaching, journal articles and grant applications.  Further information is available at http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/science-society/media-fellowships

Using new data sources and analytic techniques to map innovation and business growth in the UK

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 An invitation to propose research projects

Nesta plans to award a number of grants to fund research that uses new analytical techniques or new data sets to measure and map innovative activity and growth among businesses across the UK.

 What Nesta is looking to fund:

Nesta invites proposals for research projects that make use of new analytic technologies to cast light on innovation and business growth in the UK. Methodologies that we are particularly interested in supporting include:

a) Analysis of new data from social media or other online interactions used to provide more up-to-date or granular figures than structured official statistics.

b) Analysis of unstructured data through web scraping, text mining or similar techniques

c) Novel combinations of structured and unstructured data to review new insights.

We are particularly interested in research addressing any of the following questions:

i. Insight into start-up activity in the UK, including levels of start-up activity, trends among start-ups, and other insights into what start-ups are doing

ii. Insight into high-tech firms in the UK, including levels of activity, trends among tech businesses, and other insights into what tech businesses are doing

iii. Connections between start-ups and supporting organisations (e.g. accelerators, funders, incubators)

iv. Connections between start-ups or high-growth firms and economic growth or innovation

Deadline: Monday 4th March 2013, 09:00am GMT

We would expect projects to be substantially complete by 31 March 2014, but are willing to consider exceptions where this would improve the research.

For further information go to: http://www.nesta.org.uk/library/documents/ITTDatascienceinnovationgrowthgrants2.pdf

 

 

 

Engineering for Growth campaign to show the value of engineering to the economy and society

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The Royal Academy of Engineering has launched its Engineering for Growth campaign with a collection of activities to stimulate entrepreneurship and a report highlighting the £481bn contribution engineering makes to the UK economy.

Engineering for Growth will be a major theme for the Academy in 2013. It will demonstrate the economic impact and societal benefits delivered by engineering and provide the focus for specific activities designed to drive business innovation.

“Engineering for Growth is aligned with both our advocacy and operational activities,” says Sir John Parker GBE FREng, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

“Engineering already makes up at least 28% of the UK economy and employs over 5.4 million people. It will need to play an even greater role as we rebalance and deliver growth in the economy. We will continue to highlight the huge benefits of investing in innovation and relevant skills as well running our own programmes in support of stimulating economic activity.”

Sir Roger Carr, President of the CBI, says: “The UK economy can only grow if it has the ability to turn innovative ideas into dynamic products and services. Engineering for Growth highlights the vital role engineering will need to play if we are to achieve this and maintain our place as a global economic power.”

Business Secretary Vince Cable says: “Engineering is central to building a stronger economy, which is why skills are such an important part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy. Engineers contribute widely to many areas of the economy; their understanding of technology and the opportunities it brings is helping drive up competitiveness across many sectors. Engineering for Growth activities will certainly play their part in supporting our ambitions to support talent-growth in the sector.

“We strongly support the Royal Academy of Engineering’s work to help young, highly-skilled engineers to develop entrepreneurial skills to take technologies to market. Small businesses are an important part of an agile economy, and having entrepreneurism as well as technical knowledge of the sector is essential to ensure success.”

The Academy’s Engineering for Growth campaign is available from: www.engineeringforgrowth.org.uk

Later this spring the Academy will launch the Enterprise Hub, a new business resource that will see a large number of Academy Fellows mentoring new engineering and technology start-ups.

As part of the Hub’s activities, the Academy aims to build on its Engineering Enterprise Fellowships programme, which enables entrepreneurial academics to spend a year starting a business.

The Academy also aims to build a new programme that will take ‘the best of the best’ early stage companies and provide them with a long term package of mentoring, training and bespoke support.

The Academy will continue to fund over 130 Researchers and build crucial links between industry and academia – providing the lifeblood for innovation in the UK.

Founded in 1976, the Royal Academy of Engineering promotes the engineering and technological welfare of the country. The fellowship – comprising the UK’s most eminent engineers – provides the leadership and expertise for the activities, which focus on the relationships between engineering, technology, and the quality of life. As a national academy, it provides independent and impartial advice to Government; work to secure the next generation of engineers; and provide a voice for Britain’s engineering community. http://www.raeng.org.uk/

Fellowship opportunity for researchers

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The British Science Association Media Fellowship scheme is open for applications.  The scheme aims to strengthen connections between scientists and the media by placing researchers in a 3-5 week summer placement with a media host such as the BBC, the Guardian and the Irish Times.

Participants return to their organisations better equipped to handle media enquiries, to turn their research into news and promote their research and institution. They also improve their communication skills that benefit their teaching, journal articles and grant applications.

The deadline for applications is the 11th March. Further information can be found at the following link: http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/science-society/media-fellowships.  Please contact externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk if you are interested in this opportunity.

Innovative Manufacturing in through-life Engineering Services feasability study proposals

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The EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Through-life Engineering Services is offering funding for feasibility studies in the field of through-life engineering services. Through-life Engineering Services are technical services that are necessary to guarantee required and predictable performance of a complex engineering system throughout its expected operational life with the optimum whole life cost. The feasibility studies should examine a subject area in the field, review activity in it, identify key challenges and research questions not currently being addressed and develop full proposals for funding by established routes. Awardees are expected to attract significant new industrial support and the subsequent major award will form a strategic part of the Centre activities. Awards are limited to £20,000 at 80 per cent FEC and to a maximum duration of six months.

Closing date: 12:00 on 30 March 2013
Issue Date: 04 Feb 2013
 
For details on this call click on link:TESFeasibilityStudyCall2013
 
Contact externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk for further information
 

Technology inspired innovation

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The Technology Strategy Board is to invest up to £2m in technical feasibility studies to stimulate innovation across four enabling technology areas. This will help to ensure that small and micro businesses in the UK are well equipped to respond to market opportunities across a range of economic sectors.

TSB are seeking projects in the following fields: advanced materials; biosciences; electronics, sensors and photonics; and information and communications technology.

The competition is open to small and micro companies only, working either singly or in collaboration with one partner. Projects can last up to four months and total project costs must not exceed £33,000.

This is a single-stage competition. It opens on 18 February 2013 and applicants need to register before noon on 27 March 2013.The deadline for applications is at noon on 3 April 2013. Successful projects must be completed by 30 November 2013.

A briefing event for potential applicants will be held in London on 21 February 2013.