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

AHRC Research Networking

Posted on February 28, 2014 by Josephine Beech

The Research Networking Scheme is intended to support forums for the discussion and exchange of ideas on a specified thematic area, issue or problem. The intention is to facilitate interactions between researchers and stakeholders through, for example, a short-term series of workshops, seminars, networking activities or other events. The aim of these activities is to stimulate new debate across boundaries, for example, disciplinary, conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and/or international. Proposals should explore new areas, be multi-institutional and can include creative or innovative approaches or entrepreneurship. Proposals must justify the approach taken and clearly explain the novelty or added value for bringing the network participants together.

Proposals for full economic costs up to £30,000 for a period of up to two years may be submitted. The exact mechanism for networking and the duration is up to the applicants to decide but must be fully justified in the proposal. An additional threshold of up to £15,000 full economic cost may be sought to cover the costs of any international participants or activities in addition to the £30,000 fEC scheme limit. Proposals will need to be submitted by an eligible Research Organisation but must involve collaboration with at least one other organisation, as well as having significant relevance to beneficiaries in the UK.

There is no specfic closing date for this call.

Research-Funding-Guide.pdf provides an overview of
the Research Networking 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.

If you are interested in this opportunity please email us at externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk

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/

Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Programme – NIHR

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Josephine Beech

The EME Programme funds clinical efficacy studies. The studies test if an intervention works as expected in a well-defined population or group of patients. The Programme also provides an opportunity to use clinical studies to understand disease or treatment mechanisms, which may in turn lead to improvements in health and patient care.

EME funds clinical studies to test interventions where proof of concept has already been demonstrated, allowing their progress through early clinical trials and on to larger, later clinical trials. Treatment with drugs or biological compounds, psychological interventions, public health initiatives, diagnostic tests and medical devices are all within the remit of the Programme. Treatments or interventions intended to prevent disease are also included.

To see the latest calls please click HERE

Horizon 2020: Update on UK National Contact Point events

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Esther KNIGHT

Several UK Horizon 2020 National Contact Points from the Science and Technology Facilities Council, the Medical Research Council, and the Economic and Social Research Council have organised a series of regional Horizon 2020 information days taking place over the next two months.

The events will provide an overview of Horizon 2020 and legal and financial issues, and include sessions on:

Research Infrastructures;
Societal Challenge 1 – Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing;
Social Sciences and Humanities embedded across Horizon 2020;
Societal Challenge 6 – Europe in a Changing World: Inclusive, Innovative and Reflective Societies; and
Science with and for Society.
The events planned are as follows:
Edinburgh – Monday 17 March event web page.
London – week beginning 24 March (exact date tbc)

Innovation Grants for Parkinson’s

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Holly Hoar

Parkinson’s UK has three funding calls over the year open to their innovation fund. They are interested in the healthcare services provided to people with Parkinson’s, this sounds like a good fit to some of the work areas within the Faculty of Health. As far as I am aware this is not a fund the University has gone for before, so it may be an interesting one to explore.

Funding Body: Parkinsons UK

Scheme: Innovation Grants

Overview: These support high-risk, high-reward research with focus on the causes, treatment and cure of Parkinson’s.

Innovative research might include:

•examining the delivery of healthcare services to people with Parkinson’s;

•exploring bold new ideas that could lay the foundations for bigger studies in the future;

•developing practical improvements for the lives of people with Parkinson’s and their carers.

Research proposals must have a solid rationale, but do not require a significant level of preliminary data.

Applications are encouraged from basic scientists, clinicians and healthcare professionals, including physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, alternative therapists, nurses and practitioners. Grants are tenable at universities, research institutions or hospital trusts.

Budget: Grants are worth up to £35,000 for a maximum of 12 months.

Deadlines: 26 March 2014, 14 May 2014 and 10 September 2014

Further Information: http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/content/innovation-grants

Fund an international academic to work at Staffs Uni

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Holly Hoar

If you know a star academic working abroad that you would like to work at Staffordshire University for two years, this fund from the Royal Society and British Academy should be of interest.

Researchers can work in a broad range of fields including natural and social sciences and humanities.

Funding Body: Royal Society and the British Academy

Scheme: Newton International Fellowship

Overview: The Royal Society and the British Academy invite applications for the Newton international fellowship. This enables early-stage postdoctoral researchers from all over the world to work in the fields of natural and social sciences and the humanities at UK research institutions. Contact between the applicants and their UK sponsor must have been established prior to application.

Applicants must have a PhD and up to seven years of active full time postdoctoral experience. They should be working outside the UK and be competent in oral and written English. UK citizens may not apply.

Budget: The fellowship lasts for two years and provides £24,000 per year for subsistence costs, up to £8,000 per year for research expenses and a one-off payment of up to £2,000 for relocation expenses. In addition, fellows may receive up to £6,000 per year for up to 10 years following the tenure to support networking activities with UK-based researchers.

Deadlines: 10 March 2014 –This is an annual call

Further Information: http://royalsociety.org/grants/schemes/newton-international/

Staffordshire University Research and Funding Blog

Category Archives: Health Sciences

2014 European Innovation Scoreboard Published

£10k for research in arts and humanities

Innovation Challenge Knowledge Exchange School 2014

Pioneers into Practice – funding available

Horizon 2020: Update on UK National Contact Point events

Innovation Grants for Parkinson’s

The Equity Action final conference took place on the 23rd of January 2014 in Brussels. It brought together international experts on health inequalities, officials and policy makers from Member States and the EU and a range of key stakeholders.

Who was this for?

Key points