Category Archives: News

Horizon 2020 NEWS – application numbers for 2014 MSCA ITN call

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The European Commission has announced that a total of 1164 proposals have been submitted to the first Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) 2014 Innovative Training Networks (ITN) call under Horizon 2020, which closed on 9 April 2014. This is slightly lower than the number submitted to the last call under FP7 for the equivalent Marie Curie Initial Training Networks.

The 1164 proposals submitted to the H2020-MSCA-ITN-2014 Innovative Training Networks call is slightly lower than the 1175 submitted in 2013 under the last equivalent FP7 Marie Curie Initial Training Networks call. As the indicative budget for this call is EUR 405.18 million, compared to EUR 470.72 million for the 2013 call, it is likely that the overall success rate will drop slightly.

The breakdown of proposal numbers and indicative budgets for each of the three strands were as follows:

  • European Training Networks (ETN): 1004 proposals (86% of total). Indicative budget EUR 349.69 million;
  • European Industrial Doctorates (EID): 107 proposals (9% of total). Indicative budget EUR 30 million;
  • European Joint Doctorates (EJD): 53 proposals (5% of total). Indicative budget EUR 25.5 million.

It is expected that applicants will know the outcome of evaluation around mid to late September 2014. For further information on future calls for the MSCA programme please email the team on externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk

2014 European Innovation Scoreboard Published

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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).

BIOREFINE Cluster Europe

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Staffordshire University’s ARBOR project under the leadership of Dr Sacha Oberweis has joined the BIOREFINE Cluster Europe, an initiative which links 15 national and international projects and involves more than 80 institutions from 14 EU member states. The projects are all focussed in some way on nutrient and energy cycling.

Sacha is a member of the steering group of the cluster which aims to stimulate project interaction as well as interaction of the institutions, organisations and individuals involved.

The cluster was launched from the NEW INTERREG IV.B project BIOREFINE and it’s aim will be to source sustainable biomass, improve energy technology and refine and recuperate products from the bio-energy process sidestreams.

The total budget for the project exceeds 30 million Euros.

In 2014, the projects within the cluster will work to develop tools and actions to enhance their mutual interaction, stakeholder outreach will be enhanced and project development will be increased.

Ultimately, the cluster aims to develop a community of like-minded organisations sharing a common interest in Biorefinery.

For further information please contact Sacha Oberweis on: S.Oberweis@staffs.ac.uk

Background

Accelerating Renewable Energies through valorisation of Biogenic Organic Raw Material (ARBOR).

The ARBOR project has supported the establishment of a European Centre of Excellence for Biomass Trigeneration based at Staffordshire University, which aims to implement innovative approaches from across Europe, working with a range of organisations to increase the adoption of biomass for energy production. Through European partnerships the project exchanges best practice with other research organisations specialising in biomass.

Part of the Beacon Building is now heated by biomass, realised by ARBOR.

Partners include:

  • Inagro vzw Belgium,
  • CRP Henri Tudor Luxembourg,
  • IZES gGmbH, Saarbrücken
  • Wageningen University, Netherlands
  • FlandersBio, Ghent, Belgium
  • VCM vzw, Brugge,
  • POM West-Vlaanderen, Brugge,  Belgium
  • University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin
  • DLV Plant, Wageningen, Netherlands
  • Stoke on Trent City Council,
  • Ghent University, Ghent, Belgiium
  • Provincie Utrecht

ARBOR is an INTERREG  IVB project with a total value of €7,289,415. The project began in 2010 and is due to end in 2015/16.

Funding for Staffordshire companies

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Staffordshire companies are being invited to share part of a £3 million funding pot awarded through the Regional Growth Fund. The funding is available until March 2015 and aims to create more than 170 jobs in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire. This funding programme is being run by Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Staffordshire University is one of the project partners providing support to local companies to help with business expansion.

The ‘Innovative Growth in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire’ fund will be providing capital grants to companies for premises or the purchase of new equipment, consultancy, market development, research development and innovation to bring new products to market.  Staffordshire University’s involvement is being led by Naomi Arblaster, Commercial Funding Manager based in our Enterprise and Commercial Development department.  Please help us to promote this opportunity to your contacts. 

Further information can be found on the attached press release here : IGISS press release 25 02 14 

Or please contact Vanessa Darlington, Programmes and Data Manager at Stoke-on-Trent City Council (vanessa.darlington@stoke.gov.uk).   

 

 

Data published on REF submissions

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29th November 2013 was the deadline for submission to the Research Excellence Framework (REF), the new system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions (HEIs). Consolidated information has recently been published to provide an overview of the responses from the 155 HEIs that submitted to the REF exercise. Further information on this aggregate data can be found at http://www.ref.ac.uk/subguide/.

 

Internal Staffordshire University information on our submission can be found at http://www.staffs.ac.uk/research/ref/support/.

Bid writing training to support updated university policy

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Following the recent Staffordshire University Research, Enterprise and Advanced Scholarship Committee our Advanced Scholarship Policy has been updated.  Now academic colleagues submitting funding proposals for research grants or knowledge transfer projects are able to count their proposal as a scholarly output. 

In order to support colleagues in their bid writing activities, a number of workshops have been arranged for FCES staff.  We still have a few places available and are able to offer these to colleagues from across the University.  Details are below.  If you would like to reserve a place, please contact us via externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk.  These sessions will also be offered during Staffs Fest.

Writing KTP Applications Wed 26th Feb 1:00pm – 4:00pm K152 Octagon Building
A Guide to Bid Writing Wed 26 March 1:00pm – 4:00pm K152 Octagon Building
Writing KTP Applications Wed 30th April 1:00pm – 4:00pm R350 Science Building

The updated Advanced Scholarship Policy can be viewed here: Advanced Scholarship FINAL V2 Jan 2014.

 

Research funding calls sent directly to your inbox

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To be successful in applying for research funding it is important to know what funding is out there and when the application deadlines are.  To help, the university subscribes to a website called Research Professional www.reseachprofessional.com.

There are over six thousand research funding calls currently open on Research Professional. The site can be used to make a tailored search for your research project. You can filter your search in a range of ways. This includes discipline, what you want money for or which funders you are interested in.

After you have made the search, you can see which funds are open. Plus you can save the details and set Research Professional to email each time new funds open which fit your criteria. Using this tool can ensure you are always up to date on open calls in your research field.

You can download a step by step guide on setting up searches here: Using Research Professional

You will not need to set up an account to search on Research Professional, but you will need one to save your settings. Using a University email address when you create your account will let Research Professional know your subscription is already paid for.

You can speak you the External Projects Team to get further details on using Research Professional.

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Lebanese learn about H2020…..

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The External Projects Team have supported the EU funded Business School project IDEAL (The Innovation and Development of Academic-Industry Partnerships through Efficient Research Administration in Lebanon). Emma and Jose filmed a 90 minute training video on the latest EU Research Funding Programme Horizon 2020. This film covers a number of key areas, including the policy framework for Horizon 2020 and detailed description of the funding mechanisms and opportunities for engagement.

The IDEAL programme, launched in early December 2012, it is helping to forge links between local researchers and their international counterparts, while working with industry to identify research priorities and commercialize any innovative ideas.  The project is coordinated by the Office of Grants and Contracts at the American University of Beirut and Staffordshire University are one of the partners.

Pictured are from left to right: Emma Davies, Tom Ward, Jose Beech and Ian Jackson.

For more information on H2020 and the latest calls for proposals please get in touch with externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk

For more information on IDEAL please follow the Link http://www.ideal4lebanon.org/

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Staffordshire University HEIF mid term review

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We are now two years into our HEIF programme and a lot has happened. So I thought it would be useful to provide some high level  figures on the activity that has taken place from Aug 2011- July 2013. Please find attached a document demonstrating the outputs achieved to date. View here: HEIF mid term review – External Copy (Nov 2013)

Alex Harvey, HEIF Programme Manager

Big Lottery: funding event at Staffordshire University – February 5th

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We are really pleased that Stephna Davis-Watts, Policy and Partnership Officer at the Big Lottery Fund is coming to the Ashley Centre, Stoke on February 5th.

1-00pm -4-30pm

Initially the Big lottery were reluctant to come to the University as they equated it entirely with research related work – we have persuaded them otherwise.

We have asked Stephna to make a presentation on the current opportunities for large project funding from the Big lottery and to discuss large project ideas with colleagues in the university and with  partner organisations.

We are inviting colleagues from across the university in areas of interest that the Big Lottery can fund; these include

  •  Low carbon
  • The Environment
  • Creative communities
  • Community engagement
  • Arts and creative technologies
  • Physical activity
  • Mental health
  • Public health
  • Social enterprise

The Big lottery is geared towards partnership funding – you could use the event to scope out a project idea with a group of partners –with a Big lottery expert on hand –  if there are individuals you would like us to invite as well do let us know.

For current large funds see:

http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/funding/funding-finder?area=England&amount=50001%20-%20500000

To book a place please email externalfundingofficer@staffs.ac.uk