Category Archives: News

Staffs Uni Shortlisted for “Outstanding Employer Engagement Initiative”

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Staffordshire University have been shortlisted in the “Outstanding Employer Engagement Initiative” category in the Times Higher Education Awards. The entry was submitted by ECD and we are one of only six universities within the category – to just get shortlisted is a fantastic achievement! The awards night takes place on Thursday 28th November at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

The past 12 months have been an award winning year for ECD-

CIM Marketing Excellence Awards: Best Strategic Marketing project for KTP Associate/Project with GDM Heat Transfer

Praxis Unico Impact Awards: Special Recognition Award for our Spin-out Company Flux Stoke-on-Trent

Unitemps Annual Conference: Innovation of the Year Award for our Internship Scheme

 

ECD also supported an entry from Wade Ceramics into the Midlands in Business Awards ‘International Manufacturing’ category and they won!

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Better Blog Following Your Feedback

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The research Funding blog is getting a new look. Following feedback from users, we will be categorising funds by research areas. We have also brought in many other changes based on people comments.

The general the feedback on the blog was positive with people finding the site easy to navigate. But there were some suggestions on how to improve the site, we have been making changes in response to this.

We have introduced a Rate the Post feature which allows people to rate posts out of five. We would love to hear from you, so please use this and make use of the comments box below posts. We get lots of comments by email, but by sharing them on the blog it may get noticed by another researcher in a different faculty that you don’t know and make them aware of shared research interests.

The issue of sending daily emails was highly contentious. Some people really value it where as others found it too frequent. This left us in a situation where we were not going to be able to please everyone. We felt that it would be better to have the option of getting the daily emails and allowing people to ignore it rather than not having daily emails as an option at all.

There were also comments regarding the look of the emails. We have set up a new sign up system from the blog which sends out the emails in a more attractive HTML format. The structure of WordPress is currently preventing us from automatically converting all emails to this version. But if you would like to sign up using the subscribe box on the right of the blog, you will be able to access this new version of the daily update.

The team also plans to change the system in which blog posts are categorised to make them more focused on research areas rather than the current system of type of funder. This should make it easier to filter blogs by subject area. When this is activated it will change the location of existing posts, so please bear with us whilst things are reorganised –we have published over 250 posts since December 2012, so it will take some time to relocate them all. This change should be happening very soon.

We are currently exploring the feasibility of enabling people to register an account with the blog and then select themes of what information they would like to be sent. This will enable us to make the content much more tailored to individual interests. So far we have had technical difficulties in getting this to work. If we manage to resolve the issues we will send out details of how to set up an account.

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback on the blog, we hope that the changes we have made and are bringing in will make the site and even more useful tool for you to use.

If you ever need to find our site you can get there using our new web address www.staffs.ac.uk/researchfunding

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MyIP Online Disclosures

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Have you created a new design, invention or process? The Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Team in ECD can provide support to evaluate ideas and to protect and develop them.

It is now possible for staff to submit information and ideas to the Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Team online through MyIP. This will replace the current Disclosure Form Word document.

Access the system at http://myip.staffs.ac.uk and follow these steps to create a secure account:

  1. Select create new account. The password must be at least 7 characters including a non-alphanumeric character.
  2. Add or update the Contact Details tab.
  3. Submit information about your idea in the New Disclosure tab.

Following receipt of a new disclosure a member of the team will contact you about your idea and arrange an informal meeting to discuss it in more detail. Information provided will be kept confidential.

For further information contact Rachel Watmore on R.Watmore@staffs.ac.uk.

 

Environmental Audit Select Committee: Sept. 4th

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 EVIDENCE HEARING: SUSTAINABILITY IN BIS

 Watch it online: http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Live.aspx

The Environmental Audit Committee will hold an evidence session at 2.25 pm on Wednesday 4 September in Committee Room 8, Palace of Westminster, on Sustainability in BIS.

 This session will explore aspects of sustainable development in a particular Government department, and identify lessons for wider application across other departments. It will examine BIS on its policies on the Regional Growth Fund, higher education funding reform (including student fees changes) and the Government’s Industrial Strategy. The session follows the Committee’s June 2013 report (First Report, HC 202) examining progress across Government departments generally in embedding sustainable development structures and processes. The National Audit Office have undertaken an audit in BIS and produced a detailed briefing to support the Committee, which has been published on their website.

 Witnesses:

 At c.2.25 pm

 Emma Ward, Director, economic development, BIS

Howard Orme, Director General, finance and commercial, BIS

Janice Munday, Director, advanced manufacturing and services, BIS

Alex Wilson, Deputy Director, Regional Growth Fund, BIS

Paul Williams, Deputy Director, student finance policy, BIS

Steve Egan, Chief Executive, Higher Education Funding Council for England

Open access to research publications reaching ‘tipping point’

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The European Commission has published a new report on the impact of “open data”, stating that over 50% of scienctific articles published in 2011 are now avaliable for free. By making research results more accessible, open access can contribute to better and more efficient science, and to innovation in the public and private sectors.

The Commission will make open access to scientific publications a general principle of Horizon 2020. As of 2014, all articles produced with funding from Horizon 2020 will have to be accessible:

  • articles will either immediately be made accessible online by the publisher (“gold” and “hybrid” open access) – up-front publication costs can be eligible for reimbursement by the European Commission; or
  • researchers will make their articles available through an open access repository no later than six months (12 months for articles in the fields of social sciences and humanities) after publication (“green” open access).

To read the full reports you can go to this LINK

Knowledge Transfer Chronicle – August 2013

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Below is the August edition of Enterprise and Commercial Development’s ‘KT Chronicle’, featuring the latest on all things KTP & KEEN, including: the University’s new partnership with Lister Trade Frames, recent changes to the KTP Programme structure and application process, details of the call for shorter KTPs in multi-disciplinary software development and guidance on what to look for in a potential KTP / KEEN project and partner.

KT Chronicle August 2013

Posted by: Dominic Collins KTP Caseload Coordinator

 

Visit from The Leverhulme Trust – save the date

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Jean Cater, Assistant Director of The Leverhulme Trust will be visiting Staffordshire University on Wednesday 25th September to give a presentation to colleagues about funding opportunities with the Trust and the application process. There will be a Q&A session and small group discussions with Jean, following the presentation.

The event will take place in Court Room 2 in the Law School and will commence at 2.00pm.

If you would be interested in attending the event, please would you contact externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk

http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/

European Environment Agency report published

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 “Towards Green Economy” is a recent report which gives a detailed overview of the key objectives and targets in EU environmental policy and legislation for the period 2010-…2050.  It may provide a good reference point for environmentally based research or business support activities colleagues are involved in.
The report covers the following policy areas:
  • Energy
  • Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and ozone-depleting substances
  • Air quality and air pollution
  • Transport sector emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants
  • Waste
  • Water
  • Sustainable consumption and production (SCP)
  • Chemicals
  • Biodiversity and land use

The report identifies over 130 targets, with binding targets in the areas of energy, air pollution, transport emissions and waste. 

Further information: http://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/an-overview-of-eu-environment

August’s Wider Outlook – now available

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Welcome to August’s Wider Outlook  http://bit.ly/11rROKF                                    

     —the team have chosen the theme of Citizenship, Equalities and Social Exclusion for this month’s edition.  Starting with a report on 2013 as the European Year of Citizens; looking at   developments in UK’s approach to policy initiatives with the Government’s What Works, evidence based social policy advice centres; and funding available to promote Equalities and Social Justice.

 As ever do contact us with any comments, ideas or suggestions at  externalprojects@staffordshire.gov.uk