A New Start for Europe – Opening Up to an ERA of Innovation

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Esther KNIGHT

A conference to discuss EU policies on Open Science, the European Research Area and Innovation is due to take place on 22-23 June 2015.

Organised by the European Commission in Brussels, the conference is expected to bring together 500 participants to discuss a broad range of issues, including:

the results and outcome of the ‘Science 2.0: Science in Transition’ consultation;
the European Research Area Roadmap;
open labour market for researchers;
building up an innovation ecosystem;
future markets.

The Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, Carlos Moedas, will also be present at the event.

Further information can be found via the link below though registration is not yet open.

http://ec.europa.eu/research/index.cfm?pg=events&eventcode=5B17594F-90C0-840A-1CCBAFF7F0E6D9D7

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Smart specialisation… Quid est?

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Marie PANDOLFO

Definition:

Smart specialisation is an innovation policy concept designed to identify the unique economic characteristics and assets of an area (usually a region, or a country) to address emerging opportunities and market developments in a coherent manner….Basically? It means developing and matching the research and innovation strengths of a geographical area to the business needs Rather than being a strategy imposed from above, smart specialisation involves businesses, research centres and universities working together.

EU Legislation:

Smart specialisation is not new, it is in the continuity of the previous funding period (2007-2013). What is new is that the European Commission makes such strategies a pre-condition for ERDF funding. It will be the basis for European Structural and Investment Fund (ESIF) interventions in R&I, as part of the Cohesion Policy’s contribution to the Europe 2020 jobs and growth agenda (see Regulation (EU) 1301/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013).

In England:

A Smart Specialisation Strategie (S3) has been developed at a national level, but has to be informed locally by the LEP ESIF strategies which need to focus on specific actions in support of innovation. The Government also asked LEPs to consider the development of a specific strategy of Smart Specialisation and particularly encouraged the use the Joint Research Centre’s (JRC) RIS3 guide, available on the Smart Specialisation Platform: http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/wikis3pguide

EPSRC Autonomous Manufacturing research call

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Esther KNIGHT

The EPSRC invites Expressions of Interest to bid into the call for research proposals in Autonomous Manufacturing. The aim of the call is to support research that addresses the research challenges that underpin autonomous manufacturing.

The expected outcome of this call is a diverse set of research programmes that span manufacturing applications, processes, and value sectors, that exploit novel and adventurous research for the advancement of autonomous production technologies and systems in the factory environment.

EPSRC are committing up to £10M for this call to support multidisciplinary research programmes of up to five years with flexible funding (similar to that provided through EPSRC platform and programme grants) that can be used for a mixture of multidisciplinary research projects, feasibility studies and networking and outreach activities.

This first stage of the call seeks expressions of interest to submit a full proposal. The submitted expressions of interests will be assessed at a short-listing panel in May 2015 and those that align appropriately with the scope for this call will be invited for the full proposal stage. The deadline for full proposals will be in July 2015 and funding decisions are expected to be made in November 2015.

http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/files/funding/calls/2015/autonomousmanufacturing/

This call invites Expressions of Interest (EoIs) which will be assessed at a short-listing panel. Short-listed applicants will then be invited to submit full proposals.

Activity	Date/Time
Call launched on web (EoI stage)	02 February 2015
Closing date for EoIs	16:00, 16 April 2015
Short-listing panel	Early May 2015
Call opens in J-eS (Full proposal stage)	End May 2015
Closing date for full proposals	End July 2015
Postal peer review	Aug-Oct 2015
Assessment (interview) panel	November 2015

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New Modelling Systems for Stratified Medicine – Themed Call for KTPs

Posted on February 16, 2015 by dc30

Innovate UK is to invest up to £1 million to establish new Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) in developing modelling approaches to support the use of stratified medicine in the UK, across bioinformatics, systems biology, health economics and analytical algorithms.

Stratified medicine means providing the right treatment, at the right time, to the right patient. The grouping, or stratifying, of patients according to the nature of their disease and their response to a particular treatment will improve patient outcomes and reduce ineffective treatment.

This has driven the need for new effective diagnostic tests that will guide patient selection for the most appropriate care pathways. Increasing development costs of new products and reduced healthcare budgets mean that these diagnostic tests need to be validated and evaluated for their potential impact on patient care pathways as early as possible.

Innovate UK’s Stratified Medicine Innovation Platform works in partnership with organisations including government, research councils and leading medical research charities to accelerate the development and uptake of stratified medicine in the UK.

It has identified the need for new modelling approaches to:

enable companies to assess more quickly the feasibility and validity of new diagnostic products through bioinformatics and systems biology modelling
demonstrate the value of diagnostic tests, evidenced through potential changes to current clinical care pathways, which would justify adoption by care providers and allow real market value to be forecast

Competition Scope

Successful partnerships will enable businesses to advance a product for a stratified approach to treatment, requiring the use of new modelling systems that will either:

integrate healthcare and science data, to predict the likelihood of a product demonstrating the intended effect or value in a clinical setting, incorporating approaches such as systems biology or bioinformatics
provide innovative multi-parameter algorithms that enhance the predictive strength of a diagnostic test and allow commercialisation
provide innovative health economic models for products that will establish new clinical care pathways and allow product adoption

This competition aims to allow healthcare- related businesses to use KTP projects to access the modelling skills necessary to improve decision-making and the evaluation of diagnostic tests. This will allow for faster, more predictive and more accurate development of stratified medicine approaches.

Out of scope will be any modelling approaches that:

a) do not address a stratified approach to patient treatment

b) are not related to the advancement of a potential product

The competition opens for applications on 2 March 2015 and remains open on a rolling basis for applications until noon on 18 November 2015. A briefing webinar for potential applicants will be held on 19 February 2015 (register at: http://bit.ly/1yLNe6d)

The full competition brief is available at: http://bit.ly/1AIUVji

To discuss project ideas or for further information about the KTP programme and application process, contact Dominic Collins (Tel. 01785 353404, email: d.collins@staffs.ac.uk) or Sue Semple (Tel. 01785 353498, email: s.semple@staffs.ac.uk)

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£10 million HEFCE fund to support collaborative research on policing and crime reduction

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Marie PANDOLFO

On 28 January 2015, HEFCE announced a new £10 million Police knowledge Fund, administered via its Catalyst Fund and supported jointly with the Home Office.

Established in partnership with the College of Policing, the fund will encourage police forces to collaborate with experts from academic fields such as criminology, economics, neuroscience and computer analytics in order to better understand crimes, to develop innovative ways of policing and more responses to crime.

The call has not been released yet, however more information are expected in due course on the HEFCE website: please click here.

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Major Research Fellowships in the Humanities and Social Sciences

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Esther KNIGHT

Providing replacement teaching costs over two or three years, to allow academics in the humanities and social sciences to focus on a specific piece of original research.

These awards enable well-established and distinguished researchers in the humanities and social sciences to devote themselves to a single research project of outstanding originality and significance, capable of completion within two or three years. Candidates should state explicitly what the proposed outcomes of the award will be. Fellowships are particularly aimed at those who are or have been prevented by routine duties from completing a programme of original research.

Value

The Fellowships fund the salary costs (normally starting at the most junior point of the lecturer scale at the institution concerned) of an individual to undertake the normal duties of the applicant for the duration of the Fellowship.

A Major Research Fellow may also request research expenses up to an annual maximum of £5,000.

The closing date for applications is 7 May 2015

Duration

The duration of a Fellowship is for two or three years, to start at the beginning of the 2016/17 academic year.

Eligibility and application information

Please read the following before submitting an application.

Contact

Nicola Thorp (020 7042 9872).

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Birmingham, February 18th: MSCA: Bridging Business and Research

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Esther KNIGHT

An event promoting business-academic collaborations under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) scheme is taking place in Birmingham on Wednesday 18 this month.
The European Commission has launched a promotional campaign, aimed mainly at industry and SMEs, to encourage more involvement in MSCA projects from the private sector. The campaign will be running across Europe during the end of this year and the whole first semester of 2015.

Birmingham, University of Birmingham: 18 February 2015.

The main objective of this event is to provide more practical information on how to get involved in the MSCA schemes, and to present the latest business opportunities under the new Framework Programme for Research, Horizon 2020. The application process and examples of partnerships will be explained during these information sessions.

The registration website with agenda and practical information is available at the link below.

https://mscabusiness.teamwork.fr/en/registration

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Original isn’t it?

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Marie PANDOLFO

The VolkswagenStiftung Foundation encourages scholars in humanities and cultural studies to embark on groundbreaking originality through the “Original isn’t it?” funding scheme. There are no specific requirements as to what form this originality should take.

UK researchers can apply to Funding line 2 “Constellations”, as part of a project team from both Germany and abroad, comprising up to 4 applicants wishing to work together on a new research idea, to test its feasibility and to publish the results (up to €150,000 for a maximum of 1.5 years).

For more information, please see: https://www.researchprofessional.com/funding/opportunity/1505850/

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Europe for Citizens – Action Grants

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Esther KNIGHT

This programme aims to strengthen remembrance and enhance capacity for civic participation at the European Union level. The programme contributes by developing citizens’ organisations’ capacity to engage citizens in the democratic life of the EU.

The Annual Priorities of the programme for 2015 are:

Strand 1: European remembrance

In the context of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, priority will be given to projects that focus on:

World War II and the associated rise of intolerance that enabled crimes against humanity;
The consequences of World War II for the post-war architecture of Europe : its division and the Cold war on the one hand, and the beginning of the European integration process following the Schuman Declaration in 1950 on the other hand.

Strand 2: Democratic engagement and civic participation

Debating on the future of Europe : In the current debate on the European Union in times of the economic crisis and following the European elections of May 2014, there is a need to deepen further the discussion on the future of Europe on what kind of Europe citizens want, also stimulating new forms of civic participation whilst reinforcing those existing. This debate should be based on lessons learned from history and consider in particular the concrete achievements of the European Union.

Such debate should not be limited to citizens already supporting the idea of the European Union, but reach out to citizens who have not been involved so far, or who reject the Union outright or put in question its achievements.

http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/europe-for-citizens_en

The 2015 Calls are now open with a deadline of 2 March 2015

Specific eligibility criteria apply to the different Strands and actions as follows:

Strand 1 – European remembrance

Public local/regional authorities or non-profit organisations, including civil society organisations, survivors’ associations, and cultural, youth, educational and research organisations, associations of twinned towns
A project must involve organisations from at least one Member State, but preference is given to transnational projects

Strand 2: Democratic engagement and civic participation (action grants)

Town-Twinning

Towns/municipalities or their twinning committees or other non-profit organisations representing local authorities
Must involve towns from at least two eligible countries of which at least one is an EU Member State

Networks of Towns

Towns/municipalities or their twinning committees or networks, other levels of local/regional authorities, federations/associations of local authorities and non-profit organisations representing local authorities; the other organisations involved in the project can also be non-profit Civil Society Organisations
Must involve towns from at least four eligible countries of which at least one is an EU Member State

Civil Society Projects

Non-profit organisations, including civil society organisations, educational, cultural or research institutions; the other organisations involved in the project can also be public local/regional authorities
Must involve organisations from at least three eligible countries of which at least one is an EU Member State

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Arts Council England, Research grants programme 2015-18

Posted on January 29, 2015 by BENNETT Margaret

The Research Grants programme seeks to build our collective knowledge and deepen our understanding of the impact of arts and culture and to promote greater collaboration and co-operation between the arts and cultural sector and research partners.

The lead applicant must be an arts or cultural organisation based in England, with experience in delivering relevant programmes. Companies, charities, trusts and statutory bodies may apply. Applications must be made in collaboration with an England-based partner experienced in delivering a high standard of research. Consortia may also apply. The arts and/or cultural organisation must be the lead organisation.

Five key areas or themes of interest have been identified: cultural impact, economic impact, impact on education, impact on health and wellbeing and impact on society.

Projects may include but are not limited to, primary and/or secondary data analyses; psychological studies that take place in clinical or non-clinical settings; third-party evaluations of an arts project or programme’s value and impact; statistically-driven meta-analyses of existing research so as to provide a fresh understanding of the value and/or impact of the arts and culture; practice-based research; action-based research projects and comparative studies of the effectiveness and efficacy of an arts and cultural intervention/activity compared to or complementing other interventions/activity.

Actions must take place between 1 June 2015 and 31 March 2018.

A total of £700,000 is available for 2015-16, with indicative budgets of £900,000 available for 2016-17 and 2017-18. Applications can be made for grants between £50,000 and £100,000 per year.

Deadline: Thursday 12 March 2015

For more information go to: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-funding/apply-for-funding/research-grants-programme-2015-18/#sthash.6wa8fgXc.dpuf

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