I am the new Contracts and Compliance Officer for the External Projects Team in Enterprise and Commercial Development (taking over the role from Chris Kenning), and will be based in the Business Village in Stoke.

Prior to working in the Higher Education sector, I worked as a paralegal at a law firm in Manchester, specialising in Corporate Recovery and Insolvency. More recently, I worked in the Contracts Unit in Research and Enterprise Services at Keele University, dealing with research and enterprise related contracts, and ensuring the protection of the University’s interests.

I have experience in drafting and reviewing contracts which include (but not limited to):

• Collaboration Agreements
• Confidentiality Agreement
• Consultancy Agreements
• Memorandums of Association
• Material Transfer Agreements
• Studentships
• CPD Agreements
• Research Agreements
• Grant Funding Agreements
• Study Abroad Agreements

I will be reviewing outstanding agreements, as well as welcoming any new contracts. Please do let me know if anything requires immediate attention, and I will ensure I get back to you as soon as I can.

I am looking forward to meeting and working with the team at Staffordshire University.

Should you require any assistance, please call me on ext. 4168 or email me: Samantha.Wong@staffs.ac.uk. Alternatively, I am more than happy to meet you to discuss new or existing agreements, or opportunities to work together in the near future.

The Department for Education (DfE) is responsible for education and children’s services in England. It works to achieve a highly educated society in which opportunity is equal for children and young people, no matter what their background or family circumstances.  DfE is a ministerial department, supported by 9 agencies and public bodies.

Whilst there are a number of market-led websites and apps that help parents to find suitable childcare, none has achieved the status of “the place to go” and none provide comprehensive information about the entire range of childcare options (e.g. often they focus just on child-minders or nurseries).

In this competition, DfE is seeking the development of a new, engaging and innovative solution which provides accurate information about childcare provision for parents. The solution will enable parents to make informed decisions about what childcare is best for their children, taking into account a wide range of factors.  It should be easy to use and provide timely, accurate data.  DfE, supported by Innovate UK is using Phase 2 of the SBRI process to support the prototype development of selected proposed solutions.  A total of up to £200k (inc VAT) is allocated to this Phase 2 only competition.

DfE intends holding a high profile briefing event for potential applicants in mid to late February.  Applicants and potential developers should be willing to participate fully at the event and as the competition progresses.

 How to apply

All bids should be made using the Application Form; instructions on how to access this document and other competition material are available from https://interact.innovateuk.org/childcare-provision-for-parents

If you are interested in applying and require support please contact Naomi Arblaster in Enterprise & Commercial Development: 01785 353519, n.arblaster@staffs.ac.uk

The ‘Next Generation Predictive Policing Project’ is a new national competition that will be launched by South Wales Police and Gwent Police on Monday 19^th January2015 to identify and develop innovative solutions that maximise the effectiveness of resources and enhance the service provided to the communities of Southern Wales.

This competition is jointly funded by the Police Forces, Welsh Government and Innovate UK and has been run by South Wales Police as part of the Fusion Programme, which aims to change policing through the innovative and dynamic use of technology.

The competition will seek to develop innovative solutions that utilise predictive analytic tools, methods and processes to integrate, interpret, visualise and forecast using existing and future police and partner data sets in order to assist in delivering the following outcomes:

• Improved prevention, detection and disruption of criminal activity and disorder.
• More efficient use of staff and resources to ensure we have the right people in the right place, at the right time.
• Improved planning and forecasting to ensure best value is obtained from our staff and resources.
• Provide greater information and intelligence to front line officers enabling them to provide an improved and more efficient service to the public of Southern Wales.
• An improvement in public confidence and customer satisfaction for the local communities we police.

Organisations will be invited to compete for a share of a total £250,000 fund for the further development and commercialisation of innovative technologies, processes and business models.

The competition opens on Monday 19th January, with a briefing event for interested parties being run on Wednesday 4th February at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

Click here for more information

https://interact.innovateuk.org/competition-display-page/-/asset_publisher/RqEt2AKmEBhi/content/next-generation-predictive-policing?p_p_auth=vJ7xy7ny

If you are interested and require support please contact Naomi Arblaster in Enterprise & Commercial Development: 01785 353519, n.arblaster@staffs.ac.uk

To mark its tenth anniversary in 2015, the AHRC is looking to extend its partnership with Cheltenham Festivals by inviting applications from researchers to present their research at one of a series of four engaging public events at the Times Cheltenham Science Festival and the Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival in 2015. One event will run at the Science Festival, and three at the Literature Festival.

Cheltenham Festivals is the charitable organisation behind the town’s internationally acclaimed Jazz (opens in a new window), Science (opens in a new window), Music (opens in a new window) and Literature (opens in a new window) Festivals. Through cutting edge and creative programming, Cheltenham’s four festivals have provided a platform for debate and commentary from writers, performers, scientists, musicians and scholars across the world.

Up to twenty successful applicants will have a chance to develop their event ideas with experienced Cheltenham Festival producers and members of the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement team at a dedicated workshop. Of these, up to four will have the chance to hold their event at one of the Festivals.

A workshop held on 23rd February 2015 will focus on the Science and Literature festivals. The selected researchers will benefit from a unique opportunity to work closely with the Cheltenham Festival producers to create interactive and engaging events, invite high profile speakers, where relevant, and ultimately share their research with a public audience.

We welcome applications from individual researchers or project teams with one lead applicant, working in all areas of the arts and humanities. The topics of the proposed events should fall within one of the disciplines within the AHRC’s remit.

The aim of the scheme is to provide a development opportunity for researchers to cultivate the skills to communicate their research findings to those outside the academic community. The scheme aims to find academics that can bring the best of the latest research to life to a broad audience in an interactive and engaging manner.

Applications should demonstrate an engaging and stimulating event idea but also demonstrate an ability to present in an accessible and refreshing manner, with awareness of a festival audience.

Further information is available in the call document (PDF 92KB, opens in a new window). Please read this carefully before submitting an application.