Tag Archives: Europe

The EU Referendum Debate and its Impact on UK Universities 29 February 2016 –

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​Universities for Europe is hosting the first in a series of different debates on the EU referendum and its impact on British universities on 29 February 2016 at the Chelsea College of Arts.
An international panel of experts will meet to discuss the value of European Union membership for universities, its impact on collaboration and competitiveness, and the potential implications of the UK referendum for future collaboration.

The event is free of charge though registration is mandatory by ​22 February. More information on the event​ is availa​ble on the Universities for Europe website.

INTERREG EUROPE 2014-2020

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INTERREG EUROPE is the new Interreg IVC programme from 2014 to 2020. More than 800 people met last week (2nd and 3rd December 2014) in Bologna (Italy) for the launch of the new programme. See http://blogs.staffs.ac.uk/research/2014/12/05/launch-of-interreg-europe-in-bologna-2nd-and-3rd-december/

With a total budget of €359 million and 4 priority themes (Research and Innovation / SME competitiveness / Low carbon economy / Environment and resource efficiency), Interreg Europe is dedicated to improving public policies. It will support the design of strategies for influencing policy making in regional priority areas.

Here are 10 key points to take into account for developing a project:

  1. At least 3 countries (of which 2 EU member states at least)
  2. Preferably 5 to 10 partners maximum per project (financial beneficiaries).
  3. Maximum project duration: 5 years (4 years minimum).
  4. Between €1 to €2 million of ERDF per project (75% co financing rate for non-profit private sector / 85% co financing rate for public bodies).
  5. Policy makers, such as Local authorities, are key project partners and they need to be directly involved in the projects.
  6. The Lead partner can only be a public body.
  7. The project governance structure is extremely important: a Regional partnership board has to be set up. It will be composed of the competent organisations in the field tackled by the project. This group will need to be informed about the project development and to be brought into peer review visits, workshops, events, etc.-
  8. 5 budget lines: staff costs, administrative costs, travel & accommodation costs, studies, small equipment (office equipment).
  9. 15% of the envelope will support the administrative costs of the project. A €15,000 lump sum will be provided for the preparation cost. Both won’t need any proof or evidence to be claimed.
  10. The first call for proposals will open in April 2015, and will close in Sept 2015. No geographical criteria, no thematic criteria.

Follow the latest developments on www.interreg4c.eu/interreg-europe

The external projects team is populating a database with all the contacts made at the launch of Interreg Europe. This list will be made available on the CRM system, and it will also be emailed to the Faculties. Alternatively, please contact the external project team to find out more (Marie Pandolfo).

11.8 billion Euros for 2014-2020: the European Commission has formally adopted the UK partnership agreement on the 29th October.

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The European Commission (EC) has adopted Partnership Agreements with six Member States on the 29th October, including the United Kingdom. The UK Partnership agreement allocates €11.8 billion of European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) for key thematic investments during the period 2014-2020. The UK government is now waiting for a formal response from the European Commission to its Operational Programmes.

The European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) covers the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). The funds are concentrated on a limited number of priorities for a better impact on growth and jobs in the UK: research and innovation, ICT, competitiveness of enterprises and low carbon economy represent more than 80% of the total allocations.

Both the European Commission and the United Kingdom are expecting to increase the number of innovative enterprises, including the number of collaborations between SMEs and academic institutions in the UK. Superfast broadband, low carbon economy, sustainable land management, inactivity levels, higher level training and skills are also within the main targets of the UK Partnership Agreement.

Within the ESI Funds Growth Programme, England is being allocated €3.6 billion of European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), €3.3 billion of European Social Fund (ESF), and €3.4 billion for Rural Development.

The ERDF and ESF Operational Programmes, which are breaking down the investment priorities and objectives of the Partnership Agreements into concrete actions, are due to be adopted by the European Commission in the next few months. Applications will then be able to be submitted to the relevant Managing Authorities of the programmes for applying to these funds.

To find out more:http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/newsroom/detail.cfm?id=1796&LAN=EN&lang=en

Twinning to share research

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This research and innovation fund aims to link at least three European institutions and enable them to carry out exchanges to share ideas.

Funding Body: Horizon 2020

Scheme: Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation call for twinning (H2020-TWINN-2015)

Overview: This fund provides the opportunity to link up with another institution in a different EU country which is a high performer in your field. They also require projects to link up with an organisation from a specific list of countries which are not performing as well with Research and Innovation. The countries are listed below.

Projects aim to strengthen a defined field of research in a particular knowledge institution by creating a link between this institution and at least two internationally leading research institutions in other EU member states. Twinning will enhance the science and technology capacity of the linked institutions and help raise staff’s research profiles as well as the one of the institutions involved. Supported measures include: short term staff exchanges; expert visits and short-term on site or virtual training; workshops; conference attendance; organisation of joint summer school activities; dissemination and outreach activities.

Proposals may take the form of coordination and support actions and must involve a minimum of three participants. Applicant institutions from the following countries are eligible: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Macedonia, Liechtenstein, Moldavia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey. Proposals must involve at least two internationally leading research intensive counterparts established in at least two different member states or associated countries other than that of the applicant institution.

Budget: This fund does not include salaries or equipment. The indicative budget for this call in 2015 is €64.12 million. Each successful proposal is expected to receive around €1m, although proposals for other amounts will also be considered.

Deadlines: 2 December 2014

Further Information: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/calls/h2020-twinn-2015.html#tab2

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European Health Programme

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The European Commission has approved funding for a new programme for health. This programme could be of interest to researchers in the University involved in health based research. The objectives of this fund are to:

  • strengthen action to promote health and prevent diseases;
  • be better prepared to protect citizens against health emergencies and to coordinate action at European level to address them;
  • increase the up-take of innovation in health; and
  • improve people’s access to medical expertise and information for specific conditions; and improve healthcare quality and patient safety.

It is expected that the first calls for proposals will come out by early May 2014. It is expected that they will launch an annual call for proposals.

The funders will cover between 60-80% of project costs, so projects will require a degree of match funding.

Universities are eligible to apply. The fund will include action grants that contribute to the cost of joint transnational projects; and plus tenders for public procurement contracts.

More details on this programme can be found here http://ec.europa.eu/health/programme/policy/2014-2020/state_of_play_en.htm

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Info Day: http://ec.europa.eu/health/programme/events/info_day_2014_en.htm

Overview of European Funding

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UKRO The University is a subscriber to the UK Research Office (UKRO). This specialises in European funding and events. You can subscribe for emails when funding calls and events are open in your research area.

To join use this link http://ims.ukro.ac.uk/UKRO/login.aspx and click on the option ‘If you do not yet have a profile’. The site will use your email address to identify you are a member of staff at Staffordshire University and give you free access to it. You subscribe to emails using the ‘My Profiles’ section at the top of the page.

If you want to visit the main UKRO website you can access it here: www.ukro.ac.uk

Erasmus+ The Erasmus+ programme will run from 2014-2020 and supports activities in education, training, youth and sport across all sectors of lifelong learning including Higher Education, Further Education, adult education, schools and youth activities.

Erasmus+ aims to boost skills and employability as well as modernise education, training, and youth work across Europe. It will provide opportunities for over 4 million Europeans to study, train, gain work experience and volunteer abroad and will also support transnational partnerships between education, training and youth organisations, as well as support grassroots sport projects

http://www.erasmusplus.org.uk/how-to-apply

Horizon 2020 is the EU funding programme for research and innovation, which will run from 2014 to 2020. UKRO have created the diagram below giving an overview of the different funding strands. When you log into your UKRO account you can click each of the strands and it will take you to a factsheet about them. Details on how to log into UKRO are above.

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http://www.ukro.ac.uk/subscriber/funding/Pages/index.aspx

Culture Programme Workshops

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There will be 12 Briefing sessions on the new Creative Europe programme, held between 13-31 January, in 12 venues across England, Scotland and Wales. Sessions closest to Staffordshire University are in Birmingham, Bradford, Liverpool or Nottingham.  Each Briefing will run for 2 hours, and will provide background information on Creative Europe, as well as detailed information on the new Culture programme strands (projects, translation, platforms, networks) and some information on the new Media programme. Sessions cost £80.

There will also be workshops to help people prepare applications between 3-6 February. In Manchester, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London. They cost £100.

For more information on these Briefings and Workshops, or to make a booking, visit www.euclid.info

This document Creative Europe Culture provides an overview of the Culture funds of most interest to Staffordshire University.

Creative Europe Funding to Launch in January

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With all the talk about Erasmus+ and Horizon 2020, it is easy to forget that the European Commission is also launching the Creative Europe Programme this January. Creative Europe will provide €1.46 billion over seven years to strengthen Europe’s cultural and creative sectors

What does it support?

  • Cross-border cooperation projects between cultural and creative organisations within the EU and beyond.
  • Networks helping the cultural and creative sectors to operate transnationally and to strengthen their competitiveness.
  • Translation and promotion of literary works across EU markets.
  • Platforms of cultural operators promoting emerging artists and stimulating a truly European programming of cultural and artistic works.
  • Capacity building and professional training for audiovisual professionals.
  • Development of fiction, animations, creative documentaries and video games for European cinema, television markets and other platforms.
  • Distribution and sales of audiovisual works in and outside Europe.
  • Film festivals that promote European films.
  • Funds for the international co-production of films.
  • Audience development to foster film literacy and to raise interest in Europe’s films through a wide range of events

The commission has not yet announced how much match funding will be needed for these project. Traditionally it has been around 50%.

We will keep you up to date as more details come in on this fund.

Find out more http://ec.europa.eu/creative-europe

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Over €400 billion agreed by the European Parliament

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The European Parliament had a busy week last week approving over €400 billion support measures for regional development, research and innovation, lifelong learning, cultural and media European collaboration activities.  The legislative packages for the following programmes have now been agreed by the European Parliament for the 2014 – 2020 programme period:

Horizon 2020 – €70.2 billion for research and innovation (Draft Horizon 2020 work programmes are now available via the European Commission website at http://ec.europa.eu/research/horizon2020/index_en.cfm?pg=h2020-documents. )

Cohesion Policy – €325 billion for growth and job creation through European Regional Development Fund; the European Social Fund; the Cohesion Fund; the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development; and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund. 

Erasmus+ – €14.7 billion for lifelong learning, focussing on student and staff mobility through strategic partnerships.

Creative Europe – €1.4 billion for supporting European culture, media and arts sectors

For more information contact externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk for draft work programmes and help in matching funding to your project ideas.  Find out more about Horizon 2020 and Erasmus + in particular at our annual UKRO event on 11th December – the day the first calls of Horizon 2020 will be launched.

Sneak Preview of the 2014 Erasmus+ Work Programme

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The External Projects Team has access to a draft work programme for the new Erasmus+ Project. This is European funding for education, vocational education and young people.
The official document is expected to come out in January 2014, with call deadline dates shortly after. Reading the draft programme can give staff the opportunity to get ahead of the game and start planning partnerships.
The programme covers one year of funding. It gives an overview of the Erasmus+ programme, particularly the specific objectives in education and training, youth and sport as well as in:
•    Key action 1 (learning mobility of individuals)
•    Key action 2 (co-operation for innovation and the exchange of good practices)
•    Key action 3 (support for policy reform)
•    Jean Monnet activities
•    Sport

The draft work programme gives an overview of the funding allocations for 2014-2020 as well as a detailed budget for the 2014 calls.

The draft work programme also lists the topics of the specific activities, outlining an overview of the topic, the expected results, eligible applicants, award criteria and budget distribution per sector for 2014.

This is a confidential document, so we are not able to publish it on our website, however staff who are interested can email us on: externalprojects@staffs.ac.uk

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