Category Archives: Announcement

The Festival of Research Culture

ERC Writing Retreats

The EU team is running writing retreats for those working on ERC applications to upcoming calls across ERC schemes.  These provide an opportunity to work independently on your idea/proposal in a focused way, with the EU team on hand to answer questions.

Dates for the forthcoming Writing Retreats are:

  • 5 July 2024
  • 8 July 2024
  • 19 July 2024

They also hope to run some retreats in November/December 2024 – dates to be confirmed

If you are interested please contact Laura Lyddon at  Laura.Lyddon@bristol.ac.uk

 

REF Awareness Online Session

Research Excellence Framework (REF) 

Online Workshop on Wednesday 17 July 2024 at 10:00 – 11:00

Wondering what the REF is? There’s a new session on Develop, as part of the Research in practice series. It is all about raising awareness of the Research Excellence Framework (REF)

Book your place here:  Develop – University of Bristol – REF – Research Excellence Framework Awareness [login is required]

Facilitators and Course Managers: Jon Gausden (Bristol) and Celine Petitjean (Bristol)

 

Overview of Session: Have you ever wondered what the ‘REF’ is? How it works? What the process is all about? How does it impact the University, your School, your work? The REF, or Research Excellence Framework, is the UK’s system for assessing the quality of research in all UK Universities. REF reviews research output quality, but also its impact on our economy and society, and the way in which research is conducted, i.e. the research culture and environment of a University. This one-hour session will give you a general overview of what the REF* is through a presentation of the process, the different elements of assessment, and the impact of REF on all Higher Education actors. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A and discussion for you to engage as much as you wish. Our goal is to give you the key knowledge you need to understand and engage with this process, whether you are directly involved in the REF submission, or not. As producers of research, it is also important from a career development point of view, for you to understand the mechanisms behind research assessment for UK Universities and the subsequent allocation of recurrent research funding. * REF rules are still evolving and so the information provided is our best understanding at the time and may need to be updated as we learn more.

 

Course objectives

We will cover:  What is the REF? What has REF got to do with me? Why is it Important? How does the process work? Research England Timeline, Clarify strategic understanding of the REF, Additional resources, Q&A

Key outcomes:  Demystifying & Awareness of the REF for members of the research community.

DREI Drop-in Session

For colleagues across Science and Engineering
Tuesday 2 July 2024 from 13:00 – 14:30
Room 2.4, Royal Fort House, Tyndall Avenue

All colleagues in Science and Engineering are invited to drop-in to meet with the Faculty’s research support network from DREI.  The drop-in will be an opportunity to ask any questions and discuss opportunities in relation to the development of funding bids in a face-to-face setting.  The session will take the same format as the weekly drop-in sessions which the Industrial Liaison Office run for Engineering, with colleagues encouraged to drop-in at any point during the session to access DREI support from:

  • Research Development UK
  • Research Development International
  • Impact Development
  • Research Contracts

There is no need to make an appointment, colleagues are encouraged to drop-in to access DREI support particularly in relation to:

  • Discussing and identifying suitable funding opportunities, details of upcoming funding calls, and where to find information
  • Funders, schemes and application processes
  • Internal selection / review processes
  • Training or events
  • Liaison with funders: queries, funder intelligence
  • Feedback on draft applications
  • UoB / project partner letters of support
  • Successful applications that can be shared
  • PI responses
  • Mock interviews for fellowships / large grants
  • Supporting knowledge exchange, impact and innovation funding bids
  • Accessing dedicated impact funds held by the University
  • Convening teams of internal and external colleagues for large, complex, partner focused bids
  • Developing stakeholder analyses
  • Support with weaving impact plans into your research proposal
  • Signposting to relevant colleagues in DREI, such as Commercialisation, PolicyBristol, Public Engagement
  • Finding the correct research agreement template for your project
  • Advising on the terms of a research contract sent to you
  • Negotiating appropriate terms with industrial partners to ensure that you are able to publish the results of the project and use the results in your future research
  • Ensuring that a contract is put in place to avoid any uncertainty or dispute arising during the project (e.g. regarding payment terms)

 

Marie-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme (MSCA-PF) – call open
The fourth MSCA PF call under Horizon Europe is open with a deadline of 11 September 2024

We encourage potential supervisors to begin reaching out to their international networks to identify potential high quality candidates they wish to host at the University of Bristol and who are planning to apply.

Scope: The objective of PFs is to support researchers’ careers and foster excellence in research. The Postdoctoral Fellowships action targets researchers holding a PhD who wish to carry out their research activities abroad, acquire new skills and develop their careers. PFs help researchers gain experience in other countries, disciplines and non-academic sectors.

There are two types of postdoctoral fellowships: 

  • European Postdoctoral Fellowships – fund mobility of researchers within Europe or coming to Europe from another part of the world. Fellowships take place in Europe in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated country (open to any nationality).
  • Global Postdoctoral Fellowships – fund mobility of researchers outside Europe to a non-associated Third Country with a mandatory return phase to an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country (open to nationals or long term residents of EU Member states or Associated Countries).

Eligibility criteria: Researchers must have a PhD degree and at the call deadline have a maximum of 8 years full-time equivalent research experience, measured from the PhD award date.  Years of experience outside of research and career breaks (e.g. due to maternity leave), will not count towards the 8 years maximum experience in research.

In order to comply with the mobility rule, researchers who wish to be hosted by the University of Bristol, must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the UK (for European Postdoctoral Fellowships), for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the call deadline. For Global Postdoctoral Fellowships, this rule applies to the host organisation that will host the fellow during the outgoing phase of the fellowship.  Full call details can be found on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal including the Guide for Applicants and the application form.

Upcoming training event on 10 July at 10:30 | The Research Development International team will run a training event for applicants and their host supervisors at Bristol who are planning to apply.  Please visit the following link in order to register attendance via Zoom. Webinar Registration – Zoom

Please let the EU team know if you are intending to apply at eu-research@bristol.ac.uk so they can keep you updated and to ensure your application is fully supported.

New Mid-Career Fellowships from the Royal Society

Royal Society Faraday Discovery Fellowships (due to open on 14 August 2024)

[An internal selection process will be associated with this call,  details will be communicated as soon as we have them]

The  Royal Society Faraday Discovery Fellowships are prestigious long-term awards that will support emerging research leaders to undertake high-quality, original research. The programme is aimed at outstanding mid-career STEM researchers and will provide grants of up to £8m over a ten-year period to support the development of world-leading research groups in UK Universities and research Institutes. More information in the above link.


Eligibility: * 10- 20 years research experience post-PhD (*exceptional candidates with fewer years’ experience will be considered). Candidates who have had changes in discipline or research direction, or time working on industrial research, are welcome to apply. As standard, career breaks and non-linear career paths will be taken into consideration.

Internal Contact: Joe Butler joseph.butler@bristol.ac.uk  if you have any questions.
Contact at RS Grant team:  faraday@royalsociety.org 

Deadline for 1st stage: 2 October 2024 (Decision by 15 November 2024)
NB: 2nd Stage will open on 28 November 2024 with a deadline of 6 February 2025 (Decision by 31 July 2025)

Related Links:

 

Knowledge Exchange Hub

Online workshops open to academics from across the UK

If you are interested please subscribe to the email list at http://eepurl.com/ix8Yj2

KE Hub triage workshops are informal discussion sessions where one B.I.G. Partner presents a challenge they are currently facing, with the aim of determining:

  1. What, if any, mathematical sciences approaches can be used to address the challenge?
  2. Who from the mathematical sciences community would like to take on the challenge?
  3. What mechanisms are most appropriate for driving the challenge forward?

Forthcoming Workshops:

19 June 2024, 12:30-14:00 | KE Champions’ online meeting
Join our regular KE Champions’ network meeting & good practice session. Knowledge Exchange Hub: KE Champions (kehubmaths.co.uk)

28 June 2024, 09:30 – 15:00 | ESGI 180 Livestream Event
University of Birmingham
An opportunity for those who were unable to attend the UK ESGI 180 event to listen to each teams’ final presentations.
A Zoom link will be sent out to KE Champions & members of the KE Professionals’ forum to share with their departments

**Please contact the KE Hub at kehub@newton.ac.uk if you have any questions.

12 July 2024 10:00-11:30 | KE Hub online Triage Workshop with easyJet
Strategic standby aircraft allocation for enhanced network efficiency.
Webpage: KE Hub online triage workshops.

26 July 2024, 10:00-11:30 | KE Hub online Triage Workshop with Dstl
Generating data for graph machine learning.
Webpage: KE Hub online triage workshops.

Interested?  Please contact Dennis Prangle at dennis.prangle@bristol.ac.uk, and he will forward the Teams Link to you.

New Open Access Webpages

New Open Access Webpages: Library Services have launched a new open access webpages.

The new Open Access For Journal Articles section includes pages on:

  • Open Access Deals: Before you submit identify your open access route heck whether your journal is included in an open access deal.
  • Paying an Article Processing Charge (APC): Some journals require an open access fee, also know as (APC). The library can only pay these fees if we have received a block grant from a funder. We currently hold block grants for UKRI, Wellcome Trust, CRUK and BHF.
  • Scholarly Works Policy: To publish our research openly, our authors need to retain their rights to share their work. Traditionally, most publishers have claimed these rights in their standard publishing contracts, but to comply with funder open access policies and future REF assessments we need to hold on to them. To ensure our authors can do so, the University of Bristol has enacted the Scholarly Works Policy.
  • Open Access Flowchart:  View the open Access Chart in pdf
  • Funder policy pages: Open access policy guides
  • REF Open Access policy : The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the UKs system for assessing the quality and impact of UK research. All researchers at the University of Bristol need to ensure that their work is made open access in line with the REF policy.  Open access for journal articles page will show you how to make your work compliant with the REF open access policy.

Open Access Books and Book Chapters: Funder policies are starting to incorporate books and book chapters. This page provides a brief overview of funder requirements and the open access options available to you. For an in-depth look at open access books, you may find this link useful OAPEN OA Books Toolkit

More information can be found on the Library Services blog

If you have questions please contact:
Research Support, Library Services at
<lib-research-support@bristol.ac.uk>
http://www.bris.ac.uk/library/research-support/