EoI_RENKEI_Researcher_Workshop_Ncl

RENKEI Researcher Workshop-ClimateChange2019_final

Item 1: NERC Independent Research Fellowships – Briefing session 13^th August

Item 2: NERC Public Engagement Strategy and new opportunities for funding

Item 3: Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund opportunity – Manufacturing made smarter: round 1 (fast start)

Item 4: Research Council Constructing a Digital Environment – Workshop and Funding Opportunity

Item 5: UKRI Review of Support for Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Item 6: EPSRC Analytical Science Community Workshop

Item 7: EPSRC Showcasing Physical Sciences Impact Event

Item 8: RENKEI Call for Expressions of Interest to participate in the RENKEI Climate Change workshop 02-04 Dec

Item 9: UK-Japan funding opportunities (JSPS/The Royal Society)

Item 10: REMINDER Opportunity to sit on EPSRC Strategic Advisory Teams (SATs)

If you have any questions about the items below please contact a member of the Research Funding Development Team.

Item 1: NERC Independent Research Fellowships – Briefing session 13^th August

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Independent Research Fellowships opportunity is open with an application deadline of 01 October 2019, see https://nerc.ukri.org/funding/available/fellowships/irf/.

We are holding a briefing session on Tuesday 13 August, from 11.00am-12.30pm in Armstrong Building room 3.39, where you will receive information about the opportunity and advice from a successful applicant, Dr Celine Guervilly.

The fellowships are designed to develop scientific leadership among the most promising early-career environmental scientists (with up to 8 year full-time postdoctoral experience, excluding leave), by giving all fellows five years’ support, which will allow them sufficient time to develop their research programmes and to gain international recognition. Note, those in the closing stages of their PhD may be eligible.

Should you be interested to attend, please let Jarlath McKenna <Jarlath.mckenna@newcastle.ac.uk> know. If you plan to apply with Newcastle but cannot make the briefing session, please note that support from the Research Funding Development team is available.

Item 2: NERC Public Engagement Strategy and new opportunities for funding

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is creating a new strategy for public engagement with environmental science research and has published a draft which is open to feedback. The strategy is available for feedback from 31 July to 7 September. NERC encourages feedback through its online consultation process – external link.

The strategy builds on current and previous investments, from the NERC Community for Engaging Environments, our largest single investment in public engagement, through to grants given to individual researchers.

Following the consultation period, NERC will be publishing the strategy in late 2019.

Consultation event: As part of listening to its communities about the new public engagement with research strategy, NERC will run an event on Tuesday 15 October, to get feedback and understand how we can work with our partners to achieve the strategy. The event will also celebrate research that has successfully demonstrated purposeful engagement in the research community.

To apply to attend the event, please see details on the consultation event page.

Grant to embed engagement: We are inviting proposals for small projects, between £2,000 and £5,000, which will demonstrate how the NERC public engagement with research strategy aligns with activity that our community and institutions are, and plan to be, delivering. The closing date for outline proposals is 16:00 on Monday 30 September 2019. For full information about the grant, please see details of the Announcement of Opportunity.

Item 3: Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund opportunity – Manufacturing made smarter: round 1 (fast start)

Contact: geraint.lewis@ncl.ac.uk

Link to call: https://apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/competition/404/overview#scope

Competition closes: Wednesday 28 August 2019 12:00pm

Up to £30 million is available for projects to transform the productivity and agility of UK manufacturing. Projects must have the potential for rapid impact. The aim of this competition is to fund projects focussed on the use of industrial digital technologies (IDTs) to transform the productivity and agility of UK manufacturing. Projects must be able to achieve short-term impact and rapid technology development.

Eligibility

• To lead a project the organisation must be a UK based manufacturing business of any size
• An academic institution can collaborate in any number of applications

Specific themes

Projects must focus on at least one of the 4 innovation themes.

1. Smart connected factory, including:

• use of real-time data to optimise operational efficiency
• capture, analysis and visualisation of manufacturing processes

2. Connected and versatile supply chain, including:

• information integration, communication, traceability and trust

3. Design, make, test, including:

• transforming product design through digital technologies
• virtual product testing, verification and validation, quality monitoring and inspection

4. Adaptable, flexible manufacturing operations and skills, including:

• culture change and skills development to fully utilise technologies
• human-centric automation and autonomy to enable expandable, flexible manufacturing systems

If you are interested in this opportunity please contact Geraint Lewis (geraint.lewis@ncl.ac.uk), Head of Enterprise Services.

Item 4: Research Council Constructing a Digital Environment – Workshop and Funding Opportunity

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is inviting individuals to submit expressions of interests (EoIs) to attend workshops for the NERC-led four-year £10·4 million Constructing a Digital Environment programme in either Cardiff (4 October), London (10 October) or Edinburgh (16 October).

The workshops aims to bring together the ‘digital environment’ community, including (but not limited to) environmental science, computer science, informatics, statistics, social science, data science, policymakers and members of industry, and follows on from the first workshop held in Manchester earlier in 2019.

The workshops will include presentations from the NERC Digital Environment Team and the Constructing a Digital Environment Champions Ron Corstanje and Steve Hallett and other project partners. The days will primarily focus on networking and discussions around specific digital environment themes ahead of a future funding opportunity.

The deadline for applications is 4pm on 6^th September. More information can be found here.

Item 5: UKRI Review of Support for Artificial Intelligence (AI)

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and its research and innovation communities, have a key role to play in the development and application of world leading AI technologies.

In order to provide a holistic approach to the support of AI research and innovation across UKRI, which spans the remit, portfolio, and community of UKRI, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is working with colleagues across UKRI to undertake a review of the AI landscape. This review aims to understand current UK support for AI research and innovation, and engage key stakeholders in identifying the opportunities and future directions for AI research and innovation in the UK. The review will result in a UKRI AI Strategy in autumn 2019, which will set out UKRI’s approach to appropriately supporting AI research and innovation in the UK including recommendations for UKRI activities.

To seek input and engagement of stakeholders from the academic and user communities, four regional community AI workshops took place in May this year, in Edinburgh, Bristol, Birmingham and London, which more than 200 attendees overall.

To ensure that anyone who would like to stay informed about the progress of the UKRI AI review can do so, we have set up a simple smart survey, which you may wish to complete. Over summer 2019, further focussed engagement on specific topics is planned, and we will make colleagues aware of any activities as soon as possible.

Item 6: EPSRC Analytical Science Community Workshop

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is holding an Analytical Science community workshop on the 23 October 2019. This workshop will bring together representatives from both industry and academia working within the EPSRC Analytical Science research area. The aim of the workshop is to produce a set of future research goals, encompassing the views of both the academic and industrial communities, and use these discussions to identify potential areas of overlap between the research agenda of the academic community and the development needs of industry. To facilitate this, the workshop will provide opportunities for networking and the development of new collaborations. The workshop will also provide an opportunity for the Analytical Science community to identify future infrastructure needs, including ways in which the existing infrastructure can be more effectively utilised.

More information about the workshop and future funding in this area can be found here. The deadline for expressions of interest is 6^th September 2019.

Item 7: EPSRC Showcasing Physical Sciences Impact Event

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is hosting an exciting event, sponsored by the Institute of Physics and the Royal Society of Chemistry, to celebrate the significant and wide-ranging impacts that arise from the breadth of physical sciences research: from the fundamental to the applied. The event (6^th December 2019) will include plenary talks, keynote speech and 10-15 exhibits demonstrating the best of physical sciences impact, and panel sessions focusing on the three pillars of impact: 1) economic, social & cultural impact, 2) impact through knowledge and 3) impact through people.

The event will bring together academics and industrialists from across a broad range of disciplines along with policy makers to share, discuss and celebrate the far-reaching and varied impacts of physical sciences research. With the event EPSRC aims to:

• Raise the profile of the exciting and varied impact of physical sciences research amongst stakeholders including industry, the third sector, academia, senior leaders of UKRI and policy makers.
• Raise awareness within the physical sciences research community of the three pillars of impact, the potential opportunities for pathways to impact and how EPSRC can further support this.
• Increase understanding amongst stakeholders of the latency of physical sciences research, its transformational but risky nature and the timeline to translation.

If you are interesting in showcasing your work, please visit the EPSRC website here.

Item 8: RENKEI Call for Expressions of Interest to participate in the RENKEI Climate Change workshop 02-04 Dec 2019

I’m delighted to let you know that the internal call for Expressions of Interest’ to participate in the RENKEI ‘climate change’ workshop on 02-04 Dec 2019 is now open, please feel free to forward this information to colleagues who you think might be interested in participating at the event. RENKEI (Research and Education Network for Knowledge Economy Initiatives) is a partnership between universities in Japan and the UK aiming at strengthening the knowledge exchange and research collaboration between the two countries particularly focusing on ‘climate change’ and ‘health’.

Newcastle has been allocated 4 researcher places in total for the workshop (1 senior academic, 1 mid-career, 1 post-doc, 1 PhD). We will also be taking the following into consideration:

✓ At least 1 nominated researcher should be from social sciences and the humanities (related to ‘climate change’)

✓ At least 1 nominated researcher should be female

✓ Up to 1 nominated researcher can be Early Career Researcher/PhD

✓ Nominated researchers are expected to have interest/expertise in either of the subthemes listed (see the attached document ‘RENKEI Researcher Workshop-ClimateChange2019_final’).

Anyone interested in participating in the workshop should please complete the attached EoI from and email it back to dajana.dzanovic@ncl.ac.uk by 01 September 2019 (12 noon), if required please ensure that your supervisor/line manager is supportive of your participation.

Item 9: UK-Japan funding opportunities (JSPS/The Royal Society)

Type A: Bilateral Joint Projects with JSPS’ Counterpart Funding Institutions

This scheme is based on an agreement with the Royal Society.

Duration of Project: 2 years

Level of funding: JSPS: Up to 2,000,000 JPY per fiscal year (Up to JPY 4,000,000 in total); Royal Society: Up to GBP 12,000 in total

*Starting date: 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2022 for the Japanese side and from 18 March 2020 to 2022 for the UK side.

Application Period:

JSPS Tokyo: Wednesday 21st August to Wednesday 4th September, 2019, Japan time.

Applications should be sent centrally by the institution in Japan to JSPS Tokyo. JSPS Tokyo does not accept applications from individual researchers and please note that the applicant’s affiliated institution may set an earlier, internal deadline to collect and check the format of these applications before forwarding to JSPS Tokyo. Under no circumstances will JSPS Tokyo accept a late application.

Royal Society: Wednesday 7 August to Wednesday 25th September, 2019, 15:00 UK time

For more information please go to the following web link.

Type B: Open Partnership Joint Projects/Seminars

Under this scheme JSPS has no formal agreement with another funding body. The Japan based group can receive support from JSPS and the counterpart group in another country should seek support for their involvement from a funding body recognized by JSPS.

Duration Supported:

Joint Projects – up to 2 years *Start date must be during the period of 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021

Joint Seminars – up to 1 week *Seminars must be held during the period of 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021

Level of funding: Joint Projects – Up to JPY 2,000,000 per fiscal year (Up to JPY 4,000,000 in total); Joint Seminars – Up to JPY 2,000,000

Application Period:

JSPS Tokyo: Wednesday 21st August to Wednesday 4h September 2019, Japan time.

Applications should be sent centrally by the institution in Japan to JSPS Tokyo. JSPS Tokyo does not accept applications from individual researchers and please note that the applicant’s affiliated institution may set an earlier, internal deadline to collect and check the format of these applications before forwarding to JSPS Tokyo. Under no circumstances will JSPS Tokyo accept a late application.

For more information please go to the following web link.

If you have any questions about the opportunities above please contact Dajana Dzanovic (dajana.dzanovic@ncl.ac.uk)

Item 10: REMINDER Opportunity to sit on EPSRC Strategic Advisory Teams (SATs)

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is looking to recruit new members for its Strategic Advisory Teams (SATs) to start in January 2020.

Strategic Advisory Teams (SAT) advise EPSRC themes on research and training strategy across different areas of our remit. As a SAT member, you will be expected to meet up to three times a year and, in between, advocate on behalf of EPSRC on any policies or specific issues that may arise. The SAT acts as a sounding board for themes to inform new ideas, provide advice on key issues and offer a direct link to the research community.

The EPSRC Engineering Theme has produced a booklet on what the role of a SAT member is (please see here). Please also refer to the Strategic Advisory Bodies membership page. For information on how to apply, the person and assessment criteria and the selection process, please refer to the Strategic Advisory Bodies membership page. EPSRC is looking to fill vacancies in specific themes and for a range of career stage’s, as outlined here and summarized here:

• Capital Equipment: Early Career Researcher, Facility Manager/Researcher, Engineering Researcher/User of Capital Equipment
• Digital Economy: Creative Industries Academic, Early Career Researcher
• E-Infrastructure: HPC user from Maths/CFD/Climate Community, HPC user from Biophysics Community
• Energy: Carbon Capture and Storage, Nuclear Fission, Offshore Renewable Energy, Climate Sciences and/or Decarbonisation
• Engineering: Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering or Control Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Expertise at the Interface of Engineering and Society/Social Impact
• Fusion Advisory Board: Fusion Engineering, Inertial Fusion, Modelling of Fusion
• Healthcare Technologies: Digital Health, Medical Imaging, Diagnostics
• ICT: Photonics, Communications, Fundamentals of Computing
• Manufacturing the Future: Open Area with priority given to those working in Industrial Buiotechnology, Circular Economy, Digital Manufacturing and Materials Manufacturing, Open Area with priority given to people working in aerospace, food, pharmaceuticals
• Mathematical Sciences: Pure Maths with expertise in Number Theory, Pure Maths (any), Statistics, Operational Research
• Physical Sciences: Physical Scientist with expertise in Optical Physics, Physical Scientist with expertise in Functional Materials, Physical Scientist with expertise in using Large Data, Physical Scientist with expertise in Photonic Materials (including metamaterials).

If you are interested in an SAT opportunity and would like some support with a potential application, please contact a member of the Research Funding Development Team. The deadline for applying is 4pm 23^rd August 2019.