Author Archives: nal136

Call to Attend Workshop on Adolescence, Mental Health and the Developing Mind

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The MRC, AHRC and ESRC have launched a Call for Expressions of Interest to attend a workshop on
Adolescence, Mental Health and the Developing Mind on 22 November 2019.

Expressions of Interest to be submitted by 31 October 2019
This workshop will launch a major new cross-council partnership in Adolescence, Mental Health and the Developing Mind which will support multidisciplinary research and innovation in an area of strategic importance aligned with UK government policy research priorities. The programme will be jointly delivered by the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
Activity supported through this programme will help to provide a better understanding of how genetic, physiological, psychological, social and cultural factors across the life course shape the adolescent mind; of how they interact to influence, both positively and negatively, lifelong mental health, educational attainment, identity, social relationships and behaviour; and of the key concepts and values involved in these explanations, such as mental health/illness and autonomy. Research will address complex, multifactorial problems that cut across a number of policy domains, requiring engagement of wide-ranging stakeholders and active coordination. This integrated approach is intended to generate better interventions to promote good mental health; accelerate translation of research into policy and practice in education, healthcare and other public services; promote young people’s life chances; and strengthen young people’s involvement in research and innovation.

To launch the programme the research councils will be holding a facilitated workshop to engage the breadth of relevant research communities and stakeholders, communicate their ambitions and forge new multidisciplinary networks.
The workshops will consist of a mixture of presentations from UKRI, keynote talks, stakeholder engagement and knowledge exchange, opportunities to meet other researchers and facilitated discussions of key challenges and opportunities for research. The research councils intend to:
• Communicate the scope and ambitions of this initiative
• Foster cross-disciplinary networking and knowledge sharing
• Facilitate interactions with key stakeholders, including policy makers, health, social care and education sectors, young people, carers and those with lived experience of mental health problems
• Explore research and methodology challenges, including opportunities for innovation and novel approaches.

Those who wish to attend a workshop must complete an expression of interest form by the deadline of 31 October 2019 (16:00).
Venue to be confirmed (London or Birmingham)
Applicant will be notified of outcome of EoI on 8 November 2019
Places are limited to approximately 100 attendees.

If anyone applies and gets a place on this workshops, I’d be grateful if you could let me know (lorraine.smith@ncl.ac.uk)

ESRC New Investigator Grants – Next Internal Panel November 2019

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ESRC – Call specification

ESRC – FAQs

ESRC – Jes guidance

Newcastle University – ESRC New Investigator Grants

The next internal panel to consider applications to be submitted to the ESRC New Investigator Grant scheme will meet in November 2019.

New Investigator Grants form one element of ESRC’s support for early career researchers and the scheme is specifically aimed at supporting those looking to make the transition to an independent researcher through managing their first major research project. Full details can be found on ESRC’s website at: https://esrc.ukri.org/funding/funding-opportunities/new-investigator-grants/

The call is open to high-quality candidates from anywhere in the world who have a maximum of four years’ postdoctoral experience and the support of an eligible UK research organisation. Grants ranging from £100,000 to £300,000 full Economic Cost (fEC) can be awarded, with grants between 3 and 5 years.

The call is open to applicants both with and without a permanent academic post, but they must have strong support from a host UK institution. This includes a mentor, and provision of career development support which includes a programme of activities tailored to the needs of the applicant covering project management, methods development, KE activities and impact training, and international networking.

Proposals are welcomed across the full disciplinary range of the social sciences and at the interface with the wider sciences, however the social sciences must represent at least 50 per cent of the research focus and effort.

Following the previously agreed protocol (see the attached paper), all applications to be submitted to this scheme will go through an internal selection panel. Candidates are required to submit a 6 page case for support (following ESRC guidance), a 2 page pathways to impact, a 2 page CV and a 2 page mentor CV. Applications must have full support of the Research Director and Head of School to be put forward to the internal panel.

All documents for the panel should be submitted to Wendy Davison (wendy.davison@ncl.ac.uk). The deadline for submission of documents for the internal panel is 12pm (noon) on Friday 1st November 2019. Applications submitted after this deadline will be required to submit to the following panel (March / April 2020).

Attached is the current most up to date guidance.

Anyone who is interesting in applying can contact Gwen Averley, Lorraine Smith, or Darren Airey for support and guidance.

Butterfield Awards in Medicine and Health 2020

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Butterfield Application Form

2020 Butterfield Referee Report Guidelines

2020 Butterfield Awards Criteria

We are writing to let you know that we are once again inviting applications for grants in medicine and health under our Butterfield Award Programme.

The principal intention of the programme is to enable researchers, practitioners, policy makers and voluntary sector workers in Japan and the UK to share experience and advance knowledge and good practice, and to facilitate UK-Japan professional exchanges and small-scale collaborations.

Applications can be in any relevant field of medicine and health. Projects in the economics and management of healthcare, public health and the interface between medical and social care are particularly welcome.

Grants are not available to fund laboratory consumables and equipment nor for the purely clinical costs of joint research projects but are intended, for example, to help towards travel and living expenses of such research collaborations, or towards seminars, conferences, workshops or publications.

Further background information is attached, and for examples of the kind of projects that have received our funding, our Annual Reports list Butterfield awards made each year and provide examples of the kind of projects that have received our funding in the past. These Reports can be viewed on our website www.gbsf.org.uk, where you can also download the Butterfield Programme application form: http://www.gbsf.org.uk/grants/butterfield-awards-in-medicine-and-health/

The deadline for applications is 15th December 2019 for projects beginning no earlier than 31st March 2020.

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you require clarification of the procedures, the award criteria, or should you wish to discuss with us the eligibility of a particular project. Please note that proposals that do not fulfil our special Butterfield Award criteria may still be eligible for funding under our regular programme of grants within the medicine and health category. You may apply to the regular programme, on our standard application form, should you consider your project unsuitable for a Butterfield Award.

UKRI Citizen Science Exploration Grant – public engagement

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Call open: 1 October 2019 – 12 November 2019

Please could those who are interested read the call guidance documents available on the website: https://www.ukri.org/funding/funding-opportunities/citizen-science-exploration/

Citizen science can potentially add value to a project, yet embedding citizen science methods into the routine way that science is done requires capacity building approach. Therefore, UKRI is offering the opportunity to apply for up to £20,000 to allow researchers to develop pilot projects to build citizen science capacity into their work.

Up to 20 successful application will be awarded but these projects must be conducted between 16 December 2019 and 30 April 2020. Potential successful projects (but not limited to) might include:
• Exploring options for crowdsourced data collection
• Small pilots to test whether working with volunteers to analyse existing datasets can add value to the project
• Open/inclusive innovation – exploring options for companies and research to involve those who will benefit from the research in the development and testing of products
• Collaboration with communities to test approached to co-designing research questions
• Digital innovation pilots in citizen pilots in citizen science, with a focus on testing or extending the functionality of existing tools
• Exploring innovative approaches that focus on removing the barriers to public participation in research such as overcoming the challenges of volunteer management

To develop such project, successful applicant will be expected to undertake activities such as capacity building work, small proof of concept pilots, and or collaborative workshops to explore project ideas, data sources or volunteer opportunities.

Eligibility
• Lead applicant must be an active UKRI grant holder (active grants are classified as any UKRI grants that are ongoing between the date of application and 16 December 2019)
• Non-UKRI grant holders may participate in this grant if they are partnering with a lead applicant who is an active UKRI grant holder
• Applicants should be undertaking research that is related to one of UKRI’s key strategic areas of research and innovations
o Digital economy
o Energy
o Global Food Security
o Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance
o Technology Touching Life
o Urban Living Partnership

For further information on this call please see UKRI’s website

Pre-announcement of call and Expression of interest for workshop participation closes: 13th October 12:00pm

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13 October 2019, 12:00pm
BBSRC-led UKRI call: Transforming the UK food system for healthy people and a healthy environment call and workshops
https://bbsrc.ukri.org/funding/filter/transforming-the-uk-food-system/
https://mrc.ukri.org/funding/browse/spf-food-system/spf-food-systems/

UKRI will shortly announce a call for research to fundamentally transform the UK food system, by placing healthy people and a healthy natural environment at its centre.
Proposals will be invited for interdisciplinary consortia to take a food systems approach, linking healthy and accessible diets with sustainable food production and supply to help drive food system transformation.

This challenge will require collaboration across multiple disciplines, for example agri-food, environmental, nutritional and social sciences (including expertise in soil science, crop and animal production, aquaculture, biodiversity and ecosystem services, systems engineers, data science, agricultural economics, food science, food manufacturing, food markets, nutrition, biomedical and clinical science, epidemiology, economics, behavioural, social and political science). It will also require collaboration with multiple stakeholders, for example government, industry and civil society.

This programme will address health, environmental and social challenges simultaneously, and will bring together researchers and stakeholders to provide evidence for multi-pronged and simultaneous action across the food system.

This is the first call of a wider £47.5 million interdisciplinary research programme led by the Global Food Security Programme (GFS) and supported by UKRI’s Strategic Priorities Fund (SPF).
The call is administered by BBSRC, and partners include ESRC, MRC, NERC, Defra, Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC), Public Health England (PHE), Innovate UK and Food Standards Agency (FSA).

Workshops
Two workshops will be held to communicate more details about the research call and facilitate networking.
Attendance at the workshop is not mandatory for applicants to the research calls.

• Manchester (city centre) Monday 21st October
• London (central) Friday 25th October
Workshops will run from 10:30 – 16:30 on both days.

Expression of interest for workshop participation closes: 13th October 12:00pm

Attendance will be confirmed by: 15th October (Manchester event) and 17th October (London event)

How to apply
• To express your interest in attending one of the workshops please complete the key survey at https://app.keysurvey.co.uk/f/1438509/109e/
• With limited space available, UKRI reserve the right to manage attendance to ensure an appropriate balance of expertise and institutional representation.
• Attendees are encouraged to get in touch to discuss accessibility or attendance needs.

If anyone applies and gets a place on one of these Workshops, I’d be grateful if you could let your Research Funding Development Manager (RFDM) gwen.averley@ncl.ac.uk know.

MRC Board and Panel Vacancies from April 2020 – apply by 4pm on Monday 30 September 2019

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30 September 2019, 4pm

MRC Board and Panel Vacancies from April 2020
https://mrc.ukri.org/about/our-structure/research-boards-panels/mrc-board-panel-vacancies/
online application form:
https://mrc.ukri.org/about/our-structure/research-boards-panels/mrc-board-panel-vacancies/apply-for-a-board-or-panel-vacancy/

MRC seeks to fill up to 28 vacancies across 4 Research Boards and 22 vacancies in 5 of their 6 Panels

Please note, Applicants must have both permission and support from their host institution before applying

Personal specification includes:
• ask that applicants have a sound knowledge of experimental design and statistical approaches to ensure the highest standards of methodological rigor
• a first class record in conducting and leading internationally respected research
• a successful track record in applying for and obtaining major grant funding over a number of years
• a proven ability to exercise judgment across a broad spectrum of research and policy issues with a vision of the priorities and opportunities, not only within his/her areas of expertise, but also across the research board or panel portfolio

Aim to:
• steadily increase the number of women (from the current 42% towards 50%)
• broaden the diversity of members
• increase the ratio of mid-career to later-career members
• ensure a strong representation for basic research and data sciences
• have industry representation.

As part of the preparation for their tenure, all new board and panel members are expected to attend an induction meeting on Thursday 6 February 2020 at BEIS Conference Centre, 1 Victoria St, Westminster, London SW1H 0ET. Please hold this date when making an application.

Research Board vacancies

Infections & immunity Board (IIB)
9 vacancies:
The board has particular interest in extending its global health activities, addressing the challenge of antimicrobial resistance, strengthening pandemic preparedness, investigating immunity and infection through the life course, and supporting integrative data analysis and systems approaches.

• Bacteriology / microbiology – with expertise in physiology, pathogenesis or virulence mechanisms.
• Cellular immunology – with expertise in T cells, dendritic cells, macrophage biology or immunotherapy.
• Computational modelling and analysis, and/or use of artificial intelligence – in systems approaches to infections and immunity and/or the development of diagnostics or advanced therapeutics
• Global health – with special interest in vector borne disease, parasitology or tropical infections and experience of working in a Low and Middle-Income Country
• Immune homeostasis – with expertise in one or more of the following areas: regulatory immune mechanisms, microbiome-immune interactions, immune- mediated inflammatory diseases.
• Virology and viral diseases – with a focus on physiology, pathogenesis or virus-host interactions.
• Vaccinology – with expertise in adjuvants, and/or vaccine development.

MRC are particularly interested to hear from applicants who have expertise in molecular biology, biochemistry, structural biology, global health, experimental medicine, data science, drug discovery, clinical trials or translational research of relevance to the Board’s activities. They strongly welcome applications from candidates from the clinical and the industrial sector.

Molecular & Cellular Medicine Board (MCMB)
6 vacancies:
The board has particular interest in understanding dynamic biological systems across scales, the link between external exposures and causal pathways of disease, and radiation oncology and biology

Applications are invited from clinical and non-clinical scientists.

• Mammalian developmental genetics – core expertise in the use of mammalian model systems to explore the genetics and biology of development, ideally including embryology. Broader expertise in transgenics, gene function/regulation, cell biology and signaling, and non-mammalian model systems would be desirable.
• Genomic instability and repair – with core expertise in genome stability, DNA repair and DNA damage signaling. Broad knowledge relevant to cell biology including biology of the nucleus would be desirable.
• Structural biology – core expertise in a broad range of biophysical methods and integrated structural studies approaches; expertise in NMR would be desirable. The appointee should have a track record in structure-function studies. Knowledge of signal transduction, cell biology and structure-based drug discovery would be desirable.
• Industry representative – currently employed within, or strong experience of, the biomedical research industry sector. Knowledge in areas including cell signaling, functional genomics, stratified medicine, target validation/drug development or advanced therapies would be desirable
• Up to two vacancies covering:
o Medical oncology (with preference for clinically qualified/active biomedical researchers)
o Cancer genetics – with broad expertise in the molecular biology of cancer, particularly in areas of cancer cell adhesion/migration, cell cycle control, mechanisms of invasion/metastasis, cellular signaling, and cancer gene predisposition/function/regulation. Experience of experimental medicine, translational cancer studies and an awareness of cancer in a global health context would be desirable.

MRC are particularly interested to receive applications from those with expertise in the use of quantitative analytical tools, and/or multi-dimensional data and systems approaches applied to resolving complex biological problems across scale, space and time.

Neurosciences & Mental Health Board (NMHB)
6 vacancies:
The board has a particular interest in addressing the challenges of mental illness and neurodegenerative diseases as well as exploring what we can learn from the direct study of human brain tissue to gain insight into the function of the human brain.

Applications are invited from clinical and non-clinical scientists.

• Cellular and molecular neurobiology – with expertise in neurodegeneration, synaptic plasticity or behavioural neuroscience.
• Neurodegeneration – with expertise in neuroinflammation and/or translational research.
• Mental health – with expertise in one or more of the areas of : genetics, genomics, clinical psychiatry, experimental medicine and translational approaches.
• Neuro-repair/regeneration – with expertise in clinical neurology.
• Addiction – with expertise in clinical neurology, clinical psychiatry, drug metabolism.

MRC are particularly interested to hear from applicants who have expertise in clinical genetics, modelling approaches, and translational neuroscience. Knowledge of a range of neuroimaging and non-invasive biophysical techniques will be an advantage.

Population & Systems Medicine Board (PSMB)
7 vacancies:
The board has particular interest in understanding multimorbidity and disease clustering, mechanisms of rare diseases to provide insight into more common conditions, and integrated population health with a special emphasis on data integration.

• Clinical cardiology and cardiovascular medicine – with expertise in genetics of cardiovascular disease. Knowledge of imaging techniques, including clinical imaging, would be desirable.
• Musculoskeletal research (two vacancies) – with expertise in muscle, bone and/or cartilage physiology and pathogenesis of osteoarthritis. Broad interest in and knowledge of ageing research (beyond musculoskeletal ageing), resilience and frailty would be desirable.
• Renal medicine – with expertise in mechanisms of disease.
• Inflammation – with expertise in resolution of inflammation and cellular mechanisms of inflammatory disease.
• Epidemiology and population health sciences – with expertise and/or keen interest in enhancing classical epidemiological methods with new approaches to complex/distributed data collection and analysis. A strong background in experimental design would be advantageous.
• Functional genomics – with expertise in large scale genomics and epigenomics. Knowledge of functional metagenomics linked to the role of the human microbiome in chronic conditions (e.g. inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, liver disease and female reproductive system disorders) would be desirable.

MRC are particularly interested to hear from applicants who take multi-modal approaches and integrate and interrogate complex multidimensional data e.g. combining population genomics with cell biology and capitalising on the rich molecular and phenotypic data sets from human and experimental systems. Applicants with expertise in machine learning and computational models that can be evaluated experimentally are strongly encouraged to apply.

Funding Panel vacancies

Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme Panel (DPFS)
8 vacancies:

• Diagnostic development and implementation
• Medicinal chemistry
• Cardiovascular medicine
• Oncology
• Advanced therapies, including antibodies, peptides and cell & gene therapies
• Molecular pharmacology, including pre-clinical toxicology
• Statistics, including early phase clinical trial and pre-clinical
• Infectious diseases and global health

Applications from clinically active researchers, researchers based in industry and those with knowledge of the relevant investment landscape would be particularly welcomed. Given the breadth of applications received by the scheme, panel members are required to cover a broad portfolio and individual applicants would ideally be able to cover multiple areas.

MRC-NIHR Methodology Research Programme Panel (MRP)
5 vacancies:

MRC seeks applications from experienced researchers with a broad scientific, and a very strong methodological background. To ensure regional and sectoral representation, researchers based outside of London or from industry are particularly encouraged.

• Clinical Informatics; health systems, services and delivery; computer- or data-science skills for health
• Causal modelling and inference; observational studies; triangulation
• Biostatistics; genetic epidemiology; computational statistics; meta-analytical models
• Co-membership with PSMB (see Board vacancies)
• Co-membership with MCMB (see Board vacancies).

Co-membership ensures that advances and challenges from research methodology are embedded across MRC funding decisions and strategy. Where appropriate, applicants applying to the vacancies within other Boards and Panels should indicate their availability for dual membership with MRP.

Training and Career Development Panels

Non-Clinical Training and Career Development Panel
Up to 5 vacancies.

Panel members contribute to assessments and interviews across the full range of MRC’s work, and this year they would particularly welcome applications from researchers who would bring core expertise in:

• Cell biology and cancer/ cell and structural biology
• Population scale biomedical research / genetic epidemiology
• Public health and prevention
• Imaging / microscopy technology or applications

Candidates with clinical expertise would be particularly welcome.

Clinical Training and Career Development Panel
Up to 4 vacancies.

Panel members contribute to assessments and interviews across the full range of MRC’s work, and this year MRC would particularly welcome applications from researchers who would bring core expertise in:

• Endocrinology and metabolic medicine
• Stem cell biology
• Oncology
• Data science and artificial intelligence

CRUK refreshed strategy for children’s and young people’s cancers PLUS two associated new grant calls

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Cancer Research UK (CRUK) have published a statement of intent outlining how they intend to support children’s and young people’s cancer research to better understand the underpinnings of this disparate group of diseases and develop more effective and less toxic treatments to increase chances of survival and improve quality of life after treatment.
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/funding-for-researchers/statement-of-intent-for-childrens-and-young-peoples-cancer-research
They will (i) build research capacity in the UK, (ii) develop and support a co-ordinated research community, and (iii) ensure the research community has the tools and infrastructure it needs to progress

As part of this strategy they have launched (1) a new, national funding call and (2) a parallel international call:

before 6 December 2019 you must contact the Science Committee team
10 January 2020 (invited full application)
(1) Children and Young People’s Cancer Innovation Award
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/funding-for-researchers/our-funding-schemes/children-and-young-peoples-cancer-innovation-award
This a three-stage competition, with outline, full application and interview stages.

Awards are for up to £1 million for up to 3 years.

They are particularly interested in applications that include researchers with expertise beyond paediatric cancer research, such as those working in other cancer fields and those in disciplines outside biomedical research, who are interested in using their knowledge and skills to answer key questions in paediatric cancers.

These awards are intended to stimulate new activity and collaborations, and to build capacity within UK paediatric cancer research.
Projects should be focused on transforming our understanding of paediatric tumour biology and developing innovative new ways to treat, detect and prevent these diseases.

They especially encourage proposals to investigate one or more of these concepts:
• The basis of tumor initiation and progression
• Novel therapeutic approaches
• Development of novel biomarkers or methodologies to predict disease progression, to enhance efforts in primary and secondary prevention and intervention
• Novel models that would enhance pre-clinical research
• Development of more effective and/or less toxic treatments to improve long-term health and quality of life

Before applying, please contact the Science Committee team to discuss the application process. They will then open an outline application form on their GrantsManagement system.

Please see the guidelines for full details: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/sites/default/files/sc_-_cyp_innovation_award_-_full_-_application_guidelines.pdf

6 December 2019 (Preliminary submission)
10 January 2020 (Final submission)
March 2020 (Interview)
(2) SU2C-CRUK Paediatric Cancer New Discoveries Challenge
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/funding-for-researchers/our-funding-schemes/su2c-cruk-paediatric-cancer-new-discoveries-challenge
Up to $1 million is available in round 1
Applicant teams successful in round 1 will also have the opportunity to apply for a second round of funding to progress their research further

Application information will be available on the SU2C website at the formal launch of request for applications – CRUK will provide details soon.
You are encouraged to contact the SU2C office to discuss your eligibility and suitability of your research proposal.

SU2C-CRUK Paediatric Cancer New Discoveries Challenge aims to support novel and innovative trans-Atlantic collaborations in childhood cancer research.

• These awards will support collaborative, multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, transatlantic teams, comprising laboratory and clinical researchers and those at different career stages.
• Teams must be led by at least one researcher from a US institution and one from a UK institution.
• You are strongly encouraged to form a team that includes expertise beyond paediatric oncology (e.g. other areas of oncology, biology, chemistry, engineering, physics, etc.).

Applications can address one or more of the following concepts, with the goal of progressing the approach to a more advanced pre-clinical or clinical setting in round 2:
• the basis of tumour initiation and progression
• novel therapeutic approaches
• development of novel biomarkers or methodologies to predict disease progression, to enhance efforts in primary and secondary prevention and intervention
• novel models that would enhance pre-clinical research
• development of more effective and/or less toxic treatments to improve long-term health and quality of life
CRUK would welcome proposals that advance research in any type of paediatric cancer, including teenagers and young adults, particularly inviting new proposals in paediatric brain tumours.