79 July 2010
www.epsrc.ac.uk
In touch with opportunities from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Delivery planning Following the publication of our new Strategic Plan earlier this year, our task now is to translate that vision into specific plans for 2011 to 2014. The Delivery Plan will detail our activities, targets and milestones for that period. Work in developing these plans will be carried out in conjunction with our community. Over the summer, we will be actively engaging with our major partners, including key university and business partners, learned societies and professional institutes, and government, to ensure that we factor into our thinking all relevant issues and questions. The intelligence and advice we receive through these representative
groups will form the principal external inputs to our planning activities. The Strategic Plan, which set out our vision for keeping the UK at the heart of global research and innovation, is available at www.epsrc.ac.uk. It describes EPSRC’s high level goals for the next three to five years. Developed in consultation with our partners and communities, it was informed by the research landscape, the global economic situation and government strategy.
The intelligence and advice we receive through these representative groups will form the principal external inputs to our planning activities.
First Grants update Council discussed the First Grants Scheme at its meeting on 10 March this year. It was supportive of the need for an approach for nurturing the very best first-time applicants at the start of their research careers. However, Council felt that it was not clear that the current scheme would be the most appropriate way to do this across all disciplines and in all circumstances. EPSRC will now be considering different approaches of
support, as part of its future planning later this year, but will retain the current guidelines for this scheme on an interim basis until the planning cycle is complete. At present First Grants have a funding cap of ÂŁ125k and a duration limit of 2 years.
Contact: Adrian Paul adrian.paul@epsrc.ac.uk
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PATHWAYS TO IMPACT
CONNECTING WITH ENERGY
MANUFACTURING OUR FUTURE
PHYSICAL SCIENCES SIGN POSTS Further information: www.epsrc.ac.uk
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Pathways to impact A series of regional meetings has just been held, and the sessions on Impact proved very popular, with a total of around 400 people attending. The session was very much hands-on, giving attendees the chance both to draft and peer review a Pathways to Impact document. At the end of each session, participants were asked to give their ‘top tips’ which we pass on here. If anyone wants to run a similar session for their group, department or institution, we are happy to provide the materials, so please contact us. We have also worked with our colleagues in other Research Councils to improve and clarify the guidance on impact.
PATHWAYS TO IMPACT: top tips from regional meeting attendees •• •• ••
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Further information: www.rcuk.ac.uk/pathwaystoimpact
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https://je-s.rcuk.ac.uk/jesHandBook/ jesHelp.aspx?m=s&s=1202
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https://je-s.rcuk.ac.uk/jesHandBook/ jesHelp.aspx?m=s&s=1312
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EPSRC agrees a new contract for a National Centre for III-V Epitaxy As a result of its review of mid range facilities, the EPSRC issued an invitation to tender for a contract to operate a National Facility for III-V Epitaxy. We are pleased to announce that this tender exercise is now complete and the successful recipient of the new contract is the University of Sheffield. The contract will run for five years from July 2010 and will provide the core funding for a facility to provide the UK academic community access to state-of-theart epitaxy. It will also fund device fabrication equipment in support of internationally leading research programmes. The issuing of contracts by EPSRC marks a step change in the governing of the operation of its mid range facilities, a vital component of the national research landscape and aims to ensure a sustainable and internationally competitive capability for our communities.
Contact: Katie Blaney katie.blaney@epsrc.ac.uk
Contact: Susan Morrell susan.morrell@epsrc.ac.uk
Fourth Call for Career Acceleration Fellowships A networking event organised by the fellows themselves, led by Christopher Blanford, held in April brought together 30 fellows from across the first two cohorts awarded by EPSRC. The aim of the meeting was to provide an opportunity for current career acceleration fellows to share their experiences and enable discussion between current career acceleration fellows and EPSRC. The fellows enjoyed the free and open discussion which ensued, allowing them to identify good practice within and between their respective universities and
to examine differences across universities in the support and resource allocation available to them. They plan to meet again throughout their fellowships to continue to monitor best practice and to discuss next steps in their attempts to gain elusive permanent academic posts. Career Acceleration Fellowships were launched in 2008. These highly sought after awards provide support for outstanding researchers at an early stage of their career. The expectation is that fellows will have established an independent career of international standing by the end of the award.
The fourth call for outline proposals for Career Acceleration Fellowships will be released to university research organisations early this summer for new fellowships operating from July 2011. Decisions on the third annual call were made in June ready for new starts in July 2010.
Contact: Anne-Louise Holloway anne-louise.holloway@epsrc.ac.uk
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Research Councils UK Energy Programme Branding Guidelines
Use of the Logo
Researchers receiving support from the research councils for energy research or training; need to be aware of the branding guidelines that should be used when publicising and acknowledging their activities.
For energy programme supported activities, we ask that the RCUK energy logo be used instead of individual research council logos in any publicity. It is through this branding that we can promote a whole-systems approach to energy research.
We are seeking to increase the visibility of the programme and to enable energy research activities from different themes to be grouped together with ease. This will highlight the ‘bigger picture’ of energy research within the Research Councils; demonstrating how RCUK is addressing and answering the big issues facing society today as well as preparing for future challenges. In order to achieve this, all energy related research funded by the Research Councils as part of the RCUK Energy Programme needs to be ‘branded’ as such.
Prior to the energy programme identity being developed, sub-brands were already established such as SUPERGEN. We understand that some of these brands may initially be more recognisable than the energy programme and so they should still be used, but in conjunction with the energy programme branding.
In order to achieve this, all energy related research funded by the Research Councils as part of the RCUK Energy Programme needs to be ‘branded’ as such.
The Research Councils UK Energy Programme is an RCUK cross-council initiative led by EPSRC. It brings together the work of EPSRC, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). The Programme funds energy-related research and training across the Research Councils to address the international issues of climate change and security of energy supply.
Acknowledgement When referring to research funded under the energy programme, mentioning any individual research council is not required. If it is vital to refer to a specific research council please use the wording agreed across RCUK: ‘The Energy Programme is a Research Councils UK cross-council initiative led by EPSRC and contributed to by ESRC, NERC, BBSRC and STFC.’ A more detailed copy of the RCUK branding guidelines and copies of the energy programme logo can be found online.
The future of electronics research eFutures is a new three year network proposal recently announced by the EPSRC ICT programme. With strategic input from UK industry and being spearheaded by leading groups around the UK, this network provides an excellent opportunity for the electronics design and technology communities to come together and consolidate a common vision and strategy for academic research in electronics in the UK. Professor Anthony O’Neill the Principal Investigator for the new network said, “The public have an appetite for all things electronic and demand new and better products year on year. This creates a challenge for designers and an opportunity for the electronics community. By working together these challenges can be tackled, making the UK’s electronics community ‘fit for purpose’ in the coming years, to face critical challenges for example at the interface between design and technology.”
Contact: Professor Anthony O’Neill Tel: 0191 222 7328 anthony.oneill@ncl.ac.uk
calls
CONNECTING WITH
To find out more about EPSRC funding opportunities please visit:
www.epsrc.ac.uk/ callsforproposals Contact: Jacqui Williams jacqui.williams@epsrc.ac.uk www.rcuk.ac.uk/energy
or sign-up to e-alerts and RSS feeds.
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July 2010 Issue 79
Manufacturing our future The importance of manufacturing’s role in helping to revitalise the UK’s economy has been increasingly recognised following the financial crisis. As a result, EPSRC have been reviewing and revising our strategy for manufacturing research to help lead the drive to a low carbon society. The review has three main strands: ••
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The outcome of these strands, together with the recommendations of the international review panel, will inform our strategy, raise our profile in manufacturing research and help to inform and influence national policy for manufacturing.
The international panel, brought together at a theme day earlier this year, found the overall quality of funded research was high, with a large number of world-leading projects. The engagement of users was both high and appropriate, providing good routes to exploitation of research outputs. The best projects were a mixture of the Innovative Manufacturing Research Centres and smaller projects and the panel suggested that this mix should continue. Continuity of funding through the centre approach had helped to build a strong community. They were also impressed by the Challenging Engineers approach, which stimulates the research leaders of the future to be collaborative, creative and ambitious in the early stages of their career. The use of the EngD for training doctoral students, and the way both tackled the required multidisciplinary approach was also praised. Areas for improvement were noted, in particular, members felt that there was a need to increase the level of adventure and creativity and it needed to include more work on disruptive technologies that were high risk but could potentially have high pay back.
Other areas for focus on future activity were raised at the theme day. These included green technologies, convergent technologies, internet and the real world, whole systems process modelling and business processes. These aspects, and points made by the panel have been incorporated into the current call for new centres. Contact: Mark Claydon-Smith mark.claydon-smith@epsrc.ac.uk
International review IMPACT! of e-Science 2010 e-Newsletter Receive our
Keep in touch with how EPSRC supported research and training impacts on society and the economy. To receive the latest impact case studies linked to topical issues, sign up for our monthly e-newsletter: ImpactNews@ epsrc.ac.uk
Further information: www.impactworld.org.uk
The RCUK International Review of e-Science took place in December 2009 with a panel of 15 of the world’s leading authorities drawn from academia, business and policy. A town meeting to share the outcome of the review was held in February. The full report is now available on the website.
Further information: www.epsrc.ac.uk/research/intrevs/ escience/Pages/default.aspx
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July 2010 Issue 79
EPSRC Contacts For further programme information: www.epsrc.ac.uk
Head of Materials, Mechanical and Medical Engineering Mark Claydon-Smith 01793 444440 mark.claydon-smith@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Information and Communications Technology Liam Blackwell 01793 444217 liam.blackwell@epsrc.ac.uk
New signposts launched in Physical Sciences On April 1 2010, the Physical Sciences Programme launched two new signposts. The programme welcomes collaborative proposals in the following areas: ••
Head of Energy Multidisciplinary Applications Jason Green 01793 444208 jason.green@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Peer Review Susan Morrell 01793 444462 susan.morrell@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Digital Economy John Hand 01793 444394 john.hand@epsrc.ac.uk
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Head of Next Generation Healthcare Rachel Bishop 01793 444335 rachel.bishop@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Nanotechnology Rachel Bishop 01793 444335 rachel.bishop@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Knowledge Transfer John Baird 01793 444047 john.baird@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Mathematical Sciences and Public Engagement David Harman 01793 444304 david.harman@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Energy Research Capacity Jason Green 01793 444208 jason.green@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Engineering for Sustainability Philippa Hemmings 01793 444378 philippa.hemmings@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Cross Disciplinary Interfaces Kedar Pandya 01793 444317 kedar.pandya@epsrc.ac.uk Head of User Led Knowledge and Skills Alan Thomas 01793 442806 alan.thomas@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Infrastructure and International Jane Nicholson 01793 444065 jane.nicholson@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Physical Sciences Andrew Bourne 01793 444358 andrew.bourne@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Research Careers Strategy Lucy Brady 01793 444147 lucy.brady@epsrc.ac.uk Maggie Wilson 01793 444333 maggie.wilson@epsrc.ac.uk Head of Business Relationships Emma Feltham 01793 444321 emma.feltham@epsrc.ac.uk Senior Manager International Edward Clarke 01793 444438 edward.clarke@epsrc.ac.uk Senior Manager Public Engagement Jo Coleman 01793 444209 joanna.coleman@epsrc.ac.uk Michelle Lascelles 01793 444461 michelle.lascelles@epsrc.ac.uk IDEAS Factory Contact Susan Morrell 01793 444462 susan.morrell@epsrc.ac.uk
For current grant maintenance and grant assessment queries Engineering Chris Elson 01793 444504 chris.elson@epsrc.ac.uk Technology Valerie Hibberd 01793 444560 valerie.hibberd@epsrc.ac.uk Science Cheryl Curtis 01793 444290 cheryl.curtis@epsrc.ac.uk EPSRC, Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon SN2 1ET Telephone: 01793 444000 www.epsrc.ac.uk Editor: Rachael Brown, rachael.brown@epsrc.ac.uk Circulation amendments: connect@epsrc.ac.uk © Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council 2010. ISSN 1476-6485 Material may be reproduced providing the source is acknowledged.
These research areas will be signposted for a minimum of 18 months. Proposals that fit the remit of the signposts will be considered on separate lists at the most appropriate Physical Sciences panel. Further information: www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/grants/rb/signpost/Pages/ physicalsciences.aspx Contact for Control of self-assembly: Claire Higlett claire.higlett@epsrc.ac.uk Contact for Matter far from equilibrium: Cora O’Reilly cora.o’reilly@epsrc.ac.uk
Challenging Engineering 2010: Funding for Future Research Leaders The 2010 Challenging Engineering call is now open and the deadline for submission of full proposals to EPSRC is 4pm, 11 August 2010. The Challenging Engineering scheme is designed to identify and support creative and innovative individuals with the potential to become future leaders of research. The award offers flexible funding to build a team to deliver the applicant’s research vision. There have been some changes to the scheme which are detailed below: ••
•• •• •• •• For further information on the scheme, how to apply and the assessment process please see the Challenging Engineering web page. Further information: www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/calls/open/Pages/ challengingengineering.aspx or email: challengingengineering@epsrc.ac.uk 5