Funding

The Company considers funding requests from the organisers of a range of charitable activities deemed to lie within its remit. These include, but are not limited to, meetings, workshops and conferences in the fields covered by our journals, support of young scientists and funding for plenary or keynote speakers attending meetings. Criteria Required for Funding   Proposal is in an area of research which relates to a Company journal Funds to organisers of workshops/meetings Proposal is supportive of young scientists attending a conference/workshop/laboratory Proposal in support of Visiting Plenary Speaker at a conference/workshop, etc. Restrictions on Applications   The Company is unable to sponsor any of the following:   Expenditure on capital equipment and capital building proposals Removal expenses Undergraduate expeditions and courses Prizes, e.g. posters Social/political networking Conference dinners/social events/refreshment breaks Tuition fees Payments for the employment of staff Abstract books Series of meetings year on year Intra-institutional events, e.g. departmental seminars, etc   The next deadlines for application forms are as follows:   17 May 9 August (Decision early November 2013)  

Application deadline: 17 May 2013   Funded by BBSRC and delivered by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Enterprise Fellowships are designed to encourage the development of a new business, building on previously funded BBSRC research, around a technological idea developed by the Fellow (either individually or with others) and within which the Fellow would be expected to play a leading (though not necessarily the leading) role. This award is of particular relevance to individuals and ideas who previously received BBSRC Follow-on Funding (although not exclusively).   They provide: -A year’s salary to provide time to develop a full business plan and seek investment -Access to mentors, business experts and professional advisors -Business training to help develop the required skills   Eligibility Academic and research staff and postgraduates with relevant experience are eligible to apply if employed by a: -UK Higher Education Institution (HEI), or -Institutes of BBSRC

Outline call application deadline: 16 May 2013, 4pm Full call application deadline: 26 September 2013, 4pm   Summary The Bioinformatics and Biological Resources (BBR) Fund aims to: -Support the bioscience research community with the establishment, maintenance and enhancement of infrastructures -Support high quality bioinformatics and biological resources that align with our three key research priorities as stated in our Strategic plan: the age of bioscience (see related links) -To also supply long-term funding to provide a stable environment for resource development and provision.   The budget for the call is in the region of £6M, subject to the quality of applications received. Additional funds are available for the generation of capitalisable assets such as software infrastructures (see below).

The Natural Environment Research Council, in collaboration with the Economic and Social Research Council, the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the Arts and Humanities Research Council, invites outline bids for its UK droughts and water scarcity grants. These are for consortia to respond to one of three work packages in relation to droughts and water scarcity in the UK. The three work packages are:   •characterisation and quantification of the roles of multiple drivers, their impacts, and cumulative effects during historic periods of drought and water scarcity and methods to support decision-making, worth up to £1.5 million; •forecasting droughts and water scarcity, and methods to support decision-making, worth up to £2m •impacts of droughts and water scarcity, and methods to support decision-making, worth up to £7m for individual consortia of up to £3.5m.   All consortia must be interdisciplinary and cover an appropriate range of environmental, social, economic, historical and cultural contexts at multiple scales within the UK. Project duration should be between 36 and 48 months. Applicants must be eligible for RCUK research grant funding.   The total budget is worth up to £10.5m.  

The Natural Environment Research Council invites applications for its doctoral training partnerships. These partnerships are for doctoral student training across a range of science topics within the NERC remit. This responsive scheme replaces the current algorithm-based system for allocating doctoral studentships. Applicants must be based in UK higher education institutions, NERC research and collaborative centres or independent research organisations approved by NERC. It is expected that 10-20 DTPs will be funded in this call. Funding for 240 studentships will be awarded per year, and each DTP award will provide funding for five years of new student intake. Each studentship is worth £82,172.

The Technology Strategy Board together with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), and the Scottish Government, are to invest up to £8.75m in helping businesses develop innovative measurement technologies for efficient agri-food systems.   This will primarily involve collaborative R&D projects, with up to £500k of the total funding available for relevant feasibility studies.   The focus of the competition will be on developing new tools for use in the field, to enhance:   -understanding and application of genomic information -management decision-making -data capture and integration throughout the value chain.   Project proposals must be business-led and collaborative. We are primarily seeking to fund industrial research, with a business partner attracting 50% public funding for their project costs (60% for SMEs). We expect collaborative R&D projects to range in size from £500k to £1.5m, with the maximum total project size being around £2m. We may consider larger projects, but applicants should discuss this with us before making their application.   Up to £500k will be available for smaller-scale feasibility studies. These too should be collaborative, and project size can range from around £25k to £100k. Funding will depend upon the type of project participant – business partners can attract public funding of up to 65% of their project costs (75% for SMEs). Projects should explore relevant and relatively high-risk technical opportunities for further development by industry.   The collaborative R&D element of this competition is a two-stage process; the feasibility studies element involves a single-stage process of application and selection. Both open on 18 March 2013. The deadline for submission of proposals is noon on 1 May 2013.   Open date: 18 March 2013   Registration close date: 24 April 2013   Close date: 01 May 2013   Email: competitions@innovateuk.org   Phone number: 0300 321 4357

Call opens: 1 March 2013 Application deadline: 30 April 2013   Co-funded with EPSRC and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) this call follows a scoping workshop attended by Chinese and UK academics in the field of synthetic biology, that took place in Beijing, China in January 2013.   The workshop identified four key areas where it would be of mutual benefit nationally to collaborate: -Development of tools and strategies for synthetic biology -The use of synthetic biology to produce high value chemicals and products -The use of synthetic biology to produce biofuels and bulk chemicals -The use of synthetic biology for pollution control and bioremediation   Applications are invited for partnering awards with China in the field of Synthetic Biology.   UK awards will be up to a value of £25,000 funded by BBSRC and EPSRC Chinese awards will be up to a value of 250,000RMB on the Chinese side which will be funded by CAS (Chinese applicants should refer to the CAS website for full details and instructions)   Partnering awards can last up to 4 years, and funding is only able to cover travel & subsistence costs.   There will be up to 5 co-funded awards.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council invites applications for responsive research grants of up to £2 million. These flexible grants support a variety of investigator-led research activities addressing any topic within the BBSRC’s remit. Grants may be used for research projects, equipment or use of existing facilities, new facilities or infrastructure provision, and research networks and coordination.  UK higher education institutions, research council institutes and independent research organisations are eligible to apply. Grants are for a period of up to five years. Requests for funding of more than £2 million at full economic cost have to be submitted via the responsive modes longer larger grants scheme.