Research Support Blog

Funding Opportunities and more from the Research & Knowledge Exchange Team

Posts from January 2018

Update on UK participation in EU funding programmes

29 January 2018

Given the on-going uncertainty and widespread misapprehensions about the eligibility of UK-based applicants to participate in EU research and higher education funding programmes, Universities UK (UUK) have issued a briefing note summarising the current position.

The key message is that, despite the UK’s decision to leave the EU, nothing has changed in terms of the UK’s status in EU programmes including Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+. UK-based applicants are therefore encouraged to continue to work with collaborators across the EU in developing applications for funding under both programmes.

The agreement on Phase One of the negotiations for the UK’s exit from the EU – announced in December 2017 – clarifies that the UK will continue to pay into the EU budget up until the end of the current budget period in 2020 and therefore there will be no change in the UK’s status in relation to these programmes until 2021 at the earliest.

Even in the event of a “no-deal” scenario at the end of the second phase of negotiations, the UK Government has committed to underwrite UK participants on all successful bids made by UK applicants to Horizon 2020 (and all Erasmus+ grant agreements signed) while the UK remains in the EU.

A full copy of the briefing note is available to download below. Please feel free to pass this information on to your EU-based collaborators, especially if they are in any doubt about UK-based applicants’ eligibility to apply for EU funding.

UUKi Briefing note on HE&R collaboration through EU programmes

If you have any questions about any aspect of applying for EU research funding, please don’t hesitate to contact Stephen Parkinson in the Research Development Team.

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NIHR Themed Calls: Mental Health

16 January 2018

The NIHR currently has five open calls on the theme of mental health with deadlines in late March/early April. These are:

Applications to the EME Programme may test interventions for the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of mental ill health, or the promotion of good mental health. Applications should examine the efficacy of interventions, and may explore the mechanisms underlying possible efficacy. Applications may investigate novel or repurposed interventions and technologies, but studies of incremental or minor improvements to existing technologies or the discovery of new biomarkers are not within the remit of the EME Programme.

Particular areas of interest include personalised or stratified care, and the use of novel study designs or existing data where their use can help deliver robust findings more quickly or with better value for money.

As part of this wider call for research for the ‘promotion of good mental health and the prevention or treatment of mental ill health’ the HTA Programme is particularly interested in receiving applications that address the issues identified as priority areas for research by relevant James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnerships. The HTA Programme also has a number of specific mental health commissioning briefs, currently open or planned, which may be applied to separately from this themed call.

The PHR Programme evaluates non-NHS public health interventions intended to improve the health of the public and reduce inequalities in health. The programme is keen to consider proposals that operate at a population level and which focus on environmental and social determinants of mental health. We are interested in scalable interventions to promote good mental health or prevent mental ill health across the life-course. We are also interested in population interventions aimed at reducing the impact of poor mental health and/or the health inequalities characteristic of mental health issues. Where justified proposals may focus on populations that are defined by social determinants, rather than by mental health disease. Health economic evaluations are of interest and we recognise that interventions may be multi-component and that long term follow-up may be necessary to demonstrate effect.

The HS&DR Programme funds research to produce evidence on the quality, accessibility and organisation of health and social care services. Robust mixed methods studies are invited for the following topics with a focus on organisation and delivery of services, costs, quality and patient experience. Issues of particular interest include services for people of any age with an eating disorder (including the integration of tertiary care with local services); service models to improve the assessment and management of individuals with serious mental health problems presenting to emergency services in the community, and service models and interventions for the assessment and management of  PTSD in armed forces veterans in the UK.

For further information please contact your Funding Team representative.

SAM, SHS, SBS – Dr Deborah Woodman

CSE, ELS – Stephen Parkinson

CARe, SoBE – Dr Chris Coey

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Santander Staff Travel Awards

9 January 2018

The next round of Santander funding opens on Friday 12 January. Here you can apply for £500, £1,000 or £5000 to assist with travel costs for an international visit or project.

Further details, criteria and link to the application form can be found at:
https://www.salford.ac.uk/santander/santander-universities-travel-award-information-for-staff

Deadline 6 April 2018.

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