As reported earlier this year, a team from Salford led by Professor Laurence Kenney from the School of Health Sciences, recently secured a £1.4m grant from the Global Challenges Research Fund. The grant is for a project researching the potential for use of body-powered prostheses in low- and middle-income countries.

The project, a collaboration with the Universities of Southampton, Greenwich, UCL along with the University of Jordan and Makerere University in Uganda, is funded by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The aim of the project is to develop a body-powered prosthesis that is optimised for adoption by prosthetic services in developing countries and which, crucially, is acceptable for users in those countries.

Laurence recently spoke to Research Professional about his experience of applying for, and winning, a major grant of this type from the Global Challenges Research Fund. In the interview, he reflects on the importance of building partnerships even before you have identified a source of funding to support the collaboration, and on how researchers from non-Russell Group universities can position themselves to win such a prestigious grant.

The full interview is available here*

*Research Professional is free to access for all users whilst on campus. If attempting to access off campus, you will need to either log-in to your Research Professional account or, if you don’t have an account, create one using your @salford.ac.uk email address.

Developing proposals for Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB): A support programme for applicants organised by The Research Design Service North West

A series of three meetings on 30 January 2014, 6 March 2014 and 3 April 2014, The Leyland Hotel

• Are you planning to submit a RfPB grant application in May 2014?
• Do you want advice from experts on topics such as research methods, patient and public involvement and costings?

Research Design Service North West (RDS NW) is providing a programme to support people applying to the RfPB programme for research funding. The deadline for applications is Friday 29^th November at 5pm. For more information please visit the RDS NW event webpage.

Find out more about RfPB here. Find out more about  RDS NW here.

The following funding opportunities have recently been announced. Please follow the links for more information. 

UK Funders

• AHRC – Cultural Value Project Targeted Call. Closing Date: 7th November 2013.
• AHRC – Creative Economy Showcase 2014: Expressions of Interest. Closing Date: 27th November 2013.
• ESRC – Europe – China call for collaborative research on The Green Economy & Understanding Population Change. Closing Date: 3rd December 2013.
• NERC – Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation Fellowships. Closing Date: 20th November 2013.
• TSB/EPSRC – Towards zero prototyping. Closing Date: 27th November 2013 (registration)
• Department of Health – Policy Research Programme. Closing Date: 12th November 2013.
• NIHR – Efficacy & Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Programme: Researcher-led. Closing Date: 7th November 2013.
• Royal Society – Leverhulme-Royal Society Africa Award. Closing Date: 15 January 2014.
• Royal Academy of Engineering – Research Fellowships. Closing Date: 14th November 2013.
• Royal Academy of Engineering – Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowships. Closing Date: 18th November 2013.
• Wellcome Trust – Pathfinder Awards. Closing Date: 9th January 2014.
• Cancer Research UK – Population Research Committee Project Grants. Closing Date: 15th November 2013.
• Cancer Research UK – Population Research Postdoctoral Fellowship. Closing Date: 15th November 2013.
• NICE – Fellowships. Closing Date: 1st November 2013.
• British Society for Geomorphology – Early Career Researcher Grants. Closing Date: 1st February 2014.
• The British Association of Prosthetists and Orthotists – Orthotic Education & Training Trust. Closing Date: N/A.

EU Funders

• EU PROGRESS Programme – Social policy experimentations supporting social investments. Closing Date: 16th December 2013.
• EU DG Home Affairs – Call for Tenders: Studies Related to Trafficking in Human Beings. Closing Date: 19 November 2013. 

International Funders

• Humanitarian Innovation Fund – Small & Large Grants. Closing Date: 28th October 2013 (EoIs for the Large Grants)

The following funding opportunities have recently been announced. Please follow the links for more information.

UK Funders

• AHRC – Follow on Fund for Impact and Engagement . Up to £100,000 available for projects lasting up to 12 months. Closing Date: 31st October 2103.
• NIHR – Public Health Research Programme: Commissioned call. Projects lasting up to 3 years. Closing Date: 18th December 2013.
• NIHR – Health Technology Assessment: Commissioned call. Projects lasting up to 3 years. Closing Date: 19th December 2013.
• TSB – Assistive Technology Call. Up to £1m available. Closing Date: 4th November 2013.
• TSB – Solving business problems with environmental data. £50,000-200,000 available for projects lasting between 3-12 months. Closing Date: 13th November 2013.
• Royal Academy of Engineering – Research Exchanges with China and India. £2,000 per month of exchange visit for between 3-12 months. Closing Date: 18th November 2013.
• Joseph Rowntree Foundation – Reframing Dementia in the 21st Century. Up to £50,000 available for 1/2 projects, lasting between 18-22 months. Closing Date: 6th November 2013.
• Nesta – Digital Makers Fund: second open call. £20,000-50,000 available. Closing Date: 14th November 2013.

 EU Funders 

• EU – ERA-NET – Transnational Joint Call 2013. A total budget of approximately €33 million is available for projects lasting up to 36 months. Closing Date: 30th October 2013.

Internal Funds

• University of Salford – VC’s Early Career Scholarships. £2,000 bursary, minimum research workload allocation and dedicated mentoring support. Closing Date: 31st October 2013.

The following funding opportunities have recently been announced. Please follow the links for more information.

UK Funders

• ESRC – Alcohol Misuse Research. A total of between £750,000-£1.5m available for projects lasting up to 5 years. Closing Date: 29th November 2013.
• TSB – Better Health Outcomes. Up to £100,000 available for projects lasting 6 months. Closing Date: 31st October 2013.
• TSB – Supply chain innovation towards a circular economy. Projects up to £1m in value, lasting up to 24 months. Closing Date: 18th December 2013.
• NIHR – Public Health Research Programme. No fixed limits on cost or duration. Closing Date: 19th November 2013.
• Royal Academy of Engineering – ERA Foundation Entrepreneurs Award. Up to £40,000 available. Closing Date: 21st October 2013.
• UKIERI – Knowledge Economy Partnerships. £5,000-20,000 available for partnerships lasting up to 1 year. Closing Date: 28th October 2013.
• Joseph Rowntree Foundation – Poverty and Ethnicity: Exploring the links through quantitative research. JRF anticipate commissioning between three and seven projects of 10 months’ duration from a total budget of £150,000. Closing Date: 16th October 2013.
• Alzheimer’s Research UK – Interdisciplinary Research Grants. Up to £250,000 available for projects lasting up to 3 years. Closing Date: 24th January 2014.
• Cancer Research UK – Drug Discovery Project Grants. Up to £200,000 available for projects lasting up to 2 years. Closing Date: 5th November 2013.
• Association for International Cancer Research – Project Grants. Up to £200,000 available for projects lasting 3 years. Closing Date: 25th October 2013.
• The Kay Kendall Leukaemia Fund – Junior Research Fellowships. Salary costs plus up to £17,000 pa for consumables and £1,000 pa for travel costs for fellowships lasting 3 years. Closing Date: 25th October 2013.
• Action Medical Research – Project Grants. Up to £200,000 to cover salary costs, consumables and items of equipment essential for carrying out the work. Closing Date: 25th November 2013.
• Royal Archaeological Institute – Research Grants. Up to £5,000 available. Closing Date: 11th January 2014.

EU Funders 

• EU – Directorate-General for Justice – Daphne III Action Grants. A minimum of €750,000 for projects lasting 2 years. Closing Date: 30^th October 2013.
• EU – Directorate-General for Education & Culture – Tenders on the changing pedagogical landscape. An estimated €400,000 is available for projects lasting up to 18 months. Closing Date: 22nd October 2013.