CURRENT GRANT FUNDING FOR ENERGY AND ENERGY-RELATED RESEARCH

Tackling global development challenges through mathematical sciences

Competition Opens: 14 September 2018

Competition Closes: 14 February 2019

In early autumn 2018 EPSRC will launch two complementary Global Challenges Research Fund calls for proposals to tackle global development challenges through mathematical sciences.

One call will be for research proposals on empowering inclusion and building society, the other will be for capacity building

More information: https://epsrc.ukri.org/funding/calls/globaldevmathsci/

Managing Traffic in Real Time

The Department for Transport and the Royal Borough of Greenwich have issued a call for projects aimed at finding innovative ways to understand and respond to traffic congestion. Funding is available under the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) and provided by the GovTech Catalyst.

The GovTech Catalyst initiative supports public sector organisations who want to work with cutting edge technology firms.to find innovative solutions to operational service and policy delivery challenges. The £20 million GovTech Fund, awarded via competitions like this one, provides support to define, develop, test and access creative solutions to complex public sector problems.in the areas of: 

• improving public service efficacy;
• increasing public sector productivity; and
• growing the UK GovTech sector

For this competition, projects should be able to pull together high-quality data that’s easier to access and learn from than existing approaches. They should build understanding and improve responses to congestion while keeping affordability in mind. In particular, the competition is looking for ideas that::

• support local authorities with real-time traffic analysis as well as longer term strategy;
• can be scaled up and applied to other authorities;
• consider how data could influence the behaviour of motorists across the country

The competition is likely to run in 2 phases:

Phase 1 will focus on feasibility studies;  up to 5 contracts will be awarded at up to £50,000 each.

Phase 2 will relate to prototype development and testing. Another 2 contracts worth up to £500,000 each will be awarded to successful phase 1 projects. Successful projects should be ready to test in a real environment after phase 1.

Apply

To apply The applicant or lead applicant if it’s a collaborative project, must register online and consider attending a briefing event in London on 20 August. To register for this event, click here

Eligibility

Organisations of any size may submit funding proposals which will harness data and use innovative techniques to better understand traffic movement and better manage traffic congestion. For more information visit the GovTech website from Monday 13th August

ISCF Transforming Food Production Competition

Earlier this year, the UK Government announced £90 million of new funding to help businesses, researchers and industry to transform food production, as part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. The first Transforming Food Production competition has now been announced, with £20 million funding for innovation projects that improve productivity and sustainability by developing enhanced decision support, precision agriculture technology solutions and systems for crop and ruminant (e.g. cattle, sheep, goats) agriculture.

The competition is looking to fund a portfolio of projects, across a variety of technologies, markets and technological maturities. They are particularly encouraging applications that:

• bring new businesses and technologies into the UK precision agriculture sector
• include farmer or grower involvement and/or endorsement

The competition scope includes projects that combine digital technologies and engineering solutions with biological, environmental and/or social science, and the transfer of technology from another sector into agriculture.

The aim of this competition is to drive productivity and sustainability in crop and ruminant production systems.

Projects can include:

• combining digital technologies and engineering solutions with biological, environmental and/or social science
• developing technologies and solutions that connect farms and supply chains
•  transferring technology from another sector into agriculture, providing this requires innovation

To find out more about this competition, click here

KTN is hosting a briefing event for this competition to provide potential applicants with the opportunity to:#

• hear about the objectives and scope of the funding programme
• network and develop ideas and partnerships for the competition
•  meet with UK Research and Innovation, KTN, and wider stakeholders

Register for the Webinar on Wednesday 29th August here

SPEN Green economy fund

The Green Economy Fund is a way of SP Energy Networks investing in the communities that we serve to support the Scottish and the UK Government’s Energy Ambitions.

SP Energy Networks have committed to voluntarily contribute up to £20m over a two year period to support initiatives that will benefit the people of Scotland and support Scotland’s ambitious green energy plans and local economic growth.

The fund will focus on helping our communities invest in low-carbon heating and transport technology, building the infrastructure and the learnings needed for the changes in heating and transport expected over the next decade. The fund will support the Scottish Government’s ambitious energy strategy and the UK’s drive to a low carbon economy.

Fund Objectives

• Building the infrastructure and the learnings needed for the changes in heating and transport expected over the next decade.
• Stimulate economic activity and create jobs in Scotland
• Support the Scottish Government’s ambitious energy strategy and the UK’s drive to a low carbon economy
• Work with specific communities within our operational area in Scotland, supporting both rural and urban areas in particular that suffer from fuel poverty
• Provide access to funding for projects that may ordinarily struggle to obtain funding.
A wide range of organisations are eligible to apply including charities, community groups, housing associations, local authorities, schools, academic institutions and businesses.
The £15M fund can provide capital or revenue funding. In deciding what activity you will ask Green Economy Fund to fund, you should consider whether that activity can be funded in any other way and whether it is already being or has been delivered elsewhere. Funding will not be granted for 100% of the cost of the project and a level of match funding or time should be included in your proposal. You should also consider whether your project will represent value for money in terms of the positive outcomes delivered for the money spent.
The minimum grant award is £10,000 and whilst there is no stated maximum threshold we are looking to support a range of small, medium and large projects. Please note funding cannot be paid retrospectively i.e. for costs already paid or for work/activity already commission/planned.

What Types of Projects can the GEF support?

The fund is open to support a wide range of different activities that can be seen to impact the SP Energy network in some direct or indirect way.

ALL projects must demonstrate a measurable social and or environmental impact and meet the fund ciriteria.
Examples of the kind of activity that could be funded through Green Economy Fund include, but are not limited to projects that:
• Engage vulnerable customers with energy issues and refer them for support
• Provide energy advice that does not duplicate existing advice services
• Install energy saving or renewable energy measures that cannot be funded elsewhere.
• Are innovative, whilst not a requirement we welcome applications that are innovative or are using technology in innovative ways.
• Provide training and education on energy that is targeted at supporting vulnerable customers
• Result in high carbon savings, air quality benefits or social impacts
• can be easily replicated for rapid deployment
• Demonstrate a strong link to the energy sector and potential future learnings that can be shared and/or replicated.
• A wide technology base will be considered from solar panels for sheltered housing to electric vehicles for schools, small projects to very large.
• Have a strong community benefit or wider community benefit from the proposed project, with defined measurable benefits, and potential future learnings that can be shared
• Target a defined social grouping; for example, those projects developed to assist fuel poverty

What activities cannot be funded by the GEF?

Examples of activity that could NOT be funded by Green Economy Fund include, but are not limited to:
• Advice services that duplicate existing provision, potentially causing confusion for energy customers
• Energy Saving measures that could be funded from another source, such as ECO, other government or devolved government schemes or an organisations own capital programme.
• Individuals may not apply but funds can be applied for by organisations to employ people as part of a project

Fund criteria

Projects will need to meet the following minimum criteria:
• All projects will be considered but they must demonstrate a strong link to the energy sector
• The projects should be able to run independently with little input from SPEN however at the discretion of SPEN, accept a mentor from SPEN’s senior team and/or The Energy Saving Trust
• Projects must be based in the SP energy network area in Scotland and the applicant’s team must have a majority Scottish footprint
• There must be clear additionality demonstrating the need for funding
• An experienced project manager must be assigned by the applicant to manage the project. Green Economy Fund can contribute to this cost and the project management budget should be inline with the award amount and project complexity.
• Projects must be able to be able to complete within 2 years of funding being granted
• All applications should have a match funding contribution. For all but local community applicants this must be a clear funding commitment (not just in-kind support) and
• Demonstrate value for money through a defined formal procurement process or benchmarked rates for project partners

Projects will also be ranked on the following key impacts with each of the elements of the criteria receiving a weighting or scoring:

I. must reduce carbon emissions.
II. funding should lead to social benefits with income generated being put towards activity with good social outcomes.
III. Support local economic growth for examples leading to new jobs and businesses across Scotland.
IV. supporting energy projects whether this is through tackling fuel poverty, innovation around energy systems, low carbon transport and low carbon heating of our homes and buildings.
V. lead to learning outcomes which will further the fund aims. Whilst projects don’t need to be innovative or unique we would like to see projects that lead to learning outcome for example by supporting education, testing new innovation, be open to sharing learnings, act as an exemplar to encourage further uptake or provide access to demonstration projects.
VI. Additionality - The Green Economy Fund will support projects where there is clear need for the funding.
VII. Well planned projects with a good project team that can show how the project can be delivered by March 2020.

To register your interest visit: https://www.spenergynetworks.co.uk/pages/expression_of_interest.aspx

Innovate UK - Open grant funding competition: round 2

Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £20 million in the best cutting-edge or disruptive ideas or concepts with a view to commercialisation.

All proposals must be business focused (rather than pure research). Applications can come from any area of technology, science or engineering, including arts, design, media or creative industries, and be applied to any part of the economy.

Proposals can fit into, or be outside of, one or more of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund areas.

Proposals must demonstrate:

• a clear game-changing and/or disruptive innovative idea leading to new products, processes or services
• ideas that are significantly ahead of others in the field, set for rapid commercialisation
•  a strong and deliverable business plan that addresses (and documents) market potential and needs
• a team, business arrangement or working structure with the necessary skills and experience to run and complete the project successfully and on time
•  awareness of all the main risks the project will face (including contractor or equipment failure, recruitment delays and so on) with realistic management, mitigation and impact minimisation plans for each
•  sound, practical financial plans and timelines
•  good value for money, which will always be a consideration in Innovate UK funding decisions
• a clear, evidence based plan to deliver significant economic impact, return on investment (ROI) and growth through commercialisation, as soon as possible after project completion

To Register your interest and for more information, click here

Electric vehicle charging for public spaces: feasibility studies

UK business can apply for innovation grants to design, develop and deploy innovative electric vehicle charging infrastructure in public areas.

Eligibility:

This funding is split into 2 phases:

Phase 1 is for feasibility studies to analyse electric vehicle charging infrastructure placement, costs, use cases and viable business models.

If you are successful in this competition you will be able to apply to Phase 2 to create large scale infrastructure and technology demonstrators in public areas. Trials need to be statistically relevant, and last up to 12 months. Projects must consider what happens to the infrastructure after the trials and you can claim funding for the cost of decommissioning.

To lead a project you must be a UK Business of any size, carry out the project work in the UK, work in collaboration with others. Innovate expects to see collaborators from across the value chain: including infrastructure providers, local authorities, urban planners or designers, energy providers and hardware manufacturers.

Up to £750,000 will be available for Phase 1 feasibility studies and up to £19.25 million for Phase 2 demonstrators

Total costs for Phase 1 projects are anticipated to be in the region £75,000 - £120,000 and should start by 1st January 2019 and end by 31 March 2019. Phase 2 demonstrator projects’ total costs can be between £5 million and £10 million. Projects must start by 1 September 2019, end by 28 February 2021, and can last up to 18 months.

Research organisations can share up to 30% of eligible project costs.

Apply and more information: click here

Call closes 29 August 2018

Wireless electric vehicle charging for commercial users: feasibility studies

The Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) and Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £20 million across a 2-phase competition. This is for innovation projects to develop technology and business cases for wireless charging for electric vehicles (EVs) for commercial users such as taxis, service vehicles and delivery fleets.  The aim of this competition is to support new integrated technologies and infrastructure solutions. These will allow commercial and service vehicles in towns and cities to top up their EV batteries throughout the day without having to stop work to plug in and charge.

Projects must be based around a demonstration of viable static or semi-dynamic wireless EV charging solutions for taxis and commercial vehicles and show real-world benefits. These must:

• be clearly tested
• have a scalable business model and a route to market
•  where possible, provide evidence of insights into the behaviours of EV users and all road users

This funding is split into 2 phases:

Phase 1 is feasibility studies to analyse wireless EV charging infrastructure placement, costs, use cases and viable business models.

If you are successful in this competition you will be able to apply to phase 2 to create large scale infrastructure and technology demonstrators on publicly or privately owned roads and transportation or logistics hubs. Trials need to be statistically relevant, and last up to 12 months.

In Phase 1 (feasibility studies) businesses could get funding for your eligible project costs of:

• up to 70% micro or small business;
• up to 60% medium-sized business;
•  up to 50% large business

Research and technology organisations can receive 100% of their eligible project costs. Universities can receive 80% of full economic cost. In any project, a maximum of 30% of total eligible project costs can be spent by the research organisations involved.

Innovate will not fund projects that:

• seek to implement dynamic wireless charging for ‘charge as you drive’ systems, such as electrification of entire highway or city road lanes;
• will cause a significant disruption of public roads;
•  target private users;
•  focus on battery research and development;
•  seek to implement wireless EV charging exclusively for autonomous vehicles;
•  have smart charging and vehicle-to-grid technologies as their main focus

More information and apply, click here

SBRI PERTH SMART Energy network project

Organisations can apply for a share of £150,000, including VAT, to develop a smart, flexible energy system in the estate of Perth and Kinross council. The aim of the competition is to develop a smart, flexible energy system in the various sites of the estate of Perth and Kinross council (PKC). For example, this could involve generating energy at a school and receiving, storing and using that energy at a care home.

Any organisation of any size may apply, either alone or with others from business, the research base or the third sector as subcontractors

Applicants must:

• be able to test your solution in the Perth and Kinross area of Scotland;
• have a clear plan for commercialising the proposed solution

This system will work inside the estate to manage and control:

• the generation of renewable energy;
• its storage and use;
• the trade of excess energy inside and outside of the PKC estate;
• Smart systems are a new development in energy management that offer great potential.

The objective of the competition is to find solutions that use innovative technologies and processes to deliver a functional pilot smart energy network.

If generated renewable energy could be traded between council sites as part of a smart energy network, it would enable the council to optimise energy generation, storage and usage across its estate. This would reduce the overall energy costs and carbon emissions of the council.

This competition is being supported by the Can Do Innovation Challenge Fund.

Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) will fund up to £150,000, including VAT, for Perth-SEN (Smart Energy Network) projects. This is a Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition.

• This competition has 2 phases and in: phase 1 up to £150,000, including VAT, will fund up to 5 successful applicants, and each will be allocated up to £30,000, including VAT
• phase 2 up to £350,000, including VAT, will fund 2 successful applicants, and each will be allocated up to £175,000, including VAT

Apply for this Competition: Register and apply on-line. Click here

Competition Opens: 20th August 2018

Briefing Event: 28th August 2018

Competition Registration Deadline: 10th October @ 12 noon

Deadline for Submissions: 17th October @ 12noon

Contracts awarded by 31st January 2019

Modern Energy Partnership Design Competition

Energy Systems Catapult, is seeking input on the design of this challenge through two Pre-Challenge/Tender workshops.

A recent feasibility study identified that the Energy Systems Catapult (ESC) working together with central government organisations might be uniquely positioned to accelerate energy system transformation measures at scale across the public sector estate

The ESC wishes to conduct a 3.5 month challenge-based phase of work, to further develop transformation methodologies and business cases that build on the feasibility project work. The ESC intends to Tender to select up to 4 suitably qualified and experienced suppliers, or consortia of suppliers, to undertake the challenge that seeks to: 1. develop future energy systems designs for up to 6 public sector campus-scale sites (as pathfinder projects) and 2. also to support a wider team, including the Energy Systems Catapult, develop a generic methodology that might be suitable to support the roll-out of more complex energy systems across the public sector estate.

Workshops will be held on:

• 10am to 1pm on the 2nd August - Energy Systems Catapult Office in Birmingham
• 10am to 1pm on the 14th August - Future Cities Catapult Office in London.

The half day workshops will provide an opportunity to receive information and influence a potentially key project in shaping the future UK energy landscape

More information: click here

Global Access to Reliable Energy - ENERGY CATALYST rOUND 6

 Organisations can apply for a share of up to £10 million to help bring clean, affordable and secure energy to sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Innovate UK has up to £10 million to invest in innovative, market-focused energy technologies through the Energy Catalyst funding programme.

Round 6 of the Energy Catalyst will support energy innovations across all technologies, sectors and international markets to help address the global need for reliable energy. The Energy Catalyst is run by Innovate UK and co-funded by partners including the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Reliable sources of energy are crucial to human wellbeing but 1.1 billion people have no access to electricity. While progress has been made in both sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, 14% of the world’s population is still without access, rising to 84% in rural areas.

The new funding is for projects that meet the needs of the people, businesses and services in these regions.

Organisations applying for funding will need to address the World Energy Council’s ‘Energy Trilemma’ and its 3 pillars:

cost – reducing prices to make energy accessible to everyone
emissions – generating cleaner energy with lower emissions to protect the environment
security of supply – putting reliable infrastructure in place to keep energy flowing without disruption or shortage

Funding for different stages of development

The competition offers 3 strands for projects in different stages of development; early stage, mid-stage and late stage.

Early-Stage Projects

Funding for early-stage projects is designed for feasibility studies exploring the technical potential of an idea.

Mid-Stage

The mid-stage strand is aimed at research and development activities, including laboratory studies, system development and testing, as well as verification and evaluation in simulated environments..

Late Stage

The late stage strand will deal with projects that are ready to proceed with prototyping and pilot testing.. To apply for mid-stage or late-stage funding some of the research, testing or demonstration must be carried out in sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia by either a UK or international partner.

For more information on Energy Catalyst Round 6 and how to apply, Click here

Competition Guidance for Energy Catalyst Round 6: transforming energy access can be found here

Read about the Heriot-Watt SCORRES Project that developed a cloud-based irrigation system that could save energy and improve yields for small farms in India. Energy Catalyst funding enabled the running of trial at a small farm in Tamil Nadu, India, and saw reduced water and energy use of up to 80% and the doubling of some crop yields here 

Newton Fund and Eureka GlobalSTARS: Affordable Health in India

Up to £1 million is available to collaborate and address the challenges of affordable and accessible healthcare in India.Applicants must be able to demonstrate that there is a clear economic and societal benefit to India from their proposed project. This is in line with the Newton Fund forming part of the UK government’s official development assistance budget (ODA).

The aim of this competition is to provide innovative solutions to the challenges of affordable health in India. Your proposal must focus on integrated healthcare in India and provide solutions that are:

• economical
• sustainable
• user-centric

The aim of this competition is to support collaborative R&D and innovation projects that are focused on One Health in India. One Health is a multidisciplinary approach to improving a patient’s experience of a holistic and integrated healthcare system.

Innovate UK will only fund projects that provide affordable innovative solutions for India, for:

• disease prevention and control
• point of care diagnostics
•  treatment of infectious and chronic diseases
•  treatment outcomes
•  efficient use of health resources

All projects must be led by a UK based business and must collaborate with at least one eligible Indian organisation.

Only UK based companies and research organisations are eligible to receive funding from Innovate UK

For all research organisations, the total level of project participation is set at a maximum of 30% of total UK eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation, this maximum will be shared between them

Total project costs must range in size from £350,000 to £450,000. UK partners can claim a grant of no more than £300,000 per project..Expenditure on equipment is eligible under this competition. All materials must be directly related and essential to the goals of the project. Equipment funded by and used on the project, which has a value greater than £1 at the project end, must be donated to India in compliance with ODA rules.

Guidance notes for this competition can be downloaded here. You must register your interest by September 27th and submit a full application by midday October 4th

Transport-Technology Research Innovation for International Development (T-TRIID)

The Applied Research Programme in High Volume Transport (HVT) is running an exciting new competition called Transport-Technology Research Innovation for International Development (T-TRIID). The competition will fund short projects supporting innovative ideas that enable safer and more efficient transport in countries across low income countries of Africa and South Asia.

The programme is implemented by IMC Worldwide, supported by Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) and funded by the Department for International Development.

Projects should aim to address transport challenges (could be technical, operational or policy) across the following themes:

• Long distance strategic road and rail transport
• Urban transport
• Low carbon transport
• Gender, accessibility and inclusion (particularly the disabled) in High Volume Transport

Eligibility

The competition is open to all types of businesses including start-ups, small businesses and research organisations from any country in the world. Participation from low-income countries is particularly encouraged. However, the project itself should aim to address transport challenges in one or more of the following beneficiary countries:

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia.

Funding

Up to 10 projects are expected to receive funding of around £30,000.

The application process has been designed to be simple and easy to complete. Collaborations across companies and from within beneficiary countries are encouraged and will gain extra credit in the assessment.

Competition Closes 16th August 2018

Register your interest here

Download an application form here: 

ESRC National Centre for Research Methods (2019-2024)

Closing date: 18 October 2018

ESRC is commissioning a new phase of its National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM), presenting an opportunity for a team to develop and deliver a strategy for methods training and capacity-building in the social sciences. It will be an integral part of their research infrastructure and is expected to develop, deliver, and co-ordinate methods training activity across the social sciences. More specifically, it will be responsible for:

• co-ordinating ESRC’s investment in research methods training
• delivering a strategically informed and diverse programme of research methods training
• identifying, implementing and sharing best practice.

Applicants will be able to apply for up to £3 million (100% fEC) for a period of five years. ESRC will contribute 80% of the total budget. All proposals will be subject to ESRC’s funding rules as outlined in the Research Funding Guide.

More information: click here

Transforming Construction: Manufacturing Better Buildings Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF).

Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £12.5 million in innovative projects to transform the UK construction sector.

The aim of this competition is to invest in solutions to improve productivity, quality and performance of the UK construction sector. They are specifically looking for projects to improve the 3 core stages of the construction lifecycle:

1. Designing and managing buildings through digitally-enabled performance management.
2. Constructing quality buildings using a manufacturing approach.
3. Powering buildings with active energy components and improving build quality.

The funding comes as part of the £170m investment in the Transforming Construction: Manufacturing Better Buildings Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF).

For more information on this competition, click here

Briefing Events

KTN are hosting a number of briefing events to support applicants to better understand the competition. Representatives from as wide a number of organisations as possible are encouraged to register their interest.

Briefing events will include:
• an opportunity to hear about the objectives and scope of the CR&D programme
• an opportunity to learn how to get involved in the CR&D programme
• opportunities to network and develop ideas and partnerships for the competitions
• an opportunity to meet with UK Research and Innovation, KTN, CS-IC and wider stakeholders

23rd July, London - Register here

24th July, Bristol - Register here

25th July, Birmingham - Register here

 Scotland’s Blue Growth Data Challenge – Open

Highlands & Islands Enterprise, the Scottish Centre of Excellence in Satellite Applications (SoXSA), The Data Lab & the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) launched Scotland's Blue Growth Data Challenge - an open innovation competition which aims to harness creative thinking & data science to undertake analysis and design new data products for the benefit of our local and global marine environment, communities & economy.

Orkney is home to the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC). This is the world’s only accredited centre offering full scale, grid-connected test facilities for developers of wave and tidal energy devices. This year, EMEC are making their datasets openly available for anyone to explore for the first time ever!

Scotland's Blue Growth Data Challenge aims to inspire ingenuity and excellence in applying data science to EMEC's open data with data with any other accessible data sets including those from the Scottish Centre of Excellence in Satellite Applications.

Anyone can take part. If you are studying, working with or researching data or the marine environment and you believe that you can creatively work with open data to create a useful output, please get involved and take part in the Blue Growth Data Challenge!

Get involved and register to be a participant now! Click here for more information 

ETP Energy Industry Doctorate Programme 2018

The call for the ETP Energy Industry Doctorate Programme 2018 is now formally open. The deadline for applications is 31st August 2018.

The ETP is making £200k available to support at least 6 studentships on the usual 1/3:1/3:1/3 basis ie. after the ETP contribution you will need a business partner willing to contribute at least £30K over the three-year term with the balance coming from the University. Proposals must have both a main academic supervisor (where the student is based) and a secondary co-supervisor in a different ETP partner university. A letter of support is required with the proposal from the co-supervisor in the co-university confirming their level of engagement with the project, and evidence will be sought during the course of the project that the co-supervisor is indeed engaging with the project and the student.

The studentship must start by 28th February 2019

An Application Form is attached. You can also find this at https://www.energy.hw.ac.uk/funding and from the link below

Further information and guidance notes on making an application can be found at https://www.etp-scotland.ac.uk/Portals/57/document%20library/studentship%20programme/ETP%20Energy%20Studentships%202018%20-%20Application%20Process.pdf

Your application will be assessed according to:

- the themes of the Scottish Government’s Energy Strategy (download at http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/12/5661)
- demand driven by energy industry
- academic quality
- alignment with the ETP mission & objectives.

Frequently Asked Questions 

Must the industry partner be based in Scotland? No, theindustry partner need not be based in Scotland. Companies based in England, Wales and Northern Ireland or even overseas are also eligible as partners (11.06.18)

Is a not for profit entity an eligible partner? Yes, as long as the NFP is able to make the contribution required, it will be considered an eligible partner (12.06.18)

Can my partner contribute in kind? No. The 'industry' partner must make its contribution to the project in cash (13.06.18)

How do I get the University to agree to its contribution? Please talk to your School office and submit an outline proposal on WorkTribe as you would any grant application for which you seek School approval (12.06.18)

EPSRC National Centre for Energy Systems Integration (CESI) Research Fund - Call for Expressions of Interest

The EPSRC National Centre for Energy Systems Integration (CESI) brings together an interdisciplinary team of experts to gain a deeper understanding of the value of taking a whole systems energy approach to the energy trilemma. CESI is a consortium of five research intensive universities and a wide range of public and industrial sector partners.

This the first call for proposals for collaborative research with the EPSRC National Centre for Energy Systems Integration’s £800,000 research fund. We are seeking research proposals from universities or other institutions eligible to hold Research Council awards to provide additional resources and skills to the CESI whole energy systems research.

This first call is aimed at expanding the institutions collaborating with CESI. CESI is requesting proposals that add value to the work already programmed and provide one or more of the following criteria to CESI: -

• Extend or enhance the CESI research programme
• Link aspects to other UKRI research programmes
• Address gaps
• Introduce new organisations to the CESI consortium
• Introduce new skills and disciplines to the CESI consortium
• Fits with the UKRI mission of ensuring research and innovation continues to flourish in the UK
• Investigates emerging challenges and opportunities identified within whole energy systems within the last 24 months
• Introduces emerging tools, techniques and/or methods identified within whole energy systems within the last 24 months

Applicants are asked to make submissions for work that can be delivered either in 3 months, 6 months or 1year. Costings for the proposals should be based on standard EPSRC rules.  The funding is primarily for researcher salary costs but some capital allowance funds may be allowed if a very strong case is made that it is a fundamental requirement to provide the research.

For more information and how to submit an EOI click here

Energy Investment Fund

The Energy Investment Fund (EIF) is a £20 million Scottish Government fund managed and delivered by the Scottish Investment Bank (part of Scottish Enterprise). It builds on the success of the now closed Renewable Energy Investment Fund, providing commercial investment and debt finance for renewable and low carbon energy projects. For those of you in the water sector, this could include projects involving hydro-electricity, heat from water or geothermal heat for example.

EIF focuses on:

• Increasing community ownership of energy projects in Scotland;
• Accelerating the development of commercial low carbon energy projects in Scotland

Projects must have a demonstrable funding gap, be located in Scotland and have the potential to provide economic benefit. EIF will only invest where there is a funding gap in a project’s funding package.

Community groups and projects in the process of assembling a funding package should contact the EIF team early in the process to register interest.

Priority will be given to submissions received by 20 July 2018. Submissions received after will be considered depending on availability of budget. If you're seeking funding for projects beyond 31 March 2019, we'll be happy to talk you through your funding options.

Please follow the link below for further information. You can also contact Michelle Howell, Team Leader Energy Investment at Scottish Enterprise (email above or 0141 468 5913).

https://www.scottish-enterprise.com/services/attract-investment/energy-investment-fund/overview

Guide for Heriot-watt Researchers Seeking Innovate UK Funding

Here you can download a  quick guide for anyone dealing with Innovate UK grants. It explains the Innovation Funding Service (online portal) and goes over the parts of the application HWU will be responsible for.

Download here

Further details, contact Craig Landt by e-mail or call +44 131 451 3224

Innovate UK provides General Guidance for applying for a business innovation grant, including funding rules, categories and participation levels.and this is available here or see below

Business innovation: what funding you can get and how to apply

Guidance for business and academic organisations on Innovate UK's funding competitions to test ideas and develop innovative products and services.

Overview

Innovate UK runs grant funding competitions that are open to innovation projects led by a UK-based business or research and technology organisation, with funding awarded to the winners. Innovate also offers other forms of funding, including a pilot programme of innovation loans. Eligible small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that want to carry out late-stage innovation projects could borrow between £100,000 and £1 million.

What Funding is Available?

Details of current funding competitions are available here

Innovate UK funding is for the advancement of innovative ideas only.

You can apply for funding if you want to do one or more of the following:

• test the feasibility of your idea and make sure it will work;
• create a new product, process or service, or improve an existing one, through research and development;
• work with other businesses or research organisations on collaborative innovation projects;

Depending on the competition, you may work alone on your project, or form a consortium.

Eligibility

You can apply for funding if you are a UK-based business. All kinds of businesses are eligible for funding - from start ups and new micro companies to large multi-nationals.

The specific criteria and eligibility will be outlined in the scope of the competition for which you want to apply.

Energy Revolution Research Consortium call

UK Research and Innovation will commit up to £12m over four years to establish the ERRC, a network of multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary researchers, and key stakeholders, to work together on smart local energy systems. A consortium-building workshop will be held in Birmingham on 9th-10th July 2018 and will be an opportunity for potential applicants to explore and shape what the structure of the ERRC might look like, and what services and support it will offer, for instance in system modelling and access to test facilities. The call for expressions of interest to join the workshop will close at 4pm on 15th June 2018. Click here for more information and to register your interest.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships - What they are and how to get them

KTPs are an initiative from Innovate UK designed to facilitate the transfer of knowledge from academia to a business of any size. This is done through the employment of a KTP associate by the University through a grant to the University from Innovate UK. These associates are frequently a Master's or PhD.

As the grant is made to the University, the business does not incur State Aid issues

Download a presentation from Jim Berryman, KTN on the KTP initiative here

Research Professional

Click below to view the latest funding opportunities from the Research Professional website. (Please note that you must be on a Heriot-Watt University campus to view this content.)

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Sorry but you need to be within a Heriot Watt University Campus to be able to access this content. For more information please visit http://info.researchprofessional.com.

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