Research Newsletter - Issue 66: Funding Opportunities

Two SFI Challenge-based funding calls in the areas of Defence and SDG 3 are now open:

SFI-Defence Organisation Innovation Challenge

Under the SFI-Defence Organisation Innovation Challenge, the Irish Defence Forces are seeking assistance in addressing 5 challenges of national importance and global relevance.

• Challenge 1: Enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the fire extinguishing capability of rotary-wing aircraft
• Challenge 2: Cyber-physical system to assist in, or potentially automate, manoeuvring of aircraft between a hanger and apron
• Challenge 3: Recovery of Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats(RHIBs) at sea
• Challenge 4: Prevention and detection of water ingress to vessels
• Challenge 5: Reduce the environmental impact of Defence Force aircraft, land vehicles and vessels

The involvement of the Irish Defence Forces, with associated support in technical development, testing and deployment, creates a significant opportunity for knowledge transfer, commercialisation and impact. Across the highlighted challenges, there are opportunities for researchers working in many areas including (but not limited to): Engineering; Modelling; Artificial Intelligence (incl. Machine Learning); Data Analytics; Robotics; Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality; Autonomous Vehicles and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Advanced Communications.

In addition to the 5 specific challenges highlighted above, there is also the potential for applications under the Disruptive Ideas stream of the programme which covers a very broad range of areas aligned to a number of activities/areas of competence in DCU. These areas include: medical technologies, disaster relief, peacekeeping, climate and sustainability, Information and Communication Technologies.

Under this call, selected teams will be awarded up to €220k and work through a series of phases to develop their ideas to compete for an overall €1M prize award. The winning team must successfully demonstrate sufficient progress toward development of a STEM-based solution to be considered for the prize award. The prize will enable the winning team to continue development and explore deployment of their solution.

Deadline to apply: 1st of October 2021 at 1 pm 

Contact: ecaterina.mcdonagh@dcu.ie 

SFI SDG Challenge

Under the SFI SDG Challenge SFI and Irish Aid are seeking solutions that contribute to SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being foCr all at all ages, and related goals and targets.

Solutions must demonstrate context-specific impact in one of the eligible partner countries, but applicants are also encouraged to consider shared challenges where solutions may have wider impact. 

The SDG Challenge seeks to support diverse, transdisciplinary teams to develop transformative, sustainable solutions that will contribute to addressing development challenges under the UN SDGs in countries where Irish Aid works.  Teams must include expertise in the STEM research area underpinning the proposed solution, but should also include knowledge or experience in areas such as, for example, international development, development economics, or behavioural or social sciences, in order to inform the adoption and impact of novel interventions.

Funding is available for collaborative research teams based in eligible research institutions in Ireland and partner countries.  Successful teams will be awarded up to €300k and will work through a series of phases to develop their idea. An overall prize award of €1M  will be available to the team that demonstrates the highest potential for transformative impact.

Deadline to apply: 6th of October 2021 at 1pm 

Contact: ecaterina.mcdonagh@dcu.ie

A second round of applications under the 2021 Call for Partnerships for Cooperation and Exchange of Practices has been launched, with a deadline of 3rd November 2021. This includes Cooperation Partnerships in higher education, adult education and school education. 

Funding ranges from €100,000 - €400,000, depending on the number of partners (min 3, from 3 different Erasmus+ programme countries,  max 10) and the duration of the project (1-3 years). The Erasmus+ Programme Guide (p.164-191) provides comprehensive and essential details for applying. The launch webpage for these applications is here.

The primary goal of Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnership projects is to allow organisations to increase the quality and relevance of their activities, to develop and reinforce their networks of partners, to increase their capacity to operate jointly at transnational level, boosting internationalisation of their activities through exchanging or developing new practices and methods as well as sharing and confronting ideas. They aim to support the development, transfer and/or implementation of innovative practices, as well as the implementation of joint initiatives promoting cooperation, peer learning and exchanges of experience at European level. 

Contact: If you are thinking of submitting an application for the current call, or would like support to participate in an Erasmus+ project next year,  please contact Dr Sophie Ball, Erasmus+ Development Officer (Sophie.ball@dcu.ie).

The Doctoral Networks (DNs) aim to train a new generation of creative, entrepreneurial and innovative doctoral candidates, able to face current and future challenges and to convert knowledge and ideas into products and services for economic and social benefit. Doctoral Networks will raise excellence and structure research and doctoral training, extending the traditional academic research training setting, and equipping researchers with the right combination of research-related and transferable competences. Three types of DNs can be funded through the programme:

1. Doctoral Networks
2. Joint Doctorates
3. Industrial Doctorates 

More information about the call can be found on the EU F&T Portal here . Deadline to apply: 16th November 4pm Irish time.

Contact: ecaterina.mcdonagh@dcu.ie

The COALESCE (Collaborative Alliances for Societal Challenges) 2021 call will open on the 23rd of September 2021 and close on the 23rd of November 2021. The call will fund research addressing national and European/global challenges and will be run in partnership with a number of Government departments and agencies, who will fund specific strands. The call document, guidance and other materials will be posted on the COALESCE website in the coming weeks.

Applicants will be able to apply to the following strands:

Strand 1L: INSTAR+ awards, funded by the National Monuments Service of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in partnership with the Heritage Council (max. €220,000 per award).

Strand 2A: Open call for interdisciplinary research addressing national or global societal challenges led by AHSS (Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences) PI with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) co-PI (max. €220,000 per award).

Strand 2B: Better World Awards, in partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs, whereby the lead PI will work with a co-PI in one of Irish Aid’s partner countries – ODA-eligible country on the African continent; any ODA-eligible Small Island Developing State (SIDS); Vietnam; Palestine; Laos; Cambodia; Myanmar (max. €350,000 per award).

Contact: If you are looking to apply for this call and/or if you have any questions, please contact at adam.platt@dcu.ie.

The Froebel Trust Research Call will be closing on the 23rd of September. This call may be of interest to researchers seeking to develop a project that increases and advances knowledge and debate about Froebelian principles and their application in the teaching, learning and the development of children from birth to 8 years.

This year, the Froebel Trust Open Call Research Grant scheme is designed to provide seed corn grants for individual researchers or collaborative research partnerships and networks to develop innovative studies that will ultimately lead to larger projects.  It is anticipated that awards will be in the region of £3,000 to £5,000. 

Please note the two-stage application process:

• The deadline for receipt of initial expression of interest forms is 23rd September 2021 at 4pm. Expressions of interest should be uploaded to TORA by the 16th of September 2021.
• Shortlisted applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal (first week in November 2021).  The deadline for receipt of full proposals from shortlisted applicants is 12th January 2022. Applicants to be notified of the outcome by 5th February 2022.

Contact: If you are looking to apply for this call and/or if you have any questions, please contact at adam.platt@dcu.ie.

The IRC Laureate awards call is now open.  This call is specifically for early and mid-career researchers and is aimed at enhancing their track record and international competitiveness.  In addition to the benefits for the awardee and their team, it is anticipated that the award will enhance the potential for subsequent ERC success as a further career milestone. 

Applicants who have submitted the expression of interest can submit the full application by the call deadline 10th of November at 4pm.

To obtain institutional sign-off on the Letter of Support, please upload a completed Letter of Support template signed by your Head of School on TORA by the 28th of October.  Please note IRC will accept e-signatures on the form.  

Contact: sumona.mukherjee@dcu.ie

The Health Research Charities Ireland/Health Research Board Joint Funding Scheme is currently open.  Through this scheme, HRCI member charities run calls for health and social care research of importance to the people they represent.  Research projects of 12-36 months duration, up to a max of €300,000 are supported.

Charities currently with open calls include Muscular Dystrophy Ireland, DEBRA Ireland, the Central Remedial Clinic, the Irish Cancer Society and Cystic Fibrosis Ireland.  The individual deadlines for these calls run from 30th September to 15th October 2021.  See the HRCI website for full details.

Contact: Helen.burke@dcu.ie

The North-South Research Programme aims to support the deepening of links between higher education institutions, researchers and research communities.  The programme is a collaborative scheme arising from the Government’s Shared Island initiative and it is being delivered by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) on behalf of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research Innovation and Science (DFHERIS).

The Programme is divided into three strands covering researcher, hub and institutional collaborations, with timelines of 1-4 years and budgets of €200k-4€M.  The deadline for submission is currently 18th Oct 2021 but is expected to be extended.

For further information see the HEA website.

Contact: Helen.burke@dcu.ie

The Irish Cancer Society is currently accepting applications for its Underrepresented Communities Scoping Award 2021. The purpose of the call is to fund a scoping research study aimed at identifying individuals and communities in Ireland that experience significantly poorer cancer outcomes and determine the barriers to accessing diagnosis, treatment and cancer services that exist for these individuals.

The call deadline is 11th October 2021.  Further information can be found on the ICS website.  

Contact: Helen.burke@dcu.ie

The ERC Plans for the second work programme under Horizon Europe in 2022 have been announced, with the largest annual budget for ERC grants to date.

An overview of ERC 2022 can be found here along with the full ERC Work Programme 2022.

Indicative summary of calls from the 2022 budget:

Highlights of the plan include:

• Synergy Grants. After a break in 2021, this grant competition is returning and opened on 15 July 2021.  Synergy Grants offer support for a small group of two to four principal investigators to jointly address ambitious research problems that could not be addressed by the individual researchers and their teams working alone.  One of these principal investigators may be based outside Europe.
• Public Engagement with Research Award. After a successful pilot competition in 2020, the ERC will run the second edition.  The awards will recognise three ERC grantees, with a prize of €10,000 each, in the three categories: “Involve” for citizen science, “Inspire” for public outreach, and “Influence” for media and policy.  The competition is expected to open on 5th October 2021.
• The work programme introduces several changes to the way applicants are expected to describe their scientific track record.  These changes aim to further strengthen the ERC’s alignment with research assessment principles that recognise the intrinsic quality of researchers’ work and the value and impact of all research outputs. 

On the occasion of the adoption of this work programme, the ERC is also announcing its formal endorsement of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), in line with its long-standing adherence to the highest standards of research assessment.  The approach taken by the ERC in incorporating DORA principles into their review process can be found here.

Contact: If you are interested in applying for ERC opportunities please contact your Faculty RDO or sumona.mukherjee@dcu.ie (Research Support).