MyGlasgow News

Do you know about the support the EU team here at the University of Glasgow can offer? If you are a researcher seeking funding from the European Union then the EU team can help you!

What they do

‌The EU team are based within the Research Support Office at the University of Glasgow. They offer help and guidance for academics seeking research funding from the European Union. The team can provide assistance for the whole lifecycle of European projects: from finding a potential funding opportunity to finalising reporting on a completed project, with the potential for bid writing and project management support along the way.

Joe Galloway, Research Support Manager, said: “We have a lot of experience of applying for funding and we work with academics to make their bid as strong as possible.

"We try to make every part of the bid stronger to increase the chances of securing funding.

"Applying for European funding requires a lot of work from academics so we also aim to ease some of that burden and make the process of applying for funding easier.”

What they can do for you

Any University of Glasgow academic can go to the EU team for guidance and support.

There are a host of European funding opportunities that might suit your project or area of interest and the EU team are on hand to guide you through the options.

The main source of EU funding comes from Horizon 2020. This programme is worth 80 billion euros and will run until 2020.

Although Horizon 2020 is a seven year programme, it operates on a two year cycle, with new work programmes published every two years containing opportunities for many different types of project and deadlines spread throughout the two year period. One key part of Horizon 2020 is the European Research Council (ERC). ERC grants are based on excellence, with the evaluation based just on the track record of the PI and the ‘frontier changing’ nature of the research. The ERC offers outstanding opportunities to win high value funding in any field, for ambitious projects that could go beyond the state of the art. The ERC has three main levels of grants available for academics at different stages of career.

Starter grants are available for applicants between two and seven years post PhD. Consolidator grants are for those at the seven to twelve year post-PhD  and Advanced grants are aimed at those at the top of their field but has no specific qualification requirement.

The deadline for this year’s advanced grants is fast approaching - 2 June 2015. Anyone interested should contact the EU Team. They will be happy to help you assess your suitability for the scheme. Further opportunities for starter and consolidator grants will be available early next year.

Joe said: “It is worth speaking to our team as soon as you have a project in mind. We can help academics prepare to apply and give them advice on when is best to apply for research funding and match them to the most suitable funding scheme. We offer a free service to all University of Glasgow academics so if you are interested in European funding come and talk to us!”

See below for the opportunity to meet the EU team at an ERC networking event in June.

Successes

The EU Team have supported academics to many funding successes recently in Horizon 2020, particularly from the ERC.

Already this year they have received news that six academics at the University of Glasgow have secured starter and consolidator grants with the help of the EU team. The awards total more than ten million Euros.

It is hoped this success will continue as the team wait to hear the outcome of the advanced grant applications that they assisted academics with last year.

Case Study- Dr Lisa Debruine

Dr Lisa Debruine, is one of the EU teams success stories. She has been awarded an ERC grant as part of Horizon 2020 worth 1,984,776 Euros.

This will fund Lisa and her team for five years to research the question ‘How do humans recognise kin?’

Lisa’s research focuses on kin recognition, facial resemblance and face perception.

Specifically, how humans use facial resemblance to tell who their kin are and how people respond to cues of kinship in different circumstances.

Describing her project, Lisa said: “It’s going to be a huge project. We are going to get lots of pairs of relatives into our lab and we are going to measure potential kinship cues and measure aspects of their relationship.
From our research we will build a model to determine how people come to feel like family.”

Lisa approached the EU team for guidance on funding as soon as she arrived at the University of Glasgow over two years ago. Originally a biologist, Lisa was unsure which funding category to apply for.

She said: “I felt my work could fall under a few categories so I asked members of the EU team, in their experience which category I would best be applying for. They obviously gave me good advice because I won the funding!”

As well as being on hand to answer any queries she had, the EU team assisted Lisa by proof reading her draft proposals and offering advice, helping with admin and paperwork and providing support when she was writing up her budget for the project.

Lisa said: “The ERC grants are great as they are huge amounts of long term funding but getting one is a difficult process that requires a lot of work and preparation. You cannot do it all by yourself without guidance. The EU team provide a host of services to help you, from assisting with paperwork to running workshops. I would advise anyone interested in European funding to contact the EU team as soon as possible. They can really guide you on the path to securing funding.”

With the final stages of paperwork to be finalised, Lisa is excited at the prospect of starting her research project in September.

Further success

Over time, the University has enjoyed increased success in certain areas of EU funding. One such area is Marie Curie Fellowships.

Marie Curie Fellowships fund a researcher to move from one European country to another for two years. In their host country they undertake a research project under the supervision of a senior academic. The fellowships are worth approximately 200, 000 Euros each.

Joe Galloway said: “In previous years we tended to get one or two Marie Curie fellowships but from last year’s intake we were awarded nine, with six more on the reserve list. We did a lot of work to support applicants  including running workshops to guide them through the process and offering technical bid writing.”  

These fellowships will bring the successful academics over to the University of Glasgow to begin their research projects in the coming months.

Networking event

The EU team will be holding an event for anyone at the University of Glasgow with an interest in ERC applications to find out more about the opportunities available and what it takes to apply successfully.

The event will also provide the chance to meet with academics that have recently secured grants and can provide firsthand experience of the funding process.

The event will be held 1st June 5-7pm. To register your interest in the event please email:
vp-research@glasgow.ac.uk

Contact the team

If you have any questions about applying for EU funding or how to receive assistance from the EU team, get in touch with the EU Team: rso-eufunding@glasgow.ac.uk

Or for more information visit The EU team

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First published: 31 March 2015