skip to content

Conservation Research Institute

 
logo2.png

NEWSLETTER

24th April 2015

Research Funding Opportunities

Talks and Events (Internal)

Talks and Events (External)

News Items

Research Papers

Research News

 

Research Funding Opportunities

Algal bioenergy special interest group SPARK awards 
Natural Environment Research Council
These aim to encourage new research and development collaborations between academic organisations and small to medium-sized enterprises on the development of an algal industry in the UK. Awards are worth £10,000 each. The total budget is £50,000. Closing date: 22 May 15 

Environmental risks to infrastructure innovation funding call
Natural Environment Research Council
This aims to support short-term feasibility studies and longer-term translational projects on environmental risks to infrastructure. The estimated total budget is £1 million. Closing date: 28 May 15 

Fritz Thyssen Stiftung – Fritz Thyssen Foundation
These support scholarly events, in particular national and international conferences with the aim of facilitating the discussion and analysis of specific scholarly questions as well as fostering cooperation and networking of scholars working in the same field or on interdisciplinary topics. Grants cover the costs of travel, accommodation and meals of active participants, as well as up to €500 to defray incidental conference costs, such as printing, student helpers and assistants. 
Closing date: 31 May 15 

The Royal Society Wolfson Laboratory Refurbishment scheme
Interested applicants should follow the procedure accessible from the above link. Draft letters need to be sent to researchstrategy@admin.cam.ac.uk by 1st June 2015.

EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account 

Funding available
Follow on Fund: To support early stage commercialisation of EPSRC-funded research. The maximum award is £60 000 (direct costs only). Further details can be found atwww.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/rso/internal/iaa/

Knowledge Transfer Fellowships: Secondments to transfer knowledge and expertise linked to EPSRC research between the University and a partner company. The maximum award is £60 000 (direct costs only).  Further details can be found atwww.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/rso/iaa/funding/fellowships/index.html

Partnership Development Awards: 3- 6 month pump-priming collaborative research projects within EPSRC remit, with a non-academic partner organisation. The maximum award is £50 000 (direct costs only). Further details can be found atwww.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/rso/internal/pda/

Presentation for applicants 20th May 2015
Potential applicants are invited to attend a presentation on 20th May 2015 from 1.00-2.00pm in the Council Room, Old Schools. Please emailresearchstrategy@admin.cam.ac.uk to book a place.

Application process
Applicants should email an expression of interest to researchstrategy@admin.cam.ac.uk, with their name and department, stating which scheme they intend to apply for and giving a brief description of the planned project, by 1st June 2015. There will be no assessment at this stage. The purpose of the EoI stage is to identify likely number of applications and the thematic areas of applications.  Applicants who do not submit an EoI will not be considered at the full selection stage.

The deadline for full proposals will be 22nd June 2015. The bids will be reviewed by a cross-disciplinary selection panel of academics with commercial experience.  Funding will be available for projects to start on or after 1st October 2015 and all projects must be completed by 31st March 2017 latest.  Any questions regarding the scheme arrangements should be directed to researchstrategy@admin.cam.ac.uk. Expressions of Interest must be received by 1st June 2015

Horizon 2020: Societal Challenges
H2020-ISIB-2015-1 innovative, sustainable and inclusive bioeconomy
Proposals may address the following topics: ISIB-2-2015 closing the research and innovation divide: the crucial role of innovation support services and knowledge exchange; ISIB-12c-2015 monitoring and mitigation of agricultural and forestry greenhouse gases; ISIB-12e-2015 sustainable livestock production; ISIB-12f-2015 biomarkers for nutrition and health. The indicative budget for this call in 2015 is €27 million. Closing date: 11 Jun 15 

H2020-BG-2015-1 blue growth: unlocking the potential of seas and oceans 
Proposals may address BG-16-2015 coordination action in support of the implementation of the joint programming initiative on healthy and productive seas and oceans. The indicative budget for this call in 2015 is €2 million. Closing date: 11 Jun 15 

Norman Borlaug award for field research and application
World Food Prize Foundation
This is awarded for an exceptional, science-based achievement in international agriculture and food production by an individual under the age of 40 who has clearly demonstrated intellectual courage, stamina and determination in the fight to eliminate global hunger and poverty. The award is worth US$10,000. Closing date: 30 Jun 15 (Forecast)

Conservation, Food and Health Foundation
These support non-profit, non-governmental organisations to build capacity within the developing countries in the fields of conservation, food, and health. The average award amount is US$17,000 and grants rarely exceed US$25,000. Closing date: 01 Jul 15 

Research in sustainable solid waste management
Environmental Research and Education Foundation
Funding supports projects related to sustainable waste management practices in the areas of waste minimisation, recycling, waste conversion to energy, strategies to promote diversion to higher and better uses and landfilling. Previously grants have ranged from US$15,000 to over US$500,000 with the average grant amount being US$160,000. Closing date: 15 Jul 15 

Agriculture-nutrition impact studies
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
These medium to long-term research studies and evaluations will deliver robust evidence on the impact of agriculture on nutrition and health outcomes. Funding for interventions and study designs that are fully supported by existing formative and feasibility research is worth up to US$3.5 million per proposal over five years. Funding for proposals that are not supported by formative and feasibility research is worth up to US$100,000 over six to 12 months. Closing date: 08 Aug 15 (Forecast)

Policy internships
Natural Environment Research Council
Each award enables PhD students funded by BBSRC, AHRC or NERC to gain three months’ experience of working in science policy. Successful applicants will receive a three-month extension to their PhD funding. Closing date: 18 Aug 15 (Forecast)

Sustainable future programme grants
Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust
These support projects on developing and promoting sustainable, low-carbon alternatives to the current consumerist and growth-based paradigm. The grants have a nominal average value of £50,000, but in actuality grants may range from a few hundred pounds to £100,000 and last up to three years. Closing date: 01 Sep 15 

 

Talks and Events
Internal

Hidden Histories: Green Museums

A panel discussion at the Polar Museum
Thursday 14th May, 6pm to 7.30pm

African Heritage Challenges: Development and Sustainability
Register online at www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/25667
Speaker to be confirmed
Friday 15 May 2015, 09:00-18:00
The Future Of Sustainable Agriculture:Land Share Or Land Sparing?
Part of the Festival of Plants
Panel discussion. 
Friday 15 May 2015, 16:30 - 17:30 Auditorium of The Sainsbury Laboratory (Bateman Street)
Feeding The World Without Costing The Earth: How Can Agriculture And Biodiversity Coexist?
Part of the Festival of Plants

Professor Andrew Balmford (Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge)
Saturday 16 May 2015, 14:00 - 15:00 Auditorium of The Sainsbury Laboratory (Bateman Street)
External
CCCEP Spring Lecture: Copenhagen 2009 vs Paris 2015 - Can the media influence the outcome of the UN's climate change talks? (ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, University of Leeds)
12th May 2015, 6pm
Health, Wellbeing and Education for Sustainability: Lessons for HE from the health professions
15th May, 12.30pm to 2.15pm, RCE Severn event, University of Gloucestershire

Governance of Coasts and Oceans: responding to rising sea levels and engaging with offshore development
Dr Tim Stojanovic (University of St Andrews, & Visiting Academic Department of Geography, Cambridge)
Part of the Cambridge Coastal Research Seminar Series
1st June 1-2pm in Room H101 Hardy Building (Downing Site)

The Academy of Urbanism Annual Congress- Health, happiness and wellbeing’ 
4th - 6th June 2015, Birmingham, UK
Tomorrow’s City Today: Prospects for standardising sustainable urban development 
University of Westminster
12th June 2015, 10am – 4.30pm
Towards a sustainable and legal wildlife trade
Organised by the International Trade Centre and the Durrell Institute for Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent, Canterbury
18th to 19th June
2nd London Annual Planning for Climate Change Conference
UCL, 25th June 2015
Can Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) work for both people and the environment?
Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh
27th to 28th July
17th Annual Bioecon Conference “Experimental and Behavioural Economics and the Conservation of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services” Call for Papers by 22nd May 2015
13th 15th September 2015
Call for Papers: International workshop on ecosystem management and environmental justice: Mapping the linkages
International workshop at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
12th to 13th October 2015

 

General News

Forests, Trees and Landscapes for Food Security and Nutrition. A Global Assessment Report.
Prepared by the Global Forest Expert Panel on Forests and Food Security
Editors: Bhaskar Vira, Christoph Wildburger & Stephanie Mansourian 

The most recent GFEP global assessment report on "Forests, Trees and Landscapes for Food Security and Nutrition" officially launched at UNFF11 in New York, on 6 May 2015. This report presents the results of the fourth global scientific assessment undertaken so far in the framework of GFEP. It reflects the importance of policy coherence and integration more than any previous GFEP assessment. It comes at a time when the United Nations General Assembly seeks to adopt a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which build upon the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and converge with the post-2015 development agenda. In this context, the eradication of hunger, realisation of food security and the improvement of nutrition are of particular relevance. 

Managing and sharing your research data: Advice and support for University of Cambridge researchers

Most research funders (including Research Councils, charities and foundations) have introduced policies on research data management. The general expectation is that data from publicly funded research projects should be appropriately stored and made openly available with as few restrictions as possible.  In order to support Cambridge researchers in meeting these requirements, the University is undertaking a broad range of activities aimed at increasing awareness and providing help. Our Open Data team is making presentations and taking questions at open meetings, Departmental meetings, Research Operations Office School meetings and meetings with administrators and librarians, as well as providing online support and information about research data management at www.data.cam.ac.uk.

If you would like to know more about the requirements that may apply to your research data, and the help offered by the University, please come to a lunchtime ‘Open Data’ session: http://www.data.cam.ac.uk/open-data-lunchtime-information-sessions-register-now. These sessions are open to all researchers, staff and research students from the University of Cambridge, and they are being scheduled in various locations so that you can choose the most convenient one: in central Cambridge, at the Addenbrooke’s site or at West Cambridge.

 If you have any further questions, please e-mail the Research Data Facilitator, Dr Marta Teperek, directly.
 

 

Research Papers

Digital Games and Biodiversity Conservation

Managing Biodiversity Through Stakeholder Involvement: Why, Who, and for What Initiatives?

Hydrology: The interdisciplinary science of water

Renewable energies and ecosystem service impacts

Operationalizing the social-ecological systems framework to assess sustainability

Education about wetlands must take differences in generations into account

Linking biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human well-being: three challenges for designing research for sustainability

Ecosystem services valuation for enhancing conservation and livelihoods in a sacred landscape of the Indian Himalayas

Conservation inequality and the charismatic cat: Felis felicis

Roundtable on Climate Destabilization and the Study of Religion Misfit Messengers: Indigenous Religious Traditions and Climate Change

Targets to increase food production: One Health implications

 

 Research News

Conservation and the rights of tribal people must go hand in hand

94 pangolins released in Sumatra following huge illegal wildlife seizure

Model approach for sustainable phosphorus recovery from wastewater

Fjords are 'hotspots' in global carbon cycling

A new future for corals: Persistence and change in coral reef communities

'MyEarth' energy-tracking app encourages sustainable behaviors

 

If you have any events or news items you would like to add to this newsletter please send by email to: uccri-administrator@conservation.cam.ac.uk

University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute
Website: research-institute.conservation.cam.ac.uk/ 
Twitter: @cambridge_uccri