Spotlight on open calls

From our survey back in June, we know many of you have a strong interest in the finding out about UK-India funding opportunities. So, thought we would write a special ‘Spotlight On’ blog to tell you about the current open calls.

Hot off the press, last week the UK’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and India’s Department of Biotechnology (DBT) published a call in jointly inviting proposals for collaborative research projects for control measures and technologies to combat infectious diseases and improve health of farmed animals. This is the first international call for DBT in this subject area. BBSRC have committed up to £5 million for this call, with matched resources from DBT. Further details: Farmed Animal Disease and Health (FADH).

The call is focussed around three priority areas: new generation vaccines; genetics of host disease resistance; and novel diagnostic tools. It has two underpinning, themes: epidemiology and modelling; and investigating pathogen biology at the molecular level.

The scope of this call has been defined by the joint workshop as organised by BBSRC and DBT in Delhi during early February this year. In order to provide the visiting UK delegation a clearer understanding of India’s livestock research, DBT organised a site-visit to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly which my colleague Swati’s blogged about preIndian Veterinary Research viously.

We also wanted to let you know that we are currently doing some work on our funding opportunities pages to make them easier to navigate and find the right opportunities for you. We’ll let you know when we launch the new look pages but in the mean time if you have any thoughts or helpful suggestions about how they should be presented, then please email us. 

And just to highlight some of the other calls that are quickly approaching their deadline for applications:

UK and India Partnership in Smart Energy and Energy Storage Technologies  is a joint invitation for proposals from the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for consortia research projects focussing on Smart Energy Grids and Energy Storage. The closing date is 1600hrs on 15 November 2012 (UK time).

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Department for International Development (DFID) announced funding for the third phase of the ESRC-DFID Development Frontiers research fund. Deadline for applications is 16.00hrs on 29 November 2012 (UK time).

Distinguished Visiting Fellowship Scheme provides funding up to £6000 to enable an engineering department in a UK University to be a host for up to a month to a Distinguished Visiting Fellow from an overseas academic centre of excellence. The deadline for applications is 30 November 2012.

Innovative Engineering for health is an open call from The Wellcome Trust and EPSRC looking to support a number of innovative, multi-disciplinary projects designed to address a defined need in healthcare for which current solutions are inadequate or lacking. The invitation for outlines closed on 10 December 2012.