Yellow Monday
Week beginning 1st December
This Week
Thursday
Extra School Seminar
1.00 p.m., Room 5N.3.7
Dr Pavel Kratina (Queen Mary University London)
“Food web structure and function in a warmer World”
Hosted by: Dr Etienne Low-Decarie
Faculty and Staff News
 Tom Cameron was on BBC Essex speaking about the Long finned pilot whales in
the Blackwater Estuary on Wednesday 19th November:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02bn01x (about 1hr 20 minutes from the start)
 On behalf of EPB @ Essex and similar groups at Kent and UEA, Tom Cameron
received £9210 to run a workshop to develop NERC CASE DTP studentships
tackling applied science questions in fisheries and coastal environments.
 Kelly Murray (Sport Scientist, Human Performance Unit) presented a poster at the
BASES Annual Conference at St Georges Park on Tuesday 25th November
entitled “The validity of the VASA swim ergometer in the assessment of swimmers
in the laboratory”.
 Chris McManus presented an oral communication at the BASES Annual
Conference at St Georges Park on Tuesday 25th November entitled “Performance,
body composition and dietary intake of a female athlete completing 26 marathons
in 26 days – a case study”
 On Saturday 22 November, Dr Jo Barton gave the keynote talk at the
7th International Mountain and Outdoor Sports Conference, at the Charles
University in Prague, Czech Republic, entitled 'Green Exercise: Health Benefits of
Outdoor Activities'. PhD students John Wooller ('Contribution of sight, sound and
smell to the green exercise effect') and Mike Rogerson ('Predicting green exercise
health outcomes: ecologically valid sampling at parkrun events') also gave
presentations at this conference.
 Kathleen Dunbar worked with Dr Michael Steinke, Tania Cresswell-Maynard and
Prasanna Wijesinghe on a summer project sponsored by the Nuffield Foundation
to investigate ‘The effect of heat shock on the sea anemone Aiptasia sp.’. Her
project was selected for an oral presentation at the Nuffield Celebration Event,
held in Cambridge on 23rd October.
Research Grants Awarded
Congratulations to the following staff for the award of these grants:
Award Holder(s):
Tom Cameron
Awarded by:
Grant Title:
British Ecological Ecosystem wide responses
Society
to changes in trophic
structure
Award:
£4,741
Papers
Congratulations to Florentina Hettinga, Penny Beckerson, Mike Wilson, Dima
Svistunenko and Brandon Reeder for having the following published/accepted/in
press:
 Elisabeth K Simmelink, Emilie C Borgesius, Florentina J Hettinga, Jan HB
Geertzen, Rienk Dekker, Lucas HV van der Woude. Gross mechanical efficiency
of the combined arm–leg (Cruiser) ergometer: a comparison with the bicycle
ergometer and handbike. Int J. Rehabilitation Research. 2014. DOI:
10.1097/MRR.0000000000000100
 Penny Beckerson, Michael T. Wilson, Dimitri A. Svistunenko and Brandon J.
Reeder, Cytoglobin ligand binding regulated by changing haem-coordination in
response to intramolecular disulfide bond formation and lipid interaction,
Biochemical Journal, 2015, Volume 465 (part 1), Pages 127-137.
Research Funding News
Please contact the Research Administrator, Dr. Beverley Wilkinson, if you require
any further information or assistance with your application (bwilk@).
Grants
Breast Cancer Campaign – Pilot Grants
Breast Cancer Campaign only funds research into breast cancer and will support
research at any centre of excellence in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Pilot
grants are awarded to test new hypotheses and generate preliminary data to support
a full project grant application. Projects are awarded for up to one year up to
£25,000. The next call opens on 5th January with a deadline for applications on 2nd
March 2015.
For more information visit:
http://www.breastcancercampaign.org/breast-cancer-research/apply-for-a-researchgrant
BBSRC – Modular Training Partnerships
Modular Training Partnerships (MTPs) fund the development of industrially-relevant
short training courses at Masters level. Training should be developed in close
collaboration with industry, and evidence of industrial demand is a key requirement
for funding. MTPs provide pump-prime funding for:
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the development of individual training modules
preparation and marketing of course materials, and course launch
The closing date for applications is 4th February 2014.
For full details visit:
http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/business/training/modular-training.aspx
* NEW* Wellcome Trust – Seed Awards in Science
Seed Awards provide responsive, flexible funding, enabling researchers to develop a
novel idea to a position where they would be able to be competitive for a larger
award from the Wellcome Trust, or another source. Their exploratory nature gives
scope for the use of bold or innovative methodologies, and a broad range of possible
activities; from pilot and scoping studies, to preliminary data gathering and proof-ofprinciple studies, to planning sessions and meetings of collaborative networks. They
are not intended to fund discrete projects with no follow-on plans. Awards are
typically up to £100,000 for up to two years. Applications are considered three times
a year. The closing date for the first round is 25th February 2015.
For full details of this new scheme visit:
http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Biomedical-science/Funding-schemes/SeedAwards/index.htm
ERC - Consolidator Grant
ERC Consolidator Grants are designed to support excellent Principal Investigators at
the career stage at which they may still be consolidating their own independent
research team or programme. Applicants must demonstrate the ground-breaking
nature, ambition and feasibility of their scientific proposal. Consolidator Grants may
be awarded up to a maximum of EUR 2M for a period of 5 years. The Principal
Investigator shall have been awarded their first PhD over 7 and up to 12 years prior
to 1st January 2015. A competitive Consolidator Grant applicant must have already
shown research independence and evidence of maturity, for example by having
produced several important publications without the participation of their PhD
supervisor. Applicants should also be able to demonstrate a promising track record
of early achievements appropriate to their research field and career stage. The call
was published on 11th November and the closing date is 12th March 2014.
For full details visit:
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topic
s/9063-erc-cog-2015.html
Fellowships
Prostate Cancer UK - Career Development Fellowships
Prostate Cancer UK Career Development Fellowships are available to high calibre
researchers who have at least three, but no more than six years’ experience postPhD. The award of up to £750,000 will provide support for five years and is intended
to provide researchers with their first chance to establish independence. The
application must come from the prospective fellow. Applicants will be expected to
demonstrate the promise of becoming future research leaders and will have an
excellent track record in their previous work. The closing date for applications is 11th
March 2015.
http://prostatecanceruk.org/research/information-for-researchers/training-andfellowship-awards
Studentships
Wellcome Trust – Biomedical Vacation Scholarships
These awards provide promising undergraduates with hands-on experience of
research during the summer vacation, with the aim of encouraging them to consider
a career in research. Scholarships are available for between six and eight weeks and
currently provide a stipend for the student of £180 (£190 in London) per week.
Research expenses are not provided. Scholarships are not available for the
completion of student projects that are part of the normal degree course or for
students wishing to undertake research in laboratories outside the UK or the
Republic of Ireland. The deadline for applications is 13th February 2015.
http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Biomedical-science/Funding-schemes/PhDfunding-and-undergraduate-opportunities/wtd004448.htm
Newton-Bhabha PhD placements Programme
On behalf of the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, UK and the Ministry
of Science and Technology, India, British Council- India and the Department of
Science and Technology, India are pleased to invite applications for funding to
support short-term PhD placements between UK and Indian institutions. The
programme will sponsor UK and Indian PhD students to spend a period of their study
(3 to 6 months) in Indian and UK higher education institutions taking place between
March 2015 and March 2016. The programme is envisaged to:
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Develop individual capacity through international training and development
opportunities.
Increase the number of highly trained researchers in the UK and India with
international experience, able to contribute to the absorptive capacity for
research and innovation and thus bring about economic and social benefits.
Build cultural understanding, and foster long-term sustainable research
collaborations.
Develop international joint training pathways.
Increase awareness of the research strengths of the UK and India.
Applications are invited from PhD students in an accredited HEI the UK. In India, the
application is open to existing INSPIRE PhD fellows who have completed at least
two years of research.
For further information on this scheme visit:
http://www.britishcouncil.in/newton-bhabha-phd-placements-programme
News
NERC announces first tranche of highlight topics
NERC's Strategic Programme Advisory Group (SPAG) carefully considered 150
ideas submitted by the environmental science community during summer 2014 and
developed several areas of research, called highlight topics. After reviewing the
topics, NERC's Science & Innovation Strategy Board (SISB) has decided to pursue
five:
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Understanding and predicting anomalous trends in surface temperature and
implications for long-term climate response.
Environmental pathways and impacts of nanomaterials.
Dynamics of freshwater ecosystems within an integrated landscape system.
Integrated dynamics of natural capital systems: bringing the natural
environment into economic decision making.
eDNA, a key new tool for 21st century ecology.
For full details visit:
http://www.nerc.ac.uk/latest/news/nerc/highlight-topics/
Wellcome Trust – Refreshed funding framework
The Wellcome Trust has announced a refreshed funding framework. Following
extensive consultation with the Wellcome Trust community, the Trust is making
several improvements to its funding, including a new funding mechanism for
collaborative research by teams, and the introduction of seed grants to support
researchers who want to develop original and innovative ideas.
These changes are taking place at a time when the Wellcome Trust’s overall spend
is growing. The Trust wants to make sure that as funding is increased, the right
opportunities are available for the many different kinds of researchers and research
teams who can help make a difference to health.
For full details of the changes visit:
http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/News/Media-office/Press-releases/2014/WTP057957.htm