EU FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT TIPS

Who can make a proposal?

Organisations who wish to apply may be vocational schools, national, regional or local public agencies, higher education institutions, independent training providers, companies, professional associations or NGOs. Organisations are encouraged to consider partnerships which would make it possible to bring together complementary skills and perspectives (e.g. those of providers and users of CPD) and encourage wider adoption.

The second round of applications will open mid-June 2015 and will close on 24 September 2015. Applications will be limited to those regions for which funds are still available after the first round of applications.

These are likely to include some or all of the following: Western Balkans, Eastern Europe, South Mediterranean, Russia and Central Asia.

Priorities

• contributing to the design, development and/or or monitoring of national, regional, or local policies aimed to fight against discrimination and/or to promote equality at the workplace and/or in society;
• implementing more effectively the legislation on non-discrimination adopted following the Racial Equality Directive and, the Employment Framework Directive;
• increasing stakeholders' knowledge of EU, national, regional and local policies and legislation as well as administrative practices in the non-discrimination field;
• increasing the level of citizen's knowledge of their rights in cases of discrimination. 
• Or - promote Roma integration (ROMA priority), aiming to support the implementation of national Roma inclusion strategies or integrated sets of policy measures and the Council Recommendation on Roma integration

BUDGET AVAILABLE

The indicative available budget under this call for proposals is EUR 3.450.000. The requested grant cannot be lower than EUR 75.000.

The deadline for this call for proposals is 7/7/2015 12:00 (noon) CET.

Actions. Scope: Proposals should build on the results expected by the coordination action in support to the HDHL JPI in the implementation of the Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) and Implementation Plan using effective and efficient methods of collaboration such as those proposed by the 'Voluntary guidelines on Framework Conditions, adopted by the High Level Group on Joint Programming. To carry out activities foreseen in the Implementation Plan, current efforts should be assessed to provide information on Member State implication and to favour the alignment of these activities to the JPI's SRA. Moreover, proposals should support in harmonization, integration, and alignment of national research programming, to enable evidence-based policy making and effective cross-policy actions, investigate novel forms of implementation of SRA such as collaborations with e.g. other JPIs or research infrastructures. Finally, they should further strengthen the international dimension of the JPI to be addressed by ensuring coherence with other relevant international initiatives. In line with the objectives of the EU strategy for international cooperation in research and innovation, proposals are encouraged to consider cooperation with related programmes from third countries.

Scope:

Proposals should focus on the accurate identification of terrorist online communities (even hiding their real identity), accurate and fast categorization of malicious content published by terrorists and their supporters in multiple languages, large-scale temporal analysis of terrorism trends, and real-time summarization of multilingual and multimedial information published by terrorists, including content filtering for mis- and disinformation and framing. In addition, linking pseudonyms and finding the original author should be part of the research. The developed methodologies should be able to handle massive amounts of multilingual and multimedial web content in minimal time. The scope of the proposed tool should involve law enforcement bodies from the design phase to the prototyping and test phase.

The proposals should address the management of personal data, and related ethical and legal issues. Therefore considerable attention will have to be given to privacy and data protection, and to the adherence to European regulations. For each proposed solution, potential issues vis-à-vis these rights and regulations will have to be analysed, and recommendations on the best solutions to these issues must be proposed.

The development of a base line system for current and future end users should also be envisaged and the solution should follow Open Source concepts.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of between €3m and €5m would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

Scope:

Proposals should focus on how to extract, compare, correlate, filter, reason over and/or interpret suspect information, data, communications stored and/or transferred on the Internet including on the deepweb, darknet and other less easily accessible parts of networks, obtained under a lawful warrant, in order to discover facts and evidence to support forensic investigations (including e.g. resolving identities in social networks, authorship identification on webfora, shared media, etc.). Software and, if necessary, hardware tools, methods and guidelines should be proposed. They should tackle all the layers of analysis, from the data-packet level to the data mining, to language interpretation, semantic analysis, and information retrieval, including the multi-lingual aspects, and video and picture analysis. Investigative techniques on any kind of crime using the Internet to some extent (to communicate, transfer data, etc.) should be concerned. The proposed solutions should enable accelerated searches of the huge amount of data-transfer that occurs on the Internet, and to discover and make clear (interpret) out of it the relevant data and information. At the same time, limited, or at least controlled, pervasiveness of the proposed solutions must be guaranteed, in order guarantee the privacy of all the internet users. Ethical issues have to be clearly addressed. Appropriate solutions to fulfil the legitimate request of privacy by the citizens should be embedded in the very core of the proposed solutions. Also, all the developed tools, methods and guidelines should be supported by training support and curricula.

Expected impact:

- improved LEA capabilities to conduct investigations by using information travelling and stored on the Internet obtained under a lawful warrant ;

- improved training of LEA staff able to perform these investigations. increased crime prosecution capabilities;

- shorter court cases due to the availability of more solid court proof forensic evidence;

- increased privacy and data protection during forensic investigations;

- for industry better understanding of modern operational LEA requirements, thus increasing their competitiveness.

Deadline Date27-08-2015 17:00:00 (Brussels local time)

Under this call for proposals, the European Commission may finance up to 90% of the total eligible cost of the action. Contributions in kind (i.e. contributions for which no financial flow can be traced in the written accounts like unpaid charity work by a private individual or corporate body, etc.) will not be taken into account.

Applications, which request a grant of more than 90% of the total eligible cost, will not be eligible.

Deadline for submitting applications: 30 June 2015

The objective of this call is to strengthen the capacities of sending and hosting organisations intending to participate in the EU Aid Volunteers initiative and to ensure compliance with the standards and procedures regarding candidate volunteers and EU Aid Volunteers.

The capacities of up to 100 sending and hosting organisations are strengthened in the fields of

— Disaster risk management, preparedness and response as well as linking relief, rehabilitation and development;

— Volunteer management according to the standards and procedures for the management of the candidate volunteers and the EU Aid Volunteers;

— Strengthening local volunteering in third countries;

— Capacities to undergo certification including administrative capacity;

— Tools and methods of needs assessment at a local level;

— Building partnerships with a view to develop joint projects in the context of the EU Aid Volunteers initiative.

— Communicating the European Union’s humanitarian aid principles agreed in the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid and raise awareness levels and visibility of its humanitarian aid.

The maximum grant will be EUR 700 000. Grant requests below EUR 100 000 will not be considered for funding. The Agency expects to fund 20 proposals.

Deadline:1 September 2015 12 PM Brussels time

Specific objective:

support media production in the area of rule of law.

Global objective:

support quality and credibility of investigative journalism including modern/innovative approaches to increase quality and credibility of investigative journalism

Eligible activities

Media content of public interest produced

Increased professional capacities of media and journalism 

Deadline of submission of Concept note: 5/06/2015

The main objective of the programme is to increase higher education student and staff mobility between Bulgaria and the donor states, improve cooperation on study programme and study module development, and strengthen the competence of Bulgarian higher education sector academic, research and administrative staff. Joint projects will contribute to enhancing the quality and relevance of the educational offer of Bulgarian higher education institutions. 

Outcome of call

• Increased higher education student and staff mobility between Beneficiary and EEA E

 Scholarship measures of this call:
• Mobility projects in higher education aimed at students, teachers, administrative staff and researchers in Bulgaria and the donor states. 

Deadline for applications: 29 May 2015

Scope:

The action aims to support a range of activities, which will raise young boys' and girls' awareness of the different aspects encompassing science and technology in their societal content and to address the challenges faced by young people when pursuing careers in STEM. It aims at bringing both girls and boys into the scientific world via formal and informal teaching and learning and to orient them towards undertaking scientific careers. In order to be more attractive, research careers should also be more closely linked to labour market needs. In this context, the potential orientation towards more entrepreneurial and multidisciplinary research careers should be recognised. The proposals shall focus on innovative, forward-looking science education methods and/or on incentives and measures to make scientific and technological careers attractive to young students, including actions addressing the challenges in offering long term career perspectives. They may inter alia make young people work with open-access educational resources; become familiar with the use of science media; make the link between creativity and science; appreciate the relevance of gender balance and dimension in research; understand the practical value of research ethics and integrity; actions.

The proposals shall also foster sustainable and cross-cutting interaction between the different levels of the education system, research institutions and other establishments, industry, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). Such proposals shall improve the attractiveness of science education and scientific careers to young people; address challenges in offering long term career perspectives, as well as raise awareness of the importance of trans-disciplinary research and Responsible Research and Innovation in the education system.

The specific objective of promoting transnational circulation, one of the priorities of the MEDIA Subprogramme is the following:

• supporting theatrical distribution through transnational marketing, branding, distribution and exhibition of audiovisual works;

The MEDIA Sub-programme shall provide support for the following:

• establishing systems of support for the distribution of non-national European films through theatrical distribution and on all other platforms as well as for international sales activities, in particular the subtitling, dubbing and audio-description of audiovisual works.

ELIGIBLE ACTIONS

The Sales Agents scheme works in two phases:

1. The Generation of a potential fund, which will be calculated according to the international sales performance of the company on the European market during the reference period (2010-2014) 2. Reinvestment of the potential fund thus generated by each company: Module 1: minimum guarantees or advances paid for the international sales rights on new European non-national films. Module 2: the promotion, marketing and advertising on the market of new non-national European films presented.

BUDGET

The total budget available is EUR 2.600.000. The financial contribution of the Union cannot exceed 60% of the total eligible costs, depending on the type of reinvestment

The deadlines for sending applications are:

Generation: 18/06/2015

Reinvestments: 01/03/2017

This guide is intended to provide experts with instructions and guidance on how to ensure a high quality standardised assessment of a project proposal received in response to Calls for Proposals managed by the Education Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (the Agency) and advice on providing accreditation.

The main objective of these ERA-NETs is to pool the necessary financial resources from the participating national (or regional) research programmes and the EU and to implement joint trans-national calls with EU co-funding in the above areas (one co-funded call per grant agreement, resulting in grants to third parties). Thematic focusing of these calls should be commensurate with the funds available, so as to ensure a reasonable rate of success in the call. The ERA-NETs should seek synergies with other relevant European and international research and innovation initiatives affecting sustainability and resilience of agriculture and food systems, in particular the FACCE and HDHL Joint Programming Initiatives.

Expected impact:

•          improve coordination and reduce the overlap between national and EU funding in relevant fields of research;
•          achieve a critical mass and ensure better use of limited resources in fields of mutual interests;
•          share good practices in implementing research programmes;
•          promote transnational collaboration and new knowledge generation and innovation;
•          mobilise SMEs, when appropriate, in the transnational projects to enhance innovation.
•          provide mapping of on-going research activities (where relevant);
•          establish a network of research activities carried out at national and regional level, including a mutual opening of national and regional research programmes (where relevant).

Scope: Proposals should address the following issue

Monitoring and mitigation of agricultural and forestry greenhouse gases

Expected impact:

         improve coordination and reduce the overlap between national and EU funding in relevant fields of research;

         achieve a critical mass and ensure better use of limited resources in fields of mutual interests;

         share good practices in implementing research programmes;

         promote transnational collaboration and new knowledge generation and innovation;

         mobilise SMEs, when appropriate, in the transnational projects to enhance innovation.

         provide mapping of on-going research activities (where relevant);

         establish a network of research activities carried out at national and regional level, including a mutual opening of national and regional research programmes (where relevant).

Scope:

This topic shall look at the role and purpose of social media and the relationship between the new social networks and public security. Research to be coordinated by this activity may focus on analysing the following issues:

• To what extent are social media likely to influence public security planning?
• Shall the adoption of social media across the public security community be treated as a threat or a tool for public security purposes?
• Shall the potential of social networking tools be explored by public security agencies for example in order to predict future trends or identify possible threats?
• To which extent, in the age of the connected society, are social media used in the eve of urban violence and riots? How can the understanding of the different social media influence on the populations lead to the shaping of new forms of policing in the public space?
• What are the ethical and legal implications, for instance with reference to the respect for fundamental rights, of public agencies using social media information for security planning purposes?

Special attention should be paid to ethical privacy and data protection aspects.

The deadline for the submission of applications is 9 July 2015.

Budget

The European Union’s overall financial contribution will not exceed 95% of the total eligible costs of the proposed activities. Contributions in kind (i.e. contributions for which no financial flow can be traced in the written accounts like unpaid charity work done by individuals or corporate bodies, etc.) will not be taken into account.

Deadline for submitting applications: 26 June 2015

Under the first programme outcome, improved governance in health care, the programme aims to develop integrated instruments to reduce health inequalities. Under the second outcome, lifestyle related diseases prevented or reduced, pilot projects of community based comprehensive public health interventions will be supported. 

Outcomes of call

• Improved governance in health care
• Life-style related diseases prevented or reduced

Scope:

The action will analyse the potential and the challenges of SSH valorisation at the European level and will develop solutions for advancing the practical application of research results, methods and expertise of SSH into products and services. To reach these goals, the action should develop a platform that will bring together SSH researchers and economic and social actors, including within an interdisciplinary setting. This platform should foster a dialogue between SSH researchers and relevant stakeholders with the aim to identify the structural requirements and conditions that must be created to ensure an effective valorisation of SSH research. In particular this should include such issues as research design, research communication, training of SSH researchers and their employability in the wider economy or any other relevant social field where SSH should be integrated in innovation endeavours, as well as production and use of data.

The action will also develop a valorisation concept for the systematic exchange and dissemination of SSH research results, which will include the earlier and deeper integration of SSH research across the innovation value chain. The developed concept will also need to be tested in a subsequent step.

The EURAXESS initiative with its four pillars is an important tool for the development and implementation of our policies on researchers’ mobility and careers thus contributing to the completion of the ERA and to the implementation of the Responsible Research and Innovation field. Two specific challenges are tackled in this topic targeting an open and transparent labour market for researchers by outreaching to industry and by building a human resources strategy for researchers.

Scope:

This action aims at providing EURAXESS service centres with tools to increase the uptake/use of the EURAXESS portals and services by the industry sector. Initiatives shall be supported that have proven to increase the level of interaction of industry with EURAXESS portals and services for the benefit of Responsible Research and Innovation. This topic will support strategic activities to enhance collaboration with industry by EURAXESS Services Network's members that have signed the Declaration of Commitment. This shall include special IT applications for the national EURAXESS portals and mapping of specific needs of the industry sector. Activities such as trainings, seminars, networking and updating of national EURAXESS homepages shall also be part of this action. In this context information and guidance on Responsible Research and Innovation shall be provided for researchers & employers, taking-up and further the information and training material produced by the RRI Toolkit (Seventh Framework programme RRI TOOLKIT project). In cooperation with relevant projects and initiative, EURAXESS shall provide guidance on how making research open access can be beneficial for the career development of researchers as well as offering benefits to industry. Gender equality shall also be taken into account in the activities. Interoperability between national EURAXESS portals and the European one (especially EURAXESS Jobs) shall be foreseen.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of between EUR 0.5 and 1 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

Objective:

The objective pursued by this inducement prize is to reduce particulate matter air pollution in urban areas through the development of innovative material solutions. These solutions should be design-driven, affordable and sustainable, and they should demonstrate that they can effectively remove and/or prevent the formation of particulate matter in the atmosphere (vehicle exhaust systems will be excluded).

Expected results:

Affordable, sustainable and innovative design-driven material solutions that can effectively remove or prevent the formation of particulate matter in the atmosphere (vehicle exhaust systems will be excluded) and works in the environment targeted for application.