European and International Research Support

The European and International Research Support team is part of the Research Strategy and Services Division. We are responsible for providing specialist support for applying (pre-award) and delivering (post-award) European and International funded projects.

Find out more about the services we provide

We are responsible for:

Dissemination	Raising awareness of relevant EU and international calls and matching opportunities with academic interests together. This is done through one to one meetings, workshops, targetted communication and attending meetings such as departmental seminars and away day.
Help with proposal development	Support academic staff with their research applications from idea development, commenting to costing and form completion
Harnessing expertise	Identifying academics who are internationally active and working with them to understand how we can support them better and also learn from them and use their expertise to encourage other academics to apply for international funding.
Early ideas	Identifying opportunities e.g. a new funder or collaboration opportunity very early on leading to EU and International proposals.
Help with of successful EU-funded awards	Support projects and PIs at EU post-award, from grant preparation to hands-on help to projects.
Strategic relationships	Managing the University relationship with Germany's Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing.

Pre-award support for European and International research

The team, led by Eleonore Dispersyn (e.dispersyn-nievergelt@bham.ac.uk) offer dedicated pre-award support for EU (any schemes from the EU framework programme) and International funding, such as US National Institutes for Health or Department of Defence, as well as Overseas Foundations such as Spencer, Templeton or Volkswagen.

EU funding for research - Horizon Europe

Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation. With a budget of €95.5 billion, the programme’s general objective is to deliver scientific, technological, economic and societal impact from the Union’s investments in R&I, to strengthen the scientific and technological base of the Union, and to foster its competitiveness.

The University of Birmingham and all organisations in the UK can take part in the new European Programme that follows on from Horizon 2020, running from 2021 until 2027. The UK is an Associated Country, so together with other UK-based organisations, we will take part in most calls and lead projects in the same way as when the UK was a member state.

UK formally associates to Horizon Europe

On 7^th September 2023, the UK and the EU reached an agreement that allows the UK to become Associated to Horizon Europe as well as Copernicus.

This agreement, which must now be adopted by the EU-UK Specialised Committee on Union Programmes, will take effect from 1 January 2024. The UK however will be included in all the open and upcoming calls that fall under the Work Programmes for 2024.

The confirmation of Associated Country status ensures that researchers at the University of Birmingham and across the UK are able to apply for Horizon Europe and Copernicus funding as full beneficiaries, i.e., contracted party with the European Commission. This means that research entities will once again be funded directly by the EU rather through the UKRI guarantee under the transition arrangements. As a result:

European Research Council and Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action grant holders will retain their status as ERC or MSCA grantees.
UK researchers can continue to lead collaborative proposals and now retain their coordinating role when funded.
UK research entities will count towards the consortium eligibility requirements as one of the three required partners from EU Member States or Associated Countries (nb. consortia will still need one partner from an EU Member State).

Weblinks:

The UK Government statement announcing the deal can be found on the gov.uk website, and the EU statement on the European Commission website.
FAQs with more detail on the agreement.

Find out more about the opportunities available in this institutional briefing note.

Contact the EU and International team at eusupport@contacts.bham.ac.uk for more information.

International Funding for research

Please contact the EU and International team to discuss options for collaborating with international researchers at eusupport@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

Selection of UK organisations supporting international activity

Working with US Federal Funder and Conflicts of Interest (CoI)

In 2016 the University's Executive Board approved the implementation of a dedicated CoI US Conflicts of Interest Policy for use with US federal funding (particularly the US Department of Health & Human Services and US Public Health Services funding applications).

What this means is that researchers seeking to apply for US federal funding, either direct or as part of a sub-award with a US collaborator, are required to disclose any financial and/or other conflicts of interest that could compromise the trustworthiness of their work in research proposals, publications and public communications as well as in all review activities.

Such individuals are therefore REQUIRED, before applying, to complete the following documentation, electronically forwarding each to Karen Atkins, RSSD, EU&I team (k.atkins@bham.ac.uk). Please ensure you use Google Chrome when accessing the sites below:

NIH FCOI Training tutorial with the last page signed and forward to the University Official.
The "Declaration of Significant Financial Interests: Form for Investigators" signed and returned as above.

The University CoI US Conflicts of Interest Policy document contains a flow chart demonstrating the assessment routes that will be adopted for any identified CoIs. Any queries should be directed to Karen Atkins at K.L.Atkins@bham.ac.uk.

Funding information workshops

The EU and International Team run a number of internal information workshops focused on EU and international funding calls each year - you can contact Gail Bond (G.Bond@bham.ac.uk) to register.

Find out more about our workshops, including presentation material from previous sessions

UKRI and the UK’s National Contact points will also run webinars for EU schemes, these are available on the UKRO website or posted on our MS Team site (requires a UoB account).

Research engagement activities

As part of the University's European Strategy, the team are responsible for the research engagement relationship of the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) with our current agreement running to Dec 2025.

Further information on current activity areas can be found here

Post-award support for EU research

The team offer dedicated post-award support to all H2020 and Horizon Europe award holders, led by Kristina Gruzdeva (k.gruzdeva@bham.ac.uk).

Find documentation to support you in the post-award management of your award here.

Overseas research: Risks and safety

If you are planning research that involves overseas fieldwork, it is important to give early thought to the risks that you, or your research staff, might face, and how to keep safe.