SciVal Training for ECRs & Research Managers

Staff at the University of Sussex have access to SciVal (https://www.scival.com), a research analytics tool that provides quick and easy access to the research performance of 19,600 research institutions and 231 nations worldwide using bibliometrics.

Research analytics help identify important patterns and trends within different research domains. As the number of academic publications is rising exponentially, you need smart tools to navigate, review and summarise past scientific activity in a certain field of research.
 
The Research Staff Office has organised for two Elsevier SciVal Consultants to deliver bitesize training sessions on how you can use SciVal to grant access to publication, citation and collaboration data that you can use to your benefit.

• SciVal Training for Researchers - Wednesday 10th February, 10:00-11:00
• SciVal Training for Research Managers & Principle Investigators - Tuesday 16th February, 14:00-15:00

Presenters: Sahar Abuelbashar & Zsofia Buttel (Elsevier Research Intelligence Consultants)

Research Data Management Webinars for Research Staff

Managing research data responsibly is essential, and it’s becoming increasingly important that it’s stored and organised correctly. As part of our Spring training programme, the Research Staff Office are now offering three important webinars on research data management aimed at research staff.

The sessions will be delivered by experienced Sussex Research Data Management Librarians and are suitable for researchers at all stages of their career, as well as anyone looking to update or refresh their skills.

The webinars offered during Spring term are:

• Adding your research data to Sussex Figshare 
• Using DMP Online to write your data management plan
• Making your research data available to support your publication 

These sessions are designed to last a maximum of one hour, and include a mixture of presentation and discussion time.

University signs Knowledge Exchange Concordat

The University of Sussex has recently signed up to the Knowledge Exchange Concordat.

Knowledge exchange refers to maximising the impact of our research through knowledge-based interactions with all outside bodies e.g. other higher education institutions (HEIs), businesses, government and NGOs. All of which should result in economic and societal benefit to the UK.

To support such knowledge exchange, Sussex currently receives about £3.5m each year from Research England’s Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF).

More information about the Knowledge Exchange Concordat

Connecting with Industry - Training Course

Wednesday 17th February to Wednesday 24th March
Six weekly sessions, 1pm – 3.30pm 

There are still spaces available for an exciting and interactive programme aimed at giving Early Career Researchers, who are working primarily in areas eligible for ESRC funding, the skills and confidence required to work more effectively in and with industry. It provides a working knowledge of key business issues that impact commercial organisations, which is valuable whether you plan to pursue a career in industry or collaborate with industry as part of a career in academic research.

Using social science case studies, the importance of your expertise to the commercial world will be highlighted, and you will be shown practical ways and examples of how you can engage with companies. You will develop professional and transferrable skills and learn a framework to build relationships and meaningful links with industry.

In addition, there will be four live interactive forums with diverse guests who provide context, inspiration and real-world stories that bring key learnings to life, while offering you the opportunity to expand your network and build relationships with industry contacts.

For more information on the course, go to:
www.skillfluence.co.uk/connecting-with-industry-ecr-with-conversations/
 
To download an application form, please go to the SeNSS website

Horizon Europe ‘will be open to UK researchers from the start’

The Brexit trade deal agreed on 24 December concluded all of the negotiations needed for the UK to associate to the EU’s 2021-27 R&D programme, Horizon Europe, and researchers based in the UK should be able to participate from the very first calls, representatives of both sides have said.

“We already have everything agreed in principle, and the only political step that remains now is European Parliament scrutiny,” said Signe Ratso, the European Commission’s deputy director-general for research and innovation, addressing a virtual conference organised by Science Business on 26 January.

“This means that UK entities will be able to participate in the first calls of Horizon Europe, provided that the protocol is adopted before the signature of the first grant agreements, and this is certainly our expectation.”

The Commission expects the first Horizon Europe funding calls to be published in April, although calls for the European Research Council (ERC) and European Innovation Council (EIC) could be published sooner.

*Article by Pola Lem from Research Professional