Professor Sir Christopher Clark and Professor Barbara Romanowicz have been appointed to the Scientific Council of the European Research Council (ERC).
They were selected by the European Commission on the basis of a search process carried out by an independent identification committee and will serve a four-year mandate.
Sir Christopher is currently Regius professor of history at the University of Cambridge, UK. He is the author of Iron Kingdom (2006), a history of Prussia, and The Sleepwalkers (2012), on the origins of the First World War, among other titles, and is internationally regarded as a leading historian of modern Germany.
Romanowicz serves as chair of physics of the Earth’s interior at Collège de France, Paris, and professor of geophysics at the University of California, Berkeley, US. Between 1982 and 1990, while a researcher at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), she developed GEOSCOPE, a then state-of-the-art global network of digital seismic stations for the study of earthquakes and the structure of the Earth’s interior. Following this, in 1991 she became director of the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory (BSL), a position she held until 2011. During this time, she helped to establish a joint real-time earthquake notification system for northern California between the BSL and the US Geological Survey.
The ERC Scientific Council comprises 22 distinguished scientists and scholars representing the European scientific community and is the governing body of the ERC. Its main role is setting the ERC strategy and selecting the peer review evaluators.
The identification committee is currently working on the identification of another two new members.
The post ERC Scientific Council adds two new members appeared first on Horizon 2020 Projects.
Projeler
Professor Sir Christopher Clark and Professor Barbara Romanowicz have been appointed to the Scientific Council of the European Research Council (ERC).
They were selected by the European Commission on the basis of a search process carried out by an independent identification committee and will serve a four-year mandate.
Sir Christopher is currently Regius professor of history at the University of Cambridge, UK. He is the author of Iron Kingdom (2006), a history of Prussia, and The Sleepwalkers (2012), on the origins of the First World War, among other titles, and is internationally regarded as a leading historian of modern Germany.
Romanowicz serves as chair of physics of the Earth’s interior at Collège de France, Paris, and professor of geophysics at the University of California, Berkeley, US. Between 1982 and 1990, while a researcher at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), she developed GEOSCOPE, a then state-of-the-art global network of digital seismic stations for the study of earthquakes and the structure of the Earth’s interior. Following this, in 1991 she became director of the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory (BSL), a position she held until 2011. During this time, she helped to establish a joint real-time earthquake notification system for northern California between the BSL and the US Geological Survey.
The ERC Scientific Council comprises 22 distinguished scientists and scholars representing the European scientific community and is the governing body of the ERC. Its main role is setting the ERC strategy and selecting the peer review evaluators.
The identification committee is currently working on the identification of another two new members.
The post ERC Scientific Council adds two new members appeared first on Horizon 2020 Projects.
Since the recession of 2006, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK have been largely unsucessful in their attempts to secure finance. The annual British Business Bank’s Small Business Finance Markets Report, however, has recorded a growth in SMEs lending for the first time in ten years.
Around two-thirds (70%) of equity funding was granted to London-based (including southeast of England) SMEs, although data shows that lending has been distributed more evenly.
Chief executive of the British Business Bank Keith Morgan said: “While there are encouraging signs that volumes are up and alternative finance markets are thriving, there remain areas that still require attention.”
Meanwhile, Small Business Minister Anna Soubry said: “Even though the lending landscape is improving, I’m well aware access to finance remains a big issue and want to see even more help for small firms looking to invest and create jobs for people.”
Horizon 2020, the EU framework programme for research, growth and innovation, is defined by the Commission’s website as: ‘a means to drive economic growth and create jobs, Horizon 2020 has the political backing of Europe’s leaders and the Members of the European Parliament. They agreed that research is an investment in our future and so put it at the heart of the EU’s blueprint for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and jobs.’
EU contributions to SMEs through the Horizon 2020 programme have also risen since its previous incarnation, the Seventh Framework Programme, from around 16% to just over 20%.
The post SME lending growth for UK appeared first on Horizon 2020 Projects.
Since the recession of 2006, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK have been largely unsucessful in their attempts to secure finance. The annual British Business Bank’s Small Business Finance Markets Report, however, has recorded a growth in SMEs lending for the first time in ten years.
Around two-thirds (70%) of equity funding was granted to London-based (including southeast of England) SMEs, although data shows that lending has been distributed more evenly.
Chief executive of the British Business Bank Keith Morgan said: “While there are encouraging signs that volumes are up and alternative finance markets are thriving, there remain areas that still require attention.”
Meanwhile, Small Business Minister Anna Soubry said: “Even though the lending landscape is improving, I’m well aware access to finance remains a big issue and want to see even more help for small firms looking to invest and create jobs for people.”
Horizon 2020, the EU framework programme for research, growth and innovation, is defined by the Commission’s website as: ‘a means to drive economic growth and create jobs, Horizon 2020 has the political backing of Europe’s leaders and the Members of the European Parliament. They agreed that research is an investment in our future and so put it at the heart of the EU’s blueprint for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and jobs.’
EU contributions to SMEs through the Horizon 2020 programme have also risen since its previous incarnation, the Seventh Framework Programme, from around 16% to just over 20%.
The post SME lending growth for UK appeared first on Horizon 2020 Projects.
Global view of the ‘learning factory’ environment for advanced networked and service-based manufacturing systems and organisations
The main research focus of the Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) research and development line is on modelling, organisation and management of industrial and services systems and technology. Research addresses decision making framework modelling for policy prescriptions, including social, environment and economic issues.
The main research and other related activities of the IEM research teams are as follows:
The research area of the Industrial and Systems Management (ISM) team is the design and improvement of production and service systems, particularly the development and performance evaluation of industrial and service systems, under agile and lean production environments. Its research work is now oriented to the development of solutions to improve systems organisation and management in areas of activity such as healthcare, offices and education. One important methodology developed by the ISM team – the waste identification diagram – is a tool that aims to characterise, diagnose and improve the performance of production units by evaluating non-adding value activities. This tool helps in evaluating non-adding value activities (Muda) as well as identifying other production problems and improving opportunities. It facilitates the communication between lean professionals with top management and other professionals with effective visual information.
The SLOTS team – Supply chain, Logistics and Transportation Systems Research – comprises a multidisciplinary and highly skilled research group which concentrates on developing and implementing innovative approaches to supply chain management, logistics and transportation systems, in highly competitive environments. The group focuses on a number of key research areas in order to cope with complex issues that arise both in industrial and transportation systems: supply chain management – integrated approaches based on supply chain quality management and supply chain cost management; logistics – warehousing and transportation; flexible industries – innovative production planning and control approaches; transportation systems – solutions for urban systems, integrated mobility and the promotion of interoperability of public transport modes and other services); and modelling, simulation and optimisation – the use and development of modelling approaches (e.g. heuristics and simulation) to improve the efficiency and flexibility of existing and innovative industrial and transportation systems.
Ongoing industrial projects:
‘Introduction of advanced materials technologies into new product development for the mobility industries – 2013’ call for test bed proposals under the MIT Portugal Program – Driving innovation through integrated test bed research
iFACTORY – Industry-University Collaboration – BOSCH Car Multimedia and University of Minho
Autonomous milk runs;
Smart internal supply chain; and
Supply chain quality management.
The research team on the Economics of Engineering Systems (EES) conducts basic and applied research on the economic and social dimensions of engineering and technological systems. The research team provides qualified skills to match technology foresight and companies’ competencies in spotting innovative products, market niches and growth opportunities. The research strategy is focused on the development of methods and tools that support project analysis and management, financial and risk analysis and cost management, on the analysis of complex systems resorting to planning and sustainable scenarios modelling, to participatory methodologies for social evaluation, to benchmarking tools and to the study of innovation systems and processes of science and technology management and policy.
European projects
Co-ordination of NETEP-European Brazilian Network on Energy Planning, FP7-PEOPLE-612263.
Participation on Partnership with Enterprises by Enhancement of Regional Quality Management Potentials Improvement, TEMPUS JP 543662-2013.
Participation on BATinLoko – Environmental Performance Indicators and their Relation with Economic Factors in Textile BAT Implementation, LIFE07 ENV/P/000625.
The Ergonomics and Human Factors (E&HF) research team develops its activities with the aim of understanding the interactions among humans and other elements of a system by addressing current research challenges and by applying theory, principles, data and other methods to design in order to optimise human wellbeing and the overall system performance.
Research is undertaken using an holistic approach by considering physical, cognitive, social, organisational, environmental and other relevant factors.
The E&HF team has been addressing several research topics, including physical ergonomics, occupational biomechanics, risk assessment, integration models for multimodal perception, assessment of the user’s behaviour and human performance, motor control and interaction, and analysis of human-machine interfacing.
The Distributed and Virtual Manufacturing Systems and Enterprises (DVMSE) team research is based on the premise that the increase in the complexity of the industrial environment thrives for the establishment of new organisational meta-enterprises, under large and complex networked and virtual environments, thus potentiating research to develop the introduction and attainment of new manufacturing systems paradigms.
International projects
EUREKA PROJECT E!4177 – PRO-FACTORY UES – “Ubiquitous Oriented Embedded Systems For Globally Distributed Factories Of Manufacturing Enterprises – UES”.
“Adaptive Distributed Manufacturing Systems – A Conceptual Framework for Collaborative Design and Operations of Manufacturing Work System”, Inter-Governmental Science and Technology Cooperation between Portugal and Slovenia, MCTES/GRICES (Ministério da Ciência e do Ensino Superior), University of Minho, University of Ljubljana.
“Normalization of the primitive manufacturing resources for dynamic integration of distributed, virtual and ubiquitous manufacturing systems”, Inter-Governmental Science and Technology Cooperation between Portugal and Slovenia, MCTES/GRICES (Ministério da Ciência e do Ensino Superior), University of Minho, University of Ljubljana.
“Innovative PROduction Machines and Systems Network of Excellence – I*PROMS NoE”, Network-of-Excellence, FP6, Contract Nº: 500273-2.
IEM’s researchers also deal with quality management and assurance, reliability and maintenance issues and their specific applications, namely performance indicators modelling and development, and quality engineering tools.
Madalena Araújo,
Coordinator,
Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM),
,
http://algoritmi.uminho.pt/
The post Industrial engineering and systems management appeared first on Horizon 2020 Projects.
Global view of the ‘learning factory’ environment for advanced networked and service-based manufacturing systems and organisations
The main research focus of the Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) research and development line is on modelling, organisation and management of industrial and services systems and technology. Research addresses decision making framework modelling for policy prescriptions, including social, environment and economic issues.
The main research and other related activities of the IEM research teams are as follows:
The research area of the Industrial and Systems Management (ISM) team is the design and improvement of production and service systems, particularly the development and performance evaluation of industrial and service systems, under agile and lean production environments. Its research work is now oriented to the development of solutions to improve systems organisation and management in areas of activity such as healthcare, offices and education. One important methodology developed by the ISM team – the waste identification diagram – is a tool that aims to characterise, diagnose and improve the performance of production units by evaluating non-adding value activities. This tool helps in evaluating non-adding value activities (Muda) as well as identifying other production problems and improving opportunities. It facilitates the communication between lean professionals with top management and other professionals with effective visual information.
The SLOTS team – Supply chain, Logistics and Transportation Systems Research – comprises a multidisciplinary and highly skilled research group which concentrates on developing and implementing innovative approaches to supply chain management, logistics and transportation systems, in highly competitive environments. The group focuses on a number of key research areas in order to cope with complex issues that arise both in industrial and transportation systems: supply chain management – integrated approaches based on supply chain quality management and supply chain cost management; logistics – warehousing and transportation; flexible industries – innovative production planning and control approaches; transportation systems – solutions for urban systems, integrated mobility and the promotion of interoperability of public transport modes and other services); and modelling, simulation and optimisation – the use and development of modelling approaches (e.g. heuristics and simulation) to improve the efficiency and flexibility of existing and innovative industrial and transportation systems.
Ongoing industrial projects:
‘Introduction of advanced materials technologies into new product development for the mobility industries – 2013’ call for test bed proposals under the MIT Portugal Program – Driving innovation through integrated test bed research
iFACTORY – Industry-University Collaboration – BOSCH Car Multimedia and University of Minho
Autonomous milk runs;
Smart internal supply chain; and
Supply chain quality management.
The research team on the Economics of Engineering Systems (EES) conducts basic and applied research on the economic and social dimensions of engineering and technological systems. The research team provides qualified skills to match technology foresight and companies’ competencies in spotting innovative products, market niches and growth opportunities. The research strategy is focused on the development of methods and tools that support project analysis and management, financial and risk analysis and cost management, on the analysis of complex systems resorting to planning and sustainable scenarios modelling, to participatory methodologies for social evaluation, to benchmarking tools and to the study of innovation systems and processes of science and technology management and policy.
European projects
Co-ordination of NETEP-European Brazilian Network on Energy Planning, FP7-PEOPLE-612263.
Participation on Partnership with Enterprises by Enhancement of Regional Quality Management Potentials Improvement, TEMPUS JP 543662-2013.
Participation on BATinLoko – Environmental Performance Indicators and their Relation with Economic Factors in Textile BAT Implementation, LIFE07 ENV/P/000625.
The Ergonomics and Human Factors (E&HF) research team develops its activities with the aim of understanding the interactions among humans and other elements of a system by addressing current research challenges and by applying theory, principles, data and other methods to design in order to optimise human wellbeing and the overall system performance.
Research is undertaken using an holistic approach by considering physical, cognitive, social, organisational, environmental and other relevant factors.
The E&HF team has been addressing several research topics, including physical ergonomics, occupational biomechanics, risk assessment, integration models for multimodal perception, assessment of the user’s behaviour and human performance, motor control and interaction, and analysis of human-machine interfacing.
The Distributed and Virtual Manufacturing Systems and Enterprises (DVMSE) team research is based on the premise that the increase in the complexity of the industrial environment thrives for the establishment of new organisational meta-enterprises, under large and complex networked and virtual environments, thus potentiating research to develop the introduction and attainment of new manufacturing systems paradigms.
International projects
EUREKA PROJECT E!4177 – PRO-FACTORY UES – “Ubiquitous Oriented Embedded Systems For Globally Distributed Factories Of Manufacturing Enterprises – UES”.
“Adaptive Distributed Manufacturing Systems – A Conceptual Framework for Collaborative Design and Operations of Manufacturing Work System”, Inter-Governmental Science and Technology Cooperation between Portugal and Slovenia, MCTES/GRICES (Ministério da Ciência e do Ensino Superior), University of Minho, University of Ljubljana.
“Normalization of the primitive manufacturing resources for dynamic integration of distributed, virtual and ubiquitous manufacturing systems”, Inter-Governmental Science and Technology Cooperation between Portugal and Slovenia, MCTES/GRICES (Ministério da Ciência e do Ensino Superior), University of Minho, University of Ljubljana.
“Innovative PROduction Machines and Systems Network of Excellence – I*PROMS NoE”, Network-of-Excellence, FP6, Contract Nº: 500273-2.
IEM’s researchers also deal with quality management and assurance, reliability and maintenance issues and their specific applications, namely performance indicators modelling and development, and quality engineering tools.
Contacts:
http://algoritmi.uminho.pt/
Madalena Araújo, IEM Coordinator: mmaraujo@dps.uminho.pt
Dinis Carvalho, ISM Leader: dinis@dps.uminho.pt
Sameiro Carvalho, SLOTS Leader: sameiro@dps.uminho.pt
Paula Ferreira, EES Leader: paulaf@dps.uminho.pt
Pedro Arezes, E&HF Leader: parezes@dps.uminho.pt
Goran Putnik, DVMSE Leader: putnikgd@dps.uminho.pt
Madalena Araújo,
Coordinator,
Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM),
mmaraujo@dps.uminho.pt,
http://algoritmi.uminho.pt/
The post Industrial engineering and systems management appeared first on Horizon 2020 Projects.
The EU is to launch a new programme to help SMEs and start-ups recruit the best postdoctoral research associates from other countries to assist with their innovative business ideas.
The SME Innovative Associate programme intends to provide small companies with increased access to specialised skills and knowledge by encouraging mobility.
It will award 90 SMEs with individual grants covering the salary and related costs of employing a postdoctoral research associate, including full training costs, from anywhere across the globe.
In turn, researchers will gain a wealth of experience in the business innovation process, learn industrial innovation and business management skills, and be able to boost their CV with business experience abroad.
The programme is available to all SMEs and start-ups established in the member states and countries associated to Horizon 2020. Researchers must at minimum hold a PhD (or equivalent), have demonstrated expertise in line with the job advertisement, and comply with the transnational mobility criteria.
Applications are open here from 11 February 2016.
The post EU launches SME Innovation Associate programme appeared first on Horizon 2020 Projects.
The EU is to launch a new programme to help SMEs and start-ups recruit the best postdoctoral research associates from other countries to assist with their innovative business ideas.
The SME Innovative Associate programme intends to provide small companies with increased access to specialised skills and knowledge by encouraging mobility.
It will award 90 SMEs with individual grants covering the salary and related costs of employing a postdoctoral research associate, including full training costs, from anywhere across the globe.
In turn, researchers will gain a wealth of experience in the business innovation process, learn industrial innovation and business management skills, and be able to boost their CV with business experience abroad.
The programme is available to all SMEs and start-ups established in the member states and countries associated to Horizon 2020. Researchers must at minimum hold a PhD (or equivalent), have demonstrated expertise in line with the job advertisement, and comply with the transnational mobility criteria.
Applications are open here from 11 February 2016.
The post EU launches SME Innovation Associate programme appeared first on Horizon 2020 Projects.
A major new €3.5m research initiative led by the University of East Anglia (UEA) will aim to improve understanding of a fundamental part of human communication.
DComm will see 13 different projects explore deictic communication over the next four years in an attempt to gain further insight into human to human and human to system interaction.
Its results could pave the way for improved mobile phones and intelligent robots and to enhanced clinical and educational interventions; for example, for stroke patients and those with autism spectrum disorder.
“Communication involves a combination of language and gestures that act together,” explains Professor Kenny Coventry, head of the School of Psychology at UEA and DComm co-ordinator. “Deictic communication is critical to understanding not only how communication develops typically in a range of spoken and signed languages, but also when communication can potentially break down in a range of clinical and atypically developing populations.”
He adds: “UEA is delighted to be leading this interdisciplinary training network that brings together an exciting mix of leading scientists and industrial partners to understand deictic communication both conceptually and in application.”
UEA will lead two of the projects, one exploring deictic communication in development and how children learn to direct attention using language and gesture, and the other investigating deictic communication in stroke patients with visual neglect.
Other projects will focus on deictic language and gestures in developmental deficits, deictic communication in sign languages, applications in robot language learning, deictic communication and mobile phones, improved motion capture methodology and tools in linguistic research, iCub robot hand redesign for gestural and deictic interaction, and deictic communication in architectural and urban design.
DComm has been funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and will see UEA work alongside 11 European partner organisations, including the UK’s Plymouth University, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the Sweden-based motion capture specialists Qualisys and Italian automation company Telerobotlabs. Additional support will come from organisations specialising in software and technology development, architecture and brain rehabilitation.
The post €3.5m project to explore deictic communication appeared first on Horizon 2020 Projects.
A major new €3.5m research initiative led by the University of East Anglia (UEA) will aim to improve understanding of a fundamental part of human communication.
DComm will see 13 different projects explore deictic communication over the next four years in an attempt to gain further insight into human to human and human to system interaction.
Its results could pave the way for improved mobile phones and intelligent robots and to enhanced clinical and educational interventions; for example, for stroke patients and those with autism spectrum disorder.
“Communication involves a combination of language and gestures that act together,” explains Professor Kenny Coventry, head of the School of Psychology at UEA and DComm co-ordinator. “Deictic communication is critical to understanding not only how communication develops typically in a range of spoken and signed languages, but also when communication can potentially break down in a range of clinical and atypically developing populations.”
He adds: “UEA is delighted to be leading this interdisciplinary training network that brings together an exciting mix of leading scientists and industrial partners to understand deictic communication both conceptually and in application.”
UEA will lead two of the projects, one exploring deictic communication in development and how children learn to direct attention using language and gesture, and the other investigating deictic communication in stroke patients with visual neglect.
Other projects will focus on deictic language and gestures in developmental deficits, deictic communication in sign languages, applications in robot language learning, deictic communication and mobile phones, improved motion capture methodology and tools in linguistic research, iCub robot hand redesign for gestural and deictic interaction, and deictic communication in architectural and urban design.
DComm has been funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and will see UEA work alongside 11 European partner organisations, including the UK’s Plymouth University, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the Sweden-based motion capture specialists Qualisys and Italian automation company Telerobotlabs. Additional support will come from organisations specialising in software and technology development, architecture and brain rehabilitation.
The post €3.5m project to explore deictic communication appeared first on Horizon 2020 Projects.