The Institute for Nanoscale, Science and Technology have opened voting on the People's Choice 2019 Scientific Image of the Year. One lucky voter of the winning image will win lunch at Alere Café with the winning photographer and a representative of the Institute to learn more about the research happening in the Institute.

Researchers from the Institute capture hundreds of images every year as they explore problems and processes on a nanoscale. These amazing images are rarely shared outside of the research context.

The Scientific Image Competition is a chance to celebrate the unique images produced, as well as the diverse research behind them.

Voting is now open on the Institute's webpage and will close at 11.59pm on Sunday 22 December 2019.

Applications to present at IMPACT7 2020 are now open. 

IMPACT7 2020, Tuesday 24 March 2020, Melbourne, is a one-day showcase that brings together Australian researchers, entrepreneurs and leaders addressing the 7 major challenges facing our globe: carbon; congestion; connectedness; integrity; productivity; scarcity; vitality.

Join Impact7 2020 to discover amazing initiatives that aim to build resilient cities, find new energy sources, repair bodies, save lives, eliminate waste, preserve our environment and much more.

Applications are now open for presenters until end of January 2020.

The 7 major challenges are:

Carbon

How do we sustain life on earth and reverse the damage to our ecosystems? How can we reduce and repurpose wasted resources? What can we do to help save the planet for future generations?

Congestion

What do our future urban environments look like? What compelling ideas can we adopt to manage population growth and environmental change? How can we ensure the future resilience and liveability of our cities and boost our capacity to find solutions to such challenges as energy, housing and wayfinding?

Connectedness

Humans are hard-wired for social connection. How do we nurture meaningful relationships between each-other, our communities and our world? Challenge sponsored by Australia’s Academic and Research Network.

Integrity

Income gaps are widening and the concentration of wealth is increasing. What fundamental changes in the nature of our work, economics and education will be required for us to build a safe and more equal world?

Productivity

Which new technologies can we embrace to transform industries and make us more productive? How do we meet the needs of future generations with solutions both close to home and out of this world?

Scarcity

As the global population is expected to reach 10 billion people by 2050, demand for food, and with it demand for water, is set to continue to rise. How do we transform the way we interact with our planet to produce what we need?

Vitality

What opportunities are there to prevent disease, promote human health and prolong life?

For more information, and to register to attend, visit the IMPACT7 2020 website.

The CIIE.CO entrepreneurship centre in India, the National Payments Corporation of India, and the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation have launched a request for proposals for innovators around the world - seeking new digital payment solutions that make transactions easy and secure for feature phone users in India. 

India is home to half a billion feature phone users. A majority of these users are among the low-income segments and aren't being served by the plethora of smartphone based UPI apps.

For this segment, feature phones are a greater value for money than lower end smartphones. Usually with fragile screens, poor battery life and slow processing systems, cheaper smartphones are not suited for their lifestyle needs. Unfriendly user interfaces and security related concerns also hinder these users from transacting via their smartphones. 

The program aims at identifying promising payment solutions for feature phone users, ensuring:

• Simplified user onboarding
• Enhanced transaction experience
• Highest security standards
• Automated dispute resolution

The rewards include monetary and non-monetary support to the top innovations emerging from this Grand Challenge, including the opportunity to pilot the solution with NPCI.

The closing date for applications is 12 January 2020. The Flinders internal closing date for a completed final draft application is 6 January 2020. For application advice and assistance, contact Mary Lyons, Senior Research Grants Officer (IGII).

For more information, visit the Grand Challenge website.

The Australian Survey of Social Attitudes (AuSSA) is Australia’s main source of data for the scientific study of the social attitudes, beliefs and opinions of Australians, how they change over time, and how they compare with other societies.

The topic for the upcoming 2020 survey is "Environment". This is the fourth time this has been the topic of the survey, having previously been the theme for the survey in 1993, 2000 and 2010.

The proposed questions to be included in the 2020 survey must be confirmed by 3 April 2020. 

For more information about the 2020 survey visit: https://www.acspri.org.au/aussa/2020.

AuSSA is run as an annual postal survey using a nationally representative sample (drawn from the Australian Electoral Roll) of at least 1200 adult Australians in total, sampled at four periods over the year: May, August and November 2020 and February 2021. Flinders Researchers may partner with ACSPRI as sponsors of AuSSA entitling them to include additional questions. The fee will be $1,000 (exc GST) per question (i.e. per 'tick') for the full sample of 1200, or $400 to be included in any one of the 4 sub-samples. Please note: Larger modules of questions will receive a significant discount to this rate.

AuSSA is an important source of data for the scientific study of the social attitudes, beliefs and opinions of Australians, how they change over time, and how they compare with other societies.

If researchers are interested in this opportunity or wish to find out more about it then they should contact ACSPRI via email at surveys@acspri.org.au.

The African Academy of Sciences (AAS), the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have come together in a transformative partnership to support African investigators to accelerate Maternal Neonatal & Child Health (MNCH) targets towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for health.

The first initiative of the partnership is to launch a new Grand Challenge: Focusing on top priorities for MNCH in Africa – solutions to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 3 targets for maternal, neonatal and child health.

This challenge focuses on the top priorities for MNCH in Africa 2019 and aligns with the findings of the MNCH research prioritisation using The Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) process conducted in 2019 in Africa. CHNRI uses the principles of wisdom of the crowds to systematically collect and transparently score research options against important criteria in a particular field. In a three-stage democratic process lasting 7 months, the MNCH expert convening 2019, aggregated thoughts from MNCH experts working in Africa and showed that there is a need to concentrate on four areas of importance in MNCH that remain a grand challenge for Africa.

These are:

• better health during pregnancy
• better care at birth
• better post-birth care for women and their newborns
• better hospital care of sick newborns

The aggregated research priorities are across the spectrum of health research and in all four domains of description (epidemiology), discovery (new interventions), development (improvement of existing interventions), and delivery (implementation research, including health systems).

This is, therefore, a call for proposals looking for big, bold, innovative ideas that can have the greatest impact on African maternal and neonatal health with the potential for future sustainability and scaling.  Though not compulsory the call encourages partnerships between African, German and by extension researchers in other parts of the globe.

The closing date for applications is 14 January 2020. The Flinders internal closing date for a completed final draft application is 7 January 2020. For application advice and assistance, contact Mary Lyons, Senior Research Grants Officer (IGII).

For more information, visit the African Academy of Sciences website.

The Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) supports international and interdisciplinary collaborations in research, focusing on chronic non-communicable diseases.

The GACD places particular emphasis on research into cardiovascular diseases (mainly heart disease and stroke), type 2 diabetes, chronic respiratory conditions, mental health and certain cancers. The work of the GACD focuses on the needs of Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) and populations facing conditions of vulnerability in High-Income Countries (HICs).

The call will focus on implementation research for the primary and/or secondary prevention of cancer in LMICs and/or in populations facing conditions of vulnerability in HICs. Full details of the aim, scope and assessment criteria of this call can be found on the GACD website.

This GACD funding call is being conducted in a two-stage assessment process consisting of an initial NHMRC peer review process, resulting in a list of Not For Further Consideration (NFFC) applications, followed by non-NFFC applications proceeding to a Joint International Review Panel.

Applications now close 30 July 2020 and must be submitted through Sapphire. Further information on the scheme can be found on the NHMRC website.

For application advice please contact the NHMRC Grants Team - Gareth Rees, Amanda Wright and Lucy Sheehan-Hennessy on nhmrc@flinders.edu.au. For all NHMRC timelines and Flinders' internal process information, visit the NHMRC schemes page on the Flinders' Research Support website.

Book now at ienrol research to access Flinders’ researcher training and development opportunities. Workshops, information sessions, seminars and drop-in sessions aim to provide ongoing development and support to all researchers.

Key workshops in the next three weeks include:
   ResearchNow Ethics & Biosafety - Researcher Training and Support;
plus scheduled drop-in sessions that enable you to meet and work directly with our RDS teams.

Click on the links below to view the course details.

Drop-In Sessions: ARC grants, Monday 2 December 2019

Drop-In Session: NHMRC and Health grants, Wednesday 4 December 2019

Drop-In Sessions: Industry, Government, International & Internal grants, Tuesday 10 December 2019

Drop-In Sessions: ARC grants, Tuesday 10 December 2019

Drop-In Session: NHMRC and Health grants, Wednesday 11 December 2019

ResearchNow Ethics & Biosafety - Researcher Training and Support - Monday 16 December 2019

Drop-In Sessions: ARC grants, Wednesday 18 December 2019

Further courses scheduled for later in the month and beyond are available at ienrol research.

The Joanne Briggs Institute offer a number of education and training short courses for clinicians, managers, educators, academics and students from the fields of nursing, allied health, medicine, information science and the health sciences.

Upcoming courses include: Comprehensive Systematic Review Training Program; Evidence-based Clinical Fellowship Program; Clinical Leadership Workshop; GRADE workshop; and a range of online courses.

2020 dates are:

Comprehensive Systematic Review Training Program - 17 – 21 February 2020, 4 – 8 May 2020, 20 – 24 July 2020, and 12 – 16 October 2020

Evidence Implementation Training Program - March – September 2020, and June – November 2020

Evidence Implementation Workshop - 9 – 11 September 2020

Clinical Leadership Workshop - 3 March 2020, 30 June 2020, and 10 September 2020

Scoping Review Workshop - 2 – 3 April 2020

GRADE Workshop - 12 March 2020 and 15 July 2020

Tailored Training - Programs tailored to your specifications, scope and aspirations.

Keep an eye out on the Joanna Briggs Institute website for updates and listing of courses on offer and how to register for them.

JBI is an independent, international, not-for-profit research and development organisation based in the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Adelaide, South Australia. At its core, JBI is concerned with improving health outcomes in communities globally by promoting and supporting the use of the best available evidence to inform decisions made at the point of care. This work begins and ends with the needs of those working in and using healthcare services.

For further information, please contact JBI at jbieducation@adelaide.edu.au.

The Medical Research Future Fund, under the Emerging Priorities and Consumer Driven Research Initiative, has released the 2019 Endometriosis and Ovarian Cancer Research Grant Opportunities for funding in 2020.

The Emerging Priorities and Consumer Driven Research Initiative aims to improve the lives of many Australians with debilitating conditions by supporting or enabling high quality, collaborative and consumer engaged research focussing on improved patient care, new diagnoses and treatments. 

The objectives of these grant opportunities are to:

• facilitate innovative, high quality research that will lead to improved diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis OR ovarian cancer, and research that will address the gaps in research, leading to a better understanding of the causes and underlying factors that contribute to the development and progression of endometriosis OR ovarian cancer
• facilitate consumer involvement in the design and evaluation of the research project (including participation in the conduct of the research) 
• provide high-quality evidence for new health treatments and/or drugs (where appropriate)
• enable rapid translation of consumer-relevant research into clinical practice, health policy, and/or health advice that will lead to positive impacts for consumers
• encourage the development of multi-disciplinary research teams that deliver measurable outcomes that are a priority for consumers
• encourage collaboration between research teams, policy makers, healthcare funders and the health delivery sector (e.g. education, community, industry and/or healthcare).

Applications for both opportunities must be submitted electronically using NHMRC’s online Research Grants Management System (RGMS) with Minimum data for applications is due 22 January 2020. Applications close 5 February 2020, with deadline for certification in RGMS by 4 February 2020.

If you are intending to apply to either opportunity, contact the NHMRC team in Research Development and Support (RDS) for information on application support and deadline for compliance review.

The Australian Marrow Failure Biobank (AMFB) Preliminary Application, from Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision, is now open.

The Biobank Preliminary Application’s aim is to identify a facility with suitable capacity and capability to function as the AMFB homebase. The application is open to laboratories nation-wide.

The AMFB, an initiative of the Centre of Research Excellence in Bone Marrow Biology, will provide a premier data and sample resource that enables the undertaking of world class research into Bone Marrow Failure Syndrome. To date this resource has not existed in Australia and exists in only a few centres internationally.

Further information and the Preliminary Application are available at the Maddie Riewoldt's Vision website.

Applications close 31 January 2020, 5pm AEDT. The Flinders internal closing date for a completed final draft application is 17 January 2020. For application assistance and advice, contact Amanda Wright, Research Grants Officer (NHMRC and Health).

Investment in research infrastructure is central to building research capacity, producing high quality outputs, improving competitive grant competitiveness, supporting industry collaboration and attracting and retaining high quality researchers.

Flinders' Research Infrastructure Funding scheme, a component of the Vice-Chancellor’s Research Investment Plan, provides funding for research equipment and infrastructure. 

One to two-year funding to support the purchase of equipment or research infrastructure is available.

Applicants must be balanced or research academic staff members or hold academic status at Flinders University.

The guidelines and application form are available on the Flinders' Internal schemes page.

As all applications are to be submitted to the relevant College Dean (Research), please contact your Dean (Research) for the College closing date.

Defence Science and Technologies Group have announced a new call for proposals and are seeking proposals from industry and academia detailing research contributions to the objectives of Defence in cyber.

Cyber is a priority theme of the Next Generation Technologies Fund, aimed at realising new technology cyber capabilities enabled by research and development in Australia. The Next Generation Technologies Fund (NGTF) is managed by Defence Science and Technology (DST). 

The five sub-themes associated with this call are as follows:

• Cyber Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy,
• Human Element, 
• Trustworthy & Resilient Systems, 
• Situational Awareness,
• Mission Assurance and Threat Countermeasures and Effects.

A two-stage selection process is being employed. Stage one is a 500 word statement addressing the selection criteria. Applicants who are shortlisted will be invited to submit a stage two proposal in further detail.

Current and new collaborations with Defence Science and Technology are encouraged. Enhancing collaboration between universities and universities and industry is one goal of the NGT program and such collaboration is encouraged.

DST has provided an overview of existing areas of interest as well as outlining future project direction, further information is available from the Next Generation Technologies Fund website.

Proposals may outline research over a one, two or three year timeframe, however progress will be assessed annually and successful progress and milestone delivery is required to proceed each year. Current and new collaborations with DST are encouraged. Enhancing collaboration between universities and universities and industry is one goal of the NGT program and such collaboration is encouraged.

The external closing date for this call is 16 January 2020 (1.30pm), The Flinders internal closing for a completed final draft application is 6 January 2020. For application advice and assistance, contact Sarah Jay, Research Grants Officer (IGII). The Flinders' Research Tenders webpage provides information on the process to apply for Tender for Flinders researchers.

Is there a research training and development workshop in 2019 that you either missed or would like to watch again?

The Flinders' Past training and development webpage has a wide range of workshop recordings, presentations and related documentation available for you to access and view.

Covering a wide range of subjects central to the research process and doing research at Flinders, the recordings are clustered under 7 main themes:

• Fund
• Apply
• Partner
• Measure
• Communicate
• Publish
• Ethics and Compliance

As these recordings are available exclusively to Flinders staff, a FAN and password are required to access these pages.

If you have any questions about Researcher Training and Development, please contact our team at researcherpd.rds@flinders.edu.au.

The Helmholtz Zentrum München, the German Research Centre for Environmental Health, is inviting interested researchers to their new and interdisciplinary Nature Helmoltz Bioengineering Solutions for Biology and Medicine conference.

Taking place in Munich - Germany, on 24-26 June 2020, the conference will host Nobel laureates (Steven Chu, Aaron Ciechanover), globally recognised experts (Barbara Engelhardt from Princeton University and Robert Langer from MIT) as well as about 250 entrepreneurial scientists.

Bioengineering Solutions for Biology and Medicine will focus on interdisciplinary strategies and enabling technologies with the potential to transform biomedical discovery and accelerate the deployment of new medical solutions.

Early bird registration closes 29 February 2020. The call for abstracts closes on 30 April 2020.

Topics include:

• Single-cell technologies
• Imaging and sensing
• Artificial Intelligence
• Genome Engineering
• Synthetic Biology
• Microphysiological systems
• Regenerative medicine

For more information, to register, and to submit an abstract, visit the conference website.

ResearchNow Ethics & Biosafety is the new online platform for animal ethics at Flinders University. Two drop-in sessions are being held on Monday 16 December 2019 to provide support and assistance to Flinders’ research community.

All researchers and research support staff who have animal ethics approval or are intending to apply for animal ethics approval through Flinders are welcome to attend and get real time assistance from the University’s Animal Ethics Officer.

Please enrol now for one of the following sessions:

• For researchers in College of Science and Engineering - Monday 16 December 2019, 10 am - 11 am - Room 2030, Physical Sciences Building
• For researchers in College of Medicine and Public Health - Monday 16 December 2019, 2 pm - 3 pm - Room 1.04, Health Sciences Building

Please contact the Animal Ethics Officer, Dr Alison Elder, via animal.welfare@flinders.edu.au or (08) 8201 5962 if you have any questions.

Flinders Library has extended the University’s access to online quantitative and qualitative research methodology training provided through the Center for the Advancement of Research Methods and Analysis’ (CARMA) International Video Library Program (IVLP).

Over 150 recorded, high-quality lectures that address various aspects of undertaking research are available FREE of charge to Flinders’ staff and students. 

A full list of lectures and information on how to register is available at Flinders Library. More detailed information about the lectures can be accessed via CARMA's website. To register you need to use your flinders.edu.au or uni.flinders.edu.au extension email address and register on the CARMA website

Any additional questions about the Video Library Program can be directed to Dr Pawel Skuza (Statistical Consultant, Flinders Library) at pawel.skuza@flinders.edu.au.

The Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), Million Minds Mission, has released the 2019 Suicide Prevention Grant Opportunity for funding in 2020. 

The Australian Government has provided $8 million in funding over four years towards research into Suicide Prevention.

The objectives of this grant opportunity are to:

• support innovative, high-quality, collaborative research that focuses on interventions to prevent suicide
• promote effective translation of research into health policy and/or practice
• foster and build workforce capacity and workforce capability
• leverage collaborations between research teams, policy makers, healthcare funders and the health delivery sector (e.g. education, community, industry and/or healthcare)

Competitive applications will primarily involve interventions that will ultimately lead to the reduction of suicides in Australia.

Applications must be submitted electronically using NHMRC’s online Research Grants Management System (RGMS) with Minimum data for applications is due 22 January 2020. Applications close 5 February 2020, with deadline for certification in RGMS by 4 February 2020.

If you are intending to apply, contact the NHMRC team in Research Development and Support (RDS) for information on application support and deadline for compliance review.

Application documents are available on Grant Connect GO3283. 

This is the first of a series of articles that will highlight important steps within, and parts of, ResearchNow - Flinders’ new publication management system. These articles aim to help you navigate and get the best out of ResearchNow functionality. 

Getting help - the ResearchNow Guide for Researchers webpage is a comprehensive knowledge bank that addresses many ResearchNow queries. Additionally, you can log a ServiceOne “ResearchNow query” for bespoke assistance. 

ResearchNow Output Terminology: ‘Tasks’, ‘Status’ and ‘Workflow step’ Explained

ResearchNow has some specific terminology. 

'Status' and 'Workflow step' 

These terms describe how an output moves through the validation process. You and Flinders' Library contribute to this process. Validation ensures that accurate, high quality data is displayed on the portal and is used for reporting purposes.

• 'ENTRY IN PROGRESS' - draft output record. When your review of the output metadata is complete, change the status to -"for validation".
• 'FOR VALIDATION' - the Library will review the accuracy and completeness of the output record. When this is complete, they will change the status to "validated". The Library will contact you if there are problems in confirming publication information. To speed up the process attach a full text copy.
• 'VALIDATED' - you can no longer edit your output record. It will now be visible on your ResearchNow portal profile.
  

'Tasks'

When you log into ResearchNow, via your OKTA dashboard, an alert will appear in the right-hand taskbar. This is the system alerting you to any tasks that are waiting for you. 

Some of the key tasks are outlined in the image below.

Keep an eye out for the next instalment of ResearchNow tips and tricks in Inspiring Research.

Applications for the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Indigenous for funding commencing in 2021 are now open in the Research Management System (RMS).

Applications will close at 5:00pm (AEDT) on 18 March 2020. The deadline for submission of the final application in RMS to Research Development and Support (RDS) is 16 March 2020.

All documentation related to Discovery Indigenous is available on GrantConnect. If you do not already have an account on GrantConnect, you should register with GrantConnect to access all updates. For further information on GrantConnect, please refer to the GrantConnect website.

If you have any questions and/or would like an RMS user guide, please contact the ARC Team, RDS, at arc@flinders.edu.au.

Detailed information on Flinders’ ARC grant application process is available on the Flinders' ARC Schemes page.

Important notes about automated eligibility management in the ARC's RMS:

Functionality has been introduced into RMS to assist and improve application eligibility compliance related to final reports and project limits.

Eligibility checks are performed in RMS at various stages of the application submission process: whilst the form is being filled; on certification by the Administering Organisation; and at time of submission to the ARC. 

Where RMS detects an eligibility issue, an application will not be able to proceed to the next submission stage in RMS.

While an application may pass eligibility checks when initially filled in, subsequent changes to RMS information may affect an individual’s eligibility.

As RMS will prevent applications with detected eligibility issues being submitted to the ARC, please allow adequate time to check and address any eligibility issues encountered at each stage of the application process.

The eligibility checking functions are not exhaustive and the ARC will undertake eligibility checking after close of submission. It remains the responsibility of the researchers and Research Offices to comply with the grant guidelines.

If you have any questions, please email arc-ncgp@arc.gov.au.

Book now at ienrol research to access Flinders’ researcher training and development opportunities. Workshops, information sessions, seminars and drop-in sessions aim to provide ongoing development and support to all researchers.

This regular posting in Inspiring Research will update you as to what’s on offer in the coming weeks, listing current opportunities that you can participate in and book into now.

Click on the links below to view the course details.

Drop-In Sessions: ARC grants, Monday 2 December 2019

Drop-In Session: NHMRC and Health grants, Wednesday 4 December 2019

Drop-In Sessions: Industry, Government, International & Internal grants, Tuesday 10 December 2019

Drop-In Sessions: ARC grants, Tuesday 10 December 2019

Drop-In Session: NHMRC and Health grants, Wednesday 11 December 2019

Drop-In Sessions: ARC grants, Wednesday 18 December 2019

Further courses scheduled for later in the month and beyond are available at ienrol research.