Welcome everybody to this newsletter from the Lloyd’s Register Foundation. We’ve got some interesting items showcasing how the Foundation is continuing to grow its international activities. To support this we’re also growing the team, and I’m pleased to announce that Dr Tim Slingsby will be joining us in August to take the lead in developing our skills and education charitable activities. Tim joins us from the UK’s British Council and brings with him a wealth of international experience and contacts.
In this newsletter there’s also information about our forthcoming international conference being held in London this October. It’s the first time we’ve done anything on this scale and we look forward to meeting everybody and catching up with old friends and associates.
Over recent months we’ve also been working on updating the Foundation’s five year plan. We have in place our five year strategy which still holds its value and remains unchanged, but the plan sits beneath it and describes what the practical action steps are going, and what the resources requirements look like, to get there. I look forward to sharing more details about the plan with you in the near future as we communicate new initiatives and calls for proposals.
As always, more information can be found on our website and social media.
Best wishes,
Richard Clegg, Managing Director
Foundation conference
The flagship Lloyd’s Register Foundation International Conference will be held on 13 and 14 October 2016 at the IET London and we’d like you to join us. This two-day event will bring together our grant holders, academia, industry and public, and feature keynote speakers including the Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Andre Geim; the Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter; and the Rt Hon Lord David Willetts. If you would like to join this free event please register here and share with your networks. #bringingsafetytolife
Report maps UK STEM education landscape
A report that maps the health of the UK’s STEM education landscape that we commissioned with the Royal Academy of Engineering has just been published. This is part of the Foundation’s driver to support public education with a particular focus on attracting the next generation into STEM subjects, plus supporting people from disadvantaged and under-represented communities. For more info visit our website.
First research call for ICoN a success: Second call now open
On 21 April 2016 ICoN - The International Consortium on Nanotechnology - announced the 10 successful proposals that have been selected for funding following their first open research call. The successful proposals can be found here. Congratulations to the eight universities from six countries around the world that will create the first group of ICoN Lloyd's Register Foundation Doctoral Students; part of a growing network of PhD students that will come together to share their knowledge and experience and through their PhD activities and future work help to enhance safety for the benefit of the community. ICoN has launched its second open research call with a closing date of Wednesday 27 July 2016. The research call provides up to £50k towards the cost of a PhD in nanotechnology that addresses the recommendations of the Foundation’s Foresight review in nanotechnology. See here for more details.
NSIRC selects PhD studentships from first open research call
In November 2015 NSIRC launched an open research call to award PhD studentships in line with the recommendations of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation Foresight review in structural integrity and system performance. Forty-eight proposals were received from around the world with 12 being selected for funding following peer review and final selection. The winning proposals can be found here.
Exploring evidence supporting inshore water safety
Our funding enabled Blue Marine Foundation to investigate how data can be used to support safety in inshore waters. BLUE has already been gathering data as part of its Lyme Bay project where it has established the UK’s first Fully Documented Fishery. BLUE hosted a workshop in March 2016 attended by a range of UK organisations who gather, aggregate and/or use marine data. These included RNLI, MMO, UKHO, Plymouth Marine Laboratories, Trinity House, Marine Traffic, the Crown Estates and MEDIN. The workshop and accompanying meetings revealed key gaps in marine data with the most glaring gap considered to be risk assessment in inshore recreational boating. The workshop report can be found here. As a result a network of partners interested in safety in inshore waters is developing. Next steps may include developing a model to monitor and track craft from surfboards through yachts to angling charter vessels. This will inform safety and risk assessments in our inshore waters. BLUE welcomes email enquiries to Lauren.
Impact statements
You can now download the latest impact statements from the Foundation where you can find out more about some of our grants. We will regularly update our latest impact statements on our website.
Foresight reviews
The Foundation has published four foresight reviews and have another five in the pipeline. If you would like a snapshot of the published and up and coming reviews download here. Download the full reviews on our website or email to order hard copies.
Upcoming
NSIRC conference
27 and 28 June 2016: The NSIRC second conference will be an opportunity for NSIRC students to explain their work to a wider audience; in some cases the first time that they have spoken about their work in a public arena. More details about the conference can be found at the NSIRC website. See here for more details.
Lloyd's Register Foundation International Conference
13 and 14 October 2016: Register for our two-day event for our grant holders, academia, industry and the public. It will feature keynote speakers, presentations and early career ‘master classes’ spanning all areas of our grants funding.
Second ICoN call
Closing date 27 July 2016: The Lloyd's Register Foundation International Consortium of Nanotechnologies, based at the University of Southampton, is offering awards to support doctoral scholars. In its second open competitive call for proposals up to 20 studentships will be funded. See more here.