1. Securing Horizon 2020 Funding
to Deliver Research Excellence:
A Perspective from Cardiff University
Dr David Bembo
Deputy Director, Research & Innovation Services

2. Summary
• Introduction to Cardiff University, research quality and
impact
• Focused and selective investment in URIs
• Track record in European Research Funding
• Context of HE research in Wales
• European Structural & Investment Funds ESIF and Horizon
2020
• The partnership approach – KU Leuven, Vision 2020
Network, Academia Europaea
• Acting as Expert Evaluator, H2020 Evaluation Criteria

3. Cardiff University – a Summary

4. Cardiff University – Research Quality

5. Cardiff University – Impactful Research

6. Cardiff University – Research Awards by Funder
EC >£11m pa
EC £3-4m pa

7. Cardiff’s FP7 and Horizon 2020 figures to date
• 7th Framework Programme: 162 projects awarded, worth £57.4M to Cardiff
University
– 3 Colleges (Physical Sciences & Engineering; Biomedical & Life Sciences; Arts,
Humanities & Social Sciences) with 25 Academic Schools
• FP7: PSE, 77 projects: £24M (42%); BLS, 66: £26M (47%); AHSS, 19: £7M
(11%)
• 2014-15 Horizon 2020 research applications value £34.5M in first 6 months
• Horizon 2020 total research awards from start of programme to date: value
circa £15M

8. URIs University Research Institutes

9. URIs University Research Institutes

10. URIs University Research Institutes

11. URIs University Research Institutes

12. Innovation System

13. Innovation System & Innovation Campus
February 2016 – successful bond issue providing £300m
of future capital investment (and match funding).

14. Innovation System & Innovation Campus
Innovation Campus at Maindy. The following major capital projects
are completed or underway:
• Optometry & Vision Sciences Building
• Hadyn Ellis Building (Two URIs in Biomedical & Life Sciences,
including an MRC Centre)
• CUBRIC Brain Imaging Centre. Major investment of c. £45M.
Construction complete mid-2016. £4.5M ERDF support.
• A: Translational Research Facility (Compound Semiconductor
Research and Catalysis URI), 12,000 m2, £77M (seeking ERDF
support)
• B: Innovation Building (Innovation Centre and Social Science
Park), 12,000 m2, M£50 (seeking ERDF support)

15. Welsh Science Strategy and Capacity
• First CSAW 2010 Prof John
Harries, succeeded by Prof
Julie Williams
• Build capacity: £50M Sêr
Cymru programme -
attracting major talent
(research chairs)
• National Research Networks
NRNs in grand challenge
areas: Life Sciences &
Health; Advanced
Engineering and Materials;
Low Carbon, Energy and the
Environment. £7M per NRN.

16. Sêr Cymru Research Chairs
Prof Yves-Alain Barde
Neurobiology
Biozentrum, University of
Basel
Prof Diana Huffaker
Compound Semiconductors
Director, NSF IGERT Clean
Energy for Green Industry at
UCLA

17. Welsh Science Strategy and Capacity
• Wales has 4.8% of UK
population
• Comparatively under
capacity in STEMM
researchers by 600+
• COFUND (Horizon 2020)
and Sêr Cymru II (ERDF
European Structural Funds)
programmes to attract talent:
– 120 3yr Research Fellowships
– Recapturing Talent, 12 fellows
– 20-30 Rising Stars @ £1M
– Chair packages

18. Cardiff University
Research Strategy: The Way Forward
2012-2017 (refresh 2016)

19. Realising the opportunities of Horizon 2020
• Horizon 2020 is a priority area, and is seen as an important
mechanism for delivering first-class research and innovation
• University level research KPI for European Research Income:
growth of 12.5% pa (within overall target of 10% pa)
• Significance of Horizon 2020 as a global programme with
opportunities to develop world-wide collaborations & partnerships
• International collaboration and cross-disciplinary research activity
are key elements of the research strategy
• Performance indicators at University, College and School levels

20. Accessing Horizon 2020
Modifying approach to take account of changes in Horizon 2020 (cf FP7):
• Increased emphasis on collaboration with industry
• Exploitation of research through innovation, which links to impact
• Need for closer alliances and partnerships through GW4 and Vision
2020: The Horizon Network. Pre-formed relationships & consortia.
GW4 Alliance brings together the South West and Wales’ four leading, research-
intensive universities: Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter
• Hold our own Horizon 2020 events, attracting EC speakers and bring
together academic and research staff from all four universities
• Our respective European Research Offices meet on a regular basis,
sharing good practice, identifying potential collaborations and seeing
where they can add value
• Developing individual researchers’ capabilities, e.g. ‘social science-led’
research

21. KU Leuven partnership
• Cardiff and University of Leuven signed a co-operation agreement in
September 2014.
• Aims include:
– create new research collaborations
– offer more opportunities for students and staff to study and teach abroad
• Funding offered by each partner to support staff in building
relationships
• Increased Horizon 2020 consortium participation is a major aim
• Both Cardiff and Leuven are Vision 2020 members

22. KU Leuven partnership

23. Academia Europaea
• The object of Academia Europaea, a European Scientific Academy, is the
“advancement and propagation of excellence in scholarship in the humanities,
law, the economic, social, and political sciences, mathematics, medicine, and all
branches of natural and technological sciences”. Founded recently, in 1988.
• AE Cardiff Knowledge Hub. Aim is to signpost excellence within the region
throughout Europe, by hosting meetings and workshops and assisting the
Academy in providing scientific advice to European Institutions (particularly the
European Commission, ref. the EC’s updated Scientific Advice Mechanism).

24. Vision 2020: a Collaborative Network for H2020

25. Vision 2020: Forthcoming Event
• Cardiff leads the Vision 2020 Energy Cluster
• Important not to underestimate the level of commitment and
resources required to fully participate fully

26. Collaboration
National (Wales)
• Welsh Government
• Welsh HEIs
• Welsh
Business/Industry
National (UK)
• Deepen and widen
the range (HEIs and
business)
• GW4 Alliance
International
• Multinationals, e.g.
Airbus
• Vision 2020
• High quality collaborations – strong partnerships for
the pursuit of major research investments
• Need to i) spread your investment and ii) be prepared
to commit to these relationships

27. Acting as an Expert Evaluator
• Anyone can register. Free online on the Participants Portal
• Time consuming process but gives valuable insight
• Remote phase of evaluation followed by Consensus and
Panel meetings in Brussels
• Rigorous; oversight from EC officials; scores and comments
from experts are challenged

28. Evaluation Criteria
• Evaluation criteria under Horizon 2020 are Excellence, Impact and
Implementation. (Emphasis differs for various instruments (e.g. Research
and Innovation, SME measures, Co-Fund.) Default is equivalent weighting
across the three.
1) Excellence: Clarity and pertinence of the objectives; Credibility of the proposed
approach; Soundness of concept; Ambition and beyond the state of the art
2) Impact: Meets the expected impacts listed in the Work Programmes under the
relevant topic; Enhancing innovation capacity and integration of new knowledge;
Strengthening the competitiveness and growth of companies by developing innovations
meeting the needs of European and global markets; environmental and socially
important impacts; Exploitation & dissemination
3) Implementation: Coherence and effectiveness of the work plan; Complementarity of
consortium participants; Appropriate management structures and procedures, risk and
innovation management

29. Cardiff University
Thank you