Call for Proposals

Attend one of three webinars for an opportunity for industry to connect with academic experts across the UK intending to bid to the 2nd Strategic Research Fund (click here to find out more)

The PETRAS National Centre of Excellence for IoT Systems Cybersecurity, as part of UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Securing Digital Technologies at the Periphery (SDTaP) programme, is delighted to announce the launch of the 2nd Strategic Research Fund (SRF) Call for Proposals.

Through this call, the Centre is making funds available of up to £4.5 M to eligible UK higher education institutions (HEIs) to support a maximum of 20 new collaborative research projects (18 months max. duration).

The Call’s research focus will be on addressing IoT systems challenges at the intersection of any two (or more) PETRAS Centre ‘Lens’ and ‘Sector’ descriptors (click here to access details) and which include emerging technologies (e.g., AI and ML) that support IoT deployed at the ‘edge’ of the internet.

Projects will be expected to collaborate with at least one, new or existing, User Partner in the public and/or private sectors, and PETRAS’s dedicated Business Development Executives will be organising brokerage events to support applicants match-making with potential partners as needed, as well as providing advice as required.

PETRAS embodies a socio-technical approach to cross-cutting challenges, so (without exclusivity), proposals are welcomed that take a cross-disciplinary viewpoint. However, those that address purely technical or social dimensions are also strongly encouraged. Without losing sight of strong technical requirements that underpin IoT and Edge security, PETRAS would like to capitalise on the range of social science contributions that clearly need to be made in this space. In all cases, proposals should embody a cybersecurity perspective.

PETRAS is particularly keen to see new academic applicants from disciplines that are often not represented in traditional discussions of IoT systems cybersecurity, such as Creative & Performing Arts, Digital humanities, Economics, Education, History, Human geography, Law & legal studies, Literature, Management & business studies, Philosophy and ethics, Political Science International Studies, Psychology, Social anthropology, Social policy, Social statistics, and Sociology. New User Partner applicants are welcomed from any sector, including commercial businesses, charities, trade and advocacy groups, local and central government, law enforcement, and other government agencies.

The closing date for Intentions to Bid is on 9 September 2020, 9 am UK time.

It must be noted that it is mandatory to submit an ItB on or before the closing date for ItB submissions for any applicant to be able to progress to the Stage 2 of this call for proposals.

Application information

Applications will be considered and assessed via a three-stage process:

· Stage 1 – the Intent to Bid (ItB) Stage;

· Stage 2 – the Outline Proposal Stage; and

· Stage 3 – Full Proposal Stage.

The review process is a paper exercise based solely on the completed application form and will not involve interviews. The review process will be led by the PETRAS Leadership Team, and each stage will have its specific review mechanisms such as peer reviewing and panel selection processes, which will include a mixture of expert reviewers drawn from academia, industry and public sector within and beyond the PETRAS network. This webpage and associated documents mainly focus on detailing the submission and assessment processes of the Stage 1. Further details on Stages 2 and 3 will be made available in due course.

· You can download a PDF version of the 2nd SRF call guidance (Stage 1) here;

· You can download a PDF version of the ItB submission questions here;

· You can download a PDF version of the call FAQs (final update on 4 September – will not be updated further) here;

For any enquiries not covered in the FAQ document, please email: petras-proposals@ucl.ac.uk

How to apply

All applications to be submitted electronically via the following submission system by 9th September 2020, 09.00 UK time: https://submit.link/ygWeg

Get in touch

For any enquiries not covered in the FAQ document, please email: petras-proposals@ucl.ac.uk

Sign up to the PETRAS mailing list to receive updates on funding calls, research projects and newsletter updates via the PETRAS website: https://petras-iot.org/

If you are a public or private sector organisation interested in collaborating on a PETRAS project, please contact the Centre Team on petras@ucl.ac.uk