• £99m of government funding for a National Satellite Testing Facility on the Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire
• additional £4m announced for a National Space Propulsion Facility to develop and test space engines
• space sector forms a key part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy to spread economic growth across the UK

The £100m package includes £99m of Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund investment to create a National Satellite Testing Facility (NSTF) on the Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire, alongside a £4m investment for a new National Space Propulsion Facility to develop and test space engines at Wescott Venture Park in Buckinghamshire.

Part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy, the significant funding boost will enable UK industry to competitively bid for more national and international contracts and ensure we remain a world-leader for space technologies for decades to come.

Visiting the UK Space Gateway on the Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire, where the NSTF will be based, Universities and Science Minister Jo Johnson said:

“From Cornwall to the Highlands and islands of Scotland, the UK space sector underpins industries worth more than £250 billion to the UK economy, and through our Industrial Strategy we will unlock the sector’s potential to grow further.

“Located in a cluster known for research excellence, these new facilities will help UK companies be more competitive in the global market for space technology and support our ambition to capture 10% of the global space market by 2030.”

Due to open in early 2020, the new NSTF will be a world-class facility for the assembly, integration and testing of space instruments and satellites, positioning the UK to capitalise on the estimated 3,500 -10,000 satellites that are due to be launched by 2025. It will also facilitate the build of bigger and more technologically advanced satellites and remove the need for UK companies to use test facilities located abroad.

The NSPF will allow companies and academia to test and develop space propulsion engines, alongside a new facility for Reaction Engines where the revolutionary SABRE air-breathing rocket engine will also be tested and built.

Dr Graham Turnock, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, said:

This investment will enhance the capability of the UK space industry. Having access to a National Satellite Testing Facility will help companies develop and encourage new business to come the UK, while the development of new facilities at Westcott builds on what is already a world-class UK space propulsion sector.

Dr Brian Bowsher, Chief Executive of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, said:

STFC’s RAL Space team has been chosen as the delivery organisation for this investment and our staff will be responsible for the definition, design, building, fit out and operation of the facility. This is fantastic recognition of the strong reputation we have in the UK and overseas as the go-to team for the assembly, integration and testing of the incredibly complex and unique engineering involved in space payloads and satellites.

Today [11 July] is the 22nd anniversary of the massacre in Srebrenica that claimed the lives of more than 8,000 men and boys, amounting to the bloodiest act of mass murder in Europe since the Second World War. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice ruled that it was genocide.

It is right that we should pause to remember those who died at Srebrenica – and elsewhere in Bosnia and Herzegovina – and to reflect on the consequences of hatred and bigotry. And we should also look forward to the task of building a better future for Bosnia and Herzegovina. That is why the UK supports essential reforms designed to create jobs and defeat crime and corruption. I call on the leaders of all sides to work together in a spirit of co-operation and reconciliation. Britain stands with those who wish to build a peaceful, united and prosperous future.

International Development Secretary comments on the liberation of Mosul, following the Iraqi Prime Minister’s formal declaration.

The Queen has approved the nomination of the Reverend Canon Gulnar Eleanor Francis-Dehqani, MA, PhD, Curate Training Officer and Advisor for Women’s Ministry in the Diocese of Peterborough and Canon at Peterborough Cathedral, to the newly created Suffragan See of Loughborough, in the Diocese of Leicester.

Reverend Canon Dr Gulnar (Guli) Francis-Dehqani is aged 51. Originally from Iran, she has been in this country since the age of 14. She studied at Nottingham University for her BA in music, and then at Bristol University for her MA and PhD in theology. After working as a Studio Manager and Producer at BBC Radio, she trained for ordination at the South East Institute for Theological Education from 1995 to 1998.

Guli was Curate at Mortlake with East Sheen in Southwark Diocese from 1998 to 2002 before joining the University of London Chaplaincy team as Chaplain to the Royal Academy of Music and St Marylebone C of E Secondary School from 2002 to 2004. She resigned from stipendiary ministry in 2004 to raise her children, and held Permission to Officiate in the Diocese of Peterborough whilst also continuing to write, speak and lead retreats. After completing a one year project at the University of Northampton Interfaith Chaplaincy, in 2011 Guli took up her current role as Curate Training Officer for the Diocese of Peterborough and was additionally appointed Adviser for Women’s Ministry in 2012. She has been on General Synod since 2012 and an honorary Canon at Peterborough Cathedral since 2016.

Guli is married to Canon Lee Francis-Dehqani, currently Team Rector of Oakham and Rural Dean of Rutland. They have 3 children aged 17 and twins of 12.

Her interests include Persian culture and cooking, all kinds of music, reading, especially contemporary fiction, walking the dog, entertaining and spending time with family and friends.

If you’re an innovative UK business or researcher who wants to collaborate with peers in Europe, you can apply for funding in areas including:

• aerospace
• critical infrastructure
• digital security
• high-performance computing (HPC)
• clean technologies

You can also take advantage of individual fellowships, which for the first time have been extended to non-academic organisations. This is to bridge the gap between academia and industry, facilitate career moves and open more attractive opportunities.

Funding is being released through the European Union’s Horizon 2020 work programme, which supports and removes barriers to innovation in Europe to produce world-class science.

EU funding and the UK

UK businesses and universities are encouraged to bid for EU funding while the UK remains a member. It has committed to underwriting payment of awards even when projects continue beyond UK membership.

The funding opportunities

Critical infrastructure

This topic area covers the prevention, detection, response and mitigation of the combination of physical and cyber threats to the critical infrastructure of Europe. The list remaining for the 2017 call for proposals are:

• communication infrastructure
• health services
• financial services

Total budget: 10 million euros
Close date: 24 August 2017

Digital security focus area

Under the work programme ‘Secure societies – protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens’, funding is available for 2 topics:

1. privacy, data protection and digital identities
2. addressing advanced cyber security threats and threat actors

Total budget: 36.5 million euros
Close date: 24 August

Security

There are various calls open under the header of security, including:

• big data and data analytics for risk management in the supply chain
• risk-based screening at border crossing
• broadband communications systems and networks

Total budget: 130.05 million euros
Close date: 24 August 2017

Bio-based industries joint undertaking

The annual call encourages all stakeholders (large industries, SMEs, technology providers, academia and other research and technology organisations) to take part and contribute to the deployment of a new and sustainable economy.

Indicative budget: 81 million euros
Close date: 7 September 2017

Horizon prize: engine retrofit for clean air

Current engines exhibit noxious emissions while driving. The prize aims to reduce the pollution produced by the existing fleet, by promoting the development of retrofittable technology, such as, devices or modification of existing engines that reduce emissions of pollutants in real driving conditions to the lowest level possible.

Total budget: 1.5 million euros
Closing date: 12 September 2017

Individual fellowships

The individual fellowships are designed to enhance the creative and innovative potential of researchers who wish to diversify their individual competence through advanced training, international and cross-sector opportunities.

This call will support placements for researchers into academic and non-academic organisations.

Total budget: 10 million euros
Close date: 14 September 2017

FET proactive: high-performance computing

By leveraging existing European strengths in high-performance computing, this competition aims to support and take advantage of the evolution from peta to exascale computing.

The latest calls are for the transition to exascale computing and exascale HPC ecosystem development.

Total budget: 40 million euros
Closing date: 26 September 2017

Horizon prize: materials for clean air

In the EU, the average life expectancy is estimated to be decreased by 8.6 months, because of exposure to particulate matter resulting from human activities.

This prize is for an individual or team that develops the best innovative design-driven material solution to reduce the concentration of particulate matter in urban areas.

Total budget: 3 million euros
Close date: 23 January 2018

Horizon prize: cleanest engine of the future

This prize aims at reducing the pollution produced by future new vehicles, using either gasoline or diesel fuels and their low biofuel blends available on the market.

The aim is to improve health impacts due to air quality issues in European cities.

The competition opens on 20 April 2017.

Total budget 3.5 million euros
Close date: 20 August 2019

Nightingale

The more than 5 million euros Nightingale project is aiming to help reduce death and disability from undetected deterioration. It will invite partners to apply for funding to develop innovative wireless, wearable technology that can be coupled with intelligent analysis software to monitor patients in the ward and at home.

Total budget: 5 million euros
Close date: TBC. The tendering process will start in November 2017

Competitive low-carbon energy

This competition focuses on demonstrating innovative renewable energy technologies. This includes:

• photovoltaic electricity
• solar heat
• wind turbines
• ocean energy devices

Total budget: 105 million euros
Close date: 7 September 2017

Competition information

• all competitions are open, and have varying close dates
• funding opportunities are open to everyone in an EU member state
• projects must be a consortium of at least 3 organisations and each member must have a legal standing such as registered business, partnership or charity
• get in touch with your national contact point for advice and to find consortium partners