I’m probably still a year or so away from finishing my PhD but I’ve started to explore funding opportunities for UK computer science post doctoral researchers. (I think I’d really quite like to continue working on energy disaggregation after my PhD; there are still lots of research problems; and we’re a very long way from having a robust, open source disaggregation tool for end-users).

Imperial have a ‘funding opportunities’ web site.

Knowledge Transfer Partnership

Royal Society

full list of grant schemes provided by the Royal Society
The following are probably most relevant to me:
- University Research Fellowship - “must have between 3 to 8 years of research experience since their PhD by the closing date”
- Industry Fellowship “For academic scientists who want to work on a collaborative project with industry and for scientists in industry who want to work on a collaborative project with an academic organisation…. The applicant must have a PhD”
- Brian Mercer Feasibility Award: “For scientists who wish to investigate the feasibility of commercialising an aspect of their research.”
- Brian Mercer Award for Innovation: For scientists who wish to develop an already proven concept or prototype into a near-market product, ready for commercial exploitation

EPSRC

EPSRC Doctoral Prize

The EPSRC have a new Fellowships structure.

“Applications can be submitted at any time and will be processed on a rolling basis. Fellowship applications will be prioritised twice a year in approximately January/February and July, at our standard-grant panel meetings.”
“There is no outline stage in the new Fellowship process. Applicants are required to submit a full proposal.”
The Energy Fellowship sounds especially relevant: “This embraces energy efficiency measures, reduction in demand for energy, and reduction in demand for energy services / mobility - all of which will contribute to reducing carbon emissions from energy use. It includes research extending from the built environment to industrial processes and products, from materials to design and from markets and regulation to organisational and individual behaviour. Fellows should be engaged in multidisciplinary research embracing engineering (including ICT), social science (behaviour, practices, policies, economics) and involve any sector (buildings, transport, whole systems, industry).”

Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851

Research Fellowships. “The call for applications will be in October, with a closing date of 18 February 2016… Candidates must be in possession of a recent PhD, or equivalent qualification (normally with no more than 3 years postdoctoral experience) or be in the final stages of their PhD studies, which must be successfully completed before the award of a Fellowship can be confirmed.”

EU Horizon 2020

This isn’t a post-doc funding source as such… it’s more for doing collaborative research projects across multiple EU member states (MS)…

I did a quick bit of reading about the Horizon 2020 EU fund. I think the two that are most relevant to energy disaggregation are:

EE-11-2014: New ICT-based solutions for energy efficiency (RIA), 1.5 to 2M€ per project. Deadline = 5th June 2014
EE-11-2015: New ICT-based solutions for energy efficiency (RIA), 1.5 to 2M€per project. Deadline = 10th June 2015

I think “RIA” stands for “Research and Innovation Actions” which means “activities aiming to establish new knowledge and/or to explore the feasibility of a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution. For this purpose projects may include basic and applied research, technology development and integration, testing and validation on a small-scale prototype in a laboratory or simulated environment. Standard eligibility conditions: three legal independent entities from different MSs or ACs. Funding rate: 100%”