Interdisciplinary collaborative research and innovation communities across the four universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter can now apply for up to £20k funding to support 6-month projects, as the latest round of the GW4 Building Communities Generator Fund officially opens.
The GW4 Building Communities Programme aims to build research communities of scale and capability that will deliver a step change in world-class research and innovation, which could not be achieved by one of the institutions alone.
Now in its sixth year, the GW4 Generator Fund supports both the creation of new GW4 communities and the development of the strongest ideas emerging from our existing communities.
The GW4 Generator Fund is an open call in any area of research or innovation, with the purpose of addressing a major research or societal challenge. Projects should look to engage both academic and external partners.
Interdisciplinary research is explicitly encouraged and applications from Early Career Researcher (ECR) communities are also particularly welcome.
GW4 Building Communities Manager, Dr Sarah-Louise Dietz, said: “The GW4 Building Communities Generator Fund has a strong history of supporting collaborative research communities to develop research projects which tackle key challenges on a large scale. Many of our past recipients have successfully leveraged Generator Funding to launch larger initiatives. We encourage applicants to view this fund as a foundation for developing new communities or ideas that could later attract external funding.”
GW4 Alliance Director, Dr Joanna Jenkinson MBE, said: “Through cross-institutional innovation, GW4 strengthens research capacity to address major societal challenges. The GW4 Building Communities Generator Fund has proven to be an outstanding platform for fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and empowering research communities to tackle some of the most pressing research and innovation challenges. I look forward to reviewing this cycle’s applications and enhancing our collective research and innovation impact."
Since 2013, the GW4 Alliance has invested around £3.4million in 115 collaborative research communities, across Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter universities, covering a range of topics, including those related to the Alliance’s new key strategic priorities – cyber and digital; health and wellbeing; creative communities, and sustainable Net Zero.
To date, our investment has generated around £87million in external research grants, a remarkable £25 return for every £1 spent.
GW4’s existing research communities draw on complementary expertise across the institutions and work with hundreds of external partners. They produce pioneering findings and influence policy in a variety of areas such as the gender pay gap, cancer research, mental wellbeing, climate change education and developing new drugs to tackle antimicrobial resistance.
Professor Sarah Halligan, Principal Investigator (PI) of the Understanding the Support Available for Refugee Children and their Families Community, and Deputy Head of Department (Culture and Environment), Department of Psychology, Addiction and Mental Health Group (AIM) at the University of Bath, said: “We have been able to develop a network of researchers and generate preliminary research evidence to give us a clear foothold in research relating to the mental health of refugee families. The research carried out was relatively high-risk, given the challenges that can arise in engaging refugees in research. The GW4 funding has been particularly important in allowing us to do this work and to demonstrate capacity for future, larger scale work in this area. There are few funding schemes that will support these kinds of small-scale research activities that are often essential to gaining traction in a new field.”
Dr James Armstrong, PI of the Brain Tissue Engineering Community and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, said: “The Generator Funding has allowed our Community to develop the interdisciplinary knowledge needed to drive our research forward. By regularly meeting in-person and dedicating time to discuss the science in depth, we are now much better able to talk each other’s language and are much more aware of the different challenges and opportunities in each other’s fields.”
Dr Jennifer Davies, PI of the GW4 Community Studying Fatigue in People with Multiple Long-term Conditions, and Senior Lecturer at Cardiff University, said: “This award has been incredibly helpful in my personal development, allowing me to lead a project with more experienced colleagues, as well as achieve the task of organising, leading and contributing to workshops that involve senior experts in the field. All elements of this have push me beyond my comfort zone and allowed me to develop in my academic career. I am absolutely certain that the networks and connections that have been formed will go on to do work that will advance our knowledge of fatigue.”
Dr Nick Gill, Principal Investigator of the Forcibly Displaced Students in Higher Education Community and Professor and Director of Research for Human Geography at the University of Exeter, said: “The fund has been instrumental in the forming of a new academic community working at the cutting edge of its field. The inter-disciplinarity of our team (as encouraged by the fund) makes us ideally positioned to win external funding and drive the academic discussion in our area of focus. The impetus to collaborate, the structures of support available, the flexibility of the funding and the ambition and reach of the scheme have each been exceptional.”
Generator funding can be used as a stand-alone award or, in conjunction with other sources of funding. Applicants are encouraged to view our application guidance and webinar for support with building an effective application. Applications must include 3 or more GW4 Alliance institutions.
All existing research and innovation communities can be viewed on the GW4 website, along with case studies showcasing some of the outcomes from previous awardees.
The deadline for applications is 3 February 2025. For more information, please view the application guidance, application guidance webinar, and forms, on the GW4 Generator Fund Webpages. Interested applicants may also contact the GW4 Building Communities Manager by emailing communities@gw4.ac.uk.
Through cross-institutional innovation, GW4 strengthens research capacity to address major societal challenges.
The GW4 Building Communities Generator Fund has proven to be an outstanding platform for fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and empowering research communities to tackle some of the most pressing research and innovation challenges. I look forward to reviewing this cycle’s applications and enhancing our collective research and innovation impact."
