GW4 Opportunities
GW4 offers a range of funding and development opportunities for staff across our four universities. You can also meet the Funding and Development team and find the correct contact for your query.
GW4 Research Communities
GW4 Crucible
Tailored Workshops
Guide to Research Collaboration
Shared Research Staff Development
GW4 RESEARCH COMMUNITIES
The Building Communities programme is designed to build new, high-quality GW4 research communities or help existing collaborations to build on their work and secure long term sustainable funding. We offer two funds: Initiator Fund for new communities (applications up to £20K), and Accelerator Fund to strengthen existing communities (applications between £20K and £75K).
Applications in all areas of research are invited to both the Initiator and Accelerator Funding streams.
Existing GW4 research communities aiming to scale up to significant external bids are particularly welcomed. Projects with a focus on the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) or Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) are also encouraged.
For more information download the GW4 Building Communities Fund Guidance and the Initiator Fund Application Form or Accelerator Fund Application Form.
This funding call is now closed.
If you have any queries, contact the GW4 Building Communities team by emailing gw4initiator@exeter.ac.uk or gw4accelerator@exeter.ac.uk.
GW4 Crucible
GW4 Crucible brings together talented and innovative researchers from the GW4 institutions and develops each of them as a researcher, leader and collaborator.
Tailored Workshops
GW4 Tailored Workshops are facilitated workshops to support the development of GW4 research collaborations. We will work with you to design a bespoke workshop, led by an expert facilitator, that will support the development and progression of your GW4 research community.
Previous GW4 communities have found the workshops useful to:
- turn ideas into concrete projects and plans by prioritising areas of research, scoping research projects and identifying funding sources;
- build a sense of community and collective ownership to form a more robust and dynamic network of researchers and/or external stakeholders;
- provide opportunities for knowledge exchange between disciplines and/or institutions with a view to strengthening a collaborative research community;
- invigorate a research community that is aiming to develop high quality research bids;
- develop project management skills with a view to ensuring the long-term sustainability of a research group.
How to apply:
Please read the GW4 Tailored Workshops Guidelines and send the completed application form to the GW4 Talent and Skills Officer at talentandskills@gw4.ac.uk.
DIY TAILORED WORKSHOPS GUIDE
Want to facilitate your own tailored workshop for your research community? GW4 can help with that too.
With the help of an expert facilitator, we have put together guidelines for self-run DIY workshops. There are three suggested workshop templates to choose from, helping you deliver the right workshop for your research group’s needs.
The guide is available on the GW4 Portal.
Guide to Research Collaboration
Discover GW4’s expert guide to help you plan and manage your research collaboration. It contains advice and experiences from a range of academics from the GW4 Alliance and beyond. Based upon real experiences, this guide features the benefits, challenges and processes of collaboration. This expert guide can be found on the GW4 Portal – find out more and sign up.
Shared Research Staff Development
Want to do a workshop or course at another GW4 institution? The GW4 Alliance agreement makes selected development opportunities and resources from across the four universities available to all GW4 research staff. For more information go to:
University of Bath
Contact: Jeanette Mueller
For enquiries/bookings, please email: acdev@bath.ac.uk
University of Bristol
Contact: Katie Manktelow
For enquiries/bookings, please email: asd-course@bristol.ac.uk
Cardiff University
Contact: Christian Gillard
For enquiries/bookings, please email: researcherdevelopment@cardiff.ac.uk
University of Exeter
Researcher Development Courses
Contact: Juliet White
in Exeter
in Cornwall
For enquiries/bookings, please email ResearcherDevelopment@exeter.ac.uk
You can access these development opportunities in two ways. 1) You will receive e-mails detailing opportunities at other institutions through the year. 2) If you spot a development opportunity at another institution that is not offered at your institution, you may contact the GW4 Developing People rep at that institution to enquire about availability. Please note that GW4 spaces will (usually) be released about 2 weeks prior to the date of the workshop to allow institutions to give priority to their own researchers.