GW4 Opportunities

GW4 offers a range of funding and development opportunities for staff across our four universities.

GW4 Research Communities

GW4 Early Career Symposia Scheme

GW4 Technical Staff Travel Bursary Scheme

GW4 Crucible

Tailored Workshops

Guide to Research Collaboration

Shared Research Staff Development

GW4 RESEARCH COMMUNITIES

The GW4 Building Communities Programme is designed to build research communities of scale and capability with the aim to deliver a step change in world-class research which could only be achieved through collaborative working across the institutions.

This is the first call for our new Building Communities Generator Fund, which replaces the previous Initiator and Accelerator Awards. Applications of up to £20K are invited from our collaborative GW4 researchers.

Generator Awards aim to support both the creation of new GW4 communities and the development of the strongest ideas emerging from our existing communities.

Generator funding (up to £20K) can be used as a stand-alone award or, in conjunction with other sources of funding. Our hope is for most communities to use the Generator Fund as a step towards applying for external funding.

The call is open to communities in any area of research with the purpose of addressing a major research or societal challenge and should look to engage both academic and external partners. Applications from Early Career Research (ECR) communities are particularly welcome.

Please refer to the GW4 Building Communities Fund Guidance before applying. To apply complete the GW4 Generator Application Form and submit to communities@gw4.ac.uk by 10th February 2020.

If you have any queries, contact the GW4 Building Communities team by emailing communities@gw4.ac.uk.

GW4 Early Career Symposia Scheme

The purpose of this award is to create a space for postgraduate researchers and early career researchers to showcase their research, develop their management skills, and raise their profile by leading a Creative Economy, Climate or AMR symposium.

Deadline for expressions of interest is 11.59pm on Wednesday, 12 February 2020.

Find out more and apply.

GW4 Technical Staff Travel Bursary Scheme

GW4 offers a competitive travel bursary scheme for technical staff at GW4 Universities to visit other GW4 institutions to share best practice, gain experience with equipment or resources, or to develop technical skills through work shadowing.

Deadline for applications is Monday, 24 February at 12:00pm.

Find out more and apply.

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.