Collaborative research projects exploring health inequalities and social justice secure GW4 seed funding
Three innovative research projects focused on exploring health inequalities have been awarded GW4 seed funding. The successful projects were developed during this year’s GW4 Crucible programme, with the theme ‘Tackling health inequalities and driving social justice through radical interdisciplinarity.’
GW4 Crucible is a leadership development programme offering 30 early career researchers and future research leaders the opportunity to consider new interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to their research and its impact.
Participants engage with peers from across the GW4 Alliance of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter universities and from vastly different disciplines, through a series of workshops and residential labs. The programme aims to promote researchers’ visibility, supporting their career development whilst developing real-world solutions to global and societal challenges.
GW4 Crucible encourages participants to apply for seed funding for collaborative projects that have emerged from the programme. With awards of up to £5K available, GW4 aims to support bold and creative proposals that start to consider how to tackle global challenges through collaborative and innovative interdisciplinary action.
This year’s collaborative and innovative projects cover a diverse range of health related research topics, from exploring the use of private clinics impact on health inequalities to the health and care needs for LGBTQ+ older people, and how wearable technology could support children to manage sensory overload.
In total, GW4 awarded over £13K to the following projects:
Does the use of private clinics for elective procedures reduce or accentuate health inequalities? An exploratory qualitative and spatial study
Led by Dr Sarah Milosevic (Cardiff University), this project will explore if the use of private clinics for elective procedures can be optimised so as not to perpetuate health inequalities. The project will use spatial analysis to explore the relationships between deprivation levels and relative distances to private and NHS healthcare providers, and whether, once within a clinic, everyone has the same opportunities for person-centred care to help them achieve the best possible health outcome.
Learning the narratives and expectations of health and care needs for LGBTQ+ older people.
Led by Dr Enrico De Luca (University of Exeter), this project will explore, through community engagement events, the experiences, perceptions and expectations of LGBTQ+ people regarding ageing and related health needs. Throughout their lifetime LGBTQ+ individuals often experience inequalities in accessing health and social care. These inequalities continue as LGBTQ+ individuals age and it is documented that LGBTQ+ older people in the UK lack confidence in approaching services provided by the NHS, religious groups or the state.
Explore sensory overload detection with biosensing wearables
Led by Dr Nhat (Nick) Pham (Cardiff University), this project aims to explore how a biosensing wearable system could potentially support children to manage their sensory overload and take action before the response to the environmental situation is out of control for the individual. The project will explore what is needed from such a system, and the development of a wearable prototype which can be connected to a mobile application which could notify a parent or even a teacher that sensory overload is occurring.
GW4 seed funding is intended as a stepping stone to large-scale collaborations and these projects all endeavour to deliver real world impact with the aim of becoming larger collaborative research projects in the future.
The GW4 Crucible programme for 2025 focusing on the theme ‘Creative Societies and Cultures, Cultural and Public Good?’ is now open. This theme echoes one of GW4’s strategic priority research areas looking at capitalising on creative communities to foster sociocultural growth. Researchers from across the alliance with an interest or expertise applicable to any aspect of creative societies and cultures are encouraged to apply. The deadline for expressions of interest is Wednesday 16 October 2024. The final deadline for completed applications is midday, Wednesday, 23 October 2024.
