Our Communities
To date (June 2021) the GW4 Alliance has invested over £3.1m in 112 collaborative research communities, which have generated nearly £50m in research income. This means that for every £1 GW4 spends on collaborative research communities, GW4 captures an impressive £16 in external research awards.
The GW4 Alliance has adopted the Russell Group Research Integrity Statement of cooperation in cross-institutional research misconduct allegations, which aims to support the efforts of researcher communities to foster research integrity (also known as good practice in research or the responsible conduct of research).
Explore our GW4 research communities by keyword or theme. (All communities are also listed below in alphabetical order).
Aerospace and Advanced Engineering
Creative and Cultural Economy
Digital Innovation
Living Well
New Energy Systems
Resilience, Environment and Sustainability
Global Challenges ‘Low Carbon Energy Access’ Hub
ACCELERATOR FUND
Project period: July – December 2017
GW4 community leads
University of Bath: Philippe Blondel
University of Bristol: Sam Williamson
Cardiff University: Kersty Hobson (PI)
University of Exeter: Philipp Thies
Project overview
The goal was to bring together researchers from a wide range of disciplines to build a community around key issues in Low Carbon Energy Access in Overseas Development Assistance Countries, in order to formulate a proposal to be taken forward to the forthcoming RCUK collective fund interdisciplinary hub call.
GW4 Synthetic Biology Showcase
INITIATOR FundProject period: May – July 2014 GW4 community leadsUniversity of Bath: David Leak Project overviewSynthetic biology is the application of engineering principles to the understanding and design of biological systems. It is an inherently multidisciplinary research area covering a broad range of challenges including biofuels and bioenergy, the transition towards a bioeconomy, medical and health-care advances, food security and advanced materials manufacture. |
Global Challenges in Energy and Healthcare
INITIATOR FUND
Project period: February – May 2017
GW4 community leads
University of Bath: Janet L. Scott (PI)
University of Bristol: Paul Harper
Cardiff University: Kersty Hobson
University of Exeter: Stephen J Eichhorn
Project overview
The primary goal of the Building Communities activity proposed here is to develop GW4 capacity, particularly within the “Sustainability” and “Healthy Living” themes identified in the GW4 5-year Strategy (2015), to respond quickly and effectively to anticipated RCUK Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) 2 calls in 2017.
GWPore: Porous materials for energy, healthcare and the environment
GENERATOR FUND
Awarded: July 2020
GW4 community leads
University of Bath: Asel Sartbaeva (PI)
University of Bristol: Sebastian Rochat
Cardiff University: Timothy Easun
University of Exeter: Yongde Xia
Project overview
We aim to create a network of researchers, GWPore, interested in all aspects of porous materials, across all four GW4 universities. This network will facilitate collaborations, applications for funding, mentoring for ECRs, networking, and equipment sharing between groups.
New drugs to tackle AMR
GENERATOR FUND
Awarded: 2021
GW4 community leads
University of Bath: Maisem Laabei
University of Bristol: Seána Duggan, Jonathan M. Tyrrell
Cardiff University: Michaela Serpi (PI)
University of Exeter: Tobias Bergmiller, Remy Chait
Project overview
In this project, we will develop novel antimicrobial compounds to treat Gram-positive bacterial infections combining our expertise in drug discovery, organic synthesis, microbiology and molecular microbial ecology and evolution to enhance the ability of the agents to kill bacteria and interfere with biofilm formation.