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Our Communities

Our communities

The GW4 Building Communities Programme aims to build research and innovation communities of scale and capability, delivering a step change in world-class research that could not be achieved by one of the institutions alone. The Programme has two funding schemes:

  • The annual Generator Fund which awards GW4 communities up to £20K for 6 month projects (launched in 2020). This replaced the Initiator (up to £20K for 5 months) and Accelerator (up to £75K for 8 months) funding schemes, which ran from 2014 – 2019.
  • The Development Awards which support new, and advance existing, collaborations across GW4 by funding single activities or resources with up to £5K. This is a rolling scheme, with no closing date.

More details of both schemes, and how to apply, can be found at the links above.

Building Communities funding supports both the creation of new GW4 communities and the development of the strongest ideas emerging from our existing communities, and is open to any academic area. To date, the GW4 Alliance has invested over £3.4M in 125 collaborative research communities, which have generated £87M in research income. This means that for every £1 GW4 spends on collaborative research communities, GW4 captures an impressive £25 in external research awards.

 

Research integrity

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).

Read the Statement

 


Explore our communities

All communities are listed below in date order (newest first), and can be searched using key words or fund type.
Our “Featured Communities” are from the most recent round of Generator funding.

23 results found
Sort Sort Date Newest
Funds
Types
GW4 Sustainable Finance Network
Development Award
Overview
The project will create a network of researchers from the disciplines of finance and environmental sciences, organising seminars and workshops, with the ultimate aim of shaping policy for the transition towards a sustainable economy.
Community lead
University of Bath: Dr Xiaohan Xue (PI); Dr. Chenchen Huang; Dr. Winifred Huang; Dr. Hanwen Sun; Dr. Ru Xie
University of Exeter: Dr. Wei Xin; Professor Chendi Zhang
Cardiff University: Dr. Onur Tosun; Professor Qingwei Wang
University of Bristol: Professor Neslihan Ozkan; Dr. Fangming Xu
Awarded
July 2024
GW4 Men’s Mental Health Research Network
Development Award
Overview
The project will create a multi-disciplinary network of researchers in men's mental health to understand how to engage with men about their mental health and how best to study this group.
Community lead

University of Bath: Tom Barry (PI), Jeffrey Lambert, Edmund Keogh
University of Bristol: Myles Jay-Linton
Cardiff University: James Gregory, Paul Willis
University of Exeter: Christopher Begeny

Awarded
June 2024
Universal Design for Learning: Supporting Inclusive Learning and Teaching for All
Development Award
Overview
This project aims to support educators at GW4 member institutions to improve their understanding of inclusive education and universal design for learning, leading to improved teaching and supervision approaches that recognise and celebrate diversity.
Community lead
University of Bath: Momna Hejmadi
University of Bristol: Emma Jenks, Dave Gatrell
Cardiff University: Ceri Morris
University of Exeter: Vrinda Nayak (PI), Rachel Griffiths
Awarded
May 2024
Exploring the Role of Caste in Economic Welfare
Development Award
Overview
The community will organise a workshop to understand the complex linkages between the caste system in India and economic growth.
Community lead
University of Bath: Javier Rivas, Pardeep Attri
University of Bristol: Erlend Berg
Cardiff University: Indrajit Ray, Tommaso Reggiani
University of Exeter: Rakesh Banerjee (PI), Sanchari Roy, Surajeet Chakravarty
Awarded
April 2024
South West England and De Cymru Human-Computer Interaction Community (SWEDC-HCI)
Development Award
Overview
The community will bring together academics in Human-Computer Interaction from universities across the South West of England and De Cymru area to build strong local connections across research groups.
Community lead

University of Bath: Jason Alexander, Ollie Hanton
University of Bristol: Elaine Czech (co-PI), Oussama Metatla, Anne Roudaut, Paul Marshall
Cardiff University: Kathy Stawarz, Sandy Gould, Nervo Verdezoto Dias
University of Exeter: Andrew Howes
and including University of the West of England: Cameron Steer (co-PI), Tom Mitchell

Awarded
March 2024
GW4 Cytometry Networking Group: Fostering Excellence in Research and Collaboration
Development Award
Overview
The GW4 Cytometry Networking Group is spearheading an initiative to create a network of excellence in cytometry across the GW4 universities and beyond in Southwest. This endeavour seeks to enhance research capabilities, share innovative resources, and encourage interdisciplinary studies in cytometry.
Community lead

University of Bath: Michael Zachariadis
University of Bristol: Andrew Hermann
Cardiff University: Catherine Naseriyan
University of Exeter: Raif Yuecel (PI)

Awarded
February 2024
South West and Wales Africa Research Network (SWWARN)
Development Award
Overview
The South West and Wales Africa Research Network is a cross-disciplinary research network for researchers with an interest in the continent of Africa.
Community lead

University of Bath: Naomi Pendle
University of Bristol: Isabella Aboderin
Cardiff University: Ambreena Manji
University of Exeter: Stacey Hynd (PI)

With additional collaborators at Bath Spa University: John Strachan & Victoria Ellen Smith

Awarded
February 2024
Isoform-level psychiatric genomics
Development Award
Overview
The project will use a workshop to unify the growing interest in isoform-level psychiatric genomics across the GW4.
Community lead

Cardiff University: Elliott Rees, Michael Owen, Nicholas Bray, Alexandros Rammos, Eilidh Fenner, Alexandros Delimichalis, Valentina Escott-Price
University of Exeter: Nicholas Clifton (PI), Rosemary Bamford, Szi-Kay Leung, Eilis Hannon, Kartik Chundru, Robin Beaumont, Jonathan Mill

Awarded
January 2024
Fintech Research Network
Development Award
Overview
This community will bring together experts and early career researchers specializing in data science, cloud computing, AI, finance and management to cultivate a fresh perspective and vision for the interdisciplinary research in Fintech.
Community lead

University of Bath: Xiaohan Xue
University of Bristol: Jin Zheng (PI), Richard D F Harris
Cardiff University: Qingwei Wang, Aman Eshraghi
University of Exeter: Jane Shen

Awarded
January 2024
Diversity and Human Capital Workshop: Wellbeing
Development Award
Overview
The community will organise a workshop to promote discussions of ongoing research on the economics of diversity, inclusivity and human capital.
Community lead

University of Bath: Joanna Clifton-Sprigg, Eleonora Fichera, Sayli Javadekar
University of Bristol: Uta Bolt, Sarah Smith, Christine Valente
Cardiff University: Ezgi Kaya, Luisanna Onnis, Serena Trucchi
University of Exeter: Javier Garcia-Brazales (Co-PI), Laura Munoz-Blanco (Co-PI), Sonia Oreffice, Sanchari Roy,

Awarded
January 2024
University of Bath
University of Bristol
Cardiff University
University of Exeter