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.
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).
Explore our communities
Featured Communities
All-solid-state lithium-ion batteries with cellulose enhanced solid polymer electrolytes (ALLIANCE)
STEM
Learn More
Young people’s self-harm and suicidal behaviour: Developing qualitative research to understand the influence of context and culture
HASS
Learn More
Fabrication and Testbed Network for Next-Generation Optical Brain Computer Interfacing
STEM
Learn More
Physical, psychological and social factors influencing musculoskeletal injury and wellbeing in Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professional students
STEM
Learn More
178 results found
Sort
Sort Date Oldest
Funds
Types
Unlocking the Science for an Autonomous Structural Health Monitoring System
Accelerator
Overview
The primary vision of this collaboration was to become a world leading research consortium that advanced the state of the art in wireless Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) in composite structures by bringing together the unique combination of expertise within GW4.
Community lead
University of Bath: Alicia Kim
University of Bristol: Stephen Hallett
Cardiff University: Carol Featherston (PI)
University of Exeter: Meiling Zhu
Awarded
October 2014
Avarice: Algal Valorisation & Remediation of Metal Ion Contaminated Effluents
Accelerator
Overview
Our aim was to investigate the use of algae native to contaminated mine sites to remove metals from acid mine drainage (AMD) and then convert the algae to biofuels.
Community lead
University of Bath: Christopher Chuck
University of Bristol: Tom Scott
Cardiff University: Devin Sapsford
University of Exeter: Chris Bryan (PI)
Plymouth Marine Laboratory: Mike Allen
Awarded
October 2014
The Role of Science in Society and Policy
Initiator
Overview
This project sought to create the platform for a national and international cross-disciplinary effort to study ways in which the role of science in society can be valued and evolve and in which controversial findings can be better communicated and debated.
Community lead
University of Bath: Anna Gilmore (Co-PI), David Miller
University of Bristol: Stephan Lewandowsky (PI)
Cardiff University: Lorraine Whitmarsh
University of Exeter: Jason Reifler
Awarded
October 2014
Biomimetic Assemblies of Complex Functional Material in Hierarchical Structures
Accelerator
Overview
The research programme is based on the preparation of hierarchical layered materials deposited with a new state-of-the-art facility; Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD).
Community lead
University of Bath: Enrico Da Como (PI)
University of Bristol: Simon Hall
Cardiff University: Wolfgang Langbein
University of Exeter: David Wright
Awarded
October 2014
The GW4 Aging and Dementia (GW4AD) Consortium
Initiator
Overview
The community aimed to bring together dementia researchers and practitioners across the four GW4 sites, building upon our individual strengths and enabling us to produce a joint strategy for future research and to identify synergies that will maximize chances of securing future funding.
Community lead
University of Bath: Roy Jones, Robert Williams
University of Bristol: Patrick Kehoe, Seth Love
Cardiff University: Mike Owen, Julie Williams, Nigel Williams, John Gallacher
University of Exeter: Katie Lunnon (PI), Jonathan Mill, David Llewellyn, Iain Lang
Awarded
October 2014
Child Injury Research Community
Initiator
Overview
This proposal aimed to build a multidisciplinary Child Injury Research Community (CIRC) with the scale and capability to become a world-class research team.
Community lead
University of Bristol: Alan Emond
Cardiff University: Alison Kemp (PI), Michael Jones
University of Exeter: Philippe.G.Young
Awarded
October 2014
Southwest Quantum Technologies Group (SWQT)
Initiator
Overview
The aim of this GW4 Initiator Fund is to initiate the creation of a Southwest Quantum Technologies group that brings together complementary expertise in quantum technologies, including integrated photonics, quantum computing theory, light -‐matter interactions and optical materials.
Community lead
University of Bath: Peter Mosley
University of Bristol: Peter Turner
Cardiff University: Wolfgang Langbein
University of Exeter: Janet Anders (PI)
Awarded
October 2014
Children and Young People’s Suicide & Self-Harm Research Collaboration
Initiator
Overview
The research community will assemble around the theme of suicide and self-harm in children and young people, with a specific focus on the development and evaluation of complex interventions within educational settings.
Community lead
University of Bath: Paul Stallard, Jeffery Gavin
University of Bristol: David Gunnell, Judi Kidger, Becky Mars, Lucy Biddle
Cardiff University: Rhiannon Evans (PI), Jonathan Scourfield, Nina Jacob
University of Exeter: Tamsin Ford, Astrid Janssens
Awarded
October 2014
Plant-Soil Responses to Environmental Extremes
Initiator
Overview
The community brought together researchers across academic disciplines to increase understanding of the plant-soil zone and its response to environmental extremes, in order to preserve critical ecosystem services in the face of climate change.
Community lead
University of Bath: Kevin Briggs (PI)
University of Bristol: Claire Grierson
Cardiff University: Mike Harbottle
University of Exeter: Sarah De Baets
Awarded
October 2014
Dying Well After a Long Life
Initiator
Overview
This community aimed to bring together academics from across GW4 with research expertise relevant to elderly dying to develop a collaborative research programme.
Community lead
University of Bath: Tony Walter (PI)
University of Bristol: Liz Lloyd
Cardiff University: Jenny Kitzinger
University of Exeter: Kerry Jones
Awarded
October 2014