Our Communities
The GW4 Building Communities Programme aims to build research communities of scale and capability that will deliver a step change in world-class research that could not be achieved by one of the institutions alone.
In 2020, we launched Generator funding which awards communities up to £20K for 6 months. 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. 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 £3.1m in 112 collaborative research communities, which have generated £62.8M in research income. This means that for every £1 GW4 spends on collaborative research communities, GW4 captures an impressive £20 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).
Building communities generator Award (Round 3) Funding Call
CLOSED The third round of the Generator Fund closed in February 2022. Applications for the fourth round of the Generator Fund will open again in late 2022. For more information, or to be informed about when applications open again, please contact the GW4 Building Communities Manager (Harriet Mills) at communities@gw4.ac.uk.
Explore our communities
Explore our research communities by award type or activity group. (All communities are also listed below in order of award date with newest first).
HASS
STEM
Flood Resilience for the TRANsport Sector (FR-TRANS)
GENERATOR FUND
Awarded: 2021
GW4 community leads
University of Bristol: Maria Pregnolato (PI),
Cardiff University: Reza Ahmadian, Man Yue (Arthur) Lam
University of Exeter: Barry Evans, Albert Chen, Slobodan Djordjevic
Project overview
The project aims at establishing a community around urban resilience to climate, looking at addressing current gaps in assessing and reducing flooding impact to transport networks.
GliaSound
generator FUND
Awarded: 2021
GW4 community leads
University of Bath: Philip Regan (PI)
University of Bristol: Daniel Whitcomb
University of Exeter: Jonathon Witton
Project overview
Investigating the potential of ultrasound stimulation as a regulator of neuroimmune function.
GW4 Menstrual and Mental Health Research Community
GENERATOR FUND
Awarded: 2021
GW4 community leads
University of Bath: Melanie Channon
University of Bristol: Gemma Sharp (PI)
Cardiff University: Arianna Di Florio
University of Exeter: Anna Murray
Project overview
This research community will explore how the menstrual cycle interacts with mental health.
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.
Rhetoric and Practices of Green Recovery in Cities
GENERATOR FUND
Awarded: 2021
GW4 community leads
University of Bath: Sophia Hatzisavvidou
University of Bristol: Oscar Berglund
Cardiff University: David Shackleton (PI)
University of Exeter: Jess Britton
Project overview
This collaboration investigates the rhetoric and practices of green recovery in UK cities in the time of COVID-19.
Urban Humanities
GENERATOR FUND
Awarded: 2021
GW4 community leads
University of Bath: Christina Horvath
University of Bristol: Maria Fannin, James Duminy
Cardiff University: Julian Brigstocke, Gary Bridge
University of Exeter: Jason Baskin (PI)
Project overview
Our GW4 community brings together a cross-disciplinary group of scholars to establish the research area of the Urban Humanities, which is critical, we contend, to understanding the full complexity of urban change in the twenty-first century.
BUILDING A CLINICAL ACADEMIC TRAINING COMMUNITY ACROSS SOUTH WEST ENGLAND AND SOUTH WALES
accelerator FUND
GW4 community leads
University of Bristol: John Iredale (PI), Jeremy Tavare
Cardiff University: Paul Morgan
University of Exeter: Tamsin Ford
Project overview
By creating a vibrant cohort of young talented clinical academics across GW4 we will significantly enhance our collective abilities to translate our basic biomedical and population health research into an impact on patient care.
Climate Change Education Network
GENERATOR FUND
Awarded: July 2020
GW4 community leads
University of Bath: Elisabeth Barratt Hacking, Lorraine Whitmarsh
University of Bristol: Paul Howard-Jones (PI)
Cardiff University: Christina Demski, Kat Steentjes
University of Exeter: Justin Dillon
Project overview
This project will establish a transdisciplinary network involving researchers across university disciplines working with teachers to orient and provide active support for research on Climate Change Education.